The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 is an amazing piece of hardware. It folds into itself to make a large smartphone more portable. Samsung did not stop at amazing hardware. It also included amazing software that allows you to do more with the beautiful phone in your hands. Where do you begin? We've got some Galaxy Z Flip 3 tips to help you make the most of your purchase.
1. Make the most of your tiny screen
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 has an outer screen that is 4x larger than that on the Galaxy Z Flip 5G. Although it isn't large enough to be used for a normal smartphone screen Samsung has included widgets that can be used to control music, check notifications, set a timer or manage any music playing.
Double-tap the screen to wake it up. Press the power button if the phone is closed. This screen cannot be touched once the phone is opened. You can do the following actions after you have woken the screen:
Swipe right for the most recent notifications. Swipe left for your widgets. Swipe left to scroll through your widgets. Swipe down for volume or brightness adjustments. Swipe up for access to the cameras located right next to your screen.
You can change the default widgets to suit your needs. Here's how you can do it:
Double-tap the screen to wake it up or press the power button. Swipe left until the plus sign appears. Source: Nick Sutrich/Android Central Click the plus sign to add widgets. After completing step 3, press the back button in the upper-left corner to edit or rearrange widgets. Source: Nick Sutrich/Android Central To remove a widget tile, click the minus icon at the top of the arrangement screen. To change the order of widgets press and hold on one widget and drag it to the desired place. Source: Nick Sutrich / Android Central
Once you have configured your widgets, it is time to personalize the clock on your front display. Follow these steps to customize your cover screen clock.
You can open system settings by pulling down the notification bar at top of your phone and clicking on the gear icon in the top-right. You can also launch system settings from your home screen's app drawer. Scroll down and choose cover screen. Choose the clock style. Select the clock style that you like, and your preferred color. Source: Android Central. You can also choose a background image to use as your clock's background. After you are done customizing your cover screen clock, make sure to save your work.
2. Personalize the large display
Samsung designs the display in a way that it believes will be most appealing to the majority of people. This means that text and colors appear a bit too large and are unrealistic. It's possible to reduce the size of things so that they fit on a large, beautiful display. Or even swap out these unnatural colors for something more natural.
You can open system settings by pulling down the notification bar at top of your phone and clicking on the gear icon in the top-right. You can also launch settings from your home screen's app drawer. Choose display from the available options. To adjust the color, select screen mode from the menu. Natural colors look more real. You can customize the look using vivid colors. Navigate back into display settings to change the font size and style. Source: Android Central. To resize all UI elements, go back to display settings. The slider will be smaller on the screen if you pull it to minus, but the slider will be larger and easier to read if you pull it to plus.
3. It's easy on the eyes and battery
Samsung displays are some of the most beautiful in the world. However, they can sometimes be too bright. Dark mode turns off all bright white backgrounds and replaces them with black backgrounds. This helps to reduce the brightness of the most important parts of the screen. The Flip 3 has an OLED screen so a black background will turn off all pixels. This helps to conserve battery over the long-term. This can be set to run all day or for an evening.
You can open system settings by pulling down the notification bar at top of your phone and clicking on the gear icon in the top-right. You can also launch settings from your home screen's app drawer. Choose display from the available options. Select dark from the top to activate dark mode. Source: Android Central. To set dark mode to activate at certain times during the day, choose dark mode settings beneath the light and dark modes selections. You can toggle the dark mode option to be enabled at a set time. To keep dark mode active at all times, you can leave the slider on.
4. Gestural navigation
Smartphone navigation has changed over the years from using physical buttons to virtual buttons. Now, gestural navigation is the best way to control your smartphone. Although Samsung does not support this feature out of the box it is easy to upgrade your device and start swiping through your phone instead pressing the buttons at the bottom.
You can open system settings by pulling down the notification bar at top of your phone and clicking on the gear icon in the top-right. You can also launch settings from your home screen's app drawer. Choose display from the available options. Scroll down and choose the navigation bar option from the list. Select swipe gestures to enable gestural navigation. Source: Android Central To make your experience even more intuitive once you are comfortable using gestures, disable gesture hints to turn off the navigation bar.
5. Replace Bixby with a new model and fix the power button
Samsung has made Bixby an excellent tool for many purposes, but Google Assistant is still the best option for most people. The power key can be used to launch Bixby from the box, instead of bringing up a power menu. Let's get rid of those two issues and have a better experience.
You can open system settings by pulling down the notification bar at top of your phone and clicking on the gear icon in the top-right. You can also launch settings from your home screen's app drawer. Scroll down and choose the Advanced Features option from the drop-down menu. Select the side key. To wake Bixby, change the power off menu option to press and hold. Source: Android Central Return to the main system settings menu. Scroll down and choose apps from the drop-down menu. Select the default apps option at the top. Choose the digital assistant option. Source: Android Central Select an option for the device assistant app. Choose Google from the available options**. Source: Android Central
6. Samsung Pay should be removed from your home screen
Samsung Pay's placement at the bottom on the home screen for gestural navigation users is frustrating. Samsung Pay's quick accessibility makes it difficult to swipe up to open the multitasking overview screen. You can disable this stupid function to use Samsung Pay as your preferred payment app.
Open the Samsung Pay app. Click the menu button in the upper-left corner. Choose settings from the available options. Click on Quick Access at the top. To turn off quick access from the home screen, deselect it. You can also turn off quick access to other areas that you don't want. Source: Android Central
7. 7.
Samsung's keyboard is enabled from the moment you turn your phone on, just like many other apps and services. While Samsung Keyboard has seen a lot of improvements over the years, Google is still the best keyboard available. The Google Play Store offers GBoard (or GBoard) a free keyboard. It can be easily activated and gives you better text prediction and customization options. You also get better haptic feedback when typing.
The Google Play Store offers the free GBoard application. After installing GBoard, open Gboard. Follow the prompts for setting GBoard to your default keyboard.
8. Enhance your lock screen
Although lock screens aren't as popular as they once were, there are still times when you may need to see the time and view your notifications without opening the phone. The best way to do this is to use the small screen at the front. It doesn't require you to open your phone, but the large screen can be very useful from time to time.
You can open system settings by pulling down the notification bar at top of your phone and clicking on the gear icon in the top-right. You can also launch settings from your home screen's app drawer. Choose lock screen from the available options. Select clock style to customize the clock's appearance on the lock screen. Next, click the pop-up and select lock screen. Select widgets to add widgets for music control and weather. Then, turn on the widgets you wish to use. Select Contact Information to display your contact information on the lock screen, in case you lose or misplace your phone. Fill out the required fields. Notifications are displayed by an insignificant icon. Select the notification you wish to display from the list. Select details to enable detailed notifications on your lock screen. This section allows you to change the appearance of notification bubbles. You can change the appearance of the notification bubbles in this section by choosing shortcuts from the lock screen screen settings menu.
9. Don't miss any notifications
There are few things more frustrating than accidentally tapping away a notification that you haven’t read yet on an Android smartphone. Even worse, Android doesn't have a way to reverse this action, nor can it find a notification history. However, Samsung developed NotiStar, which does exactly that. The entire notification history can be retrieved and viewed anytime, even on the lock screen.
Open the Galaxy Store app from your app drawer. Install Good Lock by searching for it. Select NotiStar from the drop-down menu and open Good Lock. When prompted, install it. Open the Good Lock app again and choose NotiStar from its list. To activate NotiStar, slide the switch. Source: Android Central Select the using on lockscreen option to view a history all notifications that have been sent to your phone. The NotiStar section in the Good Lock app will display a history of all notifications. To view your notification history, swipe up on the two arrows. You can filter out keywords or apps that you don't want to receive notifications if you get too many.
