yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Disclaimer!!

This thread ain't intended to start a flame war or to bash me because you can download new diallers, contacts etc just my opinion on touchwiz after seeing various youtube video's and to see if I am not the only one who feels this way.

First of all I am a fanatic bordering on OCD when it comes to the look and feel of the OS as well as the apps which run on top of it and my biggest gripe back when I had my first android phone was that applications varied wildly in the quality of design and aesthetics and Google had a lot of work ahead of it to tidy up the UI to get it up to the standard of iOS for a uniform feel and to get developers to have a similar feel across the board for their apps.

Android is and always was a superior OS just to clear that up I am not an iOS fanboy!

Fast forward to today and Android has changed so much it blew me away all the apps now look and feel like they follow the guidelines set out by Google with the holo theme (I had a Google Nexus 720p and sold it purely because all the apps looked well out of place) and everything is very smooth with next to no lag or stutter so consider me impressed.

However this is what bugs me now, when I first got a Galaxy S II touchwiz looked good and it added some nice little touches and over all and made a very nice change to Sense which was bloated and slow now fast forward to the Galaxy S IV announcement and touchwiz now looks very dated and from what I can gather it does not follow the holo guidelines whatsoever and the enhancements are a slightly more toned down look (still cartoony like in appearance) and whites in the menu's.

So here is a breakdown of my gripes/concerns about Touchwiz on this flagship phone.

The dialler looks absolutely awful and seriously dated by todays standards

The contact list and/or contacts follows the same lines as the dialler and looks very dated

The camera icons have a fake metal look and stick out a mile

Basically Touchwiz looks way too cartoony, garish and lacks the polish and finish of the Nexus range and even the HTC One.

And last things last I appreciate that you can customise the hell out of Android with new diallers, new themes, tweaks and what not but this post is purely about the stock experience.

Aside from that Touchwiz does have some nice touches just Samsung need to bring it out of the gingerbread days and screaming and kicking into the holo days.

One last note I own a windows phone purely because of the aesthetics and all applications follow the same guidelines but there is such a lack of support I am coming back to Android at some point in the very near future.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Livebyte:
Samsung always had a bunch of awful designers. They desperately need to hire better designers.
[Galaxy S 4 General] NightHawkUndead:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

All those complaints can be changed with simple fixes right here on XDA...
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Definitely agree not denying that whatsoever and my complaints are purely about the design and look of Touchwiz not how to fix it ;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] browy:
Some like it, some don't. Touchwiz UI never looks great to me, and its features (s voice, s beam, palm swipe screen capture etc) are nothing but bloats for me. However if you're gonna buy a S4 you'll have to find a way to like Touchwiz. Don't think you'll be able to flash CM or AOSP on an S4 and everything's gonna work well and great. With the lack of support and Samsung's attitude towards devs, open source development on this device is gonna be a pain.
[Galaxy S 4 General] BoneXDA:
Or you use a different launcher.
[Galaxy S 4 General] AayushDhuria:
I'm riding the same boat as you mate, currently a Lumia 920 owner, came from S2 and Nexuses aren't sold in the country I live in. Samsung's totally effed it up, it looks so gingerbread :x
[Galaxy S 4 General] Livebyte:
Touchwiz is not just the launcher. It's the whole experience.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Couldn't of said it better myself and also nice signature, typing on a Macbook Pro Retina as we speak ;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] TingTingin:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

Exactly correct which is why when u change the launcher it's different because the experience changes

And you can still flash a rom anyway

PHONE SLOW CLICK ME?

1 days 2 s4​
[Galaxy S 4 General] DaVinci:
Totally agree with you.

Amoled display on Touchwiz added insult to injury. Its oversaturated/ unrealistic colors made it look more awful.

I'm not against samsung or its nature UX, I've seen the S4 personally and its display is really gorgeous. its just that just like you, i'm not into the outdated user experience with added features from the gingerbread days.
[Galaxy S 4 General] azrieqb:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

Have to disagree. Love the touchwiz. And absolutely love most of the things u guys call 'bloat'.
[Galaxy S 4 General] tbong777:
+1

Samsung has no use for OCD types....They will never be satisfied and are too infinitesimal in the millions and millions of sold product. I don;t like TW. I use Nova Problem solved.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
My feelings are if you are paying for a top end flagship device then everything should ooze quality and Touchwiz is firmly stuck in the days of gingerbread and it's getting totally left behind.

