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The fact that we haven’t seen a stable version of Android 12 means that at least Samsung has an opportunity to catch up with Google with its One UI 4.0 Beta 2 update.
Although this is quite unlikely, we could have a situation where the first stable update of Android 12 arrives on a non-Pixel device. It would be a real shock, but given that Samsung is only pushing the second beta of One UI 4.0 based on Android 12, we would be very surprised, to say the least.
Here’s everything noticeable in the latest Android 12-based update for Samsung Galaxy devices:
Video – One UI 4.0 Beta 2: practical with more new features
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Color theme
A huge component of Android 12 on Pixel phones is now available as part of One UI 4.0 Beta 2, but with a few tweaks to the Samsung. The “color theme,” as Samsung has renamed it, is the Korean company’s take on Dynamic Color and the “Monet” theme system seen on Pixel hardware.
From your Home screen, long press in an empty space or pinch to zoom out and head to Wallpapers> Color Theme. From this new panel, you will be able to choose a tri-color theme according to your device’s wallpaper. You can leave it as a blue, white and black preset or select one of the four patterns determined by your device.
You will see a nice preview pane above showing which colors will be adopted on your device as well. The effect isn’t as obvious as it is on Pixels, but it works in almost all areas of the One UI 4.0 system, including notification toggles and the lock screen.
It should be noted that the change is very noticeable but not as big as you might expect. Instead, it’s more of an accent addition that changes some UI elements but doesn’t seem to work with Google’s recently updated and tuned proprietary apps including Messages, Gmail, and much more. others.
You’ll still see the Material You settings on those apps, but for now at least most will just stick to the standard or standard colors applied. Some apps are fully themed, but heavily dependent on the version you have installed or updated. A good example is the Google Podcast app, which will adjust for the “color theme” accentuation based on the wallpaper.
Due to inherent changes in apps due to your system’s accent color, “color theme” changes the way you will experience Android 12 on your Samsung Galaxy device. Google is pushing hard for Pixel, and it was originally planned to be limited to Made by Google devices, but the arrival here in One UI 4.0 Beta 2 is much earlier than expected.
RAM more
To explain, “RAM Plus” is a feature that uses part of your storage on the device to create “virtual RAM” which increases the limit on your Galaxy smartphone. For high-end Samsung Galaxy smartphones over 8-12 GB of RAM, this is probably not even a problem, but for low-end devices with hardware limitations, it could be a real way to expand or improve overall performance levels.
In One UI 4.0 Beta 2, you can’t actually turn off “RAM Plus” because it’s just turned on by default. You can see how much space is being used by going to Settings> Device care> Memory. Here you will be able to erase or free up RAM and see how much “virtual memory” is passed where the system deems it necessary.
We don’t know if this will decrease or turn off automatically if you run out of free space, but it appears to be limited to 4GB. It should also be noted that this is not the same as physically adding 4GB of RAM to your device, but it can help if heavy apps are consuming system resources or you want to play more demanding games and are happy to sacrifice other levels of app performance. It should be noted that this has already been released for some Samsung midrange, including the Galaxy A52 and even the all new Z Fold 3, but joining the main version of One UI 4.0 could extend it to all devices.
Improved video call options and effects
When you initiate a video call, you have more options at your fingertips under the “Video Call Effects” floating panel after updating to One UI 4.0 Beta 2. These include the ability to adjust background blur effects or add color / image. Effectively, it just mimics the kind of things you can already do in different calling apps like Zoom, Google Meet and others, but it works on any app your Galaxy device detects as a video calling app. .
Improving these controls is a new “Microphone Mode” option that lets you choose exactly what sound is picked up during video calls. There is a ‘Standard’ mode that works just the way you want it to, a ‘Voice Focus’ option that attempts to remove any annoying background noise, but a nice option for group or family calls is an option called’ All sounds ”. When making large group calls – something quite normal since the start of the pandemic – it can help as it increases the sound picked up near your phone.
Editing gallery metadata
It’s almost as if Samsung removed the ability to edit and adjust the time and date metadata of images in the Gallery app directly from Google Photos, although it’s just a question of ‘a much requested feature. Tap the overflow menu, then select details to open the metadata menu for any image in the Samsung Gallery app.
From there, you can edit everything from the name of the photo, where it was taken and even the time and date, with the time and date picker supporting Dynamic Color. Not having to upload to Google Photos or use another third-party app is probably a massive added feature for many who use the default gallery app on their Galaxy devices.
Android 12 Easter Egg with Dynamic Color
Not necessarily a massive update, but provided you use the “Color Theme” on your device, the Android 12 Easter Egg will adhere to your preset theme, just like on Pixel smartphones running Android 12 Beta. Is this a significant change? No, but it’s nice all the same.
Should I install One UI 4.0 Beta 2 on my Galaxy S21?
If you’d like to try out this modest set of additional features alongside the previous – and more extensive – add-ons then you’ll need to sign up for One UI 4.0 Beta through the Samsung Members app. At this point, it has only been rolled out in the US and UK, but more regions will have access to this preview of Android 12 over the next few days.
However, at this point, we suggest holding on for a bit longer. While this update includes a number of bug fixes, performance can sometimes be quite choppy with pop-in texture and lag in some apps when scrolling. Hopefully Beta 3 will add a bit more stability, but for now it’s more of a failure than a success in our time of shooting exploring the features on offer here.
What do you want to see in future versions of One UI 4.0?
One UI 4.0 Beta 2 is a very small update in terms of pure functionality, but given how complete Samsung’s software skin is compared to the more vanilla versions of Android, it’s hard to expect radical changes with every OTA upgrade.
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