Items tagged with touchwiz
Samsung is testing a very big TouchWiz redesign in China and Korea right now. A “New Note UX” redesign on the Galaxy Note 5 is part of the new Samsung Galaxy Beta Program. The test makes several changes to the original design. First, it eliminates the app drawer. Supposedly users in Eastern Asia prefer smartphones without an app drawer. The redesign places apps instead on consecutive home screens. This redesign has been seen previously on ZTE’s Axon phone, LG’s G5’s, the Huawei Mate 8 and various Lenovo products. Whether or not you feel this is a good move of course is up to your personal preference. Second, all of the icons have rounded square shapes or rounded square backdrops. The Dialer...
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In an attempt to stand out from one another, smartphone makers often add their own customizations to Android. These can range from complete overhauls to the user interface, to the addition of certain features not immediately available on stock Android builds. They have names, too -- for Samsung, it's called TouchWiz, and if you're not a fan, you'll be glad to know that the TouchWiz software won't be included on the Galaxy S6. Instead, Samsung is reportedly trying to optimize the software on its next flagship phone so that it feels less bloated and more responsive. While it won't be a stock Android experience, the UI will be closer to a Nexus device than a Galaxy S5. "We now have exclusive info...
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The Android smartphone wars are heating up here in Q2 with Samsung, HTC and soon LG releasing flagship devices targeted at luring in enthusiasts and mainstream consumers who might be looking to upgrade to the latest technologies and screen sizes. We just gave you a detailed evaluation of HTC's One (M8) for 2014 and today we're here to bring you our view of Samsung's new Galaxy S5 Android superphone... At Samsung's Unpacked event in February, we got some early hands-on time with the Galaxy S5 and what impressed us then is what impresses us now, now that we've had a few weeks to live and work with the device in house. The first thing that stands out is its beautiful 5.1-inch Super AMOLED...
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The Android smartphone wars are heating up here in Q2 with Samsung, HTC and soon LG releasing flagship devices targeted at luring in enthusiasts and mainstream consumers who might be looking to upgrade to the latest technologies and screen sizes. We just gave you a detailed evaluation of HTC's One (M8) for 2014 and today we're here to bring you our view of Samsung's new Galaxy S5 Android superphone. At Samsung's Unpacked event in February, we got some early hands-on time with the Galaxy S5 and what impressed us then is what impresses us now, now that we've had a few weeks to live and work with the device in house. The first thing that stands out is its beautiful 5.1-inch Super...
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It appears that Samsung has more in mind than just making physical changes to its flagship smartphone. Based on some leaked photos floating around cyberspace, Samsung is going for a visual overhaul as well, with the next version of its TouchWiz user interface (UI) overlay for Android looking a lot like Google Now. Twitter user "evleaks" posted a picture of the retooled TouchWiz UI on the microblogging site, giving viewers a glimpse of a tiled interface that could be the lovechild of Google Now and HTC's Blinkfeed, with a little Windows Phone DNA mixed in. Have a look for yourself: It's quite a different look than previous versions of TouchWiz, one that users are apt to either love or hate. The...
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Oh, Samsung, you of myriad form factors and zany ideas. We have a feeling that the company will get its own large display in a computer museum someday dedicated to all the mobile devices it’s been cranking out lately, from giant phablets to stylus-equipped tablets to an Android camera. The latest is a combination smartphone and camera called the SamsungGalaxy S4 Zoom. There are a few photos of the device leaking out onto the web, and they show what pretty much looks like a phone with a camera glued to the back. If you’re hoping for a great smartphone with just a better than average camera, you’ll probably be disappointed by the girth of the Galaxy S4 Zoom, but if you’re...
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Samsung has done an exceptional job the past few years building interest and recognition for their Galaxy-branded smartphones. The fervor isn’t quite on the level of Apple's iPhone launches, but if the attendance of their “Samsung Unpacked” event at Radio City Music Hall and the buzz on-line for today’s introduction is any indicator, Samsung has tapped into something big and earned a cult following, very much like Apple has over the years. And the sales figures back this up, of course, all of which show Samsung dominating the Android-based smartphone market. When a company is clearly on top, people tend to scrutinize every move a little (or lot) more closely, depending...
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Samsung has done an exceptional job the past few years building interest and recognition for their Galaxy-branded smartphones. The fervor isn’t quite on the level of Apple's iPhone launches, but if the attendance of their “Samsung Unpacked” event at Radio City Music Hall and the buzz on-line for today’s introduction is any indicator, Samsung has tapped into something big and earned a cult following, very much like Apple has over the years. And the sales figures back this up, of course, all of which show Samsung dominating the Android-based smartphone market. When a company is clearly on top, people tend to scrutinize every move a little (or lot) more closely, depending...
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It's inevitable that all good things eventually come to an end, but who could have predicted that Steve Kondik's stint working for Samsung wouldn't even last two years? You might know Kondik better as "Cyanogen," his online moniker that became a household name in Android rooting communities. He created CyanogenMod, easily the most popular set of third party ROMs for Android, a feat that wasn't lost on Samsung, which hired Kondik in August 2011. When he was hired, he promised to make "Android more awesome." He'll now have to do that outside of the confines of Samsung. Kondik announced his departure in a Google+ post dedicated to the Galaxy S4. It reads as a sort of mini review of the device, and...
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Samsung recently launched the follow up to their Galaxy Tab line of Android-based tablets, the Galaxy Note 10.1. Although the original Galaxy Note's form factor didn’t quite conform to either traditional tablets or smartphones, and some even dubbed it a “phablet”, it has been a huge success for Samsung and has sold millions of units worldwide. With the new Galaxy Note 10.1, not only does Samsung leverage the branding of one of its more popular products, but it’s bringing over some similar technology as well. Along with a few new design queues and software tweaks, the Galaxy Note 10.1 also features Samsung’s S-Pen stylus, which was one of the differentiating features...
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Samsung recently launched the follow up to their Galaxy Tab line of Android-based tablets, the Galaxy Note 10.1. Although the original Galaxy Note's form factor didn’t quite conform to either traditional smartphones or tablets, and some even dubbed it a “phablet”, it has been a huge success for Samsung and has sold millions of units worldwide. With the new Galaxy Note 10.1, not only does Samsung leverage the branding of one of its more popular products, but it’s bringing over some similar technology as well. Along with a few new design queues and software tweaks, the Galaxy Note 10.1 also features Samsung’s S-Pen stylus, which was one of...
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We have just returned from an event in New York City at which Samsung showed off a major software update, that’s coming to the popular Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. The update incorporates a new, fully customizable TouchWiz UX interface, with some new features like LivePanel and Mini Apps. The update also incorporates a new Samsung Media Hub user interface and Amazon Music Cloud Player, Kindle, and Words with Friends applications. A handful of enterprise-targeted features like VPN support, Wi-Fi printing, and others are also slated to arrive with the update, which will be delivered OTA shortly. Instead of blabbering on about what we saw, we thought it would be better to just show you what went...
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Another day, another new smartphone (or "featurephone," if you will) on AT&T's network. Today, Samsung Mobile is introducing its latest finger-friendly phone to grace America's largest GSM network, the Solstice. At first glance, the phone actually look a lot like the Samsung Instinct that did so well for Sprint last year, with a thin, polished design and a full 3" touch screen.There's also a virtual landscape QWERTY keyboard, TouchWiz interface, one-touch access to frequently used applications and social networks through new widgets for Facebook, MySpace and Yahoo! oneSearch, 3G data support, AT&T Navigator and AT&T Mobile Music. Users can also anticipate support for MMS (something...
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