One UI will initially be rolled out as a beta for users later this month, and in January 2019, will officially make its way to all Galaxy S9, S9+, and Note 9 devices.
What we’ve seen of One UI so far looks quite promising, but it’s also not without its faults. Here’s both the good and bad that you can look forward to when the update lands on your phone.
One UI is Samsung’s new TouchWiz, and it’s kind of hilarious. For a number of applications, Samsung decided to put all the content on the bottom half of the screen, while reserving the top half for just one header (like “Settings” or “Messages”). Basically, you have a huge screen and a tall display, only for literally half of it to be taken up by a massive single-word header.
Okay Samsung. Okay.
I honestly wouldn’t mind the large headers if they collapsed to smaller text when scrolling. Seems like the best of both worlds.
Note 8 is my last Samsung phone. They talked about the Linux on Galaxy last year.. then finally they sent out emails that they were opening up the beta and now calling it Linux on Dex. Requirements? Note 9…
Hopefully the Librem Phone is released soon…
Heh, that’s funny. I can’t even use Linux on DeX on my Note 9 because my carrier (T-Mobile USA) hasn’t released any updates beyond the September security update, which is required for Linux on DeX.
Agreed. If the content don’t use the whole screen you need to have a blank area somewhere. And it’s better to have it at the top so you can more easily reach the content with your fingers. I wonder what Thom would think is a better design here since he don’t like this approach.
Edited 2018-11-14 07:33 UTC
Good to know that Thom never struggles trying to reach the top of the screen with his thumb!
I often risk dropping my phone to do so… So I welcome Samsung’s idea, which somehow reminds me of BB10.
Well that’s exactly how it functions…
Also, the header also doubles as a viewing area in some apps, so it depends on the context of the app. I think it’s terrific.
What kind of madman would use negative space, in a design?!
This is why I don’t buy Samsungs anymore. Their skin is so heavy-handed, so different from official Google, that the Google apps I spend most of my time in feel like I remoted to another phone. Even the copy and paste options are different. One thing I will miss when HTC throws in the towel is their art of tastefully skinning Android…
Edited 2018-11-15 00:59 UTC
Yeah, now imagine having to provide support for all these different Samsungs on top of all other Androids, to users. It’s no fun, I can tell you! Say what you want about Apple, but an iPhone always acts like an iPhone no matter what they bring in for help.
Is nobody actually doing UI/UX/hardware design anymore for Android? Wow, that Settings app…
It’s going to be really hard to find an Android device with no notch, no rounded edge-to-edge display, and a headphone jack, isn’t it?
Get off my lawn.