Happy Birthday, MIUI: Tracing The Evolution of Xiaomi’s ROM as It Turns 8
Aug. 16, 2018The first MIUI custom ROM was built on top of Android Froyo and held a close resemblance to iOS, thanks tothe absence of the app drawer, more uniform icons, and a different UIfor most apps as compared to stock Android that we saw in the Nexus phones, or even other versions of Android such as TouchWiz. MIUI has since grown drastically and is now celebrating itseighth birthday;it’s also reached a milestone in terms of software version, with MIUI 10 being released this year. So we decided to give you a glimpse at its evolution since birth. Enjoy!
The Evolution of MIUI
Based on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, MIUI 3 was a major milestone for Xiaomi as it was the first ROM to bring along theme support to give users the power to customize the look and feel of the UI in a more uniform manner. This version of the softwaremarked the birth of MIUI’s unique design language, which has more or less continued till date.
There wasn’t much change on the UI front but MIUI 7, for the first time, came withfour built-in themes and a slogan – ‘Yours By Design’to represent the changes. It even brought along new features such as built-in data saver, child mode, DND, and flat icons.
By now Xiaomi had begun adding a tagline to each release.MIUI 8’s line was ‘Make Life Better’ and it featured a new look to the stock Mi apps and features. Alongside minor app icon changes and new fonts, MIUI 8 included a new color scheme (changing based on the weather), wallpaper carousel for the lockscreen, multi-window management and reduced power consumption.
Built atop Android 7.1.1 Nougat,MIUI 9(with the slogan ‘Lightning Fast’) was unveiled last year with a number of new feature additions to Xiaomi’s already feature-rich custom ROM. Thebiggest addition was the integration of a smart assistant, coupled with system optimizations, quick reply in notifications, image search, and security, home + lockscreen improvements.
Unveiled earlier in June this year,MIUI 10(which is ‘Faster than Lightning’) has become one of my favorite MIUI ROMs ever as it comes with a ton of likable features, including a brand newAndroid Pie-like UI, navigation gestures, refreshedrecents screenand volume controlsamong many others. There’s also a bunch of underlying AI features that make using the MIUI 10 a lot more fun.
As you can obviously see, MIUI has matured tremendously over the years, just as Android has grown into the world’s most popular OS. It has even shed the iOS-like design, and looks a lot like otherAndroidphones, with its signature tweaks and customisations. So, how are you liking MIUI 10 until now? And are you excited for what’s to come? Share your MIUI experiences with us in the comments below.
Image Courtesy:MIUI Forums
