Galaxy Buds Tips and Tricks
1. Read Messages and Calls
The Galaxy Buds can read out your notifications for you, which comes in handy when you are running or driving. To do that, head over to the Galaxy Wear app and tap on Notifications. Under the Notifications menu, tap on Manage Notifications and you would see all the apps that are allowed to send notifications to you. Tap on any one of them and the Manage notifications page would slide in. The only option is “Read out notifications”, tap on it to turn the toggle on. You can set it to be either a summary or a full notification readout.
2. SmartThings
Samsung SmartThings app lets you connect multiple Samsung devices like Samsung Smart tv, Samsung Home, AC, etc a hood. And of course, it works with Galaxy buds as well. You can voice your command via the Galaxy Earbuds to Bixby and control other devices. For instance, I want to turn on the TV or lower the volume, I can ask Bixby directly with commands like “Turn on the TV” or “Set the TV volume to 50”.
3. Dolby Atmos
Dolby Atmos is supported on most of the Samsung Galaxy flagship devices. We have the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and Dolby Atmos does wonders for stereo earphones. To turn on the Dolby Atmos, pull down the notification drawer and swipe right to toggle the Dolby Atmos mode. Alternatively, you can also find the Dolby Atmos menu under the Advanced Sound Settings. Herein, you can set up customize individual audio frequencies or choose built-in equalizer presets.
Just a quick note, the Galaxy Buds, and your Samsung device have a separate volume level. To sync them and keep the volume at the same level, head over to the Connections menu in the system settings. Tap on Bluetooth and next tap on Advanced. Under the advanced Bluetooth settings, turn on the toggle for the “Media volume sync”. This option is turned on by default on other Android devices. In case you want you can disable it under the Developer options by turning on “Disable absolute volume”.
4. Ambient Sound Mode
The best thing about the Galaxy Buds is the Ambient sound mode or as Apple likes to call “Transparent mode“. It lets you hear surrounding sound via the microphone. This comes in really handy when you want to talk to someone without removing the earbuds. And while I am on trail running, I like to keep the ambient sound mode on and volume low, so I can hear the vehicles passing by which ensures safety. The Ambient sound mode is only active when you have both the earbuds plugged in. Within the app under the Ambient sound menu, you can even adjust the volume of Ambient sound suitably. Moreover, there is a toggle called “Voice focus” which makes human voices stand out more clearly from ambient sounds.
5. Customize Gestures
The Galaxy Buds have a touchpad that functions based on taps. It plays and pauses music on a single tap. The double-tap lets you skip past a song, while the triple tap moves to the previous song. While the downside is you cannot customize these gestures, you can, however, customize the long press on both the earbuds individually. The custom action choice is quite limited. You can either set up quick ambient sound or Ambient sound, volume up or volume down, or instead summon the voice assistant. For instance, I have set up Google Assistant on long-press on the left earbud while toggling Ambient mode on long-press on the right earbud. The basic difference between the quick ambient mode and ambient mode is that the quick ambient mode stays as long as hold your finger on the touchpad while the latter one stays until you turn it off.
6. Lock touchpad
Until the Galaxy buds, the touchpad on other truly wireless earbuds has been a hit or miss. Although the ones on Galaxy Buds aren’t perfect, they are quite close due to the protruding and smaller touch surface area. However, I still get unintentional touches on the buds while working out. Hence, for that particular moment, I like to lock the touchpad on the Galaxy Buds. To do the same, head over to the Touchpad page, and click on the “Lock touchpad” toggle. This disables the touchpad on the earbuds until you toggle it off.
7. Find lost earbud
In case you misplace the earbuds or your pet has dragged it out of your bed, the Galaxy Wear app has got you covered. It has a native “Find my earbud” functionality which plays a high-decibel chirping sound on the earbuds. The sound is quite loud and can be heard across the room. The app is smart enough and mutes the sound of the earbud that is plugged in. Hence, for instance, if one of the earbuds is missing, plug the other one in your ear or the charging case to avoid the unnecessary sound on the earbud.
Read: How to Find Samsung Smart TV (or any TV) IP Address Without Remote
8. Bixby Integration
If you have a Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy buds offer much more value. With the recent firmware update (version: R170XXU0ASD4), the Galaxy Buds can be controlled via Bixby. You can ask Bixby to turn on/off the ambient sound. You can even summon Bixby to lock the touchpad or change the equalizer mode. For instance, I mostly ask Bixby to “Lock the touchpad” before I begin a workout. In case you have the Galaxy Watch, the Bixby commands work on the Galaxy Watch as well. Moreover, if you have the buds connected to the phone and answer through the watch, the call still passes through the earbuds.
9. Bluetooth Audio Codec
The Samsung Galaxy Buds support multiple Bluetooth codecs like SBC(default), AAC, and Scalable Codec. You must run them on AAC as it considerably brings down the audio latency. You can change the Bluetooth audio codec through the developer settings in Android. For further know-how of Bluetooth codecs, we have a detailed article on how to change Bluetooth codecs on macOS, Windows, and Android, you can go through it. The most important step if you have a Samsung device is to change the Bluetooth codec to “Scalable Codec”. This is Samsung proprietary codec and the Galaxy Buds work best with them. It brings down the latency furthermore and in my testing, worked better than AAC.
10. Galaxy Buds Manager
The Galaxy Buds customization doesn’t work on Windows PC or Mac. You cannot turn on the Ambient sound mode when the buds are connected to your laptop. Moreover, customized long-press also doesn’t work when connected to the PC. However, there is a small Samsung plugin called the Samsung Galaxy Buds Manager which carry forwards the same customization to macOS and Windows.
Download Galaxy Buds Manager (Windows | macOS)
Closing Words
The Samsung Galaxy Buds are a great piece of Bluetooth TWS. It has some issues like mediocre battery life and latency issues which is widespread across all the Bluetooth audio devices. For more issues or queries regarding the Samsung Galaxy Buds, let me know in the comments below. Also Read: How to Take Screenshots on Samsung Galaxy Watch And Gear S3
