NextUI, formerly known as MinUI Next, has released its 2.0 update, bringing cover art, scrolling titles, and fixes to its game switcher.

MinUI, created by Shaun Inman, one of the developers working at Panic on the Playdate, is known for its visceral commitment to minimalism, for better or worse.

MinUI running on the MagicX Mini Zero 28

With MinUI, the custom firmware strips away a lot of the visual and otherwise non-gaming aspects of most custom firmware. It delivers a quick, easy-to-navigate UI on a plethora of devices like the TrimUI Smart Pro and Brick, Anbernic RG35XX SP, and others.

Some gamers prefer to pick up a handheld, choose a game, and immediately go into the game without having to deal with much fuss otherwise. MinUi makes that possible and, for the most part, has games pre-configured with options to enable scanlines or fast-forwarding via shortcuts.

Where NextUI Differs

Using MinUI as a base, NextUI reintroduces some of the features that users may have missed or would like to see brought to MinUi despite its overall dedication to being bare in its presentation.

However, NextUI doesn’t simply change the visuals of MinUi and call it something new. It introduces new changes to the custom firmware as well. Some of these improvements include higher audio quality, lower latency, color, and font-related settings, deep sleep, an LED battery indicator, and the cover art mentioned above.

In a video shared to Reddit, one of the project’s developers, /u/ro8inmorgan shows off the new cover art capabilities and how they appear on the TrimUI Brick.

Given so many advancements being made in full-featured CFWs like MuOS and Knulli, it’s nice to see slight tweaks and improvements being brought to already adored custom firmware options. As NextUI continues to grow, it doesn’t aim to replace MinUI, but rather, offer a different approach to an already excellent firmware.

If you’re interested in giving NextUI a spin, it can be downloaded from the public GitHub release page. Do note, though, the firmware is primarily geared towards users with a TrimUI Brick or Smart Pro.

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