'Samsung's One UI Is the Best Software It's Ever Put On a Smartphone' (theverge.com) 84
In preparation for the Galaxy S10 launch event tomorrow, The Verge's Dieter Bohn writes about the new "One UI" software that will run on these new phones. After testing the software on a Galaxy S9 for the past week, Bohn says he really likes it, adding that it's better in some ways than the software found on Google's Pixel 3. "If it weren't for the fact that I don't yet trust Samsung to deliver major software updates quickly, I would be shouting about One UI from the rooftops," writes Bohn. "As it is, I just want to point out that it's time for us to stop instinctively turning our noses up at Samsung's version of Android." From the report: I can't go quite so far as to say that everything has changed forever when it comes to Samsung's customizations. There are still multiple versions of some apps because both Google and Samsung insist on having their software present. Samsung phones also have a reputation for getting a little laggy (the technical term is cruft) over time, and I don't know yet whether One UI and Android 9 will suffer the same fate. But I do know that one week in, this OS actually feels intentional and designed instead of just having a bunch of features tacked on. Historically, we've thought of all those customizations as unnecessary add-ons. But that's not quite right anymore -- customizing AOSP is necessary these days. Instead, we should judge a Samsung phone on its own merits as a phone, not as stuff bolted on to some idealized "pure" version of the phone that can't really exist anymore.
One UI consists of four key parts. One is the basic update to Android 9 Pie, which means you'll get a ton of small features for free. Second, there is a generalized update to the look and feel -- everything is just a little cleaner and more tasteful than before. Samsung has realized that neon is only cool in small doses. Third, because this is Samsung, there are just a million features hidden in every corner of the OS. Some of them -- like a dark mode -- are genuinely useful. Others will remind people of the bad old days of TouchWiz. But overall Samsung is doing a better job of surfacing them progressively as you use the phone, instead of asking you to wade though arcane and opaquely named settings screens in the first 15 minutes of using the phone. The last big feature to talk about in One UI is the first one most people will notice: big, giant header text inside apps. When you open up an app like Messages or Settings you'll see the name of the app in a field of white (or black, in dark mode) that takes up the entire top half of the screen. When you scroll, though, the giant header shrinks down and you have a full screen of content. The last big feature to talk about in One UI is the first one most people will notice: big, giant header text inside apps. When you open up an app like Messages or Settings you'll see the name of the app in a field of white (or black, in dark mode) that takes up the entire top half of the screen. When you scroll, though, the giant header shrinks down and you have a full screen of content.
One UI consists of four key parts. One is the basic update to Android 9 Pie, which means you'll get a ton of small features for free. Second, there is a generalized update to the look and feel -- everything is just a little cleaner and more tasteful than before. Samsung has realized that neon is only cool in small doses. Third, because this is Samsung, there are just a million features hidden in every corner of the OS. Some of them -- like a dark mode -- are genuinely useful. Others will remind people of the bad old days of TouchWiz. But overall Samsung is doing a better job of surfacing them progressively as you use the phone, instead of asking you to wade though arcane and opaquely named settings screens in the first 15 minutes of using the phone. The last big feature to talk about in One UI is the first one most people will notice: big, giant header text inside apps. When you open up an app like Messages or Settings you'll see the name of the app in a field of white (or black, in dark mode) that takes up the entire top half of the screen. When you scroll, though, the giant header shrinks down and you have a full screen of content. The last big feature to talk about in One UI is the first one most people will notice: big, giant header text inside apps. When you open up an app like Messages or Settings you'll see the name of the app in a field of white (or black, in dark mode) that takes up the entire top half of the screen. When you scroll, though, the giant header shrinks down and you have a full screen of content.
Too long to read (Score:2)
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buy fontus. and a hoverboard. (Score:3)
the verge is just pure advertisements don't cha know.
also a copyright striker for criticizing them. so there you have it. you cannot trust them with any tech news.
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I'd like to think that most Slashdot users are smart enough to see through crap like this.
Most of us have had to deal with an Android phone from Samsung/HTC/Motorola/etc that has had a custom UI on top of Android by now, and should know that they only cause problems. Even if the features seem cool on the initial phone release, you always end up with the following:
1) Additional added bugs caused by software incompatibilities between the UI changes and various Android applications
2) Slowdowns caused by the ad
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Right up there with a previous article "... the 4g/5g Solution We've Been Waiting For."
hmmmm (Score:1)
Re:hmmmm (Score:4, Informative)
Well, he was hand-picked by Samsung to receive the device and write a review on it before everyone else, even before other reviewers and other journalists.
Apple does the exact same thing. Now others may have received the device, but those other people are still under NDA. And that should tell you everything you need to know about his particular review. There is no way in hell his review can be objective, not even a little bit.
and their editors don't know tech. (Score:2)
so.
well. you know how the same site can praise some phone for not having any extra stuff and then post something about oneui being a necessity.
and of course not talk about stuff like how samsung actually has firewall functions built into the phone but inaccessible without paying samsung for the api rights.
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It'e almost as if they have different writers with different views.
That said, I avoid reading the verge. I don't go to a tech newsite for politics and they have a ton there.
How about they allow root access like LineageOS? (Score:2, Interesting)
It would be nice for Samsung to allow a few things, before their phones are really usable:
1: Unlockable bootloader without tripping Knox.
2: Ability to have root in some legit manner, similar to LineageOS.
3: A root-based firewall, so rogue apps can't phone home.
4: A real backup system which can backup/restore/archive/retrieve apps singly, or by the whole device.
