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[GizPoll of the Week] MIUI or Stock Android – Which Do You Prefer?

Efe UdinFebruary 17, 2018

Welcome to the maiden edition of GizPoll of the Week where our numerous followers will have their say on multiple topics ranging from OS to Apps, smartphones, gadgets, manufacturers and much more. For our maiden edition, we have chosen a very controversial topic which is more like pairing a “father” and a “son” to do battle.

MIUI or Stock Android – Which?

As most of us know, MIUI is a skin built on the Android OS and it is owned by Chinese manufacturing giant, Xiaomi. This OS has been around since the inception of the company about eight years ago and it has grown tremendously. MIUI is usually found on Xiaomi smartphones but the company also offers MIUI to be flashed into other brands like Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG, OnePlus, and Nexus. This OS has a couple of personalizations, battery backup and some great features like Mi drop, split-screen function, second space, and many more.

Stock Android, on the other hand, is “super clean” which means that it is bug-free, gets updates on time and it’s seamless to use but these qualities come at a cost. For this OS to stay clean, it is devoid of a couple of customizations. Not until the release of Android Nougat, stock Android never had a restart button, an omission that pissed off many users.

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Last September, Xiaomi released its first ever Stock Android smartphone – Xiaomi Mi A1 and this smartphone did so well until the company tried to port to Android Oreo which was sort of a mess initially. Nobody ever thought that a Stock Android smartphone will have problems with updates. There have been no bad reports with regards to Xiaomi Mi 5X which is the equivalent of Xiaomi Mi A1 only that it uses the MIUI OS. Xiaomi recently did a poll between MIUI and Stock Android and this poll was deleted after MIUI embarrassingly lost the poll. I guess Xiaomi didn’t see that coming.

So which of these OS do you prefer? Would you rather have a Stock Android-powered smartphone or an equivalent MIUI powered device? Let us have your votes in the polls below and if there is anything you need to add, let us know in the comments

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About the author
Efe Udin
Efe Udin, a government tech policy expert is a seasoned tech writer with over seven years of tech writing experience. Efe's true passion lies in exploring the intersection of technology, politics, and brand feuds.

With an astute understanding of the power dynamics and competitive landscape within the tech world, Efe delves into the intricacies of how technology influences political discourse and how brand rivalries shape the industry.

- Lazar Prodanovic
  February 17, 2018
  Well considering current 9.2 state of MiUI i am certain most of those people would prefer AOSP.
  But pool is completely wrong as their is no Xiaomi device that futures both MiUI & AOSP/Android; One, Silver or Gold. Me by the Mi6x is a solo exception with an A1 backport. On the other hand most Xiaomi Snapdragon powered phones do have LineageOS/CAF based costume ROM’s .
  Costume ROM is only as good as developers behind it but it’s not hard to make better yob than Xiaomi. It’s not all roses either regarding the Lineage as Dan is stubborn guy. For instance; dual SIM infrastructure whose never finalised, VoLTE is supported or not supported from build to build & icon for it isn’t at all & so on. To have those things among others is has to be an unofficial LineageOS build and their is rather little of those without funny stuff.
  However current code shape for Lineage 14.1 is in much better order than MiUI 9.2.
  At the end let me explain also how Xiaomi doesn’t improve kernel nor device tree along with the MiUI ROM – skin side. So the kernel side CVE’s aren’t applied at all which is serious regarding security threats. For instance WiFi CRACK fix requires multiple commits on both ROM & kernel side in order to be properly patched & fixed.
  I know all of this as i done it all.
  - joe mont
    February 17, 2018
    Well put, ignoring security updates because they’ve mangled the rom is a big no no. They are still a small fry when it comes to software, its no different than a company trying to fork Windows and simply leaving it vulnerable.