Launchers can only do so much imho.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Nova launcher is slick.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Deleted member 4353354:
deleted
[Galaxy S 4 General] tbong777:
Launchers can and do COMPLETELY change the experience. They do a lot. and then even more... In fact the problem people are having with TW can be completely eradicated with a very large choice of proven launchers.

REAL Flagship devices don't become antiquated in 6 months. I think the word "flagship" in this world of Mobile devices is over used. carries to high of expectations, and is over exaggerated for a $600 all in one device. The Note 3 will be the flagship device in a few months...Then what?

For MOST the S4 WILL "ooze quality" I know a few non rooting users who cannot wait to get their upgrades and have been completely satissfied with their S3s. WE in XDA are very very tiny consumer base for Samsung. They throw a few bones to developers for their own benefit so we can beta test their new stock firmwares. But tey are not building these devices for hackers who will run Cyanogen on them or care about slightly blue tints or plastic cases and screens (which are likely to be covered with the latest Otter box and ZAGG crap)

OCD/Anal users usually don't run their devices out of the box bare as designed, like I do. So does the plastic body and slick glass really matter?
[Galaxy S 4 General] MohJee:
Touchwiz came a long way since gingerbread. It's only downfall is that it's still choppy in very few areas (like widgets tab). Other than that, I'd rather have it then Sense (which comes with features you can't disable, at Touchwiz gives you the option to disable features you don't want) or stock android which is bare-boned and lacks features.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Cjen1987:
Just wait for custom roms.

They will bring new life to the s4.

​
[Galaxy S 4 General] Reviewers:
So RUN AOSP in it, or run a Touchwiz run de-touchiwzed.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Used to run AOSP on one of the devices I used to have and tinkered with MIUI as well. This thread ain't about how to change Touchwiz rather than what I believe are weak area's where it fails.

The Galaxy S4 will still be a very good phone irrespective of Touchwiz.
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
I like touchwiz a lot. Like somoene said it is an experience not just a launcher. You flash a stock rom and its bye bye to all the cool features.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Vertron:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

I think the best experience will be a Touchwiz based rom with a different theme and launcher.

You get all the touchwiz features but a similar experience to a stock rom.

Then again how many of the 'features' are you really going to miss anyway? Air view sounds interesting and might have potential. I don't think I'll miss any of the other features.
[Galaxy S 4 General] futureslay:
Always have hated Touchwiz. But it seems to be the only thing that'll keep my SGS running now. It gets stuck with anything else.

But on the S4, unsurprisingly, it still looks atrocious. It's probably the one thing that's genuinely putting me off of considering an S4 for my next phone.
[Galaxy S 4 General] beserker15:
I agree that touchwiz colors and icons can need some revamping. The launcher itself has since the S3 added one thing I always used custom launchers for, and that's the ability to hide apps in the app drawer. Oh and also create folders in the app drawer. Hell, with the S4, they even made the notification bar up top transparent which I've always had to use mods for to get with my S3. Now if only Touchwiz can add easily changeable custom themes. It makes sense why they don't use Google's Holo theme (it's not nature inspired lol). They should have a darker nature inspired theme, because there are plenty of darker colors in nature. It'll look better on the samoled screens anyway.
[Galaxy S 4 General] howtomen:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

Have any of u seen what vertumus does with touchwiz? He makes it beautiful :D even if theres no aosp vert does a damn good job giving a great look

trolol and awayyy!! Expect typos this is my phone.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Reviewers:
In-order not to lose all the cool features/main features.

We need a experienced developer who could de-touchwiz and only keep the main/important features in.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Galactus:
The last rom I had on the S2 was chameleon rom which had AOSP apps (Dialer, messaging etc) on top of bare bones touchwiz and it worked great (that was back in september). Nothing like it has appeared for the S3 unfortunately but if something like that can be done on the S4 that would be awesome
[Galaxy S 4 General] Wireratt:
O really

We are talking about a phone that most likely has a open boot loader. These complaints are only valid if it was locked down.

