Gonna be a long story but hear me out. At first, I didn't update to UI 7, but I heard so many complains from friends and family that it was a trash update. And now, I can confidently say - even trash looks better than whatever this is. The search bar at the bottom is infuriating, folder colours (although changeable), weather background, battery symbol, the stacking of apps when pressing the " ||| " button, even the swiping. It gets soooo similar to Apple, at this point, I'm sure Apple would have higher sales compared to whatever this junk is. And about the AI things, I don't even use them, but I know others may, so it's all good on that. But please, THE ENTIRE HOME SCREEN LAYOUT is actually a sore to see. Samsung should really learn to listen to criticism and improve their UI 8 update. Truly disappointed.
The search bar being moved to the bottom improves usability during one-handed operations so I kinda liked it. The weather background being a solid blue with fewer customization options for all widgets overall is my biggest grip with this update, no idea why Samsung decided to ruin all their good-looking widgets with this update. My workaround for now is to just make the background transparent. I don't mind the stacking of apps, but you can consider using good lock to alter the type of animation you want when entering recent apps screen. Go Home Up, Task Changer One UI 7 added more smoother animations and much more customization options for the home screen that I really enjoyed, I highly recommend checking out Home Up and trying out the pop-up folders and other animation types. Lastly another widely hated feature I've seen is the fact that the notifications centre being separated from the control panel with left and right swipes, I personally like this change since I've always found it to be a burden to swipe twice to bring down all controls, and like viewing notifications with longer viewing area. I would recommend turning on the setting that allows you to open notifications by swiping from anywhere empty on the homescreen, adjusting the left and right ratio of the top swipe downs so it's easier to open control panel, and if you'd like you can enter control panel > pen edit icon > panel settings (top left) > and change it back to the old combined layout for notifications and controls.
I'm quite disappointed with UI7 upgrade. All icons have become smaller even when size is max. A big step backwards for "older" ppl like me with deteriorating vision. C'mon Samsung, be more inclusive
