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Xiaomi Redmi 3 Miui 7 & 8: still any problems like bloatware, no google play etc?

I consider buying it because of it specs and low price.
With the Miui 7 or 8, as received from the Chinese online retailers, without rooting the device:
Are there still any problems to use the phone like bloatware, no google play, bugs, things in Chinese etc?
The WIfi works well?
Is it really simple to set up like any motorola phone for instance?
Many thanks

You are in wrong place.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-3

Ok, this can be deleted, I moved it to the right place
Ok, this can be deleted, I moved it to the right place

UK owner opinions

Hi guys,
Could anyone in the UK who has bought one of these, let me know what they think?
Where did you buy it?
Did it work straight out of the box without any flashing needed?
Which ROM came installed on it?
Does Google Play store work fine?
Any issues with Banking Apps?
Does Android Pay work ok on it?
I need to choose between this one, and the Huawei Mate 9.
Thanks to anyone who can take time to give me their opinion of it now they have one.

greatcapp said:
Hi guys,
Could anyone in the UK who has bought one of these, let me know what they think?
Where did you buy it?
Did it work straight out of the box without any flashing needed?
Which ROM came installed on it?
Does Google Play store work fine?
Any issues with Banking Apps?
Does Android Pay work ok on it?
I need to choose between this one, and the Huawei Mate 9.
Thanks to anyone who can take time to give me their opinion of it now they have one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering there are only two variants of the device (4/128 & 6/256) available, I don't see how a "UK" buyer's opinion would be any different from that of others.
Now, to answer your questions, most buyers here, have bought from Chinavasion and Flosmall as they have ready stock and promise fast shipping. Wondamobile is also recommended by many and their prices are inclusive of import charges. The price you pay on Wondamobile is the final price. Flosmall also offers a similar option if you choose to opt for their "EU customs insurance". If you opt for this, they claim that they will refund any import charges paid to customs minus DHL's clearance processing charges, within 1 business day of submitting the customs invoice to them.
2. It will work straight out of the box without the need for any flashing as most vendors ship it with a customized ROM with Google services pre-installed. There are no issues with the vendor ROM but it is recommended that you switch to the EU beta ROM or one of the custom ROMs available, if you need updates.
3. Android Pay should work on phones with bootloader locked. If your phone comes with an unlocked bootloader, its fairly easy to relock it using Fastboot.
And when you compare the Mix with the Mate 9,
Mate 9 - Pros
The Mate 9 has a slightly better quality IPS display. (Same FHD resolution, but higher pixel density due to smaller 5.9inch screen, slightly better contrast and colors.) - Source: GSMArena Display Tests. The Perceived quality difference is almost negligible though. The Mix also has one of the best FHD IPS panels in the market.
I have compared both displays side by side and both look equally great. So its up to you to decide whether numbers matter.
The Mate 9 has one of the best cameras on a flagship phone. So if you are someone who takes a lot of photos, the Mix isn't for you.
Expandable Storage via Microsd on the Mate 9, but do you need more than 256 GB of UFS 2.1 Fast onboard storage on the Mix?
Mate 9 - Cons
The Mate 9 has a Kirin 960 processor. While CPU speed is close to the Snapdragon 821, the GPU is slightly weaker. The main drawback however, is that the Kirin Chipset is not as developer friendly as a Snapdragon.
There are fewer custom ROMS for Custom designed chipsets like Huawei's Kirin and Samsung's Exynos. Any stable custom ROMS you find will be based on the base OS.
Forget stable AOSP\CM\Lineage OS development. Most developers prefer Snapdragon.
Once\If Xiaomi releases the kernel sources for the Mix, the device will definitely be open to development. This is one of the reasons why I chose the Mix over the Mate 9. I've used Samsung phones before and none of them had decent custom ROMS due to the Exynos chipset. So I wanted a Snapdragon based device as development makes your device more future proof.
The International Version of the Mate 9, MHA-L29 only has 4GB RAM at the moment. There are rumours of a 6GB L29 Variant though. As of now, only the Chinese variant (MHA- AL00) has 6GB RAM and 128GB Storage. While 4GB of RAM is more than sufficient, almost every flagship this year will come with 6GB as a minimum. So the Mix is more future-proof.
Smaller battery (4000maH) compared to the 4400mah battery of the Mix. And the Mix has excellent battery life.
While the design of the Mate 9 is decent, it isn't a head-turner like the Mix!
Hope this helps.
Cheers!

greatcapp said:
Hi guys,
Could anyone in the UK who has bought one of these, let me know what they think?
Where did you buy it?
Did it work straight out of the box without any flashing needed?
Which ROM came installed on it?
Does Google Play store work fine?
Any issues with Banking Apps?
Does Android Pay work ok on it?
I need to choose between this one, and the Huawei Mate 9.
Thanks to anyone who can take time to give me their opinion of it now they have one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok bought mine from gearbest paid £520 with the shipping 4g/128 via China post, took a bit longer but no custom payment. Bootloader unlocked so no android pay, PayPal works fine. I removed vendor rom because you don't get any updates. Installed Chinese stable ROM and Google play from mi market and it was fine. Have now installed EU ROM and wish I had done it before comes with play store. Depending on which network your on 4g works great, might struggle with o2 or Vodafone in most places. Bootloader can be relocked easily if you follow all the guides. Glad to own the mi mix.

