Using SideSync with a Samsung Phone with Lollipop on the Galaxy Tab S
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If you own another Samsung device such as a Galaxy smartphone, you can view and manipulate the device’s screen on your Tab S screen using SideSync 3.0, which is pre-installed on the Tab S with Android 5.0 (Lollipop). SideSync makes it easy for you to view and copy information between both devices, such as photos you’ve taken on your smartphone that you can copy directly to the Tab S.
SideSync has to be installed on your other device for SideSync to work properly, and you can find SideSync in the Google Play Store. In this article, I’ll connect the Tab S with my Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone using SideSync. The instructions in this article are for the use of SideSync with Lollipop on the Tab S.
Connect to Another Device
Start by launching SideSync on the smartphone and then tap the SideSync icon within the main Home screen on the Tab S. SideSync scans for available devices and displays the available devices to which you can connect within the SideSync window as shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1. The list of available devices appears within the Available Devices section in the window.
Each device name in the list shows the product code for the device, so if you’re not sure which device to use, check the back of the device to which you want to connect. If you don’t see the device in the list, you may need to turn on the device and/or turn on SideSync. When you want SideSync on the Tab S to scan for more devices, tap Scan at the bottom of the window.
In this example, I’m only connected to the Samsung Galaxy S6 which has the product code SM-G920A, so I’ll tap that device in the list. On the Galaxy S6, tap OK to allow the Tab S to connect with the smartphone.
Access Apps and Change Settings
The SideSync window appears on the screen so you can access specific apps on your smartphone as shown in Figure 2. The icon row contains four icons that appear from left to right:
- Tap the My Files icon to open the My Files app on your smartphone and view all files and folders on the smartphone.
- Tap the Music icon to open the Music app on your smartphone and play music stored on your smartphone through your Tab S speakers.
- Tap the Gallery icon to open the Gallery app on your smartphone and view pictures stored on your smartphone.
- Tap the Add icon to view a list of more apps on your smartphone that you can add to the SideSync window. You can add as many as two other apps to the icon row, and if you add two more icons to the row then the Add icon disappears.
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Figure 2. The SideSync window appears in front of the Weather widget on the main Home screen.
When you receive notifications, such as new email messages in your inbox, you’ll see each notification in its own white tile within the Notifications list shown in Figure 3. The notification tile contains the title of the notification in bold text that is larger than the other notification text.
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Figure 3. The Clear All option appears above the email notification in the list.
Close an individual notification by tapping the Close icon (it looks like an X) at the right side of the notification tile. You can close all notifications by tapping Clear All above the top notification tile in the list.
One menu option and three window icons appear in the upper-right corner of the window, from left to right:
- Tap the More icon to open a menu so you can scan for other devices, enable a mobile hotspot on your phone, change settings, get information about SideSync, and get quick online help.
- Tap the minimize icon (it looks like an underline) to minimize the window. After you tap the minimize icon, the SideSync icon appears in front of all windows in the upper left area of the screen. Move the icon to a different location on the screen by tapping and holding on the icon and then dragging the icon to the new location on the screen. Open the smartphone window by tapping on the icon.
- Tap the Close icon (it looks like an X) to close the smartphone window and the SideSync app on both the Tab S and the smartphone. After you tap the icon, tap OK in the pop-up menu to close the window and the app.
- To the right of the Close icon, tap the Smartphone icon to open the smartphone window on the Tab S.
Navigate in the Smartphone Window
After you tap the Smartphone icon in the SideSync window, the smartphone screen window appears on the Tab S screen (see Figure 4). This window looks very much like the physical smartphone you’re connected to, and that includes the buttons below the screen. Note that the screen on your smartphone goes dark so you can’t use SideSync on your Tab S and your smartphone at the same time.
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Figure 4. The smartphone screen window includes blue menu bars above and below the screen.
You can manipulate features on the smartphone screen just as you would with a physical smartphone. The top menu bar contains a menu with several icons so you can manipulate the window and perform a variety of tasks. At the left side of the top menu bar, tap the down arrow to view the options in the menu (see Figure 5):
- Tap Rotate Screen to switch the screen orientation of the smartphone window between vertical and horizontal.
