This week, on our weekly firmware news roundup: tons of Samsung devices are expected to get Android 11 in the upcoming months, Huawei announces EMUI 11 with updated UI elements, and more!
What's New This Week?
Oppo
- Next Oppo UI set to launch in 3 days from now
Huawei
- EMUI 11 just got announced
Samsung
- One UI 2.5 is now here for the Galaxy Tab S6
- Sources point to information that the firmware of the Galaxy S21 is in development
- Galaxy wearable app gets Android 11 support
- Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is now receiving Watch 3 features
- Samsung's latest security patch includes tons of fixes
- One UI 3.0 beta is here for developers
- Plenty of Samsung devices are expected to get Android 11
- Galaxy S9 and Note 8 are now receiving the latest security patch
Oppo
Color OS 11
Oppo has already released a few beta versions of their new Android skin, ColorOS 11, but up till now, we hadn't heard much about it.
It looks like this is about to change soon, though. Or, to be more precise, on September 14, 9:00 AM GMT. That's when Oppo is going to announce their new version of ColorOS.
The Launch Event is going to happen online, most likely due to the Coronavirus pandemic. You can find it in ColorOS' Twitter page. And don't forget to hit the bell icon to receive the notification when the reveal goes live.
Huawei
EMUI 11
EMUI just got announced and it brings a few aesthetic changes to the table.
Dr. Wang Chenglu introduces EMUI 11 with a refreshed look and features that put you at the heart of the digital experience. #HDC2020 pic.twitter.com/318B1bCsf9
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) September 10, 2020
There are lots of additions such as:
- Multi-window UI changes
- Dedicated gesture for bringing out the multi-window sidebar
- ART AOD (A new UI/theme for the Always On Display)
- Even more customization options for AOD
- Smoother and faster animations
- Feature that can detect and export text from images or documents
- And more, minor additions along with bug fixes and improvements
As expected, you can find EMUI 11 on any new Huawei device out of the box. And chances that it'll soon start being delivered to older Huawei phones as well. The thing is that due to the US ban and their temporary license expiring, it's not going to be based on Android 11.
Rumor has it that Huawei is soon going to focus completely on developing and pushing their own ecosystem instead of Android. But, we'll just have to wait and see about that.
Samsung
Galaxy Tab S6
One UI 2.5 is slowly reaching more and more Samsung devices. And, this week, it seems like it's the Galaxy Tab S6's turn.
The update is currently being delivered in Germany to both Wi-Fi and LTE models. Though, we can safely assume that it's soon going to be available in more regions as well.
Apart from the usual fast that you get from One UI 2.5, this update also introduces a couple of new Wi-Fi improvements. The first feature that you get is the option of seeing how fast a Wi-Fi connection is. The values come in Very Fast, Fast, Normal, and Slow. The only catch is that the router needs to support that feature as well.
Other than that, now there is also the option of requesting the Wi-Fi password from a nearby connected device with the only requirement of it being connected to the same network and belonging to your contacts list.
Galaxy S21
The Galaxy S21 is Samsung's next big S flagship and, according to our sources, its software development has already begun for all major carriers.
There's little to no further information on the subject as of now. But, we can safely assume that this software is going to be based on Android 11 and One UI 3.1.
As far as the model numbers are concerned, we are looking at the SM-G991U, SM-G996U, and SM-G998U. Chances are that these are referring to the Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra.
At this moment, this is only about the 5G variants and whether we'll see LTE models at all remains to be seen. Though with that said, 5G is still a far cry from being widely implemented. So, we highly doubt that any manufacturer is going to be releasing 5G-only models any time soon.
That's all for now. We'll let you know if anything else comes up. So, stay tuned!
Galaxy Wearable (Android 11 Beta?)
The latest update for the Samsung Galaxy Wearable app mentions support for Android 11. And while this doesn't sound like a huge deal, this could point to the fact that Samsung is getting prepared to push an open beta Android 11 release!
Another indication of that is the fact that Samsung recently started recruiting users for their early Android 11 developer preview. However, as the name suggests, that's only for developers and other people who can get their hands on a very early version of the software.
Now, as far as the wearable's changelog is concerned, it doesn't specifically mention Android 11 – but it says, "Support R OS" – which most likely points to Android 11 since "R" is another codename for it.
