I’ve been utilizing the One UI 9 beta on my Galaxy S26 for a few weeks now, and I’m genuinely enthusiastic about what’s coming. And no, it’s not as a result of Samsung is introducing some ground-breaking options or dramatic visible overhaul. Fairly the other. One UI 9 is all about small, quality-of-life enhancements that make the telephone a pleasure to make use of.
Community pace indicator
It’s about time
It’s arduous to imagine Samsung has gone this lengthy with no built-in community pace indicator, particularly when Galaxy telephones are identified for all types of quirky customization options. Fortunately, One UI 9 is bringing a real-time web pace meter to the standing bar.
The characteristic isn’t baked straight into One UI’s settings, although. As an alternative, it’s a part of Samsung’s Good Lock app, particularly the QuickStar module. When you allow the Community Pace toggle, your Samsung telephone will present the web pace in KB/s, MB/s, or GB/s relying on the visitors. I do know manufacturers like Xiaomi, OnePlus, OPPO, and Vivo have supplied one thing like this for years, however it’s good to lastly see Samsung bringing it to Galaxy gadgets.
Disable web entry for distracting apps
Keep targeted by blocking distractions
One other internet-related characteristic in One UI 9 is the flexibility to chop off community entry for particular person apps. The thought right here is to cease apps from distracting you when you research or work. Samsung mentions that you should utilize it for social media apps and video games to enhance focus.
Very like the community pace indicator, although, this characteristic isn’t straightforward to seek out. To entry it, you first must unlock the Connectivity Labs menu in your Galaxy telephone. For individuals who don’t find out about Connectivity Labs, it’s a hidden Wi-Fi menu on Galaxy telephones that unlocks a number of useful options. In that menu, open AI Community Guard or Community Restrictions, arrange a 6-digit PIN, and select apps for which you need to disable web entry.
What I like essentially the most about this characteristic is that it’s not a easy on/off change. It additionally features a Downtime choice that permits you to prohibit community entry for apps for particular hours daily.
Built-in name logs
See all of your calls in a single place
One UI 9 is making it simpler to maintain monitor of your calls by bringing the whole lot in a single place. The Telephone app now combines your common telephone calls with calls made by means of supported third-party calling apps, like WhatsApp and Google Meet.
The unified name log is one thing that iPhones have supplied for years, so it’s good to see Samsung adopting it. What’s even higher is that you would be able to management which apps can contribute to the unified name historical past. Which means if you happen to don’t need your WhatsApp calls to indicate alongside your common calls, you possibly can conceal these by heading to Telephone Settings > Different name settings > Different calling apps.
Faucet to share
Fast Share is now truly “fast”
With One UI 9, Galaxy telephones may have a characteristic referred to as “Faucet to share,” and it really works as you’d anticipate. You possibly can faucet your Galaxy telephone in opposition to different appropriate telephones to share pictures, movies, recordsdata, and even contacts. The characteristic makes use of NFC to detect the opposite machine and provoke the switch.
If you’re contained in the Gallery app, Fast Share interface, or the usual sharesheet, tapping the 2 telephones collectively will begin the file switch. Should you faucet two telephones collectively when you’re on the house display as a substitute, One UI 9 will alternate contact info. Sure, it’s similar to Apple’s NameDrop characteristic.
Driving report to trace journey and particulars
Driving insights you’ll discover helpful
Driving report is well my favourite One UI 9 characteristic. It tracks your driving historical past and habits to generate an in depth report of each journey. It collects info just like the route you took, distance coated, complete driving time, common pace, and different journey stats. However that’s not all. It even makes use of your telephone’s sensors to detect acceleration, braking, sharp turns, and steering conduct. The thought is to offer you insights into your driving habits so you possibly can drive extra safely, which could be helpful if you happen to’ve simply realized methods to drive.
The characteristic isn’t enabled out of the field, however you possibly can flip it on by heading to Settings > Linked gadgets > Driving report. You then want to pick your automotive from the listing of Bluetooth gadgets. As soon as that’s accomplished, the characteristic will activate as quickly as your telephone connects to the automotive. It even offers you a weekly abstract of your driving habits.
- SoC
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- Show
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6.3-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x
- RAM
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12 GB
- Storage
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256 or 512 GB
As I stated earlier, many of the new stuff in One UI 9 is the little issues that make your telephone nicer to make use of. After all, that is nonetheless beta software program, so there’s at all times an opportunity Samsung tweaks and even drops some options earlier than the steady launch. However sure, these are those I’m most excited to see make it to the ultimate model.