Karoon
February 17, 2018
Definitely AOSP. My Xiaomi phone is prone to overheating and only after switching to a custom ROM and flashing and tweaking a new kernel did it stop that behavior. But to call a “Stock” rom “bug-free” is wrong, even the Nexus and Pixel devices had their faults, especially when they just launched and they were running what you would call “Stock” firmware. That said, it’s quite shameful that Xiaomi deleted their tweet, it just shows that the company can’t take criticism well…
Ionut Johnny
February 17, 2018
- Lazar Prodanovic
  February 17, 2018
  - Ionut Johnny
    February 17, 2018
    I don’t care about kernel version, I care about real life performance, not about numbers and useless features. Xiaomi are the best to produce the best phones for the bucks, Miui included, they have support for up to 5 years for their devices, no other company offers that.
    - Lazar Prodanovic
      February 17, 2018
      Well MiUI is a grand example of useless futures all do all of us like one or two the huge majority of other’s that are only used once or twice are the useless one’s.
      So In other words you don’t care about security. OK that’s fine with me. As without kernel up lining you can’t apply CAF patches containing lot’s of fixes and CVE’s. By the support only thing they usually provide is MiUI skin & apps. So the old Xiaomi Redmi got a MiUI 9 but it’s still on a Android 4.4? All do S400 SoC support ended with Lollipop & while majority of phone’s with it got it that’s not a case with Xiaomi one’s. Or me by the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (QC)? That got MiUI 9 but it’s stuck on Android M while thet do have an N build for a Mi Max which makes it 99% compatible to the RN3 (same shared code base).
      You know what? I care & make the difference & MiUI is a shit compared to this:
      https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-max/development/rom-lineageos-14-1-t3529851
      Feel free to read the user opinions & don’t worry they are all former MiUI users.
      - Ionut Johnny
        February 17, 2018
        Stock by itself has so many useless features but people don’t complain about it because it’s “stock”. I don’t care about other’s experience , i was and still am very satisfied with what xiaomi offers. I owned , s7 edge, Meizu 5s, Zuk z2, lenovo k3 note, lg G5 , Xiaomi redmi note 3, Mi6 and many others. waiting for redmi 5 plus happily.
        Lazar Prodanovic
        February 17, 2018
        I like to play more with mine…
        AOSP is a bare bone & contains by far least bug’s but as I mentioned below their is no such a thing for Xiaomi me by thing’s could change in the future thanks to A1 but I doubt it. By the way I am ZolaIII on XDA and co author of that ROM… It’s not fun at least not for me until you do it yourself.
    - joe mont
      February 17, 2018
      I’ve looked into Xiaomi Mi4, the security patch level for the latest update is 2017-04-01, meaning it is almost a year behind on security updates.
      If they had used stock Android it should be able to upgrade to every new Android release along with the monthly security updates. All someone has to do is run the build file in Android, Google has made it pretty automated.

Solis Falas
February 17, 2018
I prefer MIUI, but the way to get it better is:
1) Make all roms global, its easier and better to maintain one channel of updates. So just keep global beta and global stable
2) Scrap their build-in battery saver and let stock doze feature do its work
Marcin Adamczyk
February 17, 2018
this survey should only be for people who have used Miui ever.
- Lazar Prodanovic
  February 17, 2018
  Well considering current 9.2 state of MiUI i am certain most of those people would prefer AOSP.
  But pool is completely wrong as their is no Xiaomi device that futures both MiUI & AOSP/Android; One, Silver or Gold. Me by the Mi6x is a solo exception with an A1 backport. On the other hand most Xiaomi Snapdragon powered phones do have LineageOS/CAF based costume ROM’s .
  Costume ROM is only as good as developers behind it but it’s not hard to make better yob than Xiaomi. It’s not all roses either regarding the Lineage as Dan is stubborn guy. For instance; dual SIM infrastructure whose never finalised, VoLTE is supported or not supported from build to build & icon for it isn’t at all & so on. To have those things among others it has to be an unofficial LineageOS build and their is rather little of those without funny stuff.
  However current code shape for Lineage 14.1 is in much better order than MiUI 9.2.
  At the end let me explain also how Xiaomi doesn’t improve kernel nor device tree along with the MiUI ROM – skin side. So the kernel side CVE’s aren’t applied at all which is serious regarding security threats. For instance WiFi CRACK fix requires multiple commits on both ROM & kernel side in order to be properly patched & fixed.
  I know all of this as i done it all.
- Guest
  February 17, 2018
  Well put, ignoring security updates because they’ve mangled the rom is a big no no. They are still a small fry when it comes to software, its no different than a company trying to fork Windows and simply leaving it vulnerable.

