Interface on the Samsung Genio Touch
The Samsung Genio touch is designed to appeal to a young audience, with its interchangeable battery covers and its robust, rounded shape. However, the Samsung Genio Touch user interface is based on the incredibly popular touch screen technology that used to be the reserve of high end smartphones, but which over the past year Samsung has been aiming to bring to those who do not wish to spend hundreds of pounds on a phone and yet who still want the benefits that touch screen technology offers. Many phones now offer touch screen interaction, but can the Samsung Genio Touch user interface stand out enough to make it feel a lot more expensive than its low price point would imply?
Interfacing with the Genio Touch is driven by the 2.8 inch touch screen display. This is not the biggest screen in the world, but then the Genio Touch is aiming to slip easily into small bags and pockets so its size should be seen as a benefit. The Samsung Genio Touch user interface is based on the TouchWiz UI which is found on a wide variety of new Samsung handsets and this allows for a range of neat features to tantalise your finger tips.
The first benefit of the new TouchWiz UI is the inclusion of 3 completely customisable home screens. You can change the background picture for each and fill them up with widgets to your heart’s content. The purpose of the widgets is to provide miniaturised versions of fuller applications, or to give you a direct shortcut to your most frequently used apps. With three home screens available you can conceivably set one up for when you are hitting the books, one for when you are out with your mates and one for when you are relaxing at home. This kind of advanced functionality is usually only found on Samsung’s more expensive smartphones, but the Genio Touch is able to compete with the best of them in this area.
When you get away from the home screens and into the other menus of the Samsung Genio Touch user interface, there are more touch functions to enjoy. For example, when you are viewing a long list of items, whether contacts, messages or indeed media, you can use a single finger to kinetically scroll your way around the list. That means a swipe up or a swipe down will send the items flying past and it all depends on the ferocity of your motion, so you can easily control the speed once you have become used to it.
The Samsung Genio Touch user interface does not just use the touch screen. Because this phone uses resistive touch technology it cannot register more than one touch at once. As such, if you are viewing a web page and you want to zoom in on a particular item then you can use the volume rocker located on the side of the Genio Touch. The phone also benefits from a built in accelerometer, which automatically changes the view from portrait to landscape when you hold it sideways.
One slight issue with the touch sensitivity of the Genio Touch is that it is not quite as responsive or as slick as the other low price Samsung touch screen handset, the Tocco Lite. It is likely that rather than being a hardware problem it could be a result of the advanced interface and software struggling on occasion because of the modest power of the Genio’s processor. However, despite this minor limitation, the Samsung Genio Touch user interface is much easier to use than the first generation of touch screen phones, which should help to put things into perspective.
Tags: samsung, samsung genio, samsung genio touch