What is MIUI ROM For Android ? [Complete Guide]

All ways to customize your Android phone, the freak way has to be rooting you phone, wiping it clean and installing a new ROM. When it comes to community developed Custom ROM, you can heard two things from the people talk about more than any one of the rest that is Cyanogenmod and MIUI. These Custom ROMs have a much better functionality than the default ROMs and eliminate all unnecessarily features that slows down the phone.

The design of MIUI ROM is inspired by the iPhone UI, so you will find lot of similarity. First of all, there is no app drawer. All the apps installed are arranged in the home screen in the iPhone style. The more apps installed the more home screen you have in the phone. In addition to this, the setting page is an exact clone of the iPhone settings UI. Today in this article I will tell about the What is MIUI ROM, pros and cons and futures of the project.

What is MIUI Custom ROM?

MIUI as pronounced “Me You I”, a play on the common abbreviation of the words user interface as UI, developed by Xiaomi Tech, is an aftermarket firmware for cell phones based on the opensource Android operating system. It features a heavily modified user interface that does away with the Android app drawer and has drawn comparisons with Apple’s iOS. It includes additional functionality not found in stock Android, including toggles on the notification pull-down, new music, gallery, and camera apps, and an altered phone dialer that displays matching contacts as a user enters a number.

MIUI is a customized version of the Android, developed originally by some Chinese developers for the Chinese market. MIUI is one of the most popular Android ROMs in the world. It has been available both in Froyo (Android 2.2) and Gingerbread (Android 2.3) flavours. The biggest advantage that you can get with the MIUI ROM is its Speed.

One of the main reasons I think for its popularity is the interface speed which is smooth in transitions and fluid.

MIUI Unique Features

The User interface will look very intense and very different in contrast to any other ROMs you may be enlightened with. The first extraordinary thing is the very grand lockscreen, and when pas that, the lack of the dedicated app drawer within MIUI native launcher.

Not like most Android launchers where eliminating an app from the main screen only wipes up the screen as the icon was a shortcut, removing icons from the MIUI main screen totally delete the app from the ROM.

Though the notifications menu may not be much different to any other ROMs, the toggles panel most certainly is. Unlike CM7 where the toggles are start in the notification panel at the top, where MIUI has the option of a dedicated page for the toggles you can say.

Lockscreen

One of the first improvements that you will see after flashing the ROM is the lockscreen. It looks different and finally brings a host of much needed features. Missed calls and messages are easily accesible from it, even giving you the option to long click to enter the Dialer or the Messaging applications. The lockscreen can also show you a music player widget.

Themes and Customization

If you have tried Cyanogenmod and thought it was customizable, think again. MIUI brings the concept of themes to a whole new level. You can browse and download from a great collection of themes that change the look of everything on the device like lockscreen and homescreen with their wallpapers, icons, status bars, fonts, messaging applications, dialer and contacts, boot animations, and even sounds such as the boot audio, ringtones, notifications and alarms. You can mix and match any elements of any theme in order to get a unique look that fits your needs.

Better Contacts And Dialer

Our Android smartphones are still phones cover all the shine, and the calling features are important. MIUI brings a T9 predictive dialer, which stock Android unbelievably still lacks with an integrated log. The contacts applications is also revitalize, looking much cleaner, with multiple lines support for email and web addresses. You can add a person to a group and manage your groups with them synchronizing back to Google contacts.

Music Player And Camera

Music Player

Another improved application on MIUI is the Music Player. With its ability to download lyrics and album art straight from the internet, built in equalizer, ability to integrate with the lockscreen and a full way to sorting out your music.

The player settings do not disappoint at all with options such as Shake to Skip, Display Lyrics,a nifty looking Spectrogram. One of the most useful option is the ability to filter out audio files on a minimum size.

Camera

The camera app could have better as far as options and features are concerned. The picture or video quality is totally fine as compared to the TouchWiz UI camera app or the HTC Sense camera app, the MIUI camera app does not have the much to offer here, but mostly basic functions and features.

Built-in Screen shots

Android users have to wait until Ice Cream Sandwich to get built in screenshot ability, MIUI has had it for quite a while.

Native Apps

File Explorer

By MIUI File Explorer, you may not feel the need for any other file manager, except for when you want to access system files. This app lets your browser the files via some pre defined categories such as music, videos, pictures, APK files, etc. You can renovate the folder or files via Name, Date, Size and Type alongside having the ability to view the hidden folders or to add new folders.

Internet Explorer

The MIUI Internet Explorer as not much important as features are worried, chiefly if you start comparing it with Dolphin Internet browser. The browser claims a very friendly UI for even the most apprentice user with its tabbed browsing and the speed dial function letting you to access your favourite sites quickly at the tap of a button when the browser is launched.

You are able to view the websites in panorama mode as well and kick into full screen.

MiTalk

MIUIs own take on apps like Whatsapp, this social app flourish a range of features that simply amazed us. MiTalk also brings where you can share your thoughts, add some audio clip, draw or even upload a picture straight from your phone.

Data Montor And Firewall

It has an integrated monitor for your data, Wi-Fi, calls and message usage, with the option to set a notification when you hit a certain percentage of your allowed Data Plan. The firewall is another neat addition that helps you deny access to Data and/or Wi-Fi on a per application basis.

DND Mode

MIUI comes with a “Do Not Disturb” mode that allows you to block certain numbers from calling or messaging you. It also saves you from installing third party software to do this.

Improved Notification Bar

In MIUI, the notification bar is more than just showing notification message. It is also the control point for various settings. From the notification bar, you can toggle Wi-Fi, data connection, volume, bluetooth, flight mode, screen rotation, brightness and many more.

Battery Monitor

It now comes with a power saving mode that can underlock the CPU and close most apps when certain percentage is reached.

Disadvantage

MIUI began as a Chinese ROM and the community starting working on translations to make it available for other languages. The American version for example is almost perfect, aside from Chinese elements. For me, I don’t know why, but the browser stick to be Chinese version of webpages.

Many of the users have pointed out is faster battery debilitate. This does make sense taking into the account the heavy customizations that have been done to the User Interface.

The integrated keyboard in MIUI supports only a handful languages, so if you speak a language that isn’t there, you will have to download and use another keyboard. Also, MIUI fails to display Arabic properly.

The various phone which support MIUI ROM are

- Nexus One
- Nexus S
- HTC Desire
- HTC Desire HD
- HTC EVO 4G
- HTC HD2
- HTC Incredibile
- HTC Desire CDMA
- Motorola Milestone
- Motorola Droid 1
- Samsung Galaxy S
- Motorola Defy
- HTC Desire Z
- Acer Liquid
- LG Dual
- Samsung Galaxy S II

As for the original ROM, weekly updates are released over the air, that brings the newest enhancements, bug fixes and other goodies to users running the ROM.

Personally I Like MIUI and I would recommend it to everyone. I have used it for several days and the speed and performance have been impressive.