Last year Samsung launched the OneUI, which was well-received by all the tech enthusiasts for its innovative new design and better accessibility of features. Recently the company released its latest interface called the OneUI 2 Beta version based on the Android 10 platform for the Galaxy S10 family.

Wondering which phones will get OneUI 2?

The new UI will make its presence first in South Korea and later a worldwide rollout. The entire Galaxy S10 family comprising of S10, S10+, and S10e and Note 10 series will be eligible to get the latest built. If you have a Galaxy S10 5G, then you will need to wait a bit longer.

How different is OneUI 2 from OneUI?

Probably another important question on your mind right now. Well, the new UI isn’t a big leap from what the company unveiled last year with importance given to reducing useless cluster and easy usage.

The OneUI 2 seems to follow the footprints of the previous interface by emphasizing natural interactions combined with few visual distractions. The latter feature will be the welcome change in the new OneUI 2.

Here are the new ONEUI 2 features that Samsung will be offering in the new UI.

The new camera user interface

With the advent of Android 10 and OneUI 2, the camera app gets another redesigned look. Although the previous skin looked fresh, and there was no harm in continuing that theme, it is not known why the company decided to redesign the interface.

The most significant demerit you can come across in the app is that you can no longer see the various camera modes, which were present overhead the shutter button. By default, you can find only the Video, Photo, Live Focus Video, and Live Focus on the screen interface.

All the other modes, like the Super Slow Motion and Slow Motion, are tied up together. To get back all the modes, you need to drag each button to an option wheel.

In-build screen recorder

Till now, the Galaxy Note 10 has been the only Samsung device that runs the new Screen Recorder. Other devices still have to rely on different third-party apps to record things from one’s screen.

Built-in screen recorder

With the introduction of the new UI 2.0, earlier devices can finally put their hands on the newest and easiest screen recording software that Samsung made its appearance with Note 10. The in-build recording system feature is commonly found on every smartphone these days.

Device maintenance user interface

While each of the apps was getting a makeover, the device maintenance app was not left far beyond. The device care app got a fresh color of paint with the OneUI 2. All the options are now placed vertically and a graphical representation of a small bar indicating some details about it.

With the revamped version, you can determine when the Wireless Powershare will automatically switch off by itself when charging the device. But for now, the value was set to 30%, and there is no option to change it.

Digital wellbeing features

Samsung has arrived a bit late at the party of digital wellbeing features. The feature made its debut on Android Pie, and since then, it was made available on other devices. Most surprisingly, Samsung straight away refused to include any digital wellbeing features despite having that feature for about a year.

Now with the onset of OneUI 2, digital wellbeing elements were included in the new UI because Google made that mandatory feature to be running on all devices having Android 10.

You will come across a focus mode that will disable all the notifications and background running of apps so that you can put a focus on the current work at hand. There are new parental controls that will allow you to remotely track your phone usage and set a limit on screen time.

Full-screen gestures

You may feel like Google’s obsession with navigation gestures will never end, and that’s true. This has resulted in a bunch of confusion over the years. There used to be a set of gestures with the Android Pie, and now, Android 10 has its own gesture settings, quite different from the other.

Fullscreen gestures

To make things worse, Samsung has its pick on gestures. Don’t get confused; with the new OneUI 2, you will have the option to select any one of the three types of navigation gestures.

And yes, there will be standard navigation buttons in case you feel like the modern hype is too much for you. The traditional way of navigating is far better.

Enhanced dark mode

Previous year the OneUI launched the dark mode before it was made a system-wide feature by Android 10. With the new version of OneUI, you will be allowed to extend the dark theme to the home screen and lock screen as well.

If you are using a photo in your phone’s wallpaper, OneUI 2 will adjust the date and time information appearing on the locked screen so that you can read them despite the contrast in your wallpaper image. If that information falls on the lighter part of the photo, the UI 2 will make it dark automatically.

Interactive UI

The rounded icons that were introduced in the OneUI proved isolating, and the new look of OneUI 2 will surely sway people who didn’t notice them last year. The round-shaped icons are back in action, and Samsung left no stones unturned to make them more vivid to make them easy to spot.

You can discover many animated icons that you may find gimmick in theory. For example, the gear in the Settings icon will rotate so that you can indicate that an update has been downloading. That illustrates how this feature can provide a rich visual experience.

Miscellaneous changes

Talking about visual distractions, while you were watching a video or engaged in some full-screen activity like gaming and suddenly a notification pops up, that notification won’t take up the majority portion of the screen.

Instead of displaying the information on a large chunk on the display, it will highlight a small section of that notification that will help you to have an idea about it and then you can take any action immediately or leave it for some time.

Suppose you were watching a video with a full screen and suddenly someone calls you. With the new UI, it will show you a lean notification of the incoming call comprising of the caller’s name with an answer or decline buttons. These three things will occupy only a fraction of the screen.

The size of the slider used to control volume gets shrink up in the new Samsung OneUI 2. You can now adjust the volumes on the phone without causing any distractions while watching videos or playing games. Similar up-gradation has been seen on iOS 13, and it is a welcome feature that reduces on-screen clutter.

dark mode (R) to home screen OneUI 2

Like the previous one, the OneUI 2 also splits the screen into two halves with the top intended as the viewing area and the bottom part specifically designed for interactions because the thumb is close-by and reduces much effort.

The messaging app has been designed that lists only the unread messages you have in the viewing area. Another way of making use of extra space without any clutters that the new UI has been trying to reduce.

Installation of OneUI 2 Beta

As you know, the OneUI 2 Beta update is only available for the Galaxy S10 series that includes 10e, 10+, and 10. The update is available for people residing in countries like South Korea, Poland, Germany, United States, India, and France, so make sure you belong to any of these countries.

If you have the eligible device and living in a country where the update is available, then continue with further reading. First of all, tap the Samsung Members app on the device and find a banner that says OneUI Beta Program’. Download from Play Store or Galaxy Store if you don’t have the required app.

Tap the banner, and that will take you to a registration form where there will be some information about the program. At the bottom of that page, there will be the enroll button. Click on the button, and after some time, you will get the OTA for downloading the OneUI 2 update.

Download the update and install it. The device will restart and boot on its own with the new OneUI 2 Beta. It is recommended to make a backup of your important data before going in for the update as a precaution.

Remember that the Beta version can be accessed only by Galaxy S10 series users and from the specific list of countries for now and later to be rolled into Note 10 series.

In conclusion

Considering all the things the OneUI 2 isn’t a feature-rich update. Although many new features of Android 10 were baked into earlier versions. Note that the update is in the beta stage, and some features may be absent on the final stable release.