Topic: What are your thoughts on the Switch's UI & UX?

I'm another one who feels the UI is fine the way it is. Honestly, I kind of prefer it to the PS4 experience, which is very, very busy with bells and whistles of every kind. I get the appeal of achievements and community stats and easy-to-find DLC and all, but I prefer the simplicity of the Switch. Most of the time I just want to pop a game in and start playing, not look at all my notfications. I get enough of those things on my phone, you know?

I used to care about the exact play times, too, but since I migrated to a new Switch all my play times have reset anyway. My new Switch thinks I've played BOTW for "a few hours", and while I was heartbroken at first at losing my record of 100+ hours, I soon realised that wasn't really the important thing. My save file is still intact, and that's all that really matters.

I would still like to have folders for my game library, but even that's not a huge deal in my opinion.

@MarioLover92 Yeah, that's how I think Nintendo would implement a messaging system, if they did it - using canned quick chat phrases.

I like UI, its simple and easy. I don't need some overdone, hard to navigate, flashy UI to change settings or whatever.
The user experience is fine too. I have no real big issues with it, besides the bizarre choices Nintendo usually makes, like the lackluster functionality of the online services.

Coming at this from the perspective of a Steam user, I understand the compromises, both in the inputs and in that it also has to be useable for young children who just want to play games, as we once were with consoles that just had a BIOS, not an OS. It's impractical to have all the features Steam has unless there are handheld and docked UIs (although that's not a bad idea). But surely it wouldn't be too complicated to move the sections from the bottom to the top and add a second dimension to the home screen, or display information (time played, friends currently in game, last played etc.) beneath.

It clearly hasn't been designed around the end user. I don't need to see physical games that aren't in the console, either the cases are close enough to browse or I can't play them. Why is tracked time hidden away? Why is so little visible at one time? It feels like the Switch can do so little and half of it is annoying to do. I have no experience of current or previous gen consoles so I'm not comparing the Switch to anything, but it would be nice to have what little I want to regularly see all in one place.

If we're counting the eshop in this, it would be nice to have a filter to see 'Only on Switch/Nintendo platforms' but my main issue is unrelated to this topic.

The more I am messing with other systems UI (Xbox series, Steam, epic, Xbox PC, GOG Galaxy, Origin) the more I look at Switch's one as absolute perfection. It is clean, snappy and intuitive and all the others feel way too convoluted

@Balta666
The only non-Nintendo console I own is a hand-me down PS2 from my brother so I can't properly judge their UI's. However, from what I've seen floating online, they do indeed seem stuffed with all-kinds of nonsense. The very clean, snappy UI of the Switch is definetly in its benefit.
Would still very much like an update though, specifically putting the software in a custom order. Having all of the Shantae games out of order no matter what bugs me to no end!

i don't like it i would rather prefer the wii u interface than this

I think it’s fine. It’s a bit dull, and I wish there were themes, but if they’re paid like they were on the 3DS, then I’d rather they didn’t bother. Mind you, I had bought my share, but they’re far too expensive for what you get for your money.

I just wish that there was a better way to organise all of the games. The ability to create groups is a step in the right direction, and a compromise that I can live with though.

I do enjoy it, it's minimalistic and it works.
But I do miss the ambiance that was on the Wii and Wii U, and the different music they had in the different apps etc.