Technology Xiaomi is adding early earthquake warnings to MIUI phones in China

Xiaomi smartphone and set-top box owners in China will soon have access to potentially life-saving early earthquake warnings right on their devices. At its annual Mi Developer conference in Bejing, the Chinese electronics company said its MIUI 11-based smartphones and Mi TV set-top boxes now include an early earthquake warning feature. Xiaomi claims the system is able to deliver warnings "seconds to tens of seconds" before an earthquake arrives. The company has rolled out the feature in China's Sichuan province first, which is one of the country's more earthquake-prone regions, and plans to make it available to all Chinese users in the future.

Xiaomi mimics the Apple Watch with its first smartwatch

It’s not the first time Xiaomi has produced an Apple lookalikeThe watch has an almost-identical rectangular touchscreen face with rounded corners and a lookalike rotating ridged crown button for scrolling, which is also located above a similar-looking pill-shaped button on the right side of the watch. Those are all right where you’d find them on an Apple Watch. Although the Xiaomi watch’s face is a little thicker and less rounded than the current Apple Watch Series 5 and the straps aren’t as sleek, you could still easily mistake it for an Apple Watch.

According to TechCrunch, Xiaomi told Mi Developer conference attendees the feature is the first of its kind globally. However, as with most new technologies, there are prior examples. Following the deadly Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, Apple added native earthquake alerts to iPhones in Japan. In the US, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tested its Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system last year, which works on both iOS and Android devices. Xiaomi did note its take on emergency alerts is able to function without a working internet connection, and said that it's willing to share the tech with other companies.