What do the icons on the phone mean on different models, their types and explanation. Android status and notification icons - what are they for and what do they mean? The meaning of the symbols on a Samsung smartphone

Samsung has packed a crazy amount of features into the Galaxy S8 and S8+. This is nowhere near the insane level of software bloat we've seen on some Samsung devices. You can spend hours clicking through the menus, hoping to stumble upon all the cool things this phone can do. Or you can read this guide to learn all the secrets, all about the best Galaxy S8 tips and tweaks to get the most out of your new smartphone.

Watch the video review of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus:

Customize navigation buttons

Samsung has finally caught up with the times and moved to on-screen navigation buttons, meaning you can customize them to your liking. The default layout is similar to other Samsung phones, with a Back button on the right and an Overview button on the left. You can change it to the standard Android back-home-overview layout by selecting Settings > Display > Navigation Bar. Here you can also change the background color of the navigation bar. Remember, the Home button is pressure sensitive. It works with firm pressure even when the display is off. At the bottom of the navigation bar menu, you can change the level of pressure required to trigger the button.

Set up or turn off Hello Bixby

Samsung's smart assistant Bixby isn't very smart yet, so you probably won't use it. At the same time, when you press the physical Bixby button, a screen called “Hello Bixby” appears. You'll also find this screen to the left of the main Home screen panel. It's a bit like Google Now, but not as good. You can customize Hello Bixby to show information more useful to you—by default, it has things you don't want, like random Giphy animations and suggested themes in the Samsung store. Click the gear icon in the top right corner to edit cards and customize what they display. If you don't want to use Bixby on your home screen, you can enter edit mode by pressing and holding the spacebar, then turn off the switch above the Bixby panel.

Get rid of icon frames

The icons on the Samsung home screen are all squircles, and third-party apps you install will be enclosed in white squircle frames. It's consistent, but not very attractive. To get rid of icon frames, go to Settings > Display > Icons. Change it to "Icons Only" and you're done.

Reorganize applications

The default sort in the Galaxy S8's apps folder is "custom," which is a fancy way of saying "you'll never find anything." You should immediately change it to alphabetical order by opening the folder, clicking the menu button, and selecting Sort. Unlike previous versions of Samsung's Home screen, the apps folder will remain in alphabetical order even when you install new apps.

Faster unlocking via iris scanner

Samsung decided to put the Galaxy S8's fingerprint sensor in a really awkward spot on the back of the phone, so you'll want to familiarize yourself with the iris scanner. It works surprisingly well, and you can make it even more convenient to use with a few tweaks. You can add Iris Scan in Settings > Lock screen & security > Iris Scan. Make sure Iris unlock is turned on so you can unlock your phone by looking at it, then turn on Iris unlock when screen turns on. In this mode, you don't have to swipe the lock screen to enter iris scanning mode. Just wake up your phone by looking at it and it will immediately unlock.

Selecting display calibration mode

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ have several display calibration modes available in the settings. The default calibration is a responsive mode that includes custom color sliders to adjust colors to look the way you want. Some GS8 owners find the display too red, but you can change this using the sliders. There are also AMOLED Photo, AMOLED Cinema and Basic modes. Basic mode offers the most accurate colors of the sRGB specification, while Adaptive has an expanded color gamut.

Changing the default volume level

When you press the volume key, the default action is to change the ringer volume. How often do you need to change it? Changing the media volume is more useful and you can set it to default. Just go to Settings > Sound & Vibration. There you will find "Default Volume Control". Tap it and select Media.

Set up Always-on display

Samsung's Always-on display feature allows you to see basic information about your phone without waking you up. This feature drains your battery a bit, so either turn it off or adjust it to make the battery drain more worthwhile. Always-on display appears in Settings > Lock screen & security > Always-on display. The display style can be changed to different clock, calendar, photo or minimal clock on the edge. On the other hand, Always-on display does not always have to be turned on. At the bottom of the settings screen is a toggle for "Always-on display". Disable it and you can set a schedule to turn it on and off.

