AnmolMalhotra "Horrible" is quite an extreme statement and boils down to personal preference. I have been a Samsung user for many years who almost yearly (or at least every two years) upgraded to the latest Galaxy Note and still am using a Galaxy Fold 4 as my secondary device besides my Nothing Phone (3). (by the way I am also a two-year long NP2 user)
Samsungs mantra for OneUI is pretty much the opposite of Nothing OS:
- Bright, vibrant and colorful, with visual eye candy and transperancy effects everywhere.
- First party apps for pretty much everything: Dialer, Browser, Messenger, Contacts, Gallery, File Browser and so on. There's almost literally no Google app without having a Samsung first party alternative pre-installed.
- Samsung comes with a ton of theor own services pre-installed and available, like Samsung Health, SmartThings, their own app store, their own web store, Gaming Hub, AR Zone, Samsung Member benefits and the list goes on, and on and on.
- Samsung also has popular third party apps pre-installed (depending on region), like Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and so on.
- In terms of their services, there is a reason why Samsung is called the closest to Apple for the Android world, with their Samsung account services, the integration and interaction between Samsung devices like smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, TVs and audio products is more seamless than what you'd find on any other Android option, even switching from a Samsung phone to another Samsung phone is more complete than just switching from Android to Android.
- They have great update support, not only it is very extensive (especially on their flagships), but it's also reliable monthly security updates, they also provide a more transparent roadmap for major Android updates for all their devices.
It really depends on your preferences, there are a number of things I really enjoy about OneUI over Nothing OS, like the convenient side-bar for quick app access, the advanced screenshot utility which also easily support capturing and creating .gif files, you can freely chance the fonts of your device (unlike Nothing OS which only has two fonts), it also supports an advanced app called Goodlock, which can be used to extensively fine tune the UI layout. OneUI also easily let's you create and organize your app drawer with folders by default - without placing it behind an all-or-nothing AI powered solution.
Also many of the Samsung apps are actually really good, for example Samsung Notes is pretty much the most feature complete note-taking app for Android, their webbrowser is one of my most favourite browsers, I also think their gallery is among the best ones available for Android.
Samsung IMHO doesn't really have a clear, consistent design philosophy, their UI keeps ever changing, constantly doing major changes in terms of look and feel. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd copy Apple's liquid glass for OneUI 9. That's not a great thing, for example when I upgraded my Fold 4 from OneUI 6 to OneUI 7, I hated it, for me it was much more a downgrade than anything else. Their AI stuff starts getting in the way and at least in my opinion it makes things more complicated or even straight up replaces previously convenient features.
Nothing on the others hand takes little steps, constantly refining their software instead of trying to reinvent the wheel with every major version.
To sum up a long post: I enjoy using both Samsung and Nothing for different reasons. However it's quite telling the Nothing Phone (2) actually replaced the otherwise vastly superior Fold 4 as my daily driver and I also went with the Nothing Phone (3) instead of replacing my aging Galaxy Fold. Nothing soft- and hardware feels more human even though it's more mechanical inspired, the design language and philosophy is playing a big part here. I enjoy the minimal, clean OS, the monochrome look, the little details - all these are reasons why I ended up preferring Nothing over Samsung. Yet I don't mind using Samsung at all and would never call it horrible or horrendous - it's just different.
Edit: In my opinion the Galaxy S Ultra is very hard to beat if you just want the technically best (Android) smartphone available. If you don't mind to wait, the S26 Ultra should be released in around 4-5 months. I haven't followed the rumours about how much of an upgrade it is over the current S25 Ultra though.
