Samsung Unpacked 2021 offered up a mouth-watering smorgasbord of cutting-edge gadgets, ranging from the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 to the Galaxy Watch 4. But besides the bleeding edge hardware showcase, the launch highlighted the importance that software plays in driving product differentiation and supporting those all-important new user experiences that Samsung was so keen to draw our attention to.
Marketing guff aside, Samsung has clearly put a huge amount of work into software development in order to bring its latest products to market. The Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, for instance, are the company’s first Wear OS smartwatches that ditch Samsung’s in-house Tizen operating system, for Wear OS 3 that it helped design in collaboration with Google. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 look like the company’s best foldables yet, precisely because of the blend between improved hardware and software features that enable things as simple as moving apps between displays.
Android needs to marshal exciting new devices
It’s hard not to draw parallels between Samsung’s smartwatch journey and that of its foldable smartphones. Samsung’s Flip and Fold products are innovating ahead of the mainstream Android market and once again it’s putting in the extra software legwork. Software like Multi-View, seamless Immersive View, and Multitasking enable users to make the most of the Z Fold 3’s additional screen real-estate. But really these are necessary features to take foldables beyond traditional handsets and into a product category of their own. Even so, Samsung is limited by what it can provide with its own apps and those that third-party developers explicitly support for these devices.Granted, Android 10 introduced support for resizable app windows, hinge aspects, and improved multi-window for three or more apps that specifically suit these new products. Google has certainly made Android friendlier to devices with odd screen layouts and has even improved its own apps like YouTube and Google Duo to use multiple displays. But even here, Samsung was driving Android’s direction of development.Google has long been happy for its partners to lead the way with features it eventually folds into Android.Under Google’s stewardship, there haven’t been any key foldable advancements to the mobile OS since then. Android 12 is mostly concerned with reskinning the UI, bolstering notifications, and adding new privacy features. Hardly cutting edge stuff.
That’s not entirely surprising though. Google has long been content to let its partners lead the way and incorporate successful features into Android at a later date. But wait and see is a riskier strategy to take with a revolutionary and potentially breakout product segment.Samsung’s foldables do more than resize and stack apps to provide the fluid experience that premium consumers expect. For example, Samsung’s edge panel taskbar bridges the productivity gap between smartphones and tablets, while Flex Mode makes use of the Galaxy Z Flip’s more novel aesthetics. These are key features that have taken Samsung’s foldables from concepts to fully-fledged devices. Not to mention its proprietary messaging, camera, and other apps that are built to maximize the screen space.
The Android OS may support the essentials and give developers some new tools to play with, but it’s custom software that’s fleshing out these products to really make them work. Sadly, Android’s core support for foldables isn’t pushing the envelope, repeating the strategy that failed to galvanize Android tablets and, until recently, wearables.Android’s core support for foldables isn’t pushing the envelope, repeating the strategy that failed to galvanize tablets and wearables.
Source and read more: https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-android-innovation-2733510/
