Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: First Things to Do
Congratulations on your new phone. We will guide you through a bunch of first steps to optimize your new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra experience. You will learn how to protect your phone with a case, personalize your phone by giving it a name, and set up your Samsung account for additional features. We’ll also show you how to speed up your phone, customize the power button, and set up lock screen widgets. Furthermore, you’ll discover how to enable swipe gestures and customize motions and gestures, as well as adjust display settings and organize your home screen.
Key Takeaways
- Prioritize phone protection and personalization with a case and custom name
- Set up your Samsung account and customize phone settings for the best user experience
- Enable and adjust various features, gestures, and display settings to make the most of your Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Protect Your Phone
Pick a Case
One of the very first things you need to do with your new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is to pick up a case to keep it in good condition. You don’t want to drop it or scratch it because you paid a lot of money for this phone. You can go with any case that you please, but I personally stand by the Spigen cases. I’ve been using these for a very long time, such as for my S10 and Pixel 6 Pro.
Definitely be sure to grab yourself a case to protect your new phone. It’s a simple but essential step to ensure your device remains in top shape, so you can enjoy all its amazing features without worrying about cosmetic damage.
Personalize Your Phone
Name Your Device
To make your new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra truly yours, you should start by naming your device. To do that, simply go into your phone settings, scroll down to “About Phone,” and then tap on your phone’s name. You’ll probably see a generic name like Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Just tap Edit and give your phone a name, maybe use your own. After doing this, your name will show up every time your phone tries to connect via Bluetooth, and you’ll be able to recognize it as your device.
Samsung Account Setup
Signing into your Samsung account is an important step in setting up your new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. If you don’t have an account, be sure to create one. To do this, go to your phone settings and tap on the top of the screen. If you don’t have a Samsung account, it will prompt you to create one. If you do have one, just sign in.
You may be wondering why it’s crucial to have a Samsung account. The answer is simple: it unlocks a myriad of features for you. For instance, it grants access to the Samsung Cloud service. Say goodbye to storage problems, as you can store all your photos online. Additionally, you can sync and share data with other Samsung users and create shared folders.
Most importantly, a Samsung account allows you to access the Find My Network. This becomes particularly useful when you can’t remember where you put your phone or, worse yet, it gets lost or stolen. With Find My Network, you can remotely track your device, ring it, lock it, unlock it, and even erase all data if your phone becomes unrecoverable.
So, don’t hesitate to create a Samsung account during your setup process—if you don’t have one already—and enjoy the benefits that come with it.
Speed Up Your Phone
Enable Developer Mode
To supercharge your phone and make it faster, you need to enable Developer Mode. To do this, go to your phone settings, scroll down to “About Phone,” and go down to “Software Information.” Find your build number and tap on it seven times. After entering your PIN, you’ll see a notification that developer mode has been enabled.
Adjust Animation Speeds
Now that Developer Mode is enabled, you can adjust the animation speeds on your phone. Head back to your phone’s settings, and at the bottom, you’ll see a new option called “Developer Options.” Tap into it and scroll down until you see “Window Animation Scale,” “Transition Animation Scale,” and “Animator Duration Scale.” By default, they are all set to 1x.
Change each of these settings to 0.5x, which will make the animation speeds twice as fast. As a result, anytime you’re switching between apps or closing or entering apps, the animation of opening and switching between apps will be much faster, making your phone feel snappier without sacrificing the visual quality of the animations.
Customize Power Button
Now let’s discuss how to change the default behavior of the power button on your new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. By default, when you tap and hold the power button, it brings up Bixby. If you’re like me and don’t use Bixby, but prefer the old functionality of the power button where it would give you power options to shut down or restart your phone, you can easily enable those options.
To enable the power off menu, go into your settings and scroll down to Advanced features. There, you’ll see “Side keys” – tap into it. You’ll notice that “Press and hold” is currently set to “Wake Bixby.” Select the “Power off menu” option instead. Now when you tap and hold the power button, you’ll be presented with the power options you’re familiar with.
Customizing the power button to your preference will save you time and make your phone experience more personalized. It’s these small changes that can greatly enhance your overall interaction with your new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. So go ahead and make this change – it’s quick and easy!
Lock Screen Widgets
One great way to enhance your usage of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is by customizing the widgets on your lock screen. To do this, simply go to your lock screen and double-tap your clock. This will display all available widgets, and by tapping the settings icon, you can unlock your phone and see a variety of options.
