Latest news with #ZacKew-Denniss
Android Authority
5 days ago
- Business
- Android Authority
Samsung's One UI 8 Android 16 beta absolutely dunks on Google
Joe Maring / Android Authority Samsung surprised us all this week by releasing the One UI 8 beta for the Galaxy S25 series, which is based on Android 16. Following the messy rollout of One UI 7 and Samsung's track record of launching betas after Google has finalized a stable Android update, the arrival of One UI 8 has been a pleasant surprise. There are some welcome changes, from improvements to alarm groups to better support for older Galaxy Buds. Are you going to download the One UI 8 beta? 503 votes Yes 47 % No 31 % When it's more stable 22 % What's more surprising is that Samsung's version of Android 16 is more feature-complete than Google's, with two of the main additions everyone is looking forward to already working in One UI 8. 90:10 splitscreen The OnePlus Open came with a new kind of split-screen multitasking called Open Canvas. Google is bringing this feature to Android 16, but it isn't available in the current beta for Pixel devices. It is here in One UI 8, though, as seen in the video above. It's a great addition to split-screen. Being able to quickly switch between the two apps while having enough space to use each one is a game-changer, and I look forward to seeing how it performs on foldables and tablets. The question is, why does Samsung have it in One UI 8 already when Google hasn't enabled it in the official Android 16 beta? Live Updates Live Updates are similar to the Live Activity feature you'll find on iOS. It allows an app to display real-time information in a place that's easy to see, no matter what you're doing on your phone, such as showing a progress bar for your food order or directions from Google Maps. Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority YouTube Music Live Notifications Despite Live Updates being showcased at Google I/O, the feature isn't yet available in the Android 16 beta. It is available on Samsung phones and doesn't require One UI 8. Samsung calls this feature Live Notifications, and it was introduced in One UI 7, which is based on Android 15. It does everything described above and even lets you control your media playback. One UI 8 doesn't have everything Ryan Haines / Android Authority Samsung doesn't get everything, though. Android 15 introduced Notification Cooldown to Pixels, a feature that mutes notifications for up to two minutes at a time if you receive too many in quick succession. Even in One UI 8 with Android 16, this isn't present on Samsung devices. We don't know why Samsung has opted not to integrate Notification Cooldown, but it's a shame. It's a useful feature that can stop the constant barrage of information from being overwhelming. It seems odd that Samsung consistently receives early access to features, while Google's smartphone brand, the Pixel, is often overlooked and has to wait. You could say it ultimately doesn't matter so long as the Pixel gets everything eventually, but I disagree. Google, logically, should want people to buy a Pixel phone. It sends a strange message when Samsung frequently gets priority over Google's own product. Have you tried out the One UI 8 or Android 16 betas yet? What do you think of them? Let us know in the comments below.
Android Authority
6 days ago
- General
- Android Authority
One UI 8 makes living with multiple alarms a whole lot easier
Paul Jones / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung's new One UI 8 beta for the Galaxy S25 series improves its alarm group functions. Users can now add existing alarms to alarm groups. Further, they can now place an alarm group widget on their home screen, making it much more convenient to control multiple alarms with a single tap. Samsung rolled out One UI 8 beta program for the Galaxy S25 series, and we're digging through the update to find all the changes. With One UI 8, Samsung is adding some quality-of-life improvements to alarm groups, one of the best features added to One UI 7. Many people set multiple alarms for tasks like getting up for work or school. If you are one of those (no judgment), you'd know that managing all of these alarms can be a hassle, especially if you want to pause them for a day or two. Samsung introduced the ability to group alarms together with One UI 7, letting users group related alarms to turn them on and off with a single click. As part of the One UI 8 changelog, Samsung is touting the following upgrades to the alarm group functionality: Enhanced alarm groups: You can now add existing alarms to an alarm group by tapping the + button on the Alarm group screen. You can also add an alarm group to a widget on your Home screen so you can turn all of the alarms in the group on or off with a single tap. The first part of this change fixes an annoyance in One UI 7. In One UI 7, the plus button inside an alarm group would create a new alarm within the group rather than letting you add an existing alarm to the group, as you can see in the screen recording below: With One UI 8, pressing the Plus button within an alarm group lets you choose between adding a new alarm or moving an existing alarm into the group. Further, as mentioned in the changelog, you can now add an alarm group widget to your home screen. In the screenshot below, you can see widgets for an individual alarm and an alarm group. This makes it highly convenient to toggle an alarm group right from your home screen. Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority One UI 7 only lets you place a single alarm as a widget, even if that alarm already nests within an alarm group. Now, with One UI 8, you can have complex alarm groups and still easily manage them. These are small quality-of-life changes that make a profound impact on the end user experience. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
27-05-2025
- Business
- Android Authority
These are the 6 Google apps I always install on a new Samsung phone
Ryan Haines / Android Authority Apps that come preloaded on your smartphone can be a touchy subject. An app I use every day and I'm glad to see on my phone out of the box could be considered bloatware by someone who doesn't use it. Naturally, there are numerous Samsung apps on a Samsung phone, but you'll find Google apps like Chrome, Gmail, and YouTube pre-installed, too, among a few others. However, plenty of other Google apps are worth using, and these are the ones I download first on my Samsung phone. Before we begin, a brief disclaimer: Apps pre-installed on Samsung phones vary based on model and region, so while none of these came preloaded on my Galaxy S24 Ultra or Galaxy S25 in the UK, one or two might already be on your phone in your country. Google Tasks Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority I use Tick Tick Premium for most of my task needs, but if you don't want to pay for or use something as involved and only need a simple task app, Google Tasks should be the one for you. Samsung's Reminders app is good, but it can only sync to non-Samsung devices via Microsoft To Do, and that synchronization isn't as instant as I'd like. So, Google Tasks is the perfect app for me that works on the web, Android, and iOS and costs nothing. Even though I'm a Tick Tick user, I still keep Google Tasks installed for its Assistant/Gemini and voice command integration, something Tick Tick currently lacks. If I'm driving with Android Auto or have my hands full and need to set a reminder via my Nest speakers, those simple items can be added to my Google Tasks account with 'Hey Google, remind me to …' Google Wallet Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority Galaxy devices come with Samsung Wallet pre-installed. The app is fine, but many banks and loyalty programs don't support it, and I find the overall experience more clunky than Google's alternative, which is more widely supported. In fact, I can't think of any banks, at least in the UK, that don't support Google Wallet. Samsung Wallet also insists on adding a swipe target on the bottom of the home and lock screens, which I always activate by mistake when I'm trying to open the recent apps screen. Turning that off (or uninstalling Samsung Wallet entirely) and switching to Google Wallet makes the overall experience smoother and less frustrating. Google Calendar I enjoy Samsung's Calendar app quite a lot, but I still use Google Calendar for certain things, and you might prefer it, too. For starters, it works well with Google Tasks, showing them in your calendar and providing a shortcut to make reminders without leaving the app. If Google Tasks is your go-to, then Calendar should be too. Outside of Tasks, Calendar integrates better with third-party calendar accounts than Samsung's app, at least in my experience. I use it to integrate my due dates at work and shared calendars with my family group. Another bonus is that Google adds some delightful design flourishes, like the illustrations at the top of events. Gboard Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority If you only take one of these recommendations, please let it be this one. Even I, who usually advocates for Samsung apps being better than most people think, admit that Samsung's keyboard is trash. Whenever I see a post online about an iPhone user switching to a Samsung phone for the first time, one of the biggest complaints I see is that they can't stand the keyboard. Gboard is the best keyboard, and downloading it on your Samsung phone will make the phone easier to use and the entire experience less exasperating. The only exception to that rule used to be foldables, as Samsung's keyboard was the only one that defaulted to a split layout when the phone was open, but now Gboard does this too, and even has full S Pen detection for handwriting input. There's really no reason not to ditch Samsung Keyboard and switch to Gboard. Google Docs Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority Google Drive comes pre-installed on most Samsung phones, but Docs doesn't. I know we don't all