Engadget's hands-on testing of Samsung's One UI 9 update, rolling out to recent Galaxy flagships, suggests the company is leaning into practical tools rather than flashy AI features. The most praised addition is My FanCam, which automatically crops a wide video into a tight tracking shot of a chosen subject. It works on-device without cloud processing, though it does require a Samsung account login.
Two other features stood out in testing. The Quick Panel now gives users more control over volume and brightness sliders, letting them remove attached shortcut buttons and resize tiles. The document scanner, meanwhile, has been upgraded to automatically flatten curved book pages and reduce harsh lines from folded corners, a notable improvement over previous versions.
Not every new feature impressed. Engadget reported that the contextual Now Nudge feature failed to deliver anything useful even when fed a large amount of personal data. The article tested One UI 9 on a Galaxy S26 Ultra and S25 Ultra, noting that older models are still receiving the update in phases.