How do I set my MP3's as an alarm tone?

Whilst we've recently looked at just setting a plain alarm some people really want to personalise these sorts of things and want to use their favourite songs as an alarm tone. Oddly although it's very possible it's not quite done the way you may have just "expected it" to be done. In fact for this guide we actually begin at the music app and not the alarm app. From here we need to find a song we want to use for this example I
will be using "Always Right Behind You" by the Zutons.

When you find the song on your music list hold on it for a second or two and you will see a pop up menu appear over the list of tracks. It will look something like the image on the life and from here you will need to select the "Set as". If this all feels rather familiar so far it's because it's the same method as setting a personalised ring tone instead of selecting "Phone ringtone" at the next screen you need to select "Alarm tone".

After you click on "Alarm tone" you will be taken back to the "Alarm" screen where you need to press "Create alarm" and create an alarm as you would via the usual alarm creation screen. When you've selected your time, days and volume you just need to click on "Save" and you've saved your own alarm with your own MP3's once again allowing you to add your own personal touch to your Samsung Galaxy S2.

How to change your text skin on a Samsung Galaxy S2

One of the more obscure features of the Samsung Galaxy S2 is the ability to change how your text conversations look. The phone, by default, has 5 different "text" skins and can be changed very easily.

By default the message skin is "Blue" though to change it you need to access your messaging app then press the "menu" button and then settings. After doing that you should see a screen like the one on the right. The first option, as you can see is "Message skin".
After pressing on "Message skin" you open up a revolving menu that allows you to select one of the 5 in built skins. Although they aren't anything overly amazing it is another step towards personalising your Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone and is yet another option for you to use in making your phone feel like it's really yours.

Although, using various applications, most obviously "Handscent" does allow you more options, for those that would rather not download Handscent this does allow you to set your phone apart from that of a friend.


To the left here is the default "Blue" skin whilst on the right we have the "Evergreen" skin in use. As you can see there is some difference there though admittedly it's not something that will set the world on fire. It would be nice to have some more impressive ones though it's a nice bonus all the same.

How to change the font on your Samsung Galaxy S2

 Along with everything else you can do to personalise your Samsung Galaxy S2 (SGS2) smartphone you can also change the font. Although the selection is relatively limited to begin with there is an ability to buy more form the Market (though these do feel over-priced and aren't worth their money on the whole).

To change the font just follow this guide which starts on the right with the "Setting" screen. From here you need to click on "Display" which is by default the 4th option down.  The display settings menu, for illustrative purposes can be seen on the screen capture to the left of this paragraph. From this list of settings you need to slick on the top one, the "Screen display option"


The "Screen display option should look something like the screen on the right here, The top option, as you can see, says "Font style" if you click on this you open up a new menu which 
contains the fonts available to you. In my case I've got the option of the Default font, Choco cooky and Helvetica S (as you can see to the left).


When you change the font setting you'll notice that everything looks very different. The below example shows a text conversation with the Choco cooky font being used on the phone. As you can see the font looks a lot more fun and less serious than some of the others and can be a good way to personalise your phone.

Ways to personalise your Samsung Galaxy S2

So far in this blog we've looked at both setting up a ringtone for the Samsung Galaxy S2 (or SGS2) and for changing the wallpaper (or homescreen) on the phone. Though there is more than just that to personalising your phone, in fact there is much, much more to changing the way your phone looks and operates.





Firstly you can set up your own "home screens", by clicking on the menu button and then pressing on the "Add" button which allows you to add things like applications shortcuts, widgets and a number of other things.


If we look to the left we can see the menu that allows us to add things like shortcuts. These are incredibly useful and can be placed along any of the 7 homescreens. These effectively help you move from the home screen to the apps swiftly and effectively. In my case the home screens each have their own uses
with the 1st homescreen being the general
activity screen whilst screen 4 (to the right) is what I've set as a gaming screen.

 As well as changing the way the phone looks you can also change the way the phone actually functions. You can download a number of alternative keyboards though with out even needing to do that you can change the way you type to changing the input method to "Swype". So far we have found 2 separate ways to turn one swype, which is a completely different way of writing texts.
Method 1 can be found here
Method 2 can be found here

As well as changing how you write texts you can also change the way all the text on the phone looks by changing the font on the phone which is incredibly easy and can again make a phone feel that bit like it's really yours.

