Touchwiz
Optimizing your Touchwiz experience
Samsung has included elements in touchwiz called animations for transitions between screens. This was done to make it look good, like how power point presentations would go from one slide to another. However, these transition can cause a slight hiccup and slow down your system. The best thing to do is to simply turn these off. Go to Settings >>>Developer Options>>>(Turn Off) Windows Animation Scale, Transition Animation Scale, and Animator Duration Scale. This should give you a snappier phone, but do take note that once you turn off Developer Options it all goes back to it's default setting.
Screen and video
Bring the AMOLED Colors Natural
OLED screens tend to be quite over-saturated and can make a person's skin tone look somewhat unnatural. It does make the picture come out, but sometimes it makes it come out a little too much. We recommend to use Natural or Movie as your Screen Display Settings of choice.
Use Third Party Apps for Video Playback
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has an incredible built-in media player, however there are some files that it can't handle such as those that are encoded as 1080p MKVs. To resolve, download a third party media application from the Google Play store such as the MX Player and you'll be able to overcome these issues.
Screen too Dark?
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 uses auto brightness as its default setting. This uses the sensors to judge the intensity of the screen depending on how much lighting there is. However, based on experience, this can falter and give you the wrong output causing you to feel that you have a dark screen. Simply swipe down to get the notification panel and slide the screen brightness to the desired amount. I usually have it at 50% for my day to day to keep the battery from getting too drained from on screen time usage.
Battery life
Keep battery life riding high with auto management
Technically speaking, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2's battery is quite amazing. It can definitely last the whole day if not more. Samsung has however, included a power management mode that could help with keeping it optimized. You can find this at the Settings menu under Power Saving. It basically affects CPU speed, changes web browser background, and even turns off haptic feedback. There'll be obvious compromises though when this kicks in but it does help give your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 that extra juice.
Switch off unnecessary features
The best way to conserve power in any phone is to switch off features - such as mobile internet and Wifi when not in use. You can do this manually in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, simply swipe down from the top to access notifications menu and toggle off the unneeded services or go to Settings and turn them off from there.
Reduce screen timeout time
Reducing screen timeout is a good trick to use to help conserve battery. This helps keep your phone from staying on screen for too long when not needed. In the Display Submenu in Settings you'll get an option to pick between 15sec to 10min.
S Pen
Learn the Quick commands
This is quite an overlooked feature that can save time if learned. This allows you to launch any app or function on the phone with just a few simple flicks. To access quick commands, press the stylus button and swipe up. Simply draw your pre-determined character or symbol and the right app/function shall be launched.
Optical Character Recognition
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 features excellent OCR, optical character recognition, and it's built into the Samsung keyboard. Simply pull out the S Pen and the keyboard area will turn into a little box for you to write in, whether you're writing an email, text or searching the web. The OCR is incredible at recognizing one's scribbles, though if you really write badly where even a normal person can't read what you wrote, don't expect the OCR to make magic there.
You can write and scribble on anything
The SPen allows you to make notes on anything on screen, which can be pretty useful for events such as meetings, social gatherings, and taking notes about a photo. Simply press down on the SPen button and lightly press on the screen till you see a flash. This takes a screenshot of what is on the screen and it is here that you can write your notes on.
The S Pen Screengrabs
Press down on the SPen's button, draw a shape on the screen and whatever's on-screen within the shape will be saved as a screengrab.
Left handed
By default, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is setup for right-handed people, but there's also a mode for left handed people in the Settings menu.
Interface
Full screenshots are easy
Taking full screen shots with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is pretty easy. Simply check if Palm Swipe Capture is activated in the Settings Menu under Motions. Once active you simply have to swipe your hand from right to left to capture the screen. Other method is to hold the home button and power key at the same time till the screen flashes.
One Handed Operation
The screen of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 can be quite bit but Samsung has included a one handed mode to help you use the phone with just one hand. It organizes the keypad, virtual keyboard, and unlock pattern screens. You can find this option in the Settings menu.
Customize with Widgets
Samsung has come a long way especially in the areas of customization, one where you can see the most of these is with the integrated widgets, however, there are other widgets that you can use and download off the Google Play store and it is worth checking which ones you'd find useful. My advice is get widgets for the apps and data that you most often use and need to reduce the need to browse around and launch the apps themselves. This saves both time and precious battery.
Storage
Expandable storage
Most of us are using the 16GB version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. This means you have only a limited amount of space for the apps let alone the movies, photos, and music. It is best to grab a microSD card to compensate for this. I would recommend to get the Class 10 microSD cards especially from Samsung to avoid any of the microSD card issues that are commonly posted by a majority of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 users. If not try to buy your microSD card from a reputable store otherwise risk encountering damaged microSD card issues.
Clean the cache
This is one that has to be of habit or have a good cache cleaner like Clean Master helping you out when you find yourself running low on memory. With Clean Master you can easily delete and clean cache and temporary files of apps you have installed.
Contacts
Contacts from Facebook and Twitter
Downloading the Facebook and Twitter apps give Samsung Galaxy Note 2 users the opportunity to grab and sync contact information with your phonebook. This makes it easier for you to reach out and find people.
Blocking Mode
In a meeting but don't want to be disturbed unless it is from your significant other? Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a feature called blocking mode. This restricts notifications and calls coming from all but your chosen few. You can even set a time for it.
Camera and Video
Use HDR mode in mixed lighting - or all the time
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2's 8MP camera is quite impressive, but when it comes to mixed lighting situations can prove to be quite a challenge when trying to get that perfect shot. In this situation, it would be best to activate the HDR mode of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. This effectively combines multiple exposures in a single shot to bring out that extra detail in the shadow and literally light things up. Only downside to this is that HDR takes a little slower to process.
Try slow and fast motion modes
This is one of those overlooked features that could help enhance your videography experience. Found in the menus of the video camera, you can toy around with taking fast and slow motion video capture. This comes in quite handy when filming things like sporting events or recording your baby's first few steps. Only thing to remember is that you can't activate them while the video recording is on-going, you can only activate it from the beginning.
Connectivity
Don't go over you allowance, with Data Usage
A staple Android feature is the Data Usage counter. This can be found within the Settings menu, and it monitors your data usage, showing it as a colourful graph. You can use it to cut off your mobile data connection once you reach a certain limit, to ensure you won't get charged by your carrier.
S Beam
A feature introduced with the Samsung Galaxy S3, S Beam uses a mixture of NFC and Wi-Fi Direct to let you transfer files between compatible Samsung phones. You just need to tap the phones together to get them playing. S Beam needs to be switched on, though, from within the Wireless and Networks menu.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a pretty amazing device. It is highly customizable and for the most part it is capable of handling most if not all of what you throw at it. I have been pretty pleased with it's performance for the past couple of months that I have had it and I honestly will keep it around even long after the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has been launched. With a little tweak here and there, just like everyone has noticed, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 can and still continues to hold its own among the latest handsets of late.
Again if you found any other tips and neat tricks with your Samsung Galaxy Note 2, I strongly encourage that you share it with us here. We would be more than appreciative of it as am sure will the others that find this page.
Till Next Time...
-Metz-
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