How to answer a call on a Samsung Galaxy S3

 Although we all like to think we know what we're doing when we get a new phone the sad truth of the matter is that we aren't all technologically able. So in this guide we're going to show you how to do the most basic of things with your Samsung Galaxy S3, how to answer calls. After all what's the point in having a phone if your not going to answer it?

When somebody calls you, you will see a screen like the one in the screenshot to the left. The screen will show a number (or name if you've saved the number and given them a name), an image in the middle (if it's a contact it will show the picture you've saved for the contact), two different icons-a green phone and a red phone, as well as the "Reject call message" (click here for more on that option) option at the other. From here answering a call is really easy.

When you receive a call you can either decline it, answer it, or decline it and send a message. To decline the call you pull the red phone to the centre of the screen, if you do this you will be taken straight back to the screen you were on prior to the call. If however you want to answer the call, you pull the green icon into the centre.

If you answer the call you will be taken to a screen like the one on the right handside. Again all the call details are at the top of the screen (the person's number, the country and even the length of the call) and at the bottom you have various options such as ending the call, using speaker phone and even using the keypad (in cases where you may need to use a dial tone).

Hopefully, this guide aimed at the newest owners of the Samsung Galaxy S3 will help you take those vital calls!

How to find the Android Easter Egg on a Samsung Galaxy S3

As we all know Google like to add a lot of secret little Easter eggs to what they do and Android has, so far, not been any different with a number of little secrets tucked away. One of those has been the Android Easter Eggs that we first noticed back when the Samsung Galaxy S2 came out with the Gimgerbread version of Android. Thankfully for Easter egg hunters they've kept the same type of secret in the Samsung Galaxy S3 (and presumably all Android phones running Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3).

To find the Android Easter egg you need to start by opening up the Settings screen
(see the screenshot on the left) and then scrolling all the way to the bottom where an option entitled "About device" appears. If you click on "About device" you will be taken to a pretty boring looking screen with a lot of options greyed out (see the screen shot on the right). For technophiles the information on this screen this is probably very interesting, for the rest of us however it's rather boring and/or confusing so ignore it all except the "Android Version" part. Instead tap where the phone says "Android version" a few times in quick succession.

After pressing on the "Android version" option a few times you will see the Android Ice Cream Sandwich icon/mascot on what looks to be a lake. If you press on him a few times he will come "closer" to you, almost skipping to the foreground. After a few presses the screen then changes to show an army of the mascot's flying across the screen from left to right.

There appears to  be no real reason for this to have been put on to the phone though it's again a nice treat from Google who have slowly developed what was once a still picture Easter egg, into a very interesting little bonus.

Please note-This has only been tried on a Samsung Galaxy S3, it will presumably however work on all phones running Android 4.0.3.

How to reveal hidden folders on a Samsung Galaxy S3

 In a recent guide I looked at hiding files on a Samsung Galaxy S3, now however I will show you how to reveal those files, allowing you easy access to whatever pictures, videos, songs or other files you felt the need to hide.


Firstly you need to open up the "My files" app which will leave you with a list of your visible folders (as you can see in the image on the left of the screen). On this screen you need to press the phone's "menu" button and scroll down the options menu until you come across a option called "Settings".


After clicking on "Settings" you will see a new screen with just 3 options. From this screen you need to put a tick in the box of the top option so that the "My files" app will start to show "Hidden" files. Remember all hidden folders begin with a "." in front of them and this will include the ones built into the phone as well as the ones you've added yourself.

After ticking the box to "Show hidden files" you need to press on the phones "back" button which will take you to the list of folders on your phone, which now includes ALL the hidden folders. As you can see in the screenshot on the right, my phone doesn't currently include many hidden folders (or files) though you can make as many hidden folders and files as you wish (though ALL will be shown when you tell the phone to show them).

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.