“For the past 10 years, the Samsung-Google partnership has been the driving force behind so many of this industry’s most important innovations,” said Dr. TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics at Galaxy Unpacked 2020. “Now, as we start a new decade, our partnership is more important than ever, as we work together to pioneer a new generation of breakthrough mobile experiences.”

The recent updates for YouTube are just one milestone in the developments the two companies have brought to Samsung’s flagship and foldable devices. Thanks to the partnership, Galaxy users get an optimized experience for the most popular Google apps, such as Google Maps and Google Play Store, and enjoy greater reliability, app continuity, and security. Last year, Samsung and Google ushered in a new mobile era by creating a seamless foldable experience for the Galaxy Fold. Here is a closer look at some of the latest ways Samsung and Google are delivering a more valuable Android experience on Galaxy devices.

A New Experience for YouTube with Flex Mode

With Galaxy Z Flip’s unique folding system, you can set your Galaxy Z Flip on the table and watch your favorite YouTube channel hands-free. And now, this hands-free experience is taken up to the next level with Flex mode compatibility. When you enjoy YouTube with your Galaxy Z Flip hands-free, the display evenly splits into two 4-inch screens. While watching a video on the top half of the display, you can use the bottom half to search for other videos, read descriptions and write comments with no distractions.

Unfolded / Half-Folded

The Flex mode-optimized YouTube app also ensures that no matter what the aspect ratio of the video you are watching, you can view in comfort by adjusting the way the video fits in the top half of the screen. Square and vertical videos will nearly fill the entire space, while 16:9 videos will adjust to the center. But Flex mode compatibility with YouTube was more than just a simple user experience upgrade.

Working together, Samsung and Google’s engineers redesigned the app from the operating system level. This included integration of the Android Support Library, making it easier to bring Flex mode to more third-party services. Through the collaboration, Samsung has worked closely with the Android developer community to drive innovation for foldable devices. Galaxy Z Flip users can download the Flex mode-optimized YouTube app from the Google Play Store starting from April 22¹ and enjoy the enhanced features that come with the latest update.

Galaxy users can also get up to 4 months of free YouTube Premium and enjoy benefits such as ad-free viewing, offline play, and background play.²

Beyond the latest YouTube updates, Samsung and Google have been working on several other innovations for Galaxy devices.

The Best Features Coming to Galaxy Devices  

To start, Samsung is bringing support for Google’s Rich Communication Services (RCS) to Galaxy smartphones to make your conversations more seamless.³ The two companies have been working since 2018 to bring the features to Samsung devices.⁴

The Samsung Messages app with RCS allows users to do more, including chat over both Wi-Fi and mobile data, send and receive high-resolution photos and videos, receive read receipts, and create feature-rich group chats. The Messages app is also available on desktop, making it easy to transition seamlessly from mobile to PC.

In addition to the RCS integration, Samsung kicked off 2020 by offering out-of-the-box integration for Google Duo on both the Galaxy S20 and the Galaxy Z Flip. Not only does Google Duo offer high-quality, high-speed video calling, it also allows up to 12 people to join a single video conference. On the Galaxy Z Flip, users can enjoy the app in Flex mode, where video chats appear on the top half, while call controls appear on the bottom half. Collaborations with Google are also bringing more interesting features to Galaxy devices.

With the ability to transcribe and caption media in real-time with incredible accuracy, Live Caption is one of the most exciting features on the Galaxy S20. Leveraging Google’s AI, Live Caption can produce captions for any audio or visual content, including YouTube videos, podcasts, and videos you and your friends have recorded. Developed in collaboration with the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, Live Caption is particularly helpful if you have hearing loss or are in an environment in which you don’t want to increase the volume. Users can toggle the feature on under either the Accessibility or Sound options in the device’s Settings menu.

As a result of the ongoing partnership with Google, Samsung is bringing monthly and quarterly security updates to Galaxy devices to further enhance user confidence and ensure the safety and security of their data. These include Google’s patches for Android, and Samsung’s patches for vulnerabilities and exposures.

“It’s been amazing to see Samsung continuously push the limits of what’s possible in mobile on the Android platform,” said Hiroshi Lockheimer at Galaxy Unpacked 2020, SVP of Platforms and Ecosystems at Google. “Looking ahead, we’re excited to continue to work together to build the next wave of helpful, mobile innovation.”

In the year ahead, Samsung will continue to work closely with Google to pioneer the next wave of mobile innovations that will change the way we communicate with the world.

* User interface shown in images is only a mock rendering. Actual user interface is subject to change.

¹ Update release date may vary by market and carrier.

² Availability dependent upon market. Galaxy S20 5G series, the Galaxy Z Flip and the Galaxy Fold are eligible for up to 4 months and all other mobile devices, including the A series, are eligible for up to 2 months.

³ Availability of Samsung Message app with RCS capabilities vary by market, device and carrier.

