Xiaomi released MIUI 8 on May 10, and the latter opened its public beta on June 1, half a month later. We also had the first time to brush the machine. Now let's let our mice tell you what MIUI 8 is like, whether the promises made at the press conference can be fulfilled, and whether it is worth upgrading.
Support model and brushing method
From Xiaomi 5 to Xiaomi 2/2S The MIUI 8 experience version is supported, while Xiaomi 1/S, the flagship version of Xiaomi Note, and Xiaomi 4S/4C are not listed (perhaps waiting for Android 6.0 kernel adaptation). Among them, the Xiaomi 2/2S cleaning package was released several hours late, and now it can be downloaded.
The official BL lock only needs to be unlocked to go through the normal first flush process for upgrading, while the latest Xiaomi Max can even upgrade by card swiping. The machine brushing method is very simple, so I will not repeat it here. You can click the portal on the right to download the experience:
In addition, it is recommended to clear the data during wire brushing, otherwise it may be unable to start or other unknown problems may occur. Although our tester failed to clear the data and successfully started up, it finally restored the factory settings for safety.
PS: Our test machine is Xiaomi 5 high configuration version. Click the picture to view the large picture.
System experience
For a mobile phone system, the most important things are notification bar, multi task interface, setting menu and advanced functions (double click wake-up, pull-down hover, etc.). The importance of desktop and system's own applications is lower, after all, the latter can be replaced by third-party applications. So the following will be described in the order of "UI style and functional logic, system functions, and built-in applications".
After MIUI 8 is flushed, the longest boot boot in history will appear, as shown in the figure above, 14 pages in total
1. UI and logic
Lock screen and desktop
The lock screen slides left and right, which are shortcuts for Xiaomi smart home and camera
The overall UI style of the new system Already moving towards Android N:
The font size is significantly smaller, and many pages and lists can be seen through without scrolling;
The notice bar also has an enhanced design similar to Android N;
There are many card elements in the interface, and the element distinction is clearer;
Some details have been added to the icon. The pop-up window of various systems has become square and hard. Some buttons even the border has disappeared, but the round edge buttons of MIUI7 have been retained in many places.
system The number and fineness of animations have soared (especially the exposure adjustment process in the camera).
The basic main color has become a more attention grabbing gray blue, which can more easily focus on the content itself. The lines become lighter, more translucent elements (even the page browsing progress bar is translucent), and the previously colorful charts in the setting menu are unified into grayish blue.
More square and card like pop-up window
Functional logic It can be seen that MIUI is trying to reduce the level and advance the position of screen capture, weather, search and other common functions:
After the screenshot, the thumbnail will be suspended for a period of time. Click it to perform further editing and long screenshot operations;
The notice bar has search and QR code entry;
The setting page is simplified and some levels are integrated
Although it is not as easy to use as before, the humanized design details of MIUI need time to accumulate, which is still the strongest in China:
The first time you click the home key, you will be asked how to set it (Xiaomi 5 has the option of tapping back and pressing back);
When HDR, Night View, Panorama and other modes are turned on, the camera will suspend and close the switch;
When browsing the pictures in the gallery, you can directly see the sharing menu;
When the app store slides up, it will display the button of "one click back to the top", etc
2. System functions
Multi task interface: through After strengthening, Like iOS6 in the past, it has added a resident music controller; In addition to common locking tasks, you can now see the entry of application details in the drop-down application (previously you had to find it in "Settings - Application Management"); The switch between card view and icon view now indicates the button, while double finger zoom still takes effect.
