MIUI: How is the User Experience Different in Mid-range and Flagship Phones

Xiaomi's phones have been popular in the Indian market for quite some time now. There are multiple reasons behind this popularity. The brand has continuously worked towards coming up with new designs and hardware ideas to give consumers a new and different experience. It has been successfully doing that, but there is one thing that the brand still struggles with perfecting is the software.

The MIUI makes sense for a budget phone or even a mid-range phone. Consumers are happy with it and will buy it when it comes to flagship phones with MIUI, users and consumers might think that it is not worth it. So is there a difference between the software experience on a budget smartphone and a flagship smartphone? Has Xiaomi done anything to improve the user experience on its high-end smartphones.? Let's find out.

For comparison, we take the Redmi Note 10 that starts at INR 12.5K and comes with MIUI 12.0.3 and the Mi 11 Ultra that costs around INR 70K and come with MIUI 12.0.2. Both phones are pretty much on the same spectrum when it comes to the UI.

Setting up the Phone

The setup process says a lot about the overall user experience of an OS. The setup process on both phones is very identical. The facemoji keyboard is enabled by default on both the phones while setting it up, it can be disabled, but it would have been good if the flagship phone had the Google Keyboard. Another aspect that is common on both phones' setting up process is the Glance for Mi option. This option shows you relevant ads and articles on your lock screen. It is basically an ad and consumers will expect this to be not present on the flagship phone, but it is there. Rest, everything about the setting up process on both phones is the same.

Applications

The setup experience remains the same on both the MIUI phones, but it does not end there. The applications are also the same on both phones. Both phones have bloatware. The Redmi Note 10 comes with 4 apps, whereas the Mi 11 Ultra comes with 5 bloatware apps. The number of Xiaomi apps on both phones is the same. The number of Google apps is also the same on both phones. Bloatware is expected in Xiaomi phones, but it should not be when you are paying a premium for the phone.

App Permissions

Xiaomi's apps have been infamous for taking unnecessary app permissions, so is there any difference between both phones when it comes to app permissions? The app permissions on both phones are similar, and it is not a very good thing. The security app takes all the permissions in both phones even before the app is opened. The cleaner app is one of the strangest things that you can find on a flagship phone. The MIUI cleaner app has been known to be connected to the shady Cheetah mobile, and it takes up every single permission available.

Conclusion

It is evident that the MIUI experience does not really change with the change in range. Users will get the same experience, which is disappointing if you are paying INR 70K for a phone. The argument presented earlier was that Xiaomi phones come with ads and bloatware because the phones are cheap, and that made sense. However, one does not need to see ads when they are paying INR 70K for a smartphone. Xiaomi is taking on the likes of Samsung and OnePlus in this budget range. OnePlus offers a fairly clean experience, and Samsung comes with 3 years of software updates. The hardware of the phone might be good but its all about the experience at the end of the day.