How to access the test menu on a Samsung Galaxy S3

Despite the Samsung Galaxy S3 being a brand new piece of kit which has only been out for a matter of months, some people will have had issues with it. Thankfully Samsung have given us, the users, a chance to test the various features of our phones via their in built "Test menu", a feature that allows us to check that pretty much every part of our phone works in the correct manner.


 To access the test menu on the Samsung Galaxy S3 you need to open "Phone" app and dial "*#0*#". As soon as you dial the second "#" you will be taken to the Test menu (see the screenshot on the right) which allows you to test many of the features of the phone (as you can see on the right hand side).

Whilst many of the tests are rather complex, or boring a few of them are very interesting and useful. For example the "Touch" test gives you a chance to test that the touch screen works thoroughly, in fact even allows you to "pass" the test.

Despite some of the test being useful, I am a little bit perplexed as to how the "Sensor" test manages to, once again, feature this rather horrifying dog (which was also used in the Samsung Galaxy S3 in a similar manner). Despite it's haunting eyes the dog seems to serve little real purpose.

Whilst I hope no one needs to test their Samsung Galaxy S3 I assume that many will. This allows users to check if the fault is a hardware fault (for example an area of the screen that might be dead) or just an app that isn't working properly, so make sure to test the phone via the menu before taking it to the store.

How to take a screenshot on a Samsung Galaxy S3

Just over a year ago we did a guide looking at how to do screen shots with the Samsung Galaxy S2, now however the Galaxy S2 has been over taken as the Samsung flagship device by the Galaxy S3, the new Samsung super phone. We thought it would make sense to a similar guide to explain how to take screen shots (also known as "screen captures" or "print screens" with a Samsung Galaxy S3.

Firstly you need to go onto a screen that you want to capture. For most this will be
something like their homescreen or a screen that has something interesting on (perhaps high battery use or odd data use), for this example we're using a home screen.

Whilst on the screen you want to capture you need to press and hold the phone's "Home" button on the centre of the phone and the "Lock" (or power) button on the right hand edge of the phone for about 2 seconds. After holding the buttons the screen will flash for an instant and then you will get two messages-
1-On the status bar you will see a message saying "Saving screenshot..."
2-A second or so later a massage on the lower part of the screen will show "Copied to clip board"

After these messages you will be able to find your screenshots saved in the "Gallery" app in a folder called "Screenshots".

Note-For people who used the Samsung Galaxy S2 with Gingerbread, the technique is almost identical. If however you used the Samsung Galaxy S2 with the updated updated Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) the technique is widely different.

How to add words to the Samsung Galaxy S2 dictionary

 We've recently looked at adding words to the Swype dictionary though lets be honest not everyone is a fan of Swype and some people do like to use the default Samsung keypad on a Samsung Galaxy S2, fear not you too can add words to your dictionary.

Firstly you will need to open the setting screens and then find the "Language and keyboard" settings which will look something like the screenshot to the left. In here you will need to select "Samsung Keypad".


After clicking on the "Samsung Keypad" option you will see a screen like the one on the right hand side. You may need to scroll down to find it though the option you need to select is "XT9 advanced settings" which you can see in the image on the right.


In the "XT9 advanced settings" screen you need to scroll down to "XT9 my words" which is quite close to the bottom of this screen. This is where all the words you've added to the dictionary can be found...including those you've added by accident when you've mistyped something.


Whilst in the "XT9 my words" screen (see the image to right) you will find a host of words you've added. On this screen you need to press the phone's "Menu" button and you will be see an option on the bottom of the screen saying "Add". Click on the "Add" option and then type the word into the following screen and select "Done". After clicking on "Done" the word will be registered on your XT9 dictionary.

Whilst this seems an awful lot of effort you can add a lot of words at once when you get to the "My words" part of it so add a bunch of words and you'll be fine.

How to turn on 5.1 sound on a Samsung Galaxy S2

 If you've been using you're Samsung Galaxy S2 as an MP3 player and using the default music application you may well have see the small "5.1 ch" option towards the top left of the screen. If you've been a little bit curios odds are you've decided, at some point, to click it and been met with the message you can see on the screen shot to the right:
"5.1 channel can only be activated when sounds effects are off"

If like me you like to tinker about you'll almost certainly have clicked on the menu button and clicked settings then made sure you put "Sound effects" on normal. Then you've gone back and clicked the 5.1 option....and seen the same message ago.

 If you now click on "Menu" and then "Settings" what you now need to do is also make sure "Equaliser" is ALSO set to Normal. Make sure your settings screen looks like the screenshot to the left in regards to the top 2 options (Note: Visualisation can be left unchecked). When you've set things like this press the "back" button on the phone.

If you now press on the 5.1 button you will see it lights up.and you'll have your headphones providing you with 5.1 dolby surround sound technology giving a very different feel to your music the really adds something.



Note: 5.1 is only available when using headphones as he phone speakers cannot provider the correct channel. Pressing the option with out headphones being connected will see a message appear on the screen telling you that headphones are needed for 5.1 playback.

How to use the FM Radio on the Samsung Galaxy S2

One of the most useful functions of the Samsung Galaxy S2 android powered smartphone is the fact it has an inbuilt FM Radio. To access it you merely need to open the application whilst you have a set of headphones connected to the handset. The headphones act as the antennae so these will need to be connected.

When you first open the application it will do an Auto scan that will go through the FM frequencies and find any available channels.
All the available channels will be listed after the scan and allow you to select one to listen to in a list format (as you can see in the image to the left hand side). These channels, or stations if you prefer, will include national radio (in the UK these will include Radio 1, Radio 2, Classic FM) and local radio stations (in my case things like The Bay and Radio Cumbria).

If you click the phones back button at this stage you will open the FM Radio's normal interface which allows you to add 4 "quick select" channels along the bottom, quick scroll between channels by pressing the arrows and tuning it with the dial in the middle.

The volume can be controlled through the volume button in the top right hand whilst the player can be turned off via the control in the top right hand corner. Overall it's very simple to get to work and has a number of little tricks we will be looking at in the next entry on this blog.

Note:
Make sure your headphones are FULLY inserted, you may not get a working signal if they aren't fully connected.

How to add an appointment to your Calendar on a Samsung Galaxy S2

 So we've added all out friends birthday's to the calendar on our Samsung Galaxy S2 thanks to syncing the calendar to facebook, but now we want to add more, we want to save important meetings and appointments.To do this we need to open the Calendar application (which you will find in the App drawer or on a home screen) and find the date of your appointment. In the case of this example the date will be tomorrow (Wednesday 20th July). Clicking on that date will open the create event screen that you
can see to the left.

On the create event screen you will be able to add the details of your appointment or event. The information includes what it's called, where it is, what time, a reminder and even the chance to add who it's with from your contact list.

When you've filled in all of the relevant details you need to click on "Save" at the bottom of the screen to make sure it is saved. After doing that you will be put back on your calendar screen with your new appointment added to the date you clicked on, as you can see now with the example showing "Meeting" at 11 o'clock in Barrow in Furness.

How to add contacts to your Samsung Galaxy S2

So we've just gotten some hotties number and now we want to add it to our phone so we can call them (but only after obeying Barney Stinson's 3-Day rule). Though how exactly do you add a new contact on to your Samsung Galaxy S2 smart phone?

Start by pressing the phone button on the front screen to open up a screen like the one on the right. From here you need to simply type in the new contacts number remember to include any area codes (for landlines) that you may need as your phone will need them to actually make a successful call.

After you start to input a number you will see an option to "Add to Contacts" appear under the number. When you finish typing the number press this little option. You will then be asked where
you want to save the contact to, either your Phone or your linked Google account. You select which here, though I'd recommend using your google account personally as it will still be there when you upgrade your phone as well.

 When you've selected where you want to save it too you will have the chance to input a lot of information about the contact
(no not their vital statistics, hair colour or height) including name, e-mail address, IM address, Nicknames, even birthday.

Although it can be a little bit more effort than just typing in a number and adding the contact the Samsung Galaxy S2 (or SGS2) really does let you store a lot about your contacts. Infact if your the forgetful type it'll even help remind your about your anniversary (there is an anniversary option to store in the contacts, I kid you not). The contacts, should, sync up with your calender which is a wonderful little bonus and really does make life that little bit easier.

Remember also your contacts from Facebook if you've linked that accounts will be synced so you won't need to add everyone of those individually.