10 tips to get the most from your Samsung Galaxy Note7

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 12 Sep 2016

It’s got everything but the kitchen sink
note 7 tips primary

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The Samsung Galaxy Note7 is jam-packed with just about every feature it’s possible to fit in a smartphone, but it comes with a high price. The last thing you want to do is drop all that cash on a Note7 not take full advantage of all the cool stuff it can do. Here are 10 tips to get you on your way to mastering all this phone has to offer.

Important note: Samsung has recalled the Galaxy Note7 due to an exploding battery defect, urges users not to use the phone until they have exchanged it. ’ve instituted a hold on our buy recommendation for the phone until the matter’s sorted out. You should only use these tips— the Galaxy Note7 itself—if you’ve already returned your phone for a safe replacement.

Improve your home screen
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Samsung’s stock home screen has improved over the years, it can be quite nice on the Note 7 after you’ve made a few adjustments. First foremost, the Flipboard-powered Briefing screen on the far left needs to go. It’s slow not even very good for reading news. To get rid of it, long-press or pinch the home screen, swipe over to the Briefing panel, then toggle the slider above it.

Next, let’s get rid of those unnecessary “squircle” frames around all your app icons. at is this, 2012? Head into the system settings open the Display submenu. Scroll down you’ll see “Icon frames.” Change it to icons only, the squircles are dead.

stly, you should take a long hard look at the app drawer. It defaults to custom organization with folders. It’s probably smarter to get rid of the folders organize by name, which you can do from the overflow menu button in the upper right. Unfortunately, you have to re-order the icons regularly as you install uninstall things.

Reorganize quick settings
note 7 tips quick settings

Samsung’s quick settings on the Note7 are completely redesigned. To edit them, you simply open the full quick settings pane (swipe down twice, or swipe down with two fingers at once) long-press on one of them. You can drag unwanted icons to the bottom section to remove them, rearrange, add previously unused icons back into the mix. To save the layout, hit “Done” in the upper right corner.

Customize the ge panel
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Since it has one of Samsung’s curved AMOD display, the Note7 also has the ge panel interface. This gives you quick access to apps, contacts, other features with a quick swipe on the “hle” at the edge of the display. The quickest way to make tweaks is to open the ge panel, then tap the settings icon in the lower left corner.

You can change the position, size, opacity of the hle from the overflow menu button up top. More importantly, you have the option to add, move, hide tools from the ge panel. If you want to get new ge panel tools, the download button takes you to Samsung’s app store. so make sure to configure the settings for individual items in the ge panel list using the “it” button below them.

nt to know which ge panels we suggest? Take a look at our hy list.

Set up iris fingerprint scanner
note 7 tips iris

The Galaxy Note7 has not one but two biometric security mechanisms you can set up. There’s the fingerprint scanner in the home button everyone is familiar with. Then there’s the new iris scanner.

The fingerprint scanner is accessible in the “ck screen security” submenu. en adding a fingerprint, make sure to hold the phone in a natural way. Samsung’s sensor is more sensitive to changes in angle than most. The option to add your irises to the device is right below fingerprints in that same menu. If you wear glasses, take them off for the purposes of adding your iris print. It only takes a few seconds, then you can use the iris scanner to unlock the device verify your identity with Samsung services. The phone uses an IR pulse to illuminate your face, so iris scanning still works with most glasses or in the dark.

Use Secure Folder
note 7 tips secure folder

Samsung chose to make one of its Knox-based security features called Secure Folder a prominent part of the Note7. Secure Folder lets you create a private partition on the device for apps that will only be accessible when you authenticate with a password or biometric security (like the iris scanner). You can use the same apps from Secure Folder in the regular OS, but the data from secure folder is only accessible when you’re in secure mode.

Secure Folder comes pre-populated with various Samsung apps, but you can add others to it. For example, if you have a business email that contains sensitive information, you can put a copy of Gmail in Secure Folder only access the business email from that. There are some settings in the main “ck screen security” submenu for Secure Folder. You can change the notification preferences, input method, unlock method, more. It’s like a little mini-OS inside Android.

Air Comm tweaks
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The S n stylus is what makes the Note a “Note” not just a slightly larger Galaxy S7 ge. The quickest way to make use of the stylus is to call up Air Comm. This floating UI opens automatically when you remove the S n from the holder, but you can change that other settings with a few taps.

First, add any apps you might want to use the stylus in frequently to your Air Comm list. Tap the “Add shortcut” icon to include more apps. You can also get rid of tools you don’t need from this screen. The settings icon in Air Comm includes an option to turn the floating icon version of Air Comm off (it will hide completely when you’re not using it). If you do that, you’ll still be able to access it by clicking the stylus button. If you decide you don’t want Air Comm popping up every time you remove the stylus, you can disable that in Settings > Advanced features > S n. Simply set the detachment option to “none.”

Use Multi-window mode
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Samsung launched the Note7 with Android 6.0, so it doesn’t have the Nougat split-screen mode. Samsung has its own version, though. st like on past Samsung devices, you can open split screen mode by long-pressing the overview button. This puts your current app on one half of the display, allowing you to open a second app on the other half. The divider between the two can be dragged back forth to change how much space each one gets.

Tapping the divider opens a control panel with buttons to enable drag drop between windows. You can also close apps, minimise them, maximize. Minimizing actually sends compatible apps into “pop-up view.” These are true floating windows that you can move around the screen minimize to floating icons. Not all apps work in pop-up view, though. Apps that do have support can be put in windowed mode by dragging in from the top left corner of the screen.

Screen-off memo
note 7 tips screen off memo

The Galaxy Note7 can be used to create a quick note without waking up completely. st take the S n out while the phone is asleep you get a blank canvas to jot down a note. It can be saved to the Samsung Notes app or pinned to the always-on display. The memo will be shown for an hour in always-on mode, but you can have it displayed again by double-tapping the memo icon. Simply double-tap the delete button when you no longer want it available.

One-hed mode
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The Note7 has a big screen; too big to be easily used one-hed. If you absolutely don’t have a spare h need to use the phone, you can shrink the active display area down. ess the home button three times in quick succession the display will contract to the lower right corner. fty? No problem, tap the arrow next to the display to move it to the other side. en you’re done, triple-press again or tap the “Return to full screen” button at the top.

Make some GIFs
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To really show off the S n on the Note7, Samsung beefed up its screen capture tool with GIF support. I don’t know how often this will be useful, but it sure is fun. Open Air Comm tap Smart Select. This will give you a selection box a toolbar at the top. Tap Animation on the far right the selection box gains controls for recording quality level. ile you’re recording the phone estimates the GIFs final size, then gives you a preview so you can annotate, share, save.