Xiaomi’s MI 3 now receives MIUI 6 OS update; Redmi Series coming soon

At the launch of Xiaomi’s flagship smartphone – Mi4, the company confirmed that other Xiaomi smartphones would receive the MIUI 6 update based on Android 4.4 KitKat in India. The Mi 4 smartphone already comes with MIUI 6.

The Redmi 1S and Redmi Note 3G will get the update by March where as the Redmi Note 4G will get the update by early February. Xiomi Mi 3 is now receiving the MIUI 6 update in India.

MI 3 users will receive an OTA (over-the-air) update for the new OS, but if you can’t wait that long to try it out, you can download it from Xiaomi’s forum. Xiaomi claims to have made MIUI 6 less distracting and there’s definitely a big change when you compare the existing MIUI5 to the upcoming version.

Key features of the MIUI 6 include Motion, Colour Content, Customisation and Security. It will also introduce animation to some apps like Clock, Weather, and Device unlock, etc.

The upgrade also allows floating notifications, which have been seen in the past. This means that if you get a call you don’t have to leave an app to answer it. There’s also a division of Notifications on the basis of those that are important and unimportant, which users can customise according to their preference.

Users can also choose what notifications that they would like to see in the Locked Screen mode and deny apps specific permissions by going into Permissions Manager.

A lot of the skeuomorphic or real-world design elements have been toned down, which is evident in the clock, and calculator app, both of which sport a much cleaner look now. Similarly the camera app has been toned down, with the big target buttons replaced by clearer targets that float on the screen.

It does add a great deal of cleanliness to the camera UI, which earlier had broad bands on top and bottom with the icons.

Recently, Xiaomi had a flash sale for the Mi3 on Republic Day. Only a limited number of units were be available and that too on a first-come-first-serve basis. There was no information provided as to many devices were sold and how fast they sold. This is unusual, considering that the company has always gained huge publicity with the fact that their devices have been selling out in a matter of seconds.