How to get the most from the Samsung Galaxy S2 Camera

With an 8MP auto focus still camera and an 1080p HD video camera on the phone (as well as a 2MP front facing camera for video calls) you may be astounded by just the raw numbers.So lets look at just how you can get the best pictures from the phone.

Although I'm no where near a professional photographer I'll just be giving you the quick tips to improve your photographs. These, on the whole, come from just tinkering with the phones inbuilt settings which can be found by pressing the "cog" icon on the phones "camera" screen.

The first setting you come across that you will want to learn about is is the "Scene mode". This allows you to set the phones settings to several default modes that help take pictures based on the surroundings. If you look at the image to the right you can see some of the "Scenes", and they are all suited to certain photographs. For example taking a picture of a persons face is best taken in the "Portrait" scene whilst a "Night" shot is taken in the dark and is a slower picture that can take a few seconds to take (but is extremely good quality as long as you don't shake the phone).

One of the absolute major settings is the "Resolution" setting. The best on the phone is the 8MP setting which has a resolution of 3264 x 2448 (and is the top one on the list you can see to the side) whilst the 0.3MP (640 x 480) is the lowest quality. For the best images take them on 8MP as they do look, a lot better than with the other settings.


 Another setting you will find yourself using an awful lot is the "White balance" setting. This is basically the setting for the type of lighting conditions you are in. The selection of the right setting here can turn a very good photo into an excellent one and is worth setting correctly every time.


The last key setting you will find yourself wanting to check is the "Image quality" setting. This, alongside "resolution", are arguably the two that make the biggest difference when taking images in good lighting conditions. A "Normal" image can show jagged edges at times especially when taking images that have smooth circular edges on them, "Superfine" however makes the edges of items look really well defined and is an essential setting.

As well as those mentioned above things likes "Flash", "Exposure value", "Focus mode" and a number of other settings are there for more experienced photographers to play with.

How to delete apps from a Samsung Galaxy S2

So you've downloaded an app on to your brand new Samsung Galaxy S2 and you don't like it, it's a bit rubbish or doesn't even work and now you want rid of it, but you don't know how. This guide will walk you right through the process starting from the settings screen. If you don't know how to get to the settings screen you need to click the menu button on the phone and then click on "Settings.

 The settings screen gives you a long list of of options (as you can see on the right) and you need to access the "Applications" option (which you can see at the bottom of the list on the right.

 When you open up the Applications part of the settings menu you come to the screen to the left with a list of sub settings. From here you can see lots of information though the option you need to access is "Manage applications" (the second choice from the top). This opens up a list of the applications you've got on the phone (look the the right of this paragraph) and although you may need to click on "All" along the top to find the app you want to delete they are easy to find (and listed alphabetically). In this example I'll be deleting the poor game "Droppa Lite" which I reviewed for the sister site (and gave a mere 12/50 and an E mark)

After finding the application you want to uninstall you need to click on it and then you will open up a new screen that looks something like the screen to the left. This screen has a lot of the applications details including the storage space used and allows you to move it to the SD card or, as you can see near the top, "Uninstall". By clicking on uninstall you take one step closer to taking the application off the mobile device.

After pressing uninstall you will be taking to a new screen, this is the last chance you have to change your mind. If you still wish to uninstall the app from your Samsung Galaxy S2 (or any other android phone for that matter) you need to click "OK". If you've changed your mind however you need to click "Cancel" on the bottom of the screen. Within seconds of clicking "OK" the app will be deleted and you'll get a screen similar to the one below.

If you uninstall an application by accident then you can go back to the Android Market and download it again so it's no big worry if you do get the wrong one (though I seem to think that any save files your have for the game will also be deleted).

With other Android phones, most notably the HTC phones with small storage space you may want to know how to delete applications. The same method is applicable there too, thankfully due to the HUGE internal storage of the Samsung Galaxy S2 you will be unlikely to need to download to save space, though with the poor quality of some apps you will find a need to delete some.

Deleting pictures from the Samsung Galaxy S2 (the Gallery method)

So we've got a new Samsung Galaxy S2 and used the camera to take a few shots with the brilliant 8MP camera....except they're just not very good pictures and now we're looking through them we actually don't want to keep them. We sit there for a second or two and ask ourselves how we go about deleting them. As with most things with modern day phones there is always more than 1 method but lets just look at the most simple method.

