Samsung has made history by being the first Android phone maker (other than Google) to promise three generations of OS updates for its phones and tablets, and while the fruits of that promise won’t be seen for at least another year, the Korean giant is trying to impress us by rolling out the latest version of One UI 2.5 to existing devices as quickly as it possibly can.
Just yesterday, the Galaxy S20 series picked up the One UI 2.5 update right as the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra went on sale across the globe, and Samsung is now rolling out a similar update to the Galaxy Z Flip. The LTE variant of its clamshell foldable is getting One UI 2.5 in the US this week, bringing some of the new features that are available on the Z Flip’s 5G variant out of the box.
Galaxy Z Flip picks up new features
The headline feature on One UI 2.5 — wireless DeX — probably isn’t part of the update, as the Galaxy Z Flip does not support even wired DeX. The only big feature on offer might be the enhanced Pro video mode, which now lets you select which on-device microphone is used for audio recording, enables recording via Bluetooth and USB microphones, and includes an option to record videos in 21:9 aspect ratio.
Other features are decidedly minor but still useful, like the option to request a Wi-Fi connection’s password from a saved contact, getting search results from YouTube in the Samsung Keyboard search function, and support for using the split keyboard in landscape mode. There’s also support for using Bitmoji stickers in Always On Display, which might be exclusive to the Galaxy Z Flip as we don’t see it on our Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (review).
The update also includes the security patch for the month of August and is a 1157 MB download. You can grab it by opening the phone’s Settings menu, selecting Software update, and tapping Download and install. Firmware version F700U1UEU2BTGE accompanies the update in the US; other markets should start receiving it in the coming days, and we’ll be sure to let you know once a wider rollout commences. We’ll also let you know once more eligible Galaxy devices start getting One UI 2.5, so be sure to keep checking back!
