notification LED

How to use Galaxy S10 virtual bezel to hide the front camera cutout without using any apps?

You can hide the front camera cutout on Galaxy S10, S10+, S105G, and S10e with the Galaxy S10 virtual bezel without using any third-party apps.

Samsung pinched an elongated hole for the front cameras to avoid a notch on the screen. And they proudly announced this trick as infinity “O” display. But some owners do not like this design.

This Galaxy S10 how-to guide explains how to use Galaxy S10 virtual bezel to hide the front camera cutout on Galaxy S10, S10+, S105G, and S10e, and the implications of using Galaxy S10 virtual bezel.

Why some owners do not like the front camera cutout?

Nowadays, all smartphone manufacturers try hard to increase screen size without increasing the overall size of the phone.

So, the size of the bezels decreases over the years. Samsung virtually eliminated the bezels on the sides with curved display since Galaxy S6.

On the bottom, Samsung removed the physical buttons and reduced the size of the bezel to the limit already.

So, on Galaxy S10, they tried to reduce the size of the bezel on the top further.

But there is a hard limit on the top: the front camera, notification LED, iris scanner, proximity, and light sensors all need spaces and cannot be hidden.

And Samsung made 2 stupid mistakes in reducing the size of the top bezel on Galaxy S10 (S10, S10+, S10 5G, and S10e):

The iris scanner was removed.
The notification LED was removed.

The hole punch for the front camera actually is not a bad idea, although some owners may prefer the notch design as in other Android phones or iPhones.

But what makes it wrong (or less ideal) is the location of the hole. On all Galaxy S10 phones, the hole is punched on the right side.

First, the hole destroys the symmetry of the front side. The ugly asymmetric look will be magnified when you use an app with a white background.

Second, the curved screen is used on Galaxy S10, S10+, and S10 5G. The hole must keep a certain distance from the curved part. This results in a significantly-reduced area for the status bar. So, Galaxy S10 has to offer the option for you to reduce the number of notification icons on the status bar or even hide/disable the notification icons on the status bar entirely.

Of course, some Galaxy S10 owners like the design.

Anyway, for those owners who cannot live with the look of the front camera cutout, it is easy to hide the front camera cutout without using any apps.

The truth is that Samsung already knew some owners would dislike the hole and therefore offered the Galaxy S10 virtual bezel to hide the front camera cutout.

The price you have to pay to hide the Galaxy S10 front camera cutout is slightly reduced screen size.

How to use Galaxy S10 virtual bezel to hide the front camera cutout?

If you want to hide the front cutout on Galaxy S10, you can … Read the rest

How to use Galaxy S10 LED cover (Galaxy S10 LED back cover)?

simon · 2 Comments

Samsung introduced a new back cover for Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10e: Galaxy S10 LED cover (LED back cover).

The Galaxy S10 LED cover is a back cover with some unique LED features including mood lighting, LED emoticons, Picture cue, and camera timer. The old LED wallet cover is now renamed as Galaxy S10 LED View cover in most regions.

This Galaxy S10 accessories guide explains how to set up and use Galaxy S10 LED cover (Galaxy S10 LED back cover) on Galaxy S10, S10+, and S10e.

Unique features of Galaxy S10 LED cover (Galaxy S10 LED back cover)?

Galaxy S10 LED cover is a new type of official accessories. It is a back cover with some unique LED features.

Compared to other back covers, Galaxy S10 LED back cover has the following special features:

Mood lighting. When Galaxy S10 is facing downwards, a light show is presented with the LEDs. You can only enable or disable the show, not customize the show.
LED notification icons. You will get notification icons on the back when a notification comes. But the LED notification icon only works with some Samsung apps, and you cannot customize the LED icons (as in Galaxy S10 LED View cover).
Camera timer. If the timer for the rear camera is turned on, the countdown will be shown on both the screen and the cover.
Emoticons for the rear cameras. When you open the camera app, and the rear cameras are active, a LED icon you chose will be shown on the back cover.

