Xiaomi has announced that it will have a Windows 10 option available for owners of its Mi4 smartphone very soon. Starting from tomorrow owners of this Android smartphone will be able to eschew Google's mobile OS and plump for Microsoft's instead; in the shape of the new Windows 10 mobile OS.
Microsoft and Xiaomi announced they were working together about eight months ago. At the time a Xiaomi spokesperson said "This is an experimental program entirely led by Microsoft, and we are happy that Mi fans with Mi4 devices in China will be able to participate and provide feedback". Testers have been playing around with such a ROM since June, reports Windows Central. A slide shared by Xiaomi co-founder Bin Lin, as embedded above, puts the date of the ROM becoming publically available as 3rd December (tomorrow).
Xiaomi, the world's 4th largest smartphone maker, has a slightly different approach to flashing ROMs on its devices compared to many of the companies you might be more familiar with. Its website hosts frequently updated ROMs for devices and you can choose from the likes of stable, developer and various region specific builds. These are easily flashed through a built-in utility in Xiaomi phones, or you can use your PC. Users of the Mi4 are soon to get another ROM download option; Windows 10.
As a reminder, the Xiaomi Mi4 overseas edition offers excellent specs at a low to midrange price. It costs from about £140 but offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, quad core, 2.5GHz, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage, 13MP back and 8MP front cameras plus a 5-inch full HD IPS screen protected by Gorilla Glass. Furthermore it is built in a stainless steel frame with an aluminium-magnesium mid-frame.
Xiaomi laptop may come with Windows installed
In other recent Xiaomi news the laptop rumoured to be in the works at the company will be powered by an Intel SoC, reckons China-based analyst, Sun Changxu (via Android Headlines). It will be an all-metal design, manufactured by Inventec. Changxu indicates that an Intel SoC was chosen to power the laptop as it is required by Windows.
Previously it was thought the laptop would run some kind of Linux OS. The Windows OS decision falls in line with Xiaomi's other recent announcement of the Mi Pad 2 tablet which uses an Intel Atom X5 X8500 - so that the same hardware can offer both an Android and a Windows 10 version (but we don't know if the OS will be user-changeable on the tablet).
