Do all versions of Android work the same on every phone?

[Mugsy323]

I have an old LG G3 phone with Android 6.0 ("Marshmallow") and it was easy to use almost from day one.

My father bought a Samsung S6 with Android 7.0 (Nougat) and it is just horrible. I thought a newer version on Android would be easier to use, but it's not.

I can't arrange icons simply by dragging them, or Remove apps by simply dragging them to "Remove" box at the top, like I can on my LG.

Dad is older and doesn't know to close open apps once he is done with them, so he can have a dozen active processes running at once. When I tried to close them one at a time, the app window would move on me. The "Close All" prompt would disappear before I could move my finger, and when I did catch it, it never worked. It took me about 12 minutes to finally close every running app.

I sent a photo using messaging and never told me if the send was successful afterwards, so I ended up sending the image twice.

v7.0 on Dad's Samsung shouldn't be such a PIA when v6.0 on my LG works so well.

Is what I'm experiencing true of ALL phones running the same version of Android, or do different phones work differently? TIA

 

[hallux]

Different phones work differently to some extent. Samsung includes "Samsung Experience" (formerly TouchWIZ), which does change how some things work. In your case, I think Nougat added some things to the long-press menu that were not there on Marshmallow.

That said, the Oreo implementation on my Tab S3 is not hugely different from that on my Pixel 2 XL as it relates managing the home screen. Both devices have long-press pop-ups that then allow me to do things with the app (though that menu differs between devices).

 

[Mugsy323]

Thanks for the reply. Which version of Android is on the Pixel 2?

Do you find Oreo more like 6.0 or 7.0? I'm seriously annoyed that 7.0 is so much less user-friendly than 6.0.

 

[Golfdriver97]

I have the first edition Pixel, and I saw little difference between 7 and 8. I'm sure the same thing can be said for the Pixel 2.