As we fast approach Mobile World Congress this weekend and eagerly await for the official Galaxy S6 announcement from Samsung we’re once again treated with another leak from the pair of new devices. Samsung has been said to be completely rewriting TouchWiz, the company’s Android skin which is often called bloated and slow, and while there’s plenty of skepticism out there about what Samsung is going to do we’ve got a little glimpse of it today. Member Albe95 on the XDA Developers forum has posted four leaked Galaxy S6 apps for you to download and use right now on your Samsung device. These apps will most likely only work for an official Android 5.0 Lollipop build for Samsung phones, but feel free to try them if you’re still on Android 4.4 KitKat too.
The leaked apps include Optical Reader, GeoNews, GearManager, and Kids Mode. GearManager and Kids Mode have been around for some time now but are receiving complete visual refreshes including simplifying menus and the overall visual style. GeoNews and Optical Reader are a little bit newer but don’t seem to represent any Samsung apps of old at all. You’ll find bright, bold colors, lots of white space, an overflow menu on the top right, an arrow on the top left and an overall simplified style. Samsung has been known for their cluttered looking apps that often hide settings and important information in hidden menus and nested menus, making it difficult for users to know about all the things a particular app can do. Check the XDA source link below for all four downloads.
We’re also seeing a leak for the S-Note application for the Galaxy S6, although there’s no APK to download for this one. Much like the above applications Samsung has clearly tailored the visual style here to fit with the Material Design guidelines that Google has put in place for Android 5.0 Lollipop. Menu elements have been moved out into the open for the user to easily see, and even the options in menus have been significantly paired down from recent versions of S-Note. What’s really interesting to see on most of these screenshots is that most of these apps, if not all of them, are not pre-installed on the phone. This means that the amount of bloatware that’s been non-removable in the past will be significantly slimmed down, giving the user not only more storage space out of the box but a cleaner, faster interface. Samsung appears to be listening to feedback, and it’s only a matter of days now before the Galaxy S6 extravaganza begins.
