What is UI (User Interface) in smartphones ?

Hello friends and welcome back to your own tech guide Techanalysia. Today we are going to discuss that what is UI (User Interface) in smartphones? Meaning of UI! Well with that said let's start.

In the world of smartphones, if we talk about operating systems, we all know that it's divided between two major platforms iOS & Android. But if we specifically talk about Android then we got different types of interfaces like EMUI, MIUI, Funtouch OS, Color OS, One UI, Oxygen OS, etc. Today in this article we are going to know, that what is this UI in the first place.

What is UI in smartphones OR What is Mobile UI

Basically, UI (User Interface) is a software front for interacting with the technical features of a smartphone. The interaction between user and mobile phone to perform any task, through an interface is called User Interface. 

By software front I mean, whenever you first time boot up your phone the animation you see while booting and after booting when first time your main screen loads up. the theme/layout, the icons of different apps installed, icons designs/boxes, whether you scroll up and down or swipe left-right to navigate, accessing your quick toolbar from bottom or up, the animation you saw when you uninstall an app.., basically all the features and contents with the phone when you see it or navigate through it, is UI of your particular smartphone. And this UI differs from phone to phone or we can say different phones from different brands have their own UI, which we call 'custom UI skin'.

The way you interact with your phone n any above of the manner I mentioned, is a UI (User Interface) in smartphones.

Take a look at the names of various types of user interfaces of different smartphone brands:-

• Oppo uses Color OS
• Realme uses Realme UI
• Xiaomi/Redmi uses MIUI
• Vivo uses Funtouch OS
• Samsung uses One UI
• Oneplus uses Oxygen OS
• HTC uses HTC Sense
• Apple uses iOS
• Asus uses ZenUI
• Nokia currently uses 'Android One program which is similar to stock android
• LG uses LG UX 

Why we need these custom UI skins?

Why we actually need these different UI skins instead of a pure stock Android platform? We all know that every smartphone band has its UI skins, which I mentioned above, the question is here is that why these all smartphone brands came with their own custom UI, while we had stock android? And maybe many of us still prefer stock android over these custom UI skins. Why don't these all smartphone brands quit their custom UIs and start using stock android?

Well, the answer to these questions is that the phone companies want to give their customers a different and unique experience from stock android by adding some additional features to the UI.

For instance, when we think about a flagship smartphone, we all know that that in the flagship devices of all companies comes with a high-end processor like, SD855+, SD865/Kirin 990/Exynos 990, a 64 MP quad or triple rear camera setup, a good vibrant colorful display, a 4500mAh/5000mAh battery, some kind of fast charging technology and that's it you got your flagship smartphone. Here I am trying to say that all this hardware thing is very common in every high-end flagship phone & this kind of hardware combination is somehow easily accessible to customers too.

Every brand nowadays giving these hardware specifications in their flagship phones, and that makes smartphones quite similar and boring in the hardware department, though they all are from different brands. But, here UI comes into play, different phone brands have their own custom UI skin providing different experiences from one another on the software front. UI gives you some extra software features which are something hardware can't give you and these additional software features creates a difference between two phones having similar hardware thing. 

So basically, UI gives you a new unique experience and this is necessary too, if all brands start using stock android so there'll be no difference in their phones to attract their customers. And over time hardware is going predictable and you can't simply compete on the hardware front nowadays, you need to constantly bring new innovations, and for that custom UI skin is a must.

For Example, Oxygen OS from Oneplus is by far the best custom UI skin I came across with, and the reason behind I'm saying this is that we all know that stock android is very good in a phone, but it is kind of barebone or basic; on the other hand in Oxygen OS you get layout/interface like a stock android but you'll also get some features which are missing from stock android like, call recorder/screen recorder, some gesture-based navigations, dark mode/theme, and all that stuff.

Conclusion

I hope you got a brief idea about what is UI (User Interface) in smartphones. And in my opinion stock android is good but a brand's own custom UI skin is better than stock android because you'll get some missing features of stock android plus some additional features that stock android can't give.

So tell me your favorite custom UI skin and also tell me why is that your favorite? And if you liked this article then do let me know in the comment section down below and share with your friends too.