Damn OP, how did you not thank this guy for his super detailed answer? He's the most helpful guy around here :laugh:

Thanks for the detailed replies guys, much appreciated,
I was looking at using Wonda Mobile and it seems that they ship it with Chinese ROM with Google Play installed.
They say it's not rooted, but does that mean either way that the bootloader is locked/unlocked, or is that entirely different (I''ve been very out of touch with rooting now, it's been years since I've done that)?
Would Chinese ROM stilll have English language on it if I wasn't confident in flashing the EU ROM? (I'll search for an idiot's guide to re-flash the phone).
Oh, and one more thing, the fact that it has no speaker at the top of the handset for making/receiving calls - I understand that the screen vibrates to allow you to hear (kind of). Does it actually work ok in real life?
Thanks again.

greatcapp said:
Thanks for the detailed replies guys, much appreciated,
I was looking at using Wonda Mobile and it seems that they ship it with Chinese ROM with Google Play installed.
They say it's not rooted, but does that mean either way that the bootloader is locked/unlocked, or is that entirely different (I''ve been very out of touch with rooting now, it's been years since I've done that)?
Would Chinese ROM stilll have English language on it if I wasn't confident in flashing the EU ROM? (I'll search for an idiot's guide to re-flash the phone).
Oh, and one more thing, the fact that it has no speaker at the top of the handset for making/receiving calls - I understand that the screen vibrates to allow you to hear (kind of). Does it actually work ok in real life?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The official Chinese ROM doesn't have Google play pre-installed. So its most probably a Vendor-customized ROM they are referring to. I bought mine from Chinavasion. It came with a Vendor ROM but it wasn't rooted and bootloader was locked. But there are others who received the device with bootloader unlocked. The phones don't come rooted though. You can always unlock and re-lock bootloader as its a fairly simple process once you receive your unlock code from Xiaomi. You need an unlocked bootloader for flashing ROMS and modifying core system files. So, it isn't a necessity unless you wish to switch ROMS.
The Vendor ROM is a multi-language ROM, so English is definitely there.
Regarding the earpiece, no issues whatsoever. As the sound isn't channeled through a dedicated earpiece, it may sound like the phone is in hands-free mode (The intensity of the sound is the same, no matter wherever you place your ear on the phone during a call) but otherwise no issues. It works quite well.

satishp said:
The official Chinese ROM doesn't have Google play pre-installed. So its most probably a Vendor-customized ROM they are referring to. I bought mine from Chinavasion. It came with a Vendor ROM but it wasn't rooted and bootloader was locked. But there are others who received the device with bootloader unlocked. The phones don't come rooted though. You can always unlock and re-lock bootloader as its a fairly simple process once you receive your unlock code from Xiaomi. You need an unlocked bootloader for flashing ROMS and modifying core system files. So, it isn't a necessity unless you wish to switch ROMS.
The Vendor ROM is a multi-language ROM, so English is definitely there.
Regarding the earpiece, no issues whatsoever. As the sound isn't channelled through a dedicated earpiece, it may sound like the phone is on hands-free mode (The intensity of the sound is the same, no matter wherever you place your ear on the phone during a call) but otherwise no issues. It works quite well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once again, many thanks for your input. I'll give it some thought over the next few days and maybe take the plunge. :good:

greatcapp said:
Once again, many thanks for your input. I'll give it some thought over the next few days and maybe take the plunge. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I say if you're not willing to flash from vendor rom don't get 1 it may have English language but not UK only US which causes a few problems. If you really want one just flash EU or globe ROM

jazz452 said:
I say if you're not willing to flash from vendor rom don't get 1 it may have English language but not UK only US which causes a few problems. If you really want one just flash EU or globe ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your input.
What sort of issues do you think it may cause me?
I may be willing to go to the EU ROM I'm just a little wary having not tried rooting/flashing etc in many years now.

