Why I Switched from MIUI 14 to PixelExperience Plus on My Poco X3 NFC?

Dive into my adventure as I transition from Xiaomi’s MIUI 14 to the clean and sleek world of PixelExperience Plus. Discover the pros and cons, explore the features, and find out if you should do the same or not.

What is PixelExperience Plus?

PixelExperience is an open-source Android-based ROM with a Google Pixel touch. They prioritize stability and security.

In short; Just like Windows, Linux and MacOS for PCs PixelExperience (PE) is a mobile OS that can give an identical Pixel mobile-like experience to non-Pixel users.

Why I decided to try PixelExperience Plus.

TLDR; I tried this out of curiosity and love for stock Android.

My reason for trying a different ROM is actually curiosity nothing else; I am a person who often wanna try new stuff that I never tried before. The initial spark for this was a Nokia Android phone. Yes, you heard me right! When I first tried my friend’s Nokia phone I fell in love with stock Android. Later, I got a glance at a Pixel device and from that moment MIUI started becoming a burden for me. Then I heard about PixelExperience…

Suddenly, bloatware apps like music and video apps of MIUI started to feel like overkill. Ads in between installations (I know we can disable that yet it’ll turn back on after each optimization) started to annoy me even though I use an adblocking private DNS. And when Xiaomi made the POCO launcher into a trash I decided to switch. It took me a while to do it since I was in the middle of my final years at college. Now everything is backed up, and after going through the annoying unlock phone process (it took 7days for Xiaomi to unlock 🤐) of Xiaomi.

Finally, I made the move…

How to install PixelExperience?

The official pixel experience team has a wonderful Wiki article on How to install pixel experience on Poco X3 NFC Additionally if you are using a different device you can also find and follow the official guides to get it on your device.

Good and bad things.

Good things about PixelExperience plus

• Stock Android 13 features and UI.
• Less bloatware (not even YouTube is preinstalled).
• Unlimited Google Photos storage with pixel-exclusive features like magic eraser, and magic blur for free.
• Best Google lens and Chrome integration (can save images from Instagram or copy text without using a 3rd party app and with a single tap you can share it to your PC with Chrome).
• No dual login (Just a Google account is enough no need to send your data to Xiaomi as well).
• Everything Google works great (Play Store update notification as well).
• Voice recorder with real-time transcription.

Limitations of PixelExperience plus

• Comparatively less customizable out of the box.
• The camera app is basic and has no pro mode + can’t take a 64MP raw pic or macro camera.
• After each restart, you have to turn off the dev mode to access the bank app or Dialog (A Sri Lankan ISP) app.
• Built-in Screenshot and Screen recording tool has fewer features comparatively.
• Can’t play videos (YouTube, IG, FB etc.) in lock screen.
• Gallery Editor is basic compared to MIUI which has a lot of great features like a selective blur tool, Aspect ratio tool and more).

How it will look?

Here are some screenshots to show what the most important parts of your device will look like.

Final thoughts.

If you think is it worth switching? straight up I’ll say yes, Of course. Yet, my answer will be subjective As I already mentioned gradually, I developed a taste for stock Android which makes me love PixelExperience more. Yet, both ROMs are equally smooth for me sometimes the MIUI animations feel more fluid than PixelExperience and sometimes it’s the other way around.

For a Poco X3 NFC user, this switch will be a breath of fresh air and since Xiaomi paused the Major Android update if you want to try Android 13 I’ll highly recommend PixelExperience Plus.

If you have a relatively new Xiaomi phone and planning to switch think twice cause MIUI itself is a good enough ROM for you Based on your preference it sometimes works better. Ultimately you can mimic almost every Pixel exclusive feature with 3rd party apps these days.

For instance,

• Flip sushhh = FlipDND
• Quick back tap = TapTap
• Pixel launcher = Lawnchair 12 or Nova launcher
• Voice recorder with Transcription = Voice Recorder

Such apps can mimic even the latest Pixel-exclusive features. The same is applicable to MIUI features as well,

• Advance gallery editor = ScreenshotMaster
• Playing videos on the lock screen = Black Screen

In short: If you are not getting any major OS updates and are sick of MIUI and want a fresh breath I highly recommend installing PixelExperience Plus. If not you are okay with what you have.

Things you should know

When you install PixelExperience Plus you should do that at your own risk since the PixelExperience is maintained by individuals and they’re not brands like Xiaomi. Additionally, you should follow the guide as it is to avoid issues and sometimes you may lose some stock features in my case 64MP raw camera is not accessible due to Poco’s camera API limitations.

Additionally, I want to appreciate and recommend using Android’s backup feature. It was amazing it even seamlessly switched my settings, apps and some app data as well without any issues. If you are a WhatsApp user I strongly recommend temporarily disabling end-to-end encrypted backups and taking a backup without encryptions to avoid conflicts.

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