9 settings every Samsung Galaxy S7 owner should change – CNET

After going through the basic setup process of your new Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, there are a few more things you should do to get the most out of the device.

In fact, here are nine settings you should change:

Change your theme

Samsung’s theme store makes it dead simple to change the overall look and feel of your Galaxy S7. With just a few taps, you can preview and apply themes built by Samsung and fellow Galaxy users alike.

Themes can change everything from the font used on your device, to app icons for all pre-installed applications.

There are two methods to get to Samsung’s theme store. The quickest is to long-press on the home screen, then tap on Themes. Alternatively, you can open the Settings app then go to Themes.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Access Samsung Pay from anywhere

Instead of trying to find the Samsung Pay app when it comes time to checkout, make sure Simple Pay is enabled within the Samsung Pay app.

Open Samsung Pay, tap on More > Settings > then Smart Pay. There you can turn on (or off) access to Samsung Pay from the lock screen, home screen, and even when your device’s screen is off.

With Smart Pay enabled, you can swipe up from the bottom of your device’s screen, tap and pay.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Disable Flipboard briefing

Samsung heard you like news, so it put some news on your home screen; but it’s kind of annoying.

If you find yourself accidentally accessing the briefing pane, or just flat out not using it, you can disable the Flipboard briefing by long-pressing on the home screen, then swiping to the right until the Briefing pane is visible, and slide the switch to the Off position.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Change app grid size

Want more or less apps on the home screens of your device? Long press on the home screen and select Screen Grid. You can then pick from a 4×4, 4×5 or 5×5 grid of app icons.

Whatever change to the grid you make on the home screen will carry over to the app drawer.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Disable Always-On Display

The S7’s always-on display can be distracting, and while it doesn’t have a dramatic impact on overall battery life, it still has an impact.

To disable the new feature and go back to checking time the old fashioned way on your smartphone, open the Settings app, then go to Display and wallpaper > Always On Display and turn it off. Or if you do like the feature, this screen is where you go to customize its overall look and behavior.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Make Settings easier to find

Navigating through the Settings app for something you frequently access can be a hassle. Luckily, Samsung lets you add quick settings to the top of the Settings screen with just a few taps.

Open the Settings app, then select Tap here to edit quick settings. You can select up to nine different settings shortcuts, which will then be placed at the top of the Settings app for easy access in the future.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Lock screen app shortcuts

You can place two app icons on the lock screen of your Galaxy device for quick access to either app. To change either app, or disable them altogether, go to Settings > Lock screen and security > Info and app shortcuts > App shortcuts.

Select the shortcut to change and select the app you want to use, or turn the shortcut off.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Install camera modes

The Galaxy S7 is one heck of a smartphone camera on its own, but its appeal grows when you begin adding different modes to the camera app. By using modes you can create animated GIFs, take better food shots, or create hyperlapse videos without much fuss.

In the Camera app, tap on the Mode button followed by the Download link at the top of the screen. A rather long list of modes will populate, ready for installation.

Installation only takes a few seconds, after which you can experiment with the various modes and improve upon your smartphone photography skills.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Remove unwanted apps

Samsung and carriers tend to install a lot of bloatware on Galaxy devices. Sometimes you can remove it, other times you can’t. With the S7, you can at least turn off some of the apps and remove them from your home screen and app drawer.

When in the app drawer, tap on the Edit button and then start picking off unnecessary apps one by one by tapping on the “-” icon. A prompt will alert you when an app can only be turned off rather than uninstalled.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

With the basics out of the way, you can learn how to master your Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge by reading our complete how-to guide.

Battle the xenomorphs in new Aliens vs Pinball tables from Zen Studios

Zen Studios has released Aliens vs Pinball, a set of three pinball tables based on the popular sci-fi movie franchise. The game is available for Android owners as a free-to-play app, with all three tables accessible for $9.99 as an in-app purchase.

Zen Studios says the first of the three tables is based on James Cameron’s classic 1986 Aliens film:

Relive moments from the iconic 1986 film ALIENS, as Ripley and the Colonial Marines infiltrate LV-426 to eradicate the Xenomorph infestation in Aliens Pinball! Help Ellen Ripley as she faces off against the imposing 3D Alien Queen with her Flamethrower, use the real-time motion track to fend off attacking Aliens, survive the trek to the Atmosphere Processor in the M577 APC mini-game, and exterminate swarms of Aliens with the UA 571-C Automated Sentry Gun all while listening to memorable quotes from Ripley, Hicks, Hudson, and more taken directly from the film.

The second table is based on the acclaimed 2014 PC and console game Alien: Isolation:

Help Amanda Ripley survive the dangerous corridors of Sevastopol Space Station while evading a merciless Xenomorph. Additionally, you’ll have to contend with “Working Joe” androids and Station Security Guards, craft weaponry, and hack computers while you keep an eye out for the relentless Alien.

