Galaxy S5 Tips, Tricks and Secret Features
Power-up your Galaxy S5
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has become one of the most successful phones ever. Tens of millions of them are used worldwide.
But we'd bet less than one percent of Galaxy S5 users have got close to really tapping into the full potential of the phone. It can do an awful lot of stuff, and most of it is hidden under the surface.
Whether you're a new Galaxy S5 owner of have been using one for six months, we have the tips, tricks and secret features you need to unlock your phone's real power. We'll start off with the basics, but read on for some real advanced hints.
How to transfer your old contacts
The most annoying thing about changing phones is having to make sure all your data has made it over from your old mobile. Just put the SIM in, log into your Google account and you’ll invariably find – in our experience – that it hasn’t.
There are a few ways to make up for the missing bits. First, if you don’t have your old phone anymore you can download the Facebook and Twitter apps. If you have accounts, you’ll be asked whether you want to merge contacts data – do this and you’ll get plenty of extra bits.
If you have your old phone handy, there is a more refined way, though. In the Contacts/People app of your old phone, go to the Settings menu and look for an option called merge contacts/account. This will sync all your contacts data with a Google Mail account. Then when you login on the new phone, it’ll all sync over. Exactly how this info will be presented depends on the phone you use and how its UI works.
How to check you have the latest software update
These days phones invariably let you know when a software update pops up, and usually nag you about it until you give in and install it. But you can also check for yourself.
Go to the Galaxy S5’s Settings menu, flick down to About Device and in this menu select the top item – Software Update. Here you’ll see an Update Now option. This searches for any new (or downloaded) updates and prompts you to install them.
The general recommendation is to make sure you have backed-up any valuable data before updating. If we’re honest, we don’t always do this. But, hey, it’s your risk.
Getting photos off your phone
Getting photos off your phone is something people seem to do more and more rarely as the years pass, but the Galaxy S5 camera is actually able to capture photos worth printing out – it’s worth considering.
The Galaxy S5 lets you email your photos pretty easily. Go to the Gallery app, tap the icon that looks like the outline of a triangle with three little nodes in it and you’ll see the list of places you can ‘share’ your photo. Gmail is one of them.
Alternatively, to transfer a whole bunch of photos at once you’re better of doing so over USB. When plugged into a PC, your Galaxy S5’s storage will just show up as a disk drive. If you use a Mac, you’ll need to download the Android File Transfer app to get access. Search for it online.
Once into the file system, go into the DCIM folder, then the Camera folder. Here you’ll see all your photos arranged. Just drag and drop them.
If you have screenshots you want to pull off, they’ll be in the Screenshots folder in Pictures.
Using USB 3.0
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is one of the few phones with USB 3.0, which is why it has the funny port at the bottom instead of the usual microUSB one. It’s a neat feature, but you can’t just use it as normal and get the best out of it.
You need to use it with a USB 3.0 port on a PC or laptop. These are often coloured in blue (the inside bits), although increasingly they just look like normal USBs. To find out if your laptop has USB or not, the quickest way to do so is to look up its specs on the internet.
What does USB get you? It makes transferring files quicker and speeds-up USB charging. You’re still better off using a proper power socket, though.
SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs iPhone 6
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