Xiaomi has started pushing Android 7.0 Nougat to the Xiaomi Mi 5. Do keep in mind that we’re talking about the global build of MIUI here, Chinese variants of the phone received this update a couple of weeks ago. Now, the be more precise, you will get Android 7.0 Nougat-based MIUI 8.2.1.0 on your device if you’re running a global MIUI ROM on your Xiaomi Mi 5 unit. We have received this update on our Xiaomi Mi 5 smartphone today, and the update is already listed on the company’s website, and is available for download, just in case you did not receive it OTA just yet.
Now, those of you who want to manually download the update, keep in mind that you do not have to flash it or anything of the sort, as updating Xiaomi devices manually is extremely simple. All you have to do is visit the source link down below, click on ‘Download Full ROM’ (though make sure to download a ‘Stable ROM’, not the developer one. Anyhow, once you download the package, locate the ‘Updater’ app on your Xiaomi Mi 5. In the app, you’ll notice three vertical dots in the upper right corner, hit that and select ‘Choose Update Package’ option. Once you do that, a file manager will open, and you will need to navigate to ‘Downloads’ where you will be able to find the package you download, just look for something that has ‘8.2.1.0’ in the name, and you’re all good. After you select that package, your phone will scan it, decrypt it and the update procedure will begin. Do not turn off the device or anything of the sort while it is updating, the update itself does not last long, so you don’t have to worry about it, just leave the phone to do its own thing. It is also worth noting that this update will not clear your data or anything of the sort, your apps and data will remain intact.
So, what’s new in this update? Well, first and foremost, do not expect Google’s Nougat features here, because you won’t get them. This is still MIUI 8 we’re talking about, and the company did not introduce that many changes here, at least not visible ones. Chances are you’ll get far more features with MIUI 9 later this year. In any case, the company did adjust the notification shade a bit, you can now use a fingerprint scanner as the privacy protection password, Xiaomi fixed landscape mode issues with third-party themes, and there are also a lot of optimizations included here. For a full list of changes, check out the screenshot down below.