MIUI 11 Initial Impressions: A Refreshing New Step

It’s the holiday season for Xiaomi fans, with the company’s annual refresh of their MIUI, smartphone users all across the globe can finally get reasonably excited for something new. After spending a bit with Xiaomi’s latest MIUI 11, we are happy to say it is a refreshing new step.

New features first, MIUI 11 while not having any massive features that will completely change your phone experience, does contain enough small tweaks that when added up make this a worthwhile revision. Firstly, Xiaomi has greatly tweaked how notifications are shown both when the phone is in its always on display mode - which can now display quotes - to when the phone’s screen is on, by neatly lighting up the sides of your screen to warn you of incoming notifications.

Furthermore, Xiaomi has also implemented their version of “digital wellbeing” which conveniently let’s you know what apps are being most used, allowing users to be more in control of their digital experience.

On the visual front, MIUI 11 has kept many of the same elements that made last year’s version so visually appealing, all whilst making small adjustment that go a long way towards polishing your phone’s overall aesthetic. From the flat square design found within some options in your settings, to the many visual designs Xiaomi has used to replace simple toggles, MIUI 11 has a more materialistic design language that feels familiar yet different.

Where battery and performance are concerned, Xiaomi has built quite the reputation throughout the years in terms of ensuring noticeable upgrades with each software update - this is no different here. In our brief time testing MIUI 11, we have not only noticed that the K20 Pro’s battery life has maintained its amazing 8+ hours of SOT, but that the device’s RAM management has been slightly smarter - resulting in an ultimately more enjoyable user experiences.

Great things aside, MIUI 11 is not exactly bug free, with some of its new options such as the on-screen light for notifications often not working as well as it should. With that mentioned, this is simply the initial release of this software, and it is expected that Xiaomi will continue to work hard to ensure that their software is fleshed out with each version update.

All things considered, MIUI 11 isn’t an update that will entirely change how you use your phone, but with the righ set of improvements, it succeeds in ensuring that the user-experience is more enjoyable than year’s past, making it a worthwhile update to any Xiaomi user.