I changed 4 productiveness apps with Samsung One UI 9 widgets and truly acquired extra achieved
Samsung telephones ship with their very own app for nearly every part Google covers. For years, I caught with Google’s lineup and handled Samsung’s widgets as decoration, one thing to fill a niche on the house display, possibly look without delay, then overlook about. Checking my schedule or activity record meant opening an app, ready for it to load, and scrolling to search out what I wanted.
After updating to One UI 9, I pinned a number of Samsung widgets simply to see what had modified. Within per week, I’d stopped opening these Google apps fully. The widgets have been already exhibiting me every part, proper there. So I stored swapping, and people previous apps by no means made it again.
Your full month at a look, no app wanted
Google Calendar has been on my residence display for years. Every morning, I faucet the icon, look ahead to it to load, and scroll by means of the day. Samsung’s Calendar widget places all of that on the house display. The full-size variant exhibits a month-to-month grid with occasions and Reminder duties marked proper on their dates. I can see that Thursday has a crew name and Friday has a dentist appointment, all on the identical grid. Tap a date to focus on it, faucet once more, and the occasion particulars open from the widget itself.
The app behind the widget held up simply as nicely. Type Team assembly each Tuesday at 10 AM into the quick-entry bar on the backside, and the recurring occasion seems with each discipline already stuffed in. Google Calendar takes a number of screens for a similar factor. Reminder duties have been already on the calendar widget too, which made my separate activity app more durable to justify.
Overdue duties keep seen till you deal with them
Another widget knocked Google Tasks off my telephone. Whenever I wanted to do one thing, I needed to open the app, faucet the plus button, and begin filling in fields. Type a reputation, set the date, decide a time, select a repeat schedule. By the time I completed coming into a activity to choose up groceries, I might have simply pushed to the shop. The app was including work to the work I already had.
The Reminder widget kinds duties into Past, Today, and Next, with overdue gadgets pinned on the high the place you’ll be able to’t scroll previous them. I test my telephone within the morning and instantly know what wants consideration. Google Tasks wanted me to open the app and scroll by means of a flat record to get that very same image.
The actual distinction is clearing duties off. When I end one thing, I faucet the circle proper on the widget. There’s a fast haptic click on, and the duty disappears from the display. Google Tasks nonetheless makes you open the app, discover the merchandise, and test it off inside a full window.
A pinned notice changed Google Keep
Pin the notes you want, skip the scroll
I had dozens of notes in Google Keep, however the few I wanted day-after-day all the time took the longest to search out. The app treats each notice the identical method, so my buying record sat in the identical flat pile as previous assembly notes and half-finished concepts from months in the past.
Samsung Notes retains issues in folders and subfolders, with a fingerprint lock for something delicate. But I do not even have to open the app most days. I pin my buying record to the house display, and the widget exhibits my record proper there, gadgets and all.
For every part else, a notice record widget sits under it on the house display. I can see Monday’s assembly notes with a thumbnail of what is inside, and a packing record from the weekend proper underneath it. Google Keep has a widget too, but it surely simply exhibits each notice without delay and expects you to scroll by means of all of them.
Bixby earned its spot over Google Assistant
It controls the telephone, not simply net search
Google Assistant all the time dealt with my voice instructions, however just for issues like alarms, timers, and fast texts. Anything deeper and it could not sustain. I added the Bixby widget alongside the others to see if Samsung’s assistant did any higher. The widget places a textual content bar and mic proper on the house display. Tapping the mic opens Bixby instantly, however One UI 9 additionally added gesture wake-up. Hold the telephone close to your mouth and Bixby begins listening, no wake phrase wanted.
Asking it to take a selfie in 5 seconds opened the entrance digicam with a countdown operating. Then I advised it to open Chrome and Messages in cut up display, and each apps appeared aspect by aspect. I even set a reminder tied to opening Amazon, and it popped up each time the app launched. Google Assistant searches the online, however Bixby actually controls the phone.
It’s time to go Samsung
I spent years downloading productiveness apps, and the instruments that labored have been already on my telephone. Samsung’s widgets did not change what I do day-after-day. They simply minimize out the tapping and scrolling that stored getting in the way in which, which is why I’m sticking with Samsung now.
8.5/10
- SoC
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- Display
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6.9-inch Dynamic Super AMOLED 2X
- RAM
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12 or 16 GB
- Storage
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256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is not an enormous leap in specs in comparison with the earlier era Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, but it surely boasts enhancements in each facet. The main differentiators are two options that can attraction to energy customers and content material creators, referred to as Privacy Display and Horizon Lock.