Unlike the fabric-like material used in Galaxy S10 LED view cover, the exterior of the Galaxy S10 LED back cover is glossy plastic. Therefore it is a fingerprint magnet.

The Galaxy S10 LED cover provides moderate protection for the glass back of Galaxy S10. The raised edges on the top and bottom (over the screen) offers marginal protection for the screen, The two side edges of the Galaxy S10 LED back cover for Galaxy S10, and S10+ are lower than the screen due to the curved screen in these two models.

How to set up and customize the Galaxy S10 LED cover (Galaxy S10 LED back cover)?

Once you snap the Galaxy S10 LED back cover on to the phone, you will get a notification asking you to set up the cover if you use it the first time.

Actually, Galaxy S10 will automatically add:

The LED cover app in Galaxy S10 Apps screen, as shown below.
An entry in Settings — Advanced features —Accessories — LED cover.

These two items are identical: both are shortcuts for the Galaxy S10 LED cover settings.

For example, in Galaxy S10 Settings, you can tap Advanced features as shown below.

In the Advanced features page, tap Accessories as shown above.

You should be able to find the LED cover entry in the Accessories page as shown below.

If you cannot find the entry for LED cover, … Read the rest

Top 10 disappointing or missing features of Galaxy S10

simon · Leave a Comment

Galaxy S10, S10e, S10+, and S10 5G set the standard for the flagship smartphones in 2019. There are many new features and improvements in both hardware and software.

But they are far from perfect. There are some missing features in all 4 Galaxy S10 phones. Some features may also be very disappointing.

This post summarizes the top 10 disappointing and missing features of Galaxy S10.

#1. The most disappointing and missing feature of Galaxy S10: Iris scanner is gone

Iris scanner was first introduced in the explosive Galaxy Note 7. Most owners did not get the chance to try it before the phone was recalled, and re-recalled.

In Galaxy S8 (and S8+), the iris scanner works reasonably well. Many Galaxy S8 owners actually used the iris scanner because of the awkward location of the fingerprint scanner.

Obviously, the iris scanner was improved dramatically in Galaxy S9. It is faster than all other unlocking methods including the fingerprint scanner because of the less-ideal location and smaller size of the fingerprint scanner. If you are using a case or cover for Galaxy S9 or S9, it is not easy to reach the fingerprint scanner.

When more and more owners realized and started to enjoy this unlock feature, Samsung removed it in Galaxy S10. You have to use your face (face recognition) or fingerprint reader to unlock Galaxy S10 if you do not want to type the PIN/password.

None of the 4 Galaxy S10 models has the iris scanner.

The reason given by Samsung is the lack of bezel space for the iris scanner.

But if they can punch a hole for the front-facing camera(s), why cannot punch another hole for iris scanner? Here is the Galaxy S1o layout.

Also, if you do not like the cutout (hole) for the front camera, you can use Galaxy S10 virtual bezel to hide the cutout.

#2. The most demanded but missing feature of Galaxy S10: freely remapping Bixby button (key)

Bixby is quite good if you compare it to Siri. But if you compare it to Google Assistant, which is shipped with all Android Pie phones, Bixby is far behind.

But Samsung pushed Bixby so hard that a dedicated hardware Bixby key was introduced in Galaxy S8 and S8+, and all subsequent Galaxy phones get the button below the volume keys.

The most annoying part is that you cannot remap the button for other more useful features. e..g. Launching the Galaxy S10 camera app or using it as a camera shutter button, if you have no intention to use Bixby, or have no intention to use the Bixby button.

In Galaxy S8 and S9, you can disable the Bixby key by letting it do nothing when pressed. If you turn off Bixby Voice in Bixby settings, the long press gesture of the Bixby key will also be deactivated and do nothing.

But in Android Pie update for Galaxy S9, S8, Note 9, and Note 8, Samsung does … Read the rest