Hi all
Recently purchased Xiaomi 15 ultra global edition. I purchased obviously for the camera preferences but at same time phone is well rounded and specs wise it’s better than s25 ultra. I read it before purchasing that software experience is bad but I thought mostly it’s limited to bloatware that’s present, not so frequent updates, maybe some ads? I also read that hyper os isn’t so bad, well optimised.
But my initial impression hasn’t been so good. I’m a first time Xiaomi user so maybe it will take some time. Firstly on setting up the new device after some apps were installed based on my old device, I found there is just home screen ! No apps screen. Like all apps were on my home screen itself and there’s no way to search apps if you have to open it. Then after much digging I found it that there is a setting called app drawer and one needs to toggle it on. Then apps appear in app screen and not home screen. Ok fine. But within app drawer one can’t create any app folder ! You can only create folder in home screen. Which is a big bummer.
Even the first step of setting up your phone with data transfer from old device to new device didn’t take place smoothly. Only partial data and apps were transferred. Then after much pain I had to transfer all data by installing mi mover app on both devices and it took days !
Then in home screen/app drawer I couldn’t find any option to select the grids like 4*6 or 5*5 etc. Again inconvenient.
I’m coming from s10+ and samsung had these cool features like edge panel where you can customize and add apps that you frequently use and can just swipe and they would appear. Obviously I don’t expect those kinda implementations but lot of basics also missing. Like the settings icon just icon is there, there’s no text of the icon like what that icon really is. You have to guess it. Even the settings itself is an icon that you have to search instead it should have been by default at the top. Neither there is a quick toggle to turn off or restart the device rather than hard pressing the button which itself doesn’t work as expected. Samsung had secure folder which I don’t think Xiaomi has.
AI apps I haven’t used. But in gallery tried editing few pics and it was horrible. For gallery xiaomi shows AI enhance feature but in gallery under AI there is no enhance feature. Just beautify. And that just boosts colors nothing else. Worst has to be object remover and i thought in 2025 it must definitely be usable since this feature has been there in many devices for some time now. But AI remover in Xiaomi doesn’t remove objects but creates and adds new objects! Seriously. Firstly I would have liked to remove object by tap functionallity but you have to circle it. And then it does some weird artefacts and removes that object and creates entirely new ones ! It had created camera in one instance when I tried removing plate on top of table. And it’s not 1 off instance everytime it does so. Really poor implementation.
There maybe more. Like I posted on another thread that in app such as espn Cricinfo the text espn is missing and there is some random green colored text. Seriously 🙄
There is lot of work that Xiaomi needs to do. Hardware is just one thing. Hopefully they’ll improve with time
i stopped at it took days to use mi mover.
Had the same experience. I was using s20 fe and bought the 15 ultra instead of 25 ultra due to the specs and mainly camera. I am using xiaomi phones for the first time. Initially, it was good, but after trying to do some customisation like changing launcher and home screen setup, i was very disappointed. It lacks a lot of things, as u have mentioned. I bought the 15 ultra thinking of using it alone. But now i am keeping my s20 fe alongside mainly for samsung Pay.
Overall, 15ulta is very good in camera but not in ui. They need to improve a lot.
Transfer from Huawei was also pain in the ass… Few Apps that were not supported also calender and memo app. But after 3 weeks of using I must say it is good and does everything what I need. I am missing a pedometer at the lock screen. Mi Video was also cheeky with notifications till I found a way to deactivate it.
It seems that you need more time to adjust to the new OS. Everything that you said seems to have a solution (ie app drawer, grid layout, etc), you just don’t know where to find or how to use those yet.
AI editor for example, it’s just replacing the object by another one because you’re leaving the shadows unselected. It understands that the shadow needs to be there, so makes sense for it to add another object to justify the shadow. Samsung AI has this exact same behaviour, it’s just that maybe Samsungs’s object selection works a bit better than Xiaomi’s. But if you leave the shadow behind, Galaxy AI will also only replace the object by another one.
I’m sorry it was such a bad experience for you. I too, moved from base s10, but at the initial setup I didn’t transfer any data, but started from scratch. Maybe some of your issues stem from this. I already had mi over installed on my 15 and only had to install it on my old phone. From there it took literally no more than 10 minutes to copy over around 80gb of data.
Most of the issues you had are user errors. AI functions I yet to dig in, but you have to download the addons (functions) individually.