Edit: turns out the bootlader is locked. So complain away
[Galaxy S 4 General] Reviewers:
That'll happen with the SIV (S4) trust me.
[Galaxy S 4 General] ejatds:
what im wondering is: do you love the features that touchwiz brings, the look of the ui itself, or both?

i think pretty much everyone can agree that touchwiz is fantastic and brings a ton of cool innovative software features (and even if you think some are gimmicks, people may have legitimate use cases for them and you can just turn it off in the settings -- best of both worlds scenario). the problem is the look. clashing colours, dated ui, inconsistency (why does the contacts app have a black bg and the settings have white?), etc. loved touchwiz on the s3, but after a few months i really missed the modern look that android 4.0 - 4.2 brought to my nexus s so i rooted.

i actually like the touchwiz launcher, looks nice in my opinion. it was actually the horrible horrible looking notification drawer that i had the trouble with. everything else was pretty bearable except the notification drawer...
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
Google's UI guidelines are far too squishy and allow developers multiple methods of dealing with certain common actions. How individual apps provide access to "settings" is a good example. It's gotten better but it's still the wild Wild West.

While subjective, TW doesn't look very refined. And the cartoonish icons and colors Samsung uses don’t help much. I came from a Teg3 One X and now have a N2 and nothing’s changed in two years visually from my previous i9100. What's Samsung's obsession with teal? Compared to Sense it's pretty dated and crude visually. But, functionally, TW has added so much supplementary functionality to AOSP (multiview, UI customization, motion, voice, and now eye controls) it's almost a distinct UI that just happens to be running on Android. While blasphemy to those that prefer AOSP, the functionality Samsung adds can be both cool and useful.

On my One X, via updates, I went from Sense 4 to 4.1 to 4+. Nothing changed functionally via those updates except the addition of HTC's home grown version of Groupon local disounting which they generate additional revenue from. And nothing's changed in the current version of Sense running on the One. HTC added BlinkFeed and Zoe but those live outside Sense. LG's begun matching Samsung s/w feature for s/w feature while HTC doesn't even provide an Awake Stay feature which is incredibly useful and pretty standard fare now. HTC's chosen to put their money in to design and their s/w's out of date. We'll see how that affects sales when the SGS4 does all but make toast.

Some of the TW features on the N2 I thought were gimmicks I've ended up really using. Some of the new ones on the SGS4 I know I'd use also. So I guess it comes down to putting up with Samsung's rather dated aesthetics to gain functionality or going with Sense and get a great visual experience and a phone that doesn't do anything differently (functionality wise, not appearance wise) than the Sensation did two years ago. And there’s always AOSP and third party launchers for those that like to build their interfaces themselves. ;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] Galactus:
You seem so positive. how comes?
[Galaxy S 4 General] xfullmetal17:
Maybe the developer has already promised to do it?
[Galaxy S 4 General] Dannar:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

Rocking a custom ICS sense ROM on my HTC thunderbolt. I like it. Quick and clean, and doesn't seem all oversaturated and cartoony.

I'm sure somebody will make touchwiz bearable in terms of looks. Far as I know, it doesn't function poorly. It just looks...bleh.

It's looking like here in the USA, we'll be getting another Qualcomm device, as opposed to a more...what's a good way to put it...unsupported and difficult to code for Exynos soc. That being the case, our S4s should be a little bit more open to AOSP, if that's your thing.

Duely blundered from my thunderdolt.
[Galaxy S 4 General] wizzbang3:
Some of us like touchwiz and don't like stock google. If you don't like it - go buy a Nexus and stop whining.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Maedhros:
TW just looks plain ugly. Colours clash. Icons look cartoonish and backgrounds look arbitrarily chosen.

HTC Sense on the other hand looks polished, clean and beautiful. Thats about it. Want a beautiful and refined device? Get an HTC.

Want a brute that can do the heavy lifting? Get the SGS4.
[Galaxy S 4 General] rl421403:
I have used UltimaRom for S3 and it's exactly that with added options for more stuff.

