Xiaomi Smart Share

Improving device connectivity across mobile phone, tablet and PC

Overview
Problem
Objective
Solution
Process
Phone X PC
Tablet
Fine-tuning
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Overview
Xiaomi Smart Share is a set of connectivity features that allow users to seamlessly transfer personal contents such as file, photo, notification and application across their Xiaomi devices.

I was the interaction designer and design owner of this project, translating product features into intuitive, consistent interactions across platforms.

Smart Share became one of the launch event features that received the most media coverage in MIUI12.5. It also paved the way for MIUI's rebrand into a connectivity-focused operating system called HyperOS in 2024.
Time
10 Months
Beta launch in MIUI 12.5
Final launch in MIUI 13
Team
11 Core Members
1 Interaction Designer
1 Visual Designer
4 Product Managers
5+ Software Engineers
My Role
Interaction Designer,
Design Owner
User flow, Information architecture, Wireframing, Usability Testing
Problem
The current OS has very limited features for content sharing and collaboration across devices
Current connectivity features between Xiaomi devices are inefficient and unintuitive, making it hard for multi-device users to move personal data across different device types or use their devices collaboratively.
Objective
How might we enable better connectivity across devices to empower a multi-device ecosystem?
Better device connectivity creates great amount of business value by offering a integrated device ecosystem, strong brand identity and ultimately customer loyalty that leads to hardware sale.
Solution
Xiaomi Smart Share
Connectivity features that weave your personal devices together
Between phone and PC
>> Access content from your mobile phone right on your PC desktop
>> Grab files from your phone with simple drag & drop
>> Current tasks on mobile phone are synced to PC
Between tablet and PC
>> Use your tablet as a second screen for PC
>> Or share keyboard and mouse between two devices
Between phone and tablet
>> Phone projection and file transfer designed for touch screen
>> Sensitive information locked for privacy protection
>> Share clip board, , verification code, hotspot, etc.
Impact
Featured in MIUI 12.5 and MIUI 13 launch events, reached 40k daily active user in 6 months
The beta version of Xiaomi Smart Share MIUI+ was one of the features that received the most media coverage and positive user forum comments after MIUI 12.5 launch event. The final version launched with MIUI 13 paved the way for MIUI's transition into a connectivity-focused OS called Hyper OS in 2024.
visit product site
>>> Process
Collaboration between PC and mobile phone
01 / Content transfer and task continuity are the key focus
Research from the UXR team showed that scattered information and constant device switch are the top issues for multi-device users. To address these two issues, we scoped the project around content transfer and task continuity.   
We started by brainstorming types of content to be transferred, and the specific use cases
Pulling insights from technical reviews and user research, ideas are narrowed down to a
  concrete MVP feature list that covers the most common use cases.  

>> Some of the criteria we considered: How long does it take to build? Does it have a high-frequency use case? Where in the Kano model does this feature sit?
02 / Simplifying the content transfer process
Current content transfer process between PC and Phone is too cumbersome that many users prefer using third party apps like Wechat instead of the OS features MiShare for transferring files. We need to provide a process that is simple and intuitive enough to override this user habit.
Instead of sending files around, what if we let users directly "grab" what they want without
  leaving their current device?

Using phone projection as the technical solution
>> A more spontaneous and cost-effective solution than building a cloud drive
Using sidebar as a light-weight addition to access notifications, recent files and individual
  applications

03 / Releasing a Beta version for user feedback
A Beta version of Smart Share called MIUI+ was launched in MIUI 12.5. Based on user comments and further testings, I made several rounds of usability fixes and feature addition after the Beta launch.
Usability fix and feature addition
Allow the use of keyboard shortcuts when navigating phone projection
Adding warning pages for bluetooth and wifi disconnection
Adding privacy protection screens on phone projection for sensitive content
>>> New challenge
Adding Tablet to the game
Xiaomi introduced a new tablet in 2021
When MiPad 5 arrived in 2021, our project team need to adjust the current product to accommodate tablet connectivity features.
01 / The consistency challenge on PC
Now that users can access both their tablet and mobile from the PC, it is important to keep the two user flows and interface as consistent as possible to avoid confusion and extraneous learning. It is challenging because the top priority features on tablet and mobile are different.  
How do we display the different features of phone and tablet with minimum inconsistency?   
>> Tablet and mobile phone have both shared and unique features, but users access them through one interface
Explore different layout options and evaluate gains and trade-offs
>> I presented at 2 design reviews and 1 tech review to nail down the final layout solution
02 / The window resizing challenge on tablet
Unlike the PC desktop, tablet has much more limited screen size. We need to allow users to easily move and resize the phone projection to enable collaboration in and outside the window.  
How can users intuitively move, resize, open and dismiss the phone projection on tablet?   
>> I explored a couple of interaction ideas and rapid tested with Protopie before deciding on the final solution above
>>> Craft
Fine-tuning visual design, interactions and motion
Besides the user-flow and information architecture, I put equal amount of effort into polishing the final design to match MIUI's high standard for craftsmanship as an OS that people use on a daily basis.
Optimizing the gesture triggers on tablet
Working closely with motion designer and engineers, I conducted multiple rounds of rapid testings to ensure the gesture trigger areas are well-defined and that the motion & transitions feels smooth.
Design system on PC
I created a new PC design system alongside a visual designer that matches the look and feel of MIUI mobile while meeting the various conventions and limitation that are unique to PC.
>>> The language if the original product is Chinese, hence the design system is in Chinese.
More on this project
Smart Share has paved the way for MIUI's transition to Hyper OS
Current connectivity features between Xiaomi devices are inefficient and unintuitive, making it hard for multi-device users to move personal data across different device types or use their devices collaboratively.