About to get this phone and have a few questions. - Xiaomi Mi 6 Questions & Answers

About to get this phone and have a few questions. - Xiaomi Mi 6 Questions & Answers

Hello all. just looking for some wise advice.
1: I see a lot of talk about rooting the phone. Is the just for the installation of a custom ROM, or for better functionality? I don't need cool heavy metal ROM surfaces my desktop is all black with all buttons hidden.
2: I saw no mention of bloatware, but generally speaking, how pure of an android experience is this? Can I simply uninstall whatever programs I want?
3: Any comments on the voice activation and and ease of use?
I basically need a gutsy daily driver, with good photo capabilities, (I also take photos at night as a part of my security job at a factory, and sometimes the photos for california License plates which are white reflect a lot of light and blur out on my Motorola Moto X pure), that I can give commands to while I am driving to take pictures and make calls, and check messages.
Is this the phone ror me?
Thanks!

1)Stock Rom behave as good as any custom rom. Most of the time people root their phone to have extra permission they may need to run apps that need it
2)You can remove every single piece of bloatware using ADB, no root needed
3)Works fine and is quite fast
Photos on stock rom are not Flagship level but neither crap.

For good photo capabilities I suggest you to use google camera with camera2 api enabled. The best way to achieve this is with magisk I think since with it you can hide root from various apps too while be able to enable camera2 api. But beware you should be on a firmware that a patch is available to make gcam working with it (library things.. Xiaomi changes things there a lot).
Or maybe you'd prefer a china based miui rom since the stock cam quality is better on china firmware. But for that prefer roms like xiaomi eu (because the stock china miui is in chinese and apps are default chinese apps)

Related

Why is there no "great" universal camera app?

Replacing TouchWiz with the clean new look of lollipop is something I wish I could do, but some missing features ruin it for me! Crashes, GPS problems, and especially the camera.
I take a lot of pictures, and I enjoy the Samsung Camera. Having to use Google Camera is just.. bleh. It's simple. WAY too simple.
Why is there really no solid, universal camera application? There are many camera apps on the play store, but I've tested almost all of them, and they ALL lack something important.
Has anyone else desired a powerful universal camera application?
Or know of one that isn't missing any key features.

Try open camera? I love it. Doesn't have beauty face and extra modes but as far as an actual camera for free it's great Imo
I'm assuming you talking about running a non-touchwiz rom that doesn't come with the Samsung camera.?
Surely you can find an apk for a compatible version. ?

The latest stable version of cyanogenmod 13 in the original android section is running pretty stable for me. No GPS problems or crashes. Just make sure to turn off the automatic brightness since that's a bit wonky.
As far as camera apps. Try a better camera or ABC I think it's called. It's pretty feature packed.

Snapcamera. Hands down the best out of the box in terms of features and control over settings. Now, the proprietary camera app that Samsung bundles has lower level access to the hardware that no 3rd party developer can tango with...yet. The low light options work the sensor differently from what I understand (takes multiple high speed images and composites them, that's why it tells you to hold still when snapping the shot). That being said, if you hate touchwiz, which I do, run with CM13, grab Snapcamera, be happy.

Stock ROM or Nougat custom ROM?

Hi to everyone, recently I acquired (as a gift) this device (a RIO-L03, probably I'll change it soon, it's a "temporal" device). The performance and the battery are pretty good by my standards, but I don't like EMUI in overall. It is worth it flash a custom ROM for more performance/experience or just stay here in Marshmallow with EMUI? What are the advantages and inconvenients?
Thanks in advance, people.

Well, It depends on wha you're looking for.
I have my L03 and it was running MM B340 (it was supposed to solve whatsapp notification problems) but as time passed by It started to have some issues with apps like twitter, FB, Instagram and Whatsapp (Forced Closes). Furthermore, I commenced to experience some lag on my phone, even when just one app was running. In the end I decided to flash a N rom (AOSP Extended 4.4) and I can tell you is a lot better then the MM. Faster, easier to use, with no lag and battery life is greater. The only thing I can complain about is the CAMERA. This is, you lose your native camera app (huawei cam) by flashing in the ROM the Google cam. It's not as good as the original one and GC doesn't contain as many functions as the Huawei one.
Customization is amazing. And the possibility to root it is really easy.
However, you said it is only temporary and it might take more time to flash than the time you'll have this phone. So you keep it, you won't regret having a N rom. You change it, enjoy it as it is.
Regards.

JJulious said:
Well, It depends on wha you're looking for.
I have my L03 and it was running MM B340 (it was supposed to solve whatsapp notification problems) but as time passed by It started to have some issues with apps like twitter, FB, Instagram and Whatsapp (Forced Closes). Furthermore, I commenced to experience some lag on my phone, even when just one app was running. In the end I decided to flash a N rom (AOSP Extended 4.4) and I can tell you is a lot better then the MM. Faster, easier to use, with no lag and battery life is greater. The only thing I can complain about is the CAMERA. This is, you lose your native camera app (huawei cam) by flashing in the ROM the Google cam. It's not as good as the original one and GC doesn't contain as many functions as the Huawei one.
Customization is amazing. And the possibility to root it is really easy.
However, you said it is only temporary and it might take more time to flash than the time you'll have this phone. So you keep it, you won't regret having a N rom. You change it, enjoy it as it is.
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for being the only person who reply, seriously. I've considered too much that option because, as like you, the phone has started to lagging and certanly it lost a bit of smoothness in overall (especially in menus like Settings or just in basic apps like WhatsApp). I can't complain too much about the camera because it just expendable for me, same with root. (I mean, I like Xposed/Magisk but I prefer just the personalization of AE with Substratum and still playing Pokémon GO and LL!, lmao). Again, thanks for your time, and I'll change to AOSP Extended soon. (Further, I'm going to give this phone to my mother, hopefully she's gonna have a fluid and solid experience)
Cheers.

Very thanks for this informative post! where is the best rom rootless for my RIO-L03?

i need ur support for custom rom
please
i need ur support that i downloaded more than rom for devise g8
and try flash it Rom from t wrap but appear error 7
more time
Although i try to solve this error but failed
please help me

Honor 8 pro stock edition?[custom]

Hello,
As we all know there are tons of custom roms, i was wondering this since a while
Say i get the honor 8 pro and i install lineage os on it and install pixel launcher or wahtever i want to bring it as close to stock as i want+ more speed i guess? cause its fully stock? i don't mind losing out on features of emui, but my questions are.
1] do custom roms make an impact on the camera performance?[earlier i had a nexus 5, so honestly couldn't make out the difference]
2 Will i lose my battery perforamnce somehow? i mean what if its made to be optimized with the official firmware? or does it not matter?
Someone please shed some light

1. Custom ROMs impact camera performance mainly because you lose out on the camera interface (which in 8 pro is far sophisticated than a third party app can offer). And we do not have a custom ROM for this device that uses stock modules to port itself. With single lens, difference wouldn't be much as there isn't much post shutter processing going on. Its just the sensor doing the job. With dual cameras, its slightly different.
2. Battery life depends on which custom ROM you choose. Lineage, RR generally have very neat battery stats and issues get resolved much faster(if at all there are any).
Most of them are waiting to change over to a custom ROM once the Camera app is ported, as all other functionality can be replicated using third party apps or you might find better customization when running a custom ROM by default.

1- camera will be heavily impacted (especially the dual lens function)
2- it just depends on the custom ROM and how well optimized for the hardware.

Cool thanks!
Mod please close this post

Last words
Yes custom ROM do ,but once surdu petru said in his thread that he willl port the stock emui camera to customrom.wait for him.

Why bother with unlocking and custom ROMs since MIUI 12?

Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.

My 2 cents!
Inviato dal mio Redmi Note 8 Pro utilizzando Tapatalk

I don't mean to demean anybody's choice.
I'm just trying to understand concrete advantages at this point, if any.

donkyshot said:
Though I do agree this phone works best on stock rom, what's your point?
Custom ROMs are useless and it should be like producer intended? That sounds like iPhone.
The beauty of android and custom ROMs comes with the ability to try and pick your own favourite one and customisation. But indeed with this phone's mediatek chip it's not the best choice for custom ROMs.
Personally miui 12 is working and looking fine by me, I just like rooting and debloating it.
But I highly appreciate all development here on XDA.
If you don't, just ignore all development and enjoy your phone out of the box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Just one simple question: Are you sure that debloating stops the stock rom from constantly sending potentially private data to China?
If you're using Facebook, WhatsApp, GApps and all that stuff it probably won't matter - as you're constantly surveilled anyway and don't seem to care much for privacy - if your data gets sent to China as well.
Can you be sure, custom rom doesn't have backdoors / data leaks by design (call it as you like) installed? Not at all. But with the stock rom I know for sure they are there.

jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. There is no difficulty in unlocking your phone, it takes 168hrs and that's it, be patient. Installing custom recoveries will NOT brick your phone whatsoever, but not following instructions will. The issue with the CFW ROMs is due to MTK processor and lack of monetary motivation for developers that own this phone.
2. My Netflix and banking apps work fine, safety net passes while rooted on a Android 10 GSI ROM.
3. The camera does work, I can record video with EIS (amazing!), shoot 16mb photos, use HDR, astrophotography, and a bunch of other features I don't use. While the camera is a work in progress and did require a lot of testing/comparing, I have everything working, feature wise, that I had on MIUI.
4. Bricking only happens if you don't fully read. MTK processor phones have a lot more "traps" than Qualcomm. Are you going to avoid a classic car because of all the required maintenance on it versus a new car? No. I only ever bricked my phone when working with CFW ROMs. What does that tell you?
5. OTA? Are you're referring to keeping up to date with security updates? The ROM I'm running now has the latest security patch? Or are you saying flashing ROMs is too involved and you rather just tap a button and be done, which is nice too. Xiaomi publicly said they're not issuing updates for this phone next year, so where is your OTA then?
Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're comparing apples to oranges here. A refrigerator is not a smart device, and while a TV can be considered smart, there's nothing to upgrade or remove. Do you run stock Windows on your home computer or do you replace the OS with something better with less bugs? And in fact, I do swap engines from different cars into my car. Upgrading parts and wiring and software for the same car.
At the end of the day, if you want to flash ROMs and have ZERO chance of bricking, go with a GSI ROM. Zero bloatware/spyware, no notification issues, no battery drain, and infinite customizability. Start with Quack and go from there. If you want something that works with zero effort, stay stock.

