When deciding on a custom layer on Android, one of my choices is usually One UI. It is true that Samsung overloads the software excessively, but One UI has something that seems essential to me: allows the user to assemble their own mobile; with tools that no other manufacturer includes. After the last update I was even more aware of this effort for customizations: One UI 5 and Android 13 join hands to enhance them.
A soft drink that suits customization very well
It is enough to compare all the manufacturers dedicated to Android to verify that There is only one brand that is minimally comparable in updates to Google itself: Samsung. The South Koreans maintain the longest, fastest, and most comprehensive update schedule of all; with mid-range and low-end smartphones that have already received Android 13 and One UI 5. That effort to keep them up to date seems to me one of the best values of the brand.
I did not count on my Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra going to update before the end of 2022, it was quite a surprise: I have been testing the software refresh since mid-November, three months after Google officially released Android 13. For a mobile that It has already been on the market for two years, it is not bad at all, in my opinion; even though it should be the usual. And the good thing is that the update fits the Note 20 like a glove.
I started testing the new themes, the hue adjustments, I got into the changes introduced in Good Lock, in the One UI settings. And I completely turned the look around in ten steps.
Tonality adjustments at will
Google introduced Material You along with the option to automatically adjust the accent color in menus and apps, also in shortcuts. With Android 12 this customization was done only based on the wallpaper; that Google expanded to the will of the user with Android 13.
Samsung brings Material You Theming to One UI 5 by including a host of automatic and manual palettes. With this complete range of customizations, I managed to get my mobile to adapt the tonality to my tastes: the setting is in “wallpaper and style“, the menu that appears when you long-press on an empty space on the desktop.
This Android 13 feature can also be applied to shortcuts. With one drawback: since not all apps have been adapted to Android 13, icons may not be completely uniform. But for tastes the colors, never better said.
The icons that I want in the shortcuts
I never tire of recommending Good Lock, this compendium of apps seems to me to be one of Samsung’s great successes. because what would be nice change the icon pack without having to change the theme?
Theme Park, integrated into Good Lock, enables the installation of icon packs to the chosen theme on the mobile. for my taste, Pixel Icon Pack has one of the best collections in all of Google Play: varied and stylish Material. Thanks to the aforementioned Theme Park I managed to apply the Pixel icons on my Note 20 Ultra.
Samsung has renewed all Good Lock applications to adapt them to One Ui 5 and Android 13. This also concerns Home Up, one of the most useful for giving that personal touch to the phone’s interface. In my case, I prefer to have the apps as a fan of letters than to have them separated from each other: it saves space in the menu. Hobbies.
To get the desired effect I installed Home Up from Good Lock, went to “Task Changer” and selected the “Stack” option to apply a mode quite similar to that of iOS (I find it more useful to group the cards than to have them separate, as Android does by default). In addition, with the recent update the gestures receive many more possibilities.
Widgets gathered in a single widget
I like having some widgets on my desktop, but not taking up my entire space. So, Why not create a single widget that brings together all the ones I like? With one UI 5 it is possible.
The latest version of Samsung’s custom layer allows grouping all widgets for leave only one on the desk. In my case, I leave time as the main one (for me it’s basic), I add the playback controls for music apps, Google search and the latest WhatsApp chats. This way I can move between all of them with just a gesture on the grouped widget.
App Pro for video and photo
Shooting with a touch and taking a good photo is usually automatic, but there are times when I like to push the shot as fast as possible. Y impossible to do without hand controls; controls that Samsung offers separately on some smartphones, such as the Note 20 Ultra.
The Expert RAW Photo app allows you to fine-tune manual controls, it also offers high-efficiency RAW saving. It is perfect for the times that I need to take command of the complete management of the image.
As a bonus, I installed the Enhnance-X app, an app that enhance photos with a touch thanks to artificial intelligence. It is available for some Samsung Galaxy, too the apk can be downloaded. It seems to me a perfect complement to the multimedia capture capabilities offered by current mobiles.
I control the privacy of the phone in detail
The effort in privacy management has been evident in Android for several years, both at the system level and at the manufacturer layer. In the case of One UI 5, there are several related aspects that improve my perception of the phone:
- List with all the apps that accessed the key hardware elements. Camera, microphone, GPS, clipboard… One Ui 5 shows all these accesses in a detailed list together with the specific date of use. What do I suspect that an app is exceeded? Privacy options help me discover your intentions.
- Permit Access Notification. Apart from seeing the list with all the uses, the mobile alerts me when a delicate element is used.
- Withdrawal of permits if not used. It is not new to One UI 5, but it still seems very important to me: the system was in charge of monitoring the apps that are not used to automatically remove their permissions. This option is found in the information of the applications, in settings.
I copy the text of the photos and captures
Selecting text from a screenshot
I already did it with Google Lens, but One UI 5 makes it even easier: the Samsung gallery includes a text selector in the photos, I can also select it from the screenshots and even with the Samsung keyboard. It is one of those details that makes my work much more comfortable, as well as my leisure. Simply hold down on the image for the selector to activate.
I don’t like to overload the interface of my mobiles, this is one of the reasons why I avoid floating menus. But I decided to give One UI 5 a try, the one called “Edge Contents” (found in screen options).
Samsung expands the options included in the menu to carry out an endless number of actions with a couple of movements: discover the sidebar and click on what you want. In my case, I assigned the clipboard to the panel so that have the entire list of copied elements close at hand. I admit that I find it very useful.
Gestures that make multitasking easier
One UI 5 includes two new gestures in its experimental features that help me power multitasking on mobile: swipe to float app and swipe to split screen active app. Both options are found in the “Labs” settingsinside “Advanced functions”.
Call wallpaper for each contact
This option seems silly, but it’s one of my favorites in One UI 5: I can assign a wallpaper to each contact so that when they call, the phone changes the background and I can identify at a glance who it is. I can assign a photo of the person to take up the entire screen, for example: so I know from a distance who it is.