My thoughts on ONE UI 4

[vdelvecchio]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think Samsung dropped the ball on this.  This shouldn't be called ONE UI 4.  AT BEST it should be ONE UI 3.5.  There's really nothing new here that warrants a new UI number.  No major UI/graphics/usability changes.  Whereas, the Pixel looks AMAZING.  Totally new design, and it's "basic" Android 12.  Samsung puts its proprietary skin (ONE UI) on, and it's a "downgrade" from the Pixel.  I expected a lot more from Samsung.  Now, unless they're saving a ton of new stuff for the final release, Samsung lost a lot of chutzpah.

What's everyone else's thoughts?

[Dhawk1202]

I don't understand. You bought a Samsung knowing it's not stock Android, and you want Samsung to be more stock. I agree stock Android looks great these days, but that's not what we will get here.

[vdelvecchio]

No, I bought a Samsung because the ONE UI was on par or exceeded stock Android. Now it's flipped.

[JRock1276]

It's just more of Samsung stuck in their ways and afraid to do something new. They don't realize that update after update of the same blah will ruin you. Ask HTC and LG.

[PaperStation]

I mean your opinion is valid but I don't think the number would make you happy. If Samsung changed the name to one UI 3.5 you would still be unhappy because it's not offering the full Pixel Android 12 theming. Fact is what Samsung offers is already going above and beyond since the Pixel theming that is on the new Pixel 6 was not released to AOSP for Android 12. This is what vendors base their build on. Google tends to reserve some features to the pixel and not release the source to everyone at first. Rumor has it that Google might publish the codes for the themes for the Android 12.1 release but until then that feature is a Pixel exclusive and would still not be fully available even on stock Android ROMs. I don't really think Samsung should invest time coding a theme engine to fully mimick the Pixel when the code for that might be released when Android 12.1 is out.

[vdelvecchio]

If Samsung called this an incremental release (i.e., 3.x) until Google released the code for full Android theme, I'd be fine with that. But to call this a full new version is stretching the truth. I see nothing new here that warrants a full new version number.

[PaperStation]

All of the previous One UI iterations did not have much of a revamp on visuals as well though. Just slight visuals and rest are features or ease of use but I feel now that Pixel made a higher UI revamp everyone expectation is fully on visuals change this time around. Maybe they will do a One UI 4.1 when Android 12.1 release with the full code for the dynamic themes.

[ucancwhatic]

Samsung started the coding theme engine with Theme park..🤷🏾‍:male_sign:

[user751201tmO21]

Yea, I don't see much to warrant a UI 3.1 to UI 4.

But then again, I'm not much of an eye candy type.

[Focr06]

But... Vanilla Android 12 looks ugly and chunky! This why I love Theme Park! My phone doesn't have to look ugly like android 12 or One UI 3 /4. Customized to make it how I want it! Which is all black backgrounds, clear ish, semi opaque, enough to give it contrast from the font to be easily distinguished. And use Nova Launcher to use better gestures and vertical scrollable app drawer. We all have different taste and this is why Samsung is ahead, because you can customize these things, not really on vanilla Android, unless you root.. 🤷🏼‍:female_sign: It just depends how much you want to get into customizing