Samsung Galaxy S7 Tips and Tricks

Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S7
Factory OS: Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)

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Then view tips for the most recent OS version(s): Android 9 (Pie) & Android 8 (Oreo)
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To change the backlight screen timeout, drag down your notifications screen and press Settings.

Then select Display.

Then under Screen timeout you can set the screen time out duration.

You can also tell the phone screen to always stay lit when it is plugged in via USB:

Go to Settings – System – Developer Options. Then check Stay Awake.

Note: Developer Options is not always enabled by default. To enable, go to:

Settings – System – About Device – Software info . Then tap on Build number 7 times to enable this secret option.

While the stock standard keyboard is fine, there are much better keyboards available. First, you need to go to the Play Store and download one. Try searching for the word ‘keyboard’ and you will see a number of options.

One of the best keyboards is a keyboard called Swiftkey, which is a top-rate App. This will literally change the way you feel about your phone as the standard keyboard can be quite a frustrating experience.

Download your chosen keyboard and go through any install steps that you are presented with.

If you see a warning saying the keyboard will collect all information (including credit cards) just ignore this. This is just a security feature that Android shows for every third-party keyboard that you install.

Then, go to the App you want to type in. You should now see a little Keyboard icon on the row at the bottom of your screen, towards the bottom-right corner. Press that icon and you can switch between all of the keyboards you have installed.

If you want to go to settings, then you can go to your list of Apps and open the Settings App.

There is however a quicker way. Simply position your finger right at the top of the screen and drag it down. You may need to do this twice on some phones.

Your notification bar will appear and you can then press the small Gear icon at the top of the screen to go to the Settings.

Drag down your notifications screen and press Settings.

Then select System – Language and input. Then under Keyboards and input methods, press the little Gear icon.

From here you have various options including Haptic feedback, Vibration intensity and so on.

You can also adjust notifications for various functions.

There are a couple of ways to bring up one of your contacts.

First, while in your Contacts App, simply start typing in the search bar at the top of the screen.

Or else a quicker method is to use the Google Search widget (installed by long pressing on a vacant part of your home screen and installing the widget) and start typing the name of the contact you want to dial. This will quickly filter the correct contact.

To change keyboards (if you have additional keyboards installed), you can switch between them by pressing the small keyboard symbol in the top left of your screen. You will need to be in keyboard input mode (i.e. typing something) for this to work.

Note: you need to have more than one keyboard installed for this to work.

To fix touchscreen sensitivity issues, follow these:

1. On your dialer, dial *#2663#. This will bring up a menu.

2. Bring up dialer and dial *#2663# to bring up a menu

3. On that menu, tap the button that says ?TSP FW update (general)?

4. Once you press that, a pop-up will appear saying ?Updating, do not turn off.? Just wait for it to finish updating.

5. A message saying ?update complete: pass? should appear once update is complete.

6. Exit the menu by pressing the back button and try out your device. It should be fixed now.

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

To quickly hide the on-screen keyboard, press the Back button

If you want to access certain features of your device that are only available to developers, then you want the Developer options setting.

On most devices, this feature is hidden so you will need to pull down your notifications screen go into Settings. Then scroll down to About device.

Then select Software info you should see Build Number.

Press on this option a total of seven times. You should get a message at the fourth press. On the seventh, you’ll get another message saying that Developer Options are unlocked.