Firstly go to the Gallery app and then click on the “Camera” option. From here we can see all the photographs on the phone and we can easily find which picture or pictures we want to delete. From the gallery mode you should press the either the menu button or hold on one of the image. After doing one of those you will see a small set of options appear at the bottom of the the screen including “Share via”, “Delete” and “More”. What you need to do is select the photographs you want to delete (placing a green tick in the corner of them) then press on delete.

After pressing delete you will be asked to confirm your choice, click on “Confirm deletions” and the selected photographs will be deleted from the handset.

Of course there is other options to delete the images using things like Kies or windows explorer (and a computer/laptop) as well as deleting directly from the Camera app (if we decide the picture needs deleting immediately) though for most occasions using the gallery app is the best, the quickest and the easiest. 

 This picture shows the menus that we see on the Gallery screen, press on the images to select them

 In this picture you can see the confirmation prompt, to delete it you need to "Confirm deletion".

How to take Screen Captures with the Samsung Galaxy S2

Although it's not a necessity for most, some phone users do ask “is it possible to take a screen shot of my phone?”

The answer is simple. Most of the time it is indeed possible to take print screens or screen captures of mobile phones. Depending on the actual phone however you may need to find yourself doing very different things. Most phones require you to download a computer program and have the phone and computer connected by a USB cable to use your computer to take the screen capture. This is how many websites take the screen captures for things like phone reviews and showing off features.

Rather than looking at the overly complex system involved in what the programs do we will look at how Samsung phones take screen captures. This feature has been in the most recent Samsung's including the Samsung Wave and now the highly acclaimed Samsung Galaxy S2. The way the Samsung phones take screen shots, or as they are known by some as "screen captures" or even "print screens",  is incredibly simple and is actually an in-built feature that seems to be lacking in almost all the other phones.

By holding the “Home” button and pressing the “lock” button at the same time you will manage to use the secret “Screen capture” function of the phone which will take a print screen of the phone exactly how it is. The quality of this is far superior to using another phone (or camera) to take a picture and for people who want to use a picture of the screen this is an almost valuable tool.

If you are successful when you try the phone will vibrate and a message will appear on the phone saying “Screen captured. Saved as image file”. These image files can be found very easily on the phone by looking in the Screen Capture folder of the phone for use later on.

Quick tips:
If at first you find your phone locking or going to the menu just try again.
Hold the "home" button for a slight moment before pressing the lock button (to stop the phone from locking)

Hopefully this guide will help you take screen captures with your Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone.

Edit:
I've noticed a few people finding this place through google (hi folks) with one person googling "Screen capture directory"

The directory will be something along the lines of Computer\GT-I9100\Phone\ScreenCapture when connected to a Windows 7 computer. On the phone by it's self they can be found in Gallery\ScreenCapture. Hope that helps you with making the screen capture function of the Samsung Galaxy S2 as useful as it is for me.

For those wanting to know about the quality of image from a screen capture all the pictures of the Samsung Galaxy S2 screens have been done via this method of screen capturing.

Samsung Galaxy S2 secrets

Whilst using the Samsung Galaxy S2 you may want to know what secrets the phone has and what little tricks we have to play with. Whilst the Samsung Galaxy S2 has a number of widely known features which are covered in the manual it also has a lot of hidden secrets that we can take advantage of.

Firstly the “Zoom” feature for the browser and gallery.
This is a trick that is featured in the manual and often comes up on the screen when we open a number of programs. To use it you need to place a finger on either side of the screen then tilt the phone up and down. This is a new function and one that is useful for some though using the “pinch” method is generally just as easy and a little bit more 

 “natural” to users.

Secondly is the “Print Screen” feature
This is a feature that has been carried over from some earlier Samsung's including the Samsung Wave. This is the method I get pictures for the site through and what you need to do is press the “menu” and the “lock” button at the same time. If you press them right the phone will vibrate then give a small message saying “Screen captured. Saved as image file.” These files will be stored in a folder called “ScreenCapture”.

The phone also had a shortcut to the "Task manager". The typical way of getting to the Task manager is through the application screen however if you hold down the "Home" button you get a list of the last few apps you've had open and an option to open the task manager. This saves a lot of time if you are wanting to find the task manager.

The phone also has a secret search function that appears if you hold the menu button on the homescreen and acts much like the "search button" on other android phones. This is something that very cleverly allows Samsung to take off the much maligned "Search" button and yet also have a search function. Clever lot these Samsung folk.