At the end of the day, you can always switch back to samsung, if you are not satisfied. My personal opinion is that, OneUI is good, but not good enough to justify shitty hw.
use my method ,: [https://www.reddit.com/r/XiaomiGlobal/comments/1jg6eqa/how\_to\_block\_ads\_on\_xiaomi\_2025\_guide/](https://www.reddit.com/r/XiaomiGlobal/comments/1jg6eqa/how_to_block_ads_on_xiaomi_2025_guide/)
You need app drawer. Go to phone settings than homescreen and select app drawer.
App drawer I myself discovered. But I see no reason why it should be hidden in first place. However creating folders in app drawer is still not possible.
Where is the grid option i couldn’t locate ?
Regarding AI remover again there is no shadow remover option. There is reflection remover which is different thing. I have downloaded the plugins that were available under AI gallery.
How are these user errors ? I wanted to give Xiaomi a shot. When I buy my next phone in the next 4-5 yrs then I will think 🙂
I think you didn’t read completely:) app drawer I figured but it has its own limitation – like one can’t create app folders which one can do in home screen
How can mi mover take days?? It litteraly took 30 minutes for me with like 100gb of data
We did the switch recently from Note 20 to Xiaomi 15 ultra. Transfer of data was very smooth – all settings from google profile, calendar, contacts, messages etc. Ofcourse the gallery was backed up in one drive so i didnt try that. Rest of the issues you described seem to be interface problem mainly because it takes time to adjust. The navigation to go back and forth is more intuitive in xiaomi than samsung. Searching for apps is easier than organizing in folders for me. Sometimes I forget the folder and search for the app anyway which is more easier in Xiaomi. The phone wins in the areas where it really matters. For me personally, some cards are not supported by gpay but available on samsung pay which is a bummer. But the phone is awesome, give it some time.
That is absolutely correct. Sorry but actually was traveling and didn’t have chance to read completely. You need apple like where you can create folders in app drawer.
You can make app categories in the app drawer (there’s a settings menu in the top right corner). It creates a new site with only selected apps.
App category is their default app category which I don’t prefer as it creates multiple categories. Not sure that can be customized either. But anyways I don’t want multiple categories
Transferred from my Pixel 8 Pro, everything was smooth, easy and intuitive. Mostly all settings was on the Ultra set as on the Pixel, including app drawer, sounds, pictures, calendar and everything else. Few things needed to get used to, but all in all it has been a great experience. Took about 45 mins and all was set to go and downloaded.
So not sure where things go wrong for some people.
For me I had lot of data on my s10+ ~400gb+ out of which I guess ~150gb transferred smoothly but rest was a manual exercise. In which initially it showed 2 hrs but in reality it took 2 days !
How’s the pictures quality as compared to pixel? I’ve heard pixel produces color that are close to real life more on the natural side..
I find it way better on the 15 Ultra, more natural and close to mirrorless cameras if not on par of the old models.
Hmm nice. I had a s10+ which is an old phone. When I click pictures and compare no doubt Xiaomi photos look better crisper and more detailed. But the color I find truer on s10+. Like in one instance the greys appeared grey on s10 but on Xiaomi it appeared as blue. Although my display settings set to original colour pro and camera settings to authentic
I have to admit I came over from Samsung 24U and I’m a first time Xiaomi user as well. I haven’t had any issues so far. The transfer of data went well with Mi Mover and all my apps came over. It takes a lil time to get use to the OS but overall I haven’t had any complaints
Just go to Home Screen settings and check out layout and change from “Standard” to “Dense”. This will ensure you have 5 icons across. Not ideal as the icons become quite small, but you can again make them a bit bigger on the wallpaper settings. I’ve read somewhere that the next update will bring back the 4×6, 5×7 layout options to the grid.
And regarding the shadows, it’s not a feature like samsung’s that erases all shadows. You need to manually make sure that both the object and its shadow are selected before asking the AI to remove them. This should make it remove the object instead of placing a new different one.
Sorry to say both options suggested by you are not useful
https://preview.redd.it/8p6wi4kou7ve1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b2c1f482160968913da2d41620f246c1ef029be
https://preview.redd.it/ea9jwez1asve1.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=b2a97e877e68775b5674e99175abc7f64db3306e
Impossible to be clearer than this
https://preview.redd.it/gjpg9bt3asve1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=234e8cf7c341f6c8c112fe6b13f40448ad6b6157
Is it hidden though? I have the regular Xiaomi 15 and I was asked during initial setup whether I wanted to use the app drawer. Maybe you just missed it. But I do agree that HyperOS is dogshit. That’s why I installed the xiaomi.eu rom today. It seems better, but I’ll have to see the battery drain to form a conclusion.