Unfortunately, SmartTube is now choppy and blinking in all my Mi Boxes, forcing me to abandon it and use SmartTube Next and there's some things that are really bugging me.
SmartTube Next doesn't save my search history, in the old app I only need to type a few letters before finding some old query. I use both apps not signed on, maybe that's the problem.
The new player menu is really bad: when you bring it up the play/pause button is the one active, but it's not highlighted at first, only after it's pressed. The repeat/keep playing button is always red. Also the channel button is hidden in the middle and doesn't use the channel's icon.
I couldn't find a way to set a default resolution, I like to keep it as 720p change it up on a video basis.
Maybe some of these things are fixable and I'm doing something wrong, would like some ideas from other users.
Ofc it's because you're not signed in. My history works great.
The UI is customizable and there's options to change everything else you listed.
You just need to take some time to go through all of the options.