Samsung has unveiled a new version of its TouchWiz user interface for Android. TouchWiz 4 is designed specifically for Android tablets running Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb, making it the first custom user interface set to run on top of Google’s new tablet operating system.The first tablets to use the new TouchWiz software will be the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 inch tablets which are due out this summer.
The software won’t actually be available when the tablets launch, but will come as a future upgrade.
TouchWiz offers a few key features including Live Panels which display constantly updated information on your home screen from various apps. The panels actually remind me a lot of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 home screen interface.
There’s also a Mini App Tray that provides quick access to running apps. It’s not that different from the multitasking solution offered by Google in Android 3.0, but it looks more like an OS X-style dock.
TouchWiz 4 also features a Social Hub with quick access to email, messaging, and other social feeds.
I really don’t see a single reason Samsung needs to remake the UI instead of adding functionality via an App. Just make some killer UI enhancements via Samsung specific apps that will only run on Samsung devices. Then support Google in updates so everyone can get updates quickly and they can add the UI enhancement apps if they want or not.
Unless Samsung proves they can get Android updates to the user within a week or two of Google releasing an Android update then I won’t be using any of their touchwiz products and I would strongly suggest that every customer stick with products that will get updates quickly till these companies figure out a way to work in their enhancements without screwing up Android updates.
He pried of the head of the figure and got busy fitting a servo into the Android’s body to enable head movement.