XNyle said:
Just one simple question: Are you sure that debloating stops the stock rom from constantly sending potentially private data to China?
If you're using Facebook, WhatsApp, GApps and all that stuff it probably won't matter - as you're constantly surveilled anyway and don't seem to care much for privacy - if your data gets sent to China as well.
Can you be sure, custom rom doesn't have backdoors / data leaks by design (call it as you like) installed? Not at all. But with the stock rom I know for sure they are there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can never be sure, on any rom.
Bloatware is not all about safety or privacy, it's more about removing unnecessary files to save memory and disk space.
For instance, my root storage on miui 12 is just over 70%, where it used to be somewhere over 90%.
Ram optimised is 3 GB out of 6.
Besides removing, freezing apps is helping too.

OK, I understand you have dealt with the negative side of the equation, in terms of overcoming the obstacles. But what are the actual benefits?
In the past stock ROMs are stock android were fairly restrictive. This is no longer the case. Can you give a few examples of things you can do with a CFW that are exclusive?
wang1chung said:
1. There is no difficulty in unlocking your phone, it takes 168hrs and that's it, be patient. Installing custom recoveries will NOT brick your phone whatsoever, but not following instructions will. The issue with the CFW ROMs is due to MTK processor and lack of monetary motivation for developers that own this phone.
2. My Netflix and banking apps work fine, safety net passes while rooted on a Android 10 GSI ROM.
3. The camera does work, I can record video with EIS (amazing!), shoot 16mb photos, use HDR, astrophotography, and a bunch of other features I don't use. While the camera is a work in progress and did require a lot of testing/comparing, I have everything working, feature wise, that I had on MIUI.
4. Bricking only happens if you don't fully read. MTK processor phones have a lot more "traps" than Qualcomm. Are you going to avoid a classic car because of all the required maintenance on it versus a new car? No. I only ever bricked my phone when working with CFW ROMs. What does that tell you?
5. OTA? Are you're referring to keeping up to date with security updates? The ROM I'm running now has the latest security patch? Or are you saying flashing ROMs is too involved and you rather just tap a button and be done, which is nice too. Xiaomi publicly said they're not issuing updates for this phone next year, so where is your OTA then?
You're comparing apples to oranges here. A refrigerator is not a smart device, and while a TV can be considered smart, there's nothing to upgrade or remove. Do you run stock Windows on your home computer or do you replace the OS with something better with less bugs? And in fact, I do swap engines from different cars into my car. Upgrading parts and wiring and software for the same car.
At the end of the day, if you want to flash ROMs and have ZERO chance of bricking, go with a GSI ROM. Zero bloatware/spyware, no notification issues, no battery drain, and infinite customizability. Start with Quack and go from there. If you want something that works with zero effort, stay stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

jshames said:
OK, I understand you have dealt with the negative side of the equation, in terms of overcoming the obstacles. But what are the actual benefits?
In the past stock ROMs are stock android were fairly restrictive. This is no longer the case. Can you give a few examples of things you can do with a CFW that are exclusive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To clarify, you don't need to be rooted to use non-stock ROMs, and CFW ROMs are not GSI ROMs. Also, using root with the stock ROM works just fine, but then you don't know what else is going on behind the scenes, no matter how much you disable.
I guess I mainly use root for backing up apps/OS/partitions in the event of a brick or data loss. Certain stock apps you can't remove without root, should you choose to remain on the stock ROM. Have you ever spent hours setting up your phone/apps and then lost your data? Doesn't happen with a rooted phone as you can backup both apps (with data) and even the entire ROM with settings. This allows you to test new ROMs, new tweaks, all while easily returning to your previous save state with no ill effects and within minutes. Click a button, get a coffee and it's done. I tested 6 different ROMs and then returned to my current, all within an hour. While I don't necessarily keep the tweaks and ROMs I test, they do shed light on features that I never knew I wanted or even just inspire me to go down new rabbit holes.
On multiple occasions I have been locked out of my phone after an OS update or tweak . Without root, only option is a factory reset and loss of your OS settings. With root, fixed within minutes. Forgot your password on your back up phone, no problem with root.
I think with data harvesting being so popular/rampant, more and more people will leave spyware infested ROMs for vanilla AOSP ROMs.

jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get your point, this is an MTK device, technical difficulties are obvious, but now its easy to switch to custom ROM without downgrading from Android 10, moreover steps are pretty simple if you get it right, not too different than other devices, bricking was already solved with the leaked Preloader and LK, moreover if it weren't for Xiaomi putting Authentication in EDL the device was unbrickable without any hassle, though I get what you want to say, the device gets hard-bricked on most stupid things.
I guess you haven't tried out the CFW 2 and newer builds, they've fixed offline charging, Netflix 1080p and other things, and I personally never had problems with camera, ANX works fine and GCam too, photo quality is obviously better on GCam but 4k video recording is amazing too.
Every device's Custom firmware and ROMs comes with specific difficulties, if you're willing to look beyond this and appreciate how you're going to get Android version updates even after official support ends, the stock, beautiful feel, better performance and battery then I think you're gonna understand why Custom ROMs for this device is so important!
Peace
And by the way I love tinkering with anything that has an processor and runs Linux hehe :silly:

jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you know what you talking about , did you try by your self some of Custom Roms ,spend some time modifying it, tweaks..
every single stuff that you have on MIUI that working, from first rom that come out with 80% we are now on 99 % of stuff that is working, especially NFC, that for me working on My Bootleggers ROM , with Gcam Bural 8 and 64mp working, Astrophotography that is better than MIUI pro mode that you need to searching for best ISO and SEC to get the best star pic, Gcam do that by self,set congif and make amazing photo.. then, XML modules.. thats another long story..
also , full customization of system , Customization of UI , so many options, so many ideas that developers with hard work and great work modify it..
Some of the features that are included on this ROM are:
Code:
* QS Rows and Colums
* Volume Keys: Wake up, skip tracks and switch according to rotation
* Show song album cover, visualizer and battery info on Lockscreen
* Power Menu Items
* Battery LED light settings
* Suspend Actions: Make your device disable GPS and switch to 2G when you're not using it
* AppOps: Manage your apps permissions in an advanced way
* Recent Styles: Dig the new Pie Quickstep recents, go back to the classic layout or use the Android Go layout
* Network icons: Show or hide the cross, switch between 4G or LTE
and the most import thing is NO BLOATWARE !
No Xiaomi application that you force you too use and the second most import thing is NO GOOGLE SERVICES that drain your battery..
you have,smooth ,fast , stable ROM and free hands to make you to look like you want to ,to make it like you want..
this is mine, one week without single crash of any app or random reboot, that is one of thing that blown my mind.. unofficial ROM that is amazing ..
https://youtu.be/Nc7eHRUYGkI

I get it guys.
There are many technical advantages which allow useful tweaks.
All I am saying is that for the typical user, who uses his device for internet, phone, email and Play Store apps, the ability to use these tweaks are not worth the trouble (unlike in the past, when the gap between stock Roms and customs Roms was HUGE).
You cannot tell me that it's easy-- there are scattered threads with advice all over the place, for all kinds of different setups (like what version of MIUI and phone you have, that require searching and putting together multiple posts and threads, figuring out what is up to date, in to figure out what to do, to avoid bricking and other bugs.
This is not criticism of anybody here or the developers. This is just the situation.
I think that some of the highly advanced users here, who perhaps spend hours a day on these forums or in development, have an easier time technically. I must admit that besides Xiaomi's 168 hr wait, the process looks daunting and risky. On this forum, is there a single unified guide that is up to date and reliably takes you through the whole process, even if I already have MIUI 12 installed?

The only point for me is Android update + security patch update in custom ROM.

jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try and directly answer + add my own stuff.
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
With CFW (Custom Firmware) you can be even safer on custom ROMs, as unbricking will no longer need a Mi Authorised Account. Some users have reported their devices bricking just from updating from MIUI to MIUI, which gave me another reason.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
Camera works even better on custom ROMs, thanks to buffer fix module (can be applied to rooted MIUI). Magisk hide + magisk props will mostly have you covered in terms of banking apps. Netflix is a weird issue, as you either have it crash or Widevine L3 but it works so
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
Nope, not at all. Stock cam was absolutely trash (80% of scenarios) and speaking from an XML creator's point of view, it's just us that has to do the tinkering. You just have to update and pick which XML you prefer. I haven't even bothered to download ANX cam, as GCAM already works well enough for me.
4. Bricking, etc
CFW has you covered here, even when going from A10. Just flash LR TWRP 3.1.1 or 3.3.1 and flash CFW + CFW ROM via recovery and safe.
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Honestly, I don't trust OTAs on MIUI after hearing people were bricked by doing that.
I went to custom ROMs for a peace of mind solution to...
- Better battery.
- Better support.
- Freedom with magisk.
- Trying out new features.
- Less bloatware with NikGapps Omni.
- Sometimes better performance.
So far, I've never felt the need to go back to MIUI.

Stock (global) ROM on my RN8P did not support (or allow) call recording. flashed Indonesia ROM to get that.
I still want to root the phone in order to:
* Backup apps including data with Super Backup
* Add folder shortcuts (for call recordings) to home screen
If there is a way to accomplish these without rooting, I'd love to know how.