The new notice bar defaults to a single line shortcut switch, and the traditional multi shortcut and quick closing mode of MIUI is on the right
Notification page, shortcut switch and wifi quick setting in multi shortcut switch mode
Notice bar, the most obvious change:
The bright color pattern is very powerful and can be switched quickly It becomes the default folded single line display. Slide left and right to see more switches (there are enough switches of 3 and a half pages, and there is no position indicator, so it is easy to be confused when sliding). Long press and hold to jump to detailed settings;
The option of single row and parallel paving shortcut switch that began to disappear on MIUI 6 has finally returned! But the function of hiding infrequently used switches did not come back!!!! It will still display 2 pages and 18 switches directly
The adjustment page of the shortcut switch finally changes back to the list mode before MIUI 6. Click the Hamburg menu on the right to move directly, instead of pressing and holding it like MIUI 7;
Finally, like the native system, you can directly click
The name below the wifi button enters the list page without jumping (flyme followed this feature a long time ago);
There is no way to eliminate the notice of "notice management", Virgo will be more tangled;
The notice bar can directly view the weather;
The search bar with ads is still there, but there are QR code buttons on the right, which are very small and difficult;
Strangely, after pulling down, the date display remains, but the time display disappears
The setting page is reduced to less than 3 pages
The single page is rich in content. Try to display the secondary setting items on one page (the card style is more obvious)
Setting page:
Finally, there is a search bar (Samsung had it many years ago);
MIUI 8 tries to make the settings displayed in one page without scrolling, and the hierarchy is reduced. For example, the volume bar on the third level page (click twice) was placed on the second level page for direct display.
Some settings have been integrated, for example, the volume key wake-up function in "Advanced Key" has been integrated in the lock screen setting page
The authorization management function in the security center has been added to the setting page, which in a disguised way advances the position of domestic common functions such as auto start and authority
The items of the folding project have slightly changed: date and time, language and input method, children's mode (finally willing to lower the level of this extremely low frequency function
Desktop: icons increase details from the previous extreme minimalism (Browser icon is unable to complain) The identification power of quick switch is greatly increased. There is little change in functions, but there are still notification icons displayed, and advanced settings such as the search box are called up
Suspended thumbnail, detail page, edit/graffiti page after screen capture
Long screen capture (the right side is the maximum screen capture length of long screen capture)
Screenshot: The entrance to the screen capture is advanced. After the screen capture, a thumbnail will be suspended in the upper right corner for a period of time. Slide up to remove the thumbnail immediately, Click to share, edit and Long screen capture (there will be screen capture defects in pages with hover buttons)
Mobile phone: This is the most killer advanced function of MIUI now. The account management function provided by Android is called, but the use logic is changed, and the experience is improved by more than one file:
Access different accounts through different numbers or patterns or mixed lock screen passwords
The two systems are completely independent, including the storage data are different, and the data read by the computer USB is different when the system is accessed with different passwords
Close the fast switching entrance, Keep the "data migration" app After that, you can pretend to be a common system, and the effect of post checking is first-rate. It's much more convenient to give it to friends or children occasionally.
You can even let application notifications display on the other side, and directly switch to the system in the notification bar
However, when switching accounts, the 2-3 second delay may be extended to different degrees depending on the performance and system data volume
There is no way to use fingerprint in the avatar system. Only the main account can be unlocked with fingerprint. Of course, it is a very good function.
You can control the anti disturbance of the period. The volume bar finally has its own expanded list!
Power control: there is repetition here, and the hierarchy can also be integrated
The estimated time and temperature can be displayed, but the power display The entrance of percentage becomes deeper;
New high temperature reminder;
You can set whether to lock the screen and automatically disconnect the network and clear the memory (the time interval can be set by yourself!);
Intelligent power saving provides three gears: limit background, prohibit background, and MIUI intelligent power saving. But the intelligent power saving in the "power saving optimization" is the same thing as the Shenyin mode behind it
The set storage space view page has its own garbage cleaning portal, which is worth praising. However, after garbage cleaning, advertisements will still pop up... (After restoring the factory settings once, there will be no advertisements). The virus scanning, bootstrap, and application management portals that pop up after cleaning up the garbage are also very considerate.
Suspended ball: quick switch, three diamond keys, flashlight, screenshot, scanning code payment code, and applications can be put into the suspended ball. It supports sliding trigger, long press to change position, and can be hidden in specific applications. In addition to being unable to switch tasks like Flyme, its completion is already high.
