Phones are getting longer by the day. Just compare the size of the old iPhone 5S with the new Galaxy S10 Plus. The difference is huge. While the larger screen improves the movie viewing experience many times over, it also brings with it a major problem: one-handed operation.
Phones like the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus are so tall that it’s nearly impossible to work with one hand. And even if you somehow manage it, you risk losing the grip and dropping it.
Fortunately, there are a few workarounds to keep your business running. Samsung One UI design allows one-handed use, but it’s not enough. With the right tricks for one-handed mode, you can easily tame the big screen of the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus.
Let’s have a look.
1. Enable One-Handed Mode
One of the first tasks I did was to enable the traditional one-handed mode. You can triple-tap the home screen or swipe up diagonally from the corners. This will make the screen smaller and thus easier to work with.
But before you do that, you need to enable it manually. To do this, search for ‘one handed’ in the Finder, tap the settings card and toggle the switch.
Alternatively, you can go to Settings > Gestures & gestures. Choose a mode between Motion or Button and get started.
Traditional one-handed mode, especially when typing or using your phone in crowded scenarios.
2. See One-Handed Operation + App
One Hand Operation+ is a Samsung app built to further customize navigation gestures. This is useful for those who find it difficult to reach the bottom half of the phone.
It brings two customizable handles on both sides of the phone and by swiping these handles you can perform basic actions like go back, launch previous app, open recents menu.
As mentioned above, almost everything about these handles is customizable, down to the transparency levels and the height of the handles. For now, each handle supports three gestures – diagonally up, horizontally and diagonally down.
Open a handle to set gestures and add an action. You can even add and customize Long Swipe gestures.
Quite naturally, getting used to these new gestures will take a sweet share of time. But once you master it, navigating the Galaxy S10’s tall screen will be a breeze.
You also want to set the handles a little lower (or higher) so as not to confuse them with the Edge Handles.
Cool Tip
3. Get Samsung Browser Beta
The last time I tried to type a URL while lying down in Chrome for Android, the phone fell on my face – all because of the placement of the address bar.
Chrome for Android is testing an alt-tab switcher so you can give other browsers a shot in the meantime. Until then, one of the best browsers for the job is Samsung Internet Beta. This browser complements important features such as Tab switcher, Home and the menu below the UI.
A somewhat similar browser in terms of one-handed use is the Opera Touch browser. Opera designed this app primarily for one-handed use.
But at the end of the day, both of these apps have the address bar at the top of the page.
If you think this is not suitable, you can check the OH Browser. It places the address bar at the bottom along with other features. So the browser makes it incredibly easy to type addresses or site names.
Do you know
4. Set Home Screen for Notification Panel
Having trouble reaching the notification panel? Wouldn’t it be better if a swipe down on the home screen would show all the notifications? Well, it looks like there is a way to enable said settings.
To do this, long press the home screen and tap on Home screen settings. Next, toggle the Quick open notification panel switch.
Cool Tip: Enable swipe typing on your keyboard to spell words faster and more accurately. Most keyboards like Gboard, SwiftKey
5. Change Google Search bar to Alt
Another minor change you can make is to change the position of the Google Search bar. The bar is usually placed in the middle of the screen of Samsung phones by default.
All you have to do is long press on it and drag it to the bottom. That way you can simply tap on it and start typing whenever you need to search for something. Add a friendly browser and leave it to rest your worries about your phone falling or stretching your finger.
6. Tweak Edge Levers
Another good one-handed trick is to arrange the handles of the Edge screen to suit you. By default it is usually placed on the right edge of the screen. Fortunately, all this is easily customizable.
To do this, pull out the Edge screen, tap the Settings icon on the bottom left screen and tap the three-dot icon at the top and select Edge panel handle.
Here you can change the position, transparency, side and size of the handle.
At the same time, you can rearrange the panels according to your convenience. To do this, go back one page, tap the three-dot icon again and select Reorder.
Great Tip:
7. Get the Good Lock App
Samsung Good Lock app works flawlessly with Galaxy S10. After downloading, you can customize your lock screen and make it usable with one hand thanks to features like Mini Mod and Notification Pop-up.
Features are pretty much self-explanatory. The first collapses the Overview Selection menu, while the other lets you view notifications in a resizable window.
To enable these features, first install the Good Lock app and then the standalone modules like Task Changer and QuickStar.
Open Mission Changer and toggle the switch to enable Mini Mode. While on it, you can also explore the Layout types. At the same time, go to QuickStar and enable the Notification Pop-up Button.
This will show a button in the notification bubble. Tapping opens notifications in a resizable window.
Note:
Become a Galaxy S10 Power User
Finally, get a textured phone case so the next time you multitask with one hand, you’ll have something to help hold your phone better. They say one stitch in time saves nine.
Next up: Do you enjoy the premium feel and thinness of leather bags? Check out some well-textured leather cases for the Galaxy S10/S10 Plus.
