Opinions on Xiaomi phones and Miui operating system

It can be a pain when trying to view files back in the File Manage you get lots of ads, additionally lots of reminders to change themes, other than that it's ok.

The Redmi Note 13 Pro was released on Amazon last week, they had it for £300 at launch, it had 256gb storage. One bad thing about the 12 Pro onwards is they have done away with SD card support, probably not a problem for most people but it would encourage me to go with the 256gb model over the 128gb.

I don't mind miui, i have all advertising and tracking switched off and never get advertising in any part of the system.

Can you send a link to how I would do that, not tech savvy, thanks

The girlfriend got a redmi phone and I set it up for her

I have a google pixel and you appreciate it having its own versions of stuff like gallery files and no secondary ones. Speaking of galley, the Miui one is crap, I only just put pictures on it (as she had them on a sd card) and started on about redundant albums so I said just use google files/photos (fearing start deleting photos etc)

After that stuff like themes/ringtones etc is very gimmicky, it would remind you of Zedge or that sort of app and of course plenty of paid options

Also, the booster/cleaner etc, again very gimmicky and remind you of the old days of battery saving cleaner etc apps from years ago

The UI is nice, well I dumed it down as she is terrible with tech and the control centre would have her rightly confused instead of just here is your notifications

I didn’t want to go into adb removing stuff as its literally brand new and not my phone, if it was my phone I would remove gallery, booster/cleaner etc and would investigate flashing a rom as mentioned (but I would see about bootloader as having it unlocked officially by Huawei caused issues with a phone I got from Vodafone)

Another thing I didn’t like was having a Xiaomi AND google account (I know just can be ignored) could lead to confusion, especially with backups etc

She got the Redmi Note 12 and I didn’t like the sim tray on the bottom as the pin hole is much higher up than other phones (had to use the ejector that came with it not ones I had) then I barely put it in the (im guessing) microphone hole at the other end as thought that was the release hole

Be interesting to see when it goes too android 13

Another issue or quirk

Screenshots put into DCIM folder so Google photos sees it and backs them up

Have had a few Xiaomi phones however my last phone was a Nokia 7 Plus which had a very vaniilla form of Android. Currently have the Poco X5 pro. Find Miui grand. Its not as bad as it used to be in terms of bloatware and the likes. Recently, I've unlocked the bootloader and have a custom ROM on it. I'll likely go back to Xioami.EU rom if the Google pay issue continues. FYI having an unlocked bootloader doesnt play nice with banking apps etc. But with Magisk Modules, there are some workarounds but its getting tighter to get around Googles attempts at being a closed shop.

For thi

Is your phone the Redmi 10, Redmi 10s or Redmi Note 10? If it is the Redmi 10 or 10s variant, these have a Mediatek processor which there are fewer Custom Roms available and probably less maintained now. If it is the Note 10. You might be able to put Xiaomi.eu rom on it or CR Droid. Which do you have?

I'm happy enough with mine, but at the moment no Xiaomi phone supports ESims. That could be a dealbreaker for some.

I have the same phone, i never knew this thanks 👍

Phones have reached their peak years ago. All improvement now is some more pixels, rounder buttons, ai enabled Blabla. Software is mainly stable, so should not cause concerns. Usability you get in days.

ordered a poco f6, lets see if I can be converted from apple - it will come down to how intuitive the operating system/software .

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121741621#Comment_121741621redmi note 8 pro looking for a refresh of rom

you recommend this?

thanks

AFAIK Xiaomi ended support for the Note 8 pro with an Android 13 based version of MIUI 14. There may well be modded android 14 based FWs available, XDAforums would be a good place to start looking.

You have an unlocked bootloader?

Bootloader status & how to unlock

Be aware with non-official ROMs you will need to keep on top of Magisk, modules, deny list and other tools to keep banking, GPay and other apps requiring security working.

The days of installing a ROM and everything requiring Play integrity & Safety net attestation just working are long gone.

I'm not sure if POCO is a sister brand of Xiaomi, but I've had my POCO X3 for 3 years without any issues until now. The phone has started restarting itself, most of the time shockingly within 10 seconds of using TikTok. That said, I've just purchased the Xiaomi 14 Ultra because I was intrigued by its massive camera. Overall, I'm happy with it for now, but I still use my old phone - even though it gives me a hard time 😂 when watching TikToks (I'm waiting for my Xiaomi phone case to arrive because I tend to destroy phones within a week haha, and that camera, man, it's fecking huge).

Hi,thanks for the advice!

done a bit of Rom updates to previous phones ,just looking for something more up to date/ fresh than MIUI global 12.5.8.

maybe all i need is nova launcher and a new theme etc

What location permissions do you have set for the control apps? Always on, or only when using app? That combo of location services and battery permissions has caught me out before.
Have you tried to lock the app so its always running?
Open the app, check its running as you want, then press "overview" button, long press on the app tab, selection of options appear and select "padlock".
See how that goes for you

Lock doesn't seem to have worked. As far as I know I have given full permissions, to the point I'm wondering if I'm spiking battery drain rate with what I have allowed

I'll take a look through my own HA & Xiaomi settings and see if I have anything different in my settings and let you know.

I don't have any geofence automations set up so I may not be much help to you tho. Also try r/Poco or xiaomi.eu for better/specific help.

Just updated from MI 11 to the new Ultra 15 mostly for the camera.