How to use motion gestures on the Samsung Galaxy S3

Samsung is offering those who own Galaxy S3 a wide array of motion gestures. However, since the manufacturer decided to disable the vast majority of them off, you will need to find out how to switch them back on; and what you can do with them. We will discuss the following motion gestures: Hand motions, Direct call, Turn over to mute/pause, Tap to top, Shake to update, Smart alert, Pan to browse images, Tilt to zoom and Pan to move icon. But in order to gin access to them, you have to pull down the Notification drawer, tap the icon labeled Settings, then scroll down to Motion and tap. That will show you the Motion menu. After this the Motion activation needs to be enabled, which is done by checking the mark in the Motion activation box.

Hand motions to use your hand to do stuff on the Galaxy S3, you have several options. For instance, should you wish to mute something, simply use your palm and cover the device. You can also take a screenshot with the help of a hand swipe across the phone’s touchscreen.

Available features

Then we have the Direct call option. With this one the user is able to locate an email address, phone number and so on with their face. Which you need to place in front of the phone’s display. And bam, the person you want to talk to will be called.

The Turn over to mute/pause motion gesture allows you to turn off the speaker of the Galaxy S3 when you are in an important place. To enable it, turn the switch to ON. Then turn the device over on its face. From what we experienced, it refused to work with Google Play Music.

Before using the Tap to top, you have to know that it doesn’t accept the Gmail application. To use it, open either the Email or the Contacts application. Then scroll for that which you have to jump to the top and tap 2 times on the device’s top.

Shake to update is a fun feature. It works best with the apps that the phone ships with; like News, Email and so on. But, if you want to look for a certain Bluetooth device, you shake the smartphone. Whenever you need an upgrade, simply shake the Galaxy S3.

Whenever you feel like seeing who called you when you were away from your phone, use the Smart alert motion gesture. The S3 vibrates every time you pick it up; then it shows alerts and calls you missed while at the bathroom and such.

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The Pan to browse images option helps you move content around after you zoomed in on it. For that, choose an image and zoom in on it. Afterwards you have to touch and hold on the display (doesn’t matter where on it). Once you did that, move the Galaxy S3 to pan around (it can be done by moving it left, right, up or down either fast or slow). If you want to put an end to this activity, release the touchscreen.

The option called Tilt to zoom feature is used when you want to zoom in on whatever stuff on the Internet by tilting the device. It’s very easy to do it. First use your thumbs at 2 separate point, then just tap and hold the phone. The second step is to tilt the smartphone towards you to zoom in. The last step is to tilt the phone away from you.

The final motion gesture feature is named Pan to move icon. This is used as a tool to move an icon to a Home screen on your phone. To achieve this you have to touch and hold the icon; then move the device left or right. This is going to make the Home screens get into motion. Let go of the icon after you find the right Home screen. After this action, the icon sits in a different place on the screen.

All in all, these motion gestures are very reliable and easy to use on Samsung’s Galaxy S3 smartphone.