Samsung Electronics has said that its smart televisions will get a major facelift in terms of the software that runs atop of them, with plans to unify its main electronics products under the same “One UI” platform that’s already used on its smartphones.
For non-Samsung smartphone users, One UI is a kind of wrapper that the company uses on the Android operating system, giving its phones a distinct Samsung flavour. With the switch to One UI, Samsung is planning to give users a more cohesive experience across its entire array of consumer devices, along with software upgrades for “up to seven years”.
Samsung has invested a lot of money into its Tizen TV operating system over the years so it’s unlikely to drop that platform, but will simply use the One UI wrapper to make it look a bit more like the Android platform that’s used on its phones.
The company also promised a “brand new UX design” to go with the initiative, which will kick off with the launch of One UI 7.0 next year. As an example, Samsung said it will be easier for users to control their Samsung TVs using their Samsung smartphones, via the “media panel”. The updated One UI platform will roll out next year, so we may well see it on Samsung’s 2025 TVs.
The initiative is linked to Samsung’s promise that it will finally start providing updates to the Tizen operating system on its smart televisions, which is something it has previously always been reluctant to do. But the company likely feels that updates are necessary, given that its main rival LG Electronics has committed to updating the webOS platform on its new TVs for at least seven years. However, it’s notable that Samsung is only committing to updates for “up to” seven years, so it might not do that on every model. On the other hand, it does leave the door open for older Samsung TVs to receive the new-look One UI experience.
Other updates coming to Samsung’s TVs through the One UI initiative include the Bixby voice assistant, which will get improved capabilities, and the AI screensavers, with users able to generate their own via the Samsung AI Cast smartphone app.
In addition, Samsung said it’s opening up Tizen’s Daily Board to third-party developers, so they’ll be able to create widgets for Samsung TVs that will appear when it's left idle. Suc widget might present sports scores, for instance, or a weather forecast, or controls for various smart home gadgets.
Whether or not this is good news may well be a matter of taste.
On the one hand, Tizen can be considered one of the best known platforms in the business. But it’s not necessarily the ‘best’, with many critics and reviewers arguing that it’s not quite as user-friendly or easy to navigate as platforms such as webOS, Android TV or Roku OS. The One UI experience may improve this aspect of Tizen – but then again, Samsung smartphones are sometimes a bit tricky themselves, with features such as the system settings buried so deep in the menus that they can be difficult for some users to find.