Laboratory functions are full of things that excite users, but the degree of completion is very low:
Power optimization: There are power analysis and power configuration, which classify different applications. It can automatically trigger different CPU scheduling modes and screen modes in specific applications!!!! But the function goes deep
Power consumption detection, no effect can be seen temporarily, and the page is blank
Application stealth: as the name implies, it means hiding the application
Mutual wake-up interception: MIUI finally followed, but the entrance was closed deeply, Mutual wake-up disconnection is in the application details of automatic startup management, and it is Triggered by default. However, this function is already available in the latest development board MIUI 7. In addition, MIUI7 users said that under the default settings, MIUI's auto start management could not even control the normal application background auto start
Text editing menu: the quick entry of translation, sharing and search is strengthened, which can save a lot of trouble.
3. Self contained application
The camera UI has been greatly changed, and only the street shooting mode has been added in the function (long press the volume key to stop screen snapping):
Mode selection replaces HDR position
The stealth function of left and right sliding switch has been canceled, and the front and rear cameras can't be switched by upward stroke
The exposure adjustment is easy to use, and the animation is very handsome
The faces in the picture are captured, and the sensitivity is very high
The album has automatic face recognition and intelligent compression size (after uploading the original image, only the compressed image will be retained for the image with low opening rate, and this setting needs to be discussed). When browsing the image, the sharing menu can be directly called out by drawing up.
The calculator integrates exchange rate, housing loan, case conversion and other useful functions, but the later unit conversion is suspected of rounding up (the latter pile can be integrated into one page). In addition, it is difficult to find the target currency in the exchange rate, and only two currencies can be displayed at the same time. These are areas for improvement.
Scanning can really scan the exam questions
Scan the translation and the performance is average
The function of scanning has been strengthened, integrating the functions of scanning goods, translating, and scanning topics. The availability of commodity scanning function is not high, and the most mature and amazing question scanning function actually introduces the function of Xuebajun app. For third-party applications, it is at the expense of its own download volume, which is convenient for MIUI users
The weather app has mainly changed the interface, with hour forecasts. Other built-in applications have little change or function significance, and can be easily replaced by third-party applications:
The memo has a folder
The recorder can convert sound into text (Samsung's own recorder has this function for a long time)
Applications can be opened to both sides, and third-party apps such as parallel space can also be used
WeChat automatically separates reading and chat windows. Other mobile phones can use//multiwebview code to complete this function
Details and minor bugs
There are many duplicate entries and minor details to be corrected in the system:
The abominable countdown root permission settings are still available!!!!!!! (See the above figure)
Volume key wake-up function is available in both key and lock screen settings
The security and accessibility settings of others are combined, and MIUI8 unknowingly divides them into two independent settings pages
Power consumption detection appears in the subprojects of power consumption optimization and laboratory functions at the same time
Access to the computer or use MTP storage to read phone content
Long screen capture will cut off the suspension button
In terms of stability, in the 8 hours of experience, there was only one time that the notice bar was suspended (unable to be pulled down), the multi line and single line display of the shortcut switch was switched, and it was forced to refresh and then restored. Other functions did not appear. The stability is much higher than expected, which is enough for daily use.
summary
The new MIUI 8 has brought us a sense of freshness that we haven't seen for a long time, from MIUI 6, which is simply replaced with a new skin, to MIUI 7, which is not even replaced with a new skin. The new system is obviously integrated with the features and design language of Android N, and its use efficiency has been significantly improved. Many of the functions that were cut down after MIUI V5 came back, and many of the "different for different" settings on MIUI 6/7 were finally removed.
In terms of functionality, MIUI seems to have come out of a standstill and found the next route after completing "function completion and UI unification" - function integration. The best examples are cameras and computer apps. Although the functions have long existed or can be replaced by third-party applications, they are integrated quite naturally and save the trouble of installing many applications (thanks to third-party applications such as Xue Bajun as teammates). In addition, the system has become more concise.
Although MIUI 8 has tried our best to keep it simple, even people like us who play computer games will feel confused when we first get started, but it is basically OK to use it, and the system completion is already quite high. Although there are still many advertisements, MIUI 8 is definitely the strongest MIUI so far, and has enough ability to return to the strongest throne in China.
