Samsung Galaxy Star 2 Tips and Tricks

To soft reset your phone press and hold the Power/Lock button for around 8 to 10 seconds. The phone will restart automatically.

If that doesn’t work, then remove the battery (if it has one). Wait 30 seconds and put the battery back in. Then press the Power/Lock button to turn the phone on.

If you are browsing YouTube videos on your phone and they appear blurry, then this is usually because of your connection speed.

If you are using 3G / 4G and you’re in an area of low signal strength, then YouTube will sometimes automatically reduce the quality of the video. Unfortunately this can make the video very pixelated and of poor quality.

If you are using the standard Android browser, then when the video is in full screen, press the back button. Then press HQ and start playing it again.

If you are using another browser, then press the Settings icon on the bottom right of the YouTube video. Then change the quality.

This may improve the quality, but it may also lead to buffering issues.

Another solution is to use a WiFi connection, if one is available.

To use your phone as a WiFi hotspot, tether it via USB or via Bluetooth, then go to Settings – Connections – More networks – Tethering And Portable Hotspot.

You can then choose from three options:

1) USB – connect your phone via a USB cable. The phone should automatically configure the correct settings.

2) WiFi Hotspot – To turn your phone into a WiFi hotspot, press Configure WiFi hotspot. You will then be asked to enter a Network SSID (this is your own name for the WiFi hotspot). Then choose Security and lastly, choose a password (this is password for your WiFi hotspot which you will enter on your computer).

3) Bluetooth – With this option, you will need to pair a Bluetooth device with your phone. On the other device, ensure you search for Bluetooth devices and your phone should show up.

Recent Android versions use a special mode that hides all Android related visuals. The mode is called immersive mode and it essentially means certain Apps have the whole screen available.

Sometimes this can be annoying however and you want to see the time, signal strength or batter indicator.

To temporarily leave immersive mode, simply drag down your notifications screen and the phone will exit immersive mode so you can see other features.

It can be very useful to see your battery life in percentage terms instead of just the icon.

To enable this, go to Settings – My device – Display and tick Display battery percentage.

To lock your screen while you are watching videos, simply press the power button.

This will disable the touchscreen buttons while the video is playing, but it won’t turn the screen off like the lock key normally does.

Note, this will only work on video files that you are playing that are stored on your phone. It won’t work for videos played within websites, such as YouTube videos.

If you call someone regularly this can be useful as you will have a shortcut to them handily placed on your homescreen.

To bookmark a Contact on your Home Screen, then first go into your Contacts App.

Find the Contact you want to add to the Home Screen. Then press and hold on the name. Select Add shortcut to home from the options.

Then go to your Home Screens, find the Contact. You can press, hold and drag to another position.

WARNING: Making your volume or music louder can damage your hearing.

Most phones have their volumes limited by local laws to protect your hearing. There is a way to boost your volume however.

Go to the Play Store and download an App called Volume Booster or Volume+ FREE.

You may need to root your phone for this App to work, but read the instructions in the App’s description.

To change the backlight screen timeout, go to your Home Screen and press the menu key (bottom right). Choose Settings – My Device – Display – Screen timeout. Then choose 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 – More – Developer Options. Then check Stay Awake.

Note: Developer Options is not always enabled by default. To enable, go to Settings – More – About Device. Then tap on Build number 7 times.

Rather than having to locate the hang up icon on the screen after each call, you can quickly end a call by pressing the Power button.

To enable this feature, go to Settings – My device – Accessibility – Answering/ending calls. Then tick The power button ends calls.