Android 4.2.2 on Your Tab 2, Part 3: New Settings
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When you open the Settings screen in Android 4.2.2, you may notice some new settings that you can change. Some of these new settings are more obvious than others, but here I cover some of the more important settings, obvious or not, that you should know about in the new version of Android for the Galaxy Tab 2.
You can access the Settings page by tapping Settings on any Home screen on the Tab 2, as shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1 Open the Settings screen by tapping the Settings icon
New Display Settings
More display settings are available to you in Android 4.2.2, and you can view them by tapping Display in the Settings list. In the list of display settings on the right side of the screen, as shown in Figure 2, you can change icons that appear in the Quick Settings and Notifications screen by tapping Notification Panel.
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Figure 2 Change Quick Settings and Notifications screen icons by tapping Notification Panel in the General area
The list of buttons that are currently in the Quick Settings toolbar appear within the Notification Panel section, as shown in Figure 3. You can have a maximum of 10 buttons in the toolbar. Move a button that’s currently in the Quick Settings toolbar by tapping and holding on a button in the tile and then dragging it to a gray box within the Available Buttons section.
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Figure 3 The Notification Panel section appears above the Available Buttons section
When you move a button from the Notifications Panel section to the Available Buttons section, you see a gray box within the Notifications Panel section; this means that there is an open spot for another button that’s in the Available Buttons list. Add a button by tapping and holding the button in the Available section and then dragging the button to the gray box within the Notifications Panel section.
Return to the Display settings list by tapping the Back icon on the Notification bar. Another new feature in Android 4.2.2 is the ability to add a screensaver, which Google calls Daydream, that appears while the Galaxy Tab 2 is docked, charging, or both. If your Tab 2 is set to turn off when the unit is docked and/or charging, the Daydream screensaver overrides those settings and displays your screensaver instead.
Tap Daydream in the Display screen that you can see in Figure 2. Then turn on Daydream by swiping the button in the menu bar at the top of the screen from left to right as shown in Figure 4.
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Figure 4 The On button appears within the menu bar at the top of the screen
By default, Daydream displays the Colors screensaver, which is an animated spectrum of colors on the screen. If you want to show photos stored on your Tab 2 as the screensaver, tap the Photo Table or Photo Frame button. Next, tap the Settings icon to the right of the selected Photo Table or Photo Frame button, and tell Daydream that you want to use images stored on the Tab 2 as your screensaver by tapping the Image box. Finally, return to the Daydream settings by tapping the Back icon in the Notification bar.
The next time you start the screensaver, you see either the photo table, which displays your pictures on the screen as if they’re being dropped on a table, or the photo frame that displays all your images in a slideshow. You can turn on the Daydream screensaver immediately by tapping the Menu icon to the right of the On/Off button that you saw in Figure 4 and then tap Start Now.
If you want to choose when you see the Daydream screensaver, tap the Menu icon, and then tap Select Dream Time. By default, the screensaver plays while the Tab 2 is docked. You can also have the screensaver play only while the Tab 2 is charging, or you can play the screensaver when the Tab 2 is docked and/or charging. Return to the Display settings list by tapping the Back button in the Notification bar.
If you want your Tab 2 to stay on by tracking your eye movements using the front-panel camera, tap Smart Screen in the menu, and then tap the Smart Stay check box. A window appears that gives you a quick tutorial about how Smart Stay works. Close the window by tapping the OK button. The Smart Stay icon, which looks like an eye, appears at the right side of the Status bar, as shown in Figure 5, so you know the Tab 2 won’t turn off if you look at the screen.
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Figure 5 The Smart Stay eye icon appears on the Status bar
Samsung also pre-installed its Screensaver app just for the Tab 2. Open the Screensaver app by tapping Apps on a Home screen, swiping from left to right until you see the Screensaver icon, as shown in Figure 6, and then tapping on the Screensaver icon.
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Figure 6 The Screensaver app icon on the third page of the Apps screen
The Screensaver Settings appears, as shown in Figure 7, so you can enable the screensaver, start the screensaver, and change when the screensaver starts and stops.
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Figure 7 The Screensaver app home screen
Enable the screensaver by tapping Enable Screensaver. You can start your screensaver immediately by tapping Start Screensaver. If you want to stop the screensaver just by touching the screen, tap Enable Touch to Stop. You can also determine the inactivity period before the screensaver starts; the default is 5 minutes.