Feel free to browse through the different options and select the ones you want to show up on your lock screen. Some of these widgets offer quick access to frequently used apps, while others give you information at a glance. By rearranging the order of the widgets, you can make your lock screen more personal and efficient.
To reorder your lock screen widgets, just tap on the edit icon at the top, then tap and hold on a specific widget and drag it to change its position. This allows you to prioritize your most-used or important widgets to appear first.
By customizing your lock screen with the right widgets, you can make your Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra even more accessible and convenient to use. Remember, personalizing your device is all about making it work best for you, so take the time to explore your options and create a lock screen that meets your needs.
Enable Swipe Gestures
Navigation Bar
If you’ve never used swipe gestures, I highly suggest you enable them and get used to them because it is a much more intuitive way to use your phone than the Legacy Way of actually tapping on these buttons down here. To enable swipe gestures, go into your phone’s settings, then navigate to the Display section. Scroll down to the Navigation Bar option and tap into it.
You’ll be presented with options to arrange the navigation buttons, but what I suggest is to go ahead and enable swipe gestures. Now, instead of having to tap the buttons at the bottom of your screen to navigate around, you can use swipe gestures. To go back, simply swipe from the side, and to go to your home screen, just swipe up from the bottom. Also, to access your app switcher, swipe up and hold for a second, and you’ll see all of your background apps.
I highly suggest you give swipe navigations a try if you’ve never used them. Once you get used to it, it’s going to make using your phone a whole lot easier and quicker.
While we’re on the topic of gestures, let’s customize our motions and gestures. Go back into your phone settings, scroll down to Advanced features, and tap on Motions and Gestures. A lot of these options are already enabled by default, and it’s recommended that you leave them as they are. Feel free to go through the list and read what some of these do, as they add more functionality to your phone.
For example, instead of having to lock your phone all the time with the button, there’s a gesture that allows you to double-tap to turn on your screen and double-tap again to turn off your screen. This makes it much easier, especially when your phone is laying down, to check your notifications or go into your phone quickly.
Remember to enable and customize these gestures as per your preferences and enjoy the ease of navigating your phone in a smoother and more intuitive manner.
Customize Motions and Gestures
In order to make the most out of your new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, it’s essential to customize the motions and gestures available on your device. By doing so, you can access and navigate your phone faster and in a more efficient manner.
First, head back into your phone’s settings and scroll down to Advanced features. Then, tap on motions and gestures. You’ll see that many of these options are already enabled by default, but you should definitely go through the list and read what each one does.
For instance, there’s a double tap gesture for turning on and turning off your screen. With this feature enabled, you won’t need to use your phone’s lock button every time you want to check notifications or access your phone.
Another useful gesture to enable is lift to wake. Turning this on will automatically turn on your screen when you pick up your phone. This is an excellent way to quickly check any notifications or simply view your phone’s content without the need to unlock your screen manually.
While going through the different options in the motions and gestures settings, remember to tailor them according to your personal preferences and usage patterns. Enabling these options can vastly improve your overall experience with your Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and make interacting with your phone feel seamless and more intuitive.
Adjust Display Settings
Motion Smoothness
To decide whether you want an adaptive or standard refresh rate, go to your phone’s display settings and find the option for motion smoothness. The adaptive setting allows your phone’s refresh rate to vary from 10 Hertz up to 120 Hertz based on the content displayed and your usage. This results in smoother scrolling and a better overall experience, but might use up more battery than the standard option.
If you prioritize battery life and don’t mind sacrificing some smoothness, you can select the standard setting with a fixed refresh rate to conserve energy.
Screen Resolution
Your Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has an impressive 1440p WQHD resolution display, but by default, it comes with a 1080p Full HD resolution to save battery power. If you want to enjoy the sharpest image quality on your phone, go to the display settings and adjust the screen resolution from Full HD to WQHD.
Keep in mind that using the higher resolution will consume more battery. If you value battery life more than screen sharpness, it’s better to stick with the default Full HD resolution.
Organize Home Screen
Change Grid
One way to customize your Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s Home screen is by changing the grid size, which determines how many app icons you can fit on your screen. To do this, simply pinch the screen or tap and hold on it to access the settings, and then select Home screen grid, App screen grid, and Folder grid.
By default, the grids are set to 4×5, but if you want more screen space and fit more icons on your screen, you can select 5×6. This will make the app icons smaller and create more room on your screen. After making your selection, hit done to apply the changes.
Now, when you go back to your Home screen, you’ll see that there’s more space for apps. This allows for better organization and customization of your phone’s Home screen, making it easier to find the apps you need and personalize your phone to your liking.