Galaxy Watch Active 2
The Galaxy Watch 3 is in some ways improved over its predecessors. And, of course, some of these improvements were strictly focused on software – software that can potentially be delivered to older devices for further improvements. And further improvements they got.
To be more specific, the Active 2 is now receiving:
- Improved running analysis with metrics such as flight time, stiffness, vertical oscillation, contact, and more
- VO2 max
- Fall Detection (Automatic SOS to designated contacts)
- Smart Reply
- Chat history
- Emotions and images support for chatting
- Scroll capture for screenshots
- Along with a few other, minor additions
The same update hasn't been delivered to the original Galaxy Active as of yet and whether that will happen or not remains to be seen.
September Security Patch
The latest Android security patch for Samsung devices has already been delivered to quite a few devices and it includes a lot of fixes.
To be more specific, according to Samsung's official changelog, there are 90 security fixes in the patch included from Google for their OS and 15 more that are exclusive to Samsung devices! Furthermore, for the first time ever, there's also a 5G vulnerability fix in which USB debugging could be used to gain unauthorized access.
So, if you get a notification about the latest security patch, we'd definitely recommend installing it as quickly as possible!
One UI 3.0
As we mentioned above, there is currently no One UI 3.0 open beta – but there is one for developers. To be more specific, Samsung now has a One UI 3.0 developer preview beta for the Galaxy S20 series!
It first became available in South Korea but you can now find it in the US as well!
We are almost certain that the Note 20 is also going to enroll in the beta while there's also a chance that the older flagships will get their turn as well. At least that's what happened last year and it's even more likely that the same will happen now – seeing how Samsung promises 3 years of updates and everything.
Android 11 (For Samsung Devices)
As you probably already know, Samsung has now officially promised to deliver 3 years of security updates to both flagships and certain mid-range devices.
This means that if you own a decent mid-ranger or high-end Samsung device that came out with Android Pie or Android 10, there is a very good chance that you'll get Android 11 as well.
To be more specific, according to Sam Mobile, these are the Samsung devices that are expected to get Android 11:
- Galaxy A01
- Galaxy A10
- Galaxy A10e
- Galaxy A10s
- Galaxy A11
- Galaxy A20
- Galaxy A20e
- Galaxy A20s
- Galaxy A21
- Galaxy A21s
- Galaxy A30
- Galaxy A30s
- Galaxy A31
- Galaxy A40
- Galaxy A41
- Galaxy A42 5G
- Galaxy A50
- Galaxy A50s
- Galaxy A51
- Galaxy A51 5G
- Galaxy A60
- Galaxy A70
- Galaxy A70s
- Galaxy A71
- Galaxy A71 5G
- Galaxy A80
- Galaxy A8s
- Galaxy A90 5G
- Galaxy M01
- Galaxy M11
- Galaxy M21
- Galaxy M30s
- Galaxy M31
- Galaxy M40
- Galaxy M51
- Galaxy Xcover 4s
- Galaxy Xcover FieldPro
- Galaxy Xcover Pro
- Galaxy S10e / S10 / S10+ / S10 5G
- Galaxy S10 Lite
- Galaxy Note 10 / Note 10+ (LTE/5G)
- Galaxy Note 10 Lite
- Galaxy Note 20 / Note 20 Ultra
- Galaxy S20 / S20+ / S20 Ultra (LTE/5G)
- Galaxy Fold (LTE/5G)
- Galaxy Z Flip (LTE/5G)
- Galaxy Z Fold 2
- Galaxy Tab S5e
- Galaxy Tab S6
- Galaxy Tab S6 Lite
- Galaxy Tab S7 / Tab S7+
- Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019
- Galaxy Tab A 8.0 2019
- Galaxy Tab A7
- Galaxy Tab Active Pro
Galaxy S9 Series and Note 8
Another week, another wave of security updates for Samsung devices. This time, it's the Galaxy S9 series and Note 8 that are taking their turn.
Unlike with the Note 10 series, this update doesn't seem to bring One UI 2.5 or anything else to the table. It's a security patch with minor bug fixes and improvements. Still, we'd highly recommend installing it.
The update is currently available in various regions in Europe and we expect that it'll become available in even more places soon enough. But, as per usual, chances are that this is an incremental update – which means that some of you are gonna have to wait a bit longer than others.
That's all for now. Feel like we forgot to mention something important? Got anything wrong? Then let us and everyone else know about it in the comments section down below!
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