Here's our first look at Xiaomi's MIUI based on Android Q beta

Xiaomi recently opened up a closed beta program to test the MIUI Android Q beta software using the Xiaomi Mi 9 smartphone. Only 400 testers are active, but the build still leaked to XDA Developers, which posted some screenshots and notes on the software.

Overall, there’s not much new in the MIUI Android Q beta. Right now, it’s still all based on MIUI 10 with none of the promised MIUI 11 features available at the moment. However, there does appear to be a new — or at least updated — launcher as well as a new app monitoring system called Screen Time that appears to be heavily inspired by Google’s Digital Wellbeing.

Check out some screenshots below:

The big changes with the launcher are the search bar getting relocated to the bottom of the display, a new icon format, and some slightly different fonts. There’s also new menus when you swipe to the left or up from the bottom.

Check out the video of the launcher in action below:

Along with these two new features, the usual Android Q features are also on board, including advanced permissions, icon customizations, accent color choices, and even the system-wide dark theme.

Unfortunately, the usual Android Q bugs are also present, and there are also some bugs specific to this MIUI Android Q build, too. Overall, it doesn’t appear this beta is stable — the closed beta testers definitely have their work cut out for them.

Still, it’s nice to see that progress is moving forward with Android Q for Xiaomi phones.

NEXT: Everything new in the latest Android Q beta