Announcing it as an inspiration from the Kaleidoscope, Xiaomi has introduced the new version of the interface for its smartphones, the MIUI 8. The major change is all with the colors being used and the way they change and interact with the app and interface.
There are a lot of changes done, many of which won’t be directly visible but are still there to enhance the overall experience of usage, and change in colors is one of the very visible ones.
Note: Check out the Xiaomi Mi Max, which was introduced at the same event today. Check: Xiaomi Mi Max Specifications
Some of the examples where these colors will play a role include the following.
- The app store where every section will have a color
- The months in the calendar app will show new colors
- Notification bar having an environmental status theme with the appropriate color matching it
- During voice recording, the change of tone will show a change of color in the interface of recorder app
There are several changes done to the interface, including to the lock screen, the album app where you get to create GIF images.
Cloud storage: Now, only the high-quality thumbnails of the pictures will be kept in the album and the actual picture will be uploaded to the cloud and synced so that 90% of the album space is saved.
New Photo editing features: To continue with the Album app, the Edit function has got an upgrade and you can now add drawings, graffitis with the new brushes, and there is a mosaic option to hide any part of the photo you didn’t want to crop out but did want to hide. Xiaomi has also included stickers to add to the picture, under the same Edit function.
Video editing: The MIUI 8 not just has the photo editing tools, but now allows to edit videos too with filters, cropping, the addition of music, and changing the effects.
Long screen capture: The standard screenshot capture would take a screenshot of what is visible on the screen. The long screen capture feature captures the entire page, and you can select the amount of the page to be cut from it, and the background view allows you to check and pinpoint where exactly to cut the screenshot.
Notes App: The MIUI notes app now has a grid view, and a new feature included is the Memo template, which helps add some taste to the standard notes. These kinds of memos can be shared on the microblogging sites with the entire design retained.
Text selection and Translate: When you edit the text, select a word, you will find an option to translate Chinese to English or English to Chinese right from the tooltip. The text function will now have a clipboard-like feature which will allow you to quickly paste certain texts like business address, phone numbers, email, etc.
Calculator app: The calculator app isn’t just limited to number calculations now, as you can get live currency conversion for certain currencies, Celcius to Fahrenheit degree conversion, and some other similar conversions.
Suspension Ball / Suspend button: This is a feature seen in some other UIs already but good to see Xiaomi finally bringing it to let users control the phone with some quick functions. It helps in a single-handed operation, and being transparent, it won’t block the sight of what is in the background. It comes with a few common functions that can be controlled.
Power management: In the power saving mode, the apps in the background will be freezed, the automatic syncing of background data is suspended, and while nothing on the network side is changed, 2-3 hours of battery life is extended.
Anti-fraud SMS security: By analyzing the chip level and the base station identification information technology and big data, the MIUI 8 will check whether the SMS received is anywhere related to fraud and spam, and will be warning the users before the user takes any action on it or taps on any link given.
It is a triple protection where if you ignore the first warning, there is a second warning when you open any link. And finally, the inbuilt browser in MIUI 8 will also warn about the security risk, and this is only for the links that are flagged or seem fishy.
MIUI 8 Release Date
On May 16th, the MIUI forum will invite participants for a closed beta, and on June 1st, the first Open beta will be released. On June 17th, it will enter the Developer edition.
Which smartphones will get the MIUI 8 update?
- Xiaomi Mi 2
- Xiaomi Mi 2s
- Xiaomi Mi 3
- Xiaomi Mi 4
- Xiaomi Mi 4c
- Xiaomi Mi 4s
- Xiaomi Mi 5
- Xiaomi Redmi Note
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
Check out the list of phones getting MIUI 8.
why redmi 3 is not in the list ?????
Including that, thanks for pointing it out. We confirm it will also get the update.
can redmi note prime get update ?
All redmi series phones will be getting the update.
What about Redmi Note 2?