While not late breaking news, many who own the Galaxy S3 may not be aware of this handy feature set.
Hidden in your Galaxy S3 is the ability to test out all major display and sound functions.
Are the graphics displaying properly? Got a dead pixel? Hardware vibration controls working the way they ought to?
The Galaxy S3 makes this incredibly easy for all of us to test, but Samsung doesn't exactly let us know that we have that capability built in.
Accessing the Service menu is trivial:
-Start your phone app and go to your dialer/Keypad
-Type in the following (seen below): *#0*#
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You now should have in front of you a screen with a 5 X 3 grid of options (seen below):
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Features include:
Test color capabilities:
The top row of buttons will test the color capabilities of the phone.
Pressing each button will fill your screen with said color quickly and easily allowing you to spot dead pixels if any exist.
Test Receiver and Vibration:
Pressing the Receiver icon should make a short, high pitched beep.
If you don’t hear it, you might have some issues with the Receiver of the phone.
Pressing the Vibration icon will test the vibration of the phone.
It emulates full vibration which is an often reported issue for some users, so it is good to test it out.
Test dimming and Mega cam:
By pressing the dimming button the screen will be divided in three parts; red, green and blue.
Press the screen again and it should dim to about half brightness.
The Mega cam test simply tests out the big camera on the back. Press it to activate the viewfinder and the rear lens.
Sensor testing:
Strangely enough, the G3 has more sensors than users may be aware of.
Pressing the Sensor button reveals a screen containing metrics for the following sensors:
- Proximity sensor
- Barometer sensor
- Lights sensor
- Gyroscope sensor
- Magnetic Sensor
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Testing out the Touch screen:
A favorite of mine. Using this can allow you to identify areas of the screen that are not responding well to touch.
Touching this button brings up a grid where you can test specific sections of the screen for response.
Test the Sleep, Speaker and Sub key:
The Sleep button is self explanatory. Just press the Sleep key and if that function is working on your phone, you will
need to unlock the screen and then re-type in the code to access the Service menu.
The Speaker icon will play a series of tones to test out the speaker on the back of the phone.
If you aren't hearing anything, first make sure your volume is turned up. If still no sound, Houston, we have a problem.
The Sub key is what Samsung calls the 'Menu' and 'Back' soft keys located to either side of the Home button.
Press the Sub key on the test panel. Then press either one or both of the Sub keys to change the color on the screen.
This lets you know that both buttons are functioning.
Test the Front cam, LED and Low frequency:
The last row of icons tests a variety of functions on the phone.
Press the Front cam button to make sure the front camera is operating correctly.
Pressing the LED button tests the various LED colors. Each time you tap the screen, you should see - in order –
Red, Green, Blue, End.
Lastly, press the Low frequency button to test various LCD frequencies.
It seems very few people other than technicians know of this tool. I'm betting that if the tech support crew that you reach
over the phone knew of it, they could probably cut down on a number of phones being incorrectly sent back to stores or manufacturers
for service related problems.
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