Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Enable or Disable Auto Rotate in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

Auto rotate is a basic feature that can be found in almost all of smartphones available today, including with Samsung Galaxy S5. When this feature is enabled, the device will rotate the content automatically based on the phone orientation, for instance when you hold your phone horizontally then the content will be displayed in landscape view.


How to enable or disable the auto rotate feature?
Generally, there are two methods that can be used to enable or disable auto rotate feature: from the notification panel and from the settings menu.

Method #1: From the notification panel

1. On any screen, swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notification panel.
2. Depending on your current settings, tap Screen rotation button to enable or disable the auto rotate feature. The button turns gray when it's disabled and the button turns green when it's enabled.

Method #2: From the settings menu

1. Swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notification panel and then tap to go to the settings menu.
2. With the settings menu is displayed in grid view, scroll down to the Sound and display section and then tap Display .
3. Tap Screen rotation.
4. Depending on your current settings, tap the ON/OFF switch to enable or disable the auto rotate feature. When the switch is on the right side or shows green means the auto rotate feature is enabled and the interface will rotate automatically when the device orientation is changed.

Given the function, the auto rotate feature will be able to provide you a better experience when using your phone since it will display the content in accordance with the phone orientation, as the example, when you want to get a wider view when browsing a webpage then you just need to hold the phone horizontally and the phone will rotate the screen accordingly.

Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Enable and Use Daydream Feature in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

Daydream is a feature available in the Samsung Galaxy SIV. This feature will allow you to set the phone to activate an interactive screen saver (photos, real-time info, animation, etc) automatically when the phone is docked or charging. You can use this feature to make the screen becomes more attractive if you're bored with the black screen when your phone is docked or charging.

How to enable and use daydream mode?
Since this feature is not enabled by default, then you have to enable it first before using this feature in your phone. You can do so by using the following steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap My Device tab.
3. Tap Display.
4. Scroll down to find Daydream and then tap it.
5. Slide the ON/OFF switch to the right to enable daydream. The switch turns green when it's enabled.
6. Select the desired daydream from the following options:
• Colors: select this option to display the colors change effect as the screensaver.
• Desert case: select this option to display the Android 4.4.2 Kitkat Easter egg animation as the screensaver. FYI, this option only available if the hidden Android 4.4.2 Kitkat Easter egg animation has been revealed.
• Flipboard: select this option to display your personalized magazine as the screensaver. You can set how the news will be updated by tapping next to Flipboard and then tap Download new items automatically and then select from the following options: Only On WiFi, Always or Never.
• Google Photos: select this option to display a slide show of the photos on the devices or in the selected Google account as the screensaver. You can select which photos are displayed by tapping next to Google Photos and then select the required Google account and the required albums.
• Photo frame: select this option to display a slide show of the photos on the device as the screensaver. You can select which photos are displayed by tapping next to Photo frame and then select the required albums.
• Photo table: select this option to display the photos scattering effect as the screensaver. You can select which photos are displayed by tapping and then select the required albums.
7. To see the preview of the selected daydream, you can tap Start now button.
8. If necessary, you can also set the time when the daydream mode should be activated by tapping Select dream time button and then select from the following options:
• While docked
• While charging (either AC or USB charging)
• Both (while docked and charging).
9. Done. Now whenever your phone is connected to a desktop dock or charging(depending on the option you have selected in the step #8), the phone will keep the screen on and display the selected daydream as the screensaver.

As a note, since the daydream feature can't work along with the desk home screen, thus when you enable daydream, the desk home screen option will be disabled automatically.

Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Enable and Use Smart Stay in Android 4.4 Kitkat

Samsung Galaxy SIV comes with some advanced features that will surely be able to improve your experience while using this phone, one of which is the smart stay feature. Turning on this feature will allow your phone to detect your face by using the front camera so that the screen will remain on as long as you're looking at it.


How to enable or disable the smart stay feature?
By default, this feature is disabled therefor if you want to use it then you have to enable it first. You can enable or disable this feature either from the quick settings panel or the Settings menu.

Method #1: From the quick settings panel

1. Swipe down the top of the screen with two fingers to open up the quick settings panel.
2. Depending on your current settings, tap the Smart stay button to enable or disable this option. When the button turns green means the option is enabled.

Method #1: From the Settings menu

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap My device tab.
3. Scroll down to find Smart screen and then tap it.
4. Depending on your current settings, tap Smart stay to enable or disable this option. When the checkbox besides this option is checked means the option is enabled.

