Using the Lollipop Notifications Screen on the Galaxy Tab S
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One good reason to upgrade your Samsung Galaxy Tab S to version 5.0 of the Android operating system, better known as Lollipop, is the updated Notifications screen. You can still open the Notifications screen as you did with Android 4.4 (KitKat), but you’ll notice the screen includes some new features and changes.
This article takes you on a grand tour of the Notifications screen so you can use it to get quick access to settings and find important information quickly. Note that if you want to learn more about all the updates and changes that come with Lollipop, read the “Becoming Familiar with Lollipop on the Galaxy Tab S” article on the Que Publishing website (http://www.quepublishing.com).
Open the Notifications screen by tapping and holding on the top edge of the screen and then swipe down. You can see parts of the screen you were on, which in this example is the main Home screen, darkened so you can focus on the Notifications screen features shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1. The darkened main home screen appears on the left and right sides of the Notifications screen.
The Notifications screen is divided into three sections, from top to bottom:
- The light blue Notification panel at the top of the screen contains the current date and time, setting icons, quick settings button row, and a screen brightness slider bar.
- The dark blue button bar contains buttons to access the S Finder and Samsung Quick Connect options, which you’ll learn about later in this article.
- A list of notifications. Each notification is contained within a white tile. Notifications are listed from the most recent notification at the top of the list to the oldest notification at the bottom.
View and Change Settings
Three setting icons appear in the upper-right corner of the Notification window, from left to right: Change User, Settings, and Change View.
Change User
Change the user of the Tab S by tapping the Change User icon, which looks like a silhouette of a smiling person’s head. The Change User window appears on the screen (see Figure 2) so you can select the user account that you want using the Tab S. The defaults are your current user name and Guest.
After you select the user account, the Tab S applies the settings, permissions, and restrictions associated with that account and displays the Lock screen so you can log into the Tab S using your account. If you haven’t set up the user account, the first setup screen will appear so you can go through the account setup steps. Once you finish setting up your new account you’ll see the Home screen.
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Figure 2. The blue Change User window appears at the top of the screen.
Tap Settings to open the Users settings list in the Settings screen and then either select a new account from the list or add a new user. If you decide against changing the user, return to the Notifications screen by tapping Done.
View and Change Settings
If you need to change settings and you don’t want to close the Notifications screen to tap the Settings icon in the Home screen, just tap the Settings icon in the Notifications screen. (The icon looks like a cog you saw in Figure 1.) Note that after you open the Settings screen, the Notification screen closes. You can open the Notifications screen while you’re in the Settings screen by tapping and holding on the top edge of the screen and then swiping down.
Change View
By default, the quick setting button row you saw in Figure 1 contains 11 buttons for features you can turn on an off, such as Bluetooth. However, the Notifications screen only shows seven of those buttons. You can view the remaining four buttons by swiping from left to right within the feature button row.
You can view just the setting icons and all the quick setting buttons by tapping the Change View icon. This icon looks like a tile with three squares and a bi-directional arrow in it. After you tap the icon, the list of all quick setting buttons appears as shown in Figure 3.
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Figure 3. The Change View window appears at the top of the screen and displays 19 quick settings you can turn on or off.
Move a button from the Available Buttons box to the Active Buttons box by tapping and holding on the button tile in the Available Buttons box and then dragging the tile to the gray area within the Active Buttons box. Conversely, if you want to remove an active button from the list, tap and hold on the button tile within the Active Buttons list and then drag the tile to the gray area within the Available Buttons box. When you’re finished moving buttons, return to the Change View window by tapping the Back touch button.
Quick settings that are currently turned on have buttons with green icons in them. If a setting is not on, the button icon has a light blue color. Turn on a quick setting by tapping the appropriate button; the button icon color turns green. Turn off a quick setting by tapping a button with a green icon; the button icon color turns light blue. You can view the Notifications screen again by tapping the List icon in the upper-right corner of the window. (The icon looks like three lines with a bullet to the left of each line.)
Edit the Quick Settings Button Row
The Tab S gives you the ability to determine how many quick settings buttons appear in the quick settings button row. Start by tapping the Change View icon that you learned about earlier in this article. In the upper-right corner of the Change View window you saw in Figure 3, tap the Edit icon (it looks like a pencil) to open the Settings screen. Within the Notification Panel settings list, you can add to or remove quick settings buttons as shown in Figure 4. Swipe down in the Notification Panel list to view all buttons in the Active Buttons and Available Buttons areas.
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Figure 4. Reset the quick settings buttons by tapping the Reset icon above the Bluetooth button.
