Newer model Motorola smartphones have a Gametime mode that automatically turns on when you open a game. But what is Gametime, and how does it change your device? Let's take a look.
What Is Moto Gametime?
Your computer probably has a dedicated "game mode" that turns on when you play games, to do things like adjusting your display settings. A lot of these features are meant for managing computing power to improve performance on games that are more demanding than what most of us are playing on our phones.
If you do play hard-hitting games on your mobile phone, it's probably through a cloud service with its own optimization settings.
Gametime on a Motorola phone does change some settings on your device. However, these aren't display settings like rendering style and pixel density.
Instead, Gametime manages the other apps on your phone, making some of them more integrated with your game while making sure that others don't bother you during play. These settings can make your gameplay more social by bringing in friends, and more immersive by holding other notifications.
What Does Gametime Do?
The five component settings and actions within Gametime are:
- Social Media Settings
- Screenshots
- Blocking Notifications
- Blocking Calls
- Gametime Settings
The first time that you open Gametime, you see an abbreviated menu of those settings that most impact your gaming experience.
Once you have Gametime configured the way that you want it, the app will automatically apply those settings whenever you start playing a game. Though, of course, you can always go back into the Gametime settings and change your configuration.
How to Use Gametime
When you open a mobile game on your Motorola smartphone, a notification at the bottom of the screen tells you that Gametime is active. This is true the first time that you open a game on your phone, even before you have had the chance to configure your settings.
When Gametime is active, an icon is hidden just off-screen in the black region between the game display and the phone's frame. Tap in this region to make the icon visible. It should appear as a pale blue plus icon with two dots next to it, all enclosed in a circle.
Hold this icon to drag it to a specific part of the screen to make it easier to find next time, or tap it to open the Gametime interface. Tapping the icon explodes the interface to reveal icons to the five features listed above.
Social Media Settings
This Social Media icon, which appears as a speech bubble with a plus icon inside of it, does not appear in all games. It allows you to connect social media apps to open more easily in the game. Of course, this only works if you have those apps installed.
This makes sharing content or talking with friends more easy if that is part of how you game.
As of this writing, the supported apps are:
- Hangouts
- Line
- Discord
A Faster Screenshot Tool
The second icon that appears when you tap the Gametime icon is the familiar overlapping angles image that typically denotes cropping. In this case, the icon is a faster way to take screenshots within the game.
Tapping this icon takes an instant screenshot of the full game screen, which is then saved to a dedicated media file on your phone. This is important because, on newer-model Motorola phones, users take screenshots through a less-than-instantaneous gesture command that makes it hard to capture fleeting moments like actions during gameplay.
Block Notifications
One of the biggest downsides of the full-screen graphic user interface is that everything is a button and everything is a notification center. Incoming notifications while you're playing a game can be distracting. But when you're tapping the screen to play the game, notifications that appear suddenly can also suck you into other applications.
The bell in the crossed circle allows you to turn notifications from other applications off while you're playing your game. This button is a simple toggle switch, and when you use it to turn notifications on or off a text bubble at the bottom of the screen lets you know what the current settings are.
Block Calls
Similar to notifications, you don't want to be playing a mobile game and accidentally pickup a call. If you're really into your game, you might not want to get a call while you're playing at all.
The phone in the crossed circle blocks calls for you while you're in-game. If you're worried about missing an important call, don't worry, the final Gametime feature lets you fine-tune all of these settings.
Gametime Settings
The final icon in the exploded Gametime graphic menu is the familiar gear icon. Tapping this icon takes you to a special menu allowing you to tailor your gaming experience.
For example, these settings let you exempt specific numbers from your contacts from call blocking, or allow people who call you twice within fifteen minutes to get through. That way, most calls will be blocked during gameplay but you won't miss anything important.
Protect Your Gametime!
If you're a regular gamer, Gametime is a useful addition to Motorola phones. It lets you stay in the zone by managing notifications from that pesky outside world.
And this isn't the only way to improve your mobile gaming experience. There are a number of other things you can try to help optimize your phone.
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