Editing the Edge panel

There is no flat version of the Galaxy S8, so it's time to make friends with the Edge Screen. It's a small tab on the right edge of the screen that shows you various shortcuts and tools when shooting. You can customize what you see on the edge screen by tapping the gear icon at the bottom or going to Settings > Display > Edge Screen. The Edge screen can be turned off if you don't want to use it, but set up Edge Panels first. There are almost a dozen panels by default, including a handy clipboard manager and weather. Don't forget to click the menu button in the top right corner to rearrange the panels and edit the Edge Screen. You can make the panel larger, smaller, more transparent, or even change its location.

Improved multitasking with Snap Window

The Galaxy S8 runs Nougat, so it uses the standard Android multi-window system. However, Samsung has added a small bonus in the form of Snap Window. You'll find the Snap button right next to the split-screen button on the app cards in the multitasking interface. Tapping lets you define a section of your app that will remain at the top of the screen while you use the bottom section for another app. It is an ideal solution for streaming videos on Snap Window as it takes up less space and will continue playing even if it loses focus.

Icons on the smartphone screen on Android are displayed in the panel at the top. They help you figure out what notification has arrived and get information about the signal level, battery charge, and so on.

There are no clearly accepted standards for these icons - different developers place different icons in different Android shells, which are not always intuitive. In our material we will look at what types of icons there are and what they mean.

What does the "vo lte" icon mean?

The mysterious VoLTE icon appeared not so long ago - in 2014. His homeland is distant, progressive Singapore, where they have developed a new service that allows you to transmit the sound of your own voice with greater convenience and quality.

When VoLTE appears on the screen, it means that it supports Voice over LTE technology, which is used during calls. It allows you not to waste time switching from 4G mode to 3G, and helps improve sound quality. Everything is fine, except that VoLTE is battery hungry.

What does the letter "E" mean?

Another unobvious guest is the letter “E”. It stands for EDGE, but not the U2 guitarist, but the data transmission technology. It works in 2G networks at a speed not exceeding 474 Kbps.

What does the eye icon mean?

Another obscure symbol is the eye sign. This does not mean that Big Brother is watching you, but that the smartphone has carefully activated the eye protection function. It can either be activated automatically or turned on manually. It reduces harmful screen emissions and adds a warm tone.

What does the "H" symbol mean?

This non-obvious and unremarkable icon is the letter “H”. It symbolizes HSPA technology, that is, High Speed Packet Access. This is a high-speed data transmission technology. There is also H+, but the meaning remains the same.

What does 4G mean?

What does the NFC icon mean?

NFC, or Near Field Communication, is the ability to transmit data over a short distance – usually up to 10 centimeters. Most often it is used for contactless payments, or for reading information from transport cards.

What does the "R" symbol mean?

The letter R above the network indicator means you are roaming. As a rule, this happens abroad, or outside the home zone. In the mobile network settings, you can disable roaming if you find the “data in roaming” item. Then restart your phone.

What does "lte" mean?

The LTE icon indicates that the phone supports Long-Term Evolution, or LTE. LTE supports high-speed network access, up to 326 Mbit. LTE is not yet available everywhere, but it is gradually becoming more and more common.

Important: sometimes a completely different icon means the same thing. Huawei smartphones can display the HD icon, which means about the same thing - improved sound quality using LTE.

What does the handset icon mean?

The handset icon can mean completely different things depending on the situation.

A “neutral” handset means a call is in progress.
The red tube symbolizes a missed call.
A green handset often indicates that speakerphone is on.
A handset with an arrow means forwarding.
A red tube and the letter “A” with a “brick” symbol confirms the blocking of all blacklist numbers.

Other types of icons on different phones

Smartphone manufacturers often slightly modify familiar icons, and therefore “moving” to a new device may be more painful than we would like. Especially if the phone has its own, unique icons that you just can’t figure out.

On a Samsung phone

Samsung gadgets have their own character set. Most of them look unremarkable, but there are also unique icons that are worth mentioning separately.

This is the logo of Kies Air, an application that helps transfer data from your device to your PC. This is convenient synchronization without wires. The program is specific only to Samsung phones and tablet computers.

This icon, which looks similar to Skype, indicates that a Samsung account is being created.

Your phone is connected to the DLNA network.

Internet traffic savings included. If you don’t have an unlimited tariff, the phone can help you save money.

