Xiaomi (and a lot of Chinese OEMs) have had a difficult time complying with the rules of the GNU GPL when it comes to releasing the kernel source code for their Android products. The company said they would start doing this 3 months after the release of a new product, but that wasn't the case with the Xiaomi Mi Pad 4. The device launched in June of last year and, as of October, they had yet to comply with the GPL. Thankfully, they finally released it (a month after we reported on their tardiness) and it has helped developers work their magic on the device.

XDA Recognized Developer arter97 is well-known within the community for the work they do on kernels and this past weekend Mi Pad 4 owners got a treat. With the release of what arter97 is calling the "Pie Software Collection for the Mi Pad 4," tablet owners are getting a custom kernel and a port of the entire Xiaomi Mi A2 vendor image. With this combination (and F2FS support), arter97 has been able to greatly improve the performance of the Mi Pad 4. Check it out at the forum thread below.

Check out this kernel and vendor images in our Mi Pad 4 forum