Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus gets Android Pie-based Samsung One UI Beta update

During its Samsung Developers Conference earlier this month, Samsung unveiled its new user interface — Samsung One UI and said that it’ll soon be available in beta phase for select devices.

Now, Samsung has started One UI Beta program for the users of Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus in South Korean and the United States. It is also expected to be soon available in Germany, Europe, and Asia. The stable release of the Android Pie-based Samsung One UI will be available in January next year.

To receive the One UI beta update, you’ll need to enroll into the One UI beta program through Samsung Members/Samsung+ app by tapping the “Notices” button. You can then download the newest Android Pie build by going into Settings > Software updates and tapping on “Download updates manually.”

The update, which is about 1896MB in size, brings official Android Pie to Samsung’s flagship lineup together with all of One UI’s newest improvements, both in the looks department as well as all in terms of features. It also comes with the latest November security patch for Android.

One UI brings a lot of new features such as a redesigned interface, redesigned notifications with the ability to reply directly from the notification panel, new Unicode 11.0 emojis, adaptive themes, Device Care and power saving features, new clock styles for the Always On display, improved Bixby search, redesigned Phone app, and more.

Samsung has also introduced a system-wide Night Mode that enables a dark, AMOLED-friendly theme throughout the UI and Samsung’s apps. The new Samsung One UI will also theme itself to match the color of the phone, similar to what Samsung offered on Galaxy Note 9 with its new S-Pen. You will be able to use Samsung DeX with supported HDMI adapters, without the need for a DeX station.

Comparing to the Samsung Experience UX which requires two hands to operate, the new One UI is claimed to have been built for a “more natural and comfortable” one-handed use cases. Samsung said that it has been working on the new experience for the past year, and the prime target is to make the interface less cluttered.

 

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S10 patent reveals a notch-killing smartphone design

 

The focus of Samsung One UI is on keeping the most relevant content in the most useful place — bottom of the screen. All of Samsung’s apps have adopted a bottom bar layout for smaller navigation elements alongside larger header elements. Menus also pop-up at the bottom of the screen instead of the center.

(Via)