For the past couple of years, I have been a big fan of Samsung’s One UI design language on Galaxy phones. That changed with the update to version 8.5. I’m not alone. Many people are swapping out their home screens for custom launchers and replacing Samsung apps with alternatives. What did Samsung get so wrong?
One UI 8.5 isn’t a massive failure
There are just too many inconsistencies
I like the general look of Android, but I’ve actually preferred Samsung’s modifications in recent years. Everything from the choice of widgets to the quick status icons to the design of stock apps felt more minimalist, consistent, and practical on Samsung devices than Google‘s. But while I still don’t like the design decisions Google makes for its first-party apps, it’s hard to knock Material 3 Expressive as a whole. It’s a beautiful design language.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s latest round of app updates feels like a serious case of fixing what wasn’t broken. Sidebars that used to go all the way to the edge of the screen now have an awkward gap. Folder icons in Samsung My Files have really dialed up the use of gradients. The Contacts app now has giant contact cards, a design element not quite seen in any other app. The Clocks app has some sort of glow.
In my view, the best looking Samsung apps are now the ones that have been left alone. Samsung Music hasn’t received a lot of attention in ages, and it seems better off for it. Samsung’s update is by no means a failure on the level of Apple’s Liquid Glass, but it doesn’t feel like an improvement either. Things are starting to look inconsistent in a way that reminds me this is the company that gave us TouchWiz.
The AI encroachment continues
It’s all about Gemini, Galaxy AI, and Bixby
We are a few years into most of the major smartphone companies branding their phones as AI phones, but only a few have fully leaned into it. Many have only gone so far as to add a dedicated physical button that pulls up an AI chatbot and other gimmicky features. Yet with each new version of One UI, Samsung has leaned further into making sure its AI features are front and center.
Whether you’re opening the app drawer, the file manager, or the calendar app, you can expect a floating search bar at the bottom. This small tweak is the biggest UI change of the entire release. Samsung’s big bet is that search is one of the more useful ways you can use AI built into your phone, and it wants to make this functionality obvious. In the process, Samsung has added clutter and created confusion about where to look for the search option in each app. The search bar is also sometimes smaller and more difficult to reach than it used to be prior to the update.
When it comes to Bixby, Samsung’s new Perplexity-based version is a mixed bag. It’s not only more chatty, but it’s also less reliable. Bixby used to be a dependable and predictable way to control not only my Samsung phone but any smart home devices connected through Samsung SmartThings. Now, as is the case with all LLM-based tools, there’s just no predicting exactly what it’s going to do. This is frustrating for someone who has only recently discovered how useful Bixby could be. Now that relationship with Bixby has wound up to be very short-lived.
One UI 8.5 doesn’t fix what needs fixing
There is still much about Samsung software that needs attention
I recently traded in my Samsung Galaxy Fold 6 for a Moto Razr Fold. I’ve already written about how much better Motorola’s hardware is than Samsung when it comes to the camera, battery life, and charging speeds—but what convinced me to get to Razr Fold the most was actually software.
My view is that Motorola has just the right approach to Android. Take stock Android and add a few enticing features on top that blend in perfectly with Android’s existing design language. As a foldable lover, the main feature that won me over is Motorola’s approach to multitasking. There are many ways to multitask on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, but the experience of using more than two apps at once is awkward. I’ve watched for years as other foldables have done it better.
Now Motorola offers the option to have three apps open side by side and pan between them. Alternatively, I can rotate between up to three apps in a carousel. As someone who again uses my phone as my PC, this quality of life improvement makes it so much easier to get work done.
Samsung once led the way with this sort of thing. The Z Fold’s multitasking features were originally impressive, and the company has stuck by DeX for almost a decade—but now other foldables have a better workflow and DeX is no longer the only option for Android desktop. I’m glad Samsung fixed One UI’s messy quick settings, but that isn’t enough. Instead of catching up, Samsung seems to be merely falling further behind.
Customers will only put up with so much
My Motorola phone comes with AI features, but they’re tucked behind a physical button that I have never once pressed. As an end user, this is great. The functionality is there if I want it, but it’s also easy to ignore.
From a corporate standpoint, this is bad design. They want me to use AI, and this button clearly isn’t working. What do you do? What you do is release Galaxy One UI 8.5. You keep placing AI front and center, while ignoring the signals that at a certain point, your customer might just leave—and if they can’t leave, they’ll swap out your software for someone else’s. Niagara Launcher has never looked more like a better fix for your bloated Samsung device than it does right now.
