With Google officially releasing Android 9.0 Pie to AOSP and its Pixel devices last month, Android OEMs have also started working on bringing the update to their devices. Samsung, known for its notoriously slow update times, has also started working on bringing the Pie update to its current flagship handset, the Galaxy S9. The folks over at XDA have managed to get their hands on an early build of the firmware which gives us a glimpse at what’s in store with the Pie update for the S9. The new skin from the company comes with a number of changes and even includes a dark theme which is definitely going to make a lot of people happy. Samsung Experience 10 has taken gracious design cues from Android Pie, with a new card style UI and curved edges. The Quick Settings panel has also been redesigned with circular buttons and new icons. The new UI also has a new Recent Apps view which is similar to what the company already offers with its Good Lock app. And taking a page from Google, the company shows a list of frequently used apps at the bottom. The same story continues with the new Settings app which now has rounded edges for all UI elements. Samsung is also working on adding its own set of gestures with the upcoming update to its Experience skin. The new gestures are different from that of Google, with three small bars being shown at the bottom of the display where the navigation button usually is. Whenever the navigation bar is hidden, users can swipe up from any of the three bars for that corresponding action. Almost all of Samsung’s system apps have been redesigned with new UI elements and new features. It looks like the Android 9.0 Pie update is shaping up to be a pretty massive one from Samsung. However, the leaked firmware does not mean that the official Pie/Samsung Experience 10 update for the Galaxy S9 will show up anytime soon. If anything, there’s still at least a few months to go before we see Samsung get around to releasing the update.
