CoverScreen OS retains doing for the Flip what Samsung ought to have executed

I need to love Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6. I do like most of it, however I appear to bash its Flex Window expertise simply as a lot as I reward anything. For no matter motive, Samsung doesn’t appear eager about making its cowl display expertise as easy or intuitive because the Motorola Razr Plus (2024). However each time Samsung comes up brief, there’s a third-party developer able to step in and push the Galaxy Z Flip sequence to succeed in its potential. This time, it’s CoverScreen OS with a no brainer of an replace: apps that routinely rotate on the Flex Window.

At first, I wasn’t certain why I’d must care about apps that rotate on an nearly sq. show. In spite of everything, there’s nothing the Galaxy Z Flip 6 ought to have the ability to inform me in panorama orientation that it couldn’t in portrait, proper? Nicely, that’s largely true till you open Spotify. See, if you happen to’ve ever scrolled up on a tune within the Spotify app, you’ll know that it pops up with extra content material from the artist you’re listening to, in addition to lyrics to the tune that’s enjoying and upcoming tour stops. It’s all useful data, particularly if you wish to assist a brand new artist that popped up on a playlist, however there’s one drawback — none of it really works on the Flex Window.

It didn’t till now, a minimum of. With the most recent CoverScreen OS replace, as quickly as you flip your Flip from portrait orientation to panorama, it’ll change to the full-screen model of Spotify that permits for vertical swiping. When you’re like me and always verify the lyrics of a tune to just be sure you heard them accurately, the replace makes a giant distinction. Moderately than opening my telephone, leaping to Spotify, and in search of the lyrics, I can do all the pieces from the Flex Window and have my telephone again in my pocket in about half the time.

Granted, I haven’t discovered a lot use for app auto-rotation on the Flex Window exterior of music streaming providers. It additionally solely works within the app model of Spotify — the widget remains to be locked to its customary portrait orientation. Different apps I’ve tried, like Strava and Instagram, are inclined to look and act the identical whether or not they’re in panorama or portrait, and sometimes, the rotation causes the underside fringe of the Flex Window to behave up. Nonetheless, the choice of rotation provides one thing significant to the Galaxy Z Flip sequence, and I discover myself questioning why Samsung didn’t do it first.

I usually surprise why Samsung treats the Flex Window prefer it does. I used to be prepared to present the corporate the advantage of the doubt when its cowl display was a tiny 1.6-inch panel, however these days are lengthy behind us. Samsung has excessive expectations for its Flex Window, going as far as to create an AI-powered Auto Zoom function for its cameras, however that makes the omissions all of the extra complicated. Each time Samsung does one thing intelligent in an try to make the greatest flip telephone available on the market, it appears to take action whereas ignoring a easy function that will make the Flex Window extra helpful.

Proper now, organising the perfect Flex Window expertise requires a balancing act that I’m unsure how you can advocate. If you would like apps, there’s Good Lock, however you’re caught with the usual portrait orientation. If you would like apps that rotate, there’s CoverScreen OS, however it’s a must to pay a weekly (or annual) subscription to do something past the fundamentals — which is hard to advocate when the telephone already prices $1,100. Perhaps you may get by with a fastidiously curated set of widgets, however Samsung doesn’t precisely information your hand there, both.

Maybe Samsung must combine CoverScreen OS into the fold utterly. It should both turn into a part of Good Lock or the default Flex Window expertise. Clearly, it’s put probably the most thought into the smaller elements of the Flex Window, and now Samsung ought to both copy them or give credit score the place it’s due.