Xiaomi unveils MIUI 6 developer edition for select devices.

Xiaomi today at an event in Beijing announced the latest version of its popular Android skin. With this launch of MIUI 6, Xiaomi marks the 4th anniversary of MIUI and has unveiled MIUI 6 at the same place it unveiled MIUI to the world 4 years ago. MIUI 6 brings a plethora of visual changes to the OS with a more colorful flat design.

According to Xiaomi, MIUI 6 brings a number of improvements and optimisations. Also the UI has been flattened going with the trend of flat designs. Xiaomi tries to give the best User Experience with MIUI 6 and hence has removed unnecessary distractions from the current UI, thus helping users focus on what they need.

The first thing noticed here is the new homescreen. With all those flat icons it also adds new functionality. The launcher now supports organisation of icons and a quick swipe-up gesture brings the Quick Search panel.

Native apps like Calendar, Calculator, Weather, Compass, Clock and more have also been given a major overhaul in the flat design. The lock-screen now also shows small notifications which can be expanded by a small gesture. The Camera UI has also been revisited and is now what we say, Minimalist. With those big target buttons replaced by floating targets on the screen, it does make the UI. clean. 

Its not just the UI that's changed but also changed is functionality. For instance, the Dialer app has been given the ability to show information about unknown numbers on the Caller ID, thanks to TrueCaller. 

Themes are what makes MIUI what it is. With MIUI 6, we can only expect a few themes that Xiaomi has created buut as developers gets their hands on iit, we can expect more skins to come out. 

MIUI 6 will go in beta testing today and will be available for the following devices by end of the year.

- Xiaomi Mi 2, Mi 2S, Mi 2A and Xiaomi Redmi devices. 

See the other screenshots below.

Watch MIUI 6 in action here.

Xiaomi launched 3 new smartphones in India giving tough competition for home grown companies.

Xiaomi recently launched 3 of their devices in India expanding their sales. India is said to be the fastest growing market so it seems like a wise move to concentrate here. The chinese giant is giving a real tough competition to Indian companies like Micromax, Lava and others mainly due to low prices.

Xiaomi launched Mi3, Redmi Note and Redmi 1S in India.

Xiaomi Mi3

The Mi3 is the costliest of the trio going for sale at Rs.13,999. At this price, the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 800 at 2.3 GHz under the hood, 16GB base model, 5" Full HD screen, 13MP primary camera with dual flash and a 2MP front facing camera. And the standard slew of sensors. There is no SD Card support in the Mi3. A 3050 mAh battery gives juice to the beast.

Getting a smartphone at this dirt cheap price has its own catch. The Mi3 comes with Android 4.2.1 Jellybean instead of Kitkat. 

The Mi3 is made of magnesium-aluminium allow and weighs 145 grams and is 8.1 mm thick. 

Xiaomi Redmi Note

The Redmi Note will be priced at about Rs.9600. This price gets you a 5.5" HD display, It packs about 8GB of internal memory but also gives you an option of SD Card unlike Mi3. There are 2 variants available, cheaper one with a gig of RAM and the other with Two. Its got the same Rear facing camera as the MI3 (13MP) with LED flash but has a 5MP front facing camera for the selfie centered crowd. 

Powered by a MediaTek MT6592 octacore processor clocked at 1.4 GHz and 1.7 GHz. That's four and four.  

Xiaomi Redmi 1s

Redmi 1S is then the cheapest of the trio. Going in retail at Rs.6999. Compared to rest of the trio, its got an updated version running Android 4.3. Its also the smallest out of 3 at 4.7" HD display. The storage options are the same as Redmi Note but only 1 gig of RAM is what you get at this price. Juiced by a 2000 mAh battery it is a pretty good deal to what local manufacturers have to offer. 

Talking about the camera, 8MP primary with LED flash and a 1.3MP secondary camera is packed. But don't let the pricing confuse you. Its powered by a Snapdragon 400 clocked at 1.4 GHz. Now 400 is a bit outdated but performance shouldn't be a question. That's not to say the MT6592 isn't worthy. 

Conclusion

Talking about the company's India operations, Manu Jain, Indian operations head, Xiaomi said "We are looking to provide the best in class experience to our MI fans in India. We are starting with 35+ service centera across top 20 cities, a hotline that operates 7 days a weel, and a vibrant MI India Facebook page. Our partner Flipkart, with its world-class technology and customer service, will be the key to providing this experience."

The Mi3 sales will start from July 22 at 12 afternoon on Flipkart. However interested buyers will nees to pre-register before the date to become eligible. The company will have a dedicated helpline to track orders. Xiaomi will have 36 service centers in India with two of those in Delhi and Bangalore. 

Hugo Barra, vice president of Xiaomi assured that Mi3 will get timely updates to both Android and MiUi but considering the Android version that the phone is launched with, this word needs to be seen.