Something pretty wicked this way comes: Samsung will be unveiling its new vision for ultra-connected devices later this month at MWC 2022. With the Samsung Galaxy S22 launched, the firm's focus is moving to its excellent range of Galaxy Book laptops – and Apple-style features that'll make them even more useful.
According to a Samsung blog post, "we will achieve three goals with our soon-to-be-announced next generation Galaxy Book lineup that is set to transform the way people use their devices within their daily lives: a seamless experience across devices and operating systems, the combination of the best of Galaxy mobility powered by Intel, and peace of mind brought about through robust security."
Samsung points to the experience of using Microsoft apps across Galaxy devices from laptops and phones, promising "even more continuity" for you to work, connect and play in the forthcoming Galaxy Book models.
One of my favourite features on Apple kit is Continuity, which effectively turns all of my devices into one big one – so I can use my iPhone 13 to sign documents on my MacBook Pro M1, to scan paperwork to archive on my Mac, or to markup documents on my desktop. There's no special software or drivers needed – it's thoughtfully built into the operating systems.
It's brilliant and enables each of my devices to do what they're good at and outsource what they're aren't: try using your laptop's webcam as a document scanner and you'll see why that's so valuable. So I'm really intrigued by what Samsung's bringing to its PC laptops – I'd like to see these kinds of features available to more people.
Are you experienced?
A big part of Samsung's plans is the recently announced One UI Book 4, which aims to deliver a consistent cross-device user experience on Samsung apps, such as the Samsung Gallery and Samsung Notes.
Samsung doesn't control either Windows or Android, so it's really taking charge here, adding apps to both platforms that will be familiar whatever device you're on. It's only makes sense for it to take the opportunity to improve the experience while doing it.
I really like what Samsung's doing lately: it's definitely going through a purple patch in terms of its hardware and software design, and while it's not the only firm trying to deliver a consistent cross-device experience – Lenovo and Huawei, among others, are doing great stuff too – I reckon it's a case of the more the merrier.
It's something Apple has done very well with its own Notes apps, as well as heavyweight apps such as Pages and Numbers: I'm very used to picking up mobile documents on my Mac and vice versa so I can attest how useful it is. After all, the best device for doing stuff is the one you have with you.