handle documents on our phones regularly, but most of us do at some point, and I'd rather have it ready for when I do need it than have to rush to install it when required. The beauty of Google Docs is its ability to handle almost any document format, like those used in Microsoft Office, which other apps can struggle with. Combine that with the simple and quick cloud sync through Google Drive, robust editing features, and plenty of options for sharing and collaborating in documents, and Google Docs is a must-have app for me. Google Keep Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority Google Keep is the best note-taking app and an essential for any smartphone. The key to its success is its simplicity. It's easy to create notes and lists, attach media or links, categorize with colors and categories, and pin the important notes to the top. Plus, it recently got better formatting with headers, bold, italics, and underlining. Another reason Keep is my notes app of choice is how quickly it syncs between devices. Keep is available on Android, iOS, and via the web, and it takes seconds for a note to sync via your Google account. There are other note apps with cloud sync, but I haven't found one as seamless and simple as Google Keep. Among the plethora of Google apps available, these are the ones I use most. Gboard makes any Samsung phone feel a million times more usable, Tasks is a simple way to stay organized, and Wallet is the superior way to pay. Is there a Google app you can't live without? Let me know below.
Android Authority
15-05-2025
- Android Authority
One UI 7 has a scheduling superpower that Google badly needs to copy
Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung Calendar gains natural language processing in One UI 7, improving how users create events. You can type dates and times directly into an event title, which the app recognizes and applies automatically. While cleaner formatting could be improved, the feature outperforms TickTick and Google Calendar in understanding complex phrases. Samsung Calendar was an app everyone wanted to remove and replace with Google's offering back in the TouchWiz days, but it received a glow-up when One UI came along, and now it's one of the best calendar apps out there. One UI 7 brought natural language processing to Samsung's apps, which gives Samsung Calendar a feature we'd love to see Google copy. Samsung's apps have already been supercharged with Gemini support, but Samsung has added some special features on top. In apps like Samsung Calendar and Reminders, you can include the date and time you want the event/reminder to occur in the title. A handy pop-up will then appear that, when tapped, will set the event to what you typed. Apps like Todoist and Tick Tick have been able to do this for a while now, and it's good to see some first-party apps get it too. Impressively, One UI 7's ability to pull dates and times like this is, in some ways, more impressive than what you'll find in Tick Tick. In the example above, we created an event called 'Dinner with Millie a week from Saturday 8 PM.' Tick Tick would've set it for this Saturday at 8, not understanding 'a week from Saturday,' although using 'next Saturday' would work there, while Samsung's app did it correctly. The only downside to Samsung's implementation is that it keeps everything you type in the event/reminder name, while Tick Tick or Todoist cleans things up. In those apps, typing 'get milk tomorrow 7 PM' would create an event called 'get milk,' stripping the date and time info out of the title but still using that information to schedule things properly. Unfortunately, Google Calendar can't process dates and times in this manner. That's a shame, because it's an easier and faster way of creating events, and Google has the know-how to do it, as Gemini can take these commands and make the right events or reminders. Hopefully, something like this will come to Google Calendar soon. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
15-05-2025
- Android Authority
Got a Samsung phone? Get these 5 Samsung apps because they're not installed by default
Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority Usually, when we talk about Samsung's first-party apps, it's in a negative light, whether it's the conversation around bloatware or useless apps like Samsung's keyboard. Don't let those apps sour you from trying some of Samsung's other apps, though. Ironically, the companies' best are the ones that aren't included on your phone. There are many apps I wanted to include on this list, but I've focused on the ones that can make the biggest difference to how you use your phone, ranging from customisation to getting the most from your camera. Samsung Flow: Share files (and your screen) Samsung Flow is an underappreciated gem. It lets you easily share files between Galaxy devices and even Windows PCs. You can even remotely access certain devices. Galaxy tablets can remote access phones (as seen above), and a Windows PC can do this for both phones and tablets. On