New to MIUI - major gripes with stock-ROM

[lolmachine4]

Hi all,

first off I want to say I'm not new to Android or flashing stuff, I'm using a flashed OP5T myself. I got my GF a Mi9 because she wanted a beefy phone for a small price, and I got her the Mi 9 (Global Version).
I now got myself a pretty angry GF because the software on this device is not up to snuff by any stretch. Myself being a AOSP User for 5+ years, I can hardly wrap my head around the software of this device. Some of those "design" choices just leave me baffled.

The main problems I have with the mi9 are:
- notifications missing / hidden under the left-side clock. They appear for like 2 seconds and just vanish from the statusbar. Can this behaviour be fixed? All I found online was a post saying "might be fixed in a later stable because it's fixed in DEV-ROM." I have no confirmation this statement is actually true.
- the in-display fingerprintreader is a joke. It's so slow to activate AND authenticate, every back-side fingerprintscanner was faster then this. I know this probably has to do with her using a glass screen protector, but all other phones I've seen with those never had such problems. It takes her like 3,4 times every try to unlock. Any way to speed this up?

Those are the 2 mayor issues we're facing atm. I wonder if using a .EU-ROM will fix atleast those major issues, as those render the device pretty annoying to use. Currently her phone is on MIUI Global 10.2.9.0 PFAMIXM.
Unlocking and flashing a ROM is no problem to me, but if a custom ROM can not fix those issues, I will just return this device.
Also, is it possible to use "secure banking apps", aka those garbage apps that check for root and other fun stuff? Shes using the "VR BANKING TO GO APP", a german-based bank. If I flash her any other ROM, this has to work 100%.

Thanks for helping me out here guys.

 

[BelgianWaffle]

I think your girlfriend has weird fingers mate. Here's a video I have taken just now spamming the fingerprint sensor and I guarantee you the iPhone 8, which was used to film the video and which is pretty much the quintessence of fingerprint scanners, is not faster.

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As for the notifications, I do agree they have some improvements to make. Although, if you add the clock widget, it is possible to stack 6 notifications + the ringtone mode (silenced of DND) (because the time isn't shown on the status bar anymore), which I think is plenty enough. If you are in an app, the clock appears and the number of notifications is reduced to 4 + the ringtone mode (silenced of DND).

Regarding the banking app, I don't remember the last time I used a non-rooted phone where I couldn't just hide it with magisk or other stuff. I currently use Bpost banking (they have 2 different apps) and haven't caused me any troubles.

 

[lolmachine4]

Thanks for the video! Your FP scanner is indeed fast as lightning, but you're not using a screen protector. Maybe that's the culprit on our side.

I did not get the part with the clock widget. On the stock launcher, we had a clock on the homescreen, but the clock in the upper left corner never disappeared for us?

 

[BelgianWaffle]

Thanks for the video! Your FP scanner is indeed fast as lightning, but you're not using a screen protector. Maybe that's the culprit on our side.

I am, in fact, using one Look right under the notch, and also all around the display, you can clearly see a straight line further from the edge.

I did not get the part with the clock widget. On the stock launcher, we had a clock on the homescreen, but the clock in the upper left corner never disappeared for us?

That's because it's the weather app's widget. They look super alike but the weather one does not remove the status bar clock.

 

[BelgianWaffle]

You can see it better here. Do you see that "double edge" thing, at the bottom. It's a screen protector ! I watched a couple of videos where the guy used it with and without screen protector, whether it was tempered or not, and I could not see any distinguishable difference

 

[huangjunwei]

For the fingerprint problem, have you tried removing then re-adding your fingerprint with the screen protector on?

 

[nullpointer]

Those are the 2 mayor issues we're facing atm. I wonder if using a .EU-ROM will fix atleast those major issues, as those render the device pretty annoying to use. Currently her phone is on MIUI Global 10.2.9.0 PFAMIXM.
Unlocking and flashing a ROM is no problem to me, but if a custom ROM can not fix those issues, I will just return this device.
Also, is it possible to use "secure banking apps", aka those garbage apps that check for root and other fun stuff? Shes using the "VR BANKING TO GO APP", a german-based bank. If I flash her any other ROM, this has to work 100%.

Thanks for helping me out here guys.

Yes, the notification bug is indeed fixed on this ROM. Although it has already been fixed by Xiaomi for quite a while now (Dev builds as you already figured out), but they didn't yet manage to update the stable branch.

Also, yes, the display fingerprint scanner is (marginally) slower than the latest standalone ones, but really only by fractions of a seconds. No difference in accuracy for me, always unlocks on the first try. I also do have a tempered glass protector installed, although a fairly thin one, there are some that are very thick (the ones with black borders for example). Without it, it was even faster.
Also, the two latest updates increased fingerprint accuracy and speed (as well as camera quality!), so if you don't want to wait any longer for them to appear on the stable branch, I'd say give this ROM a go.

