Putting an end to the waiting, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has finally rolled out the upgraded version of Android oreo operating system, Android 8.1 to the company’s Android One smartphone. The company officially announced the rolling out the official Android 8.1 OTA update for Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphones.
The company has also announced the new features and visual changes embedded in the new version of Operating System. Here is the complete guide for installation and detailed information regarding the update.
How to install?
As the new update by the company is an OTA (Over-The-Air) rollout, you do not need to modify the system specifically for the update. It will hit your smartphone automatically over the internet. We recommend you to use a consistent Wi-Fi connection to establish a seamless connection and avoid interruption.
Update via OTA
- Open the smartphone and go to Settings > Tap on System option at the bottom.
- Choose System Updates, and check for the update.
- If you find out that the latest update has hit your device, click on update and install.
Update via ROM Flashing
You can also update to the Android 8.1.0 manually using the ROM file, which is available to download for everyone. You can use the Mi Flash Tool Kit to flash the OS into your Mi A1 safely. Get the ROM from here.
Prerequisites to install the update
You need to take some steps and ensure the safety of your data before installation, as we cannot predict how the smartphone would act after the update. Here are some of the basic, most essential tips.
- Make sure your smartphone has at least 60% charge in the battery. If not, plugin before updating.
- Ensure there is enough space left in the internal storage. As the update weighs around 1.2GB, free up an approximate space of 2GB.
- If you do not get the update, try updating Google Play Services.
- Backup all the smartphone data including files, messages, call logs, contacts, etc.
Changelog
Here is the complete changelog, which describes the complete changes the new update comes with.
- June 2018 Security Patch.
- New power menu layout with a tint effect.
- Settings/SystemUI theme adapts to the color of the wallpaper.
- Better Sound.
- Updated Launcher3.
Known Bugs
Apart from the announcement, there is a list of known bugs that might even make your smartphone unstable. Fortunately, there are not many bugs in the new update. So far, the only bug that affected users is as follows.
Every SMS/Text Messages have wiped out after updating to the Android 8.1.0 version. So, it is recommended to backup all the messages to any third party message backup service or to Google Drive.