After weeks of beta testing, Samsung finally started rolling out the Android 10-based One UI 2.0 update last month, beginning with the Galaxy S10. Since then, the company has released the same update for the Galaxy M20, M30, and the Galaxy Note 10. Many more eligible devices are scheduled to receive the update in the coming months.
Android 10 and One UI 2.0 are relatively minor updates, but they still bring a few neat features to Galaxy smartphones and tablets. While all the new functionality in stock Android 10 is not specific to any vendor, One UI 2.0 features are exclusive to Galaxy devices, and here’s our pick of the top features that you get with the latest version of Samsung’s One UI.
FEATURES
BUILT-IN SCREEN RECORDER
There are already myriad ways to record what’s happening on your screen, but Android 10 is making it easier by adding native screen recording functionality in the OS. Samsung’s implementation of this feature is even better, with granular controls for video quality and audio capture. Galaxy users can also doodle on the screen, shoot a selfie video, and record audio from the microphone and media playing on the device while capturing the action on the screen.
Interestingly, this feature made its debut on the Galaxy Note 10 before the release of Android 10. With One UI 2.0, the company is now bringing this functionality to other devices as well (although some budget devices may not get it). You can read our earlier coverage to know more about this nifty feature.
IMPROVED FACE RECOGNITION IN ANDROID 10
Unlike Apple, most Android vendors, including Samsung, don’t use dedicated hardware for face recognition. They rely on a combination of the selfie camera and software tricks to get the job done, which makes the feature both unreliable and less secure. Samsung is addressing these issues to some extent on Galaxy devices with the latest version of One UI.
Face recognition on One UI 2.0 comes with new features such as ‘Add alternative look’ and ‘Require open eyes’ to make the biometric unlock solution more reliable and relatively secure. Of course, none of these changes can replace dedicated hardware, but they do improve the current implementation considerably.
UI CHANGES IN ANDROID 10
Apart from all these headline-grabbing features, there are many minor UI changes that make the latest version of One UI look more polished and consistent. We have already covered some of these improvements in our One UI 2.0 feature focus series.
The most noticeable among the new UI changes in the dynamic text color on the lock screen that changes based on the wallpaper. One UI 2.0 also automatically darkens wallpapers when dark mode is enabled. In the previous version, parts of the UI, such as the app uninstallation prompt, app permissions screen, etc. were not impacted by the dark mode setting. That is no longer the case with Android 10 and One UI 2.0. UI animations are also silky smooth with the latest update, but the improvements may not be uniform across devices.
