Xiaomi starts beta testing Lollipop based MIUI6 

Back in November, Hugo Barra spoke on Xiaomi’s plans for Lollipop, indicating that Mi users would be the first to receive MIUI 6, based on Google’s latest sweet treat. Now thanks to a new post on the MIUI forum, it seems that beta testing is finally getting started.

According to the post, Mi 2/S/A users will be able to try out the beta ROM soon, provided they meet a few requirements such as having “English forums credits over 50” and that they are willing to report bugs to the forum. Of course only a finite number of applicants will actually be granted access to the beta, with a total of 50 testers to be selected by January 30th of 2015. For those wondering why Xiaomi is choosing to focus the beta on an older device, one possibility is that they wished to use older hardware so any performance issues are more visible, though obviously that’s really just speculation on our part. In other words, if the Mi 2 is running flawlessly (performance wise), than getting MIUI 6 working on other devices should be even easier. 

As for what to expect from the Lollipop-based update? While it’s hard to say for sure, we can probably expect new MIUI features alongside many of the under the hood improvements that come with Lollipop. Some of the biggest user-facing changes in Lollipop surround Material Design, although some of the skinned Lollipop ROMs we’ve seen on the market (like LG’s ROM on the G3) have made very little use of the new design language. If an earlier statement from Barra holds true, Xiaomi is working hard to strike a balance between the MIUI skin and the new Material Design elements in Android 5.0. Hopefully this means we can expect the best of both worlds.

For those interested in getting involved with the beta, you can find more information here. Xiaomi fans: what are you hoping to see in MIUI 6? Let us know in the comments below.