While you can't do much about the differences caused by hardware between flagship and mid-range phones, there are some settings within Samsung's One UI that you can change to somewhat mimic the overall feeling of owning a flagship.

Speed Up System Animations

The first thing I do whenever I get a new phone is speed up system animations to make the user interface feel a lot more fluid. This setting is available on all Android phones, but requires unlocking developer mode. To do this on your Samsung phone, go to Settings > About Phone > Software Information, and repeatedly tap "Build Number."

Doing this will unlock and add the "Developer Options" menu in settings. Open it, toggle it on, and scroll down to find and tap "Window Animation Scale" and select "Animation Scale .5x" (it's set to 1x by default), then do the same for "Transition Animation Scale" and "Animator Duration Scale."

As soon as you do that, your phone will suddenly start to feel a lot faster. You're welcome. Word of advice: try not to mess around with other developer options because this space really isn't meant to be tinkered with and can cause problems if mishandled. If you're not very tech-savvy, just speed up the animations and forget this menu even existed.

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Reduce Touch and Hold Delay

The time it takes for the screen to recognize a long press also greatly influences how agile your phone feels, because you use this gesture countless times throughout the day.

For instance, you long press on the home screen to access widgets and wallpapers, on app icons to disable/uninstall them and access app shortcuts, on pieces of text to highlight selected text and see cut/copy/paste options, and on files to access move/share/delete options. Minimizing this delay can help simulate superior performance.

To do this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Interaction and Dexterity > Touch and Hold Delay, and select "Very Short (0.3 Seconds)." You can also select "Custom" to set a unique touch and hold delay time that feels right to you.

On my phone, I've set it to 0.2 seconds, which I think is the lowest possible value, but you have to be quite nimble to time it just right.

If the screen starts to recognize long presses in areas where you just meant to tap it, it means the touch and hold delay you've set is too short for you, so you might want to pick one of the other preset options.

Increase Screen Vividness and Touch Sensitivity

One of the things that gives flagships their edge over cheaper alternatives is their brilliant screens. They're sharp, vivid, and highly responsive, making media consumption more enjoyable and interacting with the screen a breeze. These high-end display panels cost significantly more to manufacture and are hence found exclusively on premium phones.

However, you can get a somewhat similar experience on your mid-range Samsung by going to Settings > Display > Screen Mode, and tapping the "Vivid" button. Then, tap "Advanced Settings" and drag the vividness slider all the way to the right to make the colors pop.

Next, go back to the Display menu, scroll down, and toggle on "Touch Sensitivity" to make the screen more responsive.

Doing this won't magically make your screen look and work like a flagship, but it helps. Both of these features are especially useful if you have a screen protector installed on your phone.

Use Swipe Gestures for System Navigation

Three-button navigation is the easiest, most foolproof way to control your phone, and it's often the default system navigation on Samsung phones. However, if you want to mimic the feeling of owning a flagship, it's worth learning about and switching over to swipe gestures.

Swipe gestures feel way more fluid once you get the hang of them, and since the bottom isn't occupied by the navigation buttons, they also leave more room on the screen to show more content.

To switch to swipe gestures, go to Settings > Display > Navigation Bar, and select "Swipe Gestures." Tap "More Options" to further customize the gestures, preferably "Swipe From Sides and Bottom."

Use Virtual Memory to Compensate for Less RAM

If you multitask on your Samsung phone as much as I do, you rely on apps staying open in the background so you can return to them when needed, but since mid-range models get less RAM than flagships, they're not as capable in this regard.

Luckily, you can allocate some of your phone's internal storage to act as additional RAM, extending the number of apps you can keep open in the background. To do this, go to Settings > Device Care > Memory > RAM Plus, and select one of the options—I find an extra 4GB to be plenty. You may need to restart your phone to apply these changes.

Enable Dolby Atmos and Select a Sound Filter

Sound quality is another area where flagships have a clear lead, but that doesn't mean you have to make do with poor sound on your mid-range Samsung phone.

Whenever I have my earbuds on, I make sure to enable Dolby Atmos on my Samsung phone. You can enable it via the Quick Settings panel, or by going to Settings > Sound and Vibration > Sound Quality and Effects > Dolby Atmos, and sliding the toggle on.

You get four different filters to choose from based on what you're listening to. I'm particularly fond of the "Movie" filter since it does a great job of simulating the sound experience of a theater or concert hall.

Avoid Clogging Internal Storage

Samsung has removed the microSD card slot on its mid-range phones as well, after having removed it from its flagships some time ago. And considering that 128GB is still the base storage variant on all mid-range models, you have to be really careful that you don't bloat your phone.

Why? Because the internal storage is where the operating system rests, and if there's no room left for your phone to download temporary cache files, app updates, and software updates. This can result in lags, unexpected shutdowns, and an overall sluggish user experience.

To avoid this, I recommend keeping at least 20% of your internal storage free at all times. The easiest way to free up storage space without having to delete your private photos and videos is to uninstall apps you don't use often.

Review the apps on your phone to see which ones are taking up an unnecessary amount of storage space and remove them if no longer needed. Alternatively, you can remove really large files such as downloaded movies or 4K videos.

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Check for Software Updates and Enable Auto Optimization

A lot of Android users delay software updates on purpose out of fear that it'll introduce problems like overheating or excessive battery drain. If you're one of them, know that this fear is totally justified—every time a new update is released, there are stories of how it caused unexpected issues for a not-insignificant number of users.

That said, not updating your phone has its own risks—it means your phone won't get new security patches, new features, and, more importantly, bug fixes. In the same way that you protect your phone's hardware by putting a case on it, regular updates protect the software and ensure it doesn't become obsolete against increasingly demanding use cases.

You can check if there's a software update available for your device by going to Settings > Software update > Download and Install.

Samsung phones also come with a feature that automatically restarts your phone (when not in use) to keep it running in the best condition. To use it, go to Settings > Device Care > Auto optimization > Auto Restart, and toggle on "Restart When Needed." You can also set a restart schedule that suits you.

Enable Game Optimization to Improve Gaming Performance

One of the key selling points of flagships is their incredible performance, especially when gaming. You can't replicate the same on your mid-range Samsung for obvious reasons, but you can use the Game Booster feature to boost performance to the best of your phone's ability.

To use this, go to Settings > Advanced Features > Game Booster Settings > Game Optimization, and select "Performance" from the three options. Note that doing this will deplete your battery life a bit faster, but you will get noticeably better performance.

Make Fingerprint Unlock Faster and More Reliable

I used to have calluses on my thumb, so I know firsthand how incredibly annoying it is when the fingerprint sensor on your phone doesn't work as expected and keeps asking for attempts. It feels like being locked out of your own apartment.

Flagships use superior ultrasonic fingerprint sensors, which are faster, more reliable, and can better account for skin abnormalities than the optical sensors found on mid-range phones. If you have the latter, there are things you can do to make your phone recognize your finger faster and more reliably.

Firstly, register the same finger twice. Doing this adds to the probability that the sensor will be able to match your finger with at least one of the saved fingerprints, so there's less of a chance that you'll need to re-attempt the scanning.

Also, if you plan to use a screen protector, make sure you register your fingerprints before applying it. Registering after applying the screen protector means the scanner won't be able to accurately read your fingerprints since there's another layer between it and your finger.

If you already have a screen protector on, consider removing it, registering your fingerprint, and then reapplying it.

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You don't necessarily need to spend flagship money to get a sense of what it's like to own such a device. Of course, there are some experiences that can't be replicated on cheaper phones, but you can get surprisingly close if you know which settings to enable.

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