MIUI Vs Standard Android. Thoughts?

datzed on 14/05/2018 - 10:23
Last edited 14/05/2018 - 11:52 by 1 other user

Ok so it appears the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 at ~$450 (64GB) is the best value Android phone these days, and by some margin (based on specs of processing power and RAM).

Only issue is, it has MIUI. There is some commentary this OS inherently causes the phone to slow down faster over time than standard Android. Can anyone elaborate?

Does anyone have any first had experience in switching from a standard Android to a MIUI platform? Can I get your thoughts on user experience, bloatware etc etc?

Assume I don't want to root of custom rom the phone.

Mobile

Comments

  • captaincabinets on 14/05/2018 - 10:33
    +2

    I use MIUI on my Mi5s. Works much better than my Sony Xperia Ultra Z which is slow / glitchy as heck.

  • DarthAntz on 14/05/2018 - 10:40
    +1

    Currently with axon 7 and this guide. the mod community support for this phone has been fantastic. I wish there was an android TV box (other than Nvidia shield) with this much support.
    But, root and custom rom. I did spend a lot of time learning from scratch. It has been interesting to see how much time after release that the really good mods come out. It has extended the life and capability of my phone.

  • scrimshaw on 14/05/2018 - 10:42
    +1

    MIUI is "OK", though It's my least favorite Android skin and I would much prefer either stock, or LG's or Samsung's custom skins. Their settings layout is a little counter-intuitive, there are mistranslations in some places and their notifications implementation feels half finished.

    Good thing with Xiaomi phones is that most of their phones can have bootloader unlocked.

    If you care to go thru the process of requesting an unlock (it takes a week to process) you can root and flash TWRP and then install a ROM of your choice.

    • datzed on 14/05/2018 - 10:58

      I want to avoid rooting the phone as it largely removes the built in security features for the phone, leaving your phone more susceptible to hacking to get data (i.e. internet banking). This is why I'd prefer to avoid rooting.

      • scrimshaw on 14/05/2018 - 11:19
        +2

        the thing about

        commentary this OS typically causes the phone to slow down faster over time than standard Android.

        I'd say this is perhaps true of any Android device — as your phone gets more patches and updates, it may get slower… but the actual cause is mainly how people use their phone.

        You'd typically install apps, use them a few times, then you might eventually forget about them, then install more apps which causes the phone to become busier with more background processes. You can regain your phone's original performance by either clearing the cache, freeing more space, removing unwanted apps or just doing a factory reset to start all over again.

        If you're an Android power user, you might even consider disabling some baked in system apps that normally cannot be uninstalled so you'll have more resources left over for apps that you actually want to use.

        Also note that my preference for stock (or Touchwhiz) over MIUI is not performance related, it's moreso the UX design.

        • datzed on 14/05/2018 - 11:58

          Thanks for the detailed post. Can you please elaborate on the UX Design?

        • ESEMCE on 14/05/2018 - 12:12
          +1

          @datzed:

          I hold a similar view on the UX.
          MIUI is an iPhone clone. All your apps install to the Desktop, there is no App Drawer.
          The only way you can organise your apps is into Folders on your desktop.
          You can solve this my installing another Launcher, but it's adding an extra App to your system that just doesn't need to be there.

          MIUI also has heavy customisation in terms of power management.
          It's overly aggressive and multi-layered.. Even when you think you've disabled it, something else is running to reenable it.
          My wife runs MIUI and her alarm app keeps getting killed by the Power Management despite all our efforts to whiteleist it from being killed. She has reverted to using a clock radio as an alarm clock…

          If you like MIUI, then great.. if not, then there's Custom ROMs.
          The reason I keep my wife on MIUI is because I think it is probably the next best option out there in terms of security and longevity to Custom ROM's..
          Xiaomi continue to support their phones through MIUI well past pretty much all manufacturer's, possibly with the exception of Google.

