Galaxy S II: The Missing Manual

Customizing the Home Screen and Panes

HERE’S ONE OF THE many nice things about the Galaxy S II—it’s easy to put your personal mark on it. Wish there were a few more apps on the Home screen? No problem; you can easily add them. Want to change the location of apps, or move around widgets and add new ones to each of your panes and the Home screen? It’s a breeze. The rest of this section shows you how.

Adding Widgets, Folders, Shortcuts, and Wallpaper

The Home screen and all its panes are much like a blank canvas, waiting for your Picasso-like touches. Instead of paint, you can add widgets, shortcuts, and folders, and even change its wallpaper. To do any of the above, the first step is the same: Press and hold your finger anywhere on the Home screen or a pane. An “Add to Home screen” menu appears, with the following options:

• Widgets. A widget is an applet that performs a small, specific task, often grabbing and displaying information from the Galaxy S II or the Internet, although they can do almost anything. When you select this option, you see a list of all the widgets you can add—anything from the weather widget to an Internet bookmark, YouTube widget, and more. Swipe your finger to show more widgets. Tap any widget to add it to the screen.

  

  Note

  You can’t customize the Apps Menu (also called ...