Sony Xperia Z2 tips and tricks

Is that a shiny new Xperia Z2 you're holding in your hand? It would be fair to say you're pretty darn pleased with your glorious chunk of technological magic, right? 

There's so much more to than phone than sending silly pictures via Snapchat and tagging your mates in Facebook, you know. Sony didn't fashion one of the world's best smartphones for such banal exercises - the company has created a behemoth of a blower, and until you learn to use it to its full potential, you're simply doing it wrong. 

Worry not, as we have 25 tips to ensure you wring every last drop of functionality out of that seductive slab of telephonic triumph.

25) Change the layout of your app drawer

In the vast majority of Android-based phones, the app drawer is a pretty regimented place - everything is laid out in alphabetical order, which can make the process of locating your favourite downloads a little irksome, especially if you're in a rush. 

Thankfully, the Xperia Z2 has the solution - when you're viewing the app drawer, simply swipe inwards from the left-hand side of the screen and a  menu will appear which allows you to toggle between alphabetical layout, "most used" or "installed" - the latter of which will only show apps you've downloaded yourself.

24) Add more home screens

Five homescreens not enough for all your lovely shortcuts and widgets? Don't worry, you can always add more. 

On any of the homescreens, simply perform a pinch gesture with two fingers and you'll be presented with a menu that allows you to organise your screens and add additional ones. You can have up to seven at once.

23) Have your music player start up when you plug in some headphones

The Xperia Z2 is so smart that it can detect when you plug in your headphones. To enable this feature, open the Smart Connect application and select the "Events" tab at the top. Switch on "Music on the Go" and when you next connect your cans, your music will play automatically. Even better, when you remove your headphones the current track will pause.

22) Make you phone go into silent mode when you plug it in at night

Most of us are now comfortable with having to charge up our power-hungry smartphones on a daily basis, and in order to keep them close to us at all times it's not uncommon for handsets to be be plugged in next to your bed overnight. You can configure the Xperia Z2 to automatically switch off its ringer and open the alarm and clock application when it detects a charger being plugged in after a certain time - 10PM at night, for example. Via the Smart Connect app, select "Night" mode and ensure the timing suits your personal sleeping hours by clicking the Edit button at the bottom of the screen,

21) Pick and choose what appears in the Z2's status bar

The Android status bar has been with us since day one, and provides handy, at-a-glance info every second of the day. The Xperia Z2 allows you to tinker with what icons are displayed in this area; go to Settings > Personalisation > Status bar icons to see for yourself. 

20) Make your battery last longer

Smartphones are incredibly power-hungry thanks to their always-on status and cutting-edge internal tech. Making sure your battery lasts an entire day is quite a task, but thankfully the Z2 has the tools to help. 

Go to Settings > Power Management to see exactly how much juice you have left in the tank. From here, you can toggle various modes which are intended to increase stamina at the expense of various functions. One of the most useful is Low Battery Mode, which only kicks in when your power level drops below a certain point. It then switches off all non-essential functions to buy you as much extra time as possible until you can reach the nearest wall charger.


19) Edit your Quick Settings menu
Most Android phones have a Quick Settings option that can be accessed by sliding down the notifications bar, and the Xperia Z2 is no different. It comes with the added bonus of customization - you can change which options appear so that you can always reach the setting you want with the minimum of fuss. Pull down the Quick Settings menu with a two-fingered swipe from the top of the screen, then tap the Edit button in the top-right corner.

18) Control your backups
With so much precious data contained on our phones it's a good idea to maintain a regular backup schedule. The Xperia Z2 comes with its own Backup & restore application, which allows you to save data to your SD card or an external USB storage device. It's possible to restore all application data and media files using this system, too.

17) Enable Developer mode

Developer mode isn't something casual mobile users will want to bother with, but if you're interested in getting the most out of your Xperia Z2 it's worth checking out. 

To switch it on, go to Settings > About Phone and scroll down to the "Build Number" section at the bottom. Tap on this several times and you'll eventually be granted Developer access. These advanced options appear in their own sub-menu in the Settings section.

16) Give you phone an easy speed boost

You'll need to enable Developer mode for this easy hack, so refer to the previous tip if you haven't already. Enter the Developer options menu and scroll down to the "Drawing" section. See those three boxes marked Window, Transition and Animator? Switch those all to "Animation scale .5x" and you'll notice that everything moves a little faster. 

Basically, all you've done is to limit the amount of time animations such as page turns and pop-up windows take, but the end result is less waiting and a phone which feels like it has had a turbo boost. If you want to be even more aggressive, you can switch off these animations entirely.