How to use Airview

What is Air View?

One of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2's key selling points is its sensational S Pen. Why's it so sensational? Because it packs 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity and opens up a whole host of smart features exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy Note range, one of the coolest being Air View.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is so smart, it recognizes when you're hovering your S Pen over its screen. With no press necessary, a little indicator appears to let you know you're in hovering distance.

When coupled with compatible applications and menus within TouchWiz, this hovering previews information in a pop up window. This is Air View - easy to use and an incredibly rich means of interacting with your smartphone.

How do I enable Air View?

Air View is on by default, but if it isn't working on your Note 2, you can check to make sure it's switched on. In order to do this, your first port of call is settings.

To access settings, just pull down the notifications bar and tap the cog icon in the top right. Next, scroll down until you find an 'S Pen' option. This is underneath the 'System option'. Tap 'S Pen', scroll down and you will see an entire subsection titled 'Air View'.

Here you can toggle Air View on and off by hitting the switch to the right of the words 'Air View'. If you want to control specific Air View features, tap the actual words themselves. This will take you to a menu enabling you to activate / deactivate the following options: Pointer (a hovering pointer), Information preview (previews with a hover), Icon labels (labels appear with a hover over them) and List scrolling (pans list using hover).

What apps are compatible with Air View?

TouchWiz isn't so much an app, but the Samsung interface on the Galaxy Note 2. This is the first part of the phone that's compatible with Air View. When in any menu or your notification bar, if you hover your S Pen on the edge of a scrollable window, you'll scroll up, down, left or right.

Air View is also compatible with the Samsung Email client. By hovering over an email preview, a pop-up window will appear, showing off a sizeable chunk of the text, often saving you opening the full email.

When in your gallery, you can also take advantage of Air View by hovering over an album. This pops up a preview of the photos inside to save you opening up countless albums. Air view also works when viewing a video. If you hover along the video timeline, it will actually pop up a preview of the video at the time you're hovering over - while simultaneously playing the current time.

Finally, Air View works in your calendar - or S Planner as it's called on the Galaxy Note 2. In month view for example, just hover over a date to preview all your appointments for that day, letting you stick to just one view unless you really need to dip in.