Our top 5 One UI 4.0 beta features on the Galaxy S21

Samsung released the Android 12-based One UI 4.0 Beta update to the Galaxy S21 series earlier this week. The update is currently available in South Korea, the US, and Germany, but more markets will get access to the update very soon. The new software brings a slightly improved UI design, smoother animations and transitions, and a lot of new software features.

Apart from features that Google introduced with the stock version of Android 12, Samsung has added its own set of features to improve the user experience on Galaxy devices. We've showcased almost all the new features and design improvements in our One UI 4.0 hands-on videos, and here are our top five One UI 4.0 features among all those.

1. Smoother UI animations and transitions

One UI 4.0 feels smoother on the Galaxy S21 series when compared to One UI 3. Be it animations, scrolling, or transitions, everything seems a little bit smoother and more cohesive. Users will be pleased to notice this improvement in day-to-day usage.

2. Improved privacy

Improved privacy is the need of the hour, and One UI 4.0 brings a lot of privacy-related improvements. You can now check the Permissions Usage History feature to see which apps have accessed your phone's camera, clipboard, microphone, and location data. There is a privacy indicator at the top right corner of the screen to notify you when any app uses your phone's camera or microphone.

You can instantly disable or enable camera and microphone access using new quick setting toggles. You can also choose whether an app can access your approximate or precise location. For example, Google Maps or Uber might need your precise location, but the Weather app doesn't.

3. New widgets on the lock screen and home screen

You can now do more right from the lock screen of your Galaxy smartphone. Samsung has introduced the ability to initiate voice recording using the new lock screen widget. The media player widget on the lock screen now allows changing the audio output target, which means that you can choose audio output to connected Bluetooth earphones, the phone's loudspeaker, a Google Cast device, Music Share, or Smart View. There is a new Calendar widget that displays a month view along with today's entries. The same widget can also be used on the home screen.

4. Turn on Always On Display when receiving a notification

This is a very handy feature. We all love the AoD (Always-on Display) feature on Galaxy smartphones, but it can consume a lot of power. So, Samsung has added the ability to display the AoD screen only when you get a new notification.

5. Camera app UI improvements

The ability to start recording videos from the Photo mode has been improved. You could already hold the shutter button to start video recording in Photo mode, but you can now drag that button to the lock-shaped icon to let the video recording continue even when you lift your finger.

Moreover, in the Video mode, the phone starts recording as soon as you touch the shutter button. Earlier, the video recording would start when you touch and leave the button, losing key moments in your life. The camera app also shows more understandable icons for zoom ranges. The buttons are now labelled 0.6x, 1x, 3x and so on. Earlier they had leaf-based shapes, which were a little hard to understand, especially for the average customer.

You can check out all other One UI 4.0 design changes and new features in the video below. If you like the video, don't forget to hit the like button and subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch more such content in the future.

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