Question AOSP vs MIUI based ROMs

I tried searching this forum before asking, so forgive me if someone has already asked this before. I want opinions from users who tried both AOSP and MIUI based ROMs. I wanted to know which is more stable/feature rich and better. If you hate or are strongly against MIUI and hence will never use it that is fine, but I am more interested in those who don't have such a negative opinion of MIUI and I want an honest and fair comparison of the two types of ROMs.
I am currently on ArrowOS and it is pretty decent. However, it does have some minor bugs and inconveniences. The main one is that the default Google phone app has issues with incoming calls - I cannot hear the other person on incoming calls until I activate speakerphone. Also, I believe some features are missing in AOSP based ROMs such as Dolby audio, and some other niche features. Also, it is quite unfortunate that AOSP based ROMs cannot take full advantage of the cameras and are limited to 12 Megapixels only and some camera features are missing.
Now, I wanted to know if I can have full camera functionality in MIUI based ROMs? Does it also have the same kind of incoming call bug? And lastly, can I still install GCam on MIUI based ROMs and get the best of both worlds, that is use MIUI camera app and GCam as well? Your advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

I'm gonna copy>paste my answer from another thread:
This answer probably is going to sound harsh, but it is truth (at least for me hahaha).
I've tried literally every custom rom from here (and also a few ones that are baked outside XDA, i.e. HOS, the Android 12 build, etc) and yeah, not even one custom rom gets near the stability, compatibility and battery life of MIUI.
I don't like MIUI at all, but the battery consuption and stability is the best to be used as a daily driver. I hate when I want to do something on my daily basis and then I fail to do it because I'm using a custom rom, for example: bluetooth issues when connecting the phone with my car, video calls having audio issues, low volume on calls, etc) or just taking a photo.
MIUI covers all those little points, and at the end of the day, is the only rom that fullfill all my needs. I personally use eu (the weekly release), as it is just an optimized version of MIUI, but yeah, I still dream on the day that a custom rom gets to the same level of stability and compatibility as MIUI. I TRULY love pixel like roms, but I just don't wan't to sacrifice stability or just simply downgrade the cam quality just for that.
And if I really need to chose a custom rom, I'll pick Lineage, it's the best custom rom out there, has awesome battery life, extra features and the rom/mantainers are not just going to stop developing the weekly nightlies just because they get tired of it. On second place there is HOS, the only issue with HOS that I had is that the thermals of my phone gets real high when I play games (this does not happen with other roms).
=)
Here's the thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/best-custom-rom.4275947/page-6

Kimbaroth said:
I'm gonna copy>paste my answer from another thread:
This answer probably is going to sound harsh, but it is truth (at least for me hahaha).
I've tried literally every custom rom from here (and also a few ones that are baked outside XDA, i.e. HOS, the Android 12 build, etc) and yeah, not even one custom rom gets near the stability, compatibility and battery life of MIUI.
I don't like MIUI at all, but the battery consuption and stability is the best to be used as a daily driver. I hate when I want to do something on my daily basis and then I fail to do it because I'm using a custom rom, for example: bluetooth issues when connecting the phone with my car, video calls having audio issues, low volume on calls, etc) or just taking a photo.
MIUI covers all those little points, and at the end of the day, is the only rom that fullfill all my needs. I personally use eu (the weekly release), as it is just an optimized version of MIUI, but yeah, I still dream on the day that a custom rom gets to the same level of stability and compatibility as MIUI. I TRULY love pixel like roms, but I just don't wan't to sacrifice stability or just simply downgrade the cam quality just for that.
And if I really need to chose a custom rom, I'll pick Lineage, it's the best custom rom out there, has awesome battery life, extra features and the rom/mantainers are not just going to stop developing the weekly nightlies just because they get tired of it. On second place there is HOS, the only issue with HOS that I had is that the thermals of my phone gets real high when I play games (this does not happen with other roms).
=)
Here's the thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/best-custom-rom.4275947/page-6
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! Yes I read your post on that other thread as well and it was a very good post. I feel that your observation is accurate. MIUI based ROMs seem to give us the most stability and feature set. Unfortunately AOSP ROMs have things lacking that MIUI ROMs have by default like the Camera. I think this is making me inclined to install a MIUI ROM I guess.

A quick follow up question: Can I install GCam on the Xiaomi.eu ROM? The only feature I want from GCam is the "photosphere" mode.

litetaker said:
A quick follow up question: Can I install GCam on the Xiaomi.eu ROM? The only feature I want from GCam is the "photosphere" mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try that by yourself, there are a lot of gcam variants, better download a couple of them and try one by one: https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/