- Tap Capture Screen to take a screenshot of the smartphone screen and save it to your Tab S so you can open it later using the Gallery or Photos.
- Tap Turn to view the smartphone screen on the smartphone as well as on your Tab S.
- Tap the up arrow icon to close the menu.
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Figure 5. The up arrow icon appears in place of the down arrow while the menu is open.
The right side of the menu bar you saw in Figure 5 contains three icons for manipulating the window, from left to right:
- Tap the Minimize icon (it looks like an underline) to minimize the window. After you tap the Minimize icon, the SideSync icon appears in front of all windows in the upper left area of the screen. Move the icon to a different location on the screen by tapping and holding on the icon and then dragging the icon to the new location on the screen. View the smartphone window on the screen by tapping on the icon.
- Tap the maximize icon, which looks like four arrows in an X pattern, to view the smartphone screen on the entire Tab S screen; menu icons appear at the bottom of the maximized screen.
- Tap the close icon, which looks like the letter X, to close the smartphone window and the SideSync app on both the Tab S and the smartphone. You’ll learn more about the closing process later in this article.
The bottom of the menu bar you saw in Figure 4 contains three icons, from left to right, that mimic the physical and touch buttons on the smartphone:
- Tap the Recent icon to view the Recent Apps screen on your smartphone.
- Tap the Home icon to view the Home screen on your smartphone.
- Tap the Back icon to go to the previous screen on your smartphone.
Copy a Web Address to Your Smartphone
If you want to view a website on your smartphone but don’t want to use the keyboard on the smartphone’s small screen, you can type the web address within the Internet app on your Tab S. Then you can copy that address to the Internet browser on your smartphone using SideSync.
Start by tapping the Apps icon at the lower-right corner of the Tab S screen and then tap Internet in the Apps screen. Once you in the Internet app, navigate to the web page with the address you want to copy to your smartphone screen shown in Figure 6.
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Figure 6. The Web address appears in the address bar within the Internet app and the smartphone window appears on top of the web page.
If necessary, move the SideSync icon elsewhere on the screen as you learned about earlier in this lecture so you can view the address bar on the screen. Next, tap and hold on the web address in the address bar you saw in Figure 6 for a couple of seconds. The full website address appears in the address bar as shown in Figure 7. Tap Copy in the menu.
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Figure 7. The Copy menu icon appears in the middle of the menu that appears below the selected website address in the address bar.
In the smartphone window, tap Internet as you saw in Figure 7. If necessary, swipe up in the smartphone screen to view the address bar. Select the existing web address shown in Figure 8 by tapping and holding on the address within the address bar for a couple of seconds.
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Figure 8. The address bar appears at the top of the screen with the Paste option at the right side of the menu that appears below the address bar.
Tap Paste in the menu bar that appears below the address bar you saw in Figure 8. The address appears in the address bar as shown in Figure 9. A small keyboard appears underneath the smartphone window so you can add and change text within the window. Open the page by tapping Go in the keyboard.
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Figure 9. The Go key appears on the right side of the smartphone window keyboard.
The web page appears within the smartphone screen. You can close the Internet screen by tapping the Recent icon in the SideSync window bottom menu bar that you learned about earlier in this article. Then you can tap the Close icon within the tile shown in the smartphone’s Recent Apps screen.
When you’ve finished using the smartphone window in SideSync, tap the Close icon in the top menu bar that you learned about earlier in this chapter. A pop-up window appears on the screen that states closing SideSync will disconnect any connected devices from the Tab S. Tap Close to close the SideSync window. The screen on the smartphone reappears and the last screen you viewed on the Tab S appears without the SideSync window in front of it.
Now that you’ve learned how to open a SideSync window, manipulate the smartphone screen, copy information between devices, and close the SideSync window, you can use SideSync on your Tab S to connect with and enjoy features on your other Samsung devices.