15 Tips And Tricks To Get The Most Out Of Your Galaxy Note 5

Optimize that pen toting tablet to work just the way you want it to

Samsung’s Galaxy Note series stands out from everything else in the Android universe with its fantastic S Pen stylus. If you need a stylus, you need a Note; it’s as simple as that. The new Galaxy Note 5 comes with a few new software tricks to take advantage of the S Pen. Several of Samsung’s custom features work better on this king-sized device. Let’s go over the top things. You need to do with your new Note 5 to make it all it can be.

Customize Air Command

All your stylus-based tools on Note 5 are easily accessible via the Air Command popup, triggered with the pen button. This year you’ve got several new options to explore, not least of which are configurable shortcuts. You can now change what apps are linked in the Air Command UI. So if you want to have Keep or Evernote in there instead of S Note, you can do that. You have six shortcuts here, three of which are configurable. Also open the Air Command settings to control whether or not Air Command remains accessible via a floating icon. It automatically opens when you remove the S pen from its holder. I think off is the best setting for both of these.

Disable Apps

It wouldn’t be a Samsung phone without some bloatware. You probably know this song dance by now; open the system settings and find the Device > Applications > Application manager > All. From this menu, you can uninstall or disable any apps you don’t want on the phone. These will mostly be carrier apps; AT&T has crammed a dozen on Note 5, redundant antivirus apps, and Samsung services you don’t use. Remember, if you need to know what something is, don’t disable it.

Add Fingerprints

Like the Galaxy S6, Note 5 uses Samsung’s new, excellent touch-based fingerprint sensor. You can add your prints by going to the main settings finding Personal > Lock screen security > Fingerprints. You’ll add each fingerprint, up to four, by gently pressing the sensor repeatedly until the meter reaches 100%. You can enable the fingerprint lock screen afterward, so your finger on the home button will instantly unlock the phone. This will also be used for security should you use Samsung Pay.

Disable Briefing Screen

Samsung’s TouchWiz launcher has come a long way, but the Briefing screen is awful. It’s positioned to the left of the main home screen where Now or BlinkFeed would be on other devices. The Briefing is a Flipboard-powered news feed, but it’s very limited and sluggish. You should turn it off by long pressing on the home screen to pull up editing mode. Scroll over to Briefing and uncheck the box at the top.

Change Home Screen Grid Size

Do you want to make the home screen less busy? This is an easy fix. Long press on the home screen again to get into editing mode. Down at the bottom is a button labeled Screen grid. It gives you the option of 4×4 or 4×5. The default is 5×5 icons.

Configure Do Not Disturb

Unlike other OEMs, Samsung has notification silencing options, but the terminology is different. Instead of priority mode, you’ve got Do Not Disturb (DND). You can access these settings by going to the main system settings, then Device > Sound notifications > Do not disturb. You can turn on DND from here or with the notification toggle. Still, you’ll also want to look at the scheduling options to have DND flip on automatically. Lastly, add exceptions to Do Not Disturb. So your most important contacts can still get through while the phone is silenced.

Customize Notification Shade Toggles

There are some handy settings and toggles at the top of the Note 5 notification shade. But the default selection is questionable. How often do you really need to access Samsung Quick Connect? To change the available toggles, tap the edit button in the top right corner. The top two lines in the edit interface are accessible from the notification shade. Just drag and drop the toggles wherever you want, and tap Done.

Lock Your Quick Settings

Quick Settings in Samsung vocabulary differs from Quick Settings on Android phones. We’re talking about that first tab of shortcuts in the main system settings. It’s a quick way to access the menus you find yourself digging for most often. There’s a list of several defaults populated for you. Still, you can change them by tapping the More button and editing quick settings. Pick from the list of settings as many as nine settings to keep front and center.

Screen Off Memo

You no longer need to wake up the phone. And launch a note-taking app to jot something down with the Note 5. One of the new features of this device allows you to take a note simply by removing the stylus. While the phone is asleep. The screen wakes up in an all-black UI with limited controls, so you can get writing. When you’re done, tap, Save to keep it in S Note.

Handwriting Input Almost Anywhere

The Note 5 stylus is great for jotting down quick handwritten notes. But it can also input text in almost any field on your phone. To write instead of type, use the S Pen and hover over the top of an active text field. A small blue “T” icon will show up just above it. Tap on that with the stylus. You get a floating window where you can write and have your scribbles immediately translated. Into text and inserted into the selected field.

One Handed Operation

Note 5 is a big phone, though it’s less outstanding compared to other Android devices than older Note devices. Still, if you need to one-handed the Note 5 for some reason. There’s a built-in one-handed mode that can be toggled on in a snap. Press the home button quickly three times a row, and the screen will shrink to the lower right corner. This UI is about three inches diagonal. You can tap the arrow next to the window to shift it to the lower left corner. This might only be enabled by default on some phone versions, so check the setting in Device > Display > One-handed operation.

Multi Window Mode

Samsung includes Multi-window Mode on most of its premium devices. But it makes more sense on Note 5 than most others. The big screen makes it feasible to use more than one app at a time. Not all apps support Multi-window, but a surprising number do.
You launch the Multi window any time by long pressing the overview button. Your current app will snap to the top half of the screen. Then you can choose an app for the bottom half. The circle in the middle can be dragged to change the position of the split. It also reveals function buttons when tapped. The minimize button is convenient. It collapses your currently selected Multi window app into a floating bubble. You can also open apps in floating windows using the reduce function. Or drag in from one of the top corners of the screen.

Screen Write Scrolling Screen Capture

A new addition to the Note 5’s Screen write feature takes screenshots to the next level. Scroll capture allows you to stitch together multiple screenshots of a webpage or app. To activate this feature, pull up Air Command and tap Screen Write. This automatically takes a screenshot so you can doodle on it. However, down at the bottom, a button for scroll capture will appear. Tap that the UI will page down, take another screenshot, and attach it to the bottom of the first one. You can do this as often as possible to get a whole vertical panorama of an app or webpage. You can draw on the final product or save it.

Shoot RAW Photos

Note 5 has a fantastic camera, just like the Galaxy S6. Still, you can try making them even better with RAW photo capture. A RAW file contains the full output from the image sensor without any processing. These files are significant and must be edited using software like Lightroom on the desktop. However, you have much more power to get a photo looking just the way you want. To enable this feature, turn on the mode in the camera app. Then open the settings and find the Save as RAW file toggle.

Customize Your Home Screen With Themes

Samsung’s theme engine is included with the Note 5; it can help smooth over some TouchWiz rough edges. There were a few good options when the Galaxy S6 came out, but there are some excellent ones now. The light and dark Material themes are fascinating, giving the phone a stock Android vibe. Samsung lists some paid themes in the store, but most are free. You can access the theme store from the main settings under Personal >Themes.