It’s almost a month since the Xiaomi Mi A2 started receiving the Android 9 Pie update.
When we first reported on that development, we were met by comments from Kenyans who own the device but who were yet to sight the said update.
Well, we can now confirm that indeed, the Android Pie update is rolling out to the Xiaomi Mi A2 in Kenya.
The update has previously been available in a handful of countries around the world with the Netherlands, India, Malta and Belgium getting first dibs.
The update brings with it the December security patch from Google dated December 5th, 2018 and which should be rolling out to the rest of the Mi A2 users worldwide who received the update last month with the November patch.
What’s new?
On the Android Pie front, the update, which clocks in at 1,078.9 megabytes, brings with it those Pie features we have previously highlighted [read this] like Digital Wellbeing, Adaptive Brightness, Adaptive Battery, App Actions, Slices and a user interface that employs the use of gestures rather than the traditional Android navigation buttons. The latter, while possible on the Mi A2 after the upgrade to Android 9.0 from Android 8.1, has to be enabled by the user under Settings > System > Gestures else the user is stuck with the Android Oreo (and earlier) era tri-button navigation configuration.
In case you are wondering, yes, it is not too late to get yourself the Xiaomi Mi A2 and enjoy your slice of Android Pie. The device is still selling online – and at select physical stores across Nairobi – for the offer price of Kshs 26,000 for the 6GB RAM + 128GB onboard storage variant, the lowest it’s ever been priced locally, lower than during the Black Friday sales craze weeks ago (which is when I got to order mine).
The Xiaomi Mi A2’s sibling, the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite, has also since received the Android Pie update, at least globally. We don’t know much about the update’s availability locally since the device hasn’t officially gone on sale – that is expected to change on December 19th.
The Xiaomi Mi A2 joins the likes of the Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 7.1, Nokia 6.1, Nokia 6.1 Plus on the list of devices officially available in the local market that have already made the jump to Android Pie. Little wonder that they are all Android One devices. The Pocophone F1 is set to spoil the party when it joins the Mi A2 Lite for its local introduction on the 19th.
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