[Galaxy S III Android Development] raimondomartire:
What is MIUI?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NDu7RxWTfd4#!

Core Features of Miui

http://en.miui.com/a-24.html

First boot things that I do

Enable root: Find the Permissions app, turn root switch to ON.

Apply Rayglobe Theme: Theme Manager > Rayglobe

Change battery display: Settings > Battery > Battery indicator style. My personal favorite is top-bar

Set long-press back button to kill app: Settings > Button > Long-press Back to kill app, and delay time underneath

Turn off 3G download limit: Downloads app, menu > settings > turn off Data download prompt

Getting ROOT permissions

Back to desktop, click MENU> Settings> Applications. Check "unknown source" Click "development", and check "Debug USB"

Built in application

Built in applications, that are head and shoulders above any third party app on the market.

Screenshot

The built in screen capture feature is a lifesaver, if you need it. You don’t have to run a program prior to taking a screenshot, nor you have to shout into your microphone, nor you have to shake your phone in convulsion trying to capture the exact moment you need. Screen capture works as follows: press VolDn+Menu.

File manager

There are three tabs, depending on what you need. There is your standard full featured file browser, FTP server, for accessing your SD card from a remote computer and a “Browse” tab. The Browse feature is very handy, it sorts all your files into categories: Docs, APKs, Themes, Music, Videos, Pics, Zips, Favorites and Misc granting quick access to the files you need, no matter where the files are located on SD. There is also a very nice breakdown of your used space, to easily identify how much of your space is occupied by music, pics, etc..

Backup

MIUI features a full featured backup utility. You can backup all your System (Contacts, call logs, messages, wifi settings, layouts etc..) and Apps (+Data). Works very well.

Music Player

This, probably, is the feature that held me on MIUI the most when deciding weather to switch to another ROM. Other than it’s beautiful, fast, downloads album art and lyrics dynamically, it reads your music by Folder, which is how my music is sorted on SD. It baffles me how other players miss this simple feature. Another great feature is excluding files that are less than set size. It’s great for ignoring all kinds of ringtones and notifications from your library.

Gallery

Some nice features include Hide folders (album art for example), Favorite folders, Lyrics.

Contacts / Dialer

Contacts are pretty much standard to Android, with a few exceptions, like being able to quickly block a person from contacting you. The Dialer on the other hand is completely redesigned. It features T9 dialer (dial by name, like Sense dialer), a lot of built in features, like two way call recording, very detailed call log. For example it shows you how long the missed caller called you for. It identifies the country of the number by the country code in the number etc..

Network Assistant

In the Network Assistant, you can set a maximum amount of traffic to be sent over 3G if you have a limited data plan. It will also tell you which apps are using the most data, and by pressing the button at the bottom of the Traffic Ranking screen, you can limit apps' internet usage. From there, you can also set the default settings of newly installed apps, useful if you want to set apps to only use data off wifi.

Visitor Mode & Access Control

These settings are hidden a little bit. To access them, go into Settings > Security & privacy > Privacy protection

Guarded mode is also known as visitor or guest mode. When visitor mode is on, call logs, notes, gallery data, and text messages are hidden and the launcher cannot enter edit mode. You can also set a password for leaving visitor mode.

Access control gives you the ability to password protect applications. The ability to hide the apps is currently missing but should show up in a later build.

Firewall (formerly Do Not Disturb)

Using the Firewall app, you can send unwanted callers directly to voicemail and reject text messages as well. It has a lot of customization including a whitelist or blacklist and keywords for blocking text messages. Other settings include Anti-Stranger mode (Muting first ring when an unknown number calls, Filter Spam Messages (filter SMS based on keywords)

Privacy Mode

Enabling Privacy Mode will hide all your SMS and call logs. The Launcher editing will also be disabled. It’s useful when lending your phone to someone for a short period of time.

Access control

Access control is something new to MIUI. It controls what apps a user can see/access, without a password

Long Press / App manager / Recent

Just like in any android distribution you press and hold your home key to bring up the recently run app list (grid). Just like anything in MIUI they went further and here’s what we get:

Pressing and holding the Home key brings up the grid with 12 recently launched apps. There is an indicator on each icon, which shows you weather the app is running or not.

There are two buttons on the button of the screen: App Killer, which if pressed will kill all apps, and show how much memory you’ve just freed up. And App Manager, which sends you to the App Manager menu. Pressing and holding an app icon will send you to the apps’ management screen, where you can force stop the app, move it to SD, clear data etc.

Also worth mentioning is the built in Back Button killer. While in any app press and hold the back button, it will force close the app and clear it from the memory.

Visual Style

MIUI is beautiful. Being a multimedia / interface designer I know what I’m talking about. It’s simple and functional. It gives you the eyecandy stuff without going over the top. Obviously some themes are not up to scratch, like with any modding community, but the professionals make it look beautiful, and it’s all free.

Theme Engine

If you get bored with how your Android looks, dont't worry. The theme engine in MIUI is amazing. Not only you get lots of themes to choose from, but you can mix and match, taking the lockscreen from one theme, icons from another and fonts from yet another theme. There is a theme gallery online, so you can browse and download what you like. All nicely built in into the ROM and applying takes seconds. Here are the things you can customize:

Boot Animation (the one you’ve been flashing through recovery)

Boot Audio (any sound you like. Default is silent)

Custom Lockscreen (the way your lockscreen looks and functions)

Lockscreen wallpaper (self explanatory)

Icon (Icon Pack)

Status Bar (the way your notification/toggle bar looks)

Launcher (the way your launcher looks, including the status bar and dock)

Wallpaper

Font (choose a font for your android)

Text Style (how the SMS/MMS app will look)

Dialer Style (how the dialer app will look)

Ringtone

Notification

Alarm

Adb don't work

Click MENU> Settings> "option developments", and check "Debug USB"

Aroma install stuck, no key press

If aroma install stuck Press and hold Power + Home + Volume[+] buttons until its boot in Recovery and then reinstall with English language

Camera black band

Black band on right are visible only in first start. Close and reopen app

Where is the New sound settings feature to set dial tone as piano tone

Go in phone/settings/dial pad touch tones/tone/piano sound