Samsung has TouchWiz, Huawei has Emotion UI (EMUI), HTC has Sense, LG has something we don’t understand yet, Sony has a user interface that is as close to Android’s stock interface as possible… So it is kind of a thing. Even Infinix jumped in on it too with XUI. However, what exactly do we know as the Tecno UI? So far, nothing really. Like a rainbow, it changes with every major release of a Tecno device. The Tecno Boom J7 we reviewed last year came with a user interface that was fresh and somehow likeable. The Phantom 5 we had several months later had a reworked version of the same UI.
That is expected to change in a few days when Tecno starts releasing several new devices featuring a new user interface called HiOS.
For a brand as big as Tecno is right now on the continent, it pays to have a consistent interface that users can always identify with. There are more people out there who believe that the interface they have on their Galaxy J1 is actually what is there on every phone said to run Android. That is how powerful these custom overlays can be. And Tecno is now rolling one out soon.
From sample screen grabs provided by Tecno (as you can see above), HiOS is not far from being an iOS clone nor is it something eerily unfamiliar for old Tecno users. Just a fresh coat of paint that will serve as an identity for the brand like the Boom, Camon and Phantom brands have come to symbolize its entry-level, mid-range and high-end segments respectively.
Users will get several new features including wallpapers, a fresh set of tones, a couple of new Tecno-specific applications like the Boom Player that we have known for the last one year and even dynamic icons. If you are keen then you may have noticed that the calendar and clock icons on devices like the iPhone 6/6S, Samsung Galaxy smartphones released from 2015, and Huawei smartphones from the last year are always up to date i.e. they show the exact date and time instead of something static like say 31. That is coming to Tecno devices with the new HiOS among several other features.
We shall be exploring HiOS features as soon as we lay our hands on a Tecno device with it which should be very soon.
