The Huawei Nova 4 was the first Android smartphone to bring the hole-punch camera concept to the masses. The Nova 4 is over two years old today, but the trend it started continues to rule the Android world even in 2021. The hole-punch design brings us closer to our collective goal of getting rid of bezels and achieving maximum real screen estate on a smartphone display. Although less intrusive than notch cutouts, hole-punch can still come across as an eyesore to some people.

Many OEMs let you hide the hole-punch area by showing a black status bar or moving the status further down — essentially leaving a black border. If you don’t like the idea of conceding your precious real screen estate to get rid of the hole-punch, Energy Ring by XDA Recognized Developer jagan2 presents a more innovative approach to utilize the hole-punch. The app adds a configurable ring around the hole-punch camera, allowing you to quickly glance over your smartphone's remaining battery life. You can configure the ring's direction as clockwise, bidirectional, or anticlockwise, customize the color and thickness of the ring, and even set a cool animation while your device is charging.

Energy Ring used to have multiple versions for different smartphones, but the developer today announced that they have now merged all variants into a single app called Energy Ring — Universal. Along with the switch to the universal app, this update has also added support for several new smartphones, including the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Ultra, Galaxy Note 20, Pixel 5, and Pixel 4a 5G. The developer notes that support for the Galaxy S21 Plus and Galaxy S20 FE is also being worked on.

Following are the new devices supported by Energy Ring — Universal:

  • Galaxy S21
  • Galaxy S21 Ultra
  • Galaxy Note 20
  • Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
  • Galaxy S10 Olympic Edition
  • Pixel 5
  • Pixel 4a 5G
Energy Ring: Universal Edition Developer: IJP
Price: Free
2.4
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The developer maintains threads on XDA for each newly added device, so if you face any issues or have feedback/questions, feel free to bring them to the developer’s attention.