Released less than five months ago, Samsung’s Wear operating system Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro has already received some (minor) software updates with some cool new watch faces, stability improvements and security fixes.
According to some happy users on Reddit and the official Samsung community web pages, another such rollout is on the way, and while we wouldn’t exactly call it massive, this latest update includes some cool new features…and an unexpected confirmation of a separate update imminent for a whole bunch of different Galaxy phones.
That’s a lot to unpack for something that’s usually not a big deal, but Samsung did us a favor a few days ago by overview of Camera Controller functionality included here. This should soon be rolling out to the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic in addition to the Watch 5 duo, although it will apparently only work in conjunction with a handset running “at least” One UI 5.1. Wait what?
That’s right, One UI 5.1 isn’t technically a thing yet, though it may seem that way after several juicy leaks in the last few weeks. You can consider the (presumably unintentional) corroboration of these leaks by Samsung, and Fully in line with said leaks, it looks like the Galaxy S20 series will be the oldest phones to support this upcoming Android 13-based One UI iteration.
Alongside the S20, S20 Plus, and S20 Ultra, One UI 5.1 is also expected to make its way to the original Galaxy Z Flip at some point in the near future, along with all of the younger “flagships.”
This obviously means you won’t be able to “remotely” change your phone’s camera zoom using the Galaxy Watch 5 or Watch 5 Pro after installing this latest update, leaving you ( for now) with another great new feature to try.
It’s called “Connected Device Diagnostics”, which isn’t a very catchy name but explains quite well what the tool does, allowing you to “check the health of the Galaxy Watch battery, touchscreen function” and other such components on a connected phone.
It sounds like something that could definitely come in handy if you suspect something is wrong with your new smartwatch, unlike generic “stability improvements” that very rarely amount to something users may actually notice in the real world and experience for themselves.
