Following the experiment Discover One UI 5 features for Samsung smartphones
As usual every year! There is a new version of the most popular smartphone system, Android. And already this year Google officially introduced the new Android 13 update, which included minor improvements and changes, so that many Android phone manufacturers are preparing to unveil their own versions based on the new version. In turn, Samsung in early August last year launched the open beta program to update One UI 5, which succeeds One UI 4, so that it gives the opportunity for users of its flagship phones from the S22 series to register in the program to get a glimpse of the changes and new features before the public launch of eligible phones by the end of 2022, as Samsung officially announced on October 12 the release of One UI 5 during the SDC22 conference.
Although the trial version is available for download in limited countries, we have already been able to get the UI 5 update and monitor the new additions and features, true, not with the radical changes that you might imagine, but in general it makes the One UI interface better and more practical for the user, so let's review with you the most important ones below.
1-control the theme color of the interface
In the previous update, One UI 4, Samsung adopted one of the most important features of the material You design from Google, which is to make the interface colors adapt to the background colors, but the choices were limited between color combinations only. But in The UI 5 update, it became possible to customize the interface theme with more color options.when you set a new wallpaper for your phone after installing the new update, activate the Color Palette "palette" option to choose either from 16 color packs that match the background colors, or from 12 fixed colors that are applied to all interface elements to become a uniform color, or you can also choose from 4 additional packs that include only two colors. All these options will surely please all tastes and give greater control over the customization of the interface to eliminate the routine and get used to the default look.
2-new icons for Samsung apps
Perhaps the first thing you will notice once you install the UI 5 update on your Samsung Android phone, if it is eligible, is that the icons of some of the main Samsung apps have changed slightly. Currently, in the beta version there are only 10 applications that have new icons, applications such as "studio", "my files" and "calendar" you will find that their icons are different compared to the icons in One UI 4 in addition to the icons of other applications such as "phone", "contacts", "settings" and "messages" we find that the main difference is the hue of the icon instead of the fixed color in the previous version. The purpose of this change is to slightly update the interface design and make it more harmonious.
3. maintenance mode
The UI 5 update comes with a very important feature called "maintenance mode", which is a feature aimed at protecting privacy by keeping the data, files and applications stored on the phone safe from prying eyes when giving the phone to a maintenance technician, whether affiliated with a Samsung power of attorney in your country or any other maintenance center, as it allows selectively blocking access to data but at the same time does not affect the usability of the phone in order to test it well after the maintenance process.
This mode is activated by heading to the" settings "Settings and then to the" device care "section of Battery and Device Care and below the" additional care "section of the Additional Care you will find the" maintenance mode " maintenance mode option.click on it, but in order to activate it, you must first activate any means of protection for the phone such as using PIN, fingerprint or pattern, in case you have not done this before.
Now as soon as you press "turn on" Turn on on the profile page of the mode the phone will reboot. After that, the phone will open as if it has been reset to the factory state, where there is no personal information, photos, videos, contacts or messages. This data remains in the phone's memory but is protected using the Samsung Knox platform. In this way, the user can "reassuringly" give his phone to the maintenance technician, and then later, after the maintenance is completed, the data is restored again by disabling the Maintenance mode from the notification panel.
4 - Multi-User feature
The multi-User or multi-user feature is already known to computer users as it enables them to allocate a separate account for each person using the same device, thereby creating a different working environment for each individual user, similarly, this experience is now available in Samsung phones with The UI 5 update after it was exclusively on Galaxy Tab tablets.if you share your phone with your child, for example, you can assign a new account with separate applications and settings without affecting other accounts. Moreover, the feature provides the ability to set up restricted accounts, meaning that they have less control powers and this allows limiting which applications the user can access, creating a safe space for children or a workspace free of distractions.
To use the feature, open " Settings "and then head to the" accounts and Backup "section, then click on" users " and make sure that it is activated in case it was not activated before. After that, you can "add a guest", which is an account created for one-time use, or "add a user" to set up a completely new account. When you click on this option, select whether you need to create a regular or restricted account, then click "OK" to accept the conditions related to adding a user, and finally click "setup now" to adjust the account settings for the first time, such as activating screen protection and registering with Google account..And so on.
