Android Magazine UK - Issue No. 49

Tu t o r i a l s

App used » Native Android Wear feature Works with » Android 5.0

Master

Android Wear

Quick Settings

Q

uick Settings are a very important

feature of the Android Wear software

because they give you instant access

to the adjustments you will probably need

to make on a daily basis. Whether you are

in the cinema and want to turn the screen off

or are in an important meeting and need to

mute all sounds, with Quick Settings

everything can be managed with just a

couple of unobtrusive taps. They effectively

replicatemanyofthesettingsthatare

available as standard but are much closer to

thesurfaceanddon’trequiremultipletaps

and swipes of the screen to use them. Indeed,

theyaresousefulthatonceyoubegintouse

themeveryday,youwilllookbackandnot

believequitehowclunkyyourAndroidWear

devicewasbefore.Theyreallydochangethe

entire experience and will make your watch

more practical and invisible to use all of the

time,andlet’sfaceit,that’swhatweallwant

from Android Wear!

Switch between modes and adjust settings

with these simple smartwatch shortcuts

Check your watch is up to date

QuicksettingswereonlyaddedinarecentreleaseoftheAndroid

Wearsoftware,somakesureyourdeviceisfullyupdated

Find your current

software version

Go to Settings and scroll down

until you see the About option. You

will now see the current version of

the software that your Android

Wear device is running, which will

hopefully already be the latest.

Activate an update

Scroll down some more and a

System updates option will be

displayed. Tap it and if there is an

available update the process will

begin to start installing it. It

should only take a few minutes

to fully complete.

You have quick settings

Once the update process has

completed, you will see this screen

when you tap System updates. You

can repeat the process in the

future from time to time to make

sure that you always have the

latest update installed.

If you swipe down when the

watch face is showing, you will

access quick settings. You’d

normally tap the face to see the

full list or swipe right to dismiss

notifi cations. Though, once

you’ve used this method a few

times, it will become simple.

Swipe down for

quick settings

The fi rst screen you will see

shows the Mute option and

briefl y the date and remaining

battery percentage. Simply tap

to turn the mute on and then

tap again to turn it off. This is

very useful when you need to

stop all sounds quickly.

Switch Mute mode

on or off

The next left swipe takes you to

the Sunlight mode. When you

tap it, the screen will become

very bright for a short period

and then return to normal

brightness. This limitation helps

you see in bright conditions and

also saves precious battery life.

Brighten the

screen easily

Swiping left while on the Mute

screen will bring up the Cinema

mode option. Tap to turn it on,

at which point the screen will

stay off for as long as you need

it to. Just like the Mute mode,

this is really useful to use

quickly at short notice.

Turn off the screen

with Cinema mode

Every part of quick settings is

designed to be activated with

one tap and the Cinema mode

will only be deactivated when you

push the cuirown. Simple

instructions and a careful

understanding of what you need

is why quick settings work well.

Simple and

effi cient settings