(Pocket-lint) - Samsung launched the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ alongside the S10e and S10 5G at the beginning of 2019, meaning there are four handsets in this year's S10 line-up. The company went through a complete refresh on the S10, launching it with Android 9 Pie and the new One UI, which is an evolution of Samsung Experience UX and TouchWiz, bearing many of the same hallmarks. We've scoured deep into this phone to root-out everything you could possibly want to know about it. Here's how to be an S10 master. Samsung Galaxy S10/S10+ top tip: If you're struggling to find things, swipe down the quick settings and you'll find a search option at the top. Just start typing your search query and this universally searches your phone returning settings, apps, contacts, calendar appointments. It's really powerful. You can also launch it by bringing up the apps tray, and tapping the finder bar at the top. squirrel_widget_147148 The home screen part of the launcher. It's where you unlock your phone to, the place for app shortcuts and widgets and it's where you return when you're finished doing something in an app. Edit your home screen: A long press on the wallpaper on any home screen lets you edit the wallpaper and themes, widgets, pages or further settings. This area will also let you add or delete complete screens, so if you want a widgets page, this is where you go. Get more on your home screen: You can change the size of the screen grid on which your shortcuts and widgets sit, depending on how dense you want the home screen to be. Long press on the wallpaper and select "home screen settings". Select 4x5 to keep things fairly clear, 4x6, 5x5 or 5x6 to cram more in. We went with 5x6 on the S10+, otherwise things look too big. Resize widgets: Many widgets are resizable. A long press selects them. When you lift your finger, you can drag the blue box that appears and resize your widget. You can even resize or reposition the Google search box. Customise the navigation bar: Want back on the left rather than the right? Head into settings > display > navigation bar and you can change the the order of buttons. Remove the navigation bar and use gestures: One of the new options is to remove the navigation bar completely, so instead of tapping on-screen buttons, you swipe in at those locations instead. This gives a more seamless full-screen look, but does take some getting used to. You can have indicators of where to swipe called "hints" which can be toggled on of off in the navigation bar menu. Customise the status bar: With the front-facing camera now sitting on the right-hand end of the status bar, you might want to control the icons a little closer. Head into settings > notifications > status bar and you have some options. You can limit to three notification icons, or you can have all. You can also turn on or off the battery percentage. Allow your home page to work in landscape: This option will allow the home screen and apps tray, settings, etc, to display in landscape. It's off by default, but you can turn it on in settings > home screen > portrait mode only. Just switch this off to get rotation to landscape, so if you're switching from gaming to movie watching you don't have to keep returning to portrait. Create a folder: Simply drag one app on top of another on the home screen and a folder is created. To remove an app from a folder, open the folder and long press an app and you'll get a pop-up menu which lets you remove that app. To add apps, either drag them into a folder, or hit the "add apps" button within the folder to add apps. Change a folder colour or name: Open a folder and enter the name you want at the top. If you don't want a name, leave it blank. To change the folder background colour, tap the dot in the right-hand corner and select a new colour - including completely custom colours. Delete a folder: If you no longer want a folder, press and hold and then hit remove from home. The folder and the app shortcuts will vanish. Access Bixby Home from the home screen: Bixby Home is a sort of mash-up of information harvested from other places, like location and your social feeds, calendar, weather and other miscellany. It loves to the left of your home screen, so swipe right and you'll land on it. It's different to the Bixby screen you get if you press the Bixby button. Turn off Bixby Home: If you don't want Bixby Home, long press on the wallpaper and you'll enter the home screen controls. Swipe to the right and the Bixby Home panel will appear. There's a toggle switch in the top right-hand corner. If you don't want the Bixby Home panel on your home screen, just turn this off. Change launcher (home screen): You can easily change the experience of your phone with a different launcher, such as Nova if you want more customisation. Just download the launcher from Play Store and install it. When you press the home button you'll be given a choice to select a new default launcher. Or, head into settings > apps and hit the menu button top right. Select "default apps" and then "home screen". You'll see your choice of launchers there, pick the one you want. Show app suggestions in recent apps: When you tap the recent apps button, you'll get thumbnails of your recent app pages, but also a line of suggested apps across the bottom. These are based on what the Galaxy S10 thinks you might want. If you want want this, tap the recent apps button, then the menu top right and turn off "show suggested apps". Pop-out conversations in a separate window: Remember Facebook Chat Heads? Samsung can do that with messaging services across the Galaxy S10, popping out the conversation into a floating button so you can respond without switching apps. It's called "smart pop-up view" and you can find it in settings > advanced features > smart pop-up view. You can toggle those apps you want to pop-up (we used to for messaging services) and then you can reply to them in a separate window. squirrel_widget_147129 Samsung pushed Bixby as its digital assistant, while as an Android phone you get Google Assistant too. Install Alexa and that becomes an option. Here are all the management options for those virtual assistants. Access Google Assistant: A long press on virtual the on-screen home button will launch Google Assistant. You can then talk to Google and get the full experience as Mountain View intended. This is synced with your Google account from sign-in, so works with anything you've already set-up Google Assistant to do. Access Google Assistant if you've removed the on-screen buttons: If you've decided to use gestures rather than the navigation bar, you can access Google Assistant with a swipe and hold from the bottom middle of the display, where the home button would be. This will then see Google Assistant pop-up as normal - or you can enable Ok Google to use voice. Best smartphones 2021 rated: The top mobile phones available to buy today By Chris Hall · 27 May 2021 Disable Google Assistant: If you don't want Google Assistant on that home button shortcut, you can remove the ability to launch it there. Head into settings > apps and open the top right-hand menu and select default apps. Then head into device assistance app and you'll see the option to select "none". Tap that option and nothing will then happen with a long press on the home button. Change your digital assistant to Alexa: If you'd rather launch Alexa on the home button, install the Alexa app and then, as above, switch the default device assistance app to Alexa. That will then mean you have Alexa accessed through the home screen instead of Google. The Alexa hotword will not work.