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UMi Promise Marshmallow and a host of alternate ROMS for UMi Touch

AbbieFebruary 14, 2016

UMi state that one of the biggest issues with Chinese phones is lack of development and that they are aiming to tackle this with custom ROMs and Android 6.0 on the UMi Touch.

If you haven’t been following, the UMi Touch is UMi’s latest phone and the model that they have high hopes for. The company say that the device is the world’s first user defined smartphone, and to bring customers the best experience it will come with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

On it’s own Android 6.0 bring new features to any phone from better permissions controls to be more initiative controls and a more polished UI. After using stock Android 6.0 for a week now I can say it is very similar to Lollipop with just a few nice updates and changes but nothing revolutionary.

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We suppose that UMi will also be using a stock Android Marshmallow install on the UMi Touch, which is the preference for most users, but if you did want a different UI then there will also be a number of optional ROMs made available for the phone too.

From the details UMi have provided us, we can expect a Flyme based ROM, VIBE UI, MyUI (no not MIUI), 360OS and WP8 (although we assume this is an Android based ROM with Windows phone UI not a Windows OS option).

People interested in buying the UMi Touch can apply for a $70 discount over on the official UMi website (bring the cost down to $109.99). Pre sales will kick off on the 18th of Feb.

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

About the author
Abbie
Abbie is a self confessed Chinese phone addict! After cutting her teeth on the Meizu M9 she hasn't been able to keep away from Chinese phones keeping her ear to the ground especially for the latest Shanzhai and clone news!

Assefa Hanson
February 14, 2016
i dont have much experience with different roms but id like to play around with some i see here, the windows ui i really wonder about that one
- Roberto Tomás
  February 14, 2016
  that’s actually the official windows phone 8 they are talking about. it is 3 years old but .. still
  - dutchgio
    February 14, 2016
    - balcobomber25
      February 14, 2016
      Regular Windows was ported to the Umi Zero back in the day but this is most likely a WinDroid ROM.
  - Assefa Hanson
    February 14, 2016

lol @ wp8 but android 6

dutchgio
February 14, 2016
So they copy the UI into an optional theme and call it ROM support?
Its just the MediaTek standard Android 6.0 rom, but with either a MIUI theme, a Lenovo copy, a Windows, Flyme or ‘360os’.
If they were talking about CM13 and such it would be rom support.
This is shit and is more likely just bad theme support as it is set up as a different rom but is just the same with a different rom.
Kinda bad, having to flash another rom to use another theme…
- balcobomber25
  February 14, 2016
  - dutchgio
    February 15, 2016
    Mediatek develops a standard rom package, look at the system apps inside. Its for the smaller brands so they don’t need to develop it. They deliver the mediatek ‘standard’ rom alongside with the soc.
    - balcobomber25
      February 15, 2016
- Semi
  February 15, 2016
  don’t know what you are talking about, I flashed flyme on iron pro and it was the flyme full rom as in m2 note pro, not an UI.

MattD
February 14, 2016
Better have one single stable rom, rather than dozens of crappy porting made in 3 minutes… Just saying…
Assefa Hanson
February 14, 2016
i dont have much experience with different roms but id like to play around with some i see here, the windows ui i really wonder about that one
- Roberto Tomás
  February 14, 2016
  that’s actually the official windows phone 8 they are talking about. it is 3 years old but .. still
- dutchgio
  February 14, 2016
  Its problably just one of the apps in the Playstore from searching ‘Windows launcher’.
- Assefa Hanson
  February 15, 2016
  hmm i see
- balcobomber25
  February 15, 2016
  Regular Windows was ported to the Umi Zero back in the day but this is most likely a WinDroid ROM.

Roberto Tomás
February 14, 2016
lol @ wp8 but android 6

dutchgio
February 14, 2016
So they copy the UI into an optional theme and call it ROM support?
Its just the MediaTek standard Android 6.0 rom, but with either a MIUI theme, a Lenovo copy, a Windows, Flyme or ‘360os’.
If they were talking about CM13 and such it would be rom support.
This is shit and is more likely just bad theme support as it is set up as a different rom but is just the same with a different rom.
Kinda bad, having to flash another rom to use another theme…
- balcobomber25
  February 15, 2016
  What is a “Mediatek standard ROM”?
- Semi
  February 15, 2016
  don’t know what you are talking about, I flashed flyme on iron pro and it was the flyme full rom as in m2 note pro, not an UI.
- dutchgio
  February 15, 2016
  Mediatek develops a standard rom package, look at the system apps inside. Its for the smaller brands so they don’t need to develop it. They deliver the mediatek ‘standard’ rom alongside with the soc.
- balcobomber25
  February 16, 2016
  You mean those same system apps that are on Qualcomm’s cheaper phones too?

MattD
February 14, 2016
Better have one single stable rom, rather than dozens of crappy porting made in 3 minutes… Just saying…

Wolvie
February 15, 2016
There is waaay easier way to have a better and better Android firmware.
Just force mediatek to release their full source code to community as there are tons of tons of capable coder that will do all the improvement, patches, etc to the original Android firmware. Also there are a lot of people willing to do the testing. Like this the time spend to have a perfect android firmware is much faster compare the vendors do in house by themselves.
Then hardware vendor like UMi only need to focus their R&D money to develop a better hardware for their gadgets. Since they already save a lot of money from the software developer, Vendor also can sell cheaper.
Why Mediatek NEVER EVER LEARN for this basic thing ?
- afghanPower
  February 15, 2016
  This would have been so helpful. So many of the cheaper MTK powered phones, could’ve been way better with 3rd party developed ROMs.
Young
February 15, 2016
Believe UMI at your own peril.

Guest
February 15, 2016
There is waaay easier way to have a better and better Android firmware.
Just force mediatek to release their full source code to community as there are tons of tons of capable coder that will do all the improvement, patches, etc to the original Android firmware. Also there are a lot of people willing to do the testing. Like this the time spend to have a perfect android firmware is much faster compare the vendors do in house by themselves.
Then hardware vendor like UMi only need to focus their R&D money to develop a better hardware for their gadgets. Since they already save a lot of money from the software developer, Vendor also can sell cheaper.
Why Mediatek NEVER EVER LEARN for this basic thing ?
- afghanPower
  February 15, 2016
  This would have been so helpful. So many of the cheaper MTK powered phones, could’ve been way better with 3rd party developed ROMs.

Young
February 15, 2016
Believe UMI at your own peril.
tauerman
February 16, 2016
Did you also register for the 70$ discount?
I registered on 4 partner sites and didn’t get any email code yet.
tauerman
February 16, 2016
Did you also register for the 70$ discount?
I registered on 4 partner sites and didn’t get any email code yet.