Samsung GS4 Features
How To: Zoom In & Out of Any App Using Just One Finger on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
With a 5-inch screen, it's possible that the Samsung Galaxy S4 can be a bit large for our hands. While my grubby hands let me navigate the phone pretty easily, the same can't be said for everyone. A lot of us use two hands to type on the phone, play games, and perform tap or swipe gestures.
How To: Disable the Annoying Increasing Ringtone on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung introduced a wave of seriously unique and innovative features on the Galaxy S4, including air gestures and weather sensors, but a lot of the features are actually just updated ones from the Galaxy S3. Unfortunately, one of those that returned was the dreaded increasing ringtone. In their increasing ringtone system, the ringtone will start off on a low volume and increase until it reaches your set volume. In theory, this is useful for not shocking the user with a sudden, blaring ringto...
How To: Disable the High Volume Warning When Using Headphones on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
I've been told numerous times that I listen to music way too loud, to the point of potential hearing damage, especially when I have my headphones plugged in. Not only do my friends tell me this, but my Samsung Galaxy S4 likes to nag me as well. Once I pass a certain volume threshold (nine steps) with my headphones, I get that annoying high volume alert. Sorry, my hearing isn't as good as it once was, so let me jam in peace!
How To: Enable One-Tap App Installation for APKs on Android
I'm always looking for the best apps and services for my Android, and that means sticking strictly to the Google Play Store is a no-go. If you're like me and tend to install a lot of APKs (application files), you're probably tired of seeing the "Install" confirmation that always pops up.
How To: Theme the Google Keyboard with New Colors & Shapes on Your Galaxy S4
The Galaxy S5 may be the new kid on the block, with fancy features such as a fingerprint scanner and dust/water protection, but the Galaxy S4 is no slouch by any means. While the S5 may be newer, the S4 remains beast of a device, and few simple mods can make it feel new again.
How To: Save & Search Through Your Entire Notification History on the Samsung Galaxy S4
While viewing notifications, I have a nasty habit of accidentally hitting Clear and getting rid of them all before I actually have a chance to read them. There is an easy way to view the notification history on Android, but if you turn off or reboot your Samsung Galaxy S4, the history is wiped clean.
How To: Get Rid of the Annoying Input Notification & Keyboard Icon on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
I find that little annoyances are always far more irritating than their larger counterparts, especially if there's no obvious way to get rid of them.
How To: Install the Galaxy S5 Settings Theme on Your Galaxy S4
We've previously shown you how to get your Samsung Galaxy S4 looking more like its successor by installing the revamped S Voice app and the new Quick Settings. Now, we're taking it a step further by giving you the Galaxy S5's stock Settings app. After this mod, it'll be pretty hard for others to distinguish your GS4 from a GS5.
How To: Put App Shortcuts in Your Galaxy S4's Notification Tray for Faster Access from Anywhere
Normally, when you open applications on your Samsung Galaxy device, you do so from one of three places—your home screen, the app drawer, or from the list of recently used apps—but it never seems fast enough when it comes to opening your favorite and/or most-used apps.
How To: Get Windows Phone-Style Notifications on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
Windows 8's interface was met with criticism when it was released, mainly directed at the tiled Start screen, a departure from Windows versions of old. Many felt that this new home screen style was better suited for mobile devices like Microsoft's Surface tablets and Windows Phones.
How To: Get 70+ SoftMods on Your Samsung Galaxy S4 for No-Fuss Customization at Your Fingertips
Theming and modding are a big part of the softModder community, but there are endless ways to customize our Android devices. Which ones should you download? Which ones should you avoid? It's extremely frustrating to find them all—and pick and choose.
How To: Turn Lens Blur Photos from Google Camera into Stunning Live Wallpapers for Your Galaxy S4
If you have Android KitKat, you're fortunate enough to be able to use the new Google Camera, which has tons of great features, including Photo Sphere, Tiny Planet, Panorama, and Fisheye. With so many photo options and no additional hardware needed, it's hard to not to like this camera.
How To: Turn Your Galaxy S4 into a TV-Pranking Machine with a Universal Power Button
April Fools may be over, but any day is a good day to prank someone, and the best time to do it is when everyone's eyes are glued to the television.
How To: Slim Down Incoming Call Alerts on Android to a Tiny Lollipop-Style Popup
When playing a game or using an app, incoming call alerts can be extremely irritating on my Galaxy S4 because they insist on taking over the entire screen. The alert is a little different on other Android phones, depending on the manufacturer's skin, but all are fairly intrusive in one way or another.
