Xiaomi puts out another decent budget smartphone

Aug 7, 2015 14:23 GMT  ·  By

Xiaomi is continuing the saga of providing mobile enthusiasts with affordable smartphones that include decent specs. Since India is one of the key markets where Xiaomi activates, it’s no wonder that the company has made an effort to offer a device especially tailored for the Indian territory, which was apparently inspired by the history of the country.

Xiaomi is calling the Mi4i an “affordable flagship,” but what we are dealing with here is actually a mid-range phone with specs reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy A7.

Even if the phone hasn’t been out for long (announced in April 2015), it quickly became very popular with consumers. And we’re here to better explain why this is the case.  

Display 5-inch IPS LCD, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 441 ppi
Processor 1.7GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, Adreno 405 GPU
RAM 2GB
Storage 16GB, not exapandable
Cameras 13MP rear camera with dual LED flash
5MP front camera
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.1, FM Radio
Battery 3,120 mAh
OS MIUI OS 6 based on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop
Colors white (like our unit), pink, grey, black
Dimensions  138.1 x 69.6 x 7.8 mm
130 g

Design - It looks really pretty

Even if the Mi4i share its name with the Mi4 flagship, the differences between the two are pretty visible from the get-go. So don’t expect the Mi4i to feature the same aluminum frame and glossy plastic.

For the Mi4i, Xiaomi went with a matte polycarbonate unibody, which means that the rear part can’t be taken out and the battery isn’t removable. Which shouldn't necessary be called a bad thing because it makes the phone more durable.

However, the polycarbonate body is not a reason to hate the phone. On the contrary, the device looks very “cute” and light and feels great in hand. It’s not slippery either and is representative of the Xiaomi smartphone design language.

The handset has the power button and volume rocker located on the right side, with the dual SIM card slot located on the left side. The headphone jack and microUSB port live on the top and bottom, respectively.

There's a quirk here, though, the Mi4i uses an odd micro-USB A/B port. The usual USB ports we see in devices these days are of the micro-USB B variety, but Xiaomi makes things a little bit strange here.

But there's also the micro-USB A variety, which features a more rectangular micro USB plug. So the Mi4i accepts either cable. The thing is, the rectangular port will make it harder for you to figure out which way the plug will go into the phone. But this is just a minor annoyance.

Moving along, in front, below the display live three capacitive buttons: one for returning to the previous screen, one for returning to the home screen, and one for viewing all the recent apps.

On the upper side of the display there’s a notification LED to the right. As is the case with Xiaomi devices, users can choose between seven different LED colors based on the notification type. You can choose whatever color suits you from the Settings menu.

The Mi4i is both thinner and lighter than the fully-fledged Mi4, featuring a profile of 7.8 mm and breaking the scales at 130 g.

Display and Camera - Beautiful screen, but the snapper needs some improvements

Moving on to the display section, the Mi4i features a 5-inch IPS LCD screen with 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels), when most phones in this pricing range don’t offer more than 720p. The resulting pixel density is of 441ppi.

The display looks pretty great and is definitely a strong point for the device. The colors are reproduced very well and sun readability is quite decent, as Xiaomi uses a technology that allows the device to adjust visibility when in bright environments (it’s called Sunlight Display).

On paper, the camera specs of the Xiaomi Mi4i sound really good. The phone features a 13MP Sony stacked CMOS rear camera (with 5-element lens, f/2.0 aperture) plus a 5MP frontal camera (with 5-element lens, f/1.8 aperture). What’s more, the main shooter features an iPhone 6-esque two-tone flash used to balance out light.

Xiaomi Mi4i with box
Xiaomi Mi4i with box

Still, the real-life results aren’t extraordinary. They are just decent. As in the case of the Mi4, the low-cost flagship doesn’t offer a basic and advanced mode in its camera app. However, it does bundle a few options you can access from screens you move through by swiping right. The first one lets you choose between options such as Panorama, Timer, Refocus, Manual, Beautify, HHT (Night Mode). The Manual feat offers you the possibility of tinkering with White Balance, Focus, Exposure time, and ISO values.

The second window will allow you to turn on and off HDR, while the third one is dedicated to filters so you can add some artistic values to your photography.

But some camera modes seem to exercise too much pressure on the processor. When trying to shoot a Panorama, the camera app froze as it was trying to save the image. Needless to say, it was kind of frustrating, especially since it took the phone quite a while to recover.

The handset also offers video recording at 1080p, 720p and 480p resolution and includes an image stabilizer with anti-shake feature (no Optical Image Stabilization, though).

Naturally, in natural lighting environments, the camera performs well enough, but the level of detail isn’t particularly stunning. In some situations, the images are over exposed or the details come out pretty grainy.

Color accuracy and vividness is another issue the Mi 4i is confronted with, as the phone doesn’t actually represent what’s out there. Still, for this price, the main camera does a decent job.

As for the selfie camera, it’s as normal as it gets, and your Facebook and Instagram accounts are probably going to be relatively happy. By the way, the snapper will try to guess your age and genre, which can sometime prompt funny results.

