the characteristics of One UI that Android 17 should have

A few years ago, when Samsung was already a leading company in smartphones and dominated half world markets, such as Spain, He was about to stop using Android in 2013 and move on to his own operating system. The Conversations with Google channeled their strategy And it was achieved to stay inside the ecosystem, given that it was the most important mark of it.

Since then Samsung’s mobiles have been Google’s favoriteswith permission of his pixel, but it has not been uncommon to see functions of the Mountain View company being launched at the same time in their terminals and in Samsung mobiles. Circle to Search is a good example.

Google and Samsung’s relationship is symbiosis Although they compete in the smartphones segment. However, Samsung is one of the reasons why Pixel are not much more ambitious. Google cannot afford Samsung to leave Android and opt for an alternative. It has too many users and that could be a problem for Android and, above all, for the reach of its own applications.

Samsung will be pioneer in Android

From that threat of the Korean company to leave Android, The relationship with Google has improved significantly And that has been reflected in an evolution of One UI, the company’s interface on Android, very noticeable. It has gone from being a heavy and little practical layer to one of the best available.

So much so that Samsung is already working to adapt Android 16 in its upcoming high -end mobilesthe new folding that should arrive this summer. It will be with One UI 8, and it is possible that they are the first mobiles of the world to release this version of Android.

This is in line with the company’s strategy, which for a few years ago has taken the update policy very seriouslybeing the first to offer no less than 7 years in its high -end models, and 6 in the mid -range, such as the Galaxy A36 and A56.

Samsung Improves Android

But this policy is not new, and in current and past versions of Android we have seen how The manufacturer has created functions that have meant an advance for Android. The best example is Quickshare, the alternative to Airdrop that has ended up integrating Nearby, which was Google’s option.

This shows that Samsung has something to say in Android’s global developmentas much as Google is the owner and developer of the system and that right now she is making such development much more opaque and secret, although in theory it is for the good of the system itself. Thus, there are some One UI functions that would be great to see in the pure version of Android, the one that Google develops and then distributes to any manufacturer who wants to use it.

Sidebar. One of the characteristics that most use in the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is the sidebar, which allows a series of shortcuts to functions or applications and can be opened from any application and at any time. This means that we do not have to go to the desk to look for the icon and much less open the application drawer.

Widgets batteries. Another striking function is to be able to put two widgets in the same place. This is done through batteries, something that one has borrowed from iOS and that makes us save a lot of space and does not force us to have many desks. We can put several widgets on the same place and slide to one side or another to show them. It is perfect for those widgets that we do not use constantly but we do want to have assets.

Expandable folders. This function is not unique to One UI, it was first presented and then it has been copied not only by Samsung, but also by other brands such as Vivo or Oppo. It allows up to 9 direct operational accesses within a folder that occupies the equivalent of 4 icons on the desktop.

Expert Raw. Samsung mobiles have large cameras. Part of the good experience is in its application, which is complete but does not overwhelm. The point is that there is another app, available at the company’s store, called Expert RAW and that allows you to squeeze the camera to the most advanced users, without scarefing the casuals. And everything is integrated into the system’s chamber app.

Good Lock. Another great idea of ​​Samsung has been to allow customization to incredible extremes, but not to make it standard, so as not to overwhelm less advanced users. The creation of Good Lock was a before and after and hopefully it was available in all mobile phones, because what allows is light years of what we can do in other brands.

Configurable notifications panel. The last function that we would like to see as standard on Android is the extreme customization that one UI has when configuring the curtain of notifications and direct accesses, being able to move the buttons, change the size of some, make the notifications and quick adjustments are together or separated, etc.

There are many functions available in One UI that could be interesting, such as Now Bar, but perhaps not in a massive way as we believe that we will have listed here. It is possible that, little by little, the collaboration between Samsung and Google is increasing the number of functions of the Samsung interface in Android, but it seems that we will have to wait, at least until Android 17.