Samsung launched the final version of the Android 13 update and the OneUI 5 interface, so that the company begins its annual journey in updating its phones to the latest Android versions. This year’s trip will witness the arrival of the new update for phones of the middle and economic category that have passed since their launch two years or more, and it is a new policy followed by the Korean company for the first time. Currently, the OneUI 5 update is only available for the Galaxy S22 series of phones, but it will soon arrive for the rest of the company’s supported phones, which you can learn about here.
Here are the most important updates and new changes that Samsung added in the new update:
- Smoothness and speed
- Customize the homepage and notifications
- Customize screen lock screen
- Camera
- Edit Pictures
- Change the language of applications
- Settings
- Other extras
1. Smoothness and speed
The most prominent thing you will notice in the new update is the redesign of the “Animation” system graphics to be smoother and faster compared to previous versions of the interface. Switching between applications and opening the notification bar is much faster, and there is no longer a momentary lag, as was the case in OneUI 4. A good step for sure, especially since Samsung was standing apart from all competitors.
2. Customize the homepage and notifications
Samsung has brought a lot of Good Lock customization tools to the main system settings with some new additions to give users more options to choose what suits them best.
The Korean company is now given more options in choosing the colors of the system, as the number of suggestions has reached 12 color palettes, and one color can be chosen from among 8 colors or 4 groups of two colors. Those colors are extracted from the phone’s homepage image.
You can also choose the Samsung Global Goals service to be responsible for changing the home page image automatically.
The notification window also got a change in graphics and some differences in shape, most notably the distance between notifications, the background color of the window, the size of the quick shortcut icons and additional options when long pressing on the notification.
The update also gives the ability to choose where notifications appear separately for each application. There are 3 options that can be turned on or off, and they are showing notifications on the lock screen of the phone, showing the number of notifications on the icon of each application in the applications window or the home page, and showing notifications in a pop-up window.
For Widgets, there are some new shapes and options, but the most important thing is the possibility of merging more than one Widget from more than one application in one space and moving between them in the same way as navigating between application pages. There is a new widget called Smart Suggestions that gives shortcuts to 8 apps based on your phone usage as well as some shortcuts to phone settings.
3. Customize the screen lock screen
As with the home page, you can choose a service to automatically change the screen lock screen image, and you can now choose a number of images from the gallery to switch between them without any intervention from you. OneUI 5 also gives the ability to change the font used for the hour and date, in addition to the ability to control their size and colors, with the lock button moved to the top instead of its place at the bottom.
4. The camera
The camera app got three new updates in Android 13. The first and most important update is the shutter speed increase. In a simpler way, the Camera app can now take more photos in less time thanks to the reduced time between taking one photo and another.
The second update is the addition of a tape for zooming in when you press and hold any of the buttons for the number of rounding times. The third is the ability to customize the watermark that you want to add. You can add the name of the phone, the date or write whatever you want on the image as a watermark in the right, middle or left bottom of the screen.
5. Edit photos
Samsung introduced a number of new features in the Gallery in OneUI 5. First, it became possible to isolate the background of any image after taking it by clicking on the three dots next to the delete image icon, then choosing to add background isolation or Add Portrait Effect. The level of isolation can be controlled as if the photo was originally taken in Portrait mode.
Photo gallery can now recognize any text in photos. To copy it, all you need is a long press on the text, as if you were copying from a file, not an image. This process takes place entirely within the photo gallery without relying on Bixby or Google Lens as was the case before.
Another addition is to convert any part of the image to PNG. This process is done by adjusting the image and selecting the dashed circle or the Lasso, then selecting the desired part. After completing the selection, the application adjusts the borders using artificial intelligence to be able to use this part as a PNG image without a background.
Drawing shapes for illustration just got better. When you draw an arrow or a circle and keep pressing after completing the drawing, the application automatically adjusts those shapes. A number of shapes have been added to the Stickers window and more tools for writing on images.
6. Change the language of the applications
If you want to change the language of a specific application while keeping the language of the rest of the system as it is, the matter is now available in OneUI 5.0 as it is available in the rest of Android 13 versions. To change the language, go to Settings, then General Settings, then Application Language or Settings >> General Management >> App Languages.
Unfortunately, the number of applications that support this feature is still limited, but it is expected to increase with the spread of the Android 13 update on a larger scale in the coming months.
7. Settings
There’s a new window in the Settings app called Connected Devices that groups connections to accessories, external displays, Samsung Dex, Android Auto, and even Connect to Windows.
Bixby Routines has been developed to be part of the system with some default phone usage patterns such as work, sleep, exercise, etc… These patterns can be used to control notifications, connect to the Internet, access applications and most features related to Digital Wellbeing and Routines together. The modes are activated automatically according to the options specified by the user, such as time or location, for example.
Exploiting part of the storage space to increase RAM is no longer mandatory. The new update gives you the ability to completely turn off this feature.
8. Other additions
The gesture of opening applications in floating windows or in multi-window mode from Galaxy Fold phones has been brought to the rest of the company’s phones. In Android 13 on Samsung phones, you can open the list of recently used apps and drag the app from the icon to run it in a floating window or to split the screen into two parts.
In the same place, a dedicated button has been added to see which applications are running in the background.
Call ringtone, vibrator pattern and level, and call screen background can be set for each contact individually. The default method for video calls can also be chosen either over the cellular network or through Google Meet (formerly Google Duo).
The clock application supports running more than one timer at the same time (up to 20 timers at the same time).
Thus, we have explained everything that Samsung announced in its new update to the OneUI 5 user interface, as well as Android 13. Have you ever tried one of these new features? Share your personal preferences with us in the comments.
Android 13 update schedule and One UI 5.0 interface
November 2022:
- Galaxy S22 Ultra
- Galaxy S22+
- Galaxy S22 phone
December 2022:
- Galaxy Z Fold 4
- Galaxy Z Fold 3
- Galaxy Z Fold 2
- Galaxy Z Flip 4
- Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
- Galaxy Z Flip
- Galaxy S21 Ultra
- Galaxy S21+
- Galaxy S21 phone
- Galaxy S21 FE
- Galaxy S20 Ultra
- Galaxy S20+
- Galaxy S20 phone
- Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
- Galaxy Note 20 phone
- Galaxy S10 Lite
- Galaxy Note 10 Lite
- Galaxy A73 phone
- Galaxy A71 phone
- Galaxy A51 phone
- Galaxy A53 phone
- Galaxy A33 phone
- Galaxy Tab S8+
- Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra 5G tablet
- Galaxy Tab S8 5G tablet
- Galaxy Tab S7
- Galaxy Tab S7+
- Galaxy Tab S6
- Galaxy Tab S6 Lite
January 2023:
- Galaxy M62 phone
- Galaxy M52 5G
- Galaxy M33 5G phone
- Galaxy M32 phone
- Galaxy A72 phone
- Galaxy A52 phone
- Galaxy A52s phone
- Galaxy A32 phone
- Galaxy Tab S7 FE tablet
February 2023:
- Galaxy M22 phone
- Galaxy M12 phone
- Galaxy A23 phone
- Galaxy A22 phone
- Galaxy A13 phone
- Galaxy A12 phone
March 2023:
- Galaxy A13 phone
- Galaxy A03s
- Galaxy A04s
- Galaxy A03 phone
April 2023:
- Galaxy A04 phone