Xiaomi held a press event in Mumbai today for the India launch of their flagship, Mi 4, and had a collection of announcements to make on the side. Of chief importance, was the announcement that MIUI 6, which ships with the phone, will also be rolling out to some of their older models in the market. The new UI will be available as an OTA (over-the-air) update for the Redmi 1S, Redmi Note 4 and Note 4G and the Mi 3.
The new UI still prioritises Xiaomi's focus on customisation and privacy, while also giving the system an in-depth aesthetic overhaul. More colour, animation and convenience is the name of the game. We'll break some of those changes down for you right now:
The icons have been redesigned for a crisper look, with more colour popping in wherever possible. Most of this might be too subtle for untrained eyes to notice, but consistent MIUI users will definitely pick up on the difference.
New animations all around, little shakes and nudges and swirls that just make this beauty look so much smoother and, in some cases, quirkier. Take the apps for instance. Now, every time you drag an app to the trash can to delete it, instead of just disappearing, it'll instead explode into a cluster of coloured pixels. Uninstall Flipkart's app and you'll get a shower of blue and yellow pixels. Get rid of WhatsApp and enjoy your own little green and white explosion. The pixel cloud when deleting multiple apps at a time is reminiscent of the fireworks show every time you won a game of spider solitaire.
- Xiaomi is also attempting to localise their cloud services and manufacturing process for the Indian market. No word yet on if and when that might finally come to fruition, but perhaps we'll see another addition to the "Make in India" supporter group soon.
- The MiTV will also make its way to India by the end of 2015, but not the ones currently in production. If things go as planned, we might see the next generation of the smart TV makes its entrance into the subcontinent.
That's all for the MIUI 6, and the other announcements out of Xiaomi, for now, but stay tuned for our look at the all new Mi 4.