Finally, the third table is Aliens vs Predator, as the xenomorphs go up against their biggest enemies of all:

Face off against Alien enemies and challenge your skills as you take on the role of a young Predator looking to make his mark in the Yautja ranks on the Alien vs. Predator pinball table. Emerge victorious as you calibrate your camouflage system, collect weapons, use your advanced targeting system, destroy Alien eggs in a lightning fast multi-ball mode, collect Hunting Trophies, and experience the thrill of the hunt!.

Inside Action Launcher’s Quicktheme

Action Launcher has garnered a fair bitt of praise from us at Android Central. Some love Quickdrawer and being able to ditch the traditional app drawer. Some love the Covers and Shades, which free up space and get us into apps faster. But as a themer, Action Launcher’s got a great trick that can make your home screen feel completely new with one easy step.

Setting a new wallpaper in other launchers just gives you a new image behind all your widgets and folders. Setting a new wallpaper in Action Launcher will change not only that image but will recolor your Quickbar, Quickdrawer, and folders. Quicktheme does this by sampling colors from your wallpaper and using them to color the launcher’s other elements in colors it believes it’ll match. That beats digging around in Nova Launcher’s settings to re-color everything manually.

You can even choose between several tints for your themes, most are pulled from your wallpaper but there will always be two defaults: Material Light and Material Dark. In most instances the algorithm Action Launcher uses to pick these shades will be enough. For wallpapers with a lot of colors, or wallpapers with a very small amount of an accent color you’re trying to match, it can sometimes miss. Sadly, the only way to draw new colors is to set the wallpaper again with a different zoom or crop. There are also rare instances when Action Launcher fails to pull colors from a wallpaper.

While the ability to manually set colors when the pre-selected colors fail would be great, the built-in tones work well for most wallpapers and themes. Being able to simply set your wallpaper and watch the rest of your launcher re-theme itself to match is gratifying, instead of having to fuss around in your launcher’s settings manually re-coloring your folders and drawers.

Hearthstone’s Whispers of the Old Gods expansion awakens for everyone

The latest expansion to the Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft digital card game, Whispers of the Old Gods, is now available for players. This expansion adds a new, Lovecraftian horror dimension to the game, with new creatures and new spins on old cards.

Whispers of the Old Gods brings 134 new cards to the game. These includes Old God cards, C’Thun, Yogg-Saron, Y’Shaarj, and N’Zoth, which offer new and powerful abilities. There are also “corrupted” versions of old cards, which have different skills from their standard version. You can also be able to play Forbidden Cards, which consume all of your available mana for a turn to power its effect, increasing its potency with each mana point used.

When you open your first Whispers of the Old Gods pack, you’ll get as part of it C’Thun, the god of madness, along with two Beckoner of Evil cards.

You can start playing Whispers of the Old Gods in Hearthstone right now. Note that, as of this writing, Blizzard is experiencing some authentication issues, and you may find yourself unable to login. The company is working to address the issue.

Unlocked HTC 10 has Wi-Fi calling support

Make calls over Wi-Fi without carrier-branded firmware.

It used to be that in order to use Wi-Fi calling — the ability on certain carriers to place calls and texts over Wi-Fi, even when you have no cellular reception — you had to be using a carrier-branded handset. But we’ve seen a trend towards Wi-Fi calling on unlocked Android phones of late, including the Galaxy S7 and Nexus 6P with the Android N developer preview.

The latest Android phone to bring support for Wi-Fi calling in an unlocked model — at least on some carriers — is the HTC 10

We’ve been using Wi-Fi calling with the unlocked European HTC 10 on EE in the UK, and with the U.S. unlocked variant on T-Mobile in the United States. So far we’ve been unable to get it up and running on Vodafone UK’s Wi-Fi calling — and since Vodafone isn’t officially carrying the HTC 10, it’s unclear if that’ll change anytime soon.

Just like the GS7, W-iFi calling setup is simple and pretty much instantaneous. Pop in your SIM as usual, install carrier settings if prompted, and connect to a Wi-Fi network.

A few things will change to let you know you’re making calls and texts over Wi-Fi. First you’ll see an icon in your status bar — a phone with a Wi-Fi symbol above it. Then there’s the hard-to-miss persistent notification that shows up in the notification tray. And finally, the “Call” button in the HTC Sense dialer app will change to “Wi-Fi Call.”

If you need to disable Wi-Fi calling for any reason, fire up the dialer app hit the overflow menu (three dots) in the top right corner, then tap “Settings.” You’ll find it under “Enhanced communications” at the bottom of the menu.

HTC 10

• HTC 10 review
• HTC 10 specs
• These are the HTC 10 colors
• Our first photo and video samples
• Meet the Ice View case
• Join our HTC 10 forums

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HTC introduces the familiar-looking One S9 in Europe for €499

HTC has announced a new phone for European markets, the HTC One S9. The phone takes after the One M9 in style, while changing up the internals. The phone comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow pre-installed.

The phone, which features a 5-inch, 1080p display, is powered by a Helio X10 octa-core processor from MediaTek, running at 2.0 GHz. It has 2GB of RAM, along with 16GB of storage, which can be expanded with a microSD card. It’s rear camera is 13MP, while its front camera is an HTC UltraPixel camera.

