MIUI 12: Overview
Since its inception, the MIUI has been one of the most popular android skins on the market. With roughly 330 million users Xiaomi has expanded well beyond China. It has optimized its skin for international usage. Xiaomi has always been fast with updates and MIUI 12 is no exception. Rolled out barely 7 months after the MIUI 11 (which went global in October 2019), MIUI 12 still manages to stand out with a host of new features.
Breathtaking wallpapers and visuals:
Using official NASA imagery the Super Wallpapers feature provides both zoomed out and close up views of Earth and Mars. Waking the screen causes a swirling animation of your chosen planet and unlocking leads to a seamless transition from a planetary to a ground-level view. Overall aesthetics are also generally more pleasant. The updated Mi render engine allows for smoother shifting between apps making the experience flow more naturally. In addition, data visualization through graphics makes the UI more intuitive and user-friendly.
Revamped privacy settings:
Xiaomi has always been under global scrutiny for its privacy policies, particularly for allowing browser data collection even in incognito mode. The MIUI 12 with a massive privacy overhaul helps assuage the fears of the privacy-conscious user. The more granular tackling of permissions enables users to know the exact permissions each app is using through the manage tab. Each individual app’s permissions are written concisely and can be directly handled. In addition the new “background permission notifications” allows users to know when an app starts accessing sensitive data like location services.
Media sharing is also more secure with the new option to remove location information and metadata from image files. Finally, a new toggle button allows users to opt-in and out of browser data collection.
Control Center
MIUI 12 updates the control center to look more similar to IOS. A simple pull-down gesture from anywhere on screen gives a grid of toggles for brightness, wi-fi, mobile data, etc. This has been decoupled from the notifications panel which can be accessed through swiping down from the top of the screen. The convenience of having an easily accessible control center adds to the MIUI experience and if one is not a fan of the new layout, Xiaomi provides an option to shift back to the MIUI 11 Control center.
Finally an App Drawer
An integrated system app drawer is one of the highlights of the MIUI 12 update for any long term android user. The drawer sorts each app into categories and provides a search bar at the bottom. Users also have the option to make custom categories and the interface is made sleeker with a button to manage the background.
Better multitasking and power consumption
MIUI 12 introduces floating windows like Samsung phones to help with multitasking. Individual apps can be scaled to screen size and windows show up over other apps. This allows the usage of more than one app at once for a more comfortable user experience. Navigation gestures are also supported by these windows allowing users to seamlessly interchange between apps.
The new ultra battery saver mode helps reduce power consumption at critical moments without affecting the phone’s primary functions such as calls, messages, and network connectivity. Up to 6 other apps can still be used with an overall dark mode theme to help conserve power.
Dark Mode 2.0
The updated dark mode allows more user control on individual apps and allows for a less clunky user interface. Individual apps that may not work well with dark mode can be “whitelisted” and new options allow users to choose contrast which matches the surrounding lighting.
What next?
MIUI 12 is only available on devices supporting android pie and above so your device has to be at android 9.0 or higher to be able to run MIUI 12. In addition, Stable build ROMs are primarily being built for the Chinese market right now so it will take a while for them to be made available globally. Currently, only the Mi 9, Mi 9T/ Redmi K20, Mi 9T Pro/ Redmi K20 Pro are expected to get global updates by the end of June 2020 with no release date for the second wave which encompasses the vast majority of Xiaomi phones.
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