⁴ Samsung and Google Collaborate on RCS Messaging for Android

Working together, Google and Samsung will ensure that their messaging clients, Android Messages and Samsung Messages, work seamlessly with each company’s RCS technology, including cloud and business messaging platforms. To date, Google and Samsung have collaborated to introduce RCS to select Samsung devices; as part of this expanded collaboration, Samsung will work to bring these RCS features to existing mobile phones^* beginning with the Galaxy S8 and S8+. New Samsung Galaxy smartphones will also natively support RCS messaging^**, starting with those on a set of carriers that have or will soon launch RCS. This means that consumers and brands will be able to enjoy richer chats with both Android Messages and Samsung Messages users.

“At Samsung, we adhere to a model of open collaboration to bring premium experiences to our customers across products,” said Patrick Chomet, EVP and Head of Product & Services Innovation Team, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “By furthering our robust partnership with Google, we will bring a richer messaging experience to our customers, letting them seamlessly chat with their friends and family across messaging platforms. This collaboration will help further the industry’s momentum toward advanced messaging and global RCS coverage.”

“We’ve been working with the mobile industry to upgrade the messaging experience on Android with RCS,” said Anil Sabharwal, Vice President for Communications Products and Photos at Google. “Samsung has been a major contributor to this initiative, and our partnership will further advance our shared vision of a substantially improved messaging experience on Android for users, brands and the broader Android ecosystem.”

As a further benefit of this expanded partnership, developers and brands that create RCS Business Messaging experiences (based on GSMA Universal Profile 2.0) using the Google or Samsung Messaging-as-a-Platform (MaaP) services will be able to reach both Android Messages and Samsung Messages users, bringing richer business messaging to many more users.

This collaboration further accelerates the adoption and availability of RCS globally, enabling an enhanced messaging experience across the entire Android ecosystem.

^*Will include Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+, S8 Active, S9, S9+, Note8, Note9, and select A and J series running Android 9.0 or later. Subject to carrier and market availability.

^**RCS capabilities will be available for select Galaxy smartphones on carriers that support RCS.

About Google

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet.

Users will enjoy rich messaging features such as group chats, video calls and large file transfers, while continuing to use their phone numbers without the need for an additional app.

Samsung’s RCS cloud will allow mobile network operators to quickly launch the service and avoid the costly and time-consuming efforts of building their own network infrastructure. Additionally, Samsung’s RCS hub will support and simplify the interconnectivity among other RCS-enabled operators, Samsung and third-party RCS clouds, allowing for the same service ubiquity for users as SMS and MMS.

Samsung’s RCS solution is compliant with the latest GSMA RCS specifications. As a standards-based solution, it will be a true messaging evolution post SMS/MMS, making it possible to achieve a global footprint very quickly.

“We are very excited to be expanding Samsung’s RCS messaging service,” said Yunsang Park, SVP of the Product Service Innovation Strategy Group, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “With this new offering, mobile customers will have a rich messaging experience built directly into their phones. Our new RCS solution, along with our supporting mobile network operator partners, will make it easier for hundreds of millions of users across the globe to access RCS messaging. We are grateful for our partners’ support and look forward to expanding our network in the future.”

Samsung is cooperating with several network provider partners to advance the availability of RCS messaging, including Deutsche Telekom, KT, SK Telecom, T-Mobile and Vodafone. To suit each partner’s specific needs, the solution is offered not only as a full packaged partnership but also in a variety of modular options. More partners are expected to join in the near future.

“The GSMA aligned the mobile industry behind a single, Universal Profile for advanced RCS messaging and we have already seen a number of significant operator launches,” said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA. “This approach gives consumers a richer and more consistent messaging experience regardless of device or network. We look forward to seeing the profile become the de facto industry standard in the near future.”

The RCS solution will be supported by Samsung smartphones running Android Marshmallow or later.

The RCS demo will also be showcased at the Samsung booth (Hall 3) at Mobile World Congress from February 27 to March 2, 2017.

This acquisition is a critical milestone not just for Samsung but also for the communications industry. As an end-to-end GSMA-compliant RCS solution, it will accelerate the deployment of RCS-enabled networks, providing consumers with a ubiquitous standards-based messaging and communications platform. The acquisition will also enable Samsung to offer interoperable server solutions for mobile operators that do not already have their own RCS infrastructure. By driving significant value for operators and consumers, the mobile communications market can benefit from the broader communications ecosystem.

Consumers will benefit from an advanced messaging experience with features such as enhanced calling, group chat, and the ability to easily share and transfer large files including multimedia and high-resolution photos. Unlike other messaging apps in the market, users will be able to communicate on any network, with an RCS-enabled device as well as SMS-only devices.

NewNet Canada, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will continue to operate independently under the existing leadership of Brent Newsome and Gavin Murphy as a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Canada Inc.

About NewNet Communication Technologies, BV

NewNet Communication Technologies, BV provides next generation mobile technology solutions. The company offers mobile messaging, secure transaction processing, interactive voice response, real time charging and rating, and broadband wireless and network optimization solutions. Additionally, it provides product and custom application development, installation, training, and network engineering and management services. NewNet Communication Technologies BV is a wholly owned portfolio company of Skyview Capital. Visit www.skyviewcapital.com