The HTC One S9 will be available in Europe for €499. There is no word yet on when this phone will be released.

Deadpool movie makes its R-rated digital debut in the Google Play Store for $14.99

Deadpool, the surprise box office hit superhero box movie starring Ryan Reynolds as the Marvel Comics character, is now available to own as a digital download in the Google Play Store for $14.99.

The R-rated movie made a huge splash when it was released in theaters in February, and it’s now available on digital download a few days earlier than first announced.. Just in case you have been under a rock for the past few months, here’s an amusing description of Deadpool:

Hold onto your chimichangas, folks. From the studio that brought you all 3 Taken films comes the block-busting, fourth-wall-breaking masterpiece about Marvel Comics’ sexiest anti-hero! Starring God’s perfect idiot Ryan Reynolds and a bunch of other “actors,” DEADPOOL is a giddy slice of awesomeness packed with more twists than Deadpool’s enemies’ intestines and more action than prom night. Amazeballs!

Download the Deadpool movie from the Google Play Store ($14.99)

The LG G5 spare battery coffin is a brilliant little charger

This is what you can get for free in the U.S. if you get an LG G5 by April 30.

One of the more important features of the LG G5 is the battery. Specifically that it’s removable. And because you can swap in a spare battery whenever you feel like it, it makes sense to have an extra on on hand. To that end, LG is giving a good many folks who ordered early a free spare G5 battery, complete with charging cradle coffin — and a sweet little adapter to boot.

As you might well have guessed, this isn’t just a charging cradle.

Let’s take a quick look.

LG G5

• LG G5 review
• LG 360 CAM review
• LG G5 complete specs
• LG’s G5 Friends modules are a neat idea, but they won’t matter
• LG G5 Hi-Fi Plus w/ B&O
• Join the LG G5 discussion

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Unlocked
Sprint
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So here’s the deal: You pop a battery in the coffin — c’mon, that’s exactly what it is — and then charge the whole thing via USB-C. It inputs at 5V at ~1.8A. And perhaps our favorite part — it comes with a handy little USB-C to microUSB adapter, so you can use any aging microUSB charger to power this thing up. (That adapter is definitely going in our gear bag.)

But this coffin also has a USB-A output, meaning you can use it (and the spare battery) to charge other devices. Or, if you want to get really meta, you could charge the G5 without actually swapping in the second battery. You’ll be better off putting the spare battery into the G5, though, as the coffin outputs a 5V at ~1A. But in a pinch, you can use this to give a little extra juice to your other devices.

And to that end, there’s a power button and LED lights on the side of the coffin, which is how you’ll tell it to start charging something else. (And then know how much juice is left in the battery.)

The kicker, though, is that this particular bundle is expensive if you try to buy it, but cheap if you preordered the G5 in the United States. If you buy/bought your G5 before April 30, you have until May 16 to claim all this, for free. (Here’s where to do that.) Or you can pay way too much at other retailers, or play the import game.

See at Best BuySee at eBay

More footage of Pokemon GO beta gameplay gets leaked

A new video shows even more gameplay from the closed beta testing of Pokemon GO, the upcoming augmented reality mobile game from former Google company Niantic Labs.

The video from the GAME Previews YouTube channel shows about eight minutes of leaked gameplay footage. It includes showing how trainers can capture a number of different creatures in the “real world” by using their smartphone camera. It also shows the game’s experience point feature, which will let those trailers level up as they play the game more and more. The game itself is expected to launch to the public in the summer of 2016.

More: It’s time to get caught up on Pokémon Go

AT&T reports Q1 2016 earnings: $40.5 billion in revenue, adds 2.3 million wireless customers

AT&T has reported its earnings for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016, noting yet another big bump in consolidated revenues due to its recent DirecTV acquisition, along with respectable wireless subscriber growth.

In all, AT&T says that it brought in consolidated revenues of $40.5 billion, in Q1, which is up 24% compared to the same period a year ago.

On the wireless division specifically, AT&T says that it added 2.3 million customers in North America, with 1.8 million added from the U.S. and 529,000 from Mexico. It also stated that it had 712,000 branded (postpaid and prepaid) phone net adds for the quarter as well. Postpaid churn for the quarter was 1.10% with a total churn of 1.42%. Here are the highlights:

• Consolidated revenues up 24%, largely reflecting DIRECTV acquisition
• Adjusted EPS up 10.8%, fourth straight quarter of double-digit growth (above consensus)
• Entertainment Group has strong satellite, IP broadband growth and improved margins
• 328k satellite video adds
• More than 3M wireless subs on unlimited wireless bundled with video
• 186k IP broadband net adds
• 2.3 million North American wireless net adds driven by connected devices, Mexico and Cricket
• U.S. net adds of 1.8M; 529k net adds in Mexico
• 712k North American branded phone net adds
• Postpaid churn of 1.10%
• Stable domestic total churn of 1.42%;Cricket driving total prepaid churn lower
• Strong growth in AT&T Mexico with 4G LTE covering 51M POPs, on target to reach 75M by EOY