So some new things well...did you know that by using a tethered connection (guide here) you can actually use the phone as a Wi-Fi card allowing a computer without a Wi-Fi adapter to connect to a wireless hub inside your home!

If you slide your finger along the notification bar (the bar that has the clock and the signal bars on) you can change the brightness of the phone. If you slide your finger to the right you will make the screen brighter if you scroll it to the left you will darken the screen.

We've also found that the Samsung Galaxy S2 has a secret test menu that allows you to check if you're phone is in perfect working order with tests ranging from the Proximity sensor to checking the vibration and accelerometer.

And course we've also learned how to access that tricky to access 5.1. dolby surround sound now we've had a longer play with the phone.

Samsung Kies Air

One of the most useful things on the Samsung phones is the "Kies" system that Samsung have been using over the past few years. In the past it has been relatively limited and flawed though Samsung have completely re-done the system and for the Samsung Galaxy S2 they've implemented a new version. The "Kies air" system completely re-writes the system and turns it into one of the most useful tools on any Smartphone today. If we open it by clicking on the icon we get to use a PC to play with the files on the phone.



After we open the app we see this screen here which basically tells us what we need to know about the app. It's a program that doesn't require any computer software, it doesn't require any cables and as long as you have a wifi network set up you can access you entire phone via your laptop or PC.

To start you click start at this screen then get given an IP address to type into your internet browser.

 When the app has been accessed and you've got the IP address from this screen here you need to type it into your browser. From here you will know whether your connection is active and what network you are connected to. To stop the app at anyone point you merely need to click on "Stop".






When you've typed your address into the internet browser you will see something like this come up which effectively allows you to access all the files you've put on the phone. This allows you to download files to the phone or upload them from the phone as well as deleting files, calls, documents and texts. It really is such an amazing piece of kit that you will find yourself using a lot especially if you lose your USB cable...


The system is amazing and once you get used to it you'll realise just how revolutionary and how slick it is.

Cheapest places to get a Samsung Galaxy S2

After a very quick look on yahoo answers I recently found out one of the most popular questions about the Samsung Galaxy S2 was about the price. Although I can't guarantee that I've found the cheapest here are certainly some of the best.

Contract (direct with the company)
From Free with pretty much any network. The lowest tariff cost for the phone I could find was around the £30 marker.
3-The 3 network do the phone on a “TEXT 500” plan for £30 a month with 500 minutes & 1GB data
O2-The best deal from O2 seems to be their £29 tariff which comes with 600 minutes & 300MB data
Orange-The deals with Orange range from £40 (500MB data and 1200 minutes) though are far from the cheapest
T-Mobile-The cheapest “free” deal with T-Mobile is an odd one with a cost of £35.75. It includes 900 minutes, 500 texts and a 500MB data “streaming” allowance as well as a flexible booster (which will add unlimited texts)
Vodafone-The company I'm with actually offer what I regard as the worst direct deal with customers. They charge £41 for 1200 minutes and 750MB internet (deal only available online).

For anyone not already connected to a network 3 is the obvious choice if you want to deal directly with a network (as opposed to going through a retailer such as Phones 4 U or the Carphone Warehouse). I wouldn't advise actually taking up any of these offers to be honest. What is interesting, if you already have a contract with one, is just how much a company will try to keep you. In the case of Vodafone I know they bent quite a lot from their original price.

Contract (Via highstreet retailers)
Carphone warehouse-The deals with each of the networks are better than dealing directly with the providers, the best one I saw was with Vodafone for £30 which included 500MB data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts. 02's best deal cost an extra £2 for 100 minutes more than Vodafone one.

Although I think we all assume going directly to the networks is cheapest it turns out using 3^rd party retailers is actually cheaper (as they get discounts). The differences are huge and as a result I'd recommend you check out the high street retailers before you get your phone.

PAYG
3-£499.99
02-£479.99
Orange-Not available
T-Mobile-Not Available
Vodafone-Not available

This was a surprise that only 2 of the big 5 networks actually retail them as a PAYG handset. It was also shocking that neither Phones 4 U or Carphone Warehouse offered them on a PAYG deal via their websites. Whilst we accept the cost will be high for the handset it's shocking to see just how much it actually costs.

Disclaimer:
Remember though these prices will change and are only accurate at the time of this blog going up. Any fluctuations are beyond my control