smart phones Samsung Galaxy A21s, A02s and A03s began to receive Android 12, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system along with the One UI 4.1 customization layer. The first two devices were launched in 2020, while the third was released last year with Android 11. This means that the Galaxy A21s and A02s could be near the end of their cycle.
Upgrading to Android 12 will take care fix 65 vulnerability discovered in the system, in addition to improving a handful of applications originating from Samsung. On a feature level, it includes a way to automatically “remaster” old photos, allowing you to easily reverse edits.
When it comes to privacy, the ability clear location and time data before sharing, which can be handy if services don’t do this automatically. Another little added level of privacy is an indicator that shows whether the microphone and/or camera are in use, although it is possible to disable it at the system level. Of course, it would be best to leave it enabled to deal with an oversight or even some malicious actor sneaking in.
As a new widget, there is an option to run Samsung’s web browser in stealth mode, which makes tracker blocking active. In addition, the Samsung keyboard now offers suggestions based on Grammarly technology and Picture-in-Picture mode, widgets on general levels, calendar applications, dark mode and more have been renewed. All three smartphone models received One layer of UI customization version 4.1. The firmware versions are A217FXXU8DVF6 for Galaxy A21s, A025FXXU4CVF4 for Galaxy A02s and A037FXXU1BVFB for Galaxy A03s.
Since the Galaxy A21s and A02s are already two years old, it would be better for the user to start considering installing some custom ROM to continue receiving updates. It’s not about trying to “cure versionitis”, it’s about getting security patches to keep users as safe as possible. On the other hand, using a custom ROM allows you to get out of programmed obsolescence policies, which are usually so aggressive that a smartphone rarely exceeds three years of maintenance, and that’s optimistic.