litetaker said:
I tried searching this forum before asking, so forgive me if someone has already asked this before. I want opinions from users who tried both AOSP and MIUI based ROMs. I wanted to know which is more stable/feature rich and better. If you hate or are strongly against MIUI and hence will never use it that is fine, but I am more interested in those who don't have such a negative opinion of MIUI and I want an honest and fair comparison of the two types of ROMs.
I am currently on ArrowOS and it is pretty decent. However, it does have some minor bugs and inconveniences. The main one is that the default Google phone app has issues with incoming calls - I cannot hear the other person on incoming calls until I activate speakerphone. Also, I believe some features are missing in AOSP based ROMs such as Dolby audio, and some other niche features. Also, it is quite unfortunate that AOSP based ROMs cannot take full advantage of the cameras and are limited to 12 Megapixels only and some camera features are missing.
Now, I wanted to know if I can have full camera functionality in MIUI based ROMs? Does it also have the same kind of incoming call bug? And lastly, can I still install GCam on MIUI based ROMs and get the best of both worlds, that is use MIUI camera app and GCam as well? Your advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Overall, I'd also rather have Vanilla Android.
But I do like Xiaomi's added permission-manager, which restricts Apps further, Dolby Atmos (Much better than Moto Dolby, and Razer Dolby in AOSP ROMs), and the MIUI Camera App.
Yes, you can use Gcam on MIUI as well. The ports have gotten good.
Recommended Stable Google Camera Port Versions
A list of suggested / recommended and known to be stable Google Camera apks.
www.celsoazevedo.com
BSG GCam APKs - Google Camera Port
Modified Google Camera app by BSG.
www.celsoazevedo.com
Arnova8G2 GCam APKs - Google Camera Port
Modified Google Camera app by Arnova8G2.
www.celsoazevedo.com
Arnova8G2 (Beta) GCam APKs - Google Camera Port
Modified Google Camera app by Arnova8G2 (Beta).
www.celsoazevedo.com
Calling works normal on MIUI. Call Recording too.

litetaker said:
I tried searching this forum before asking, so forgive me if someone has already asked this before. I want opinions from users who tried both AOSP and MIUI based ROMs. I wanted to know which is more stable/feature rich and better. If you hate or are strongly against MIUI and hence will never use it that is fine, but I am more interested in those who don't have such a negative opinion of MIUI and I want an honest and fair comparison of the two types of ROMs.
I am currently on ArrowOS and it is pretty decent. However, it does have some minor bugs and inconveniences. The main one is that the default Google phone app has issues with incoming calls - I cannot hear the other person on incoming calls until I activate speakerphone. Also, I believe some features are missing in AOSP based ROMs such as Dolby audio, and some other niche features. Also, it is quite unfortunate that AOSP based ROMs cannot take full advantage of the cameras and are limited to 12 Megapixels only and some camera features are missing.
Now, I wanted to know if I can have full camera functionality in MIUI based ROMs? Does it also have the same kind of incoming call bug? And lastly, can I still install GCam on MIUI based ROMs and get the best of both worlds, that is use MIUI camera app and GCam as well? Your advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've used most of custom roms and just like the user above, I switched back to miui (weekly xiaomi eu). I found some annoying issues in every single rom, like random reboots while using LTE, and high idle batery drain.
Aosp roms are more clean and smooth, but they lack of the stability of Miui and some features like the MEMC, dobly, game mode, etc.
So, in the mean time I will stay on miui

SanPepsi said:
i've used most of custom roms and just like the user above, I switched back to miui (weekly xiaomi eu). I found many issues in every single rom, like random reboots while using LTE, and high idle batery drain.
Aosp roms are more clean and smooth, but they lack of the stability of Miui and some features like the MEMC, dobly, game mode, etc.
So, in the mean time I will stay on miui
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also on Xiaomi.eu Weekly. I've seen your question here on XDA about the random reboots, but I don't know a solution to your problem.
I've only stayed on a single AOSP ROM for max. 2 days before switching to other AOSP ROMs, but I only experienced 1 crash during Android Setup, I think.
I only used 4G/LTE internet, no calls as far as I know.

I tried many aosp custom roms and went back to stock Miui. High end phones have extra features like Dolby atmos which improves sound quality a lot and no custom rom sounds as good as Miui, and some very useful built in features like timing AOD which is very convenient,... I feel like Aosp custom roms would be better for mid range phone like Redmi notes, Poco F3 is powerful enough to be smooth even in Miui

Hey,
I just switched to MiuiMiX, most things are great. But there are some things that are missing, and I hope you can help me .
First, the most important thing, navigation gestures with third party launcher. Is there an efficient way to make gestures works with third party launcher (I use Niagara Launcher, and it worked great with AOSP ROMs), I tried many things, but none worked or in a bad way, annoying to use the stock launcher while I paid for Niagara launcher which is perfect for me. The other problems aren't really caused by MIUI, or I just need some adaptation, or else...
Otherwise, what do you recommend for MIUI based ROM ?

