They say stock Android is the way to go for all Android phones. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is a great phone though, even without it. So, can stock Android make it better? We flashed the AOSP 5.1.1 ROM (kenzo) by MrColdbird (from XDA Forums), and though we've spent a short time with the phone, here's how things are, so far.
UI performance
The app drawer is of course a noticeable addition. Also, the device now has two launchers — the Google Now Launcher and the Trebuchet launcher, which we have seen on Cyanogen ROM. This particular ROM does not feature Google apps so we had to install a mini GAPPS (Google Apps) package while installing the ROM. You can also used the Xposed Framework to tinker further. The Xposed Framework allows you to modify internal hardware settings.
MiUI's duplicate apps, like Mail, Calendar and more, are of course gone now. You can now see the stock design for notifications and quick settings. The Recent panel is also more Google like, however we would have loved the addition of ‘clear all’ button.
MiUI is known for its Privacy and Security settings, which aren’t available on this ROM. However, Android Marshmallow may solve this to some extent. You will have to manually install that version though, when it's out.
Day to day performance
There is no stark difference in the performance of the Redmi Note 3 running on the AOSP ROM, compared to MIUI 7. That said, the RAM consumption by the UI is significantly lower, by about 200-300MB, than it was on MiUI. However, the fingerprint scanner is significantly slower and less accurate now. The pros outweigh the cons, since you can also act on Notifications right from the lock screen now, something MiUI doesn't really allow. Regular usage isn't really better, but there are some meaningful differences.
The OTG support, sensors on the phone, display colours, all seem to be working fine. We tried using the phone with the Google Cardboard, and it worked just fine.
Synthetic benchmarks
Here's a look at the synthetic benchmarks of the same phone running on MiUI and AOSP Rom. There's no big difference that you see here.
Gaming performance
The performance difference is again, indistinguishable while playing heavy games. We played games like Asphalt 8, Alto’s adventure and Blow Away on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and didn't notice any considerable difference in performance compared to MiUI. As mentioned earlier, the 3GB of RAM on our device was able to handle multi-tasking with ease and that made the gaming experience even more delightful. To tax the smartphone even more, we tried GermBuster VR game with all other apps running in the background and that worked smoothly as well.
Camera performance
The camera on the Redmi Note 3 was decent from the start but unlike performance, which has remained pretty much the same, the image quality has decreased with the new AOSP ROM. Images taken by the smartphone features a cooler tone, in contrast to the warmer pictures the camera was able produce on MiUI. There is visible noise, even in images taken in ample light settings and the image quality further dips in low light. This ROM uses Qualcomm’s own camera app (used for test devices), which is pretty simple. There are no intuitive controls on the HUD but we did find almost all the settings one may require under the settings menu.
Battery performance
The battery performance on the smartphone is somewhat similar to what it was able to achieve running on MiUI. But power saver modes and app restrictors, which were there in MiUI, are not present here. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 was able to last for about 16 and half hours of screen on time.
Overall, the AOSP ROM does bring a change of interface over MiUI, but besides that, there is nothing much that would make it different. Moreover, the camera has been compromised and the fingerprint scanner is now comparably slow, at least on this particular ROM.
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