Furthermore, you can easily restore the stock ROM and relock the bootloader within MiFlash, so your vendor will take back the device without any questions if you still decide to get rid of it. Or, if you're a bit more patient, wait for AOSP development to really kick off. We already got a booting Lineage build, I'm sure in a couple of weeks we will see the most crucial bugs worked out.

 

[lolmachine4]

I am, in fact, using one Look right under the notch, and also all around the display, you can clearly see a straight line further from the edge.

That's because it's the weather app's widget. They look super alike but the weather one does not remove the status bar clock.

Thanks for your replies! I really did not see it in the video, although I was more focused on the finger print. I think she now got used to it. I watched her using it and she's just pressing it not hard enough (no pun intended) for the FPS to register. I told her to be less gentle and now it works atleast on the 2nd try.

Yes, the notification bug is indeed fixed on this ROM. Although it has already been fixed by Xiaomi for quite a while now (Dev builds as you already figured out), but they didn't yet manage to update the stable branch.

Thanks for the confirmation! I really appreciate it. It's weird nearly every device has an updated stable branch but the Mi9 is 3 months behind.

Also, yes, the display fingerprint scanner is (marginally) slower than the latest standalone ones, but really only by fractions of a seconds. No difference in accuracy for me, always unlocks on the first try. I also do have a tempered glass protector installed, although a fairly thin one, there are some that are very thick (the ones with black borders for example). Without it, it was even faster.
Also, the two latest updates increased fingerprint accuracy and speed (as well as camera quality!), so if you don't want to wait any longer for them to appear on the stable branch, I'd say give this ROM a go.

Even more of a reason to give it a shot. It seems the DEV-ROM is so much better, I can't wait for the stupid unlock time to pass so I can finally give it a go.

Furthermore, you can easily restore the stock ROM and relock the bootloader within MiFlash, so your vendor will take back the device without any questions if you still decide to get rid of it. Or, if you're a bit more patient, wait for AOSP development to really kick off. We already got a booting Lineage build, I'm sure in a couple of weeks we will see the most crucial bugs worked out.

I'm following development loosly and saw the thread over at XDA about the LOS-Buids and the GSI-tests. Really looking forward to it, as AOSP is just alot cleaner imho and thankfully, my GF prefers it too.

Thanks for all the help so far.
Now I only have to figure out which TWRP version to get, as there are so many version out and every thread I read so far says I should not format /data/ because it might brick the phone, which is pretty contrarian to what I'm used to. Maybe someone can point me to a link of an up-to-date guide or which version of TWRP works best at the moment, but I guess I could also try googling harder

 

[BelgianWaffle]

Hi mate,

The only twrp I managed to use that did not soft brick my phone in order to install xiaomi eu is a Chinese one I found in a xda thread explaining how to install xiaomi eu.

[GUIDE] How I flashed TWRP, Xiaomi.eu rom and rooted with Magisk

Hey guys. The below is my full experience of how I flashed TWRP, the Xiaomi.eu rom and rooted with Magisk. Whilst it essentially is a step-by-step, it also contains not only how I succeeded but also how I encountered issues and so... *UPDATE!*...

www.google.com

If you follow the guide (kinda) to the letter, you should have it working pretty soon.

 

[c4ber]

I SO agree with the notifications, let's hope it moves to Stable soon!

Regarding the fingerprint - and I know you guys have basically figured it out, so it's more of an FYI:
I just got my brand new phone and set up the fingerprints on it and it did specifically give me a warning beforehand that fingerprints won't work with screen protectors (it said "won't work" but apparently it does - just badly).

 

[lolmachine4]

Alright, so last weekend, I had the time to flash her phone and boy do I have to say: that was completly hassle-free. After unlocking it, I followed the tutorial from XDA with one exception, I used a newer TWRP-build and flashed the latest EU-ROM from the ROM-builder website. It was just a easy as flashing a Nexus or a OnePlus, I was completly blown away that Xiaomi makes it just as easy, atleast if you ignore that stupid waittime to unlock the device.
For now, all mayor issues are mostly resolved, the notifications are back (thank god!) and the FP sensor seems a bit faster too. I switched her launcher again to Evie and installed a Pixel Icon Pack, and now it looks and feels like a device I can even see myself using. That should do the trick until "real" AOSP-ROMs that are bug-free hit the market.
Thanks for everyone helping me out here, you really saved the day for this device. My GF is happy and I know the device is prepared to switch ROMs as needed.