The Galaxy Note 3 is one of the most powerful Smartphones on the market and could arguably be called the most productive phone ever made. This is a phablet with almost-tablet like dimensions: its huge 5.3” display being large enough to make multitasking with more than one app on-screen comfortable and its processor and 3 gigs of RAM being powerful enough to make that possible. On top of those impressive features though, it also boasts a very handy accessory in the form of the S-Pen which allows you to take handwritten notes with ease and a great range of additional features and free software to make the deal even sweeter. If you have a Note 3, then you have a powerhouse of a phone that can be used for true productivity and media creation as well as consumption.

But are you getting the most out of it? This is a phone with many secrets and tricks that could easily go unnoticed and that makes it all-too easy to squander the true might of the device. Here are some of the best secrets and tricks to help you get more out of this impressive gadget…

One-handed Operation

One of the downsides of having such a large phone, is that it makes it difficult to operate with one hand. Fortunately though there are many different settings that deal with this issue, including one option to shrink the screen whenever you use a particular gesture and thus allow yourself to more easily reach everything with a thumb while walking. You can also ‘lean’ the keyboard to one-side for one handed typing, or download the even-better ‘thumb keyboard’ from the market.

Getting More From the S-Pen

The S-Pen is one of those devices that you may not see a use for initially, but that can be very effective once you work it out. To get the most from it, you will want to create a shortcut to your S-Note app and also set up Evernote (which gives you some free storage thanks to a deal with Samsung). Now whenever you take a note, you’ll be able to save it to Evernote and open it on any machine you’re running. It’s the quickest and most natural feeling way to jot down a phone number or a to-do list and it can really help you to keep your life organized.

Another quick tip is to go into the S-Pen settings and to turn off the ‘action center’ that pops up whenever you remove the pen. This is useful sometimes, but not when you want to take a quick note in S-Note, and you can always launch it yourself by simply pressing the button on the side of the stylus while holding it slightly away from the screen.

If You Have Root Access…

I’m not going to either recommend nor dissuade you from rooting your device, but if you already have then an app worth downloading is ‘Multi-Window Manager’ which will allow you to add more apps to the multi-window function available through TouchWiz. That means you can then multitask with more of your favourite apps and even move them around the screen in windows. It’s a little buggy, but it’s the closest a phone can ever come to a desktop like experience.

Fun Features

While you might not like the looks of TouchWiz (many people don’t), it certainly adds some features that are great for showing off the power of your device even if they aren’t all that practical. Pull down your notification tray and you’ll find quick links to toggle many of these settings by clicking the icon in the top right. Now you’ll be able to enable features such as ‘smart scroll’ which allows you to scroll the screen simply by looking up and down, and ‘hover view’ which lets you quickly check the time and notifications on your device by swiping your hand over it even when it’s sleeping.

Accessories

The Galaxy Note 3 has fantastic support for external peripherals, including support for memory sticks, for HDMI output (via a HDMI-microUSB cable), and USB/Bluetooth keyboards and mice. All of these are useful tools if you want to try using your smartphone like a computer, especially when combined with the tips above!

Author Bio: 

Shruti Vaghe, the author of this article, is a freelance blogger, currently writing for, Cellphone Unlocker, leaders in cell phone unlock codes. She loves listening to music and takes keen interest in the latest gadgets. You can follow Nancy on Twitter @ShrutiVaghe.