• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Android Version Debate: Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich vs Touchwiz vs HTC Sense

Fire_Bird

Newbie
Oct 19, 2011
29
2
First, the demo of Ice Cream Sandwich from the other night looks amazing! Looks like that they took a lot of the things that people liked about Touchwiz and Sense, and added them into the mix. Which begs the question, what is next?

I'm currently on iPhone, and want an android. Only would be looking at best phone running one of the three, sense, touchwiz, or vanilla ICS. Correct me if i'm wrong, but these would be respectively, Sensation, Galaxy SII, and Galaxy Nexus.

What are people's thoughts? If you have experience with Sense, given the demo of ice cream sandwich, if you were thinking of getting a new phone, would you be going vanilla for ICS? or would you wait for HTC's new sense adaptation of ICS?
Same question to those of you using touchwiz?

wait? or dive right in?
 
Sense is prettier than vanilla ICS. Vanilla is probably going to run smoother, but won't look as pretty. It's all about personal preference. Do you want something that sleek and snappy but not as flashy or do you want something that is flashy and has a little more features but not quite as snappy and sleek? It's a personal preference.
 
Upvote 0
HTC Sense:
In my personal opinion, really ugly. I just don't like the style. But the phones HTC makes are still really good. You can always pick a different launcher (different styled homescreens) or root your phone and get rid of it altogether, like I did.

Touchwiz:
Too minimalistic looking. This can also be fixed by just picking a different launcher, or rooting your phone.

ICS:
The best looking IMO, but I found the Gingerbread launcher to be somewhat glitchy. I can't say anything about the ICS launcher though =/ I've replaced the standard Gingerbread launcher with LauncherPro from the market.
 
Upvote 0
Definitely not going to bother waiting for TouchWiz integration. It's just so menial to me... and I love the vanilla Battery notifier... and Samsung always manages to make them ugly... Like the big blue one with Froyo.

However, Sense I'd wait for... but being the tech nut I am... I just want to dive right into anything new.
 
Upvote 0
I like Sense. I find that the widgets that come with sense are very good compared to most other widgets. I think that ICS will probably negate some of this advantage. I have a Honeycomb tablet and I find that some of the widgets resemble what I like about the Sense widgets. From looking at ICS, some widgets on the Galaxy Prime resemble those on my Eee Pad.

HTC will no doubt work on a new version of Sense. I am interested in what they can do that would improve upon vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich.
 
Upvote 0
F
What are people's thoughts? If you have experience with Sense, given the demo of ice cream sandwich, if you were thinking of getting a new phone, would you be going vanilla for ICS? or would you wait for HTC's new sense adaptation of ICS?
Same question to those of you using touchwiz?

wait? or dive right in?

And to answer your question, I'm waiting on HTC's version of ICS. If I like it as much as I've liked past versions of Sense, I will stick with HTC. If not, I will explore other options. I'm not itching to get a new phone so I don't mind waiting to see what HTC has up it's sleeve.
 
Upvote 0
However, Sense I'd wait for... but being the tech nut I am... I just want to dive right into anything new.

Ya that's my issue!! I am still using my iphone 3gs and GOD ITS SO FREAKING SLOW FOR ME!!!

I just want to get a sweet SWEET phone, and roll with that for a couple years.
i don't see the point of getting a phone even 4 months after launch, i just get it day one, so i hope they do a lot of previews for the new sense and touchwiz versions


when i started my android search, i was dead set on the galaxy s3 whenever that comes out next year, but now after talking to lots of people, and how people really REALLY like sense, that may be the way to go actually...
 
Upvote 0
Vanilla Android is always going to run better than Android with a skin on top.

ICS took a lot from custom ROMs like CM7. It took the best of everything that everyone liked about modified versions of android and incorporated it into a great upgrade for Android. Also the launcher is a lot more like LauncherPro Plus, so I might even stick with the stock launcher for the first time in years.
 