greatcapp said:
Thanks for your input.
What sort of issues do you think it may cause me?
I may be willing to go to the EU ROM I'm just a little wary having not tried rooting/flashing etc in many years now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you would face any issues by selecting US English! The only issue you may face with language set as "English US" instead of "English UK" may be slight variations in spelling of certain words.
For example, COLOR is the preferred spelling in American English whereas "COLOUR" is preferred when the phone uses UK English.
I don't know whether these minor differences matter to a lot of people but it most certainly doesn't affect user experience. I don't think this should even be a deciding factor when buying a phone.
Play store content is localized based on location data reported by Google's location services. So you aren't even missing out on anything and you will full have access to the UK Play store.
You can still utilize every feature of the device regardless of what language you've chosen. Hope you get the point.
But if you really need to have UK English on the device, you can always flash the EU ROM using one of the guides. Its a fairly simple process.
And regarding the Vendor ROM, a vendor wouldn't sell the device with a broken ROM. The ROM which came pre-installed on my device didn't have any issues. It didn't even have any Chinese bloatware.
My point is, the vendor ROM is perfectly fine until you feel the need to update to a newer software version. Most people import phones from China and use it with the Vendor ROM without any issues.
Its just a minority here on XDA and other forums who actually take the time and effort to flash ROMS and updates.
Cheers!

satishp said:
I don't think you would face any issues by selecting US English! The only issue you may face with language set as "English US" instead of "English UK" may be slight variations in spelling of certain words.
For example, COLOR is the preferred spelling in American English whereas "COLOUR" is preferred when the phone uses UK English.
I don't know whether these minor differences matter to a lot of people but it most certainly doesn't affect user experience. I don't think this should even be a deciding factor when buying a phone.
Play store content is localized based on location data reported by Google's location services. So you aren't even missing out on anything and you will full have access to the UK Play store.
You can still utilize every feature of the device regardless of what language you've chosen. Hope you get the point.
But if you really need to have UK English on the device, you can always flash the EU ROM using one of the guides. Its a fairly simple process.
And regarding the Vendor ROM, a vendor wouldn't sell the device with a broken ROM. The ROM which came pre-installed on my device didn't have any issues. It didn't even have any Chinese bloatware.
My point is, the vendor ROM is perfectly fine until you feel the need to update to a newer software version. Most people import phones from China and use it with the Vendor ROM without any issues.
Its just a minority here on XDA and other forums who actually take the time and effort to flash ROMS and updates.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some banking apps don't work properly with language set English US, like PayPal which I use for work all the time, can still use it but can't use mobile pin, have to put full password in with caps and number's.

jazz452 said:
Some banking apps don't work properly with language set English US, like PayPal which I use for work all the time, can still use it but can't use mobile pin, have to put full password in with caps and number's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're referring to the issue where you can't login to the app using mobile number and PIN, that seems to be an old PayPal bug from 2014 where language had to match account location. Wonder why they haven't fixed it yet.
So technically, its an APP related bug which has got nothing to do with the ROM and looks like its an issue specific to the Paypal app. Haven't heard of similar issues with other apps.
But its good that you pointed this out in case the OP also uses the PayPal app. In this case, he may have to use the EU ROM I guess.

satishp said:
If you're referring to the issue where you can't login to the app using mobile number and PIN, that seems to be an old PayPal bug from 2014 where language had to match account location. Wonder why they haven't fixed it yet.
So technically, its an APP related bug which has got nothing to do with the ROM and looks like its an issue specific to the Paypal app. Haven't heard of similar issues with other apps.
But its good that you pointed this out in case the OP also uses the PayPal app. In this case, he may have to use the EU ROM I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a nightmare having to login 20 time's a day without mobile pin. With globe or EU ROM no problems when English UK language set.

satishp said:
I don't think you would face any issues by selecting US English! The only issue you may face with language set as "English US" instead of "English UK" may be slight variations in spelling of certain words.
For example, COLOR is the preferred spelling in American English whereas "COLOUR" is preferred when the phone uses UK English.
I don't know whether these minor differences matter to a lot of people but it most certainly doesn't affect user experience. I don't think this should even be a deciding factor when buying a phone.
Play store content is localized based on location data reported by Google's location services. So you aren't even missing out on anything and you will full have access to the UK Play store.
You can still utilize every feature of the device regardless of what language you've chosen. Hope you get the point.
But if you really need to have UK English on the device, you can always flash the EU ROM using one of the guides. Its a fairly simple process.
And regarding the Vendor ROM, a vendor wouldn't sell the device with a broken ROM. The ROM which came pre-installed on my device didn't have any issues. It didn't even have any Chinese bloatware.
My point is, the vendor ROM is perfectly fine until you feel the need to update to a newer software version. Most people import phones from China and use it with the Vendor ROM without any issues.
Its just a minority here on XDA and other forums who actually take the time and effort to flash ROMS and updates.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great info. Thank you very much. I'm thinking I might go for it in a day or so. :good:

Something else I am curious about. THe aspect ratio of the phone is 17:9 instead of the usual 16:9. What issues if any, does this bring? Would a standard music app (maybe PlayerPro or GoneMad player) or a banking app (Barclays etc) or even apps like Google Maps, GMail etc open full screen or wou;d there be black bars at the top or bottom where they might be designed for the more standard 16:9 screen? I understand that video in 16:9 would obviously need to have the back bars at the sides (when vieiwing landscape). Thanks.

greatcapp said:
Something else I am curious about. THe aspect ratio of the phone is 17:9 instead of the usual 16:9. What issues if any, does this bring? Would a standard music app (maybe PlayerPro or GoneMad player) or a banking app (Barclays etc) or even apps like Google Maps, GMail etc open full screen or wou;d there be black bars at the top or bottom where they might be designed for the more standard 16:9 screen? I understand that video in 16:9 would obviously need to have the back bars at the sides (when vieiwing landscape). Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The aspect ratio doesn't affect any apps. All apps and games adapt to the aspect ratio. That extra bit of the 17:9 aspect ratio is used by the Navbar
Like you've mentioned, the only time you would notice black borders, is when watching videos as most videos use a 16:9 ratio. But this isn't a deal-breaker as you'll hardly notice it considering these bars are very small and appear on each side, which is less distracting compared to those ugly big bars on the top and bottom when watching 4:3 content on 16:9 screens. Moreover, the display has excellent contrast and blacks for an IPS panel.
Nothing to worry here!

So I went for it, & it arrived yesterday.
I'm liking it so far, even though it's a lot of work for me to get everything going. Very often, for a lot of apps (ie Android Pay, GOSMS, Gmail, and many others), to get them working properly, i have to go into Settings/Permissions/Permissions/Permissions Tab/ and then into lots of settings inside there & change to "Accept" for anything to work properly. Is that normal?

greatcapp said:
So I went for it, & it arrived yesterday.
I'm liking it so far, even though it's a lot of work for me to get everything going. Very often, for a lot of apps (ie Android Pay, GOSMS, Gmail, and many others), to get them working properly, i have to go into Settings/Permissions/Permissions/Permissions Tab/ and then into lots of settings inside there & change to "Accept" for anything to work properly. Is that normal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes normal.

greatcapp said:
Hi guys,
Could anyone in the UK who has bought one of these, let me know what they think?
Where did you buy it?
Did it work straight out of the box without any flashing needed?
Which ROM came installed on it?
Does Google Play store work fine?
Any issues with Banking Apps?
Does Android Pay work ok on it?
I need to choose between this one, and the Huawei Mate 9.
Thanks to anyone who can take time to give me their opinion of it now they have one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought mine from Eglobal Central.
No flashing required.
It came with the stock Chinese ROM (which includes English).
Google Play works fine once you install it from the Mi Market.
No issues with banking apps.
I've not installed Android Pay, but I've set up contacless payment using my Barclaycard and the Barclaycard app. I've not actually used it yet, but the app does a compatibility check and says it should work fine.

Moandal said:
I bought mine from Eglobal Central.
No flashing required.
It came with the stock Chinese ROM (which includes English).
Google Play works fine once you install it from the Mi Market.
No issues with banking apps.
I've not installed Android Pay, but I've set up contacless payment using my Barclaycard and the Barclaycard app. I've not actually used it yet, but the app does a compatibility check and says it should work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it came without play store android pay might work, if it comes with play store usually vendor ROM and definitely don't work.

OnePlus software trust?

Hello,
I'm checking replacement for my Nexus 6 (hard to find). Close one is OnePlus 3T for sure.
One thing bothers me - can I trust this vendor, do you?
I've saw the arcticle w/ IMEI leaking, plus not sure how the OS build at all....
Another topic to ask - how vendors like OnePlus embed Google Services and apps, do they get them via official/approved channel or similar to gapps site?
Thanks for all the replies in advance!

TodNex said:
Hello,
I'm checking replacement for my Nexus 6 (hard to find). Close one is OnePlus 3T for sure.
One thing bothers me - can I trust this vendor, do you?
I've saw the arcticle w/ IMEI leaking, plus not sure how the OS build at all....
Another topic to ask - how vendors like OnePlus embed Google Services and apps, do they get them via official/approved channel or similar to gapps site?
Thanks for all the replies in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I trust this vendor as much as is possible. If you don't trust them, buy the phone and flash a custom ROM that you build yourself so you can verify its security. Alternatively, flash something open source so the community verifies how trustworthy it is. I had a oneplus one and while I didn't stay with the stock rom, the hardware quality was impeccable for the cost. I have the OP3T now and for the first time in 8 years, I haven't flashed a custom rom or even rooted the phone because it works so damn well.
2. They probably get it via official channels but I don't know for sure.

I'm also coming from N6
This is a great upgrade in all ways apart from screen size and resolution although FHD is fine.
I've found myself using the capacitive buttons which are fine to get more screen real estate.
In answers to your questions.
1) you just have to trust
2) gapps are all eventually updated through play store so will be pure Google
The customisation options in pure stock N are great.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

ooh, how I hate Miui 8, 9, whatever...

Is it me, or does Xiaomi's Miui interface really bite (like @PPLe's) !
I have had the mi mix for over 18months, and just changed to the Mi mix 2 (because of the larger available lte bands, the drop in price for the 2, and because I got tired of repairing my mi mix screen).
I never understood Xiaomi's need to make an interface / desktop layout so similar to the Apple's own inferior interface. I hate having the hundreds of apps installed on the phone, filling up screen space and you swipe back and forth trying to find the app. Horrible!
I am stuck on this setup, for the next 72 hours (boot loader locked). Boy I can't wait to switch over to true Android roms.
Cheers
LormaD

LormaD said:
Is it me, or does Xiaomi's Miui interface really bite (like @PPLe's) !
I have had the mi mix for over 18months, and just changed to the Mi mix 2 (because of the larger available lte bands, the drop in price for the 2, and because I got tired of repairing my mi mix screen).
I never understood Xiaomi's need to make an interface / desktop layout so similar to the Apple's own inferior interface. I hate having the hundreds of apps installed on the phone, filling up screen space and you swipe back and forth trying to find the app. Horrible!
I am stuck on this setup, for the next 72 hours (boot loader locked). Boy I can't wait to switch over to true Android roms.
Cheers
LormaD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install another launcher, problem solved

Mackay53 said:
Install another launcher, problem solved
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That does nothing to resolve the bloatware, the advertising, and the non tweaking aspect that unlocked bootloader gives...

LormaD said:
That does nothing to resolve the bloatware, the advertising, and the non tweaking aspect that unlocked bootloader gives...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apart from theme store where's the advertisements?
Bloatware can be uninstalled with locked bootloader with ADB, or disabled via settings.

LormaD said:
That does nothing to resolve the bloatware, the advertising, and the non tweaking aspect that unlocked bootloader gives...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have mi mix 2 ,and i have installed a lot of roms whith no problem,i sink the problem its you not the phone
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app

I have the Mi Mix 2 and while I don't like MIUI, there is no denying the stuff is fully optimized. I get better Battery life than I do with the third party roms available. It is also faster. I have simply instaled Nova Launcher and substratum via root and deal with the few differences in appearances, like the notification shade. But that aside the phone looks pretty close to an asop rom. Just install a third party laucher and root your phone. You can then install an app like Root Essentials and delete unnecessary bloat/apps. You can install their themes or substratum or a combination of the two.

I tried LOS on my Mi Mix 2 because I missed stock Android--but the phone just works much better on MIUI. It's much snappier and smoother, the call quality is better and the cell reception is more stable. I hate the MIUI stock launcher with no app drawer but a custom launcher fixes that problem. I hide the icons for the MIUI programs I never intend to use and as long as they don't affect the performance of the phone I don't care about them being installed.
The Mi Mix 2 running stock MIUI is easily the fastest and most responsive phone I have owned since the Pixel XL--and it doesn't have that phone's overheating issues.
I went from the Pixel XL to a One Plus 5 to an Essential PH-1 to the Mi Mix 2.
Oxygen on the One Plus phones is way worse than MIUI. It looks much closer to stock Android than MIUI but the actual coding in Oxygen is completely amateur hour. Their version of Oreo is filled with Nougat code that shouldn't be there and lots of other coding that ignores basic Android standards. Third party apps constantly break on Oxygen because of all the non-standard coding. I also probably had to do more factory resets in 8 months of using Oxygen on the One Plus 5 than I've done on every other phone I have ever owned combined.
MIUI gets a bad rap in a lot of circles but it's so fluid and stable I can live with the fact that it isn't stock Android. Before the Pixel XL I owned Nexus phones so this is coming from someone with a longtime preference for stock Android.

I guess I will invest in Nova Launcher App... it really makes the interface and organizing leaps and bounds better than Miui... I am waiting for my boot loader to be unlocked and I will root my phone and give miui with Nova Launcher a chance... add my favorite Adaway, and remove bloatware from Xiaomi (I must say, they bloat much less than Carrier specific unlockable hardware supplied phones)...

LormaD said:
I guess I will invest in Nova Launcher App... it really makes the interface and organizing leaps and bounds better than Miui... I am waiting for my boot loader to be unlocked and I will root my phone and give miui with Nova Launcher a chance... add my favorite Adaway, and remove bloatware from Xiaomi (I must say, they bloat much less than Carrier specific unlockable hardware supplied phones)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running mine with FastKey launcher and using Block-This ad blocker. I hate the miui launcher too. But my Mix2 doesn't have any ads anyway and I'm on the Chinese rom. So it's strange that you would be complaining about ads that no one else seems to have. It's also strange that you wouldn't know about being able to change your launcher. That's an android staple.

Twotems said:
I'm running mine with FastKey launcher and using Block-This ad blocker. I hate the miui launcher too. But my Mix2 doesn't have any ads anyway and I'm on the Chinese rom. So it's strange that you would be complaining about ads that no one else seems to have. It's also strange that you wouldn't know about being able to change your launcher. That's an android staple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the clean set up... using a customized Oreo Rom... and using pico gapps...
I don't like the sense of taking my opinion of miui, and referring to me as a newbie, because it doesn't agree with yours...
Most Customized Roms have there own flavour of launcher which is WAY superior to any Apple or Miui Interface Launcher. Unless of course you like the Apple IOS, then you will obviously love miui (apple clone interface). I must have gotten used to not having ads with my other roms on my mi mix and past 5 android phones...
Of course this is all possible with a unlocked Boot loader (which i am waiting for).
And, there is boatloads of ads... ever use an app from the google play store (most have advertising content in the description for a reason). Adaway does the best job at suppressing those ads typically embedded whenever your using an app, or scrolling down pages of content (news, weather, social media content etc...).

LormaD said:
I like the clean set up... using a customized Oreo Rom... and using pico gapps...
I don't like the sense of taking my opinion of miui, and referring to me as a newbie, because it doesn't agree with yours...
Most Customized Roms have there own flavour of launcher which is WAY superior to any Apple or Miui Interface Launcher. Unless of course you like the Apple IOS, then you will obviously love miui (apple clone interface). I must have gotten used to not having ads with my other roms on my mi mix and past 5 android phones...
Of course this is all possible with a unlocked Boot loader (which i am waiting for).
And, there is boatloads of ads... ever use an app from the google play store (most have advertising content in the description for a reason). Adaway does the best job at suppressing those ads typically embedded whenever your using an app, or scrolling down pages of content (news, weather, social media content etc...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess you didn't read what I wrote. I said I dislike the miui launcher and don't use it. I also said I use Block-This ad blocker. I also use Opera which has a built-in ad blocker. But your original post said miui had too many ads which is not the case. You never referred to Google Play apps.
I'm not knocking your opinion at all. I just find it strange that you're not familiar with the ability to change launchers in android.

Twotems said:
I guess you didn't read what I wrote. I said I dislike the miui launcher and don't use it. I also said I use Block-This ad blocker. I also use Opera which has a built-in ad blocker. But your original post said miui had too many ads which is not the case. You never referred to Google Play apps.
I'm not knocking your opinion at all. I just find it strange that you're not familiar with the ability to change launchers in android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have and am able to change launchers, but when the launcher is integrated I find it much more feature packed, and allows for other changes that a launcher cannot do as an after thought app.
To me, ads, are ads (to me anyways), whether they appear using twitter, or on Flipboard, and even if they are integrated as part of a paid on non paid app from the google play store (weather apps are notorious for that).
Anyhoot... 18 more hours and then I get to start from scratch with so many of the other rom builds, and bye bye apple, er, I mean miui.

LormaD said:
I have and am able to change launchers, but when the launcher is integrated I find it much more feature packed, and allows for other changes that a launcher cannot do as an after thought app.
To me, ads, are ads (to me anyways), whether they appear using twitter, or on Flipboard, and even if they are integrated as part of a paid on non paid app from the google play store (weather apps are notorious for that).
Anyhoot... 18 more hours and then I get to start from scratch with so many of the other rom builds, and bye bye apple, er, I mean miui.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But you'd never heard of Nova Launcher. Hmmm

LormaD said:
I like the clean set up... using a customized Oreo Rom... and using pico gapps...
I don't like the sense of taking my opinion of miui, and referring to me as a newbie, because it doesn't agree with yours...
Most Customized Roms have there own flavour of launcher which is WAY superior to any Apple or Miui Interface Launcher. Unless of course you like the Apple IOS, then you will obviously love miui (apple clone interface). I must have gotten used to not having ads with my other roms on my mi mix and past 5 android phones...
Of course this is all possible with a unlocked Boot loader (which i am waiting for).
And, there is boatloads of ads... ever use an app from the google play store (most have advertising content in the description for a reason). Adaway does the best job at suppressing those ads typically embedded whenever your using an app, or scrolling down pages of content (news, weather, social media content etc...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You made it sound like MIUI was filled with ads. If you are downloading add supported apps from the Play Store that isn't a fault with the phone or its operating system. You might like LOS better than MIUI but I found it too buggy to use as the daily driver on my primary phone. I also found LOS too buggy to use as a daily driver on 3 other phones--but I wasn't a fan of Cyanogenmod either for pretty much the exact same reason. Hopefully you'll find something to run that makes you happy.

I was a big fan of ViperOS for my Mi Mix. I tried them all, LOS, RR, etc, but my go to was ViperOS. It was no longer supported (and after a while, I was fine with that), but it was solid, smooth, fast and bug free. It's launcher was sweet, and the fine tuning had everything you could ever ask in tweak-ability (for FREE, in that you did not need to download an aftermarket launcher).
I never stated that only miui was filled with ads. I stated that typically locked down bootloaders from just about most manufacturers cannot be rooted. Yes, the Mi Mix 2 can be unlocked and rooted. Yes, you can "surgically" remove bloatware. I guess the fact that you can start with just the rom, and add your own gapps makes it just more tuneable.
Cheers,
LormaD

LormaD said:
I was a big fan of ViperOS for my Mi Mix. I tried them all, LOS, RR, etc, but my go to was ViperOS. It was no longer supported (and after a while, I was fine with that), but it was solid, smooth, fast and bug free. It's launcher was sweet, and the fine tuning had everything you could ever ask in tweak-ability (for FREE, in that you did not need to download an aftermarket launcher).
I never stated that only miui was filled with ads. I stated that typically locked down bootloaders from just about most manufacturers cannot be rooted. Yes, the Mi Mix 2 can be unlocked and rooted. Yes, you can "surgically" remove bloatware. I guess the fact that you can start with just the rom, and add your own gapps makes it just more tuneable.
Cheers,
LormaD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was the problem with Viper on the OP5. They continue to support the OP3/3T but dropped support for the OP5 after the 5T came out. If you are determined to root the MiMix 2 at least it's easy to do. Phones that ship with Oreo have dual partitions. The rooting process with those phones is way more difficult and they also tend to be easy to hard brick if something goes wrong.

just curious, what MIUI roms are you guys on anyway? (official global? eu?)

jhs39 said:
You made it sound like MIUI was filled with ads. If you are downloading add supported apps from the Play Store that isn't a fault with the phone or its operating system. You might like LOS better than MIUI but I found it too buggy to use as the daily driver on my primary phone. I also found LOS too buggy to use as a daily driver on 3 other phones--but I wasn't a fan of Cyanogenmod either for pretty much the exact same reason. Hopefully you'll find something to run that makes you happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate your existence kind sir.

Zoyeah said:
just curious, what MIUI roms are you guys on anyway? (official global? eu?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently Global Developer. It's a bit more up to date than Global Stable and is very stable anyway. The only app that doesn't work is Android Pay (but I'm not rooted). The Play Store also shows up as uncertified in the dev build but I haven't encountered any issues relating to that.
The Chinese ROM was updated more recently than the Global version (I think) but I have no interest in trying that one.
Eu isn't an official MIUI ROM. It's a custom ROM that's probably intended primarily for devices where there is only an official Chinese MIUI and not a global build.

jhs39 said:
Currently Global Developer. It's a bit more up to date than Global Stable and is very stable anyway. The only app that doesn't work is Android Pay (but I'm not rooted). The Play Store also shows up as uncertified in the dev build but I haven't encountered any issues relating to that.
The Chinese ROM was updated more recently than the Global version (I think) but I have no interest in trying that one.
Eu isn't an official MIUI ROM. It's a custom ROM that's probably intended primarily for devices where there is only an official Chinese MIUI and not a global build.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the clarification! Actually I'm on a xiaomi.eu ROM at the moment. I'll try the Global Dev ROM. If I flash official global dev through TWRP, will it lock my bootloader again? I remember on my other xiaomi device (Redmi 3 pro) before it locked my boot and replaced twrp. :/

Question Change my mind: I bought a Xiaomi Mi 11 but I dislike MIUI

Hi all. I recently bought my first Xiaomi phone taking advantage of a launch offer on Amazon Italy (phone + Xiaomi Mi Smartwatch for 650 euros instead of 830 euros).
I was happy to have a device with a Snapdragon 888 processor, a super camera and an excellent 120 Hz screen but it took a few hours of use to realize that the biggest flaw of this device is the operating system.
I have been using Google or OnePlus phones for years, currently I also have a OnePlus 8 and I must say that the switch from OxygenOS to MIUI was devastating.
Handling background apps and notifications is awful. Often the notifications are not grouped or are identified correctly (those of Telegram are associated with a contact even if they are from another), in the background applications I find the same application several times. Using a "Pixel Experience" theme didn't improve that.
I prefer a device that is more like stock Android than a badly made iPhone.
I think about returning the product to Amazon but I'm here to ask you: why should I keep it? Am I wrong with my approach?
Help me make the right decision. Thank you.

-PaRRoT- said:
Hi all. I recently bought my first Xiaomi phone taking advantage of a launch offer on Amazon Italy (phone + Xiaomi Mi Smartwatch for 650 euros instead of 830 euros).
I was happy to have a device with a Snapdragon 888 processor, a super camera and an excellent 120 Hz screen but it took a few hours of use to realize that the biggest flaw of this device is the operating system.
I have been using Google or OnePlus phones for years, currently I also have a OnePlus 8 and I must say that the switch from OxygenOS to MIUI was devastating.
Handling background apps and notifications is awful. Often the notifications are not grouped or are identified correctly (those of Telegram are associated with a contact even if they are from another), in the background applications I find the same application several times. Using a "Pixel Experience" theme didn't improve that.
I prefer a device that is more like stock Android than a badly made iPhone.
I think about returning the product to Amazon but I'm here to ask you: why should I keep it? Am I wrong with my approach?
Help me make the right decision. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dislike MIUI as you. Nevertheless i use Xiaomi phones since 4 years. I use the developer rom (weekly) from Xiaomi.eu in combination with nova launcher. I like the multiple options (extras) of the rom based of latest android, the removed ads and bloadware and their grandiose community/ forums for the rom and the phones.
weekly
MIUI 12.5 - 21.3.3/5
Status: RELEASED RULES WHEN POSTING 1. If a ROM is not published DONT ASK ABOUT ITS ETA 2. If a ROM is not published DONT ASK why! 3. If a ROM is available, download it and use it 4. If a ROM has bugs, post the bug to the bug section if the BUG is not already listed 5. If you use any form of...
xiaomi.eu
phone
Xiaomi Mi 11 / Pro / Ultra / Lite / 11TPro
[venus, star, mars, courbet, renoir, vili]
xiaomi.eu
or parallel thread
[ROM][MIUI][venus] Xiaomi.eu ROM for Xiaomi MI 11
How to install Xiaomi.eu ROM for Xiaomi MI 11 We will release fastboot ROM versions until TWRP for venus is released TWRP is RELEASED Steps to install xiaomi.eu ROM for first time from China ROM (All your data and files on internal storage...
forum.xda-developers.com

-PaRRoT- said:
Hi all. I recently bought my first Xiaomi phone taking advantage of a launch offer on Amazon Italy (phone + Xiaomi Mi Smartwatch for 650 euros instead of 830 euros).
I was happy to have a device with a Snapdragon 888 processor, a super camera and an excellent 120 Hz screen but it took a few hours of use to realize that the biggest flaw of this device is the operating system.
I have been using Google or OnePlus phones for years, currently I also have a OnePlus 8 and I must say that the switch from OxygenOS to MIUI was devastating.
Handling background apps and notifications is awful. Often the notifications are not grouped or are identified correctly (those of Telegram are associated with a contact even if they are from another), in the background applications I find the same application several times. Using a "Pixel Experience" theme didn't improve that.
I prefer a device that is more like stock Android than a badly made iPhone.
I think about returning the product to Amazon but I'm here to ask you: why should I keep it? Am I wrong with my approach?
Help me make the right decision. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wellcome to the club
You are on the righ place.
Here you can learn how to customize the hell out of your device. I also use "Nova" launcher and that makes experience so much better for the start. And I apply "viral" custom icon theme pack across all of the apps.
In time developers will start releasing custom roms here that are maybe for your needs and likes. So just be patient and you will fall in love in Xiaomi and the device. No need to return it, it a good device that will just become better in the near future with upcoming updates. There is a 12.5 update coming sometime in April which will have much improvement in many segments.

Weird. After buying why this question?
New trend?
Just buy Pixel or OnePlus.

xdamami said:
Weird. After buying why this question?
New trend?
Just buy Pixel or OnePlus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can understand this question after buy. If somebody is not knowing Miui and bought an xiaomi, chinese one, that could be a shock.

-PaRRoT- said:
Hi all. I recently bought my first Xiaomi phone taking advantage of a launch offer on Amazon Italy (phone + Xiaomi Mi Smartwatch for 650 euros instead of 830 euros).
I was happy to have a device with a Snapdragon 888 processor, a super camera and an excellent 120 Hz screen but it took a few hours of use to realize that the biggest flaw of this device is the operating system.
I have been using Google or OnePlus phones for years, currently I also have a OnePlus 8 and I must say that the switch from OxygenOS to MIUI was devastating.
Handling background apps and notifications is awful. Often the notifications are not grouped or are identified correctly (those of Telegram are associated with a contact even if they are from another), in the background applications I find the same application several times. Using a "Pixel Experience" theme didn't improve that.
I prefer a device that is more like stock Android than a badly made iPhone.
I think about returning the product to Amazon but I'm here to ask you: why should I keep it? Am I wrong with my approach?
Help me make the right decision. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ciao compa'
Coming from a Pixel 4XL and yes: devastating.
Using Nova Launcher or installing Xiaomi.eu will solve none of the problems that you are having. Actually Xiaomi.eu, even if based on 12.5, may make experience worts since you'll get Xiaomi apps for browser, dialer, contacts etc. Although Xiaomi.eu does not have the notification problems that you, me and everyone else with a EU Android 11 ROM is having, also on Mi10T phones.
If you contact me via pm I can try to provide some hints to ease the pain...