App War….

More of a public service announcement than anything else because it took me ages to find out how to fix my little issue with my new phone.

I got myself a new xiaomi redmi smartphone and when I picked you up from the store it had a local version of the software on it specific to Thailand which is technically called DC ROM. This version of the software it runs was missing two key features I use. One is second space and the other is a Dual App.

Dual app allows you to run two versions of any app. This means you can have WhatsApp locally on one number and WhatsApp again on your home number in two apps on your phone. Same for Facebook and many other compatible Apps.

For this to be disabled would be a big negative for the new phone so what I needed to get was the global ROM installed which includes this feature.

Normally on the older phones this was a reasonably simple (but technical task) to do yourself. However on the new versions of xiaomi phones they are running an operating system called HyperOS and it is not possible to do this yourself without getting the phone first unlocked (bootloader unlock) via a xiaomi online account and even then it is very difficult to get them to admit you to the unlock program.

Admission to the program involves waiting 30 days once you are a member of the (XiaoMI) MI program/forum and then applying for an unlock code which means submitting your application at midnight Beijing time in the vein hope that you will get one, which is not normally the case.

The DC ROM is typical on phones that are on finance agreements or within contract and as I purchased the phone outright and had the receipt I took it to the local MI Service Center and they flashed the global ROM on to the device for free. This is the XM ROM.

A good thing about the Global ROM is it gets security updates about every 2 months. I have no idea what the frequency would be on the Thai version but if it is anything like the European version that is twice per year.