I don't care a whole lot for the Xiaomi Miui based roms to clunky to bloated and slow compared to lets say Arrow is clean fast and battery life is much better , even Xiaomi.eu version is bloated in my opinion, themes , miui music app and video and the the built in Avast scanner all crap! but to each his own .

jefffrom said:
I don't care a whole lot for the Xiaomi Miui based roms to clunky to bloated and slow compared to lets say Arrow is clean fast and battery life is much better , even Xiaomi.eu version is bloated in my opinion, themes , miui music app and video and the the built in Avast scanner all crap! but to each his own .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a fair point but overall I still find MIUI to be the better ROM than AOSP ROMs.
I agree that MIUI has more bloat and a lot more pre-installed system apps. But I don't think it is slow at all. It is absolutely snappy and just as fast as AOSP ROMs. Battery life, I personally do not see any significant difference between the two. In fact I probably experienced more idle battery drain on ArrowOS and sometimes the phone was unable to go into deep sleep mode on ArrowOS.
But the main reason I prefer MIUI ROMs compared to AOSP even though my previous phone was a Pixel 2 and I really appreciate clean stock Android is because a lot of features are lost when I go to AOSP ROMs that I cannot justify it! Why use a ROM that takes away a lot of the features that came with the phone? I paid for all those features and I would like to use them.
For me camera is very very important and I was undewhelmed by GCam. I really wanted the proper functionality of stock MIUI camera. And the good news is I can install GCam on MIUI ROMs too to get the best of both worlds!
For me, the following is a small selection of features that are better on MIUI ROMs than AOSP:
Better Camera; there is no sound issue with incoming calls (was a problem on ArrowOS), better screen recorder features with floating controls, better screen casting functionality, useful built-in apps like voice recorder, notes, compass, weather app, also the calculator app and clock app are better and more feature rich than Google's equivalents
You can force dark mode on apps, which is really useful for those apps that don't have dark mode or make dark mode a paid feature
Dolby Atmos, MEMC, floating windows, one handed mode and other useful features not in AOSP ROMs
I personally prefer the layout of the notification panel in MIUI more than Stock Android. In fact, I liked Samsung One UI's implementation of the notification panel more than Google's stock implementation. Brightness slider is at the bottom to be more easily accessible, the settings icon is on the top so I do not have to expand the quick toggles to get that icon unlike in Stock Android.
And honestly, once I have the phone all setup it looks great! Nowadays Android skins are relatively mild unlike the heavy handed UIs like TouchWiz and HTC Sense of the past. Even the latest MIUI looks fairly mild and after everything is setup there is not a lot of difference compared to Stock Android in appearance. In fact it looks a bit better than the very spartan Stock Android look. Even the Settings app is nicer with the bigger icons and fonts. So I am quite happy with the Xiaomi.eu ROM.
I hope this comparison of MIUI ROM vs AOSP interface is useful to others if they want to get an overview of what you get from MIUI ROMs compared to AOSP.

litetaker said:
That is a fair point but overall I still find MIUI to be the better ROM than AOSP ROMs.
I agree that MIUI has more bloat and a lot more pre-installed system apps. But I don't think it is slow at all. It is absolutely snappy and just as fast as AOSP ROMs. Battery life, I personally do not see any significant difference between the two. In fact I probably experienced more idle battery drain on ArrowOS and sometimes the phone was unable to go into deep sleep mode on ArrowOS.
But the main reason I prefer MIUI ROMs compared to AOSP even though my previous phone was a Pixel 2 and I really appreciate clean stock Android is because a lot of features are lost when I go to AOSP ROMs that I cannot justify it! Why use a ROM that takes away a lot of the features that came with the phone? I paid for all those features and I would like to use them.
For me camera is very very important and I was undewhelmed by GCam. I really wanted the proper functionality of stock MIUI camera. And the good news is I can install GCam on MIUI ROMs too to get the best of both worlds!
For me, the following is a small selection of features that are better on MIUI ROMs than AOSP:
Better Camera; there is no sound issue with incoming calls (was a problem on ArrowOS), better screen recorder features with floating controls, better screen casting functionality, useful built-in apps like voice recorder, notes, compass, weather app, also the calculator app and clock app are better and more feature rich than Google's equivalents
You can force dark mode on apps, which is really useful for those apps that don't have dark mode or make dark mode a paid feature
Dolby Atmos, MEMC, floating windows, one handed mode and other useful features not in AOSP ROMs
I personally prefer the layout of the notification panel in MIUI more than Stock Android. In fact, I liked Samsung One UI's implementation of the notification panel more than Google's stock implementation. Brightness slider is at the bottom to be more easily accessible, the settings icon is on the top so I do not have to expand the quick toggles to get that icon unlike in Stock Android.
And honestly, once I have the phone all setup it looks great! Nowadays Android skins are relatively mild unlike the heavy handed UIs like TouchWiz and HTC Sense of the past. Even the latest MIUI looks fairly mild and after everything is setup there is not a lot of difference compared to Stock Android in appearance. In fact it looks a bit better than the very spartan Stock Android look. Even the Settings app is a nicer with the bigger icons and fonts. So I am quite happy with the Xiaomi.eu ROM.
I hope this comparison of MIUI ROM vs AOSP interface is useful to others if they want to get an overview of what you get from MIUI ROMs compared to AOSP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, I'm have some lags with MiuiMiX... And MIUI is still very limited with some things... It's a choice to make AOSP and MIUI have advantages and disadvantages..