Of course, blue sky stuff can't hurt:
1: Built in apps that handle the main needs to have root, like a firewall, a privacy monitor which returns
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If you want LineageOS, get LineageOS...
Samsung is not the most developer friendly manufacturer but it far from the worst. They still provide an easy way to unlock the bootloader, at least for the off-carrier versions.
Tripping Knox is a small price to pay. I did it without a second thought. Knox is a corporate feature, so that you can use your work phone as a personal phone without breaking corporate network policies. For personal use, Knox is useless. And in cases where Knox is justified, then you probably
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if they don't give me the option... (Score:4, Insightful)
...to permanently uninstall "Bixby", it will remain the worst UI and UX in the world, because that should be one of the simplest things to do.
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Do you also uninstall siri and google now/assistant/whatever? It's unfortunate that the Bixby button can't be (easily) remapped but otherwise Bixby doesn't get in the way at all unless you want to use it.
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Play store, bxActions. Problem solved. (and yes I hate it that the option to disable it natively disappeared with the Pie update).
detonation options (Score:2)
It has *plenty* of options.
My favorite is the detonation option for the battery.
Taking a cue from variable nukes, the battery can now be set to detonate over the entire range from 5 microtons to 1 milliton . . . :)
hawk
Cautionary Tale (Score:3)
Just updated to Samsung's One UI this morning, after several days of prompting.... it's an ordeal. Short of pulling out the battery, there's no way to stop it once it begins, and the update takes three quarters of an hour.
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I did the update to One UI on my S9+ with Odin flasher and it took 1 minute.
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??? Do you have a problem with your device? The update didn't take me any longer than any normal ROM update which gets pushed out basically once a month, and that is certainly no where near 45minutes. 3-5minutes maybe.
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How about a normal interface for a crazy change? (Score:1)
How about a normal interface that isn't filled with gobs of unused crap?
It seems like the harder they try to square the circle between lots of features and a clean, simple interface, both lose out and get worse. The feature bloat never stops and the interface becomes more finicky, crowded, and less intuitive.
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It's just a skin (Score:2)
I notice he dodged that. So it looks nice, doesn't have too much bling, but you still can't set an audio alert to tell you when the battery charge has reached one hundred percent, or, in fact, change many of the default audio alerts at all without rooting it.
dude why don't you just root your phone lolol
Because I shouldn't bloody have to.
Samsung = Facebook = Evil (Score:4, Insightful)
I had a Galaxy S7 and loved it, but I will not buy another Samsung phone until they ship a flagship that does not include Facebook Services as an uninstallable app. At the price one pays for a Samsung flagship, one should not be subjected to the constant location tracking and who the hell knows what else that app is doing. You can disable (but not remove) the Facebook mobile app, but the "Facebook Services" app continues to run --and update itself-- in the background, like it or not. The only way to get Facebook Services off a Samsung phone is to jailbreak it, which is not a reasonable solution in my opinion.
I think Facebook is an evil organization, one that has weakened democracy in the United States. Zuckerberg is an evil genius who has figured out how to turn our basic human need for connection into something that can be approximated via software and then heavily monetized with no regard for the impact their service has on the brains or the lives of their users.
Obviously, nobody forces you to use Facebook. I used it for a while and then gave it four years ago. As a result of this choice, I will not spend $1000+ dollars for a high-end Samsung phone if it's going to serve as an attack vector for Facebook to reenter my life. No thanks.
So... I don't care how amazing "One UI" is... if Facebook Services ships on the S10 then that phone is dead to me.
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I don't know which country/operator firmware you have, but in Australia with both generic and Telstra firmware it's been possible to completely disable Facebook at least since the Galaxy S3 and possible to completely uninstall Facebook since at least the Galaxy S8.
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You can disable (but not remove) the Facebook mobile app, but the "Facebook Services" app continues to run --and update itself-- in the background, like it or not.
Err you can disable the Facebook Services app just fine. You can't uninstall any app shipped on a ROM because the partition is read only. Disabling is Google's specific method of preventing those apps from both running AND updating. Not only that, if it did once update then clicking disable will uninstall the most recent update and lock down the original app shipped with the ROM.
Learn to phone.
Big massive header text when you open an app (Score:2)
So... they've realised that the bigger and bigger screens they're putting on phones are less usable.
When you use the phone with one hand, you can't comfortably reach the top half anymore, so no point putting interactive controls up there.
Sounds useless (Score:2)
"When you open up an app like Messages or Settings you'll see the name of the app in a field of white (or black, in dark mode) that takes up the entire top half of the screen. When you scroll, though, the giant header shrinks down and you have a full screen of content."
So the entire top half of the screen will show the name of the app that I just clicked on? Every time I open the app? WTF is the purpose of that? I know the app is Messages because I just tapped on the icon that says "Messages". I really
Nice bit of bullshit here: (Score:1)
Historically, we've thought of all those customizations as unnecessary add-ons. But that's not quite right anymore -- customizing AOSP is necessary these days. Instead, we should judge a Samsung phone on its own merits as a phone, not as stuff bolted on to some idealized "pure" version of the phone that can't really exist anymore.
In other words, he's saying, "You may not like Bixby and Facebook, etc, but suck it, bitches!"
Oy! The things we have to put up with to get a headphone jack!
best UI? (Score:3)
Bit hard to watch the review (Score:1)
When the presenter seems to be doing his best to deep throat Samsung's cock.
Best experience since using tweezers on my cables (Score:2)
Recent coverage of The Verge has certainly reduced any trust I had in them. Not that I had any.
Update (Score:2)
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That would be a first (Score:2)
What about Samsun bloatware (Score:2)