Google’s recent sale of Motorola to Lenovo has strengthened its relationship with Samsung; it will also change the user experience (UX) for future Samsung users and perhaps also for present users.
An agreement was reported between Samsung and Google that would limit the amount of customization Samsung would do to the stock Android image. The stock image is the base operating system (OS) that Google provides under the open-source Apache Licensing model to original equipment manufacturers (OEM), such as Samsung.
The Samsung TouchWiz UX is what the majority of Samsung’s Android users have become accustomed to, and it is very similar to the standard Android UX as reported by AndroidPIT.
The biggest difference between the stock Android’s UX and that of Samsung’s UX, is the amount of customization that can be done.
With Samsung’s UX, users can remove the Google search bar, pinch to get back to the home screen, and completely rearrange any icon on the homepage or delete any icon, something that cannot be done with a stock Android image.
Samsung revealed its latest UX during the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) last month, which CNET reported looks similar to the Windows 8.1 interface.
Samsung’s latest UX design, the Magazine UX, would move Samsung further away from the default Android UX.
It will be interesting to see if Samsung moves ahead with its latest UX update, or if it reverts back to a closer stock Android image UX.
We won’t have to wait long to find out, since the Mobile World Congress (MWC) is happening at the end of the month and Samsung will be there.
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