With One UI 3.1, which debuted on the Galaxy S21 series and can be found on every new Galaxy device launched since then, Samsung made a couple of previously-optional Google apps native to the OS. Google Messages comes set as the default SMS app on phones running One UI 3.1 out of the box, and more importantly, One UI 3.1 finally gave users the option to use Google Discover on the home screen.
Unfortunately, Samsung didn’t bring the fruits of its stronger collaboration with Google to devices that received One UI 3.1 as a software update. I don’t care about Google Messages, but when I switched back to my Galaxy S20 Ultra earlier this year after reviewing a ton of new Galaxy phones launched in 2021, I came to realize how having access to Google Discover on the home screen is a feature I can’t live without.
So here's another feature I wish to see on One UI 4.0, on top of everything that's already in there: Google Discover on the home screen for all devices that didn’t get it with the One UI 3.1 update.
That could end up happening when One UI 4.0 rolls out for devices other than the Galaxy S21, but right now it’s impossible to know since Samsung has only released the One UI 4.0 beta for the Galaxy S21 series phones.
Or it may not: Samsung and Google’s stronger collaboration seems to have gone into effect only for devices the former launches in 2021 and later, as evident from the fact that the new Wear OS-based One UI Watch platform isn’t coming to the Galaxy Watch 3 and older Samsung smartwatches.
But I hope it does, because Google Discover is the superior option to whatever Samsung can cook up, simply because it presents me with news and things of interest that are customized for me based on my usage patterns and activity that is tracked via my Google account. And having access to it via the home screen is uber convenient.
What new features would you like to see, or would have liked to see, on One UI 4.0? Let me know down in the comments!
