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.