The day has finally arrived and you just unboxed your shiny new Samsung Galaxy S10. Now, you’re holding one of the best phones of 2019 in your hands and wondering, what to do next? Considering how jam-packed the S10 is with features you might feel a little overwhelmed. Don’t worry, if you’re wondering where to start and what to do first we’ve got you covered.
Protect it
First and foremost, you’re going to want to protect it. The Galaxy S10 is an expensive device but with a glass front and back it is also a fragile device. While Gorilla Glass has come a long way it is still glass, and glass scratches or even worse it cracks.
To make sure your investment doesn’t get shattered, wrap it up. Here are a few choices below for cases and screen protectors. Remember, not every screen protector works with the new in-display fingerprint scanner but all of the below choices will work.
Cases
- Spigen Rugged Armor
- i-Blason Cosmo Series
- Spigen Neo Hybrid
- Spigen Liquid Crystal
Screen Protectors
- Whitestone Dome Glass
- IQ Shield LiQuidSkin Full Coverage
- LK Screen Protector 3-Pack
More Storage
Samsung raised the bar with the Galaxy S10 by including 128GB storage minimum and offering a 512GB model, but you can always use more space. Fortunately, there is a microSD card slot in the SIM tray. Below are a few good choices for adding some more storage to your phone for photos, videos, music, and more.
- Samsung 64GB
- Sandisk 128GB
- Samsung 256GB
Set up Samsung Pay
One of my favorite features on Samsung phones is paying with Samsung Pay. By combining NFC and MST payments it works at nearly every pay terminal available. Paying with your phone has never been more simple or convenient. Just follow the steps below to get started.
- Open Samsung Pay
- Click Get Started
- Use biometrics verification (iris or fingerprint)
- Create a Samsung Pay 4-digit PIN
- Add a card or Paypal to your Wallet
Blue Light Filter
Studies have shown that the blue light emitted from devices is not only bad for our sleep but bad for our eyesight. The blue light filter is one of the ways Samsung and some others have found to combat this. To enable it on your S10 follow these steps:
- Open settings
- Display
- Tap Blue light filter
- Now toggle from Sunset to sunrise or create your own schedule
Now, you can protect your eyes at night and sleep easier. You can also toggle it from the quick tiles any time you like by swiping down twice on the notification tray.
Swap the Navigation Buttons
If you’re a long time Samsung user you may have gotten used to having the back button on the right and overview button on the left. If you’re coming from most other phones, then this is probably something that has always frustrated you about Samsung phones. Thankfully, when Samsung made the switch to software navigation keys they provided us with the option to change it to match stock Android.
- Open settings
- Display
- Navigation Bar
From here you can change the Button layout, adjust the color of the navigation bar, and more.
One-Handed Mode
There’s no getting around it, the S10 is a big phone. Working it with one hand can be a challenge for some of us. That’s where One-handed mode comes into play. With this nifty little feature, you can shrink down the screen with a shortcut making it much easier to reach items.
- Open settings
- Advanced features
- Motions and gestures
- One-handed mode
From here, you can toggle it on or off, and change which shortcut is used to launch it.
Turn on Night mode
With the update to Android Pie, Samsung included a new feature on its phones called Night mode. When enabled Night mode gives a dark theme to your notification panel, settings, and notifications. The dark theme is much easier on the eyes and thankfully doesn’t have to only be used at night. Follow these steps to try it out for yourself.
- Open Settings
- Tap Display
- Toggle on Night mode
Customize the Bixby key
If you’re like me you never use the Bixby key because it only does one thing, open Bixby. However, that has changed as Samsung recently added a native setting to allow you to open other apps or run Bixby routines using the button. With the new setting, you’ll be able to assign two different shortcuts, one for single press and one for double press. However, one of these must be reserved for Bixby itself, but at least we can take back control of one of the shortcuts.
- Press Bixby button
- Tap the three dot menu
- Choose Settings
- Bixby key
- Enable your single press or double press command
Turn on Atmos
Audio quality from Samsung phones continues to improve and software plays a big part in that. One of my favorite enhancements on several phones these days is Dolby Atmos technology. In my opinion, it really brings the sound to life and I always enable it on any phone includes it.
- Open settings
- Sounds and vibration
- Scroll down to Advanced sound settings
- Sound quality and effects
- Toggle Dolby Atmos
You can also experiment with changing which mode to use and the equalizer while you’re in there. Sound is a very personal thing and thankfully we have the option to personalize it.
Themes
Not everyone is a fan of the whitewashed theme on Android, including myself. Fortunately, you aren’t stuck with that. Samsung provides an entire theme market with many free themes. Make your phone your own by spending some time browsing and finding something to match your style.
- Open settings
- Wallpapers and themes