Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 get some major DeX upgrades in latest One UI 8 update

As the stable release of One UI 8 reaches more devices, Samsung DeX users are discovering major changes to the desktop experience. Samsung completely rebuilt DeX on top of Google’s Desktop Mode, and while this new version will be better in the long run, it’s currently a bit of a downgrade. Fortunately, Samsung is quickly addressing the most common complaints and is even adding features that weren’t available in the classic version of DeX.

A software update that rolled out for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 in South Korea last week is now available in the U.S. The update brings new features to Now Bar and Samsung DeX, most notably Google Finance integration and home screen widget support, respectively. With Google Finance in the Now Bar, you can receive stock alerts for major price changes at the end of the trading day.

But there’s more to the update than what the official changelog (reproduced below) says:

• Check stock prices without unlocking
  • Stocks you follow on Google Finance with big price changes will appear on your Now bar at the end of the trading day
• Do more in DeX on connected displays
  • You can now add widgets to your Home screen when using DeX on a connected display as well as control settings for the mouse and on-screen keyboard.
• Security
  • The device is protected with improved security.

In addition to these changes, the latest One UI 8 update adds the following features to DeX on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7:

• The ability to add any app to the taskbar.

• New keyboard settings under Settings > Connected devices > Samsung DeX, which let you control where and when the on-screen keyboard appears.

• A dedicated full-screen button in the app header, offering a quick way to maximize a window.

While the new DeX still needs a few features to reach parity with the classic version, we’re confident the gap will close soon. This is because Samsung is no longer alone in improving the experience; any improvements Google makes to Android’s native Desktop Mode should carry over to DeX, as Samsung rebuilt its platform on top of it. For example, DeX currently lacks the ability to disable mouse continuity between displays, but that should change in a future One UI release now that Google is adding this capability to Android.

Lastly, the update adds new media controls to Now Brief. Alongside the existing play/pause and close buttons, new “next” and “previous” buttons allow you to skip tracks during read-aloud playback. This doesn’t currently seem to work with controls from a Bluetooth headset, but hopefully that’s a feature Samsung adds in a future update.

What do you think of Now Brief and Samsung DeX following this update? Let us know in the comments below!