One UI 4 Review; After months of waiting, Samsung has finally released the beta version of its Android 12-based One UI 4 interface, and users who sign up for the app can experience it.
One UI 4 is Samsung’s newest interface for the company’s products, which of course has not yet been officially released for the Galaxy, but given that the Korean giant made its first beta available for download, we were able to Let’s get acquainted with its basic capabilities.
As it turns out, this version of Samsung’s user interface is not much different from the previous generation. Of course, this is just the beginning of One UI 4, and there is still a lot of opportunity for Samsung to add new features. However, Samsung has made the update available for its handsets, but only a handful of Galaxy phone owners who have registered in the beta program will be able to download and experience it. There is even a possibility that those who have registered in this program will not be able to receive the One UI 4 UI update because Samsung only releases it for a limited number of users.
One UI 4 Review
Just like Android 12, the One UI 4 interface has changed a lot in terms of appearance, security and privacy, but for now all these changes seem to be minor and do not have much impact on the user experience. However, in this article, we decided to review all the changes that have been made to the Samsung interface in this new version, in order to be informed about what we are going to see in the final version. Keep in mind that these features are not specific to Android 12 as the features of Android 12 are not limited to the One UI.
New changes and features of Samsung One UI 4
Home and personalization page
The most obvious changes in One UI 4 are the customization features for the home screen and lock screen. Let’s start with the home screen; Where widgets have once again undergone major changes and now have a new look, in line with the design language of Material You Android 12. This means that they have a wider appearance and at the same time have relatively curved corners.
A number of special widgets, including dual clocks, are designed to change during the day. Of course, the change means that when the weather is clear, the theme of these two widgets is light, and if it is dark, their theme also becomes dark. But unlike Material You design language, these widgets do not change according to the background color. But we may see this feature in the final version.
But speaking of dark mode, it is better to mention the change that when you set the phone to dark mode, the icons also become somewhat darker to give the phone a seamless appearance. Of course, you may not react very positively to this change, because you will probably have to increase the screen light a little, of course, when you set the phone to dark. However, Samsung wanted to make the user’s eyes relax with this slight change.
Lock screen changes
The lock screen has also undergone many good changes, including the installation of a voice recording app for quick access. Also, media control is now more comprehensively placed on the lock screen so that the user has more access to the content being played. Of course, the lock screen is not only the location of media-related options, but can also be accessed in the notifications section.
In One UI 4, the always-on display has also undergone good changes, such as setting it on or off at certain times. For example, when only a notification is received, this page is activated, not in all cases. In addition, a number of other minor changes can always be seen in the display section. For example, adding new animated stickers, interesting themes, and…
Advertisement
Last year, Samsung focused much of its attention on the advertising sector. This year, however, we do not see major changes in this area. But its shape and appearance have changed a little compared to the past. For example, advertisements are now a little more concise and compact. Its background is less transparent, both in the dark and in the light mode.
The quick setting tiles have not changed much in appearance compared to before, but have become a little more compact. Also, the slider used to increase or decrease the brightness of the screen is now slightly larger to make it easier to reach when holding the phone with one hand. Apart from these, we do not see any other changes in the advertisement section that want to change the user experience; Still the same look we’ve always seen on Galaxys, not in line with the design language of Android 12, Material You.
Keyboard and sharing menu
Samsung has added a few new features to the One UI 4 UI keyboard, the most important of which are stickers and animated emojis that can now be quickly accessed by touching just one option. More support for third-party apps has also been added to the keyboard; For example, you can combine grammar with the keyboard and use it to improve your writing. Unfortunately, Samsung has shifted its focus to animated emojis in this area, while other parts of the keyboard could also be improved.
The sharing menu has now been changed so that the user can specify which options are displayed in which order. Such an update was really useful and needed because it could clear this menu of extras and only display items that the user really needs.
Privacy in One UI 4
Along with the changes that Google has made in terms of privacy and security in Android 12, Samsung has also made decisions in this regard in its new user interface. In One UI 4, the user can now look at the weekly schedule of each application to find out which parts of the phone the application was allowed to access during these few days.
There is also an option to display the access of all applications to the clipboard, microphone and camera, so that the user can examine all the applications one by one to find out. Also, if an app or apps access the camera, microphone, or both, an indicator will appear in the status bar where the user can use the key to get more information about which app was allowed to access the two and when.
Finally, in this section, we should mention the new feature of Android 12, known as Private Compute Core, which allows the user to delete the data inside the phone, and features such as smart response (replay), offer to paste (paste) from Keyboard and…
Camera
The camera app on Samsung phones has always been, and still is, fairly good. Therefore, to say that there has been no significant change in this area does not mean that Samsung has not performed well in this area; Incidentally, there was nothing to improve. However, in terms of overall appearance, the Korean company designed the interface a little more neat and clean. For example, instead of placing icons for zoom, Samsung phones now deal with numbers in the One UI 4 interface, making it easier and more accurate to identify which sensor you are currently using.
The possibility that the phone would start filming by holding down the shutter remains the same, but now the user can lock and swipe up to lock the recording option. Also, the Scene Optimizer icon no longer appears in all lighting conditions, but can be seen when capturing images in night light. Finally, in this section, we see the Pro mode, which has taken on a more beautiful appearance. Frame adjustment lines now automatically appear on images.
Other features of One UI 4
Once again, the One UI 4 is not much different from the previous version, and the changes can not be considered significant. However, this was a list of the positive changes we saw in this interface. There are also a number of other features and minor changes that we will discuss below.
- The One UI 4 now features an animated charging indicator, which is very simple yet beautiful, making the phone look more modern when charging than the previous interface.
- Image and multitasking windows now have rounder corners instead of squares.
- Device Care is now equipped with the Project Battery option, which allows the phone to eventually charge up to 85% so that its battery life is not quickly reduced.
- Augmented Reality Emoji (AR Emoji) can now be used as a contact image.
- Samsung Good Lock now supports third-party icon packages that can be downloaded through the Play Store.
- Emoji can now be added to images or videos through Samsung’s own default image editing app. There is also an option called Object Eraser in the Labs section that allows users to delete unwanted items or people from images; Exactly the same thing that can be done in Adobe Photoshop.
The changes to One UI 4 are currently limited to these, but it seems unlikely that we will see the same changes in the final version. Most likely, One UI 4 will have more features when released, but it is not clear at this time where we will see these changes.
Source: Android Authority
