Samsung exploring new smartphone UI. pic.twitter.com/iSxhpRhnju

— @evleaks (@evleaks) January 7, 2014

Samsung has been using its custom TouchWiz overlay on its Android products for years now, and over that time the user interface has gone through a series of tweaks that has led us to the current incarnation found on hardware like the Galaxy S 4 and Note 3. TouchWiz as we know it today may not be around much longer, though, as a set of leaked screenshots has shown that Samsung is testing a new user interface with a refreshed look.

New images from @evleaks claim to show the lock screen and home screens of a user interface that is purportedly in testing at Samsung. The lock screen includes the time and date, location, weather info and the user's distance traveled on a bike, as well as the "Swipe screen to unlock" dialog that we've seen on Samsung devices in the past. Meanwhile, the leaked home screens show an overall look that's less cartoonish than past versions of TouchWiz, complete with new app icons and an HTC BlinkFeed-like summary page that shows distance traveled, a friend's restaurant check-in and the score of a baseball game.

Android manufacturers are continuously tweaking their custom overlays and changing the features found within them, so it's no surprise to learn that Samsung may be playing with the look of TouchWiz. Whether or not the refreshed UI shown in these images ever makes it into the hands of consumers remains to be seen, but I think that it's a definite improvement over the current flavor of TouchWiz. Samsung's custom software has caught some flak over the years for looking a bit too cartoonish, and it appears that the company may have listened to those criticisms, because this new UI appears more to be a bit more refined and mature.

What do you think of this purported Samsung smartphone UI? Does it look like an improvement over the current version of TouchWiz?

Via @evleaks