[Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Guides, News, & Discussion] kuance:
Hello everyone, I am looking everywhere to find a proper review of the MIUI 10 VS android Pie experience but no where i could find. Previously I did participate in some thread to ask similar question but I guess it is not in depth enough and it is not accessible to everyone, so here I would like to do a simple comparison between the 2 OS that I have been using so far. To be fair to developer, I would not mention which custom rom I am on for those as on both, i dont face any major bug that will break as daily driver. AFAIK, everything works fine in both MIUI 10 and Android Pie.

1.)Battery

- this is the most well discussed topic in all ROM. So i will put it as the first topic. From my experience of using both. MIUI 10 have better idle battery time and also usage time. People reporting android Pie have much higher SOT but from my experience. Nop. But of course, one thing i notice obviously is how consistent the Pie drain battery. Unlike MIUI10, it can stay at the 90-100 mark for long time, but then when it drops down to 80+ it will drain quick until 30-50% and then start showing slower drain again. Im not sure is it MIUI 10 done it purposely so people will have that placebo effect of "great battery life", but after all, the final SOT and idle time still show longer time in MIUI 10.

Winner: MIUI 10

2.) User friendliness

- MIUI gesture

Swipe up from bottom to back home. Swipe left or right from edge to Back, Swipe up and hold for like 0.5s for recent. then finally, swipe longer and hold for previous apps.

- the good: It is ergonomic, fast, seamless, and never ONE time failed me.

- the bad: especially in youtube or any landscape mode apps, the gesture will mess up sometimes, sometimes instead of following the screen rotation, it stays in the portrait mode of gesture, but sometimes it DOES change accordingly to the screen rotation. Plus if landscape + fullscreen video. 50% of the time I mess up on the gesture. but it dont takes more than 2 tries to get it correct.

Pie's Pill gesture

middle still act as home button. left navigation still act as back button, but with the missing recent button. It switched to the swipe up of the pill to get you to the recent screen. And by holding and sliding left and right on the pill will allow you to scroll around all your apps just like how you Alt-tabbing your window apps.

- the good: you can copy words/sentence from one page of the the pill pull up to another page. The page is not only a graphical image of your last used apps, but you can interact with the content within. Also the swipe up for recent had gotten faster and easier now to switch between apps. From my usage, switching between apps has become effortless with Pie, slightly ahead of MIUI 10 in this segment.

- the bad: the pill left and right sliding seems like a gimmick to me, I don't use it as often as it seems the recent will do the job. The pill left/right sliding require your finger to be on the screen all the time while sliding, and then release to the apps you landed. The problem here is that you don't often land at the right spot, it scrolls fast sometimes, and the other times, its skipping app to app, one by one.

Winner: MIUI 10

3.) Exclusively Features

- Digital Wellbeing by Pie

This is the best awesome thing I can say happened to Pie. Many of us here are obsessed with our phone. Picking up almost every second our mind went blank or free for a second in our daily life. Digital Wellbeing is one of the apps that I hope it will be matured one day enough to allow us to use our phone in a mindful state. Not to be obsessed with it but not to throw it all together to get left behind the technology.

- Remote control by MIUI

The next best thing that I can do with my Redmi note 5 (whyred) is with the IR, i can control most home appliances like my TV and aircond. Which further improve the minimalism of my dream home because I manage to hide and keep all the controller in the drawer and control all with just my phone. And this is where MIUI did great at. Maybe there are 3rd party apps that function the same, but i dont bother to search one for it as the xiaomi build in one are just great.

- Google feed by Pie/oreo

This is the second most visited place for me in my phone. the google feed, I love reading article, update with newest update, world news, etc.... and this just made my life so much easier. Just scroll the the left of my phone and there i got it. LOVE

- vault by MIUI

The previous MIUI 9 i am using, have integrated (seems of) google feed in the app vault. It function the same by scrolling to the left of your homescreen but ever since I update to MIUI 10. the google feed is gone and no where to be found or make it available. I have tried many way but no. So the temporary solution is to place a shortcut of Goggle app on the home screen. Which is quite pain in the eyes to me.

-Drawer

Speaking of home screen minimalism. MIUI 10 do not offer drawer, while Pie does. So to make a clean and minimalist homescreen with Pie is just a breeze. But not that bad on MIUI 10 either. I group 4 folder. Junk, Google app, Tools, Daily. and just with 4 folder my MIUI 10 is clean. But of course I prefer one with drawer. After some understanding of the MIUI 10 gesture that I love of, it make sense that a slide up drawer like the Orea/Pie will not be able to work fluently. SO ya, we have to sacrifice something else to get the thing we want more.

-Alarm

This is a small issue here. Both winner here on MIUI 10 and Pie. Why? Because MIUI 10 has a smart alarm, which give me gentle wake comparing to those old school alarm we got. The smart alarm offered by MIUI 10 is great and amazing. First, it plays soft music, then it will report the current time, today's weather, and remind you to be happy today. (all spoken in chinese). Yes I am chinese so I understand what it says. I cant find anywhere else to change setting for the smart alarm (language, type, sound, etc) So I will assume it only speak chinese for now. XD

While at the same time, Pie implemented a new clock that the alarm is sync with spotify! Here, I can make one playlist, with all gentle wake up music as my alarm, so my alarm will not sound the same anymore. It's very difficult to comment which is better alarm here. MIUI 10 alarm give me a smile on my wake up time. and the weather today, so I know how i need to wear to my office. while the Pie one give me a fresh new alarm everyday.

-Clock

A quick one here, the clock in Pie remain the same except the alarm+spotify, but the clock in MIUI 10 almost got a complete overhaul. The timer especially, have a build in Zen function to me. You can choose the sound to play thruout the timer you set from Campfire, sea breeze, to forest sound.... Which is a very fast and simple companion apps for me to practice my meditation.... very very very practical to me. Not at all a gimmick feature :)

Winner: Both, I wish there is a rom that I can mix and match with aroma and to get the best out of both world. Both have their own signature here. especially the Pie with their new Digital wellbeing.

4.) Responsiveness

-First, I don't like to compare the "free available ram". For me this is bs. The ram is there for a reason and the purpose of ram to be there is for you to store temporary memory, so why clear or why you need to have a lot of "free available ram"? Those are unused memory and its just a waste. So as long you are using your phone and your ram still able to cope with your number of "active app" opened .... then you are good to go.

- The responsiveness I am talking here is the buttery and fluidity of the phone. The scrolling seems to be a tad bit smoother in MIUI 10. But the animation of Android Pie is unbeatable. The moment you pull up the recent with the pill, and select any apps, the apps just trigger and fire up seamlessly almost like instant. You still see tiny stutter in MIUI 10 edge gesture especially if you pull up to return to home gesture.

Winner: Still MIUI 10, because of how buttery it is scrolling social apps like insta or facebook.

REMEMBER... this is not a bias review nor an 100% accurate review. It is all base on my personal experience. I have been flashing and trying rom and kernel since many years ago, and I know much or less, and I know what thing is BS and what not. Currently I am still on Pie, but seems like Masik just release their new Masik X. I am very eagerly to jump back to MIUI 10.

For your info. Im a die hard fan of pure android, since the samsung galaxy nexus, to nexus 4, the redmi note 3, and now note 5. I swear by how much I love pure android experience. But today, MIUI 10 is really catching up the game. Be open minded.