Instant upgrades Samsung Galaxy S20

SA 20

FIRST ADD THESE…

ONE SAMSUNG LED VIEW COVER

One of the very best things about the Galaxy S20 is its screen –so be smart and keep it safe.
e S20 LED View Cover is fancy armour shielding all sides that fl ips open when you want to fi re the phone up. It also packs a set of punch-holes on the front, so the time displays in a retro dot-matrix pattern when closed. R690 / incredible.co.za TWO ANKER 15W FAST WIRELESS CHARGING PAD

e S20 fuels up cord-free with nippy 15W wireless charging. To take advantage of those speeds, though, you’ll need a charging pad that’s up to the task. If you don’t fancy spending R1 300 for a Samsung pad or stand, Anker makes an aff ordable alternative that does the job beautifully. R1 600 / pclinkshop.co.za THREE SONY WF-1000XM3

Wireless noise-cancelling earphones don’t come better than the 1000XM3s. Shipping with plenty of tip sizes, they fi t snugly, keep background noise at bay and pack touch controls. With six hours of battery life on one charge – which you can extend to 24 hours when combined with the charging case – they’re the buds to get. R4 300 / takealot.com

NOW TRY THIS… THEN GET THESE…

INS TANT UPGRADES

1 GET YOUR DAILY FIX

To the left of the S20’s main homescreen is Samsung Daily. It’s a list of seemingly random things – starting with the weather, then an automatically curated list of suggestions including news, podcasts, music and TikTok videos. But what makes it worth your time is that its recommendations are based on your phone use and Netfl ix and Spotify activity. It’s also easy to customise, or zap altogether. 4 DO CAMERA TRICKS Here’s a quick tour of three killer photo and video features. ˆ e fi rst, Single Take mode, captures a handful of highlight videos and photos in one take, leaving you with a suite of Instagram fodder. Video fans will love Super Steady mode, which shoots stabilised footage at 1080p. And fi nally, 8K video has arrived: in video mode, tap the aspect-ratio icon above Super Steady mode and select ‘8K’. You’re future-proofed! 2 SMOOTH THINGS OVER

Most phones refresh at 60Hz (that is, 60 times in a second). Like the iPad Pro, the S20 doubles that, so everything looks and feels lightning-fast. But 120Hz isn’t fi red up out of the box, probably because it aff ects battery life. To engage maximum smoothness, swipe down from the top of the screen and press the cog in the top right, followed by ‘Display’. ˆ en select ‘Motion smoothness’. 5 TOGGLE OFF If you pull down from the top of the screen, then swipe down again, there are no less than 16 toggles in view. Swipe left on them, and there’s a second screen with another 13. It’s ridiculous –but the S20 is also very easy to customise, so you can get rid of any you won’t use. Hit the three dots in the top right of the expanded quick toggle view, tap ‘Button order’, and drag off any unwanted options. 3 LIVE LIFE ON THE EDGE

Samsung’s bringing back Edge Panels on the S20. ˆ ese are handy shortcuts that can be swiped in from the side of the screen for quick access to apps, tools, favourite contacts, your clipboard and more. Activate the feature by swiping in from the upper-right side of the screen. Next, hit the cog in the bottom right and choose which panels you want, or download more

from the Galaxy Store. 6 STAY SWITCHED ON

When the S20’s screen is off , it can showcase handy bits of information like the time or weather. But unless you tap the screen to activate it, this always-on display isn’t really always on – so if you want to check the time on the sly, you’re out of luck. But you can fl ip it to actually be always on by jumping into the settings, selecting ‘Lock screen’, then ‘Always On Display’, then ‘Show always’. LIGHTROOM The worst thing about the S20’s camera is how unnaturally it boosts colours. So fire up Pro Mode, flick on ‘Save RAW copies’ in settings and edit pix in Lightroom. Free (IAPs)

MARVEL UNLIMITED That AMOLED screen is a perfect canvas for comics on the Marvel Unlimited app, which has all your favourite heroes and villains under one lovely roof. Free (IAPs)

QUIBI This Netflix rival is all about high budgets and short attention spans. Its seven-minute episodes will look stunning on that screen, showcasing Quibi’s A-list casts beautifully. Try it free for 90 days. Free (IAPs)

BETA YOURSELF

PODCASTING

Got time on your soapy hands and something to say? In this feature of two halves, Stuff details how to create a podcast… and also how to make the most of other people’s

MAKE YOUR OWN

Q Do some research Find out what’s already out there. If you’re keen on a particular subject, check out what people are already doing in that space. A great way to build a following is to cover something interesting and different; failing that, you’ll at least need a unique angle. Me-too podcasts tend to vanish without a trace.

