As an Android user and developer, it's always annoying reading reviews where Samsung gets 9.5 out of ten and they give a terrible review to the competition because they have a slightly better camera. They give you a terrible Touch Wiz UI/whatever crap interface they switched to, change all the fonts, move around menu items and buttons, slightly change all the stock apps to be worse, push their garbage store, etc. Samsung Galaxy 1 was legitimately a good phone, but all the modern reviews just feel like author grew up with all the garbage that Samsung brings and thinks that is actually a good experience

This is exactly my concern with Samsung's upcoming trifold phone: I'm excited about the idea of a trifold phone, but I definitely don't want to use a phone that has anything other than the stock Android experience.

I absolutely prefer modern OneUI on Samsung phones to the Pixel variant or stock AOSP. The Galaxy store is only used for updating Samsung native apps and isn't "pushed" at all in my experience. I don't use their native apps for the most part and them existing isn't a problem for me, Google apps are preinstalled and work as expected set once as the default.

>I absolutely prefer modern OneUI on Samsung phones to the Pixel variant or stock AOSP.

I'm deeply interested in knowing why, if the answer is anything besides you have always or mostly used Samsung and are used to it.

> Samsung should be avoided like the plague anyway

I've avoided them for years. I had a Samsung phone a long time ago, and I'd rooted it to run one of those apps that could automate tasks (Tasker?), with a killer feature being when I turn my phone upside down, it goes on silent mode. Standard now, but back then wasn't possible on Android, and Tasker enabled it. And also some geofencing stuff. If I got a text while going faster than 10mph it would respond back "driving right now, will respond later."

Anyway, Samsung released an upgrade that I'd heard would eradicate root and make it impossible going forward. Something to do with Knox, a corporate way of locking down phones for employees.

I repeatedly declined to upgrade.

Finally, one night, with my phone in another room, it force-installed the update, with Knox, on my phone, wiping out my root, making it impossible going forward, and making Tasker worthless for me.

I've never given Samsung another cent. No company that will disobey me re my own property and will remotely hack my device and wipe out my content can be trusted, and that's essentially what they did.

For similar reasons, I've never given Sony any money since the rootkit scandal. 2025 marks twenty years of no Sony. I've probably unknowingly seen a few Sony films, but that's it. No electronics, no games, etc.