Xiaomi launched the Mi 5C quite recently, but the phone shipped with Android Marshmallow despite the fact that the Chinese manufacturer had months to prepare the Nougat for the device. Maybe the fact that the Xiaomi Mi 5C is the first Xiaomi’s device to come with the first-party SoC called the Xiaomi Surge S1.
The chipset is a mid-range solution (4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.4 GHz Cortex-A53, Mali-T860MP4) and will provide enough processing power for most users. Engineers at Xiaomi were hard-working and managed to ship the Android Nougat (7.1) update in less than a month after the Mi 5C got released. To be honest, the company did promise the handset is upgradeable to Android Nougat 7.1 so they managed to deliver in less than a month.
So, even if the phone shipped with dated Android Marshmallow, it got the latest Android version pretty soon, and that’s great because it shows that Xiaomi can make its own chipsets and can make them working with the latest Android.
The nougat-based MIUI update is available over-the-air (OTA), with Xiaomi announcing its availability on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. But, there’s a catch. You see, the update is rolling out to units equipped with the MIUI 8 developer ROM, so all users running the MIUI 8 Stable ROM (the ROM the device is shipping with) won’t get the latest Android version.
In order to make your phone eligible for the update, you’ll have to download and install the Developer ROM, and then wait for the notification let you know the update is ready for download. Installing the developer ROM will also give you more frequent updates (about once a week) so that’s a plus.
The phone sports a price of about $220 and for that money you’ll get a 5.15-inches Full HD (1920×1080) screen, 3 GB of RAM, 64 GB of internal storage, a solid 12 MP (f/2.0) main camera, and a quick charge capability. The device supports 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.1, WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), GPS with AGS/GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio and USB Type C.