It's Touchwiz but themed to look like AOSP. Nice rom.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
My sentiments exactly and the good thing is you can tweak change just about anything on android to get rid of all the cartoonish looks, garish icons but the point is you shouldn't have to replace that much to get it to look nice it should look slick out the box.
[Galaxy S 4 General] zetsumeikuro:
Yes! Samsung needs to stop running sweat shops in where they let Toddlers design the UI.. No arguments from me :good:.
[Galaxy S 4 General] jimmy2027:
Sorry I don't see what you are trying to say. But, here is an easy solution for ya: custom roms/mods.. That is what xda is for. ;) This place exists where the manufacturers fail.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
My point is simple if you are paying a premium price for a premium device you don't expect it to have a UI which looks like it's been designed by a bunch of blind monkeys.

Touchwiz is like marmite some love it, some hate it...

I agree this is what XDA is for but surely Samsung should put in a lot more effort into bringing the UI up to the same standards set by other manufacturers?
[Galaxy S 4 General] riz157:
Yes it does but not as much plastic. Lol
[Galaxy S 4 General] Dannyada1988:
It is the only truth. Touchwiz of course has its advantages and attractions, although some guys may be not satisfied .
[Galaxy S 4 General] Livebyte:
As I said, their designers are from Fisher-Price.
[Galaxy S 4 General] S13gfried:
It´s the best comparison i´ve ever heard ;)

:D

Definitely, it seems so :)

it is not ugly or something like this, but it is too "spongy" for me.

After a half year with the sIII + TouchWiz UI, it´s time for me to change. I´m still waiting for final SlimRom 4.2.2

MfG S13gfried
[Galaxy S 4 General] lmali92:
IMO, TouchWiz is beautiful. It's only a matter of time till you get bored of it.

I have now switched to CM10.1. But I still like the newer TW when I flash stock firmware once in a while.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Jfree3000:
Where did you get this from?
[Galaxy S 4 General] browy:
Words from the CM developers
[Galaxy S 4 General] ken2802:
and ofcourse cm are the only devs....
[Galaxy S 4 General] S13gfried:
of course not, but it wouldn't be better, if they don't support.
[Galaxy S 4 General] browy:
No they aren't and I've never said that. Just answered the question where I get that from. Beside CM isn't just a ROM, it's like a base for other devs to build their own ROM on. Go around the forums and see for yourself how many ROMs are based on CM or have CM's code implemented.

Point is, it's better for people to know it now than later. Remember all those petitions, moaning, spamming, gathering signatures in order to force Samsung to live up to their promise and release the source code. More than 11'000 signatures on change.com. Things that could have affected XDA's reputation towards OEMs which forced XDA staff to ban members and close down threads. We don't need another drama, that's why people should be aware of it now. There will be no support from Samsung and opensource development is gonna be a pain.
[Galaxy S 4 General] qazibasit:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

Atleast touchwiz is 1000 times better than the apex launcher thing....

Touchwiz has all the basic features built in that we have to download from play store by 3rd party app.

So if samsund is giving the photo editor ,video editor and other things built in and with stability then why using othet stuff. One can always root and remove the bloatwares.

I love touch wiz.
[Galaxy S 4 General] thatdavekid:
The XDA community is for customizing your phone the way you like it. You say this thread isn't made for solutions to "fix" touchwiz but that's what it's all about here. Also it's the beauty of Android in general, you make it look the way you want. Most of us aren't going to take stock software on any device and just leave it alone even if it looks good to begin with. If you're here you like tweaking. Hating UI decisions from folks in a board room but not be willing to discuss ways to make it better, just sit complain about it, misses the spirit of it a little.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Galactus:
Difference is chameleon rom only has the stock camera. Everything else is AOSP apps. Not a themed dialer but the actual AOSP dialer. Not a themed messaging app but the a proper AOSP messaging app . Stock AOSP gallery, not themed touchwiz gallery and so on. There isn't a single Touchwiz rom on the S3 that has AOSP dialer.