How to use the smart stay feature?
Once the smart stay feature is activated, when it comes the time to turn off the screen then you'll see the smart stay icon is displayed on the status bar to detect your face by utilizing the front camera. If the camera detects your face then the screen will stay on, if not then the screen will be turned off.
FYI, I've tested this feature on my phone and it only worked if all of the following conditions are fulfilled:

• The phone is held steady and upright.
• You have to use this feature in well lit conditions but the screen is not in direct light so that the front camera won't have difficulty to detect your face. If there's a source of bright light(e.g: sunlight), you have to place it behind the phone.
• The front camera is not being used by other apps.

Tips:
Since this feature is related with the screen timeout value you're currently using, to avoid your battery drained fast whilst this feature is on then you'd better to set the screen timeout value to the longest interval. Prolong the screen timeout interval while using the smart stay feature means prolong the interval of the front camera to detect your face which also means more battery are saved for you.

Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Adjust Touch Key Light Duration

Multi Window is an advanced feature that you can find in the Samsung Galaxy SIV. This feature will allow you to open two apps at once. You can enable this feature through the Settings menu or through the notification panel. After this feature is activated, you'll see a half circle icon displayed in the left/right side of the screen that you can use to display multi window tray. If you don't see that icon, you can bring it up by long pressing the Back key.

See also: How to Enable and Use Multi Window Feature in the Samsung Galaxy S4

One day, an insider sent her email and said to me that she always had a difficulty to remember where the Back key is located when she want to bring up the multi window tray icon. Well, by default, the Menu key and the Back key only display their icon when you're touching one of them and they only light up for a few seconds, so it sometimes makes the user (especially with the new users) hard to remember which the Menu key and the Back key are. Luckily, this phone has an option which will allow the user to increase or decrease the touch key light duration.

How to adjust touch key light duration?
Below are the steps to do so:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap My device tab.
3. Tap Display.
4. Scroll down to find Touch key light duration, then tap it.
5. Here you'll see 4 options available, they are:
• 1.5 seconds: Select this option to make the Menu key and the Back key remain light up for 1.5 seconds after you touched one of them.
• 6 seconds: Select this option to make the Menu key and the Back key remain light up for 6 seconds after you touched one of them.
• Always off: Select this option to make the Menu key and the Back key don't light up even when you touch them.
• Always on: Select this option to make the Menu key and the Back key always light up even when you don't use them.
6. Select the desired touch key light duration you wish to use.

By knowing what the function of this option is, now you can set it according to your need. So, if you have difficulty to remember where the Back key and the Menu key are located, you can increase the touch key light duration or even set them to always light up during the screen is on, and vice versa.

Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Turn Off the Screen Manually or Automatically

A huge screen owned by the Samsung Galaxy SIV surely will be able to improve the users' experiences of using this phone. But, in other side, the huge screen is a part of this phone that consume most of battery. Luckily, this phone has come with some options that will help their users to reduce battery consumption by the screen. One of which is a screen mode that will allow you to change the colour profile of the screen.

See also: How to Change Screen Mode in the Samsung Galaxy S4

Aside from changing the screen mode, to save more battery, you can also turn off the screen when you don't use it. You can do so manually or you can also set your phone to automatically turn off the screen when you don't use it for a specified time.


How to turn off the screen manually?
You can do so by pressing the Power key. To turn on the screen, press the Power key or the Home key and if you turn on your lock screen you need to unlock the lock screen first before you can use the phone.

How to turn off the screen automatically?
You can set the length of time before your phone automatically turning off the screen by adjusting the screen time out. To do so, kindly follow the steps listed below:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap My device tab.
3. Tap Display.
4. Scroll down to find Screen timeout, then tap it.
5. Here, you'll see some options available, they are:
• 15 seconds: select this option to make your phone wait for 15 seconds of inactivity before turning off the screen.
• 30 seconds: select this option to make your phone wait for 30 seconds of inactivity before turning off the screen.
• 1 minute: select this option to make your phone wait for 1 minute of inactivity before turning off the screen.
• 2 minutes: select this option to make your phone wait for 2 minutes of inactivity before turning off the screen.
• 5 minutes: select this option to make your phone wait for 5 minutes of inactivity before turning off the screen.
• 10 minutes: select this option to make your phone wait for 10 minutes of inactivity before turning off the screen.
6. Select the desired screen timeout option you wish to use.
7. Now, when you don't use your phone for a specified period you have chosen in the screen timeout, then the phone will turn off the screen automatically and in a few seconds the screen will be locked(if you turn on the lock screen).

