Not all Samsung users are crazy about TouchWiz. Like many other Android OEMs Samsung too slaps on its custom skin on top of the operating system. It brings a unique look and feel to the company’s devices as well as some exclusive features. However as a result the software on these devices can be heavy and bloated which ultimately reflects badly on the user experience. A report published today claims that Samsung is going to trim the fat off of TouchWiz and that its diet plan for the custom skin is very strict.
We saw a hint of this back when the Galaxy S5 was announced last year. Samsung removed some non-essential TouchWiz features and apps which were then made downloadable so users could still get them if they wanted.
Sammobile reports today that Samsung is removing “every add-on feature” which can be downloaded separately as an app. This would go a long way in making TouchWiz more lean and optimized.
The report doesn’t say which features and apps will be removed and which will remain but other reports suggest that Samsung wants to optimize the software to near Nexus levels.
Only removing bloatware from the software isn’t going to do much for the user experience even though its a good start. Samsung will also have to make improvements to the underlying code and optimize TouchWiz as a whole so that users can really take advantage of the much leaner custom Android skin.