Gadgetory

if you're a samsung galaxy s3 owner you might have noticed that with all the Ice Cream Sandwich options plus the features that samsung added there are a lot of settings to choose from today I've narrowed it down to five essential features you should check out as you get started with your new phone first off let's tidy up the app drawer all those weird apps like chat on an AT&T Navigator can't be deleted but you can't hide them with this trick go to your app drawer and find the app you want to hide tap and hold it and drag it over app info tap disable and the app will be hidden from the app drawer you can get quick access to your favorite apps and widgets by adding them to your lockscreen go to settings security and lock screen options if that option is grayed out it means you have to disable your screen lock that means no pattern no pin and basically no security but if you are willing to give that up go ahead and turn it off then head to the lock screen options to pick and choose the different items you want to display when your phone is locked to change the app shortcuts tap this option down here and choose the apps now when your phone is locked drag one of these shortcuts and the app will lunge there's a little personal assistant built into the s3 called s voice and lets you use voice commands to do things like get directions and check the weather to get the full of stuff commands double tap the home button to launch s voice and say this what can I say all the possible commands will show up right here one of the most practical built-in features is this data usage tool here in the settings it lets you set limits on your data usage and hopefully avoid any overage charges to use it check this box here then set your billing cycle if you don't know it call your service provider to find out now drag the red bar to define your monthly data limit and use the orange bar to pick the point when your phone warns you about your usage with this setting turned on your data connection will be to stay old once you've hit your limit so try to avoid that by connecting to Wi-Fi whenever possible and come back here at any time to see how close you are to reaching your limit here's a cool little feature buried in the interface the s3 lets you make your own custom vibration patterns for incoming alerts head to Settings sounds and tap device vibration then go to the bottom and select create now think about what you want the pattern to be then tap the circle to record it the length of your tap corresponds with the vibration so hold for long notes and tap for quick pulses when you're done hit save and set your new vibe as a default alert all right those are just a few tips to help you get started with your Samsung Galaxy s3 for even more ideas head on over to how to see Netcom for a CNET I'm Sharon Vaknin