Samsung has introduced One UI 5.1 at Galaxy Unpacked 2023 alongside the Galaxy S23 series. It will be available worldwide, starting with the Galaxy S22 series, and provides new features for Galaxy users who want a more personalized, creative, and convenient mobile experience.
Professional-Quality Camera and More Engaging Gallery
With One UI 5.1, the Galaxy S23 series’ recently updated camera features are expanded. Expert RAW features are now directly available in the Galaxy Camera app, allowing Galaxy users to create professional-quality photos with ease.
AI-based Photo Remaster improves deteriorated image details, removes unwanted shadows and reflections, and makes color corrections, even in backlit scenes. Furthermore, the Gallery app has new navigation enhancements, such as facial recognition search, which allows users to quickly locate photos and create shared family albums.
Mobile Experience Personalized for Every User
Samsung has a history of providing Galaxy users with control over their devices by customizing user interface aspects. With One UI 5.1, users can fine-tune almost every aspect of their mobile experience, including appearance, communications, and actions. The new features are designed to understand how people use their devices and make suggestions accordingly.
For instance, the dynamic weather widget analyzes the weather and provides a custom design that reflects the climate. Modes and Routines have been expanded to allow for custom wallpapers, ringtones, touch sensitivity, and fonts that personalize specific activities.
The Smart suggestions widget has also been improved to recommend Spotify tracks and playlists based on users’ activities, such as music for road trips or relaxation.
Greater Connectivity throughout Galaxy Ecosystem
Samsung has developed One UI to create better integration and connectivity throughout the mobile ecosystem, and new features have been introduced to support this goal. The Multi control has been expanded, enabling users to share the mouse, keyboard, or trackpad of their Galaxy Book with select Galaxy phones and tablets.
This feature lets users copy and paste text and drag and drop images from one device to another seamlessly. Link to Windows also allows users to browse with Samsung Internet on their phones and continue browsing the same pages on their PC. Additionally, users can open these pages from one device to another.
Samsung One UI 5.1 – Rollout
The One UI 5.1 software update has started to roll out for several Samsung Galaxy devices, including the Galaxy S22 series, Z Fold4, Z Flip4, S21 series, and S20 series. Updates for more Galaxy devices, such as the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3, will be available in the upcoming weeks.
Here’s the full changelog of the One UI 5.1 update
One UI 5.1 Update One UI 5.1 takes your phone to the next level with new Gallery features as well as productivity and personalization enhancements. Camera and Gallery Quickly change the color tone for selfies It's easier to change the color tone of your selfies using the Effects button at the top of the screen. Discover Expert RAW Expert RAW lets you take high-quality shots, perfect for those who want to have full control and edit photos later. Expert RAW is now easier to access from the More menu in Camera. More powerful search You can now search your Gallery for more than one person or subject at the same time. You can even search for people without tagging their names just by tapping their faces. Enhanced image remastering Remastering does more to make your pictures look great by removing shadows and reflections. You can also remaster GIFs for better resolution and clarity. Preview has also been improved to make it easier to compare the original picture with the remaster. Create a shared family album It's easier than ever to share pictures with your family. Gallery will recommend pictures to add to your shared family album by recognizing the faces of your family members. You get 5 GB of storage for each family member (up to 6 people). Revamped info display When you swipe up while viewing a picture or video in your Gallery, you can see when and where the picture was taken, which device took the picture, where the picture is stored, and more. Now with a simpler layout. Multitasking Easily minimize or switch to full screen You can now minimize or maximize an app window without going to the options menu. Just drag one of the corners. Access your most used apps in split screen When you start a split-screen view, the apps you use most often will be shown below your recently used apps to help you find the apps you need faster. Improved multitasking in DeX In split-screen view, you can now drag the divider in the center of the screen to resize both windows. You can also snap a window to one of the corners to make it fill a quarter of the screen. Modes and Routines Change wallpapers based on your mode Set a different wallpaper based on your current activity. Choose one wallpaper for work, one for exercising, and more. More actions for routines New actions let you control Quick Share and Touch sensitivity, change your ringtone, and change your font style. Weather Quick access to useful information Check severe weather alerts, daily weather summaries, and sunrise/sunset times at the top of the Weather app. The temperature graph now uses colors to show how the temperature changes throughout the day. Hourly precipitation graph An hourly graph now shows how much precipitation has fallen at different times of the day. Summary on Weather widget A brief summary of the current weather conditions now appears on the weather widget to let you know if it's sunny, cloudy, raining, or snowing. Samsung Internet Continue browsing on another device If you're browsing the web on one Galaxy phone or tablet and later open the Internet app on another Galaxy device signed in to the same Samsung account, a button will appear that lets you open the last webpage you were viewing on the other device. Improved search Your searches now include the names of bookmark folders and tab groups. Improved search logic lets you find what you're looking for even if something isn't spelled correctly. Additional changes Check the battery level of your devices The new Battery widget lets you check the battery level of your devices, right from the Home screen. You can see how much battery is left on your phone, Galaxy Buds, Galaxy Watch, and other supported devices. Use up to 3 emojis in AR Emoji Camera Take fun pictures and videos with your friends in Mask mode. You can assign a different emoji to each person’s face. Settings suggestions While signed in to your Samsung account, suggestions will appear at the top of the Settings screen to help you share, connect, and enhance your experience across your Galaxy devices. Spotify suggestions The Smart suggestions widget now recommends Spotify tracks and playlists based on your current activity. Get the perfect tunes for driving, exercising, and more. To get suggestions, you need to sign in to a Spotify account in the latest version of the Spotify app. Choose where to save screenshots and screen recordings You can now change the folder where screenshots and screen recordings are saved.
Speaking on the announcement, Janghyun Yoon, EVP and Senior Executive, Software Office, said,
One UI 5.1 is the up-to-date example of Samsung’s commitment to providing Galaxy users with the latest innovations as soon as possible. Over the past several weeks, we have worked closely with our service providers and carrier partners to bring One UI 5.1 to current Galaxy smartphones and tablets around the world within a few short weeks of the Galaxy S23 series announcement.