Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Tips and Tricks

Android 7 (Nougat)
Phone: Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Factory OS: Android 7 (Nougat)

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

Here are the top 5 tips to make your phone run faster:

1) Use only essential widgets on your home screen – each widget consumes memory and processing power which can slow your down your phone.

2) Uninstall apps that you don’t use – after a while your phone can get cluttered as some Apps are designed to always run in the background. If you rarely use an App, then uninstall it to free up memory and CPU resource.

3) Install Apps to your phone memory – if you have an SDCard, always install Apps to the phone memory, which can be accessed faster. If you have Apps on the SDCard, then move them back to the phone memory with an App called Move2SD available from the Play Market.

4) Use Static rather than Live wallpapers – Live wallpapers consume processing power and memory. Unless you really must have them, uninstall them.

5) Kill tasks occasionally – Some Apps will run in the background indefinitely unless you kill them. Most of them won’t cause a problem, but it pays to check your running tasks from time to time. Hold down your Home key and check the Task Manager. You can use Apps such as DU Speed Booster for this.

To save an image in an email or in the browser, long press on the image and a menu will appear allowing you to save it.

For images inside text messages, you might have to press and hold on the message itself, rather than the image.

If you like your Apps neatly sorted into folders, or just need to clear up some space on your home screens, then there is a simple way to accomplish this.

First find the first App you would like in a folder. Then choose a second App.

Press and hold on the second App and drag it over the top of the first App. They will both combine into a folder.

You can repeat this process to add more.

To undo this, press to go into the folder. Then press and hold an App icon to place it outside of the folder again.

If you would like to unmount your SD card for whatever reason, then drag down your notifications menu from the top of the screen and press the Settings icon.

Then go to Device management – Storage – SD card.

This will depend on your device, but you should then be able to select Unmount SD card.

From the Contact list or the Messaging list, swipe from Left to Right to call a Contact.

This might not work on all models.

If you see the following error:
com.system.patch error

Then pull down your notification menu and choose Settings.

Then, select Lock screen and security – Other security settings – Device Administrator.

On the next screen, uncheck com.system.patch

Now, go to your App Manager and you should be able to uninstall it.

Type a word that is not in the dictionary. The word will show up in the suggestion box to the left. Long press on the word and it will save to the dictionary.

If you already have an Android phone, then simply ensure each of your old Contacts are stored on Google (rather than the Phone memory). This means your contacts are stored on Google’s servers under your Google/Gmail login. Then once you get the new phone, log in with your Gmail account and your Contacts will be automatically synced.

If you do not have an Android device, you need to find a way to Export your old contacts to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file and save this to a PC. You may need to install the correct software for your phone first in order to do the export.

Then, if you don’t have a Gmail account, sign up for one.

Once that’s done, open Gmail. Go to Contacts, then press More – Settings – Import/Export Contacts. Then import the CSV to your Gmail contacts.

Then on your phone, go to Settings – Cloud and accounts – Accounts – Google and then select Sync to pull the contacts from Gmail to your phone.

If you have decided to ditch your iPhone in favour of Android, then there is a simple way to take your iTunes music, playlists and album art with you.

Simply go the Android Marketplace and download a Free App called iSyncr.

You will also need the computer version of the software, so go to http://www.jrtstudio.com and download it from there.

Then, when that is done, turn your phone into a USB storage device (this will vary from device to device, but instructions are on the website).

Once your device is connected to your computer, open the computer version of the software and select your device from the Easy Phone Tunes list. Then follow the instructions to Sync your media.

If you find you’re forgotten your backup password, try the following using Google’s Android Device Manager:

On a computer or in a mobile browser, go to www.google.com/android/devicemanager.

Sign in to the Google Account that you previously added to your device.

If you have more than one device, select the arrow next to the name of the device you’re locked out of. Android Device Manager will show you the approximate location of your device on a map.

Select Lock.

Enter a temporary password for your device, then click Lock again.

On your device, enter the temporary password on the lock screen.

Drag down your notifications bar and select Settings – Lock screen and security.

Enter your temporary password again, then follow the prompts to reset your device.