How To: Enable Chrome's Hidden “Reader Mode” on Your Android
Reading articles on an Android phone using Chrome Browser can be a little bit of a battle; it often times requires adjusting the page to fit the screen in order to make it easier to read and scroll through. I sometimes lose this struggle and give up trying to read on my device, saving the article for a later time when I'm on my laptop.
How To: Make the Stock Weather Widget Transparent on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
The stock weather widget preloaded on your Samsung Galaxy S4 is really great, but there's one thing that's missing—options. The weather widget shows just the right amount of information at a glance, and it's not too shabby looking either, but for us softModders, it'd be really nice to have more options. Well, today I'm going to provide you with a couple. Interestingly enough, this is a topic I first covered on the Samsung Galaxy S3.
How To: Get Back Your Galaxy S4's Missing Apps After Updating to Android 4.4.2 KitKat
Many Samsung Galaxy S4 users, specifically for Sprint, are reporting that the latest KitKat upgrade to Android 4.4.2 is causing some strange behavior.
How To: Save Battery & Data When Streaming YouTube Videos in the Background on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
YouTube may have started out as a video-sharing site, but these days a lot of people use it as a source for music. When I'm browsing the internet on my desktop, I usually have a YouTube tab open in the background playing some music.
How To: Save Snapchats on Android Without Being Detected (No Root Required)
While screenshotting a received Snapchat has never been a hard thing to do, saving one without being noticed is a completely different story. Previously, you would have to have either a rooted Android or jailbroken iOS device to save one of those self-destructing messages undetected, but one particular app has opened this trick up to the masses.
How To: Totally Maximize the Battery Life of Your Samsung Galaxy S4
The battery in the Samsung Galaxy S4 may pack 500 more milliamps per hour than the old S3 battery, but that doesn't necessarily mean more battery life. High-powered devices need lots of juice, and the S4 is definitely more powerful than its predecessor. The new battery can handle a third more in standby days, and over twice as much in talk time hours. But, when you live on your phone all day long, that means nothing. You're battery is still going to have a hard time keeping up with you.
How To: Add Timed Reminders to Your Android's Notification Panel
Many reminder apps offer various bells and whistles that make them overly complicated to use when all you want to do is one or two things. If the only things you care about doing are setting quick reminders and adding timers, you probably don't care about cloud syncing or calendar integration features.
How To: Install Adobe Flash Player on a Samsung Galaxy S4 to Watch Amazon Instant Videos & More
Thanks to HTML5 and dedicated video apps, watching your favorite shows, movies, or video clips on your Samsung Galaxy S4 couldn't be easier. However, there are still times when you'll run into a website that requires Flash to play a video or interact with its content. Although its mobile life has been dead on Android for 2 years, Adobe Flash Player still lives on in the desktop world, fueling millions of websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, ESPN, CNN, and more.
How To: Text & Call Favorite Contacts from Within Any App on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
I'm a textaholic, as I've said many times before, but even textaholics forget to respond sometimes. When I'm watching a YouTube clip or devouring delicious snacks in Candy Crush Saga, I'll often ignore incoming texts and forget to respond later.
How To: Text Better on Your Samsung Galaxy S4 with This Hybrid Messaging App Based on Android 4.3 & CyanogenMod 10.2
With CyanogenMod 10.2 recently released and the Samsung Galaxy S4 still waiting on Android 4.3, it only makes sense that the coveted features from both firmwares are highly desired by Android owners all over. We've already brought you a feature from each firmware—the cLock home/lock screen widget from CyanogenMod and the Google Play Edition Camera and Gallery from Android 4.3. Now we're bringing you another in the form of an updated text messaging application, ported from both Android 4.3 and...
How To: Customize the Quick Settings Toggles on Your Samsung Galaxy S4 with Color Themes
Samsung's quick settings toggles are insanely useful for accessing settings that you would normally need to dig into menus for. Definitely a case of function over form, though. TouchWiz's bright green on dark blue has to be one of the fugliest color combinations I have ever seen.
How To: Get Automatically Expanded Notifications on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
Back when 4.1 Jelly Bean came out (boy, how time flies), Android introduced expandable notifications. Depending on the notification, a simple swipe down with your finger could expand it and show extra content, like Delete and Reply buttons for Gmail messages.
How To: Add a Number Row to the Google Keyboard on Your Galaxy S4 or Other Android Device
The keyboard I use the most on my Galaxy S4 is the Google Keyboard, and that's partly because of the custom themes I can play around with.