Upvote 0
when i started my android search, i was dead set on the galaxy s3 whenever that comes out next year, but now after talking to lots of people, and how people really REALLY like sense, that may be the way to go actually...

there are just as many people that HATE Sense, including me. It doesnt add much functionality (even less with ICS) and it slows the system down A LOT!! I will never own a HTC phone with Sense.
 
Upvote 0
lol, most people on forums like this are PERPETUALLY itching for a new phone. I used to be like that.

I am usually ok with a new phone for about 6 months then I start getting the itch for a new one. I have been good with my Nexus S for about 10 months, so better than most. I can't manage to keep a phone longer than a year though Before I have to get a new one :cool:
 
Upvote 0
anything will be better than my current phone, so thats the first step.

as far as sense and touchwiz are concerned, I have watched hours of comparisons, and demos, and other videos trying to get an idea of what i prefer more, but its not an easy thing to grasp. I have had a lot of opportunity to play around with touchwiz at my local best buy, but they don't have a functional demo of any htc phone, so i can't get a first hand feeling. to me, all of them look pretty sweet!!
 
Upvote 0
there are just as many people that HATE Sense, including me. It doesnt add much functionality (even less with ICS) and it slows the system down A LOT!! I will never own a HTC phone with Sense.

Really? I couldn't disagree more. I find the widgets and the other little quirks about Sense to be extremely functional and, like I said before, I can't live without those Sense widgets. I've tried other widgets but they're just not the same. And my Droid Incredible 2 is CRAZY fast and fluid. No lag whatsoever. I had a D1 for over a year and a half before getting my DINC2 (which I've only had for about a month) so I've got plenty of experience with vanilla Android and I'm just not interested (vanilla ICS does look good but I'm still willing to wait and see what HTC does with it).

I think Sense is perfect for people like me who don't have the time (or just don't care) to get into extreme personalization (such as rooting/rom'ing and downloading launchers like LPP). I just want to be able to change my wallpaper and use some cool widgets and I'm good.
 
Upvote 0
there are just as many people that HATE Sense, including me. It doesnt add much functionality (even less with ICS) and it slows the system down A LOT!! I will never own a HTC phone with Sense.

(i know i'm just going to stir the pot by saying this lol)

so you would argue that the touchwiz interface adds more functionality? in what ways?

(keep in mind i'm not judging in any way, i have really no clue, just wondering about opinions)
 
Upvote 0
people like me who don't have the time (or just don't care) to get into extreme personalization (such as rooting/rom'ing and downloading launchers like LPP). I just want to be able to change my wallpaper and use some cool widgets and I'm good.

so to you, personalization is more available right out of the box as opposed to other UIs?
 
Upvote 0
so to you, personalization is more available right out of the box as opposed to other UIs?

Overall, I feel that HTC Sense gives the best "out of the box" experience over any UI, BY FAR. Vanilla Android and Moto Blur don't even come close. I've only used TouchWiz a little, but just based on the hundreds of videos I've seen of the SGS2, I doubt that it's better "out of the box" than Sense (but I could be wrong).

If you're gonna root and rom (which I doubt I ever will again), then I suppose it doesn't matter much which UI comes with the phone. Also, a lot of people like vanilla android because phones with it tend to get updates first.
 
Upvote 0
(i know i'm just going to stir the pot by saying this lol)

so you would argue that the touchwiz interface adds more functionality? in what ways?

(keep in mind i'm not judging in any way, i have really no clue, just wondering about opinions)

I don't have enough experience with touchwiz to make a comparison.

And it only takes an extra 30 seconds to download LPP on a new phone before you set up your home screen to begin with, plus it is way more customizable.
 
Upvote 0
Functionalities TouchWiz adds? Well the only one I can think off thats not present in Sense or vanilla Android is the ability to make 3G video calls right out of the box to ANY phone regardless of make (Samsung, Nokia, whatever), as long as the phone being called and the network supports it.

Other stuff it adds nice touches. A swipe to the left or right in the phonebook automatically calls or opens sms edit for that person immediately, and a number of other small stuff, mostly in Samsung apps, not really Tw itself. Although TW does have a number of nice widgets, and others available in the Samsung store. They used to give away games like NFS shift free there for Samsung branded phones.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones