After several weeks of waiting, I finally received the announced update on Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra: One Ui 5 appeared as a new firmware bringing Android 13 by the hand. Visual changes aren’t overdoneat least until I go deep into the settings: I made the phone much nicer with some customizations.
When choosing a custom layer on Android, one of my choices is usually One UI. It is true that Samsung excessively overloads the software, 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 customization effort: One UI 5 and Android 13 come together to improve them.
A soft drink that is very suitable for personalization
Just compare all manufacturers dedicated to Android to verify that There’s only one brand that’s barely 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. This effort to keep them up to date seems to me one of the best values of the brand.
I wasn’t counting on my Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra updating before the end of 2022, it was more of a surprise: I’ve been testing the software refresh since mid-November, three months after Google officially released Android 13. For a mobile it’s been on the market for two years already, it’s not bad at all, in my opinion; although it should be the usual. And the good thing is the update fits the Note 20 like a glove.
I started testing the new themes, tint tweaks, I entered the changes introduced in Good Lock, in One UI settings. And I completely flipped the look in ten steps.
Tone settings at will
Google introduced Material You with the option to automatically adjust accent color in menus and apps, also in shortcuts. With Android 12, this personalization was done only according to the wallpaper; What Google extended to user will with Android 13.
Samsung brings Material You Theming to One UI 5 by including a host of automatic and manual palettes. With this full panoply of customizations, I managed to make my mobile adapt the tone to my tastes: the setting is in “wallpaper and styling“, the menu that appears when you long-press an empty space on the desktop.
This Android 13 feature can also be applied to Shortcuts. With one drawback: not all applications are adapted to Android 13, icons may not be completely uniform. But for the tastes the colors, never said better.
The icons I want in shortcuts
I never tire of recommending Good Lock, this collection of apps seems to me to be one of Samsung’s great successes. because it would be good change the icon pack without having to change the theme?
Theme Park, integrated with Good Lock, allows the installation of icon packs with the chosen theme on the mobile. For my taste, Pixel Icon Pack has one of the best collection in Google Play: Varied and elegant material. Thanks to the aforementioned theme park, I managed to apply the Pixel icons on my Note 20 Ultra.
Improved recently opened apps menu
Samsung has renewed all Good Lock apps to adapt them to One Ui 5 and Android 13. This also concerns Home Up, one of the most useful to give a personal touch to the phone interface. In my case, I prefer to have the apps in a fan of letters than to have them separated from each other: it saves space in the menu. Hobby.
To achieve the desired effect, I installed Home Up from Good Lock, went to “Task Changer” and selected the “Stack” option for apply a mode quite similar to that of iOS (I find grouping the cards more useful than separating them, as Android does by default). Also, with the recent update, gestures are given a lot more possibilities.
Widgets grouped into a single widget
I like having widgets on my desktop, but without taking up all my space. So, Why not create a single widget that includes all the people I like?
The latest version of Samsung’s custom layer allows all widgets to be grouped together for leave only one on the desk. In my case I leave time as main (for me it’s basic), I add playback controls for music apps, google search and latest whatsapp chats. This way I can move between them with a simple gesture on the grouped widget.
Pro app for video and photo
Taking a shot with a touch and taking a good shot is usually automatic, but there are times when I like to push the shot as fast as possible. Yes impossible to do without manual controls; commands that Samsung offers separately on some smartphones, like the Note 20 Ultra.
The Expert RAW Photo app lets you fine-tune manual controls, it also offers high-efficiency RAW backup. It’s perfect for those times when I need to take complete image management into my own hands.
As a bonus, I installed the Enhnance-X app, an app that improve your photos with a simple touch thanks to artificial intelligence. It is available for some Samsung Galaxy, you can also download the APK. It seems to me a perfect complement to the multimedia capture capabilities offered by current mobiles.
I control phone privacy in detail
The privacy management effort has been evident in Android for several years, both at the system level and at the manufacturer level. In the case of One UI 5, several related aspects improve my perception of the phone:
- List with all applications that have accessed key hardware elements. Camera, microphone, GPS, clipboard… One Ui 5 displays all these accesses in a detailed list with the precise date of use. What do I suspect an application is outdated? Privacy options help me discover your intentions.
- Access Permission Notification. In addition to seeing the list with all the uses, the mobile alerts me when a delicate element is used.
- Withdrawal of permits if not used. It’s not new on One UI 5, but it still seems very important to me: the system took care of monitoring applications that are not used to automatically remove their permissions. This option can be found in the applications information, in the settings.
I copy the text of the photos and captures
I’ve done this before with Google Lens, but One UI 5 makes it even easier: the Samsung gallery includes a text picker in photos, I can also select it from screenshots and even with the Samsung keyboard. It’s one of those details that makes my work much more comfortable, as well as my leisure time. Simply hold down the image for the picker to activate.
The sidebar, that hidden gem you haven’t used before
I don’t like overloading the interface of my mobiles, that’s one of the reasons why I avoid floating menus. But I decided to try One UI 5, the one called “Edge content” (found in the screen options).
Samsung extends the options included in the menu to perform an infinite number of actions with a few movements: discover the sidebar and click on what you want. In my case, I assigned the clipboard to the panel so that have the full list of copied items at your fingertips. 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 floating app and swipe to active split-screen app. Both options can be found in the “Labs” settingsin “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 occupy the whole screen for example: so I know who it is from a distance.
Table of Contents