Got my first top-of-the-line smartphone (S6) -- small question, and what cool things can it do?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve always been a few years behind the cutting edge of phone tech, but now with the new AT&T pricing plans, it was only marginally more expensive for me to get a top-line phone like the Samsung Galaxy S6 rather than an older phone.

So I have the S6 and it’s very cool. I got the insurance in case I drop it. What kind of things can it do that might not be readily apparent to me? What experiences do you have with this or similar phones?

One thing that’s quite annoying – the boot-up tone when it’s turned on is very loud. I get that to change this I need to get some sort of file explorer program and delete or rename the boot-up tone .ogg file (it’s called PowerOn.ogg, I think, and some googling told me the directory and said to rename it to PowerOn.ogg.bak to silence the tone), but all the free file-explorer apps I’ve downloaded can’t seem to change the file from read-only to renamable – any ideas on this?

Also, the thumbprint reader sometimes needs a few presses to unlock the phone – can I change this to the pattern-draw-lock of other phones?

Any useless apps/battery-suckers that I can discard?

2

There’s not really any reason for you to have to reboot it, other than (infrequent) system updates or when the battery goes dead.

3

I work in a secure area and have to put my phone in lockers outside my office; I usually turn it off in the lockers as well as each night before going to bed… you’re saying I shouldn’t do this any more?

4

Oh, no. It’s not going to hurt anything if you do. I’m just saying you don’t have to.

5

Settings > Screen Lock and Security > Screen Lock Type it looks like.

On my S4 it’s Settings > My Device > Lock Screen > Screen Lock. Go into settings and look for something about your lock screen.

I don’t know about the S6 but on my S4, if I shut it down in Mute or Vibrate, it doesn’t make any noise when I power it back on.

6

Turn it off before bed? Dude, nobody does that. If the phone is muted before powering down, it will be muted when powering back up. Put it in airplane mode at work if you need to save battery. My smartphone is my alarm clock. It gets plugged in on the nightstand and the glowing red or green or blue digital bedside alarm clocks got ditched 10 years ago.

My phone is like an extra appendage. I use it for eh-vry-thing. S6 edge here! Also, posting from it now while still in bed.

7

Thanks for the input. I’ll consider changing my power-off routine.

I like the glowing-red alarm clock, though – I like being able to see the time in the middle of the night without having to reach for everything.

8

Not an app but I would suggest an Otterbox commuter case if you do not already have one. HUGE ass saver from damage! I have an S5 and would not carry a phone without one.

9

An app I like on my iPhone that I did not think obvious is RunKeeper. Ther are other similar (MapMy Run, etc). Its cool even for walks and hikes.

A podcasting app is very good, unless there is one built in.

If you like puzzles, there are a lot of Sudoku apps. I like Enjoy Sudoku Daily- it has taught me a lot of new techniques- really upped my game.