How To: Get Ready for a Better Call Screen & Contacts List on Your Samsung Galaxy S4

Get ready to stop using the stock Contacts app on your Samsung Galaxy S4, because there's something better out there for keeping track of your family and friends—and it looks better too.

Ready is ready to change the way you interact with your device with its interesting and intuitive contact list and caller screen, which offers up relevant information about the caller and an easier way to navigate through your rolodex. Ready is not yet available to the public, but you can easily be part of the beta team and help make the application better with your input.

How to Join the Beta Team

Getting early access to this app and joining the beta team is simple. Start by joining the Ready Beta Testing Community on Google+, then grab the test version from the Play Store. Note that you'll only have access to the beta version on your phone after joining the Google+ community.

A Better Call Screen

The biggest visual change you'll see is the incoming call screen. As you can see below, the app takes the caller's image, applies a blur, and overlays the action items.

Slide the center icon to the right to answer the call, and to the left to ignore it. After ignoring a call, you'll immediately see options for follow-up actions, such as calling them back, emailing them, messaging them, and setting a meeting.

During any time while a call is coming in, after it's been ignored, or when it ends, you can slide up from the bottom to see your history with that contact. And this isn't just a call log—you'll see calls, messages, calendar appointments, and more.

Ready is not a replacement for your stock Phones app just yet, since there is not dialer, but they plan to include one in the future, which will make this a killer two-apps-in-one calling experience.

A Smoother Contact List

When you open the app, it will initially show you your most recent and favorite contacts. Slide to the right to view your entire contact list.

Scrolling through contacts can be done in any number of ways. You can tap a letter to jump through the alphabet, shuffle through contact cards by either sliding through them or sliding in a circular motion over the letters, or you can slide down on the screen and begin typing a contact's name.

And much like when you receive a call, once you've selected the contact, you can easily text, email, call, or set up a meeting. And again, your history with that contact is available with an upward swipe from the bottom of the screen.

While Ready may not be technically fully functional, even as a beta, it looks and functions much better than the stock Contacts app on the Galaxy S4. It's minimal, simple, and sexy as hell, so go give it a try.