Indeed, more lower screen timeout means save more battery. That's why, no wonder if there are some advices to set the screen timeout as low as possible to save battery as much as possible. But, low screen timeout sometimes irritates the user, especially for those of the user who set their lock screen with Password/PIN, resulting they should entering their Password/PIN many times each time they want to use the phone. So, in my opinion, it'll be better if you choose the screen timeout option according to your need and also will make you feel comfort while using your phone.

Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Adjust Screen Brightness

Aside from going to the Settings menu, the Samsung Galaxy SIV user does allowed to access certain option through the notification panel. By default, there are 10 quick setting buttons in the notification panel which will allow you to quickly enable or disable them and a brightness slider allows you to adjust the screen brightness quickly from there.

See also: How to Customize Notification Panel in Samsung Galaxy S4

In certain case, you might be need to adjust the screen brightness manually to fit it with your situation, such as: you might be need to increase the brightness under the sunlight or decrease the brightness in the brighter environment. You could also decide to turn on automatic brightness to let the phone adjusts the best brightness for the screen.


How to change the screen brightness?
Generally, there are two methods available to do so as listed in the steps below:

Method #1: From the notification panel

1. Swipe your finger from the top of the screen to the bottom to open up the notification panel.
2. Slide the brightness slider to the left to decrease the screen brightness or to the right to increase the screen brightness manually. Or, you can also check the box in the left side of the Auto option to enable automatic brightness.

Method #2: From the Settings menu

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap My device tab.
3. Tap Display.
4. Tap Brightness.
5. Slide the brightness slider to the left to decrease the screen brightness or to the right to increase the screen brightness manually. Or, you can also check the box in the left side of the Automatic brightness to enable this option.

FYI, if you turn on the automatic brightness, you may noticed that the screen became more dimmer compared when you turn off this option. It occurs to avoid overheating and to conserve the battery power consumed by the huge screen by reducing maximum brightness.

Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Change Font Style and Size

Change the wallpaper is one of the best way to personalize the phone. This will not only beautify the phone, but also will give it a personal touch which differentiate it with another. You can choose to use the stock wallpaper, live wallpaper and even your own picture as the wallpaper.

See also: How to Change Home Screen or Lock Screen Wallpaper on Samsung Galaxy S4

Aside from changing the wallpaper, you can also change the font style and size used by the device. There are some options available to customize both of them which you can choose the best one suit your personal taste.



How to change font style and size?
Below are the steps to do so:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap My device tab.
3. Tap Display.
4. Scroll down to the Font section. To change the font style go to the step #5, while to change the font size go to the step #6.
5. Change the font style:
• Tap Font style.
• You'll see some default font styles in the pop up menu. They are: Default font, Choco cooky, Coll jazz, Rosemary, Samsung Sans.
• Select the font style you like best to use.
• Tap Yes button.
• The selected font style will be applied to the device.
6. Change the font size:
• Tap Font size.
• You'll see some font size options available in the pop up menu. They are: Tiny, Small, Normal, Large, Huge.
• Select the font size you like best to use.
• The selected font size will be applied to the device.

Once you've changed the font style and size, you'll see these changes applied in the menu items, icon names, messaging and other apps, email and web site URL (the content of the email and web site will remain use the default font). Well, which the font style and size you like best to use on your Samsung Galaxy SIV?

Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Customize Notification Panel

In Samsung Galaxy SIV, accessing notification panel by swiping your finger from the top of the screen to the bottom will allow you to enable or disable certain option which is displayed as the quick setting buttons. By default, there are 10 quick setting buttons appears in there. They are likely: Wi-Fi, GPS, Mute/Sound/Vibrate, Screen rotation, Bluetooth, Reading mode, Mobile data, Blocking mode, Power saving and Multi window button.

See also: How to Enable and Use Multi Window Feature in Samsung Galaxy S4

As another thing in this phone, you're also allowed to customize the notification panel, allows you to control which the quick setting buttons you wish to display at the top of the notification panel as well as to display or not the brightness adjustment bar in there.

