MIUI 10 announced with a new Recents menu, AI features, and more

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MIUI 9 was announced back in July 2017. The global version of MIUI 9 was launched in November, and since then, Xiaomi has slowly updated most of its smartphones with MIUI 9. MIUI 9 brought performance improvements, while the incremental MIUI 9.5 update also brought notification handling behavior in MIUI in line with stock Android. At an event in China, Xiaomi announced MIUI 10, the successor of MIUI 9, alongside the launch of the Mi 8, Mi 8 Explorer Edition, and the Mi 8 SE.

It should be noted that many details about MIUI 10 aren’t currently known yet. An unreleased MIUI 9 build for the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 was actually an early build of MIUI 10. MIUI 9’s China and Global ROMs have significant differences in functionality, so it’s unclear for now whether all the announced details apply for the global version of MIUI 10 (which has not been launched yet) as well.

MIUI 10 is powered by AI, according to Xiaomi. AI features include AI Portrait and AI Preload. AI Portrait offers a software feature to allow phones to take photos with the bokeh effect without needing dual cameras. Smartphones with MIUI 10 will be able to use algorithms to identify the foreground and blur the background.

AI Preload is said to help reduce load times for apps and UI functions. This is because, according to Xiaomi, MIUI 10 will already pre-load the app based on the user’s usage patterns and daily routine. It’s worth noting that Huawei also uses AI to improve long-term performance in its smartphones.

MIUI 10 features a UI redesign. The new UI is optimized for smartphones with high screen-to-body ratios and thin bezels, according to the company. Also, MIUI 10 has a brand new Recents app menu. The Recents app menu in MIUI 9 was a sideways scrolling card switcher, while MIUI 10 has a 2×2 app list to enable more apps to be seen at once. The layout maximizes screen space. The Recents menu supports full screen gestures and lets users swipe to delete tasks and long press for more options.

Xiaomi stated that Mi Ecosystem devices will be directly controlled by MIUI 10 without the need for a secondary app. MIUI 10 also has a new car mode that optimizes the layout on the user’s device for better navigation while driving. New voice commands are available for answering a call, reply to a text message, and change the route.

Finally, the company detailed that the closed beta MIUI 10 China Developer ROM will start on Friday, June 1, for the following devices:

The public beta will start in late June for the same eligible devices. In late July, the public beta will be available for following additional devices: