Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Tips and Tricks

Android 4.1.1 (Jellybean)
Phone: Samsung Galaxy Note 2
Factory OS: Android 4.1.1 (Jellybean)

Have you updated your Operating System?
Then view tips for the most recent OS version(s): Android 9 (Pie) & Android 8 (Oreo)
Or view tips for all Android versions

While in the Camera App, there are two ways to zoom in or out.

First, you can use Volume Up and Down keys.

Secondly, you can pinch your fingers on the screen to zoom in and out.

To create homescreen shortcuts to your Gmail folders, long press on a blank part of your homescreen.

Then select Shortcuts – Gmail Label – Then choose the label you want. This will create a shortcut straight to that Gmail folder/label.

There is an Easter egg hidden in the Android operating system. To see it, go to your Homescreen, then press Menu – Settings – About phone.

Then tap on the Android version option 5 times and you will get a surprise.

Sometimes it doesn’t work, so try a couple of times. By the way don’t expect to see an actual Easter Egg. That is just the name given to things hidden inside software or operating systems.

The quickest way is to pull down your Notifications bar at the top. Bluetooth and WiFi should be available there.

Alternatively, from your homescreen, press Menu – Settings – Wireless & networks. Then press WiFi settings or Bluetooth settings to enable or disable these

To auto focus the camera when taking photos or videos, tap the screen where you want to focus on.

The phone will automatically adjust the settings to improve the image or video.

If you come across media that does not play with the built in codec, then simply go to the Play store and download a third party one such as MX Player.

This should allow you to play almost all videos on your device.

In the Calendar App there is no Year view along the top of the App. You can however use pinch to zoom gestures to zoom in and out of Month and Year view however.

This is useful if you want to quickly jump backwards or forwards through a few months at a time.

To change the Google Navigation voice, start at the homescreen and press Menu – Settings – Voice input and output – Text-to-speech settings.

Then under the Default settings section, press Default engine.

To change the language, go through the same process, but instead of Default engine, select Language.

If you prefer a different voice when listening to the Google Maps voice navigation, you can also select another language or accent.

When looking at the call log multiple calls to or from the same number are grouped together. If you press on one of these numbers it will list all the calls made or received

To add an email or phone number to your contacts from a text message, you can long-press on the email / phone number. Then select Add to contacts.