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Samsung has announced the opening of the first Android 11 One UI 3.0 beta. The company’s starting with a closed beta, which it calls “pre-beta,” for its partner developers in South Korea and the US.
Developers with a Galaxy S20 series phone (S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra LTE/5G) can opt-in for this pre-beta program. In South Korea, Galaxy S20 models on KT Corporation, LG Uplus, and SK Telecom, as well as unlocked units are compatible with the Android 11 One UI 3.0 pre-beta. In the US, Sprint and T-Mobile models, and unlocked units are compatible.
Eligible developers can now apply for the pre-beta program here. Samsung will evaluate applications on a case-by-case basis and accept them depending on need and eligibility. The company says it may take up to five business days for the outcome of the application to be confirmed.
The pre-beta step is to make sure that apps are compatible with the beta software before the public beta release. The Android 11 One UI 3.0 public beta will be open to users in China, Germany, India, Poland, South Korea, the UK, and the US in the due course.
Samsung opens applications for Android 11 One UI 3.0 beta
Android 11 is yet to launch officially but phone makers are already starting to prepare beta builds for the next iteration of the OS. Samsung, a name we don’t usually associate with fast software updates, is surprisingly among those leading the pack.
To be fair, Samsung has upped its software game in recent years. Not only the company’s new One UI skin feels much more smooth and intuitive than its earlier custom Android skins, but it also now releases software updates much faster than it did a few years back, sometimes even beating Google to monthly security updates.
On top of it, Samsung is now committing up to three generations of Android OS updates for its Galaxy smartphones. That’s the same level of software support as Google offers for its Pixel phones. It was one of the most exciting announcements the company made at the Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday.
The fine print flashed during the announcement reads: “Availability of feature and security updates may vary by device and country. Update supported for flagship models from Galaxy S10 (Android 9) or later.”
So Samsung flagships starting with the Galaxy S10 series will now get up to three major Android OS updates. This means the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 phones will get updates up to Android 12, Galaxy S20 and Note 20 phones up to Android 13, and so on.
With this promise, customers of Samsung’s Galaxy flagships can hold onto their devices for longer without having to worry about missing out on the newest features, or security. This step is another noteworthy software commitment from Samsung.