As a UX designer, personally I prefer the lightweight experience on my Nexus device with Google’s stock android (AOSP)… The reason is simple: after a years with Samsung’s devices with their TouchWiz interface, I always suffered from some lags and inconsistency in the UI, so even though I had a powerful device with a strong processor and a great GPU, the user-experience on the software side was poor. And if it’s not enough, fully featured OS from other manufactures always came with their proprietary apps and services (AKA Bloatware).

Beside that, I always wanted the latest Android versions, so I always installed other android distributions (alternative Roms) such as the famous CyanogenMod, and then installed on top of that everything I wanted from scratch! Last month I went to buy the new google phone, the Nexus 6, but it’s a huge device even for me! So I decided that I’m not going to give up on Android’s pure experience, and I bought a brand new Nexus 5! What can I say? I’m so happy with that! At the beginning I tried it as stock for one week, but once Xposed framework (just like Cydia, but only for android) for 5.1 Lollipop released, I’ve rooted my device and… let the fun begin!

Samsung’s TW-UX vs. Google’s Material-Design

So now I believe in starting from the Lightweight experience, and building on top of it (if you are a power-user and really have a need for customization). so things like Multi-windows, customizable Toggles & menus, mods and other fun stuff are just around the corner, and the general UX remains buttery smooth with Maximum FPS, so why suffer with TW like frameworks?!? No thanks! I’m done with that! The nexus experience is just like an iPhone experience, only better for those of us who prefer tweaking and customizations in the easy way, without waiting too much. I wish that GPE (Google play edition) devices from other manufactures will be available again on Google play store, I would buy Galaxy S6 edge GPE, but until then, I’m gonna stay with my Nexus! Oh, and I’m also very happy to see that even on XDA community forums, there are developers that are talking about UX and they also understand how important it is in nowadays.

One more thing… GOOGLE, please bring PROJECT ARA to the market already! 😉