Xiaomi announced 10th iteration of its own proprietary Android skin MIUI along with Mi 8, Mi 8 SE and Mi Band 3 on 31st May in China. Xiaomi is aiming to roll out MIUI 10 Beta ROM in couple of months to MIUI China ROM users and it has already started closed beta testing for the same. Links for these closed beta ROM has been leaked for Mi 5, Mi 6, Mi Mix 2 and Redmi Note 5 (which is called Redmi Note 5 Pro in India) and we installed it on our Redmi Note 5 Pro to check out all new MIUI 10. It is based on Android 8.1 (Oreo).
- Redesigned Notification toggles: Xiaomi has completely revamped the Quick settings and notifications toggles, the new UI looks similar to what we have seen in Android P Beta preview. Xiaomi has probably not implemented New Notification Shade in MIUI China ROM as it still has painful two finger swipe down gesture to expand notifications, but it supports quick reply direct from notifications.
- Redesigned Volume Sliders: Xiaomi has redesigned the volume slider controls which now by default controls Media volume levels, and has a vertical slider similar to Android P Beta. Users can tap on silent button to put the phone on silent with a single tap and three dots below the silent button bring full volume controls on screen including Media, Ring and Alarm volume level. Users can also choose duration (between 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours and 8 hours) for which they want to put their device on Silent/DND mode.
- Improved Recents Menu: Xiaomi has redesigned Recent apps page as well which is now a vertical scrolling page, the recent apps page shows apps in two columns and now users can see more apps in recent apps which makes multitasking even better. On recent apps page, users can tap and hold on an app to get options to lock the app in recents, put the app in split screen mode and a settings button to open app info page which is a nice addition. Free memory status position has been moved to top right corner now and clear all app button remains at the same position as before.
- Full-Screen gestures: Full screen gestures were introduced in MIUI 9.5 update and Xiaomi has added one more nifty gesture to make user experience even better. Users can now swipe from left or right and hold for couple of seconds to switch to previous app they were using, this is similar to quick switch feature from stock Android.
- Xiao AI: Xiaomi has integrated AI deeply in MIUI 10 and it has decided to build it’s own virtual assistant called Xiao AI. Xiao AI is available only in Chinese and there is low possibility that Xiaomi will bring it to global ROM users.
- Driving mode: MIUI 10 packs a new Driving mode which takes advantage of Xiaomi’s Xiao AI to control the smartphone in a car, that lets users navigate to a location and reply messages without touching the phone. Driving
mode can be found under MIUI Lab in settings.
- Portrait Mode on devices: With MIUI 10 company is giving a huge boost to older Xiaomi smartphones with single-lens cameras by bringing AI bokeh effects, aka portrait shots even without a dual camera setup.
- Control Ecosystem Products with a single tap: MIUI 10 makes it easy to control Xiaomi’s IoT products in one step, mange them easily with new cards, works with most devices, and will eventually support 590 IoT-powered home appliances since Xiaomi is already working with IoT device manufacturers.
Xiaomi has already discontinued MIUI 9 Global ROM development and it will announce MIUI 10 Global with India-specific features along with Redmi Y2 in India on June 7th. You can check out this post to know how you can flash it on Mi 5, Mi 6, Mi Mix 2 and Redmi Note 5.