PatchWall 3.0: Xiaomi has big surprise in store for Mi LED smart TV users ahead of IPL 2020
On February 14, 2018, India's numero uno mobile brand Xiaomi formally forayed into the television business with the Mi LED TVs. Like the phone, the company made a huge disruption in the TV category.
Within a span of eight months, Xiaomi's Mi TV topped the niche smart TV category in the market and continues to lead it with the ever-growing gap between the rival brands. As per the latest International Data Corporation (IDC) Q3, 2019 report, Xiaomi commands a massive 33-percent smart TV market share, more than double its nearest rival Samsung (14-percent) in India.
Over the three years, PatchWall has undergone huge improvements in terms of visual appearance, easy search feature, Cast to TV to stream download content on mobile to television via Files app and also the company even gone a step further to develop India-specific feature such as Data Saver.
Also, it can be noted that Xiaomi's early Mi TV models launched in February 2018 had AOSP (Android Open Source Project), a forked version of Android OS. It had no Google Play store to install apps. Only tech-savvy users were capable of manually installing apps and common people had to rely on tech support executives. But, within months the company promised to turn all the Mi TVs into a full-fledged Android TV and they did deliver it, keeping true to their word.
"For this feat, Xiaomi had to go back to the chipset manufacturers and convince them to develop the firmware and incorporate VP9 codec, a video coding format that is required for Google apps to work on an Android TV. This task is comparable to enabling 4G on a 3G phone, "Eshwar Nilakantan, Category Lead- MiTV at Xiaomi India said to Deccan Herald.
So far, around 450,000 Mi TV owners of the 1.4 million have upgraded from ASOP to Android TV.
"We (Xiaomi) also worked with Google to develop the Data Saver feature, which was introduced in 2019 with PatchWall 2.0. In an internal study, we found more than 75 percent of the people used mobile hotspot to stream content on smart Mi TVs. Since broadband penetration is low in India, most people relied on mobile phones, but could only use it for 55-60 minutes. But with Data Saver feature, consumers can stream the content longer than before," added Sudeep Sahu, Product Lead-MiTV at Xiaomi India.
Now, as the company marks the second year anniversary, it is gearing up to release the new PatchWall 3.0 with a new and visually appealing look, exclusive partnership with Multimedia streaming services and more.
Here's what you can expect from Xiaomi PatchWall 3.0:
Deep-integration of Hotstar with PatchWall UI ahead of IPL 2020
For the first time ever, Hotstar is collaborating with the Xiaomi and is introducing a one-stop destination to view Cricket, Kabbadi, Formula 1, Tennis, Football, Hockey and other popular sports tournaments on the Mi TV.
Once updated to the new update, Mi TV owners will be able to find the Hotstar-powered Sports channel and start watching IPL 2020 cricket matches with just one click on the PatchWall home screen. FYI: IPL 2020 is slated to kick off on March 29 and go on till May 24.
Cleaner user-interface and animation
With PatchWall 3.0, the user-interface gets a new facelift. It will have a visually appealing home page, content curation with limitless continuity and value-added tweaks to the poster of a TV show or movie with the logo of the app in the top right corner. Also, Xiaomi is introducing Mi Lanting Pro font, which is refreshing and easy on the eyes for people scrolling the PatchWall 3.0 interface.
Horizontal scroll
With PatchWall 3.0, Xiaomi has simplified search features for the consumers. The new-look offers more content in a single frame. Currently, we can see just six, but going forward, people will be able to view more than 15 shows and there is continuity to the frame. With horizontal scrolling design, it will be easy for users to swipe from right to left to find their favourite TV shows or movies
It is implemented on all channels on PatchWall such as Regional, Music, Movies, TV Shows, Home, VIP, Sports and Kids.
Also, when users find any interesting poster on PatchWall, it will offer short and clear details of the particular TV show or the movie.
Mi List:
Based on user data, Xiaomi is bringing a new Mi List with the PatchWall 3.0 that serves custom-curated TV shows and movies at any given time. With so much multimedia content on smart TV, it becomes taxing to find a good show and the new Mi List comes handy during this situation.
More content partners join Mi TV camp
Initially, Mi TV had around six multimedia streaming app support, but now it has more than 20 OTT (Over-the-top) media and VOD (Video-on-demand) services including dedicated live news options.
With PatchWall 3.0, Xioami Mi LED smart TVs will get two new OTT services--DocuBay, which promises to offer premium international documentaries across multiple categories including nature, adventure, travel, science, biography and sports. Also, Lattu Kids will also be launched with PatchWall 3.0. It is said to have more than 1,500 hours of content for children.
"We (Xiaomi) routinely take feedback from Mi community members and OTT partners and will bring new and better features in future updates. The ultimate goal is to offer consistent user experience across all Mi TVs old and new. Also, we have plans to bring more multimedia content apps over time," Anisha Mehta, Strategic Partnerships & Content Acquisition, MiTV at Xiaomi India said to DH.
Xiaomi is expected to bring PatchWall 3.0 update in early March 2020, long before IPL 2020 starts in India.
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