Your Galaxy
There are many good things about the Samsung Galaxy S5. The screen and the camera come to mind. But the problem with the device is that it gets in its own way.
S5 is the greatest example of Samsung being Samsung
and believe me, that's not a good thing. Samsung is good at hardware, but when it comes to software, it's one of the worst in the industry.
Thanks to the fast CPU and GPU in this edition of the Galaxy S series, there isn't much lag to speak of (apart from opening the Gallery app). But that won't last. And some things about TouchWiz are so boring that you just can't go on.
Follow our guide to un-Samsungify your Galaxy S5 as much as you can
without really rooting
and installing a custom ROM like
CM 11
.
1. Replace TouchWiz Launcher
Samsung is TouchWiz and TouchWiz is Samsung. Nowhere does this haunt you more than the home screen. The launcher has the signature glowing wallpaper and square icons with desktop folders.
The launcher is your gateway to Android. Switch to something like
Nova Launcher
Where
KK Launcher
(a KitKat-style launcher) to get a closer experience to vanilla Android.
To verify
Themer
to apply beautiful themes with just one click.
Change the wallpaper to something
minimal using any of these apps
Where to use
Muzei to auto-scroll between awesome wallpapers
from different sources.
2. Change lock screen
Samsung's TouchWiz lock screen is really cluttered, plus it plays an annoying "natural" sound effect when you unlock your phone.
You can disable it from
Lock screen settings
but then you get a simple unlock circle. If you don't use the fingerprint reader (it doesn't work well most of the time), try changing the lock screen to something better.
You can watch
GoLocker
or my favourite,
Slide Lock
(pictured above). SlideLock is an iOS 7 style lock screen app that is minimal and looks great when paired with the right wallpaper. It will also
show notifications on lock screen
just like iOS 7 and I find it really useful.
The app gives you plenty of customization options to make sure only the things you care about show up on the lock screen.
3. Disable Animations
TouchWiz, just like iOS 7, added unnecessary animations for the
for the sake of adding it
This serves no purpose and actually decreases performance, as you have to sit there waiting for an extra split second. That might sound good, but that's not the point.
Go to
About the device
in
Settings
and press the
Build number
7 times. This will unlock
Developer Options
in
Settings
.Go ahead and press
Transition animation scale
and turn it off.
4. Disable S Voice from Home Button
The next station as you get off the Samsung train is S Voice.
S-voice
is the voice assistant you never asked for, now is the time to get rid of it.
S Voice is invoked by double pressing the home key and Google Now is a long press. Launch the S Voice app. You will need to enable it to disable the home button gesture - funny, I know.
Once you're there, tap the three-dot menu button at the top and navigate to
Settings
.Now uncheck the “Open via home key” option.If you need it, you can access S voice from app drawer, but I pray for
the old gods and the new
that such a situation never arises.
Now that we've said goodbye to S Voice, use Google Now by long-pressing the home button.
5. Customize Toggles
You'll find a selection of toggles at the top of the notification drawer. You can scroll right to see more. The default toggles include things like power saving mode, multiple window support and the toolbox. You might not want it all the time.
Swipe down with two fingers on the status bar, then tap the pen button on the top right. Here, drag the unused toggles from the active section to the available section. And drag the toggles you actually want to use.
6. Sort the messy settings menu
When Samsung released the S5 launch event artwork and preview, it featured a minimal design and flat icons.
Some took it as a sign
that TouchWiz would get the minimal treatment like Android did with KitKat.
Of course, it turned out that Samsung was just Samsung. Those flat icons only appear in the revamped Settings app. To add to the hurt, they're just there for the sake of being there. They add nothing in the form of functionality, in fact, they make everything worse. There's no other way to put it – it's a waste.
So go to
Settings
app and from the three-dot menu go to the
List view
.
Wow, much better!
7. Turn off my magazine
My magazine is fair
wrapped up in Samsung's outfit. I'm used to swiping through home screens. But now the leftmost screen is taken up by My Magazine, so I can't go from the first screen to the last by swiping towards the left.
If you want to turn off My Magazine from the home screen, long press anywhere on the screen and from the options below, tap
Home screen settings
and from there uncheck
My review
.
8. Don't Touch Samsung Apps
As I said, Samsung has an alternative for every Google app. Samsung has its own app store called Samsung Apps and is only useful if you have Gear 2 or Gear Fit, as management apps are not available on the Play Store.
While you're at it, don't create a Samsung account either. You can use the S Health app without a Samsung account, just skip the process. Of course, your stats and calories won't be saved to the cloud, but to the the less your conscience will be clear.
9. SwiftKey Keyboard
There's no sugar the Samsung keyboard is ugly It has the best spacing of any keyboard I've used and it helps me type faster, but the prediction engine isn't very good and gesture-based input doesn't work well.
Above - Samsung Keyboard on the left, SwiftKey on the right
.
SwiftKey isn't the prettiest, but it's way better than the Samsung keyboard and it has the best feature set of any keyboard.
10. Disable Samsung Apps You Can
The last step in saying no to Samsung is to disable as many Samsung apps as you can. You can't disable system-level apps like email, Samsung apps, and calendar, but you'll be surprised how many pre-installed Samsung apps you can actually disable.
This list includes Memo, ChatOn, Smart Remote, S Voice, and even S Health. Go to the app drawer and long press on any of the above apps. Now you will see a toolbar appear at the top of the screen. Drag your app to the icon that reads
Disable
.You will get a warning message on how to restore the application.Just click OK.
Disabling these apps means they won't run in the background all the time without your permission. It also means they won't consume unnecessary RAM and battery.
How do you live with your S5?
What changes have you made to your S5, if any? Let us know what your S5 looks like in the comments below. Screenshots welcome.
Last updated February 8, 2018
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