Our technology has reached a new level of importance in our lives, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to work, attend school and socialize from home. The time we spent at home in 2020 gave Samsung plenty of ideas for how the smartphone experience could be improved, although the lockdowns are over.
One of those features of Samsung’s update is the ability to record audio and video during conference calls, an addition inspired by distance learning. “We realized that our users might want to record audio or video while they have remote interactions with their teachers or students,” Jeong said. “So teachers may want to record the audio or video conference to monitor the lessons or sessions they have taught students. “
The update focuses primarily on improving areas such as privacy, ease of use, personalization, and communication, things that Samsung noticed had become particularly important as many people started spending more time. time on their phone during the downtime. This is another example of the wider change that has taken place in the tech industry as companies have started to adapt their products to make it easier to work remotely and socialize.
But perhaps the biggest change that influenced Samsung’s strategy when designing One UI 4 was the increase in the time we spent on our smartphones. A recent study published in the JAMA Pediatrics Journal found that screen time doubled among teens during the pandemic, not to mention virtual learning.
The company made some cosmetic changes to its software, such as reducing the number of colors in the user interface and adjusting the size and layout of fonts. It also worked with Google to allow darker screen dimming than was previously possible when using the phone in low-light environments. Samsung’s emoji pair feature – which allows you to send two emojis at once – was also triggered by how we relied on our phones to communicate and socialize in 2020.
As such, Samsung is trying to make its smartphones easier to look at for long periods of time with cosmetic updates coming to One UI 4. “In terms of visual design, we’ve made a lot of design-related decisions on the basis of the key principle of convenience, ”Hyun Kim, head of Samsung’s core user experience group, also told CNET via a translator. “Because screen time has increased, your eye comfort and eye strain reduction has become more important than ever. “
Samsung’s software update is just one example of the enduring impact of the pandemic on the way tech companies design and develop their products. This influence is also visible in Apple’s iOS 15 software. One of the flagship features of the update is SharePlay, which allows you to easily watch movies and TV or listen to music with others through FaceTime. Such a feature would have been particularly useful during the downtime when many people were looking for ways to host virtual movie nights on Zoom.
CES 2021 also showcased the best efforts of tech companies to make products that reflect the lifestyle changes caused by the pandemic. In addition to Razer’s high-tech face shield and a temperature bell, we’ve also seen laptops with better cameras that were apparently designed for remote working.
Along with the additions mentioned above, One UI 4 also brings features like a new privacy dashboard, the ability to choose to share your exact location with apps, more uniform widgets with rounded corners and more. color palettes to personalize your phone’s theme. The software is now available for the Galaxy S21 range and will soon be available on older Galaxy S phones, Galaxy A phones, and Samsung foldable devices and tablets.
Summary of the news:
- With Samsung’s update, the pandemic has altered our relationship with our phones as a result.
- Check out all the news and articles about the latest security updates.