How To: Unlock Your Samsung Galaxy S4 Using Customizable Swipe Gestures
As far as lock screens go, your Samsung Galaxy S4 and other Android phones offer quite a few options. You can use the classic PIN unlock, the novelty facial recognition, or the reliable pattern lock. But what if you get tired of entering the same old PIN or pattern every day?
How To: Truth or Dare + Spin the Bottle: Play These Classic Party Games Right on Your Android Phone
Classic party games like Spin the Bottle and Truth or Dare, immensely popular in the '80s and '90s, seem to have been long forgotten and abandoned by today's youth. Today, new forms of party games are all the rage, a prime example being Cards Against Humanity. Yes, CAH is hilarious and fun, but the classics can still be appreciated, as long as we catch them up to the times.
How To: Use the Volume Keys for Page Scrolling on Android
Android's beauty is in its customization; you can have widgets for anything, launchers that look and feel completely different from one another, and fonts you can change at any time. And it doesn't stop at aesthetics—you can go much deeper than looks.
How To: Create Stop-Motion & Time-Lapse Videos on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
If you've seen ParaNorman or Fantastic Mr. Fox, then you have some kind of idea of what stop-motion animation is. Basically, these artists make objects, or small figures, appear to be moving on their own by manipulating and repositioning them in the smallest increments, then capturing each frame after doing so. When all the frames are compiled together, the final product is something spectacular like The Nightmare Before Christmas, which took roughly 109,440 frames in all.
How To: Root Your Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-I9500)
Ready to start rooting your Samsung Galaxy S4? For those of you with the GT-i9500 model GS4, this quick video will walk you through the entire rooting process using Odin and CWM.
How To: Add Floating Song Lyrics to Your Galaxy S4 to Sing Along from Any Screen
It's not enough for me to just listen to a mindless EDM song that can be retooled as a torturing method for Guantanamo Bay. As an actual fan of music, I yearn for substance and depth. Artists like Morrissey, Kurt Cobain, and John Lennon impacted lives with not only their music, but the subject matter of their songs.
How To: Use Drawing Gestures on Your Galaxy S4’s Lock Screen to Perform Actions Faster
Lock screen apps are a dime a dozen, but every now and then one pops up that defies expectations. We've already covered some good ones for the Samsung Galaxy S4, including Picture Password Lockscreen (which gives you secret unlock gestures), SlideLock (which improves notifications), and TimePIN (which gives you a more clever PIN).
How To: Get Rid of the Annoying "High Volume" Alert When Using Headphones on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
When you were younger, you probably had your parents bugging you not to have your cassette player headphones up too loud. For all you younger readers out there, it was probably a CD player. The even younger readers likely had an iPod or other MP3 player. Either way, your parents didn't want you to mess up your hearing, blasting that Limp Bizkit in your ears (wow, I'm showing my age here).
How To: Adjust Display Brightness Right from Your Android's Status Bar (No Root Required)
Adjusting the brightness on your Android device is a simple but highly utilized action. For the most part, aside from the Sprint LG G3 variant, the brightness slider can be conveniently found nestled in your notification panel. And though it is easy to access, there is a small drawback to this feature.
How To: Get Faster PIN-Unlock on Your Samsung Galaxy S4 by Removing the "OK" Step
If you've had the pleasure of owning both an iOS and Android device, you may have noticed one subtle difference on each one's PIN unlock screen. Android's lock screen requires you to press "OK" after entering the PIN, whereas iOS's simply unlocks the screen right after the last digit.
How To: Add Every Volume Slider to Android's Notification Tray
Your device has several volume levels that are regularly adjusted: the alarm, media, and ringer. Keeping track of the various volumes on a device can become an easy-to-forget task, potentially resulting in you not hearing an alarm in the morning, as you have to enter the sound options or trigger a volume change, then expand the dialog box that pops up.
How To: Scan Book Barcodes in Stores for Quick Access to Reviews on Android
Purchasing an actual book from a brick-and-mortar store is becoming increasingly less common for people to do, but it hasn't completely gone out of style just yet. There's something about entering a bookstore and viewing all the potential great stories and epic tales just sitting on the shelves, waiting to be discovered.
How To: Get Perfectly Composed, High-Res Selfies on Android Using Your Rear Camera
Maybe it is narcissistic to take selfies, but it has become a socially accepted norm, no matter how stupid you might look doing it. Since so many people are seemingly in love with themselves and mobile photography, I thought it was about time to show you how to step up your selfie game.