Consistency and the future of One UI

[BambooPyanda]

Hi everyone.

As a software developer, recently I've been thinking about what makes a good mobile operating system - what makes people enjoy interacting with it and what builds brand loyalty. Apple have built a massive cult following, which I believe is largely down to the consistency of their products. The UI is the same everywhere. All of the buttons look the same, all of the fonts are the same, all of the layouts are the same, the animations (arguably the most important) are all the same. What I think has happened is that Samsung has seen Apple's success and tried to move towards Apple's design, which I don't actually think is necessarily a bad thing - I really like the design of OneUI 7.

But what we really, really, desperately need as Samsung users is some consistency. Instead of changing the quick settings panel and the design of everything every year, focus on consistency and incremental improvements. This is what people really want, and this is what reduces the number of bugs and makes the whole user experience better. This will build in people's minds what Samsung is as a brand - not justanother Android phone, but THAT Android phone. There are just so many places in the UI where there are differences in design, differences in animations, differences in blur, differences in colour - the list goes on and on. But with time and iterational change, I believe that these issues can be ironed out.

Another thing with Apple devices is that the UI is so universal across devices. Everything is located in exactly the same place, even across phones and tablets. This is something we are not seeing with this release of OneUI 7, as new devices in the beta have so many differences. It really makes for an uneven experience, and that is not what Samsung needs to build and maintain a good user base. And I understand fully that this is only a beta and it will be much better by the time the stable release comes around, but I just feel like we need more consistency across devices.

Just as a side note, I love Samsung! What they're doing with OneUI 7 is amazing. I think the designs are beautiful and they are doing a great job, even despite the delays. I am simply suggesting a way forward through the next few versions of OneUI. If anyone has anything to add, drop it below!

[Joeeye]

That is a very detailed and concise take on the current state of OneUI 7 beta builds at the moment. However do remember that these are still beta and the final builds are yet to be decided. I've recently done a comparison from OneUI 1 to OneUI 7 screen elements, mostly focused on the menus and layouts. As many would agree, Samsung have remained very consistent throughout the whole time. One of the reasons I prefer Samsung is because all the usual settings and options have remained consistent over the past 7 years. This applies to all of their devices, from their phones, watches, buds and tablets that I've used.

I would like to add however, that quick setting icons are not as obvious and unless users have taken a great deal of time learning each icon, these can be quite confusing. Perhaps some kind of snap hints or legends button to illustrate briefly what each icon means would be helpful rather than having to pull down again to expand their labels. Also allowing all elements to be re-positioned and not tied together, would be most helpful as some have already suggested before.

It's interesting to note that Android 16 beta has already adopted Samsung's idea and use of placing the media controls under the quick settings menu on the latest beta build.

[BambooPyanda]

Thanks for your detailed response too! Of course, there are lots of things which have remained consistent. I meant more in terms of the visual design rather than layout, but I agree that the layout has stayed pretty much the same. But I feel that it would be useful for Samsung to really focus on interating on this current OneUI version (as it was a really big overhaul) rather than continuing to make massive changes. I think if you asked lots of people about the UI of Apple devices they would have quite a definitive and firm picture of it just due to the consistency of the UI elements (e.g. shapes used, button/label designs, etc), but if you asked the same about Samsung devices they might not (we would, we both love Samsung!). That is interesting, I do actually like the media controls being in the quick settings - and I do of course understand that this is just a beta and everything is still in development so it is bound to change - I was just trying to give my take on how I think Samsung should continue in the future!

[AnnaMaz]

Hello @BambooPyanda,

Thank you for sharing such detailed feedback! I can assure you that we take into account the feedback we receive 😊

Have a good day!