It is becoming increasingly difficult to innovate in mobile telephony. So much so that hardware is starting to take on a less and less central role and software developments are coming to the fore. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a prime example of this and one of the most powerful AI applications in the smartphone space.

During its analysis, I noticed an increasingly common practice of manufacturers: they do not indicate in any way how to use some of the most interesting functions of the device.

“Circle to search” is one of the functions that Google is betting on the most. Activation method? Press and hold the phone’s very thin gesture control stickIt’s a gesture we’ll probably never make unless someone tells us about it.

Something similar happens when I turn on the camera and navigate through the general camera settings and find a “Pro” mode that hides as long as we enable the format and shoot in RAW. A RAW that “collides” with another sub-mode within the camera modes: Expert RAW. Nobody explains to me what the difference is between one and the other, what it does.

Samsung is not aloneOther manufacturers such as Apple are not far behind. While noting the tedious behavior of the settings of native applications that are not in the applications themselves, but are located in the system settings, we see that the best functions are quite hidden.

A rather “silly” example that I always have to enable is locking the white balance. This ensures that the phone doesn’t constantly change the tone of the video we’re recording to adjust the white balance to suit the scene. Where? Settings – camera – record video – the last setting after formats.

Something similar happens with one of the functions that has gone most viral on networks: tapping the back of the phone to perform actions. A useful feature available as an accessibility feature. This is not the first time such a proposal has been reversed; In fact, the Apple Watch’s air movement was also born as an accessibility function and has become one of the most advertised functions with the corresponding and necessary guided instructions. WearOS.

Useful, intriguing and eye-catching functions remain hidden in the system, waiting for the user to find a way to activate them. If software aims to be the biggest asset on smartphones, something needs to change.

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