On a Huawei phone

Huawei smartphones have their own characteristics. For example:

LTE is usually displayed with these three letters; Huawei phones also support HD Voice, high-quality audio transmission using VoLTE.

Huawei shows the traffic saving mode with this interesting picture. There are similarities with Samsung, but they are not significant.

Energy saving mode. The phone does everything to extend the battery life.

On Honor's phone

Honor brand phones are popular due to their low price. But despite the different model lines, there is little that distinguishes them from Huawei. These devices use the EMUI skin and the icons are the same for both Huawei and Honor.

On Asus phone

Asus phones are not distinguished by particularly incomprehensible symbols.

The comic book bubble means "Unread Messages".

A leaf in a circle means that the energy saving mode is activated.

The crescent moon says that Do Not Disturb mode is turned on.

On the Philips phone

Philips phones do not have any strange symbols. If any of them are unclear, we advise you to refer to the text above. These phones use the Philips UI shell of the Android system.

Without a doubt, everyone has a mobile phone today, but not all of these people are the owners of top-end smartphones. Some users prefer old phones and don’t even think about upgrading. And why buy a device whose functions are not always needed? You can just keep in touch and correspond. But older phone models also have their undeniable disadvantages. Let's talk about one of the disadvantages of a Samsung mobile phone? How to remove the letter E from the phone screen or change it to H in a Samsung phone and what does it mean?

Samsung phone and internet connection

Why does the letter E appear on the screen and what does it mean? Many Samsung users complain about problems that are associated with the fact that the letter “E” or its icon permanently “sits” in the top quick access panel of the mobile device, which indicates that the device uses the EGPRS access zone. Often this problem is most severe when the device is located close to the speakers. All this does not mean that the mobile network is currently used for data transfer. First you need to find out which access point your mobile phone uses.

Important! Even if the problem is resolved, do not leave your phone near speakers, as you risk damaging its chips from the resulting electromagnetic field.

Access point

How to turn off the letter e on your phone? You can try the following:

Go to your gadget's settings through the main menu.
Visit the “Access Point” section. There you need to look at the name of the network.

After these steps, you need to deal with something else:

Check out the values in that tab. GPRS Internet.nw (WAP GPRS) indicate that this particular network is used by the device.
To disable the “E” icon, you need to turn off and turn on the phone (reboot).

The problem may disappear if you did everything correctly.

Important! If you often and very actively use various applications and searches on the world wide web, be sure to find out about and install the appropriate program on your device in active mode.

How to remove the letter e from your phone if nothing helps?

Attach Mode Setting

If you still cannot cope with the problem, then you can pay attention to another instruction, which is popular among most users:

If your device runs on the Android operating system, the icon may hang due to constant sending of data or receiving updates. Minimize all windows on your device and suspend unnecessary processes.
Now go to dialing mode and dial the command - *#4777*8665#*. This code should call the Attach Mode Setting, which will help us deal with the problem.
A context menu will open in which you need to specify the GPRS detach command, and then reboot the device.

Now the annoying shortcut with your Internet connection type will appear only when you need it.

Video material

Icons on the screen of an Android smartphone are designed to inform users about events in any applications or the operating system itself. These two types of notifications are the most common:

Message from other users (messengers, SMS, mail).
Timely and informative reminders about tasks and changes in the system (updates, downloads, screenshots, memory status, etc.).

The “anatomy” of notifications in any gadget based on it looks like this:

Header area.
Content area.
Scope.

How can you notice notifications? Depending on the device model, there are several options for how the phone will inform you about a waiting message:

Please note

The status and notification bar icons change with every major Android update, sometimes changing their appearance or disappearing completely.

There are a lot of notification signs, each of which carries certain information about the phone for the user. So, let's figure out what the icons on the smartphone screen mean.

Status bar

The status bar and notification bar are very similar, but they are actually two different things. The status bar is at the top right of the screen. This displays the time, battery status, and current connections such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

On the left side of this strip you will find application icons (they will notify you of any changes) - personal messages, email notifications, updates in the Play Store, and more. In addition, so-called “current notifications”, messages from some messenger, may appear in this line. For example, If you're listening to music via Spotify or Google Play Music, the corresponding icon will be displayed at all times. The sequence of icons indicates which applications are new or old.

Important to know

The most recent notifications appear on the far left.

