MIUI (mee-you-eye) is a ROM that is available on the Android platform. If you’re bored with your stock look-and-feel of your Android piece, or tired of the quirks in your current ROM, you should have a look at MIUI.
Background
Presumably, not everyone knows what I’m talking about yet. What is a ROM? Well, when you buy a new Android phone you probably wouldn’t even realize that the OS running on it is no different than Windows or Ubuntu. Well, maybe it’s a little different but not in the sense that it’s just a fancy piece of software that connects you to the system on which it runs and makes it useful. Just as you can scrap Windows and use Ubuntu or any Linux flavor, you can scrap your default Android OS and use something else. MIUI is one of the something elses.
My Phone
Currently, I’m using an HTC Incredible 2, rooted. The stock HTC ROM was pretty and all, but holy bloatware. So I rooted it to get rid of all the junk that forced its way onto my phone’s memory and sucked my battery power. After trying CyanogenMod 10 and getting email errors, then going down to the recommended CyanogenMod 7.2 and losing videos of my kids (you know, life’s memories that you can never get back) in the middle of recording them, I decided that it was time to hunt for a better ROM. Previously, I tried MIUI and thought it was stupid. (So if that’s like you, then hang on, have a second look, and let me have a shot at defending it.) I did not like how there was no application menu. I thought: Where are my apps? Oh! On the home screen and I cannot remove the shortcuts without uninstalling the app! Dumb. Uninstall. That’s as far as I got before going to CyanogenMod 7 (CM7). But as I stated above, I had issues with CM7, and I read that MIUI was the most popular ROM in the world. After hearing that I thought that maybe I didn’t give it a fair shake. So I downloaded a MIUI version 1.12.30 but ended up going to version 1.12.9 before finding perfection, or something close to it.
Review
So, let’s get started with how it looks.
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The changeable lock screen allows for the quick launch of certain apps. Other lock screens are simpler. It is an item that is customizable. |
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The home screen with GO Weather widget, Smooth Calendar widget, and folders in use. |
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The phone part of the phone. |
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The look while making an outbound call.Includes a built-in recorder to capture both sides of a conversation. |
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Sexy context menus. |
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Notification pull-down includes shortcuts to toggles. |
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Traffic monitor with built in firewall. |
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The built in firewall. |
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Built in file manager that automatically sorts file types and allows favorites for quick access. |
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Stock browser includes one-touch tabs. |
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Built in FTP server allowing access to your files from a PC on your network. |
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Easy customization with optional theme swapping. |
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Countless themes available for download and easy to implement. |
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Attractive calendar, albeit common at this point. |
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Recent apps with built-in task killer and app manager shortcut. |
Launcher Choice
If you aren’t a fan of the stock launcher, I would understand. It was my original problem with this ROM, but like any Android ROM, you can install on it GO Launcher, ADW Launcher, or whatever your preferred launcher is. From there you can enjoy the customization and stability of MIUI while retaining the look-and-feel that you are used to.
Quirks
While it’s a great ROM, I cannot say it’s perfect. If you have the MIUI version 1.12.30 then you may have the problem that I had – you cannot answer an incoming call… which is quite a downside for a phone to have. Yes, the phone process would force close when a call came in. Switching to MIUI version 1.12.9 fixed that problem.
Certain theme’s lock screens go blank and allow no option to unlock your phone. If this happens to you then just hold down your back-arrow and press the up-volume button. That unlocks it. Then you can go into the theme’s settings and customize it with a different lock screen.
Outro
If you’ve tried this ROM then give feedback in the comments below. Have any tips? Any awesome highlights that I missed? Please add your $.02 below.
Oh, by the way, I don’t lose videos of my kids now. 🙂