Stock Android, Sense, or touchwiz

[Luke_m]

I am going to get an upgrade soon and I was wondering if I should upgrade to the Samsung galaxy siii for touch wiz, one x for sense, or should I wait for the new LG nexus 4 with stock android?

 

[Metroid Prime]

I am using the S3 and I am loving Touchwiz. I had the Inspire and I thought sense was good, but IMO, I think touchwiz is great.

 

[Stuntman]

I personally liked Sense on my old HTC Desire Z more so than TouchWiz on my current SGS3. I am currently using Nova Prime launcher which replaces the TouchWiz home screen. Still there are some things I do like about TW on the SGS3 that are still preserved when using Nova.

 

[chrlswltrs]

The best, most streamlined (and therefor most lag free) experience will always be on stock Android. Plus a Nexus is the only way you know you won't be waiting over a year for your phone to update to the current OS. I personally will not ever buy another Non Nexus phone. I learned my lesson when I thought I was upgrading my Nexus S to a GSII.

 

[Luke_m]

Ya, I love touchwiz I have the galaxy sii skyrocket on AT&T but I hate the cartoonish icons on it. I am looking for a lot of customization .

 

[Luke_m]

So I'm going to try out stock android I think I'll love it.

 

[ravenas]

Ya, I love touchwiz I have the galaxy sii skyrocket on AT&T but I hate the cartoonish icons on it. I am looking for a lot of customization .

Touchwiz on the S3 is watered down alot from what you got on the S2. (I have the Sprint variants.)

I also own the Galaxy Nexus (stock unlocked GSM version from Google's Play store running on a prepaid T-Mobile account).

For me, the S3 is my more user friendly phone. I find Touchwiz's enhancements make the phone work better. It especially shows up when you compare the camera apps. Touchwiz' version has more features and filters. I love the ability to take a picture by voice. Helps when I'm holding the phone in an awkward position.

I also got to use the S Beam functionality with my brother's phone over the weekend. Works so well for trading photos and videos. My GNex has Android Beam but that only seems able to handle small data transfers like contacts and web pages. Every time I try to beam a photo it fails due to the large file size.

The Nexus phones will give you Android updates quicker but there's a huge caveat to that. If you are buying the phone through a carrier, then you'll still be stuck waiting for them to test and clear their bloatware versions. (Just look at how Verizon's GNex customers got screwed over the Jellybean update.) The only way to guarantee you'll get the latest OS push is if you buy an unlocked GSM phone (and use it on T-Mobile or AT&T in the USA).

My suggestion is to wait until November to decide. By then Samsung will probably be pushing Jellybean out to all the US carriers (Sprint & T-Mo will probably get it before Verizon. Like I said, bloatware is the culprit and Verizon is "King of Bloatware".). Then compare the handsets in person for their hardware feel and watch a few review videos online. Research it to death. You'll want a phone you can live with for 18 months at least.

The LG Nexus does not thrill me right now. As much as I like Jellybean and the Google Now features, not having a SD card slot is a deal killer for me. I like to use my phone as my mobile camera. I NEED a 32GB SD card to handle all my photo and video storage for a trip.

No I don't have a bias against LG. My first smartphone was an LG Optimus. It was a handy little phone that held up to a lot of drops and kicks. However I do prefer Samsung's bigger, sexier design and Asus' revolutionary styling. Only manufacturers I truly dislike in the mobile sphere are Motorola (built to look and feel like ugly bricks) and HTC (Sense is so comically overburdened with widgets it doesn't even feel like Android).

Good luck with your phone choice!

 

[Luke_m]

Touchwiz on the S3 is watered down alot from what you got on the S2. (I have the Sprint variants.)

I also own the Galaxy Nexus (stock unlocked GSM version from Google's Play store running on a prepaid T-Mobile account).

For me, the S3 is my more user friendly phone. I find Touchwiz's enhancements make the phone work better. It especially shows up when you compare the camera apps. Touchwiz' version has more features and filters. I love the ability to take a picture by voice. Helps when I'm holding the phone in an awkward position.

I also got to use the S Beam functionality with my brother's phone over the weekend. Works so well for trading photos and videos. My GNex has Android Beam but that only seems able to handle small data transfers like contacts and web pages. Every time I try to beam a photo it fails due to the large file size.

The Nexus phones will give you Android updates quicker but there's a huge caveat to that. If you are buying the phone through a carrier, then you'll still be stuck waiting for them to test and clear their bloatware versions. (Just look at how Verizon's GNex customers got screwed over the Jellybean update.) The only way to guarantee you'll get the latest OS push is if you buy an unlocked GSM phone (and use it on T-Mobile or AT&T in the USA).

My suggestion is to wait until November to decide. By then Samsung will probably be pushing Jellybean out to all the US carriers (Sprint & T-Mo will probably get it before Verizon. Like I said, bloatware is the culprit and Verizon is "King of Bloatware".). Then compare the handsets in person for their hardware feel and watch a few review videos online. Research it to death. You'll want a phone you can live with for 18 months at least.

The LG Nexus does not thrill me right now. As much as I like Jellybean and the Google Now features, not having a SD card slot is a deal killer for me. I like to use my phone as my mobile camera. I NEED a 32GB SD card to handle all my photo and video storage for a trip.

No I don't have a bias against LG. My first smartphone was an LG Optimus. It was a handy little phone that held up to a lot of drops and kicks. However I do prefer Samsung's bigger, sexier design and Asus' revolutionary styling. Only manufacturers I truly dislike in the mobile sphere are Motorola (built to look and feel like ugly bricks) and HTC (Sense is so comically overburdened with widgets it doesn't even feel like Android).

