Xiaomi MIUI 7 Global version launched; find out new updates

As promised earlier, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi unveiled the MIUI 7 global ROM in India yesterday. The firmware is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop and brings in interface design improvements.

MIUI 7 global developer ROM will be rolled out to devices via OTA starting Aug. 24. The smartphones supported by the beta version include Redmi 1S, Redmi 2, Mi 3, Mi 4, Mi 4i and Redmi Note (with 3G 0r 4G connectivity). There are a host of new features, apps and performance improvements as well.

New interfaces and themes

The company has launched four new system user interfaces which can be customised including rose, pink blush, ocean breeze, and high life. The new firmware will also accompany 3,720 MIUI Theme Designers, 15,790 themes and 3.7 Billion Theme Downloads.

Performance improvements

Compared to the existing MIUI 6 version, Xiaomi claims that the MIUI 7 is 30 percent faster. This is due the optimisation of the system response time with the MIUI 7 via loading data and app animation simultaneously.

Better battery and Data saver

The new firmware even brings 10 percent longer battery life in day-to-day usage of the phone. In any smartphone, the apps and processes running in the background generally consumes most of the battery even in idle mode. By optimising popular apps, Xiaomi aims to improve battery life by 25 percent, giving the users an edge with three hours of extended battery life each day.

MIUI 7 also partners with Opera Max to provide Data Saver. It compresses browser and in-app media which help the users save up to 50 percent of data usage. The feature will be rolled out in in China, India, Brazil, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines starting September.

XXL Text and enhanced fonts

There will be an array of new fonts as well. XXL Test will introduce new twists in terms of line spacing and text sizes. The text-on-screen can be changed in five sizes - standard, medium, large, oversized and giant. This will ensure greater readability.

Child Mode and Do Not Disturb (DND)

MIUI 7 lets users sleep without any baggage with Mi Band, which switches the phone to Do Not Disturb (DND) mode when it detects that the owner is sleeping. The device can be made child friendly as well. The Child Mode limits access to personal information like emails and messages. Children can use the phone and only have access to specific apps that the owner approve and manage in Settings.

Photo album

Face recognition feature is also incorporated in the photo gallery app in MIUI 7. It automatically sorts images in the People Tab within the app. The software helps parents to automatically organise and arrange baby photos and group them in specific albums.

SMS filter

There is also an interesting SMS filter feature, which moves all non-contact messages to notification. The feature also gives option to copy OTP passwords from the notification panel, reports BGR .

Roaming facility (Virtual SIM)

MIUI 7 brings some good news for frequent travellers. The user needs to only buy an international roaming data plan from Xiaomi for the country they are travelling to. There is no need to change the SIM. The user can continue to use 3G/4G in the country, without a new SIM card. In 36 countries including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, U.S., Japan, UK and Australia, Xiaomi is offering this feature. This feature will be rolled out globally.

The company states that the first version of MIUI was released on Aug. 16 in the year 2010. In this short span of time MIUI has managed to grow to over 150 million users in more than 156 countries and regions.

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