TouchWiz
TouchWiz is a UI (User Interface) front end for Samsung Android devices. TouchWiz is featured on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 as well as other models. It is sometimes wrongly called an Operating System, which it is not. It resides on top of the Android OS on Samsung phones and tablets.
TouchWiz "Nature" (the name of the TouchWiz version) was released for the Galaxy S4 and on the Galaxy Note 3. The Lite version of 3.0 was the "plain" edition of the original 3.0. The first device with TouchWiz 3.0 Lite is Samsung Galaxy Proclaim. The original version of TouchWiz was first introduced by the Samsung Galaxy S. The Second Version of TouchWiz was preloaded on the Samsung Galaxy S II.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) comes preloaded with TouchWiz 3.0 while the Plus model comes with TouchWiz 4.0, Upgradable to TouchWiz Nature UX. To see what version of TouchWiz your Samsung Android device is running do the following:
- From the Home Screen goto the Context menu
- Choose Settings, then Applications Manager
- Select the tab labeled "ALL"
- Under "TouchWiz Home" the version is displayed below the title.
Criticism of TouchWiz
Samsung's TouchWiz launcher has received seemingly high disapproval from Android users. Some of this is due to the packing of additional software apps "bloatware" that comes with TouchWiz and cannot be removed without root. Other criticism comes from the fact that it has a different control interface when compared to standard Android, making it difficult to use by some used to the standard Android layout. TouchWiz also causes delays in Android OS updates to Samsung device users because Samsung needs time to update TouchWiz after each new Android OS is released.