Good luck with your phone choice!

Thank you so much! I will definitely consider touchwiz. I am very anxious to see what Samsung will do with its galaxy s4. After watching videos with the Samsung galaxy siii running Touchwiz Nature UX, I was very impressed by what they brought to the table.

If the rumors are true about the LG nexus 4, I will be very disappointed with the non-removable battery, 8gb of storage, and the awful design. I honestly hope these rumors aren't true. If so, I will definitely go with touchwiz!

Thank you!

 

[mikedt]

I also got to use the S Beam functionality with my brother's phone over the weekend. Works so well for trading photos and videos. My GNex has Android Beam but that only seems able to handle small data transfers like contacts and web pages. Every time I try to beam a photo it fails due to the large file size.

Are their any advantages in using S Beam rather than regular Bluetooth for sharing your videos, photos and songs with your friends? S Beam assumes you both have current Samsung phones, and Android Beam seems rather useless if it's limited to web-pages and contact details, and again assumes you both have Android devices.

Bluetooth should work with pretty much any device, and has no restrictions on file sizes or content.

 

[Wilkas]

Touchwiz is awful, it makes the version of android look like a really old one. Sense has been scaled back a lot in the past couple of versions and looks great but I am starting to really like the look of stock android... getting myself a desire x for a second phone for work and really thinking about trying to root it.

 

[ravenas]

Are their any advantages in using S Beam rather than regular Bluetooth for sharing your videos, photos and songs with your friends? S Beam assumes you both have current Samsung phones, and Android Beam seems rather useless if it's limited to web-pages and contact details, and again assumes you both have Android devices.

Bluetooth should work with pretty much any device, and has no restrictions on file sizes or content.

Honestly I haven't used bluetooth for anything other than speakers. I'll have to give it a try. S Beam did work extremely well. I think as long as you have a Galaxy S3 or higher (that means Galaxy Note 2, next year's S4) it should work just fine. Who knows, maybe Google will upgrade Android Beam to support larger files. They seem to have copied a lot of ideas from the S2 already.

 

[mikedt]

Honestly I haven't used bluetooth for anything other than speakers. I'll have to give it a try. S Beam did work extremely well. I think as long as you have a Galaxy S3 or higher (that means Galaxy Note 2, next year's S4) it should work just fine. Who knows, maybe Google will upgrade Android Beam to support larger files. They seem to have copied a lot of ideas from the S2 already.

Using Bluetooth for sharing pictures, videos and songs with friends and acquaintances is something I've always done, long before Android and back when I was using Nokia Symbian phones. Just put BT to "visible" on the receiving phone, and select and send on the sending phone, that's pretty much it, they don't even have to be paired.

I've got a Lenovo ICS 4.0 phone, it doesn't appear to have Android Beam on it. But in the Gallery function, there's a share with Bluetooth icon. So that's what I use. Same when friends wish to share their pictures with me.

 

[Omar Days]

Well I had sense with my desire hd, then moved on to a galaxy note which has touchwiz, and stock with my nexus7 and now recently rooted with jellybean rom on my desire hd. My next phone is going to be the new nexus phone IF one of the ones being released has an sd slot, but that's for another thread and discussion.

I dunno, i just prefer vanilla android. Seems cleaner, smoother etc no lag. Just works. Touchwiz and sense seem to slow up imo after a while.

You could try rooting your current phone and put stock custom rom on it and see how you like it. That's what i did.

 

[blarelli]

The new version of TouchWiz is significantly better than what it was the last time I was shopping for a phone two years ago. I do prefer the look and feel of Sense over TouchWiz, but a lot of the functionality Samsung has built into it would probably make me choose it over Sense now.

However, I ended up shoveling out my money for a galaxy nexus. I would wait for the nexus for the sole reason that it will always have the latest and greatest.

 

[damewolf13]

Just keep in mind that no matter which phone you go with, you can always change and tweak any of them by putting in another home launcher. There are several really good ones available in Playstore. I use Go Launcher Ex, but also like Apex very much, as well. There is little reason, anymore, to let the stock launcher on any phone be the deciding factor on which phone to purchase.

 

[chrlswltrs]

Just keep in mind that no matter which phone you go with, you can always change and tweak any of them by putting in another home launcher. There are several really good ones available in Playstore. I use Go Launcher Ex, but also like Apex very much, as well. There is little reason, anymore, to let the stock launcher on any phone be the deciding factor on which phone to purchase.

A launcher also has very little to do with an OEM skin. If that is all it was the skin would never influence my phone buying decision at all. I would say the launcher is maybe 5-10% off what the skin is.

I currently use Nova launcher on my stock android ROM. Before ICS I used launcher pro.

 

[Luke_m]

Hello,

There are plenty of new phones out right now that I'd like to buy all with different UIs. I am looking for a very clean, customizable, and stylish UI. Witch UI should I want in a smartphone?

 

[chanchan05]

If you want customizeable, none of the three. You'd want to install a different launcher like Nova or Apex.

And the answer to the question again as well is none of the three. Each person has a different opinion. Some like TouchWiz over Sense or Stock or whatever way around. Best option is to just try them at the store or look at videos.

 

[Metroid Prime]

Touch Wiz is great and so is sense, but I have never tried the stock UI.
On my old Inspire I really liked sense and after upgrading to the latest Gingerbread update to sense 3.0 it was even better. Now I have the S3 and Touch wiz is very nice also and is smooth as well.
It all comes down to personal preference really and everyone has his/her opinion on which UI they like better. I like Touch Wiz and I like sense, but I have never tried the latest version of sense, but I can say I think they are both solid UI's.