Windows, you'll even hear audio from the controlled device, except for phone calls. You even get Android's old navigation buttons at the bottom of the window, which is easier to use with a keyboard and mouse than gesture navigation. File transfers are easy, too. You can type or copy/paste text and send it as a message or attach files, photos, documents, contacts, and more. I'm always sending screenshots back and forth between my phone and PC, and this makes it easier. Home Up: Fine-tune your home screen Samsung's Home Up Good Lock module got a big update for One UI 7. It was already one of my favorite Good Lock modules, and the added features only made it better. The basics I'd play around with first are grid size and the overview screen. As phones have gotten taller, I've found that five or even six rows of apps isn't always enough, especially on an extra-tall device like my Galaxy Z Fold 4 when using the cover screen. Home Up lets you change the grid size easily and offers an option to 'view widgets larger' to stop them from getting cut off by the bigger grid size. Home Up also lets you address one of my biggest gripes with One UI. By default, the phone scrolls one app to the left each time you open the overview screen, with the app you were just in getting moved to the right. I detest this behavior and always change it with the 'center the currently running app' toggle. If you're feeling more adventurous, you can try some of the other overview styles. One Hand Operation Plus: Improve gesture navigation One Hand Operation + (yes, that's what it's called) is another Good Lock module I can't live without. I'm not kidding — I miss the features it provides whenever I have to use a non-Samsung phone, and my wife has even said losing it would prevent her from trying a different brand. One of the first things I do with it is change the area where side gestures can be used. A lot of apps still use slide-out menus, so I limit my navigation gestures to the bottom half of the screen. You can also assign different actions to swipes from the sides of your phone — straight out, diagonal up, and diagonal down. I find stretching my thumb down to the bottom edge of the phone to swipe home painful at times (thanks, arthritis), so I can do full navigation from the sides. Swiping right out goes back, diagonal up opens overview, and diagonal down goes home. You can also assign different actions to long swipes, and there are dozens of options here, from widget panels to one-handed mode. Expert RAW: Take your photography out of this world Expert RAW is a very in-depth app that's a great starting point for people who want to get more serious about photography. You can set long exposures for astro photography, mess with white balance, metering, focus, and more. It gives you more options than I have time to explain now, but we have a handy guide that goes into more detail here. One of the things I appreciate about this app is that it has less aggressive post-processing than the regular camera app. Despite the name, you can have the app save all photos as JPEGs if the more natural look is all you want. Of course, the main reason to use the app is for the editing you can do with the RAW files. If you use an app like Lightroom, you can dramatically change the look of a photo, and that's where another feature in Expert RAW comes in. If you have a Samsung tablet, you can have pictures captured with the app automatically sent to it. That's what I do, as I find editing in Lightroom easier on my Galaxy Tab S10 Plus. Sound Assistant: Control music with the screen off There are many things Sound Assistant can do, but I've narrowed it down to the three I use the most. The first is using the volume keys to control music when the screen is off. Sometimes, I sleep with earbuds in, and I turn off the touch gestures on the buds to prevent my pillow from activating them. This feature lets me change the track by holding a volume key without even opening my eyes. You can even change the orientation of the buttons to suit your needs. Next, we have Bluetooth Metronome, which lets you compensate for syncing issues when playing over Bluetooth. It isn't necessary to listen to music, but it can be a game-changer for watching videos where people are talking and where out-of-sync lip movements can be distracting. Finally, we have the favorite media app option, which lets you pick an app to begin playback when nothing is currently playing, rather than defaulting to whatever you used last. It has come in handy for me when going on walks, as I only need to tap an earbud to get some music rather than fishing out my phone, looking at my Galaxy Watch, or using Gemini. Of all Samsung's apps, these are some of the ones I use the most, but there are plenty of others out there, like Camera Assistant and the multitude of Good Lock modules I didn't list here. They're all worth looking through and can dramatically change how you use your phone. Is there a Samsung app you can't live without? Let me know about it in the comments.