litetaker said:
That is a fair point but overall I still find MIUI to be the better ROM than AOSP ROMs.
I agree that MIUI has more bloat and a lot more pre-installed system apps. But I don't think it is slow at all. It is absolutely snappy and just as fast as AOSP ROMs. Battery life, I personally do not see any significant difference between the two. In fact I probably experienced more idle battery drain on ArrowOS and sometimes the phone was unable to go into deep sleep mode on ArrowOS.
But the main reason I prefer MIUI ROMs compared to AOSP even though my previous phone was a Pixel 2 and I really appreciate clean stock Android is because a lot of features are lost when I go to AOSP ROMs that I cannot justify it! Why use a ROM that takes away a lot of the features that came with the phone? I paid for all those features and I would like to use them.
For me camera is very very important and I was undewhelmed by GCam. I really wanted the proper functionality of stock MIUI camera. And the good news is I can install GCam on MIUI ROMs too to get the best of both worlds!
For me, the following is a small selection of features that are better on MIUI ROMs than AOSP:
Better Camera; there is no sound issue with incoming calls (was a problem on ArrowOS), better screen recorder features with floating controls, better screen casting functionality, useful built-in apps like voice recorder, notes, compass, weather app, also the calculator app and clock app are better and more feature rich than Google's equivalents
You can force dark mode on apps, which is really useful for those apps that don't have dark mode or make dark mode a paid feature
Dolby Atmos, MEMC, floating windows, one handed mode and other useful features not in AOSP ROMs
I personally prefer the layout of the notification panel in MIUI more than Stock Android. In fact, I liked Samsung One UI's implementation of the notification panel more than Google's stock implementation. Brightness slider is at the bottom to be more easily accessible, the settings icon is on the top so I do not have to expand the quick toggles to get that icon unlike in Stock Android.
And honestly, once I have the phone all setup it looks great! Nowadays Android skins are relatively mild unlike the heavy handed UIs like TouchWiz and HTC Sense of the past. Even the latest MIUI looks fairly mild and after everything is setup there is not a lot of difference compared to Stock Android in appearance. In fact it looks a bit better than the very spartan Stock Android look. Even the Settings app is nicer with the bigger icons and fonts. So I am quite happy with the Xiaomi.eu ROM.
I hope this comparison of MIUI ROM vs AOSP interface is useful to others if they want to get an overview of what you get from MIUI ROMs compared to AOSP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
some very valid points my friend but you got to ask yourself do the positives outweigh the negatives ? I will agree miss the stock camera and Atmos but dam everything else just works better..I just can't deal with the bloat of the stock rom.

jefffrom said:
some very valid points my friend but you got to ask yourself do the positives outweigh the negatives ? I will agree miss the stock camera and Atmos but dam everything else just works better..I just can't deal with the bloat of the stock rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have hidden away the bloat completely. I don't see any major negatives with this ROM so far.

In my opinion, if you want to save some time then don't think about flashing custom ROM in the initial days of purchase. Just stick with preloaded stock ROM so that you can enjoy the fancy features which lure you into buying that phone. Flashing is an addiction after some time and there are tons of ROMs which get regular updates that will keep busy in flashing ROMs. I think the thumb rule should be to wait until 1 year (typical warranty period and end of regular update cycle from OEM) before flashing any custom ROMs. After that, you will definitely enjoy ASOP ROMs.

I always go away from miui due to security and privacy concerns + the bloated applications and the ads. I have found ARROWOS and HOS to be working the best on PocoF3, keep in mind miui has higher antutu scores because it has a specific profile for bench-marking called "nolimit"

Noe367 said:
Hey,
I just switched to MiuiMiX, most things are great. But there are some things that are missing, and I hope you can help me .
First, the most important thing, navigation gestures with third party launcher. Is there an efficient way to make gestures works with third party launcher (I use Niagara Launcher, and it worked great with AOSP ROMs), I tried many things, but none worked or in a bad way, annoying to use the stock launcher while I paid for Niagara launcher which is perfect for me. The other problems aren't really caused by MIUI, or I just need some adaptation, or else...
Otherwise, what do you recommend for MIUI based ROM ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a guide thread open on how to use gestures with any launcher, you need magisk, and Nav Remover Module

ketanmore said:
In my opinion, if you want to save some time then don't think about flashing custom ROM in the initial days of purchase. Just stick with preloaded stock ROM so that you can enjoy the fancy features which lure you into buying that phone. Flashing is an addiction after some time and there are tons of ROMs which get regular updates that will keep busy in flashing ROMs. I think the thumb rule should be to wait until 1 year (typical warranty period and end of regular update cycle from OEM) before flashing any custom ROMs. After that, you will definitely enjoy ASOP ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many Roms have semi automated updates. Arrow for example has 1 button to check for an update and then pops another to install the available update. That's it, everything is done in the background, you can use your phone as usual. Restart whenever it's convenient for you and you are done. Just like in stock MIUI

Zimmster said:
Many Roms have semi automated updates. Arrow for example has 1 button to check for an update and then pops another to install the available update. That's it, everything is done in the background, you can use your phone as usual. Restart whenever it's convenient for you and you are done. Just like in stock MIUI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it straightforward to install updates for ArrowOS with Magisk root? Or will it block updates or something?

Develop Bugs

welcome