By default, the Active Buttons box shows 11 buttons and the Available Buttons box shows 8 different buttons you can add as an active button. You can have as many as 15 quick setting buttons in the Notifications screen.
After you add or remove quick settings, or if you decide against changing any quick settings buttons, tap the Back touch button to return to the Change View window. View the entire Notifications screen by tapping the List icon in the upper right corner of the window.
View Recommended Apps
By default, the Tab S will show recommended apps in the Notifications screen that you may want to use after you perform a certain action. For example, when you connect earphones you’ll see music-related app suggestions in the notifications list.
If you want to turn this option off, tap the Change View icon to open the Change View window and then tap the Edit icon as you learned to do earlier in this article. Next, slide the Recommended Apps slider button from right (on) to left (off) as shown in Figure 5.
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Figure 5. The Recommended Apps setting appears below the Brightness Adjustment setting on the right side of the Settings screen.
You can turn this feature on again by sliding the slider button from left (off) to right (on). Return to the Change View window by tapping the Back touch button.
Change Screen Brightness
You can change the brightness level of the screen by tapping and holding on the Brightness slider button and then swiping your finger left and right to darken and brighten the screen, respectively. As you move the slider button, the Notifications screen disappears with the exception of the slider bar (see Figure 6). The screen darkens and brightens as you swipe the slider button to the left and right, respectively.
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Figure 6. The brightness slider appears in a blue box near the top of the screen.
When you release your finger, the Notifications screen reappears. If you want to change the brightness to the automatic level, tap the Auto check box. The brightness on the screen automatically changes to reflect the Auto brightness level.
If you don’t want to adjust the brightness level in the Notification level, you can do this from the Settings screen. Start by tapping the Change View icon to open the Change View window and then tap the Edit icon as you learned to do earlier in this article. In the Settings window, tap the check box within the Brightness Adjustment setting as you saw in Figure 5.
The check box is cleared and the next time you view the Notifications screen, you won’t see the Brightness slider. You can turn on the Brightness slider in the Notification screen again by opening the Change View window, tapping the Edit icon in the window, and then tapping the check box to the right of the Brightness Adjustment setting. The check box turns green and contains a white check mark as you saw in Figure 5.
Access S Finder and Quick Connect
The dark blue button bar appears underneath the Brightness slider as you saw in Figure 1. Tap the S Finder button to open the S Finder app as shown in Figure 7. The S Finder app allows you to type one or more search terms in the Search box to find those search terms on your phone in various apps such as names in the Contacts app, events in the Calendar app, and even setting names within the Settings menu.
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Figure 7. The Search box appears within the blue menu bar at the top of the screen.
If you want to view the Notification screen from within the S Finder window, start by tapping and holding the top edge of the screen and then swiping down. The Status bar appears at the top of the screen. Next, tap and hold on the Status bar and then swipe down. Close the Notification screen by tapping the Back touch button.
Close the S Finder app by tapping the Recent touch button. Within the Recent Apps screen, tap and hold anywhere within the S Finder app tile and then swipe to the left or right.
If you want to connect your Tab S to another device, tap the Quick Connect button in the button bar to open the Quick Connect screen in horizontal screen view (see Figure 8). Tap Next in the Quick Connect window to begin the setup process.
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Figure 8. Samsung Quick Connect requires that you set up the app in horizontal screen view.
After you set up the Quick Connect app, the Quick Connect screen lists all the devices the app has found. For example, if you have a Bluetooth printer connected, you can tap the Print entry in the list and then decide if you want to print an image or a document. You can close the Quick Connect app by tapping and holding on the top side of the screen and then swiping down.
Manage Notifications
Each notification tile contains the most important information in the header (it’s in large, bold text) and supplemental information appears underneath the header. For example, one of the notifications in Figure 9 tells you how many apps have been updated in the header and several names of installed apps appears underneath the header.
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Figure 9. The 28 Updated Applications notification tile appears at the bottom of the list, and the Clear option appears below and to the right of the tile.
If there are too many notifications to fit on the screen, swipe up and down within the notifications list to view the notification tiles at the bottom of the list. You can delete all the notifications from the list by tapping the Clear option that appears below and to the right of the bottom tile in the list.
Some notifications disappear when the process associated with the notification is completed. For example, a notification appears while the Tab S installs an app. Once the app has installed, the notification tile disappears automatically.
You can tap on the notification to open the app associated with the notification. For example, if the Google Play Store has installed a new app, the Play Store app opens so you can see the apps you have installed on the Tab S.
Now that you have a complete understanding of how to use the Notifications screen in Lollipop, enjoy using the screen every day to get up to date information and gain access to important features and settings quickly on your Tab S.