Q Build a structure You’re doing this for fun, so you don’t want to be hemmed in. We get it. But recorded chaos isn’t nearly as entertaining to listen to as it might be to make –so figure out a basic structure for your podcast. It needn’t be too rigid, nor fully scripted, but you should define key beats to hit, and invent a few

Ferrite it out

On iPhone/iPad, Ferrite is superb for creating podcasts with its full-featured multitrack smarts. On Android? Try Spreaker Studio. sections that you can repeat across multiple episodes.

Q Record everyone One error that’s surprisingly common among hobbyist podcasts (and even some professional ones) is terrible audio quality. In some cases, the host will have a flashy studio setup but record other people over Skype or the phone. Wherever possible, get every contributor to record clean audio at their end then combine it all in the edit.

Q Learn to cut People don’t want to waste time, so be ruthless. Got an hour-long edit? Cut it down by half and focus on the really good bits. Be mindful of rights as well: only add music and sound effects that won’t later result in a lawyer punching you in the bank account.

Q Set it free Assuming you want others to hear your music/wittering, you’ll need some hosting. Buzzsprout, Podbean and Podomatic all offer free tiers to get you started (you’ll need to pay when you get serious). Once you have a feed set up, submitting your podcast to the likes of iTunes and Google Play is just a matter of filling in GET MORE FROM PODCAST APPS

some forms. TRY THE BIG NAMES

Q Go all-in-one Although known for music, Spotify is getting serious about podcasts. Its player is a bit basic but works well, and in-app discovery is solid.

Q Eat some Apple The word ‘podcast’ is a fusion of iPod and broadcast, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise that Apple’s first-party app is popular. Even if you don’t use it as your primary player, it’s good for discovering and trialling new shows.

SOUND IT OUT

Q Overhaul Overcast In Overcast (iOS), you can swipe artwork right in the playback screen to access tools that shorten silences, boost voices in talky shows and intelligently speed up playback. Settings can be defined globally or by podcast.

Q Put a rocket up Pocket Although Overcast pioneered such adjustments, they’ve since spread. In Pocket Casts (Android, iOS), tap the effects button to access options to adjust speed, trim silences and boost volume. In this app, effects are applied globally until disabled. Want to blaze past boring bits? Then use skip buttons. These will jump a podcast forwards and backwards by set amounts that can usually be customised. Set your back-skip to five seconds to fine-tune your position if you overshoot. Q Download shows Most podcast players stream by default — great when you have a decent signal, buffering hell when you haven’t. But these are small files, so have your player download them. Q Create playlists Explore your player’s tools for queuing shows. Pocket Casts lets you quickly add items to a list, Overcast has smart playlists that can prioritise favourite shows, and Castro (iOS) has you pick the best and discard the rest. If you hop between apps or platforms, check whether your podcast app is capable of OPML export before you get too invested. If it does, you’ll be able to send your subscriptions list to another app or service rather than starting from scratch. Q Play your own files Pocket Casts lets you listen to your own files, so you can take advantage of its effects and playlists. In profile, tap Files and ‘+’ to import from the file system or cloud services. Castro in its pro form has similar functionality.

HANDY HARDWARE

SONY WH-1000XM3 We keep harping on about these cans — and for good reason. They’re comfy and sound superb, and they’ll work wired if you need to plug into an interface. There are lots of other fine options; just don’t use the buds your phone came with.

SAVE A BIT OF TIME

Q Customise skips

SPREAD OUT

Q Import and export

R6 000 / takealot.com BLUE YETI This chunky mic has a stand that could brain an ox, and build quality that could survive an explosion. But also you get multiple recording modes and zero latency. It’s suited to everything from multi-person recordings to breathily intimate vocals. R3 550 / pclinkshop.com

POP FILTER When you make a ‘p’ or ‘b’ sound, you’re firing a blast of air at your mic, resulting in a loud thump. The solution used to be an old pair of tights stretched over a bent coat-hanger; now it’s a pop shield. R250 / takealot.com