Best Hidden features of iPhone/iPads That everyone should know

Best Hidden features of iPhone/iPads That everyone should know

There's little doubt that the king and queen of the post-PC era are the iPad and the iPhone, and while these devices both started out life as content consumption devices, they've grown over several hardware and software iterations into formidable content creation devices.

But as with any device, there are tips and tricks and shortcuts that can help you get more from your iDevice investment. Here I'm going to present you with six tips and tricks that will help you be more productive when using your iPad and iPhone, whether you use it for work or play.

Do Not Disturb

Want some peace from calls and texts? Use the Do Not Disturb mode present in Settings > Do Not Disturb. This can either be set on demand or to come on based on a schedule.

Want to still be able to receive some calls while in Do Not Disturb mode? Use the Allow Calls From setting to control which of your contacts can get in touch.

What about those urgent calls from people not in your contacts? You can use the Repeated Call feature to allow a call through if it is the second one made within three minutes.

Quick access to numbers

Find yourself typing a lot of text and numbers? Do you find switching back and forth to the numeric keypad time consuming? Press and hold the "123" button and slide up to the character you want to input then, when you let go, the standard keyboard will return.

Noise cancellation

Prior to iOS 7.1 the noise cancellation feature was only available to iPhone 5S owners. Now Apple has made that feature accessible to all.

Go to Settings > General > Accessibility and switch on Phone Noise Cancelation.

Invert Colors

Spend a lot of time looking at your iOS device in low-light? Invert the screen colors for more comfortable viewing.

To do this click Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on Invert Colors.

Another tweak you can make to make the interface easier on the eyes is to go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Increase Contrast and toggle the options present there.

Bring back the UI elements

One of the biggest visual changes that Apple introduced in iOS 7 was to throw out the old on-screen metaphors for buttons, switches and dials. While this wasn't a problem for some user, there are those who'd prefer to have their buttons, switches and dials look lie the once did. In iOS 7.1 Apple gave people a way to bring these visual elements back.

If you're one of those people who want them back go to Settings > General >Accessibility and turn on Button Shapes.

Quick access to numbers

Find yourself typing a lot of text and numbers? Do you find switching back and forth to the numeric keypad time consuming? Press and hold the "123" button and slide up to the character you want to input then, when you let go, the standard keyboard will return.

AirDrop          

AirDrop is a great way to share files with other iPhone and iPad (not all devices are compatible) users using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (both need to be enabled for it to work).

Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up Control Center and tap on AirDrop. Here you can choose to make your device discoverable for Contacts Only or Everyone or turn it off completely in here. When you choose someone to share with, or they choose you, there’s a notification giving you a preview of the file and the option to deny or accept the transfer.

How to transform your Galaxy S4 into an S5

posted by Dinesh Soni

It didn't take long, but all the tools you need to transform your Galaxy S4 into an S5 are already available. In this tutorial we'll show you how to get the Quick Settings, notifications shade, settings menu (in both round icon and list view), wallpapers, icons and the new Galaxy S5 apps. You'll even get access to the impressive new Download Booster option.

With a little bit of work you can set your S4 up like an S5. / © AndroidPIT

What you need

You'll need a rooted S4 running on Android 4.4.2 and a few file downloads we'll move onto in a minute. You'll also need a root explorer like ES File Explorer or Total Commander.

ES File Explorer File ManagerINSTALL

Total Commander - file managerINSTALL

Notification shade and Quick Settings

All you need to do for this is go into your root explorer of choice, and head into the root folder, hit System and scroll down to build.prop and open that up. You'll see a ton of information about your device. All you need to do is locate the ro.product.name and ro.product.device entries and change them to SM-N900S. Save your changes and reboot. You'll now have the new icons in the notifications shade and your Quick Setting will look like those on the S5.

In your file manager, find the build.prop file and rename your device to SM-N900S / © AndroidPIT

Now your Galaxy S4 will have the same new icons as found on the Galaxy S5. / © AndroidPIT

Galaxy S5 apps

These were recently leaked on XDA Developers forum so all you need to do is head over there and grab the APKs for the apps you want. Of course, you're rooted so just delete the previous bloatware versions that you want to replace and grab the new ones you want and install as you would any other APK. Of course, you need to have ''Unknown Sources'' enabled in your security settings first.

Galaxy S5 wallpapers and icons

The Galaxy S5 wallpapers you can grab with a quick and easy app install from the Play Store. I checked early last week and the offerings were pretty slim (and inaccurate) but they've improved a lot in a short time. There's also a decent-looking Solo theme that'll also get you the Galaxy S5 flat icons.

You can get the Galaxy S5 wallpaper and theme with flat icons. / © AndroidPIT/Stock Wallpapers/Chcolate Pie

Galaxy S5 WallpapersINSTALL

${app-com.solo.theme.galaxys5}

Settings menu with list view

All you need to do to get your Settings menu looking like those on the Galaxy S5 is to grab an APK and replace an existing root file with the new one. So head on over to this XDA Developers threadand grab the APK, then open your root explorer and copy that APK into the System/priv-app folder. Once you've done this you need to rename the APK to something easy like SecSettings2.apk and change its permissions to look like those in the screenshot. Once you've done this you can simply remove (but don't delete) the original SecSettings.apk and SecSettings.odex (if you're odexed) and then reboot.