        • datzed on 14/05/2018 - 12:32

          @scubacoles: Thanks for this detailed summary mate. Looks like I'm going to have to give this a miss and choose the inferior LG G6 instead :(

        • scrimshaw on 14/05/2018 - 12:48
          +1

          @scubacoles @datzed

          Agree with scubacoles - MIUI is designed for the chinese market. Because malware is so rampant in China (they don't use a Google App store) MIUI also has some features that perform power management & fine tune permissions for each app.

          N00bs might find it useful but it just gets in the way for a lot of people. I don't need that hand-holding when I know how to secure my phone :)

      • No on 14/05/2018 - 11:23
        +1

        I'd guess stock android is more secure than MIUI, you don't need to keep root access if you don't want to. You can root the phone, then flash TWRP and a proper ROM and leave it without root. Encrypt it and then no one will be able to access anything if you loose the phone.

      • eXo on 15/05/2018 - 11:21

        Hrmmm… I found re-installing LineageOS made a hell of alot of better improvements, main thing is I got to install what applied to me and no extra fluff.. thus allowing me to reduce the surface space of security.

    • Diji1 on 14/05/2018 - 13:10

      then install a ROM of your choice.

      I have never used a third party ROM that has been more stable than stock. You can get most or all of the battery savings by rooting and changing governors if your stock kernel allows it or flash a third party kernel. You have a slower device of course by doling this.

      And the thing about third party kernels is yep, less stable than stock.

  • yhan2000 on 14/05/2018 - 11:23
    +1

    Where can you get Mix 2S for $450 please?

    • datzed on 14/05/2018 - 11:52

      Yeah sorry, I meant just the regular 2. Post edited.

  • Salmando on 14/05/2018 - 11:33
    +1

    I actually enjoy it, though I'm not a heavy app user. The layout starts to get messy without an app draw, and I'm not a fan of folders.

    Other than that, I honestly prefer it over stock Android. It's smooth and fast, looks great, and is very intuitive.

  • kiwijunglist on 14/05/2018 - 11:37
    +1

    Mi6 user.

    Muiu is ok, but inferior to stock Android.

    My mi6 has two bugs.

    1. Sometimes the keyboard doesn't work. I type but nothing happens. I have to go back out of the keyboard with the back button then go into the keyboard again to type. This is fairly infrequent maybe once every 2-3 days (i use my phone a lot).

    2. The WiFi sometimes turns off and the button goes inactive for a while.

    I wish they could use stock Android like my wife's xiaomi a1.

  • datzed on 14/05/2018 - 11:55

    Without knowing too much about MIUI, will using Novalauncher (as I always do with my phones) negate much of the complaints of MIUI? Or is there more to it?

    Why do people say MIUI is similar to iOS (which I greatly dislike).

    • ESEMCE on 14/05/2018 - 12:13
      +2

      See my reply above.
      It answers both of these/

    • Diji1 on 14/05/2018 - 13:16

      Why do people say MIUI is similar to iOS

      It's the obvious answer …

    • Almighty Dollar on 15/05/2018 - 07:38

      I've been using Nova Launcher on my Redmi Note 2 since I got it - it's worked really well sitting on top of Miui

  • Cheeper on 14/05/2018 - 12:18

    Works perfectly on our 2 Xiaomis… frequent ota updates too.

  • frugalbat on 14/05/2018 - 12:33

    Mi 6 user here, recently flashed Lineage OS 15.1 with this guide https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-6/development/kernel-hel…
    The fingerprint seems to be not as snappy compared to MIUI and there is no option to disable the vibration when using the fingerprint reader. Everything else seems pretty much the same in term of performance since I use Nova Launcher before and after flashing LOS.

    There seems to be less feature as the LOS is pretty clean. However, there 's a trade off between performance and security as people say LOS is better for privacy, hence that's why I switched to LOS.
    LOS might miss the IR blaster feature though I dont use it that much.

    Some people say Resurrection Remix has more features and based in LOS but drain a bit more battery compared to LOS - I havent flashed RR OS itself so cant comment

  • [Deactivated] on 14/05/2018 - 15:21

    Don't forget the compulsory ads in MIUI which will be rolled out as Xiaomi targets a certain percentage of profit for their shareholders.

    The File manager app has already been hit by their antics. Just check out the Google Play Store reviews.

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