MIUI v6: Minimalist, Elegant Design w/ Comparison to v5

Xiaomi, in part of their 4th anniversary celebration, has launched their revamped User Interface with a simple, yet elegant design -- MIUI v6.

Xiaomi has partnered with MIUI for their smartphone's custom ROM since 2011. It was embraced by plenty of users making it the default user interface for all Xiaomi's smartphones. As some know, MIUI can also be flashed to other devices supported, but the optimization with Xiaomi smartphone is great, providing smooth and solid experience.

MIUI version 6 was heavily redesigned, now being "visually stunning, stunningly simple." The previous minimalistic design was further enhanced and made simpler with its flat icons and cleaner look. The pastel colors used are pleasing to the eye, not very contrasy and complements each other very well.

The UI was decluttered for ease of use and for the emphasis of the task you're doing. If you're currently using other UI's such as Samsung's Touchwiz and HTC Sense, you can explicitly see the approach MIUI has implemented and how a simpler skin might help.

MIUI v6

MIUI v5

The icons was completely made flat as seen in the two images above, on the left is the v6 and v5 beside it. The v5 has a minimalist 3D effect with light shadows around it while on the new iteration, the icons lay leveled and the design now are consistent when looking at the thickness of the lines and shapes used. Although now replaced, the MIUI v5 doesn't seem to look old at all.

MIUI v6

MIUI v5

Here's the calculator comparison of MIUI v6 and v5. The buttons are also made flat, lots of shadows were gone. You can also notice that the notification bar blends with the application being used unlike on the v5 where it goes black.

MIUI v6

MIUI v5

Above is a comparison of their calendar widgets. From being transparent, the calendar background has now a solid white color. As visual experience is subjective, not all might like the complete transformation of this android skin. But aside from those, there are also other optimizations like added power saving modes, various Linux kernel and RAM optimization techniques making apps run smoother without consuming too much RAM.

v6 Clock

v6 Compass

New set of animations can bee seen, maybe made possible because of the simplified content. Plus, some apps uses parallax effect first seen on iPhone wallpapers. Basically, it works with the use of sensors such as Gyroscope and Accelerometer giving a relative animation based on your phone's movement.

We can see some iOS visuals on this custom UI just like what others say. But it's great to see their efforts put into this to provide a new refreshing user interface that many people will appreciate. MIUI is continuously updating and interacts with their community closely. The MIUI v6 are currently on Beta Testing and the final version for consumer used will be released within the month of October. There are no news yet on v6 support to other devices.



{source: MIUI}