One UI 7 Review: Is This Samsung's Best Software Yet?

Samsung has finally released the stable One UI 7 after a long wait. However, we’ve been testing the latest software for the past few months in beta. Here’s our detailed One UI 7 review after months of usage.

Samsung smartphones run on One UI software, which was launched in 2018. With the seventh iteration of One UI, Samsung has significantly improved its software. However, they have abandoned their primary goal of making one-handed operation easy.

While the official One UI 7 initially debuted with the newly launched Galaxy S25 series, it wasn’t available for older models like the Galaxy S24 series until now. Now that the stable One UI 7 is finally available, it’s the perfect time for our One UI 7 review.

One UI 7 Review: Is This Samsung’s Best Software Yet?

Since the first beta of One UI 7 was released for the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it has been remarkably stable. We have thoroughly tested all the beta builds released before the official version, and most of them were remarkably stable.

The Android 15-based One UI 7 is one of the biggest update in the One UI history. Samsung has worked and tweaked every single element, from UI elements to features, animations, and transitions.

One UI 7 Performance

As Samsung mentioned during its SDC event held in 2024, they did build One UI 7 from the ground up. One UI 7 on the Galaxy S24 Ultra feels smooth and snappy. You can also see a lot of the elements respond faster when you swipe and navigate around the UI.

Simple actions such as locking and unlocking the device with the under-display fingerprint scanner feel smoother when compared to a Galaxy S24 Ultra running One UI 6.1.

One UI 7 Customization Elements

The One UI 7 introduces many customization elements that make customization on the Samsung Galaxy even more fun. These new elements are available in the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Widgets. You can now choose from a wider range of clock styles, fonts, and even play around with the colors.

Samsung has updated a few of its Good Lock elements to work with One UI 7. The notable updates can be seen with HomeUp, Wonderlock, and LockStar. Development for Navstar is going on, and we should soon see a One UI 7 update for this module.

If you are new to Good Lock, here is a list of some of the modules, and here’s what they can be used for.

Theme Park: This module lets you customize various elements of One UI 7. You can easily switch up icon packs, the keyboard theme, Quick panel, and even change the Volume Panel style and design to your liking. Since this is a Samsung first-party app, you will have zero compatibility issues.
Pentastic: Pentastic is a module that is available for the Galaxy S24 Ultra and other Galaxy devices that have support for the Galaxy S Pen. You can change the air command menu, S Pen sound effects, and the S Pen pointer, as well as choose your favorite apps in the air command menu.
Wonderland: The Wonderland module lets you change the lock screen effect, create moving wallpapers, and even play around with the colors of your choice.
LockStar: If you like to make your Galaxy devices’ lock screen look unique, this module allows you to adjust the widgets’ placement and size, add more widgets to the lock screen, as well as play around with different Always on Display styles.
HomeUp: The HomeUp module got the biggest update to One UI 7. You can now place the app icons on your home screen wherever and however you like. The HomeUp module lets you place the icons upside down, resize them, and even lets you play around with the widget adjustment The HomeUp app now lets you backup and restore your home screen style and settings to any other Samsung Galaxy device that runs on One UI 7 or newer.
Keys Cafe: The Keys Cafe Good Lock module allows you to customize the Samsung keyboard app. You can choose what keys you want, as well as the colors of the letters and the keypads.
RegiStar: The RegiStar module allows you to play with the home screen of the settings, add more options to what the side button can also check settings history as well and choose what actions take place when you tap and hold on your home screen.

There are other Good Lock modules that you can install to get more out of the Camera app, play with the Multi-Window and also add even more Routines that can be used with Bixby.

One UI 7: Brand New Now Bar

With One UI 7, there are several new features that make using the new One UI worthy. First off is the new Now Bar live notification. This is a great feature that provides real-time notifications and progress from certain apps and all media/music players. This pill-shaped UI element is displayed on the lock screen and has a few controls for managing notifications.

For me, the Spotify Now Bar live notification pill is perfect. It displays previous, next, and play/pause controls right at the bottom of the lock screen, making it easy to use with just your thumbs.

Additionally, if you’re on the home screen, a small pill appears at the status bar displaying the currently playing song. If you tap on the pill, you get access to all the music player controls, including the option to seek forward or rewind the track.

