In short: Samsung France shared a number of details about the company’s upcoming implementation of Android 9 Pie that’s likely to be advertised as Samsung Experience 10. In a forum post shared several days back, the tech giant confirmed the new operating system version will bring camera improvements and allow dual-SIM devices to take advantage of both VoWiFi and VoLTE, which only the international variants of the Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9 Plus, and the Galaxy Note 9 are currently able to do.
The privacy issue that had the Camera app showing all Gallery images even when launched from a lock screen will be addressed in Android 9 Pie, whereas the Gallery app itself will also be revamped to allow for better video categorization and discovery. On the imaging side of things, Samsung Experience 10 will expand the availability of a host device flash unit to the direct focus mode, whereas the Voice Recorder app will be improved with better audio editing tools.
Background:Samsung started testing its first builds of Android 9 Pie in late summer and is presently experimenting with the OS on a global level. While no official release roadmap has yet been publicized by the company, its established product practices suggest the new firmware version will start rolling out in January, with the Galaxy S9 line being given the priority during the deployment, followed by the Galaxy Note 9. Additional Bixby improvements and custom performance enhancements should be part of the package as well, as was the case with virtually every previous OS upgrade developed by Samsung.
Impact: Android 9 Pie should bring the user experience offered by Samsung’s Galaxy devices to another level, particularly in the mid-range segment where many phones will be updated with quality-of-life features and other enhancements that are already supported by the company’s latest flagships. The fact that many more of the firm’s handsets now support Project Treble (i.e. runs some variant of Android Oreo) than they did a year ago may also help the tech juggernaut deploy the new OS version in a more timely manner compared to its last years upgrade efforts.