MIUI 11 with animated AOD, improved visuals and more, will begin Open Beta rollout on September 27

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Xiaomi’s MIUI is one of the most popular custom Android interfaces available on smartphones, riding on the back of Xiaomi’s insane popularity in Asia. At a launch event in China, where Xiaomi showed off the Xiaomi Mi MIX Alpha, Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro 5G and the new Mi TV Pro lineup, the company also announced the next version of MIUI — MIUI 11.

MIUI 11 brings several changes to Xiaomi’s UX skin, with most of the work done on the interface and the overall experience. Xiaomi’s changes to this end have won it a Red Dot Design award, which is a first for the company. For this upgrade, Xiaomi is looking to reduce the clutter in its design, and adopting a design language that speaks better to users who are already familiar with Xiaomi’s UX while still being clean and easy to grasp for new users. If you dislike the white interface, do not fret, as you also get Dark Mode as a standard feature for the system.

One of the highlights of this update is the use of a new font called MiLan Pro. We had spotted the font in a previous MIUI beta, and Xiaomi has finally officially announced the same for all of its supported devices. The font preview as pulled from the TTF file is as below:

Further, MIUI 11 features a variable thickness slider for the font instead of fixed-step changes, allowing users the freedom to choose the exact thickness for the font that will make the UX the most comfortable for them. Xiaomi is also using bold/thickness as a way to show UI interactions: for example, the Dialer’s number pad will have its associated text rendered thicker when the key is pressed. It’s a small and subtle change but should add to the user experience.

The next highlighting feature of MIUI 11 is the new Always-On Display (AOD). On supported devices, you can now choose from various animated watch faces which can feature designs and patterns and even animated analog clocks. You can also choose to have static text displayed prominently on the AOD, because why not.

MIUI 11 also brings along a feature that mimics the Horizon Light feature from the OnePlus 7 Pro.

MIUI 11 brings a “dynamic” sound system which includes sounds inspired by natural sounds paired with soothing melodies. The dynamic element comes into play when you don’t address notifications like alarms in one go. The second time, alarms are more intense and louder but without disrupting your peace of mind. Sounds of notifications have been inspired by natural sounds such as insect hisses, chirps of birds, and whistling sounds of the wind, and these are said to change as the day progresses, mimicking the sound variations one would notice through the day and night.

As part of the Mi Work app suite within MIUI 11, Xiaomi is also including the cross-platform file-sharing solution that it developed in collaboration with OPPO and Vivo. This solution claims to offer transfer speeds as high as 82MBps. This functionality will, however, not roll out to devices that do not run on Android OS versions below Android Pie.

Mi Work suite also features a new file management system geared towards your documents. All documents on the phone can be conveniently viewed in one place, with thumbnails that help for easier identification at a glance. The UX also gets the ability to open several common document formats without needing to download any other additional apps. Wireless printing also sees improvements, adding in support for over 2000 printers.

Casting functionality also sees improvements with one-click casting of documents, apps, videos, and games. While casting, your incoming notifications through the Heads-Up display will only be visible on your smartphone display, protecting your privacy by not displaying it on the larger display.

As part of the Mi Go app suite, there are improvements to the Notes app to add a To-Do list, as well as other functionalities across the UX such as letting users track their itinerary, organize tickets, and know about the weather of the place you’re headed to. The feature will also help you with forex as well as share information about the most suitable roaming plans. There is also an extreme power saving mode that can give you a standby time of up to 24 hours on just 5% battery.

Lastly, MIUI 11 themes will now be available for free. The revenue for developers will be drawn from the revenue earned by Xiaomi on products, and users will not be charged extra. All of these announcements are for the Chinese markets and the features for the international market will be announced later.

MIUI 11 beta rollout begins on September 27

MIUI 11 beta will be available for Chinese users starting September 27th while the stable release will begin rolling out in mid-October. Existing MIUI 10 beta users will automatically be enrolled for the MIUI 11 beta.

What are your thoughts on MIUI 11? Let us know in the comments below!