Many default settings buried deep inside our
technology make us share superfluous amounts of data with tech companies. In a
previous article, we went over how to shut those off.
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But not all
default settings do sneaky things with our information. There are also some
that need to be activated or disabled to make our devices more enjoyable to
use.
Newer
iPhones,
for one, come with a fancy camera that can shoot extremely clear videos in
ultrahigh “4K” resolution — but most people probably are not using their
cameras to their full potential because, by default, the phone is set to shoot
videos at a lower resolution.
TVs are another
example. Many modern televisions come with an effect known as motion smoothing
turned on to make videos look as if they are playing at a higher frame rate,
which is supposed to make fast-motion scenes look more detailed. But in many
applications, especially when you are watching movies, it creates a soap-opera
effect that many find looks fake. It’s the setting on a TV that many
tech-inclined people switch off immediately.
Our consumer
electronics are among our most expensive household purchases, so it’s
worthwhile to peruse and change the default settings to reap their maximum
benefits. Here’s what I and other tech writers always change to make our
phones, computers and televisions work better.
Apple iPhones
Apple’s iPhones include various settings that are turned off by default
and must be activated to make the device more convenient to use and to take
better photos.
— Unlock an
iPhone while wearing a mask. Though mask mandates have been lifted in many
places, plenty of people still wear them to feel safe, especially indoors. One
of the biggest drags to using an iPhone was having to punch in a passcode,
rather than use facial identification, when wearing a mask. Recent versions of
Apple’s iOS now let iPhone users unlock the device without removing their mask.
Go to Settings Face ID & Passcode Face ID with a Mask and toggle this
setting on (green).
— Shoot 4K
video. To make an iPhone camera shoot video at its highest resolution, go to
Settings Camera Record Video and choose
a 4K option. The downside is that 4K recordings will clog more of the phone’s
digital storage. But if you paid for that fancy camera, why not put it to use?
— Activate the
camera grid. In digital photography, photographers use various composition
techniques to make photos more aesthetically pleasing. The iPhone camera has a
setting to show a grid to help compose shots. Go to Settings Camera Grid and
toggle this setting on.
Android Phones
Android phones also include controls that have to be activated or modified
to make the screen look better and the phone easier to use.
— Change the display’s
color profile. Many Android phones come with big, bright screens, but their
colors may look oversaturated or too blue. Ryne Hager, an editor at the tech
blog
Android Police, said he typically switched out the default color profile
whenever he set up a new Android phone. Instructions vary from phone to phone.
For Samsung phones, go to Settings Display Screen mode Natural. For Pixel
phones, go to Settings Display Colors Natural.
— Modify the
shortcuts. On Android phones, you can customize the “quick settings” menu for
shortcuts to features that you use often. Swipe down from the top of the
smartphone screen, and swipe down again. If you tap the icon that looks like a
pencil, you can choose to add tiles that let you, for example, activate
hotspotting to share the phone’s cellular connection with a computer.
— Activate the
camera grid. Similar to iPhones, some Android phones can also show a grid to
make photo composition easier. On
Pixel phones, open the camera app, swipe down
from the top of the screen, tap the gear icon and then go to Grid type 3x3.
Mac Computers
On Macs, where Apple users tend to do work, it’s useful to adjust settings
to eliminate distractions and make tasks quicker. That involves switching off
some features that were on by default and turning on some hidden features.
— Activate a
shortcut to show the desktop. Shrinking and moving around windows just to find
a file on the desktop can be tedious. The first thing I do with any Mac is
activate a shortcut that immediately hides all windows to show the desktop. Go
to System Preferences Mission Control Show Desktop and choose a keyboard key to
trigger the shortcut. (I use the fn key on my MacBook keyboard.)
— Turn off
notifications for distracting apps like Messages. In an era of never-ending video
calls, you definitely don’t want text messages bombarding your screen and
making sounds when you’re in a meeting. Just switch those notifications off
permanently. Go to System Preferences Notifications & Focus Messages Allow
Notifications and toggle the setting to off (gray). In this menu, turn off
notifications for any other noisy apps.
— Add the Bluetooth
icon to the menu bar. Most of us use Bluetooth accessories like wireless
earphones and mice, so to make it easier to connect and disconnect these devices
on a Mac, it helps to have quick access to the Bluetooth menu. Go to System
Preferences Bluetooth Show Bluetooth in menu bar and check the box. This will
show the Bluetooth icon in the upper-right portion of the screen, where you can
quickly connect and disconnect earbuds and other wireless accessories.
Windows Computers
Like Macs, Windows computers, by default, blast us with lots of
notifications, but most frustrating are the many bleeps and bloops that go off
when something goes wrong. Kimber Streams, a Wirecutter editor who tests
laptops, shuts all these annoyances off.
— Turn off
notifications. Go to Settings System Notifications. Uncheck all the boxes and
toggle off all the switches to disable all notifications.
— Turn off system
sounds. Go to Settings System Sound More Sound Settings Sounds Sound Scheme: No
sounds, and then hit Apply.
TV
Virtually every TV comes with default settings that are far from ideal for
showing the best picture.
With any TV, it’s
worthwhile to adjust colors, brightness and contrast to suit your space.
There’s no universal set of steps because the best settings will differ for
every TV and living room. But there are helpful TV calibration tools to make
this simple, including my go-to tool, Disney’s World of Wonder, a Blu-ray Disc
with instructional videos on adjusting your TV settings.
By far the most important step on any TV, though, is
to turn off the hideous motion smoothing effect. Steps vary across TVs, so do a
web search on disabling it for your model. On my LG TV, I went to All Settings
Pictures Picture Mode Settings Picture Options TruMotion Off.
Good riddance.
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