Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Samsung’s Now Brief will reportedly receive new info cards and a new widget size in One UI 8.
- Now Brief could offer parking spot reminders, smart home alerts, and battery alerts for your wearables.
- These cards could join previously leaked info types like water intake reminders and custom cards.
Samsung debuted the Now Brief feature on its One UI 7 software back in January. This gives you a summary of relevant info at various times of the day, bringing to mind Google Now on old Android phones. We thought this feature left plenty of room for improvement, though, but it looks like One UI 8 will bring some welcome additions.
SammyGuru dug into a leaked One UI 8 beta (BYFB) and found that Now Brief will gain additional info card types. These new info cards are parking spot reminders, smart home alerts, and wearable battery alerts.
For starters, the parking spot reminder info card will (surprise) remember where you parked your car. A screenshot of the feature, seen below, suggests that it could somehow rely on pictures you’ve taken.
Meanwhile, smart home alerts in Now Brief could give you info about your smart home gadgets. Presumably, this means you can view info from these devices at the very least. As for wearable battery alerts in Now Brief, this info card will give you low battery warnings for your Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Buds.
These new info cards would go a long way towards making Now Brief a full-fledged one-stop hub for information. Samsung might not be stopping here, either. Previous leaks show that Samsung could offer water intake reminders and even let users create custom cards. That means Now Brief could grow from a curiosity to a proper powerhouse app with One UI 8.
SammyGuru also notes that the leaked One UI 8 software now features a 2×2 widget option (seen above) instead of the sole 2×1 size. Finally, the outlet says the leaked software reintroduces the Read Aloud option for Now Brief, which lets you get summaries in audio form.
In any event, all these tweaks and additions would be a major upgrade from the initial release back in January. Colleague Joe Maring felt that the original version of Now Brief was a “glorified weather and news app.”