Each account looks like a separate device from the main user's device as we indicated before, and to move between users drag the status bar down and tap on the account icon in the upper corner of the screen and then tap on the account you want to switch to.
5-smart suggestions widget
The UI 5 update adds a new widget widget to the list called Smart Suggestions, which can be placed on the Home screen to display a quick shortcut to 8 recommended applications based on how you use the phone. This widget is completely similar to those found in the iPhone with the difference of the name to "Siri Suggestions" where the user cannot select the applications that are displayed inside the widget, but the usage is monitored in the background and then suggests the applications that you use at each period throughout the day, which makes it useful if dozens of applications are installed on the phone but you use a few of them as part of your daily routine.
6 - recognize text in images
The UI 5 update provides the ability to recognize text from images and extract it in a very similar way to the "Live Text" feature that we saw in the iPhone after the iOS 15 update. If you have a photo in the "studio" that contains a long text and you are afraid to rewrite it manually, you can easily click on the T icon in the lower left corner and the application will select all the texts that it recognizes so that you can then copy and paste this text anywhere or share it directly.
This feature can also be used while opening the camera application, as soon as you point at any document or sheet containing text, the T icon will appear below, click on it to extract the text from the image and then you can copy it. Not only that, you can also hold down inside any text field, let it be the chat field in WhatsApp, then choose "extract text" from the menu to turn on the camera in the lower half of the phone, after which you can direct the text to the lens and copy it immediately.
In general, it is a welcome addition and helps in many situations, of course, but during the experiment we noticed that the feature does not recognize the text if it is in Arabic, but unfortunately it is not extracted correctly, when pasting the text strange random letters appear, which confirms that the Arabic language is still not supported, so we hope that it will be supported in the stable version later.
7-set a call background for each contact
The "call background" feature has been available in Samsung phones since the Android 11 update or One UI 3, which allows setting an animated background or a uniform regular image that appears when receiving calls from any contact. But in the new UI 5 update, it has become possible to set a call background for each contact individually, on the edit contact data page you will find the option "call background without sound" click on it to be able to set a background either from those previously available or from the "studio" and once you settle on a specific background you will see it later every time you receive a call from that contact, so this simple addition allows you to quickly identify callers once the background is recognized !
8-new split-screen gestures
We all know that the split-screen experience of using more than one application at a time is the optimal experience on Samsung phones, where you can simply handle two applications at once or hang applications in a floating window on the screen and minimize and maximize them as in computer operating systems. The UI 5 update further enhances this experience by adding new gestures to help you multitask faster.
But because these gestures are still being tested, they still belong to the "Labs" menu, so in order to activate them, go to "Settings", then "advanced features" and click on "labs" and there you will find two new options "swipe to view the pop-up window" and "swipe to view the split screen".
The first allows you to view the currently open application in the "floating window" mode by swiping from the upper right corner of the screen to the center, while the second allows you to activate the split screen mode into two halves by dragging with two fingers from the bottom to display the currently open application in the upper half of the screen while you can choose another application to display in the lower half. This should make it faster and easier to multitask between your apps according to your need compared to the old way that required opening the "app switcher" first.
9-View apps that affect battery life
The UI 5 update introduced a new way to see which apps are running in the background in real time and close them if they are not in use to conserve battery life. This method consists in the active apps "active applications" menu, which is accessed by dragging down from the top edge of the screen (status bar) and completing the drag down to display the full shortcut panel, then after that press the menu button ( ⁝ ) and then on the penultimate option. A pop-up window will appear showing some applications that are currently running in the background but you are not using them, and as you know, if too many applications remain running in the background it will affect the battery life, so the menu contains a "close" button to stop each of them individually. This will definitely improve battery life along with enhancing performance by reducing the burden on phone resources.
Currently, these are the most prominent features that the update brings, and not all of them, of course, it is a major update, but we tried to choose the most important ones for the majority of users, taking into account that we are reviewing the trial version, Samsung may add more features in the next updates and we will monitor them and update this topic immediately if they turn out to be useful and important.as for when the stable version arrives and starts rolling it out to eligible phones, there is no confirmed information about this yet, but it is expected to be done before the beginning of the New Year 2023.