Security Enhancements
Android 4.2.2 comes with some new security enhancements. Figure 8 shows some of the new options in the Find My Mobile and Device Administrator sections:
- The Remote Controls option enables you to use your Samsung account and Samsung’s Find My Mobile service, so you can lock your missing device and erase data remotely.
- Set up and use the Find My Mobile service in the Internet browser by tapping Go to the Find My Mobile Website.
- The Device Administrators option enables you to activate the Android Device Manager (ADM). When you activate ADM, you can use Google Play to erase data, change the password to log into your Tab 2, and lock the screen remotely.
- Show the system services and users on your Tab 2 that have trusted credentials. That is, the Tab 2 has verified that the services and users can perform actions on the device.
- If you have a certificate for a service or user stored on an SD card, you can install the certificate onto your Tab 2 by tapping Install from Device Storage.
- After you install a certificate from an SD card but decide later that you want to remove it, tap Clear Credentials.
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Figure 8 The Remote Controls and Device Administrator options
In the Security settings list, swipe down the screen to view information in the Credential Storage section, as shown in Figure 9. You can change three options in this section:
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Figure 9 The Remote Controls and Device Administrator options
Sharing Your Galaxy Tab 2 Data
If you want to see how your Tab 2 uses data and changes how different apps and features use data, Android 4.2.2 now enables you to do this on the Settings screen. On the main Settings screen, tap Data usage in the Settings list. A list of apps and services that are currently running, as well as your data usage cycle for the past 30 days, appears on the right side of the screen, as shown in Figure 10.
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Figure 10 The Remote Controls and Device Administrator options
You can view more information about the app or service usage by tapping on the app or service name in the list. If you can view settings within the app, tap the View App Settings button.
Tap More Settings in the Settings list to view more settings that you can change. One of these settings is Nearby Devices, as shown in Figure 11, that enables you to share your media files with other devices such as another user’s smartphone using the DLNA standard. DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance and provides guidelines for sharing media between digital devices including the Galaxy Tab 2, TVs, smartphones, and PCs.
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Figure 11 You can share your media files by tapping Nearby Devices
After you tap Nearby Devices, the Nearby Devices page appears as shown in Figure 12. Enable file sharing between DLNA devices by tapping the File Sharing checkbox. Next, tap the OK buttons in all the windows that tell you about devices the Tab 2 has found and the warning about using your Wi-Fi network carefully.
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Figure 12 A green check mark appears after you tap on the File Sharing check box
You can choose what and how you share files within the Advanced section. For example, if you tap Allow Devices List, you can see the list of allowed devices that the Tab 2 has found and delete one or more of those devices from the list.
If your Galaxy Tab 2 is connected to a cloud service such as Dropbox or your Samsung account, you can change cloud service settings within the Cloud page on the Settings screen. Open the Cloud page by swiping down the Settings list and then tap Cloud. Your accounts appear in the Cloud page, as shown in Figure 13.
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Figure 13 If you have a Samsung account, it appears as the first account on the Cloud screen
Each account appears within its own section on the page and each account section has its own settings. For example, you can tap Sync Settings within the Samsung account section to change what you sync with your Samsung account.
You can change your account by tapping Add Account in the Settings list that you can see in Figure 13 and then by selecting the type of account to add, as shown in Figure 14. Accounts that are currently installed have a green button to the right of the account name.
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Figure 14 Select the type of account you want to add in the Add Account window
Blocking and Driving Modes
If you don’t want your Galaxy Tab 2 to disturb you during a certain period of time, or you want the Tab 2 to tell you about notifications while you’re driving, you can set blocking and driving modes within the Settings screen. Set the blocking mode by tapping Blocking Mode in the Settings list and then sliding the Blocking Mode button in the list from left to right (off to on).
By default, notifications are always turned off. You can set a specific time to turn off notifications by tapping the Always check box, as shown in Figure 15. The default times are 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., but you can change the time by tapping the From or To button and then setting the time in the window. After you set the new time, that time appears in the From or To button.
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Figure 15 Set the time when notifications will be turned off by tapping the Always check box
Set driving mode by tapping Driving Mode in the Settings list and then sliding the Driving Mode button in the list from left to right. The Tab 2 lets you know Driving mode is active by displaying the Driving icon in the Status bar, as shown in Figure 16. You can turn off Driving mode by tapping the Schedule check box.
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Figure 16 The Driving Mode icon appears at the left side of the Status bar
Where to From Here?
Though this article serves as an introduction to these new settings and what you can do with them, I invite you to read more in-depth articles on the My Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 page on this website. Also take some time to enjoy exploring these new features to your heart’s content.