When comparing Yahoo Aviate Launcher vs Mi Launcher (MIUI), the Slant community recommends Yahoo Aviate Launcher for most people. In the question“What are the best launchers for Android?” Yahoo Aviate Launcher is ranked 3rd while Mi Launcher (MIUI) is ranked 40th. The most important reason people chose Yahoo Aviate Launcher is:
Calendar, social, etc, and only shows the five most important apps to you at the time, keeping clutter out of the way.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Groups apps by their functionality
Calendar, social, etc, and only shows the five most important apps to you at the time, keeping clutter out of the way.
Pro Time and location-aware launcher
For each period of the day Aviate provides different apps and information by learning from the users behavior (similar to Google Now). This can come in handy as the apps one would use in the office will most likely be different from the ones they use at home.
Pro Minimalist design
Clean and simple visuals allow for easy navigation and understanding of how to interact with the launcher.
Pro Free
The Yahoo Aviate Launcher is completely free to download and use with zero in app purchases to be found.
Pro Fluid interface
Swiping to the right opens your spaces (home, work, listening, etc), swiping to the left opens up your apps, and swiping down opens useful contextual information. Luckily all of this swiping works very smoothly.
Pro Notification badges (unread count) for select apps
Aviate supports notification badges for:
- Unread emails via the Gmail app
- Missed calls via your favorite Phone app
- Unread text messages from your default SMS app
- Apps with notification badges on the default Samsung launcher
This allows the user to easily see what apps have what amount of notifications.
Pro Support for icon packs
Aviate Launcher has built in support for icon packs. this way users can theme their launcher icons to their liking.
Pro Shortcuts
Allows one-tap access to create shortcuts to contacts, documents, websites, and even email folders.
Pro Independent of Google services
Almost all Google services are removed from this Android-based UI in favor of creating a competing ecosystem of apps, games, themes and services.
China government prohibit the Google services
Pro Combines best of iOS and Android launchers
MIUI has visual similarities to iOS and TouchWiz and combines functionality from both iOS and Android OS and its variants. For example, MIUI has no apps drawer and instead puts all app on homescreen pages the same way iOS does.
Pro Runs faster than stock Android
MIUI includes performance tweaks that give it a edge in speed compared to stock Android.
Pro Detailed installation instructions for supported devices
Step by step instructions (with screenshots) for flashing MIUI ROM can be found for each of the supported devices on the companies website. For example, here is the flashing guide for Nexus 5.
Pro Fast development cycle
New features and updates are released regularly.
Cons
Con Limited customization
Aviate limits customization because it aims for a simple design. Although a little more customization would be useful.
Con Limited shortcuts
Unable to shortcut to call/message individual contact or direct access a web page.
Con Some bundled services are available only in Chinese
Xiaomi, the developers of MIUI are Chinese and their primary maket is China. As such primary language for most apps and services is Chinese and not all of them have yet been translated to English or any other language.
Con A Mi account is required for using bundled services
Various services and apps require a Mi account. For example, buying new themes requires spending Mi currency that can only be obtained if a Mi account is available.