Last updated: October 23rd, 2020 at 18:09 UTC+02:00

New One UI 3.0 beta firmware improves the Galaxy S20 Ultra camera

Samsung began the One UI 3.0 Android 11 public beta program a couple of weeks ago and so far the Galaxy S20 series has been the company’s main testing ground for the upcoming UI/OS version. The development continues and Samsung is now ready to release a newer beta build.

The Galaxy S20 Ultra is now receiving yet another One UI 3.0 public beta update, this time carrying firmware version G988BXXU5ZTJF. The package weighs nearly 600MB and includes the most recent October 2020 security patch. The changelog is generic and mentions the usual camera and security improvements without providing any specifics. The good news is that tangible camera improvements really are a part of this beta build.

Camera is more stable with the new One UI 3.0 beta build

It’s often difficult to be sure of the accuracy of Samsung’s changelogs because they often comprise generic copy-pasted feature lists. However, we were able to test the latest One UI 3.0 beta build on the Galaxy S20 Ultra for ourselves and we can confirm that it does indeed improve the camera experience.

The original One UI 3.0 public beta release had a lot of issues pertaining to the camera. It was very slow, buggy, and prone to crashing. To be clear, we didn’t have the chance to spend a very long time with firmware version G988BXXU5ZTJF, but as of this writing, the camera does seem to perform better and we have yet to experience a crash.

Beware of ultra-wide camera wobbliness

The experience is still not perfect and Samsung will have to address some other issues before it can safely release One UI 3.0 to the general public. For example, one of the issues we’ve discovered with the latest beta firmware update is an excessive wobbly effect occurring sometimes when using the ultra-wide sensor. We’re not sure exactly what triggers this unwanted phenomenon but whenever it occurs, it can render your recording useless.

The good news is that the camera experience appears to be fairly solid except for this one unusual bug. Samsung is obviously listening to feedback so the next beta build will likely bring One UI 3.0 much closer to the market. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted.