Download Flyme OS For Android A Steady Change In The Design With An Artisan Spirit Right at the start when we unlock the Flyme 8 smartphone which is Meizu 16s Pro, we see the ‘steady change’. It starts from the lock screen of the Android OS to the icon designing. Below you can see the lock screen of the previous Flyme 7.3 (left) and the new Flyme 8 compared.

Flyme OS is a firmware developed by Meizu for smartphones based on the Android operating system. The key features are its simple UI, one-handed usability and performance optimisations. The latest version of this OS is the Flyme OS 8

It can be seen Flyme 8 maintains a family-like high unity in the overall visual style. With a little change to the font and the icons, you can distinguish at a glance that this phone belongs to the fresh Meizu design. Though I do love the previous clock font, however, this one looks okay as well.

In fact, Flyme has long abandoned the past “cool” design seen in versions before Flyme 7.3. The OS is turning its UX to a more vibrant and lively young style. It’s a brighter color tone with higher saturation which continued on the Flyme 8.

1 Meet The Overall Minimalistic But Vibrant Design

Customized Android OS like EMUI, MIUI, and now Flyme have approached to a minimal design with much simplicity and plainness. Why? Such appearance has a better visual impact and easy to distinguish. Flyme 8 is no exception. The design of the UI of Flyme 8 is called ‘Alive Design’ reflecting a vigorous experience rather than something dark.

The most intuitive feeling is the brand new smart wallpaper, which can bring vitality and dynamic. When you light up the screen, the moment is like the change from dusk to dawn, so natural and coherent. The control of these details reflects the first Flyme impression 7 years back.

This Flyme 8 vs Flyme 7.3 comparison will not complete without crediting the new charging animation the Flyme 8 has over Flyme 7.3. As you can see the charging animation of Flyme 7.3 was plain and simple resembling the Samsung OS. However, in addition to becoming more exquisite and beautiful, smart and lively animation is more in line with the style of Flyme 8 which is Alive Design.

2 Say Goodbye to Extra Lining Elements

Flyme 8 has different definitions of UX beauty, and “break the line” idea is the biggest change this time. Many of the icons on the desktop have undergone a new redraw, eliminating the complex line elements of the past, leaving a more complete visual integration effect, making it easier for users to focus on the content itself.

Of course, “break the line” idea can be obviously seen in the system settings and the built-in APP. In the past, there was a clear gap between one content and another. All of this disappeared on Flyme 8. By leaving the line blank, the vision was more coherent, the segmentation was weakened, the interference on the content was reduced, and the user was able to focus more on the content. Segmenting might be useful for content distribution, and without the lines, it can go messy, however, the Flyme 8 ensures proper spacing to counter that.

3 New Pattern
Among the new features of the Flyme 8 and changed from Flyme 7.3 is the new font. It’s a more slender fontgiving the interface a slim look, this is very different from Flyme 7.3 where the interface is full of spacing.

Moreover, Meizu also adjusts the system DPI size, bringing a 4×6 grid layout. The icon design separates the foreground from the background, increasing the layering effect of the icon. When you open the app, there will be different animation effects. At the same time, the elements look smaller than before, reducing the bloated feeling of the system UX and seeming to be more in line with the modern aesthetic.

4 The Advance Notification Center
The notification center is also the focus of the Flyme 8 change. Unlike the previous drop-down animation on Flyme 7.3, when you drop the notification center on the Flyme 8, the shortcut button will have a real physical fallback animation, making the system UX look even more exquisite with imagination.

old Flyme 7 notification bar
The UI of the notification center has also been updated. It has removed more lines on the left, leaving an integrated visual impression. In the context of frosted glass, the whole experience has reached a new level.

Flyme 7 on left, Flyme 8 on right
The brightness bar also goes under redesigning. The dot plus straight line has been changed to the one-piece horizontal bar making it more unified.

5 Small Window-Mode 2.0
During the use of Flyme 8, the most frequent feature we used was the small window mode 2.0. When you are using some app, you can quickly send a message to your friends. Unlike the pop-up message appearing in the notification center in Samsung and EMUI Android OS which is troublesome to reply, the message appears in a small window to make it easy and clear for the user.

Flyme 8 brings the version 2.0 of this small window mode which was released back in Flyme 7.3. This solves the problem that can only be opened in a specific interface. No matter which interface you are in, you can open the small window mode. It’s really beautiful to watch a TV show and talk to a friend on a smartphone screen.

However, this magical feature is not as good as it looks, in Flyme 7.3. The most annoying thing about this in Flyme 7.3 was that when many people chat one must switch different windows to talk to each person which was somewhat difficult and uncomfortable. However, Meizu has a good way to design a bubble notificationfor this situation in Flyme 8. When you are chatting with many people at the same time, there is a bubble at the bottom of the small window. Clicking on the bubble allows you to switch to that person. Nice work there Meizu!

Small window mode 2.0 also adds the function of a parallel small window. When you browse the content of WeChat public account, even if you have WeChat message, you don’t need to exit the browsing interface. A small window can directly reply to the information, which makes this mode even more practical and important for the Flyme and Meizu phones.

6 Aicy Assistant Voice Assistant
Okay, Apple has Siri, Google as Google assistant, Xiaomi as Xiao AI, then why not Meizu fall behind. In Flyme 8, we have the AI voice assistant known as ‘Aicy’. The incredible AI system of Meizu which is One Mind has merged one with Aicy functionality.

Aicy is divided into these major functions

Voice assistant
Intelligent screen
Intelligent overview
The voice assistant is an upgraded version of the previous one. It completely inherits the powerful functions of Xiaoxi voice (a Chinese Ai voice). What you can think of as a voice assistant can do the same in Aicy voice, ask the weather, plan, and distinguish garbage. These are small cases for Aicy voice. Now Aicy Voice can complete nearly 233 conversation scenarios. However, all these are in Chinese like Xiaomi’s Xiao AI. This might motivate you in learning some Chinese though. Such optimism. Such kidding! Let’s hope it comes in multi-language soon. You can use the default Google assistant meanwhile.