Android
Nothing is ‘nothing’ in front of Samsung’s software support!
Finally, the flashy Nothing Phone 1 launched around two weeks back with a whole new yet unique rear design. While the Glyph functionality makes it an impressive smartphone, when it comes to design, the OEM is delivering better software support too!
The $475 Nothing Phone 1 is officially confirmed (via RPRNA) to receive three major OS upgrades and four years of regular security patches bi-annually, the same support OnePlus is offering to its flagships. Meanwhile, does it compete with Samsung’s software support?
Nothing is ‘nothing’ in front of Samsung
Yes, if we talk about the software updates support, Nothing is “nothing” in front of Samsung. While the first mid-range smartphone offers three generations of OS upgrades, Samsung offers the same treatment to the Galaxy A33, which costs less than $300.
On the other hand, the $449 Galaxy A53 5G comes with up to four Android OS upgrades alongside five years of regular security patches. In addition, the security patch rollout plan consists of two years of monthly, 3rd and 4th years of quarterly and 5th year of bi-annual updates.
Samsung One UI
Samsung is currently working on the Android 13-based One UI 5 software for the Galaxy devices. It will first be available for the Galaxy S22 series, while the company will expand its availability to other Galaxy devices later on. It’s expected that the One UI 5 official version will go official in October this year.
Aside from this, Nothing is a new vendor in the smartphone market with unquestionably lesser developers and staff compared to other brands such as Samsung and Chinese rivals like OPPO, OnePlus, and realme. It will be interesting to see how impressive software support Nothing will provide to smartphone consumers.
Nothing OS atop Android (12)
The initial variant of Nothing’s custom skin called Nothing OS is based on Android 12 OS. While the One UI software system is impressively developed to meet the expectations of the consumers, Nothing OS has just minor tweaks over the Stock Android we can see in Pixel phones.
The Nothing Phone 1 comes with a custom Snapdragon 778G+ chipset that Qualcomm made for the smartphone manufacturer. Also, the Phone 1 has a 6.55-inch 1080p OLED display with a peak brightness of 1,200 nits and a maximum refresh rate is 120Hz.
Samsung’s latest Galaxy S23 series has everything for today’s needs including the fastest processor, the latest software system out of the box, and long updates support. With the Galaxy S23 series, Samsung skipped bringing the seamless Android updates feature, which was highly awaited.
According to AndroidPolice, the Galaxy S23 Ultra (naturally others too) doesn’t support the seamless Android updates feature after all. To verify it, the source managed to run the Treble Info tool, which confirmed Samsung has not enabled the seamless updates feature.
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It is surprising that Samsung has not adopted the seamless Android updates support for the Galaxy S23 series. In an interview last year, the One UI department head confirmed that the company is working to bring seamless updates to Galaxy, which could be possible with One UI 6.
In the recent past, it was reported that the Android maker (Google) is working to make it mandatory for smartphone vendors to bring support for seamless updates. Samsung is best in terms of Android software updates, matching Apple’s dominance. Still, the company is missing this important feature, which became common nowadays.
No one is unaware of Google and Samsung’s sweet friendship, but the lack of such as great feature forces us to scratch our heads. With seamless updates, smartphones install new firmware updates in a second virtual partition to reduce downtime.
Smartphones like Google Pixel support seamless Android updates feature, letting you continue to use the device during the installation of software. Instead of going into a long downtime, seamless updates help phones to install the software to a second partition while you continue to use the main one.
As soon as the installation completes in the second partition, you are just required to reboot it for a few seconds to merge the new incremental software. We hope the Samsung flagship coming in the next half would eventually bring the seamless updates feature.
Raised back in February 2022, Samsung’s excellent software support joined three more entries yesterday. The Galaxy S23 smartphones are the latest Samsung devices that are eligible for 4 major Android plus One UI updates and 5 years of security patches.
Last year, the South Korean tech giant announced that premium Galaxy devices launched after the Galaxy S21 series will be eligible for extended software support. It naturally makes the Samsung Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra eligible for 4 Android OS and 5 years of patch updates.
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With extended software and security update support, Samsung reiterated its commitment to delivering the most up-to-date and more secure mobile experience possible for users. During the Galaxy Note 20 release, the company extended its OS support from 2 to 3, applicable to the Galaxy S10 series.
Apart from the Galaxy S series, the Galaxy Z series and select models of the Galaxy A series are also listed in this 4 Android upgrades guarantee. Still, the company is closely working with partners such as Google and Qualcomm to deliver faster Android OS upgrades through One UI.
At present, Samsung’s excellent software promise consists of various Galaxy models including the Galaxy S23 series (S23 Ultra/S23+/S23), Galaxy S22 series (S22/S22+/S22 Ultra), S21 series (S21/S21+/S21 Ultra/S21 FE), Z Fold4, Z Flip4, Z Fold3, Z Flip3 and Tab S8 series (Tab S8/Tab S8+/Tab S8 Ultra).
Aside from this, the Korean tech giant is committed to providing up to five years of security updates to help protect eligible Galaxy devices. Secured by Samsung Knox, Galaxy devices’ security update ensures end-to-end protection against potential security threats.
Talking about rivals, OnePlus and OPPO have promised to deliver four years of Android updates to flagships launched in 2023 in addition to Samsung-like five years of security patches. On the flip side, Google is still stuck on three OS upgrades for Pixel phones, which could be extended this year.
Android 14 would probably go official next month for Developers, followed by public Beta in May and Stable release in August. Samsung phones don’t run stock Android, but, the features and novelties undoubtedly reflect on each version of One UI. Meanwhile, a wonderful Android 14 concept video just emerged!
Courtesy of the YouTube channel Concept Central, the Android 14 concept video is so promising, at least for Pixel users! It also reminds Google of the features that are being calculated as basic things nowadays but lack from its stock Android operating system.
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This 58-second concept begins with a short introduction and stops at 14 counts and gives a sneak peek at what’s coming next. The first imagined feature is Lock screen widgets, Android 14 should bring this common feature as Google’s premium smartphone users get jealous seeing the One UI.
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Second, the capability to lock individual apps. It is one of the most useful features of smartphones. Android and even One UI lack a dedicated app lock, which ensures extra privacy. Social platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram have their in-app lock, but, an in-built locker is required in Android, hmm… in One UI too.
Android 13 continued the Android 12-like Quick Settings, featuring large horizontal tiles, meanwhile, there should be some options to tweak the interface. The concept showcases which kind of Quick Settings icons Google can bring into the Android 14 operating system.
The clipboard manager of Android 13 is really an amazing feature, letting you share the recently copied stuff with ease. Another step ahead, the concept imagines this feature can be further advanced with more options including the recently copied and images individually.
Google’s testing predictive back gestures, which shows take a pretty short time duration to display what will be the next screen. Moreover, the Left and Right swipe arrows also got a translucent background for enhanced visibility across functions and apps. Enjoy the concept video, below: