We have already written many guides on hidden tricks on Android mobiles and described all the common features for each smartphone model on the market but, when we believe we know our smartphone in depth, here are new features that have always been present but never exploited so far, ready to revolutionize (almost always) our life. In this article we will show you the best gestures that can be used to improve the user experience on the new Samsung Galaxy and other latest generation Android smartphones (now everything is copied, so it is easy to find some features of the Samsung also on other phones).
Many of these gestures are provided by the latest version of Android, others are exclusive to Samsung and its TouchWiz launcher, so be careful to personalize our Samsung too much, we risk having to give up without knowing some useful features.
READ ALSO -> Guide to the Android notification bar
Introduction to gestures on Samsung Galaxy
Since the Galaxy do not have a physical keyboard, we must interact with the phone via the touchscreen or using the voice (making use of the Bixby or Google Assistant voice assistants ).
In addition to the on-screen keyboard, the new Galaxy also accept some touchscreen gestures.
When your finger or capacitive nib (I remind you that the S Pen nib of Galaxy Note devices do not work on normal Galaxy) move on the screen or perform certain actions, the Samsung Galaxy are able to recognize them and therefore can provide a functionality to screen (also called gestures or gestures).
Understanding and the correct use of the touchscreen gestures on the Galaxy are really fundamental to use the phone efficiently. Although most of the touchscreen gestures on the Galaxy are activated on the screen, some can also be used on the physical buttons; for example, the power button accepts pressure, double press and long press movements, as we will see later.
The best gestures of the Samsung Galaxy
Here below we have collected all the gestures that we can exploit on the Samsung Galaxy, you just have to try them all to find out even those least used or little advertised by the sites.
READ ALSO: Cheats and hidden functions in the Samsung Galaxy
1) Single tap
The single tap is obviously the most used gesture on all phones; just touch an icon or a specific area of the screen to activate something, such as launching an app or opening a menu item.
The single tap plays the left "click" of the mouse (very useful when using Samsung DeX).
Obviously, the action or response to the gesture depends on what was touched or where you touched.
Below we can find some examples of using the single tap:
- You can open an app by tapping the icon on the Galaxy main screen or in the app screen.
- You can touch the Home button to return to the Galaxy main screen.
- You can touch Back to go back to the previous screen or exit the current app.
- You can tap the Recent button to check recently opened apps. You can also use the Galaxy's multiple window after tapping the Recent button.
- You can touch a menu item or links in an app to navigate to other pages of the app.
- You can touch the quick setting buttons to activate / deactivate some Galaxy functions.
Some apps may have a particular use of the single tap; for example in the Galaxy Camera app you can touch anywhere on the screen to take a selfie when using the front camera.
2) Double tap
The double-tap gesture requires you to quickly tap on the screen in the same place or location.
This touch gesture simulates the double click of the mouse, even if the functions are very different since the app opens the PC, which can be done with a single touch on the phone.
Below we can find some examples of the use of the double tap:
- We can double-tap a photo in the Gallery app to zoom in or out.
- You can double tap in a browser to zoom in / out.
- We can double tap the power button to quickly launch the Galaxy camera.
- We can double-tap the icons on the phone's Always On screen to open the corresponding functions.
3) Long touch
If we press and hold on the screen for at least two seconds, we will get the long touch.
At first it could be difficult to use (especially if we come from classic non-smartphone phones) since if we release our finger from the screen too soon, it will be recorded as a single tap.
The gesture of the long touch imitates the "right click" of a mouse, in both cases they allow access to the "context menu".
Below as already seen we will list all that we can do with the prolonged touch.
- We can long touch an app icon to access the context menu, which includes the item for uninstalling the app, accessing app shortcuts and deleting the notification badge.
- We can long touch a text or an image to select it and access the items to copy and paste.
- We can long touch the Home button to start Google Assistant or Bixby, depending on what we chose on the first start.
- We can long press on an item in the Gallery app (or other apps) to select it.
- You can long press an empty area in the Galaxy homescreen to enter the edit mode of the home screen.
- We can long touch an app from the list of recent apps to launch the app in split screen view or in pop-up view mode (Multi Window).
- We can long touch a file to select it in the management software, then add a link to this file on the Galaxy home screen.
- We can long tap the Recent button to convert the current app window into split screen view mode.
- You can long touch the viewfinder in the camera app to lock autofocus and auto exposure, very useful for getting better photos.
4) Swipe
With the swipe we indicate perhaps the most used gesture on modern smartphones, the one that can be obtained by holding down on the screen and quickly dragging the finger from an edge or from a portion of the screen.
The effects change according to the app in which it is performed, as well as from the edge used.
Below are some of the gestures that we can take advantage of with the swipe:
- We can open the side menu of the apps (where present)
- We can open the side Edge menu by dragging from the left or right edge.
- We can drag icons, files and folders from one point to another, holding and dragging on the screen until the object reaches the desired position.
5) Pitch
By pinching the screen with your two fingers outwards or inwards, you will get other interesting gestures, among the most used by those who surf the Internet or often open photographs and images.
Below are some of the gestures that we can exploit with the pitch:
- By pitching outwards (you start with your two fingers in the center and you get to the corners of the screen) we can zoom in on Web pages or images.
- Pitching inwards (we start with the two fingers from the corners of the screen and we reach the center) we can zoom out on the Web pages or on the images.
6) Other gestures
If you already use these gestures, then I refer you to reading the latest gestures that we can use on the Samsung Galaxy.
- Swipe two fingers from above to open the control button instead of the notification panel .
If you swipe a single finger from top to bottom on the screen of an Android phone, the notification bar opens.
If you do the same gesture with two fingers, instead, the control panel opens to activate Wi-Fi, Airplane mode, the alarm clock, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile data, synchronization.
- Direct access to settings from the hot key panel .
Once the control button is open, you can access specific settings for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, data and other functions by holding your finger on one of the buttons.
Long press any button or switch of the main control panel to immediately launch its settings page.
- Developer menu
As in all Android phones, also on the Samsung Galaxy you can activate the developer menu with several interesting options.
READ ALSO: Top 20 applications for Samsung Galaxy
