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Xiaomi is one of the extra interesting OEMs out the re. While some smartphone OEMs appear to be in autopilot mode, Xiaomi appears like it is constructed for disruption. It combines nice build quality and specs for costs that are often half that of the competition. We have mostly paid consideration to the firm’s flagship lineup—the Xiaomi Mi 4 and the Xiaomi Mi Note—however when even the excessive end stuff is just $480, what do the corporate’s lower-end offerings seem like?
Xiaomi’s newest addition to their ever-expanding phone portfolio is a revised, mid-range version of the corporate’s flagship Xiaomi Mi 4. With India being the goal market for what Xiaomi is asking an “affordable flagship,”
The Xiaomi Mi 4i shares loads of DNA with the unique Xiaomi Mi 4, a few of the hardware duly scaled down for affordability. The software though genuinely tries to make up for it. The Xiaomi Mi 4i boasts a premium 5″ IPS 1080p display Screen and a very capable 13MP camera, each shared with the flagship. The Snapdragon 615 chipset with an octa-core processor integrates Cat. 4 LTE with the added benefit of dual sim support.
Design
While the Xiaomi Mi 4i may share the name of its flagship counterpart, the variations between the 2 are obvious right off the bat, beginning with the design. Gone are the aluminium body and shiny plastic back cover of the Xiaomi Mi 4, with Xiaomi favoring a matte polycarbonate design instead for the Xiaomi Mi 4i. The general design language is quite just like earlier Xiaomi smartphones, though and the Xiaomi Mi 4i manages to feel and look nice.
Going around the device, the power button and volume rocker are found on The Best side, each inside simple reach, and offering a good tactile feedback. The dual-sim card slot is found on the left side, with the microUSB and headphone jack port on the top and bottom respectively. Up front, below the display screen are the 3 capacitive buttons, and above the display screen is the 5 MP front-facing camera and a notification LED to the right of it. As is the case with all Xiaomi units, you may choose between 7 different LED colours based on notification type, available from the Settings menu.
The Xiaomi Mi 4i is both thinner and lighter than its flagship namesake, with a thickness of simply 7.8 mm, and weighing 130 grams. The finish of the side edges makes the phone very simple to grip, and it’s relatively compact dimension makes for a very comfy handling experience, even in terms of one-handed use.
Display
The Xiaomi Mi 4i features a similar 5″ Full HD IPS display screen to the one we saw on the Xiaomi Mi 4. It has 441ppi for pleasantly sharp imagery. Sadly, the glass covering the display is not scratch-resistant.
The display on the Xiaomi Mi 4i has a lowermost brightness level compared to the one on Xiaomi Mi 3, whereas retaining the identical good contrast and colours.Xiaomi is offering options for color temperature and saturation, so you may tweak the display to your liking.
The daylight legibility has been slightly improved and the Xiaomi Mi 4i’s display performs very well outdoor. You’ll be able to comfortably see what is occurring on the display screen even on the brightest day.
Xiaomi has also included a display screen tech for boosting the brightness of darker areas of your display screen to make them extra visible when there is bright light supply present. It is just like what Sony has been doing with its flagships lately solely right here it works throughout the interface and not simply within the gallery.
Camera
Low-end smartphone cameras are usually exercises in ache, however, we took some camera samples anyway. Once more, the only device we’ve that should be comparable is the Moto G, however, we have additionally unfairly pitted it towards the $300 Asus Zenfone 2 and the $650 Galaxy S6. You should not care too much about camera MP, however, the Mi 4i has a 13MP sensor.
Software
Xiaomi Mi 4i runs Android 5.0 Lollipop-based MiUI 6, the newest OS from the corporate.
The Xiaomi Mi 4i does not explicitly feature Android Lollipop’s user interface tweaks. Even the app switcher is the one featured in MiUI and system apps do not feature Materials design.
Xiaomi has added support for six languages and Visual. Visible IVR permits users to navigate through Interactive Voice Response Systems in a menu-driven fashion. Presently, Visual IVR is in beta and supports 3 companies. Our review unit didn’t include the feature.
The new operating system boasts of a flatter design, smoother transition results, higher multitasking and notifications interfaces and gestures, among different features.
MIUI resembles Apple’s iOS in design and navigation and does not include a separate application drawer. It focuses on ease of use along with offering enhanced native apps, better notifications and issues like call recording and call restriction. For a detailed look at the software, please read our Xiaomi Mi 4 full review.
Battery
The Xiaomi Mi 4i houses a 3120mAh battery which is quite a big capacity battery on a 5-inch device. Over 3000mAh batteries are usually seen on 5.5-inch units. Xiaomi managed to put on this battery while keeping the smartphone thickness at 7.3mm, however using a smaller motherboard PCB. The battery is non-removable and just like most high-end phones I’ve seen off late, it supports fast charge technology.
On a regular work day, the battery simply lasted over 12-14 hours of moderate utilization involving browsing the web, calling for a couple of hours, social media use, images, video streaming and further more. On the PC Mark for Android test on the Balanced mode, I got around 9 hours 28 minutes. In efficiency, mode will last round 10-11 hours depending in your utilization. However, you may simply extract a day’s value of battery life from the Mi 4i.
Specification
- OS: Android 5.0
- Body: 138.1 x 69.6 x 7.8 mm
- Weight: 130 g
- Display: 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.0 inch
- Memory: 16 GB internal, no expandable, 2 GB RAM
- Processor: Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615
- Camera: 13 MP, 5 MP secondary
- Battery: 3,120 mAh
Verdict
The re’s a lot going in favour of the Xiaomi Mi 4i. It is one of the few phones sport an excellent, full-HD display. The camera is also greatest in class and the big selection of connectivity choices along with the compact, one-hand use-optimised form issue make it a compelling purchase. The only drawback areas are the underwhelming battery life (we expected better from a 3120Ah one) and a few minor performance issues within the Balanced mode.