Guest
February 17, 2018
Definitely AOSP. My Xiaomi phone is prone to overheating and only after switching to a custom ROM and flashing and tweaking a new kernel did it stop that behavior. But to call a “Stock” rom “bug-free” is wrong, even the Nexus and Pixel devices had their faults, especially when they just launched and they were running what you would call “Stock” firmware. That said, it’s quite shameful that Xiaomi deleted their tweet, it just shows that the company can’t take criticism well…

Ionut Johnny
February 17, 2018
Miui much faster, secured and fluid than any stock.
- Lazar Prodanovic
  February 17, 2018
  In your dreams.
  Now check your kernel version.
- Ionut Johnny
  February 17, 2018
  I don’t care about kernel version, I care about real life performance, not about numbers and useless features. Xiaomi are the best to produce the best phones for the bucks, Miui included, they have support for up to 5 years for their devices, no other company offers that.
- Lazar Prodanovic
  February 17, 2018
  Well MiUI is a grand example of useless futures all do all of us like one or two the huge majority of other’s that are only used once or twice are the useless one’s.
  So In other words you don’t care about security. OK that’s fine with me. As without kernel up lining you can’t apply CAF patches containing lot’s of fixes and CVE’s. By the support only thing they usually provide is MiUI skin & apps. So the old Xiaomi Redmi got a MiUI 9 but it’s still on a Android 4.4? All do S400 SoC support ended with Lollipop & while majority of phone’s with it got it that’s not a case with Xiaomi one’s. Or me by the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (QC)? That got MiUI 9 but it’s stuck on Android M while thet do have an N build for a Mi Max which makes it 99% compatible to the RN3 (same shared code base).
  You know what? I care & make the difference & MiUI is a shit compared to this:
  https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-max/development/rom-lineageos-14-1-t3529851
  Feel free to read the user opinions & don’t worry they are all former MiUI users.
- Ionut Johnny
  February 17, 2018
  Stock by itself has so many useless features but people don’t complain about it because it’s “stock”. I don’t care about other’s experience , i was and still am very satisfied with what xiaomi offers. I owned , s7 edge, Meizu 5s, Zuk z2, lenovo k3 note, lg G5 , Xiaomi redmi note 3, Mi6 and many others. waiting for redmi 5 plus happily.
- Lazar Prodanovic
  February 17, 2018
  I like to play more with mine…
  AOSP is a bare bone & contains by far least bug’s but as I mentioned below their is no such a thing for Xiaomi me by thing’s could change in the future thanks to A1 but I doubt it. By the way I am ZolaIII on XDA and co author of that ROM… It’s not fun at least not for me until you do it yourself.
- Guest
  February 17, 2018
  I’ve looked into Xiaomi Mi4, the security patch level for the latest update is 2017-04-01, meaning it is almost a year behind on security updates.
  If they had used stock Android it should be able to upgrade to every new Android release along with the monthly security updates. All someone has to do is run the build file in Android, Google has made it pretty automated.

Solis Falas
February 17, 2018
I prefer MIUI, but the way to get it better is:
1) Make all roms global, its easier and better to maintain one channel of updates. So just keep global beta and global stable
2) Scrap their build-in battery saver and let stock doze feature do its work
MacLo
March 24, 2018

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