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 access the Task manager on a Samsung Galaxy S3

Modern day smartphones, including the excellent Samsung Galaxy S3 run a huge variety of apps ranging from games to media players and sometimes we need to close apps that aren't running properly. The easiest and quickest way to close apps is via the phones inbuilt "Task manager", which allows you to see what tasks (apps) are open, how much of the processor they are using and how much memory they are needing as well as "Force closing" apps.

To get to the "Task manager" on the Samsung Galaxy S3 (and most modern Android phones) you start by holding the phones "Home" button until you see a screen like the
one in the screenshot on the left. This screen will show the most recently used apps (allowing you to swiftly close or access those apps) as well 2 options at the bottom of the screen-"Task manager" and "Remove all".

If you click on the "Task manager" option you get to open the Task manager" which looks like the image on the right, with a dark screen and a list of currently active Apps (not just the recently opened apps). If you click on "Exit" you get given the chance to "Exit" (or force close) the app, or keep the app running (by clicking on "OK").

Whilst most current apps should run perfectly well on a Samsung Galaxy S3 some will end up crashing and need to be force closed before they operate properly. As a result I'd advice knowing how to force close apps and how to get to the task manager.

How to hide folders and files on a Samsung Galaxy S3

In today's world we all have things we want to hide, be it dirty pictures or music we're ashamed of, thankfully if you have a Samsung Galaxy S3 your phone has an easy to use method of hiding files. Firstly we need to open up the "My Files" part of the phone, you might need to go through the Apps screen to find this app, which has a folder type icon.

In side the "My Files" app you will see a list of all the folders on your phone. At this screen press the phones "Menu" button to get the contextual menu. In the menu you will see a list of options (see the screenshot on the right) including "Create folder", click on that one.



After clicking on "Create folder" option you will be able to name the folder, make sure to start the folder's name with a ".", as you can see in the example on the left (where I've named the folder ".hidden"). The "." at the beginning of the name will hide the folder from the phones default visible folder list. You can move any files you want into a hidden folder to hide those files as well as the folders.

Despite being hidden by default you can make the phone show these folders allowing you to find the folders (and files inside them) with out too much hassle, but that's for a different guide...

How to change the lock screen shortcuts on a Samsung Galaxy S3?

Yesterday we looked at using the shortcuts on the lock screen of the Samsung Galaxy S3, now we will look at changing what shortcuts show on the lock screen.

The first stage is to open up your home screen and then press the phone's "menu" button (the button that is next to the home button). This will open up the home screen menu which should look something like the small list on the image on the left. The list will feature "Edit", "Create folder", "Search" and "Settings", from here you need to select "Settings".

After entering the "Settings" screen you will see a screen like the one on the right with a list of various settings that you can tinker with. From the list you need to scroll down to the "Security" setting which you can see in the image on the right hand side.

After opening the "Security" settings you will see a new list of items. From this screen you need to select the second option down entitled "Lock screen options".

 Inside the "Lock screen options" screen you will see another list
of options with the top one being "Shortcuts" being the top one.
Beside "Shortcuts" you will see a green icon, leave the green icon alone (or if it's not there then slide the grey icon over so it becomes green). This will simply mean that shortcuts are actually on your home screen. After making sure that shortcuts are on, click on the word "Shortcuts".

After clicking on "Shortcuts" you should see a screen like the one on the left with the icons you currently have as shortcuts showing. From here you need to select the shortcut you would like to replace. For this example I'm going to replace the "S Voice" icon with the "Music player" icon, allowing me to go straight to my music player from the lock screen, though you can select any app on your phone. So at this point select (or press on) the icon that relates to the app you would like to replace.

After clicking on the app you want to replace you will be given a list of all the apps on your phone. From here you select the app icon you wish to have a shortcut too.  What you need to remember at this screen is that they are in alphabetic order so you may need to scroll through a lot of apps before finding the one you want to use. After finding the app you want to use click on the icon.

After clicking the icon of the app you want to use you will be taken back to the previous screen though now the app you wish to use will replace the app that you wanted replace. As you can see in our screen shot, the "S Voice" has been replaced by the "Music player" icon.

Now you are effectively done and can either go back to fiddle with other settings that you may want to change or you can go back to the home screen (or do whatever else you wish to do with the handset). Just remember the next time you lock the phone you will see the new icon where the other one was. As you can see in this final picture, the "Music player" app is now on the lock screen as a shortcut.

How to use the lock screen shortcuts on a Samsung Galaxy S3

If you've recently got yourself a Samsung Galaxy S3 Android powered smartphone you may have noticed that the lock screen typically features some icons at the bottom of the screen. On most other (older) Androids these icons aren't present however they act as easy to access shortcuts which allow you to jump immediately from a lock screen to the app in question. What this effectively means is that you don't need to unlock your phone, scroll to the app you want to use and select it instead you just need to use the shortcut.

So the next question is "How do I use them?" Well that is an easy question to answer. To use the "Shortcuts" on the lock screen you simply need to hold your finger on the relevant icon (for this example I'll be using the "Camera" icon) then swipe, or drag, the icon for a second or two into the middle of the screen.

After swiping the shortcut icon you will instantly be taken to the app you wanted to open. As you can see in the image to the right I dragged the Camera icon which then
opened up the Camera app (as seen on the left).

You are actually able to select which icons appear as shortcuts, allowing you to have shortcuts to any app that's on your phone. If you wish to change the shortcuts then give this guide a read.

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 take a Screenshot on a Samsung Galaxy S2 with ICS

When the Samsung Galaxy S2 first came out it was using the "Gingerbread" version of Android since then however the Galaxy S2 has been updated to "Ice Cream Sandwich" (or ICS). Whilst the update to ICS was a pretty big step forward it also changed a few things about how the phone operated, notably how a user took a screen shot.

 Originally to take a screen shot with the Samsung Galaxy S2
 a user had to press the Home Button and then swiftly press the power button, as described in our original guide.

Now however the user needs to press and hold both the volume down and the power button for around 2 seconds. After doing this the phone screen will "flash" and you will get a message like the one in the screen shot on the right with the phrase "Saving Screenshot..."  This means your screenshot is taken.

A few seconds after the "Saving" message you will see a new message saying "Copied to clipboard" then you are all done and the image is saved. From here you can either "Paste" the image into an e-mail or message (as long as it's still in your clipboard) or go into your gallery and find the "Screenshots" folder, where the screenshots will now be stored in.

Note-This isn't as easy as the old method, so you may find yourself needing practice. The best advice is to hold both buttons until the screen flashes, if the volume shows on the screen however try again.