To each their own. I personally think the stock touchwiz launcher sucks in comparison to Apex/Nova Launcher. Can't even change an app icon on the touchwiz launcher. Yuck
[Galaxy S 4 General] Jfree3000:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

Thanks for the info, I keep seeing this in threads around here. I dint too much care for aosp anymore since updates keep flying out and there are no betas or rc (Sprint at least).

Don't get me wrong, CM is a great alternative and I respect what they have done. I am just bitter from the evo 3d days and pretty much having too hot wire my phone to unlock the Damn thing. HTC left a bad taste in my mouth after that nonsense.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Of course there will be solutions to fix touchwiz and there are a few mentioned within this thread, this thread was purely meant to find out peoples opinions on touchwiz and hey if someone can theme the hell out of it then that is all good.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Livebyte:
I repeat. TouchWiz is the whole User Interface or User Experience for Android.

Apex Launcher is a Launcher and acts as a Launcher.

You really don't know what you are talking.
[Galaxy S 4 General] slpaige:
That's why I love that there are choices with android (material, interface style, extra software, hardware, etc...).
[Galaxy S 4 General] muhamet:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

Hmm TW bloated???Then Sens is hyper bloated.
[Galaxy S 4 General] titooo7:
Personally I prefer Touchwiz UX over AOSP because TW UX has several buit-in features for the dialler, contact list and camera that you can't have with AOSP unless you install 3rd party apps to replace the AOSP apps.

So I don't think TW ruins the S4. It didn't ruin the android experience for the Note 2 neither S3 so of course it won't do it on S4 because it will be the same plus some more nice features.

What I don't understand is why some people expect Samsung to release a device without TW. You like it or not the Galaxy S saga has been always successful and it always had TW, so why would they change?

PS: daleski75 if you don't want to start a flame war don't write a title like this....
[Galaxy S 4 General] ipsuvedi:
Re: Touchwiz ruins the Galaxy S4

Touch Wiz is greatest launcher in android world.....sense is good -very battery hungry, timescape-very simple, lg ui-copy of touchwiz, motoblur- as name suggests very blurry:p.......eventually thes best stable and fast is touchwiz:D
[Galaxy S 4 General] Livebyte:
I repeat one more time. TouchWiz is not a goddamn launcher, it's a UX Skin with in-house developed features for Android.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Chillz88:
i have my distastes in both launchersin touchwiz and the sense experince.... i m gonna anyway use nova or apex... but the dialer and messaging apps are functional in touchwiz... the hovering function which lets you preview gmails amd messages by hovering through the messages without opening the convo sounds sweet... touchwiz looks a little cartoony than tc sense but functional than it
[Galaxy S 4 General] AMDPOWERFIST:
Ive been using AOSP for like 2 years now. Used it with the Galaxy S1 and Galaxy S2 (which i am using now)

I am actually ready to go back to TouchWiz to be honest, they say a change is as good as a holiday.

And although TouchWiz ISNT just a launcher.... Launchers like the new NEXT LAUNCHER 3D from the team who make Go Launcher and their million apps.... will go super smooth on an S4 with the incredible new screen and DPI.... I cant wait to upgrade from my S2...

Anyone keen to check out the Next Launcher 3D - Link here
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
Touchwiz doesn't need any "fix". It runs great. So it's a matter of liking it or not but saying "fix" mean something is broken, it isn't. There are millions of people who use it on the S2, S3, note 1 and 2 plus various other devices.

---------- Post added at 01:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:06 AM ----------

Exactly. The title of the thread doesn't make any sense to begin with. It's like saying HTC sense is bad. Bad for who? how bad? Touchwiz ruins the S IV... for who? you? everybody that likes it? come on man.
[Galaxy S 4 General] rl421403:
UltimaRom have almost all AOSP apps with Touchwiz apps. It only miss AOSP contact and dialer app. And that is what I am missing in any rom.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Not seen any trolls or anyone flaming me and if that was the case the mods would of closed this thread down long ago, I don't think people like me expect samsung to release a phone without touchwiz just to make it more refined and modern rather than looking like a themed gingerbread os overlay.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Maybe the thread title could be better and this thread was to get an idea about people's preference to touchwiz (like, hate, don't care) etc.