i installed an incremental update of MIUI that became available today, version 7.2.4 (previously i had 7.2.2). i was hoping this latest version would fix the VPN incompatibility issue that's plagued v7, but no luck. i could try installing the global version of MIUI, but i'm not sure if that'd work, despite it being preinstalled with google apps. at this point i'm sort of fine with the way things are, afraid of accidentally bricking the xiaomi phone. besides, it takes a bit of time to flash a new ROM, and i just don't have the time to do that. i'll take care of it when i go back home. it's not like i can't access google services, i just can't do it from my xiaomi, so i have to carry my oneplus one phone with me wherever i go as well. it's not the most efficient solution but it's the one i have to live with while staying in china. you learn that when it comes to the internet, you take what you can get due to the government's firewall screening. i find i use my xiaomi mostly to check text messages and check my GPS location with baidu maps. if i want to do anything more serious, i wouldn't waste my data, but instead would hop onto a free wifi network, in which case i can use both my phones. still, it's kind of a shame, because the xiaomi would be perfect if i could just use VPN and get onto google services.