Unlike in previous years, Samsung announced the Galaxy S5 at MWC 2014 rather than hosting its own event later in spring. And unlike in previous years, the company only highlighted certain new features of the handset during the event – probably the fresh partnership with Google played a role in that – instead of showing all the new software tricks it has devised for the new flagship.
However, in a post on its blog, the company highlighted 10 hidden features Galaxy S5 buyers should be aware of.
While it doesn’t come with a stylus, the Galaxy S5 supports pencil input, allowing users to write on it with a pencil. To enable the feature, users will have to go to Display settings and increase the touch sensitivity of the display – alternatively they can pull down the status bar and select “Touch sensitivity” from there.
The Galaxy S5 will also suggest music playlists with a simple tilt. Users will have to tilt the Galaxy S5 horizontally into landscape mode while listening to a song, at which point the Galaxy S5 will suggest additional tracks based on that song.
With “Toolbox,” Galaxy S5 users will be able to bookmark favorite apps. Toolbox is actually a small widget that “opens and closes like a mini-folder or app-drawer,” and which can be placed anywhere on the screen.
Private Mode will help users protect “secret messages, pictures and voicemails” from other people, which is secured by a password, PIN number or pattern.
Kids Mode, a feature the company talked about during the announcement event, will turn the phone into a kid-friendly gadget with a “cute UX design,” which will only offer certain parent-controlled content.
The camera app of the Galaxy S5 can be accessed directly from the lock screen after simply setting it up in Settings and then Lock Screen.
Speaking of the Camera app, Samsung has new camera features for the Galaxy S5 including Virtual Tour, a panoramic-like photo mode that allows users to take pictures as if they were giving a tour, and Shot and More, which lets users apply several effects to their pictures after taking them.
The company has also tweaked its messaging app, adding Priority Senders in the app. After setting contacts as Priority Senders, they will appear in a Facebook Chatheads-like fashion on top of the app, allowing users to quickly contact them.
A new Check Caller Information feature shows details about the contact a user is talking on the phone with during the phone call.
Finally, a Call Notification Pop-ups feature will let users talk on the phone while doing something else in an app.