Xiaomi Mi4i, image sample with no HDR
Xiaomi Mi4i, image sample with no HDR
Xiaomi Mi4i, image sample with HDR Pro
Xiaomi Mi4i, image sample with HDR Pro

Performance - it can handle most things

The Xiaomi Mi4i is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 615 which we usually find in upper mid-range devices today. The presence of this particular silicon chip is to be considered another positive point of the phone. In theory.

Xiaomi also throws in 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (our unit) with no possibility to expand memory.

We ran the AnTuTu benchmarking app on it and found that the phone scored a moderate 36,671 points. High-end models like the Samsung Galaxy S6 will visit the same benchmark website and score up to 67,520, which is quite a difference.

Xiaomi Mi4i, AnTuTu results
Xiaomi Mi4i, AnTuTu results

We also used the Quadrant and Geekbench 3 apps on the phone and you can see the results in the gallery.

Nevertheless, the smartphone has no problem with running different apps, but if you load too many, you might see a little bit of lag in switching between them. Sometimes applications won’t close or open as fast as you’d want, but that’s not something one can’t live with.

With prolonged game play, the device does get quite hot, but after all, which phone doesn’t? The higher-end Huawei Honor 6 Plus’ temperature levels rose after we played a YouTube video for 3 times consecutively.

However, we did encounter an issue with the device when trying to run the Stagefright Detector App, which checks to see how prone your phone is to experience the recent vulnerability. We found that the application froze as it performed the scan and no verdict was displayed. The same action took no more than 3 seconds on the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Software - Android 5.0.2-based ROM with no Material Design feel

Xiaomi is shipping the Mi4i with MIUI 6, which is based on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop, but soon the company will unveil its next custom ROM called MIUI 7, which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop, and the affordable flagship will probably get it at some point.

Still, don’t expect any Material Design on board this handset.

Which means we'll have to stick to MIUI 6 for now. The skin allows users to customize the device in a lot of ways, which is not entirely possible in other alternative versions of Android UIs.

MIUI had features like lockscreen notifications, heads up notifications, Do Not Disturb mode or card style multi-tasking long before Google pushed out the Lollipop release. Furthermore, Xiaomi users get access to a vast theme store which helps them constantly change the look of the device.

Moreover, MIUI 6 offers more advanced data usage management tools, battery saving profiles (that can be set for a specific time frame), app permissions, in-call recording, and so on.

Xiaomi Mi4i, main screen
Xiaomi Mi4i, main screen

On the downside, Xiaomi Mi4i offers support only for a few languages and those purchasing the phone out of Asia will have to set the phone for South Korea or India if they want to get started with the device.

The OS features a flat design, smooth transition effects, and it also includes gesture control. Visually, MIUI resembles a lot Apple’s iOS design and doesn’t feature an app drawer.

The phone comes pre-loaded with Tools which include apps for Mail, Updater, Recorder, Compass, Scanner, Report Bug, Downloads and SIM Toolkit. You can also sign in with your Mi Account.

You might find the Settings section a little bit unorganized, and you might have a hard time getting used to it especially if you are familiar with stock Android.

Battery life - what you’d normally expect

The Xiaomi Mi4i keeps up with other handsets available on the market in terms of battery life. We were easily able to squeeze one full day of usage, which included heavy WhatsApp texting and media streaming.

Keep this in mind, though: the Mi4i’s 3,120 mAh battery won’t charm the pants off you, but at least it will get you through the day, and regardless of what people say, being able to use your phone all day long is good enough.

The phone benefits from fast battery charging (Quick Charge), allowing users to recharge the powerhouse up to 40% in less than 60 minutes.

Call quality - quite decent

- GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz - 3G: WCDMA 850, 1900, 2100 MHz | TD-SCDMA 1900, 2000 MHz - LTE: FDD 1800 (band 3), 2600 (band 7) MHZ | TD 2600 (band 38), 1900 (band 39), 2300 (band 40), 2500 (band 41) MHZ - Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n | 802.11ac

Call quality is decent enough. We can’t call it crystal clear or out of the ordinary, but we had no problems in hearing the other person at the end of the line, nor did they have any issues with hearing back from us.

Connectivity - All you need to get through the day

The phone is equipped with Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, A-GPS and GLONASS. It has a microUSB 2.0, but there’s no such thing as NFC. It incorporates two microSIM cards which are 4G LTE-enabled.


The Good

- Smudge free, light polycarbonate body
- Beautiful display
- Overall decent specifications
- Good battery life
- Price (around $200)

The Bad

- The MIUI 6.0 interface does not really resemble Android 5.0.2 Lollipop
- Settings section is highly disorganized
- Camera fails to impress
- Apps tend to freeze sometimes
- Only 16GB of internal storage, no microSD card slot

Conclusion

Xiaomi’s “budget flagship” looks great on the inside and feels great in hand. However, we believe Xiaomi still has some work to do in the UI department and the camera could have been better. Surprisingly, Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 615 isn’t as smooth as anticipated, but overall, the silicon can handle most things. Still, for the price range, the Xiaomi Mi4i is a clear winner.

 

Our Rating

looks 4
build 4
speed 3
battery 4
calls 4
camera 3
video 3
apps 3
screen 4
signal4

final rating 4

Xiaomi Mi4i (60 Images)

Xiaomi Mi4i frontal view
Xiaomi Mi4i, camera detailXiaomi Mi4i with box
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