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Become a Note 10 power user with gestures, S Pen tricks, helpful camera modes, and more
With the Samsung Note 10 and Note 10+, Samsung again packed more power into a handheld device than anyone ever dreamed possible. With the larger screen and the S Pen, the Note and Note 10+ are productivity powerhouses. Here’s a look at some of the advanced features available.
Bend the Samsung Note 10 and Note 10+ Display to Your Will
The Note 10 and Note 10+ included some features which weren’t previously available to let you get control of your device’s display. Now, you can adjust it to make it work the way you need it to.
- Use Dark Mode to Protect Your Eyes: To switch over to dark mode on your Note 10, navigate to Settings > Display and tap Dark to switch to Dark Mode.
View Your Apps in Split Screen View: To view two apps in split screen, you’ll need to open one of the two apps you want to use, then select the App Switcher icon and tap the app icon at the top of the thumbnail. When the menu opens, select Open in split screen view and navigate to the second app you want to use in Split Screen view. The two apps will open in Split Screen view and you can drag the middle dividing bar to change their size, or drag it all the way to the top or bottom to close one of the apps. - View Your Apps in Pop-Up View: Just as the split screen can be helpful, viewing your apps in Pop-Up View can also be useful. To do that, follow the same instructions for opening in Split Screen view, but choose Open in pop-up view instead. This opens the app in a small box. Then, you can tap the Decrease Size icon (a box with two center-facing arrows) to turn the pop-up windows into a circle icon you can move around the screen. You can also close the app by tapping the X or expand the app by tapping the Expand icon. Finally, you can change the transparency of the app by tapping the Transparency icon on the far left of the menu and dragging the slider to make it more transparent.
- Pin an App in Place: Keep others (like young children) from snooping around when using your phone. To lock an app in place you first have to enable the Pin Windows feature. Go to Settings, search for Pin, select the Pin Windows option, then tap to turn it on. Once activated, choose the App Switcher button and select the icon of the app you want to pin in place, select Pin this app. Once pinned, you can’t navigate out of it until you press the menu and back arrow at the same time. (You’ll have to log in again.)
Use Gestures to Do Things Faster
If your device runs at least One UI 2.0, then you have some additional gesture options you can use to navigate your phone.
- Get to Your Notification Panel Faster: You know you can swipe the window shade down to access your Notifications panel, but did you know you can two finger swipe down to open the Quick Settings menu? You can also enable swipe from anywhere on the screen to open your Notifications Panel or Quick Settings. To do that, tap-and-hold an empty spot on the Home screen, then select Home screen settings and enable Swipe down for notification panel.
- Fast App Switcher: To quickly toggle between two apps, double-tap the App Switcher icon to switch to the last app you were in. Double tap it again to return to the previous app.
- Get a True Full-Screen UI: Remove the virtual navigation buttons on the bottom of your screen by enabling Full Screen Gestures. To do that, go to Settings > Display > Navigation Bar and select Full screen gestures. Then tap more options and tap Swipe from sides and bottom. Now you have a full screen view of your device and you can swipe from the bottom and sides, as if the buttons were there.
Do More With the Note 10 and Note 10+ Camera
With the introduction of the Note 10 and 10+, the cameras became some of the best that have ever appeared in a Galaxy phone, and there are a few super useful features.
- Instagram Integration: In the camera, slide through the Camera Modes to Instagram. If Instagram isn’t showing, tap More and select Instagram. When in this mode, and when logged into Instagram, the photos you take will automatically start a new Instagram post.
- Move Your Shutter Button: You can put the shutter button on your camera in any location on the screen. Just tap, hold, and slide the button then move it to wherever is comfortable to use.
- Focus Audio in Recordings With Zoom: To focus the audio in a recording to one subject or one area of the picture, zoom in on the area or person. That focuses the audio on that zoomed area only. When you’re finished, zoom back out to widen the audio field.
- Take Better Photos With Shot Suggestions: The Samsung Note 10 or Note 10+ camera can suggest better angles for your pictures. To enable this feature, open the camera and tap Settings and enable Shot Suggestions. The next time you take a picture, two white circle will appear on the picture. Line them up to take the shot the camera thinks is the best angle.
Do More With The Note 10 and Note 10+ S Pen
If you’re like many people, you decided to go with the Note 10 because of the S Pen, so why not get more out of it? Here are some suggestions:
- Add Apps to the S Pen Air Command Menu: You can add shortcuts on the Air Command Menu for any installed app. Just open the Air Command Menu, scroll to the bottom and tap Add. Then select the app you want to add to the menu.
- Create GIFs With Your S Pen and Your Camera: You can create a GIF from any video on your phone. Open any video on your device and then use the S Pen to open the Air Command Menu. Select Smart Select and select the part of the screen you want to record. Then, tap Record. Once you’ve captured what you want to capture, tap Stop. Then you can share or save the GIF.
- Change Colors and Pin Notes: Everyone knows when you take your S Pen out while your phone is not active, you can write a note on the screen, but now you have the option to change the pen color (just tap the small colored circle (Color Picker) on the top left corner) and pin the note to your Always On display (just tap the Pin icon).
- S Pen Camera Controls: Control your camera with your S Pen for taking remote camera shots, which is useful for group pictures, selfies, and other types of pictures you might want to take.
Here are the controls: - Hold the pen button and draw a circle: Clockwise zoom in, counterclockwise zoom out.
- Hold the pen button an swipe left to right: Changes camera modes.
- Hold the pen button and swipe up or down: Switches between cameras.
- Press the pen button: To take a picture.
More Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ Controls
In addition to all those great features, here are a couple more which don’t fit nicely into any of those categories:
- Change Your Side Key Controls: You can change what the Bixby button does on the side of the phone. To make changes, go to Settings > Advanced features > Bixby key/Side key and then you can choose to have a double-press open your camera or another app, or have a press-and-hold open the shutdown options or activate Bixby.
- Hide Unwanted Apps: There are some apps pre-installed on the Galaxy Note phones you just can’t remove. The good news is, even though you can’t uninstall them, you can hide those, and other apps as well. To hide unwanted apps, long-press on an open spot on the home screen and choose Home screen settings. Then scroll down and tap Hide apps. In the screen that appears, select the apps you want to hide.