Even doing things like browsing the net is easily personalised. You can choose from a number of browsers to use, not just the in built default one. Personally I'd advise using both the Skyfire and Opera Mini browsers and deciding which of those two you prefer.

Of course if you want to root your phone you can open up a host of other personalisation settings though personally I'm not looking down that alley so won't be looking at those options.

How to set a ring tone on a Samsung Galaxy S2

Although Android phones are some of the best on the market (in fact  I'd go as far as to say the Samsung Galaxy S2 IS the best phone on the market right now) they do make some things much more complicated than they need to. One thing that never was as straightforward as it should have been was setting a ringtone. This how to guide will walk you through one of the methods of setting a ring tone on a Samsung Galaxy S2, the same method can be applied to a number of other Android phones including the HTC Wildfire (and presumably the whole HTC android range).

The first step it to open the "Music" application. Here it is shown on the home screen image between the "BBC iPlayer" and "YouTube" apps.
When you've opened the music player the next step is to find the track you want to use for your ring tone. If like me, you have a very deep collection of music on your phone (in my case over 800 songs) you may have a small nightmare so use the albums and artists options to narrow down the search for all elusive track.

When you've found the track you need to select it. This will usually mean the song automatically plays, though you can pause it before it's started if you want to do it all silently.

In this example we will be using Billy Joel's excellent track "An Innocent Man" from the album "An Innocent man". After selecting the track you need to then press menu and you will again open a small menu at the bottom of the screen. At this point you need to select the option "Set as" which will open a menu that looks like the one below.

When you get to this screen you select what you want to use that track in particular for. Do you want to set a Phone ringtone (which will play when ever you get a call), a Call ringtone (which will play when a specific person rings) or an alarm tone (to go off when you need waking up).

If you wish to select a number of different Caller ringtones you just go through the process again from the song selection part and and select different callers. Whilst if you wish to change the ringtone at any time you just start this process from the beginning. It is worth noting however that this isn't the only way to set a ringtone on the Samsung Galaxy S2.
Like setting a different wallpaper, choosing a ring tone is another way to personalise your Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone and put your stamp on the handset to show that it's yours.

How to change the wallpaper on a Samsung Galaxy S2

So you've had your Samsung Galaxy S2 for a little while now and you've finally decided you want to change the way the phone looks, you want to choose a different wallpaper (or if you rather "change the home screen"). The only problem is you're not sure on how you change the wallpaper of your Samsung Galaxy S2, well read on this little guide will take you by the hand and help you change it.

The first step is to press the menu button on the phone to bring up the small menu on the bottom of the screen (as you can see on the picture to the right) from here, you rather predictably press on "Wallpaper".

After pressing wall paper you get given 3 options. "Gallery", "Wallpaper gallery" and "Live Wallpapers". The "Gallery" option allows you to use the pictures that are on your phone, be they downloaded images, screen captures or camera photographs, the Wallpaper gallery has a number of pre-loaded designs whilst the Live wallpapers also has a number of inbuilt designs, it's one of those that we will be using.

When you click on which ever type of wallpaper you wish to use you will be given a host of different ones. For the Live wallpapers I've been given the options to the right and gone for the very bottom one "Windy weather" which uses the current weather for where I am as the basis for the wallpaper. The weather information is taken from "Accuweather.com" the same company that do the apps and as you can see in the image below it's raining where I am.
In the background of this wallpaper the "live" parts are the up to date weather readings, the windmills spinning in the backgrounds and the effects the various weather effects have. Though of course you can pick any wallpaper that is on the phone. Just remember one of the tips from the recent blog about getting the most from your battery- a live wallpaper will use up your battery quicker than a still wallpaper.



 Tinkering with the the wallpaper/homescreen is one of many ways to personalise your Samsung Galaxy S2 just the way you want it. As well as sticking the face of a loved one in the background you can of course select a ringtone that suits you which is another way of making a phone feel like it's your phone.