Android Rom Comparison: CyanogenMod, HTC Sense, MIUI

After reading this article from Gizmodo: The iPhone 4S Is Microsoft’s Chance to Catch Up to Apple, some obvious hit me: all humans beings are not equal!

Let me explain, the article states that Android is “is still a mixed bag of hurt and ugly—a lemonparty” and comments want to make you believe that if users love so much there iPhones it is because it just works and Android is still far for that. All this to give a chance to Microsoft to come back with WP7.

Guess what I may agree on some points, indeed the iPhone 4S is the best chance for Microsoft to gain market shares but to believe that Android is going to disappear because some people don’t know how to use a smartphone, that a easy conclusion and my answer is simple:

A smartphone in dumb hands remains as smart as its users but a powerful phone is smart hands is as powerful as the user wants it to be.

So I came to think about what finally is for me the real weakness Android is facing, its user interface. Indeed as much as I dislike the iPhone, I can’t deny Apple’s capacity to make a unique user experience, the user is hardly lost. What about Android?

My mum has an Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini, guess what? She loves it and she never asked me anything about how to use it and tat is normal! She uses it to make phone calls, receive emails and text and that is what 80% of the smartphone around me are doing! My boss wanted an iPhone because all his colleagues had one but never put a simple song on it or never even connected it to a computer to sync it (of course the day it died, no backup).

So let’s get back to android and the mixed bag of hurt and ugly, I have decided to give my personal opinion on three very different versions of Android:

1. CyanogenMod: “CyanogenMod is an aftermarket firmware for a number of cell phones based on the open-source Android operating system. It offers features not found in the official Android based firmwares of vendors of these cell phones.“
2. HTC SenseHTC Sense is a graphical user interface developed by HTC Corporation for mobile devices running Android, Brew and Windows Mobile. HTC has referred to HTC Sense as both a user interface in itself and also as a user experience layer. - Wikipedia - : Overlay created by HTC to integrate the most common functions together and give one of the best user experience on Android
3. MIUI (pronounce My UI): “MIUI is one of the most popular Android ROMs in the world. It is based on Android 2.3, featuring better experience and richer themes. MIUI is updated every Friday based on the feedback from its test users.“

And here is a small table summing up all the different aspects of each of these ROMs:

	CyanogenMod	HTC SenseHTC Sense is a graphical user interface developed by HTC Corporation for mobile devices running Android, Brew and Windows Mobile. HTC has referred to HTC Sense as both a user interface in itself and also as a user experience layer. - Wikipedia -	MIUI
Light weight	X		X
Availability on device	Around 40	only HTC (different versions of Sense)	Around 20
Update Availability	Nightly builds available nearly every night	When HTC feels like doing so	Every Friday
Privacy	Air tight – full open source	Big security hole discovered, need to be patched	Closed sources/Concern on privacy
Functionalities	X	Only on international devices, carriers disables some functions and often add bloatware	X
Specific Widgets		X	X

And Finally, for each of these ROMs, here are my thoughts:

CyanogenMod

• Like:
  • Stability
  • Overall Performance
  • Battery life
  • Community support
  • Customizable
• Dislike:
  • The “raw” aspect of Android
  • The user friendliness – too “geek” oriented

 

HTC SenseHTC Sense is a graphical user interface developed by HTC Corporation for mobile devices running Android, Brew and Windows Mobile. HTC has referred to HTC Sense as both a user interface in itself and also as a user experience layer. - Wikipedia -

• Like:
  • User Interface and overall integration especially in a work environment
  • Stability
  • The Media library and music player
  • Community support
  • Skin-able
• Dislike:
  • Heavy!!! I mean a Sense Rom is about 300Mb compared to the 80/90 of CM or MIUI
  • Different versions depending on the phone latest being 3.5
  • Limited Customization
  • Security issues that need to be quickly addressed

 

MIUI

• Like:
  • The user interface!!! For my mum probably the best!
  • The best and most useful notification bar so far
  • The music player
  • Overall Performance
  • Battery life
  • Fully customizable, no really (lock screen, boot animation, icons, notification bar, ring tones, it is all there)
  • Built-in:
    • backup utility
    • File Explorer
    • Firewall
    • Monitor Tool
• Dislike:
  • Maybe to “iPhonish” for some
  • Some translation may need to be worked on
  • Closed source and so may suffer information leek (only a personal opinion but not only mine: MIUIAndroid)

As for me my preference goes for MIUI, it is light, customizable and the interface brings together all the functions I need on my everyday life, the only negative point I see so far is really the privacy issue that a close rom can have. We saw the result with HTC