One UI 7: Better Battery Protection

Battery protection is important, and Samsung, with One UI 7 has made its existing battery protection feature even better. Instead of just having three options to choose from, you can now choose from four present percentages: 80%, 85%, 90%, and 96%. The device will stop charging once it reaches the said percentage.

One UI 7: New Quick Panel Options

The Quick Panel and the notification center in One UI 7 have been redesigned. If you want to simply see the notifications, you can swipe down from the left side of the screen and if you want to access other shortcuts and elements such as the volume, brightness, and media player, you can swipe from the right.

One UI 7 Review notification quick settings

I’m not a fan of this change as swiping from the center doesn’t open quick settings anymore. Instead, I have to swipe down from the right side of the status bar to access quick settings. You can also right-swipe from the Notification panel to switch to the Quick settings. So, I prefer the old style Quick Panel as you’ve got everything at your fingertips regardless of which side you swipe down from.

If you prefer the old-styled quick panel, One UI 7 lets you easily switch to old style without the need to install any additional app or module.

One UI 7 Animations and Transitions

Samsung has made the animation and transition for One UI 7 more life-like. Every element quickly responds to your swipes and features. Samsung has leveled up with animation transition controls via its revamped Home Up module from Good Lock.

You can now combine various elements, such as animations and transition speeds, adjusting the damping, stiffness, and friction. If you want, you can also try to replicate the animation and transition style of your favorite UI, apart from Samsung’s One UI.

The recent apps screen is now so much better with it’s new layout and visual effects. These minor adjustments have significantly improved the overall user experience.

One UI 7: Landscape Mode Improvements

Using the Galaxy S24 Ultra in landscape mode is now so much better. Samsung’s One UI 7 has improved on the home screen, making the icons easier to tap, unlike the previous One UI 6, where everything would feel crammed into a single screen. Even the home screen widgets do not lose their placements regardless of whether the device is in landscape or portrait mode.

One UI 7: Battery Performance

Considering my Galaxy S24 Ultra is now a year old, the battery backup on the device running on One UI 7 felt better than on One UI 6.1. I was able to squeeze out about an extra hour of battery usage on the beta version of One UI 7. With One UI 7 stable rolling out soon for the S24 series, we could expect even better backup.

When you receive the stable update, perform a factory reset if you can. if you cannot do that, I would suggest clearing the cache of the device via the recovery mode menu of your Galaxy smartphone.

One UI 7: Has Samsung Made Its Best Android UI Yet?

The One UI 7 on the flagship series, such as the Galaxy S and Z series, is feature-rich, snappy, and is the best interface for these devices.

The new One UI brings a breath of fresh air in terms of the UI and the overall experience for a lot of the older eligible Galaxy devices.

While One UI 7 is a great update, you will notice differences between the UI on an entry-level and mid-level Galaxy smartphone. A few features may be missing, and the experience might not always be the best. But if you want the best experience, the Galaxy A, S, and Z series devices are what you should be getting.

One UI 7: Do I Like It?

Yes, I like the new One UI 7 update. It brings many improvements and features, not to forget about the AI tools and new ones that will be added in the future. However, there are a few things I wish Samsung could add to One UI 7, such as the ability to choose between light and dark mode for the Quick Panel, the ability to change the fingerprint animation and unlock sounds, and the ability to change the Galaxy App Store location immediately.

One UI 7: What Did Samsung Miss?

Considering that this is a major Android update to Android 15 as well as a massive improvement to One UI, Samsung missed out on bringing new wallpapers, ringtones, and notification tones. The existing ones are that good, and Samsung needs to level up in this particular department. The UI, which is good in so many element,s misses out on how it looks.

One UI 7 is slowly taking the look of iOS, and it’s getting boring. Not only Samsung, but several other Android OEMs out there, are following the iOS look and feel of the UI. This needs to stop, and Android OEMs should go back to the days when every Android skin would be different and easily identifiable. Also, can we please bring back the FM Radio app? Some of us out there still enjoy listening to the radio occasionally.

Closing Thoughts

So, yes, One UI 7 is a great step ahead for Samsung’s smartphones and tablets. While Samsung does focus on a lot of the important things, basic things such as the wallpapers and audio alerts need to be improved. Also, Samsung needs to tweak One UI’s performance based on the device it is being installed. Having a heavy One UI skin on an entry or mid-budget Galaxy smartphone will simply deter users away.

Also Check:

One UI 7 Review: Everything Great (and Not) About Samsung’s Latest Skin