Over the weekend, Xiaomi released the global beta build of MIUI 9 for Redmi Note 4/4X (Snapdragon variant) and Mi 6. Xiaomi had unveiled MIUI 9 at an event in China late last month and released Chinese alpha and beta builds of the ROM soon after.
This time around though, the company has released the global beta build. This means that the ROM comes with Google’s suite of apps and services pre-installed and you will not have to sideload them manually. Additionally, since we are talking about the global ROM here, many of the Chinese specific features are missing from the ROM since they won’t work properly out of China.
Below are all the features of MIUI 9 which Xiaomi has highlighted in its announcement post for the Redmi Note 4:
Enough talk about what the global MIUI 9 beta ROM packs (or lacks) though. If you are wondering how to install the global MIUI 9 beta on your Redmi Note 4 so as to experience all the new features it packs by yourself, check out the steps below.
Upgrading to MIUI 9 Global beta from MIUI 8 will lead to your Redmi Note 4 being formatted completely. This means that all your installed apps and their associated data, contacts, messages, and other data will be lost. So, create a backup of all your important data before you proceed with the steps below.
Step 1: Head over to Xiaomi’s website and download the Recovery build of MIUI 9 ROM for Redmi Note 4. Transfer the file to the internal storage of the handset.
Step 2 On your Redmi Note 4, head over to Tools -> Updater and tap the 3-dot overflow menu button. From there, select Choose Update Package option and tap the MIUI 9 Global beta zip file that you had transferred to your device in the previous step.
The package will now be decrypted and verified. This can take up to five minutes. Make sure your Redmi Note 4 is connected to an active internet connection during the process.
Step 3: Once decrypted, the Updater app will automatically show a prompt confirming that you are going to install MIUI 9 on your Redmi Note 4 with the Erase and Update option. Confirm your selection and then select the same option from the second prompt that comes up.
The installation procedure will finally start now. This process will take up to five minutes and your phone will automatically restart during the process.
Step 4: Once the installation is complete, your Redmi Note 4 will boot back into MIUI 9. Since the device would have been formatted during the process, you will have to go through the initial setup process and log in with your Mi and Google Account again on the device.
For now, MIUI 9 on the Redmi Note 4 is all about faster app opening times, improved system performance, minor UI tweaks, and multi-window multitasking. With the global version of the ROM still under testing, we should see Xiaomi add more features to it in the coming weeks.
If you do end up installing the MIUI 9 Global Beta build on your Redmi Note 4, do drop a comment and let us know how you are liking Xiaomi’s latest skin so far.
