TouchWiz is a bit like a lightning rod around Ausdroid parts, and around other places on the web, for negative comments. For all its utility and its gloss, it attracts a lot of hate (rather like HTC’s Sense did in days gone by). The feedback is loud and frequent, if not across the board; there are certainly a fair number who quite like TouchWiz too.
However, according to South Korean press, Samsung may well be looking at a toned down version of TouchWiz on the rumoured Galaxy S6, which may be just around the corner with an MWC 2015 launch. The quote is that the next iteration of TouchWiz may be “Nexus-like”, which is certainly a big departure from what we’ve seen in the past.
BusinessKorea reports that Samsung is looking to reduce the memory footprint of its operating system, increase functionality by strengthening core features while eliminating unnecessary ones. They quote an industry source (so, get your salt shakers ready) as saying:
We are aiming to get rid of unnecessary functions and simplify our UI at the level of Google’s Nexus 6.
We know better than to ask Samsung for official comment on this, because they’ve not even confirmed the phone itself yet, but if that quote is even half true, this marks quite a change in approach. TouchWiz has always grown more bells and whistles with each successive Galaxy S release, and while the Galaxy S5 ushered in some minor changes, many considered it was still quite ‘heavy’.
If Samsung can trim TouchWiz down a bit, that fact alone coupled with next generation hardware could see the Galaxy S6 being one of the fastest, most responsive (and undoubtedly most popular) phones of 2015. Not long till MWC 2015 now, so hopefully we’ll know soon.
In a time when most other Android devices performed rather poorly, Samsung’s Touchwiz on the GS2 came as a fresh air and, paired with the robust internals, gave a very good impression of a fast, smooth and easy to use UI. Fast forward a few years later when the competition has consistently improved through access to good hardware and reasonable implementation of software skins, Samsung probably have seen no other way to stay in the forefront except perhaps by giving even more software-based “features” as a selling point. Hence the cacophony and mess we see in Touchwiz today. The negativity… Read more »
I hope Samsung does slim down the memory footprint and number of apps launched at startup.
I remember just how bad the resources hit was on the S5, described in Geoff’s first impressions review of the S5.
they better remove all the S-apps from the phone and give option to download from app store instead of samsung app store.
Removing a stack of Samsung “features” would require an enormous amount of work – more work than can be achieved in one product cycle, I imagine. Samsung’s end goal for the Galaxy range might be to mimic the simplicity and minimalism of stock Android, but I’m highly doubtful the Galaxy S6 will bring this about in one fell swoop.
Over the years we’ve been hearing about Samsung going for high-quality build materials and improved/streamlined software in the Galaxy S line. Haven’t ever seen it, won’t believe rumours until I do.
I remember back with the S3, it was supposed to have a premium metallic build. Skip forward to the S5, it still has a horrid, cheap-ass plastic build.
Touchwiz definitely looks 100x better then it what it used to look like.
Personally I prefer touchwiz on my Galaxy S2 to what I’ve seen on friends S3’s, S4’s, S5’s and Note 3’s. It got to bloated. The looks a personal thing but for me the usability and ease of access became harder with the added features and bloat. Perhaps if I’d owned any of those devices I’d have got used to it but I’d say Touchwiz has got worse with each iteration as a rule of thumb not the other way round.
They really nailed it with the S2 didn’t they. Oh well, we’ll see what’s to come very soon.
I’m in the market for a new phone so I’ll definitely have a look at the S6 but it would have to be far better than anything Samsung have produced so far to entice me with the prices they retail for in Australia. I think I’m more likely to end up with a Moto or Sony. Their pricing is more reasonable.
Yeah, I currently have the Z2 and it’s been pretty good to me. Motorola are great too. Got a Moto G for my sister for a gift. So far it’s been going great.
Touchwiz is why I went from being a Note II owner to a Nexus 6 owner. Samsung make nice hardware but a poor software experience. And to top it all off it looks ugly and still has some bright green quick toggle buttons in the flavour of ginger bread. That blueish green that features throughout many of the panels makes me feel slightly ill in its lack of aesthetic consideration. Touchwiz is a slurry of all the different offical android designs. You can even see some ICS in there on certain samsung apps. Touchwiz is the sole reason why I… Read more »
touché
I’ll believe it when I see it. Nothing seems to have come of Google and Samsung’s meeting ages ago where it was rumored Samsung agreed to tone down touchwiz and make their OS look and feel more stock.