Notification panel

The notification panel contains information that you can open by swiping your finger across the screen from top to bottom, much like pulling down a curtain. This makeshift box displays a lot of information in a small space by scrolling down. Here you will be able to view screenshot, Facebook updates, read WhatsApp message, and much more. Then you can decide whether you want to open the app or delete the notification with a simple swipe to the right on that very message.

Will be useful

Starting with the Nougat version of Android, these built-in notifications are smarter and more informative than ever on previous versions: you can now directly respond to messages without even opening the program itself.

In addition to notifications, there are also quick settings here. You can quickly and efficiently change the basic parameters of your smartphone. This panel allows you to enable or disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, flashlight, call mode, alarm clock and other settings.

If you press and hold the icon, you will be taken to the settings for this feature or you can change its setting if the setting is not provided. Most manufacturers of modern gadgets also provide direct access to adjusting the screen brightness here (which is very convenient).

Please note

The most relevant information for the user at the current time should be displayed under the notification shade. If a previously sent notification is no longer relevant, you can automatically dismiss it so it never appears on your smartphone again.

Here are some of the most famous and most sought after icons:

volume mode;
time/date;
signal level;
battery charge;
connection type;
connected devices;
editor;
files;
hardware;
review;
cards;
screen rotation;
bluetooth;
navigation;
notification;
places;
social media;
flashlight;
Internet (Wi-Fi).

What does the asterisk on the smartphone screen mean? Very simply, this is an alert mode meaning “important message”. Although it does not look like this on all phones. Many manufacturing companies change the panel and the icons on it at will, trying to make a particular model more unique.

Therefore, there are always several options here, it all depends on the manufacturer and brand of the phone. For example, icons on a Samsung smartphone screen will never be similar to those on an HTC screen.

Fortunately, the selection can be personalized to suit your tastes and habits, so the user always has access to changing the most important settings. Additionally, in this area, you can always turn off annoying or uninteresting notifications by simply clicking on the warning symbol (small exclamation mark) in the top right corner of the annoying app. After clicking This will open a small menu where you can choose how you want to receive notifications from the app.

The notification panel on Android usually displays received brief informational messages in reverse chronological order, with their adjustments depending on several parameters:

The stated priority of the notification or its importance.
Whether there was a recent notification alerted the user with sound or vibration.
Users attached to the notification whether they are favorite contacts (applies to call log and social networks).

How to remove the dual SIM card icon on Android?

For many users, displaying a second SIM card in the notification panel is a very unacceptable option, especially for older versions of Android (5.1 and lower). This icon takes up quite a lot of space and, in fact, is not too informative to be constantly present on the main screen.

There are several options for deleting such an identifier:

. This method is only suitable for experienced users who can independently go into these settings and disable the dual SIM card display function there.
Settings in the SIM card management menu. Some versions of Android OS support the function of disabling the display of mobile operator card signs in the settings themselves for each individual slot. But be careful not to turn off the card itself, otherwise it will not be able to receive phone calls.

New Samsung smartphones running Android Oreo (Galaxy S, Galaxy Note and A series) have a new icon that looks like a triangle with arrows inside.

What it looks like on Samsung smartphones

This feature is also called “data saving”

A triangle icon with two arrows inside appears in line with the battery indicator in the notification bar.

Meaning

The “triangle with arrows” icon stands for “traffic saving”. When the icon appears on the screen, it means that the traffic saving feature is active.

Most applications require the Internet to activate and work. When the device is in a Wi-Fi zone, the user does not have to worry about mobile traffic. But as soon as the smartphone leaves the free Internet zone, the waste of mobile traffic begins, and it continues even when the application is in the background. And the user may not even notice how the limit is reached. A saving function was developed specifically to save mobile traffic.

Traffic savings:

significantly reduces mobile data usage;
extends the battery life of the device;
blocks notifications.

How to remove the data saving icon

Data saving may be active by default

Instructions:

Click the “Settings” icon.
Go to the “Connection” section (may be called “Connections”).
Then go to the “Data Usage” section.
Click “Traffic Saving” to disable the feature.

Overall, this is a useful feature that saves money and extends battery life. But if the user is in a Wi-Fi zone, there is no need for this option to work.