Drop the APK into the System/priv-app folder and rename it like the existing SecSettings.apk / © AndroidPIT

Set the new APK's permissions (left) and remove the original SecSettings.apk (and odex) / © AndroidPIT

If you have any issues, make sure you have these permissions set up for root access in your file manager. / © AndroidPIT

You'll now have two settings icons in your app drawer. One will take you to your old Settings menu and the other to the Galaxy S5-style menu. Some settings will crash, like the fingerprint scanner module for obvious reasons, but you'll have access to Download Booster and other cool features. If you don't like the big round icons just tap the menu button (left button next to Home button) and switch to List View. Now, if you don't see List view you can jump to another XDA thread where you'll find a separate APK for the Note 3 that resolves the missing List View on the S4 as well. Just repeat the same process above with the new APK and you'll be golden. The new Settings menu is a little unstable and some users are reporting some force closes or crashes but it's still pretty cool.

After rebooting, you'll have the Galaxy S5-style settings menu. / © AndroidPIT

If you don't like the large icons you can switch to List View. / © AndroidPIT

Download Booster (left) and the two Settings menu icons. / © AndroidPIT

Have you set up your Galaxy S4 to look like an S5? With these changes on board is there now no reason at all to upgrade?

How to transform your Galaxy S4 into an S5

posted by Dinesh Soni

It didn't take long, but all the tools you need to transform your Galaxy S4 into an S5 are already available. In this tutorial we'll show you how to get the Quick Settings, notifications shade, settings menu (in both round icon and list view), wallpapers, icons and the new Galaxy S5 apps. You'll even get access to the impressive new Download Booster option.

With a little bit of work you can set your S4 up like an S5. / © AndroidPIT

What you need

You'll need a rooted S4 running on Android 4.4.2 and a few file downloads we'll move onto in a minute. You'll also need a root explorer like ES File Explorer or Total Commander.

ES File Explorer File ManagerINSTALL

Total Commander - file managerINSTALL

Notification shade and Quick Settings

All you need to do for this is go into your root explorer of choice, and head into the root folder, hit System and scroll down to build.prop and open that up. You'll see a ton of information about your device. All you need to do is locate the ro.product.name and ro.product.device entries and change them to SM-N900S. Save your changes and reboot. You'll now have the new icons in the notifications shade and your Quick Setting will look like those on the S5.

In your file manager, find the build.prop file and rename your device to SM-N900S / © AndroidPIT

Now your Galaxy S4 will have the same new icons as found on the Galaxy S5. / © AndroidPIT

Galaxy S5 apps

These were recently leaked on XDA Developers forum so all you need to do is head over there and grab the APKs for the apps you want. Of course, you're rooted so just delete the previous bloatware versions that you want to replace and grab the new ones you want and install as you would any other APK. Of course, you need to have ''Unknown Sources'' enabled in your security settings first.

Galaxy S5 wallpapers and icons

The Galaxy S5 wallpapers you can grab with a quick and easy app install from the Play Store. I checked early last week and the offerings were pretty slim (and inaccurate) but they've improved a lot in a short time. There's also a decent-looking Solo theme that'll also get you the Galaxy S5 flat icons.

You can get the Galaxy S5 wallpaper and theme with flat icons. / © AndroidPIT/Stock Wallpapers/Chcolate Pie

Galaxy S5 WallpapersINSTALL

${app-com.solo.theme.galaxys5}

Settings menu with list view

All you need to do to get your Settings menu looking like those on the Galaxy S5 is to grab an APK and replace an existing root file with the new one. So head on over to this XDA Developers threadand grab the APK, then open your root explorer and copy that APK into the System/priv-app folder. Once you've done this you need to rename the APK to something easy like SecSettings2.apk and change its permissions to look like those in the screenshot. Once you've done this you can simply remove (but don't delete) the original SecSettings.apk and SecSettings.odex (if you're odexed) and then reboot.

Drop the APK into the System/priv-app folder and rename it like the existing SecSettings.apk / © AndroidPIT

Set the new APK's permissions (left) and remove the original SecSettings.apk (and odex) / © AndroidPIT

If you have any issues, make sure you have these permissions set up for root access in your file manager. / © AndroidPIT

You'll now have two settings icons in your app drawer. One will take you to your old Settings menu and the other to the Galaxy S5-style menu. Some settings will crash, like the fingerprint scanner module for obvious reasons, but you'll have access to Download Booster and other cool features. If you don't like the big round icons just tap the menu button (left button next to Home button) and switch to List View. Now, if you don't see List view you can jump to another XDA thread where you'll find a separate APK for the Note 3 that resolves the missing List View on the S4 as well. Just repeat the same process above with the new APK and you'll be golden. The new Settings menu is a little unstable and some users are reporting some force closes or crashes but it's still pretty cool.

After rebooting, you'll have the Galaxy S5-style settings menu. / © AndroidPIT

If you don't like the large icons you can switch to List View. / © AndroidPIT

Download Booster (left) and the two Settings menu icons. / © AndroidPIT

Have you set up your Galaxy S4 to look like an S5? With these changes on board is there now no reason at all to upgrade?