Samsung Smartphone tips and tricks – Five things you have to try on yoru Galaxy Smartphone

Our smartphones are so powerful I think we barely scratch the surface of what they can do.  Imagine how big the user manual would be if companies had to print out every single feature of your new device.  Chatting with a caller on the EFTM podcast recently, it became apparent that even many months – almost a year since getting their new Samsung device they were still learning new features!

So, digging through our Samsung Galaxy we’ve identified five amazing features you might never have heard of, let alone used.

Best Face – no more eyes closed in photos!

If you’ve ever taken a selfie, or a photo of you and a friend or a group of friends, sometimes you look back at the photos after everyone has left the room and realise that one person has their eyes closed in the photo!

Without getting them all back to re-take the photo, your compatible Samsung phone could save the day! (Needs to be running One UI 7 – so Samsung Galaxy S25, A56 and more to come).

To ensure your next photos are protected by Best Face, make sure “Motion Photo” is enabled.  Open the camera, and click the motion photo button top right of the screen.

From now on, when you take a photo – the phone is actually taking a mini video.  This means that there’s going to be a frame or two of that video where those eyes are open.

All you need to do then is look at the photo in the Samsung Gallery, swipe up, and choose the Best Face option.  You can then choose the face you want to see, and the end result is everyone looking and smiling!

You can do this with up to five faces in the photo, and it only works when “Motion Photo” is activated.

Because there is some AI here, there may also be a visible watermark applied, and of course you may get varied results so perfection is not guaranteed!  Very well worth a try though!

Edge Panel – quick access to your favourite apps and shortcuts

Swipe your finger in from the right edge of the screen (right side is by default – you can actually move this to the edge location of your choice) and you’ll find something utterly unique to Samsung.  The Edge Panel.

It’s in part a shortcut to your favourite apps, but it can also be a quick way to access contacts and information.  It’s really up to you how you use it.

For most people, just the idea of a single swipe to access apps is a game-changer.  But add to that the “App Pairs” which allows you to pair two apps together, like email and internet – allowing you to use two apps at the same time in a split screen configuration.

Personalising your Edge Panel is critical to making it useful to you on a regular basis. 

You can create a panel for Apps, a panel for people, another one for tasks and you just swipe between them to access them.  Plus you can customise which panel you see first and in which order they appear.

Time saver – no question!

Object Eraser – Clean up your photos

The photos you take today don’t need to be the photos you share, those people in the background, the wires in the background, or whatever it is that takes away from your photo being the “perfect shot” might just be able to be removed using Samsung’s Object Eraser.

A feature that has evolved right into Galaxy AI in more recent Samsung Phones, it’s also available as a feature to enable in Gallery Labs in other recent devices that are not Galaxy AI enabled.

Regardless of how you enable it, choosing the Object Eraser option in the edit function of Samsung Gallery will allow you to tap, highlight or circle items in a photo to remove them from the image.

It works with background objects and foreground, depending on the photo composition.

That special moment spoiled by a stranger in the background – fixed! With Object Eraser.

To get this all going you do need a Samsung Account, and it only works on JPG, PNG, GIF and MP4 file formats.  You may see an “AI” Watermark applied to the new image, and of course, it’s not always the perfect result – but to get rid of that thing in the photo you didn’t want – worth a go!

Convert Measurements – In any place, any style

Have you ever been looking at a measurement that needed to be converted, like something in inches you needed in centimetres.  Or perhaps a liquid measurement while cooking?

You probably opened the internet and used Google to make the conversion.

On many Samsung phones you can simply type the measurement into any app, highlight it and press and hold the highlighted text to bring up a contextual menu that gives the “Convert” option. 

This will display the conversion in a pop up window, so you’ll have the answer fast!

Simple!

Your phone is a desktop computer!

I’m blown away by how few people know their Samsung Smartphone is also a desktop computer with Samsung DeX.  And that’s not an exaggeration.  

Plug your Samsung phone into a USB-C capable monitor, pair a keyboard and even a mouse via Bluetooth and you’ve got a desktop computer that you’re carrying around in your pocket.

Your existing mobile apps show as windowed software on a bigger screen, you can have multiple windows open at any time and be a whole lot more productive using your normal desktop style keyboard on a monitor.

All the work you do is on your phone.  When you’re not at your desk you can pickup where you left off.

Work on detailed spreadsheets, documents and browse the web up on a large monitor – all of it happening on your smartphone.

EXTRA TRICK: Light up your phone with Edge Lighting

This one is a fun one, but one I’m sure you didn’t know you could do.

It’s a touch more complex, relying on “Routines” that can be programmed around actions you take on your Samsung phone.

In this case, we’re attaching a routine to the action that is “Fingerprint unlock”.

Whenever you unlock the phone with your fingerprint, the phone can play an “Effect”

The “Edge Lighting Effect” is a really futuristic effect which makes the outside edge of the phone screen glow – and it does this every time you unlock the phone with your finger print.

Simple, but impressive – give it a try. Find it under settings “modes and routines”, Create a new routine to run when you Unlock with Fingerprint, then make it run the Edge Lighting Effect.  Awesome.

It should be noted that fees may apply to certain AI Features at the end of 2025 as Samsung has always stated. Certain Galaxy AI features requires Samsung and Google Account. Internet connection may be required to use some features.

This post was written with the support of Samsung Australia