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The Mi A1 was a massive success among budget-conscious buyers in 2017. Xiaomi had the popular A series of smartphones, which ran the much lighter and faster Stock Android instead of their MIUI skin. Both enthusiasts and the general crowd admired the Mi A1. The A series phones were light and fast and had no advertisements or bloatware.
The Mi A1 is a rebranded Mi 5X for just 6299 INR (EUR 170). It shipped with a decently capable Snapdragon 625, aluminum back and frame, and a Full HD IPS LCD panel. It shipped with a 2X telephoto lens for portraits. In 2022, even on 600$+ phones, this spec is rare.
This phone officially had two years of major Android upgrades, bringing it from Android 7 to Android 9. However, the support does not entirely end there for people willing to tinker a little.
The Custom ROM community keeps this 5-year-old budget phone alive. Custom ROM support is a massive perk of all Xiaomi phones, even today. If you unlock the bootloader, your warranty will still not be void on a Xiaomi phone.
You have the freedom to unlock the bootloader and also install any Custom ROM. If you need to have the phone looked at, you lock the bootloader, revert to MIUI, and take the phone to a service center with no problems.
Android 13 Go Edition brings several useful features. Primarily the discover feature. You can swipe right to view a list of articles and content curated for you based on your interests.
This release also brings Material You to Android’s light and stripped-down version. Material You is a fantastic customization feature that lets you customize your phone’s color scheme. You will see four complementary color schemes to choose from.
It’s great to see the feature arrive in the lighter Android Go, so even budget-conscious buyers can enjoy the best of Android.
It doesn’t end there. This update also brings Notification Permission, App Language Preferences, etc., to Android Go. This update will refresh your device, especially if you’re on an older version of Android Go, like 10 or 11.
If you own the Mi A1 and like to experiment with your phone, installing a Custom ROM to get the latest version of Android will be fun. Until now, the phone flawlessly ran Android 10 based on Lineage OS 17.1.
Android 13 Custom ROMs for Xiaomi Mi A1
1: Spark OS is an Android 13 Custom ROM based on AOSP. It has many more features and a rich customization suite, and you get the Pixel launcher by default, with the Google dialler.
2: Arrow OS is a minimalistic ROM without Google apps and is meant to keep things clean and simple.
3: Pixel Experience is a stable and secure ROM that includes all Google apps based on Vanilla Android. Wallpapers, icons, fonts, and boot animations resemble Pixel UI. It runs the Pixel launcher, too.
4: Pixel Plus UI is an optimized ROM that takes inspiration from other Android skins to give you a balanced set of features and punctually delivers the latest security patches from Google.
5: Evolution X is a popular ROM with the latest security patch. Google apps come bundled with this, too.
Note: Before installing any Custom ROM, it must be noted that unlocking the bootloader and going through this process always has a chance of bugs, failures, and bricked devices. Proceed with caution.
It’s recommended to watch the necessary videos or consult an expert before going through the process if you’re not experienced.
It might remove features like FM Radio and voice-over-LTE, and some camera features might be removed too. Thankfully, there are several Google camera ports for the Mi A1, which significantly improve camera quality.