10. Multitask like a pro
While the Good Lock app can be used to customize your Samsung smartphone in many ways, few options are more effective than an improved multitasking screen (also known as Overview). Overview displays only one app thumbnail per screen by default. This makes multitasking difficult. Home Up, an app from Good Lock, lets you fit more apps on your screen simultaneously, making it easier to switch between multiple apps without having to scroll.
Open the Galaxy Store app from your app drawer. Install Good Lock by searching for it. Select Good Lock from the drop-down menu and choose Home Up. When prompted, install it. Return to the Good Lock app, and choose Home Up from the drop-down menu. To activate Home Up, slide the switch. Choose Task Changer in the Home Up section. Source: Android Central Select your preferred layout type. Grid allows you to display 6 app thumbnails simultaneously, making it the best multitasking option. This section allows you to customize the Overview screen.
11. Your smart home can be controlled
It's possible that you use a service such as Google Home or Samsung SmartThings for organizing your smart home devices. You can control your smart home devices from your notification shade. It's quick and simple to do so.
By pressing and dragging the bar at the top, you can open the notification shade. Click the devices button below the quick settings buttons. To select the service you prefer, Google Home or SmartThings, click on the drop-down menu. You'll now see quick tiles representing smart home gadgets. To interact with each device, select a tile. To arrange the tiles in the desired order, press and hold a tile. Then, move it to the preferred place. Source: Android Central To manage the list, click on the overflow menu icon at the top right of your device screen and choose Manage apps. Choose your smart home service. Select the checkbox next to any smart devices that you wish to be included in the quick tiles. Source: Android Central
12. 12.
Samsung spent a lot of time making the Galaxy Z Flip 3 special, but could have spent more on the wallpapers. The only wallpapers that are available for the Flip 3 out of the box are a handful. They all look almost identical. Grab one of the top Android wallpaper apps to update your Flip 3 and download some new wallpapers. Follow the steps in this guide to change the cover wallpaper.
13. Get your Flex now
Flex Mode is ideal for apps you use passively on your phone, such as when you are watching a YouTube video and doing something else, or when you want to take the perfect picture with the phone's camera. However, Flex Mode is not supported by all apps. You will need to go to Samsung Labs to select the apps that you wish to force into Flex Mode.
You can open system settings by pulling down the notification bar at top of your phone and clicking on the gear icon in the top-right. You can also launch settings from your home screen's app drawer. Choose advanced features from the available options. Select Labs from the available options. Select the Flex Mode panel. Click the slider beside any app you wish to use Flex Mode. Source: Android Central
Flex Mode can be enabled by folding the phone in any direction between fully open and fully closed.
14. For group shots, use the small screen
Although the screen isn't the best for taking selfies, it can be very useful when you want to take group photos (or selfies from far away). To get started:
Double-tapping on the power button to launch the camera app or launch the app will activate it. To activate the outer screen, press the cover screen icon at the top-right corner of the camera viewfinder. Source: Android Central Fold your phone at 90 degrees and place it on a flat surface. Source: Nick Sutrich/Android Central Position the shot on the large screen so you can see the whole scene. To ensure that you are in the frame, use the small cover screen. To begin the 3-second countdown, open your hand and hold it up. Source: Nick Sutrich/Android Central The screen will flash white once the picture has been taken.
Flex Mode allows you to take photos of yourself and with others in a way that isn't possible with non-folding phones. It's a great feature that you should use often.
15. Get kids mode set up
This tip is only for families with kids. Sometimes, it is necessary to allow your children to use your phone. While this is not ideal for many reasons, it is most important for the fear that your kids will see or interact with content that isn’t intended for them. Samsung Kids Mode is easy to set up and completely free. It will also keep you away from worrying about your children's activities. Before you give your Flip 3 over, make sure it is protected in the best Galaxy Z Flip 3 cases.
Flip for a Galaxy Z Flip 3
