Samsung Experience One Ui

When it comes to smartphone/desktop convergence, Samsung’s DeX feature and One Ui, allows you to dock your phone to a larger display in order to have a personal computing style like experience on Samsung Hardware for android.

Best Samsung One UI features:

1. Samsung DeX mode
2. Secure Folder
3. Lift to wake functionality
4. Disable the Bixby button
5. Game tools and Game Launcher

6. System-wide dark mode
7. Gesture navigation
8. Dual messenger
9. One-handed use
10. Edge Screen

Samsung One UI has been improving its usability and functionality since its inception and recent updates in latest versions….

1. Samsung DeX Mode

N.01 You now no longer need an official DeX dock to use the feature: you can simply plug your phone into a supported HDMI adapter, connect to a monitor to get you up and running.

N.02 The second update is that you can keep using your phone simultaneously while DeX mode is engaged so no need to choose between either phone or DeX as in earlier versions of the mobile OS.

DeX is not currently available on all One UI devices, but all flagships from the Galaxy S8 and Note 8 onward support this feature. So if you don’t want to spend a small fortune to get a DeX supported device, you can always opt for an older flagship model instead however, i would look towards a newer device as more benefits maybe be available as per hardware device since the S8 & Note 8 release.

2. Secure Folder

Samsung One UI feature appeared when the Android skin was formally known as Samsung Experience. It’s certainly one of the better Galaxy phone features giving you peace of mind that any sensitive media, documents, and apps are safely stowed away in a PIN-protected safe.

Aside from accessing the folder via a PIN, you can also access it with your fingerprint or iris for added convenience. Adding content to the Secure Folder is easy too, as you use the Android sharing menu or tap add apps or add files in the app itself.

3. Lift to Wake function

Lift to wake gesture is finally available in Samsung One UI.

This feature lets you simply pick up your Samsung device in order to wake the screen. So there’s no need to press the power button after picking up the phone. It’s a relatively small addition, but it’s convenient nevertheless but may incur small amounts of battery reduction over an extended period.

4. Disable Bixby Button

One of the biggest complaints about Samsung flagships was the inability to officially disable the Bixby button. Samsung doesn’t let you completely disable the Bixby button in One UI, but it does let you choose between a single or double-press of the key. So if you’d like to activate Bixby with a double-press, you should launch Samsung’s voice assistant, then tap the three-dot icon > Settings > Bixby key. From here, you should simply choose the Double press to open Bixby option. You can also assign the single press to another app or command, The Bixby button isn’t completely disabled then, but it definitely makes it harder to accidentally activate the service.

5. Game Tools & Launcher

Game Launcher, this is a dedicated folder for all the games that are installed on your Samsung phone

Game Launcher screen has 2 icons below and these are your Game Tools. The left-most icon is a simple toggle for muting alerts, while the right icon allows you to tweak game performance. The game performance tweaks take the form of a slider, allowing you to find the right balance of power-saving and high performance.

In a neat move, Samsung also lets you tweak each game with its own slider. So if you only need high performance this can be done. Tapping on a game title from this menu also yields two more options in a maximum FPS slider and a low resolution toggle. So give these options a try if your favorite game isn’t running smoothly.

6. System-Wide Dark Mode

Dark mode is one of the most requested features on smartphones and apps today, with quite a few OEMs and developers offering the option. Samsung One UI has also joined the party, offering a system-wide option as well.

The option is available by tapping Settings > Display > Night mode, giving you an eye-pleasing OLED-friendly theme. It doesn’t extend to every single facet of the phone and its apps, but it’s certainly a solid effort. One neat touch is that you can schedule the night mode, either from sunset to sunrise or with a custom start/end time.

7. Gesture Navigation

Since you’re most likely upgrading from One UI 1.0 (Android 9 Pie), you were probably using the standard three-button navigation we’re all familiar with from the past. Well, the Android 10 gestures are lot more like the iPhone’s, and they unify the full-screen navigation across all Android devices.

Settings > Display > Navigation bar > Full screen gestures

To enable the new Android 10 gestures on One UI 2.0, you need to head into your system settings to the location above. Once you tap the “Full screen gestures” option, you will immediately see the three navigation buttons vanish, and more screen will be revealed. For a more immersive experience, you can disable the “Gesture hints” option to hide the white navigation bar at the bottom. You can also enable the “Show button to hide keyboard” option so you can switch keyboards at any time when using these new gestures — the keyboard icon appears in the lower-right of the screen. Otherwise, it will just appear in your notification tray with you swipe down.

Tapping the “More options” button will give you a few additional settings you can tweak to your personal liking.

You can choose between the old “Swipe from bottom” option that came from the first One UI, but the Android 10 gestures are the ones labelled “Swipe from sides and bottom” that should be enabled by default. For the new gesture navigation, you can swipe up from the bottom to jump back to your home screen. Swipe up and hold to bring up your recent apps and swipe in from the left or right edge of the screen to bring up your back arrow.

The “Back gesture sensitivity” setting allows you to adjust how easy it is to swipe the screen to enable the back arrow gesture. If you have a phone case that wraps around the edges of your display pretty snugly, you might want to increase the sensitivity to make it easier to swipe the edges. Play around with the levels of sensitivity to find your perfect fit.

If you enable the “Allow back gesture on keyboard” option, you’ll be able to use the back arrow gesture while you have your favourite keyboard on-screen. But note that it’s disabled by default to avoid accidentally triggering the back gesture when you use swipe typing. Now you can enjoy your beautiful Samsung display even more with these new full-screen gestures from Android 10!

8. Dual Messenger

Samsung wasn’t the first company to deliver dual apps functionality, Nevertheless, its Dual Messenger option (Settings > Advanced Features > Dual Messenger) has certainly been around for a few years now. Samsung’s Dual Messenger allows you to run two messaging accounts on one app. Be it WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, or Snapchat, quite a few of the most popular communication apps are supported.

9. One Handed Use

Gestures aren’t the only navigation-related addition to Samsung One UI, as the company has been focusing on one-handed usage too. It only makes sense in light of devices like the Galaxy S10 5G and its 6.7-inch display.

Samsung has tweaked its various menus and pre-installed apps, placing key UI elements within thumb’s reach. It’s not quite comprehensive though, as some apps like Samsung Health and the voice recorder don’t follow this convention. But it’s a decent start for the company, and we hope it follows through with implementing this in more apps.

10. Edge Screen

Another feature that launched way before Samsung One UI is the Edge Screen or Edge Panel functionality, which first appeared on 2014’s Galaxy Note Edge. This feature essentially hides an app tray in the screen edge, surfaced by dragging your finger inwards from the edge.

The resulting window can host a variety of content, such as your favourite apps, a news feed, your favourite contacts, or Samsung’s smart select editing tools. Or you can have them all if you can’t decide, simply swiping through each category.

The Android Arcitect 2020