Luke Pollack / Android Authority
When Google dropped Android 12 in 2021, it drastically overhauled the way in which the working system seems to be and feels. Materials You made Android 12 extra adaptable to the person’s style whereas additionally making the system extra uniform. This alteration ended over three years of Android trying just about the identical from technology to technology.
Nonetheless, Samsung’s One UI Android pores and skin didn’t mirror these modifications. In actual fact, it hasn’t modified a lot in any respect in its four-year historical past.
This places Samsung in a precarious scenario. On the one hand, One UI is its personal factor and Samsung leaving the design alone retains issues constant throughout its big lineup of units. Then again, hardcore Samsung followers could be trying on the “new” Android and feeling disregarded of the enjoyable.
Myself, I’m firmly within the latter class. Whereas Samsung’s One UI pores and skin is highly effective, customizable, feature-rich, and thorough, it’s additionally turn out to be boring. Firing up a brand new Samsung telephone right now feels similar to firing up a Samsung telephone from 4 years in the past.
On the daybreak of One UI 5’s huge reveal, I feel it’s time for Samsung to alter issues up a bit.
Samsung’s One UI hasn’t modified a lot
Above, you may see the 4 main iterations of One UI. That is how they appeared whenever you took the Galaxy S telephone of that yr out of the field. Outdoors of the wallpaper, it’s just about the identical on every gadget.
It doesn’t finish on the residence screens both. The notification drop-down, Fast Tiles, app drawer, pages inside Android settings, and just about each different facet of the pores and skin haven’t modified on any vital stage since 2018.
Outdoors of the default wallpaper, a Samsung telephone from 2019 seems to be similar to a Samsung telephone from 2022.
As an alternative, Samsung has made tiny modifications right here and there. For instance, with One UI 4, Samsung provided some new widgets. These widgets match with the Materials You look of inventory Android 12. Nonetheless, the drastic general modifications to Android 12 didn’t seem.
Now, with Android 13 going official in August, we all know from One UI 5.0 beta launches that it received’t look a lot completely different than earlier generations both.
How lengthy can Samsung hold this up? Possibly the corporate doesn’t need One UI to ever change?
Consistency could be key?
Eric Zeman / Android Authority
It’s not tough to see why Samsung wouldn’t need to alter One UI that a lot. The corporate launches dozens of units annually at value factors various from $100 to almost $2,000. One UI powers all of them, and conserving that have constant might be an integral a part of its branding technique. One UI has even made its strategy to Samsung’s laptops as a pores and skin on prime of Home windows and Put on OS, so it’s not laborious to see why it doesn’t need to rock the boat an excessive amount of.
Samsung additionally now units the bar in the case of Android upgrades. For many of its units, the corporate presents 4 Android upgrades and 5 years of safety patches. This dedication is the very best on this planet of Android, outshining even Google itself. It’s attainable that conserving One UI the identical from yr to yr works into that technique as nicely. In different phrases, it might be that altering One UI an excessive amount of would trigger Samsung to not be capable to make this identical dedication.
Lastly, there’s additionally a easy query of a return on funding. Samsung may need accomplished some advertising and marketing analysis and located that most individuals don’t appear to thoughts the concept that One UI hasn’t modified a lot. In spite of everything, iOS has appeared just about the identical for the higher a part of a decade, and folks nonetheless love shopping for iPhones. If that have been the case, it might make a variety of sense for Samsung to skip spending money and time on revamping the look of its Android pores and skin since that alone is unlikely to promote extra telephones. You possibly can assist us see if this might be the case by answering the ballot additional up on this article.
Do you suppose One UI wants a significant revamp?
0 votes
I’m dropping pleasure for One UI
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
No matter Samsung’s reasoning for conserving One UI from altering a lot, I feel it may use a refresh. Inventory Android now has a really distinct look and Samsung’s One UI doesn’t match that look. In a means, it makes Samsung telephones really feel like they’re from the previous somewhat than a part of the current.
Clearly, Samsung can’t simply take the look of inventory Android and “Samsung-ify” it. That will make Samsung telephones look an excessive amount of like Pixel telephones, which might be an enormous mistake so far as branding goes. However there are such a lot of instructions during which it may go. Possibly taking an method that has a variety of straight traces to distinction the “curves all over the place” aesthetic of Pixel UI. Maybe going a bit extra simplistic alongside the traces of Home windows 11 can be cool. Android is so versatile so the sky’s the restrict for what Samsung may do right here.
No matter Samsung would do, I feel it must do it. Frankly, One UI is simply getting previous. Whereas this won’t occur with One UI 5 straight out of the gate, I’m hoping for a minimum of some indicators that Samsung is keen to combine up its more and more drained method. In any other case, it’s going to be terribly unexciting to choose up a Galaxy S23 and see the identical format I’ve seen for the reason that Galaxy S10.