MIUI Betas are used by Xiaomi to beta test upcoming functionality for their wide range of devices that run on their custom UX on top of Android. It is always exciting to see what is in store for users in the future, and these betas give us an opportunity to observe some of these new and upcoming changes. These betas also give us clues on what to expect from future devices -- features such as reverse wireless charging functionality. The latest MIUI 9.8.5 Beta reveals that Xiaomi is planning to add a shortcut bar that would reside below the on-screen keyboard, as well as a Dual Wi-Fi connectivity feature which will be called "Dual WLAN acceleration". The latest beta also adds in dual clock functionality for its clock widget.

Dual Clock

Dual clock feature is confirmed directly by Xiaomi themselves through their MIUI Weibo account.

On the latest beta, you can enable dual clock for the homescreen clock widget by going to Settings > More Settings > Date and Time > Dual Clock. Having this feature is handy, especially if you need to coordinate with someone in a different part of the world.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by Xiaomi in a future build.

Under-Keyboard Shortcut Bar

In MIUI 9.8.5, we also find strings that indicate that Xiaomi is planning to add in a shortcut bar below the keyboard.

<string name="raise_bottom_height_of_keyboard">Enhanced</string>
<string name="raise_bottom_height_of_keyboard_sub_title">A bar with customizable shortcuts will appear under the keyboard if you switch to Enhanced mode</string>
<string name="raise_bottom_height_of_keyboard_title">Adjust keyboard to full screen display</string>

The shortcut bar will add in a few shortcuts which will be easy to access every time the virtual keyboard appears on screen. What these shortcuts would be is unknown right now; but possible guesses include a shortcut for cut, copy and paste, and other text-editing based actions. These shortcuts could also be for quickly launching other apps, but given the context, such an option seems a bit counter-intuitive.

Dual Wi-Fi / Dual WLAN Acceleration

Dual Wi-Fi connectivity has become a talking point recently. The MediaTek Helio G90 series SoCs featured Dual Wi-Fi Connection as a highlight feature of the MediaTek HyperEngine Game Technology. Oppo also recently announced Dual Wi-Fi connectivity as a highlight feature for Oppo Reno devices. Strings in the newest beta indicates that Xiaomi is also working on a similar feature.

<string name="slavewifi">Dual WLAN</string>
<string name="slavewifi_disconnect">Disconnect</string>
<string name="slavewifi_notification_title">Dual WLAN acceleration</string>
<string name="slavewifi_settings">Tap to modify configuration</string>

Dual WLAN acceleration, based on our understanding, would allow a smartphone to connect to two Wi-Fi bands or two routers simultaneously. This will ramp up the overall connection speed of the device and improve the network experience. It will be especially useful for downloading large files, and for gaming.

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.