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One UI 8.5 is a meaningful step up from One UI 8.0, bringing a fully customizable Quick Panel, refreshed stock app layouts with bottom search bars, subtle 3D iconography, Galaxy AI workflow tweaks, and camera additions like 8K at 25fps, whereas One UI 8.0 largely delivered the Android 16 foundation and AI features with fewer visual changes in daily use. The SamMobile breakdown video highlights these differences side by side, making the upgrades easy to see in action.
Key takeaways
- Quick Panel in 8.5 is now fully customizable, including freely arranging and resizing toggles plus horizontal/vertical sliders for brightness and volume, while 8.0 kept a more fixed layout.
- Stock apps in 8.5 adopt compact bottom tab bars without labels, add bottom search bars, and refresh layouts in Gallery, Settings, and My Files for clarity, which are more substantial UI tweaks than in 8.0.
- Visual polish in 8.5 includes a subtle shift toward 3D-styled icons with shadows and curves and cleaner gradients, an evolution from 8.0’s flatter look.
- Feature-wise, 8.5 adds AI editing improvements with edit history, NFC-based Quick Share, and camera changes like 8K/25fps and cleaner preview, while 8.0 centered on AI/personalization and core stability.
- Platform context: 8.5 is expected on Android 16 QPR2, whereas 8.0 launched with the initial Android 16 release and began rolling out first to Galaxy S25 devices.
Quick Panel and controls
The redesigned Quick Panel in One UI 8.5 is the most obvious day‑to‑day upgrade, letting users resize toggles, rearrange elements more freely, and switch brightness/volume sliders between vertical and horizontal orientations. For minimalists, it can even be stripped down to the essentials, a flexibility not offered in the more rigid One UI 8.0 panel. The SamMobile comparison video illustrates these layout freedoms clearly across different configurations.
Stock apps UI refresh
One UI 8.5 reworks navigation in Samsung’s stock apps with compact bottom tabs that drop text labels, creating more space for content in apps like Gallery, My Files, and Phone. Samsung is also moving the search bar to the bottom in places like Settings and My Files, and tightening spacing and animations for a cleaner feel. Gallery now shows an album preview up top for a more informative, visual-first layout compared with 8.0’s simpler header.
Icons and visual polish
Samsung is testing a more three‑dimensional icon style in 8.5 using shadows and curves, evolving from 8.0’s flatter look while retaining the modern gradient color direction introduced in One UI 7. These changes appear across stock and some third‑party apps in early builds, though they may not be finalized across all icons yet. SamMobile also notes refreshed gradients and contrast across the UI that make the interface feel cleaner in 8.5 than in 8.0.
Galaxy AI and utilities
Beyond visuals, 8.5 enhances Galaxy AI editing with a smoother flow and introduces edit history for generative edits, elevating practical use over 8.0’s already-strong AI baseline. Utility tweaks include NFC‑based Quick Share, removal of OneDrive backup from Gallery, and a more branded software update screen, with a tidier status indicator approach that complements the visual refreshes elsewhere. Together, these small but meaningful changes make everyday tasks feel more streamlined than on 8.0.
Camera and media
Creators gain the option to shoot 8K video at 25fps in Pro Video on 8.5, a niche but welcome addition over the 8.0 setup, alongside a cleaner preview mode for distraction‑free framing. Camera settings are reorganized into clearer menus with dedicated toggles for audio, formats (including HDR and log), and dual recording, plus expanded watermark and motion photo controls, improving ergonomics without overhauling the familiar layout from 8.0. These refinements help advanced features feel more accessible than before.
Platform and rollout context
Samsung began the official One UI 8.0 rollout with the Galaxy S25 series, focusing on advanced multimodal AI and personalization, then expanding to other eligible models, setting the base that 8.5 builds upon. One UI 8.5 is expected to ride Android 16 QPR2, bringing deeper platform fixes and features beyond 8.0’s initial Android 16 foundation, which also helps explain why 8.5’s polish and customization feel more pronounced. Early 8.5 builds have been spotted on S25 Ultra, but broader availability is slated after 8.0’s stable rollouts complete.
Watch the video
SamMobile’s side‑by‑side video overview clearly shows the Quick Panel flexibility, new app layouts, icon tweaks, and AI/camera updates that separate 8.5 from 8.0, making it the best single resource to grasp the changes quickly. For a visual-first breakdown, it succinctly covers the features most users will notice day one on 8.5 compared to 8.0.
