Nearly 6 Months after Release, Xiaomi Mi Box owners can now sideload a Beta Build of Android Nougat

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Remember the Xiaomi Mi Box? The Android TV box that was announced back during Google I/O 2016? The box that was supposed to launch with Android Nougat, or at least receive an update to Nougat shortly after launch?

Well, it’s been months since the device was announced (almost 6 months to this date, but who’s counting?) and we still have no word on when an official update to Android Nougat would be released. However, earlier this month users who were part of Xiaomi’s beta testing program reported that they received an update to a beta build of Android Nougat. And now today, this same beta build appears to have been posted to our forums for every Mi Box owners to sideload.

The file posted to our forum is a 449.5MB update.zip file. In order to install it, users have to load the file onto a USB stick and insert it into the Mi Box. The user then needs to reboot to the recovery mode by turning off the device and removing the power supply, then hold the back and center buttons while reconnecting power to the device. Once in recovery mode, the user can select to install the update from external storage and then select their USB stick.

Since this is a beta build, there are many features that do not work as well as many missing features that users were hoping to see, such as:

No automatic refresh rate switching

HDR in Netflix not working

No Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio Passthrough

No HD Audio in Kodi 17.1

However, there are a lot of interesting new features that one can now take advantage of (per Redditor DaveDeluria), including the following:

Picture-in-picture mode in Live Channels

DVR function in Live Channels

HDMI CEC customization options

Xiaomi Mi Box owners have been wondering for months when the Android Nougat update for their device would be launching. While this Nougat beta build wasn’t released by Xiaomi, Mi Box owners can at least start taking advantage of some Nougat features right now. For a device that launched in the United States for only $69, it seemed like a pretty darn good deal given its specifications – and at the time – promised software update to Android Nougat. Although Mi Box owners will still have to wait just a bit longer for an official build to be released with all of Nougat’s features and none of the bugs, this beta build at least confirms that Android Nougat is on its way.

What do you think about Android TV and the Mi Box? Let us know below!