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The Xiaomi Mi Box is now in the process of receiving its update to Android 8.0 (Oreo) in the US. Xiaomi has yet to make an official announcement on this although multiple users have already seen the update arrive on their individual boxes. This also seems to largely be a worldwide update as users have reported the update arriving in various countries and regions within the last 24 hours.
Based on the number and origin of reports it now seems almost certain Xiaomi’s Android TV box is right in the midst of a Oreo update global rollout and therefore the chances are good the update will arrive for more Mi Box owners in the coming hours and days. Though the time-frame may very from place to place. For US Mi Box owners, specifically, it does seem very likely the update is already available and waiting to be installed by the owner. Once the update is downloaded and applied, the device owner can expect a fairly radical change to the interface as Oreo on Android TV brings with it a very different look in general, including a new emphasis on content over apps. As a result, this not only means the owner should be prepared for a number of new features but also a completely new navigation process which may take some time to get used to. As there has yet to be an official announcement on this, besides the updating to Oreo and all the organic changes Oreo brings with it, it remains unclear whether there are additional features/bug fixes included with the new update. For reference, and considering the gravity of Oreo, the update size is relatively light coming in at 615MB.
In the past Xiaomi has been considered to be somewhat unreliable when it comes to updating the Mi Box as many users will attest to. This has largely been due to the lack of any Android 7.0 (Nougat) update becoming widely available to Mi Box owners. However, with the company having now seemingly skipped Nougat in favor of Oreo, it does officially make the Mi Box one of the few third-party devices to get updated to Oreo. For example, the NVIDIA SHIELD Oreo update was announced a few weeks ago although it is only currently available to members of its preview program. In contrast, the Mi Box Oreo update seems to be rolling out to all devices.