Galaxy S6 to have user un-installable bloatware, Material Design improvements, and more

Touchwiz’s biggest critics have been waiting years for Samsung to get with the program, in terms of better optimizing the UI and removing extra “junk”. In the past few years we’ve heard more than one rumor about how Samsung will slim down Touchwiz, only to walk away disappointed in the end. Could things be different this time around with the Galaxy S6? We hope so.

In addition to rumors suggesting that Samsung is going to be optimizing Touchwiz to give “Nexus-like” levels of performance, about two weeks ago now a report from SamMobile suggested that Samsung would also be removing much of the bloatware. Instead, those wanting the removed apps could simply install them from the Samsung store or even Google Play. Now SamMobile is back with even more details about what to expect from the Galaxy S6’s software, and it’s looking pretty impressive so far.

Beyond simply decoupling many apps from the Touchwiz experience, Samsung is reportedly making it so nearly all pre-installed Samsung apps can be uninstalled by a user without special permissions or access to root. For all that it’s removing, it also seems that Samsung is introducing quite a few new pre-installed apps to the picture including a number of Microsoft apps such as OneNote, OneDrive, Office Mobile and Skype. More than likely this could have to do with the recent agreement Samsung and Microsoft reached, relating to their previous patent dispute.

It’s not just the apps that are changing, SamMobile’s “insider source” also claims that the much faster TouchWiz/Lollipop experience will have numerous Lollipop animations and effects, more colorful designs for Samsung apps and several other changes as highlighted n the list from SamMobile below:

• Samsung’s default keyboard app supposedly looks more like a mix between the keyboard on the Galaxy Tab S and the iOS keyboard.
• More theming options are available
• You can select between 4×4, 4×5 and 5×5 icon layouts for the app drawer
• The app drawer no longer supports endless cycling through the list of apps (meaning you can’t go back from the last page to the first without going back through the previous pages).
• The music app still runs in full-screen mode at all times
• The dialer app looks “green as grass”, or that’s what we were told.

It’s important to remember that all of this comes from a source we can’t independently confirm, and so we’d take this news with a grain of salt. After seeing Samsung promise big and deliver much more modest changes with each new phone, it’s hard not to remain skeptical at this point — though perhaps slowing sales have finally given Samsung the push it has (arguably) been needing.

What do you think, excited by the Galaxy S6 and the rumored Touchwiz changes? How likely do you think these changes are, or will most of them prove to be nothing more than rumors or exaggerations?