<doc-sep>The Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus both feature an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that's hidden underneath the display. The new tech means you won't find a sensor on the rear or side of the phone, as is the case with the Galaxy S10E's capacitive fingerprint reader. But because the technology is new and this is the first time we've seen it on a smartphone, there's surely going to be some hiccups. If you find yourself struggling with the S10's ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, here are five things to try. Now playing: Watch this: Galaxy S10 Plus is an everything phone Real-world use Jason Cipriani/CNET When adding a fingerprint to your device, hold the phone as you most commonly do and place your finger on the screen at the same angle and from the same location you most likely will on a daily basis. In other words, don't place the phone flat on a table and lift your finger straight up and down on the sensor. Unless that's exactly how you most commonly unlock your phone. Be patient Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET Some have had more success placing their finger over the sensor and leaving it in place until the phone tells you to lift your finger off the sensor. This extends the amount of time it takes to register a fingerprint, but the additional time the sensor has to read and map your fingerprint just might make a difference. Don't get carried away The setup interface instructs you to move your finger around in-between each scan. This is accurate, but don't drastically move your finger around. Instead, only subtly shift your finger in between scans. Reregister Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET If you just cannot get the reader to work with a particular fingerprint, open Settings > Biometrics and security > Fingerprints and remove that particular fingerprint then reregister it. Update your phone's software On launch day, Samsung released an update for the Galaxy S10 lineup, and one of the improvements includes better fingerprint sensor performance. To improve the fingerprint sensor's performance, make sure your phone is running the latest software. Open the Settings app and select Software Update > Download & Install and follow the prompts if an update is found.<doc-sep>Samsung phones are some of the most feature-packed in the world. And the more you pay, the more you get. The Samsung Galaxy S10+ starts at £900. It can do a lot. Loads, in fact. Here are a few of the fun features we think you should try out first, including some of the hidden highlights you may not have even heard of yet. Like the idea of GoPro-beating video stabilisation, auto-creating a digital avatar of your own or controlling deep features with a quick voice command? The Samsung Galaxy S10+ has all of those and more. Here are 10 ways to get beyond the shiny surface of the latest Samsung flagship.<doc-sep>
Samsung's Galaxy S10 lineup has some new camera features, including the ability to zoom out on before taking a photo with just a couple of taps. If you just unboxed and set up your shiny new Galaxy S10, here's what you need to know to work the camera app and get the best shots possible. Now playing: Watch this: The Galaxy S10 is fantastic Take ultra-wide photos Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET The Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus both come with a third camera on the back of the phone. The purpose of the new addition is to take ultra-wide-angle photos -- a feature that comes in incredibly helpful in certain situations. To switch to the new camera, look for and tap on the icon with three trees, just above the shutter button and shooting modes. Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET Or if you have the Galaxy S10 Plus, you can switch to the second front-facing camera, which serves as an ultra-wide camera by tapping on the icon with two trees. Scene optimizer Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET With Scene Optimizer enabled, the S10 can take brighter photos in dark environments, double as a document scanner or add starburst flares to lights in the background. Tap on the Settings icon in the viewfinder, then tap on Scene Optimizer. Toggle which of the available options you want to use, then go back to the camera and take photos as you normally would. Shot suggestions Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET The S10's camera can suggest the best way to frame a shot, and if you want, it can even take the photo with it thinks everything is lined up properly. For example, when shot suggestion determines the photo you should take, you will see a white circle and a white ball on the viewfinder. Line the ball up with the circle and hold still for a few seconds to allow the S10 to capture the shot. To enable Shot Selection, tap on the Settings icon in the viewfinder, then turn the switch next to Shot selections to the On position. Get more out of Live focus The S10 can take portrait photos that add blur, or bokeh, to the background of the shot. However, now you can adjust the type and intensity of effect that's applied to the background of the shot. The new effects are spin bokeh, zoom bokeh, color point and blur. When you switch to the Live Focus shooting mode, you'll notice the new options as well as a slider just above the shutter button. You can apply and preview the effects in real time. If you change your mind after you captured the photo, don't worry -- you can edit it in the Gallery app and pick a different effect. Edit available camera modes Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET Just above the shutter button, you'll find a series of shooting modes for you to choose from. From photo or video to live focus or super slow-mo. You can switch between modes by swiping left or right across the various options. If you're like me and find the list too long, you can remove shooting modes you just don't use. Select the Settings icon in the viewfinder, then scroll down and tap Camera modes. Uncheck the modes you don't want to have as an option. You can also reorder the various modes based on your preferences. Capture a GIF Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET Instead of having to take a video and then fiddle with the Gallery app or some third-party app, turn this feature on to capture and create a GIF just by holding in the shutter button. Go to the Camera settings then tap on Hold Camera button to > Create GIF. Instead of capturing a burst shot, or taking a single photo, the S10 will capture multiple shots and combine them into one animated image. Bixby Vision Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET Along the top of the viewfinder you'll notice some text reading "Bixby Vision." This feature will use the S10's camera to try and identify real-world objects, and depending on what it is, give you more information or links to purchase the item. AR Emoji Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET Located next to Bixby Vision is an option to launch AR Emoji. These cartoon characters are created by taking a selfie and then letting the phone come up with an animated character that is supposed to look like you.