How to customize notification panel?
Below are the steps to do so:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap My device tab.
3. Tap Display.
4. Tap Notification panel.
5. Depending on your current settings, tap Brightness adjustment to enable or disable this option. When the box next to the option is checked means the brightness adjustment will be displayed in the notification panel, allows you to adjust the screen brightness from there.
6. Under Set the quick setting buttons section, you can customize the quick setting button appears at the top of the notification panel. To change quick setting buttons go to the step #7, to remove quick setting buttons go to the step #8, to add quick setting button go to the step #9, while to rearrange quick setting button go to the step #10.
7. Change quick setting buttons
   By default, there are 10 quick setting buttons displayed at the top of the notification panel. If you don't like these default, you can change them to the desired quick setting button by following the steps below:
• Tap and hold the desired quick setting button in the notification panel section and then drag it to the quick setting button you wish to change with in the available buttons section or vice versa.
• Release to exchange them.
8. Remove quick setting buttons
   If you want to remove certain quick setting button from the notification panel, then you can do so by following the step below:
• Tap and hold the desired quick setting button you wish to remove in the notification panel section and then drag it to the blank spot in the available buttons section.
• Release to remove the quick setting button.
• Removed quick setting button will be a blank spot which will allow you to add another quick setting button later.
9. Add quick setting buttons
   You can do this if there's a blank spot available in the notification panel section. Well, here's the step:
• Tap and hold the desired quick setting button in the available buttons section and then drag it to the blank spot in the notification panel section.
• Release to add it to the notification panel.
10. Rearrange quick setting buttons
    To reorder the position of the quick setting buttons in the notification panel, kindly do as follows:
• Tap and hold the desired quick setting button in the notification panel section and then drag it to another quick setting button in the same section.
• Release to exchange their position.
11. If you want to reset edited notification panel and go back to the default settings, tap Reset button and then tap OK button.

As a note, this will be more useful if you places the most frequently used quick setting button in the notification panel to make you more easier and faster when you want to enable or disable them.

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Change Screen Mode

One way that you can do to save your battery life is by enabling Automatic brightness option that you can find under display settings. Turning on this option will make your Samsung Galaxy SIII will automatically become bright less when you're indoors and become brighter when you're outdoors.

See also: How to Adjust Screen brightness on Samsung Galaxy S3

Another option available under display settings that you can use to save the battery is Screen mode option. This option will allow you to choose the different color profile. As we all know that AMOLED screen owned by this phone will consume less battery on some color profiles, such as dark color will consume less than the bright ones.


How to choose screen mode?
Below are the steps to do if you want to change display colour profile on your phone:

1. Tap the Menu key from your Home screen.
2. On pop up menu select Settings.
3. Tap Display.
4. Tap Screen mode.
5. Now you will see four options available, they are Dynamic, Standard, Natural and Movie.
6. Tap the required screen mode you wish to use. Every time you tap in the different screen mode option, you will see a preview of this screen mode at the top of the screen.
7. Tap Save button to save the changes.

Once upon the time, I've found the thread on the XDA Developer forum that ask the members to give their polls about which the screen mode they use. The result, the most used screen mode is standard as they were said that this mode has a good balance between saturation and normalness, while the most rarely used screen mode is movie. So, which screen mode do you use?

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Adjust Touch Key Light Duration

Another part of Samsung Galaxy SIII that you can do several customization is display setting, such as you can set to keep your screen always on when your face is still watching the screen by turning on Smart stay option or make your phone keep switching its screen to portrait or landscape view according to your phone's position by turning on auto rotate screen.

See also: How to Set Auto Rotate on Samsung Galaxy S3

One more things you also can do while you on display setting is adjusting the delay time before the touch key light automatically turn off.


How to change touch key light duration?
Here are the steps you need to do to adjust this option in order to suit your needs:

1. Go to Apps through Home screen.
2. Scroll to Settings, then tap on it.
3. Tap Display.
4. Tap Touch key light duration.
5. Here you will see a pop up menu with four options available. They are:
• 1.5 seconds: Choose this option if you wants the touch key light stay on during 1.5 seconds before it turn off.
• 6 seconds: Choose this option if you wants the touch key light stay on during 6 seconds before it turn off.
• Always off: Choose this option if you wants the touch key light always turn off.
• Always on: Choose this option if you wants the touch key stay illuminated whenever your phone's screen is on and will turn off when the screen is off.
6. Tap to the one that best suits you.
7. Tap Home button to return to the standby mode.
8. Finish. Now you have managed to adjust touch key light duration on your Galaxy SIII.

Choosing the option that best suits your needs is the best way to make your phone work well to help your activities. So, what's option of the touch key light delay times are you using now?