How to make the Galaxy S10 'feel' even faster with a hidden Android trick

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How to make the Galaxy S10 'feel' even faster with a hidden Android trick

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Samsung S10 Smartphone

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

  • There's a hidden setting in Android phones, including Samsung's new Galaxy S10, that makes them feel faster.
  • The setting essentially reduces the animations when you navigate around the phone. 
  • The phones themselves aren't really any faster, but the reduced animations will make the phones feel a lot snappier.

One of the first things I noticed about the Galaxy S10 wasn't actually a good thing - it felt pretty slow.

I knew that couldn't be right. The Galaxy S10 sports the latest and greatest Snapdragon 855 processor from mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, and the phone comes with a generous 8GB of RAM for smoother and faster switching between apps. 

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Then I realized that I hadn't yet tweaked the Galaxy S10 like I had with the previous phone I was using - the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition - to make it "feel" faster than it did out of the box.

Indeed, you can tweak the Galaxy S10 the same way I did the OnePlus 6T with a hidden settings menu called "Developer options." Essentially, it lets you reduce the animations when you open and close apps, unlock the phone, swipe down the notifications shade, pull up the app drawer, and it even makes apps feel faster when you tap around on them.

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The Galaxy S10 isn't set to some kind of overdrive mode. All it's doing is limiting the animations that are only there for aesthetic purposes. You can completely turn off these animations if you like, but it'll feel very utilitarian.

Worthy of note, the Galaxy S10 has another option to make the phone feel a little faster, which I'll show you below, as well as the hidden Developer option.

Check it out:

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There's a quick and easy setting you can change that makes the Galaxy S10 feel snappier.

There's a quick and easy setting you can change that makes the Galaxy S10 feel snappier.

Go to:

Settings > Advanced features > and tap Reduce animations.

This will reduce the motion effects, like when you open or close an app.

You can reduce the animations even more by using the hidden 'developer' options.

You can reduce the animations even more by using the hidden 'developer' options.

The developer options is a hidden menu that gives you control over things that you normally don't need — or even want — to touch. But there are a few fun things to explore in there.

One of those things is reducing the animations even more than the standard animation reductions in the Galaxy S10's main settings.

To start with, head to the Settings menu of the Galaxy S10.

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In the Settings menu, scroll down and tap 'About phone.'

In the Settings menu, scroll down and tap 'About phone.'

Tap 'Software information.'

Tap 'Software information.'
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Now start tapping the 'Build number' option repeatedly. You'll see a little notification appear on the bottom saying that you're X taps away from becoming a developer. Keep tapping until you're a 'developer.'

Now go back to the S10's Settings menu and scroll down. Tap on the 'Developer options.'

Now go back to the S10's Settings menu and scroll down. Tap on the 'Developer options.'
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Scroll down the Developer options until you find the Window, Transition, and Animator scale options.

Scroll down the Developer options until you find the Window, Transition, and Animator scale options.

Set each scale option to "0.5x."

Set each scale option to "0.5x."

You can set the scales to "off" if you want, and there won't be any animations at all. Apps will open and close instantaneously. It'll make you realize how phone makers add animations purely for aesthetic effect.

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Voila! Now your Galaxy S10 should feel a lot snappier.

Voila! Now your Galaxy S10 should feel a lot snappier.
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