Xiaomi Mi4 Quick Specs

Display Size: 5 Inch Full HD IPS LCD, 1920 X 1080 resolution, 441 PPI, Gorilla Glass 3Processor: 2.5 GHz Quad Core Snapdragon 801 processor with Adreno 330 GPURAM: 3 GBSoftware Version: Android 4.4 KitKat based MIUI 2.0Camera: 13 MP camera, 4k video recordingSecondary Camera: 8 MP, 1080p Video recordingInternal Storage:  16 GBExternal Storage: NoBattery: 3080 mAhConnectivity: HSPA+, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, aGPS,  Micro USB 2.0, USB OTG

Xiaomi Mi4 India Price, Hands on, Quick Review, Comparison With One Plus One[Video]

Design, Build and Display

Xiaomi hasn’t cut any corners with the design and build quality of Mi4. It is neither the slimmest nor the lightest one around, but when held in hands, it feels every bit as premium as you would want it to. Credit goes to the chamfered steel frame around the edges, which adds a decent heft and class to Mi4.

The top edge has an IR blaster and Audio jack while the MicroUSB port is housed at the bottom. The back side has a faint diamond pattern which is not readily visible. The back surface is made of plastic, but it is indeed good quality plastic which is resistant to smudges in spite of glossy nature. The back cover can be replaced but you can’t do so with your bare hands. There is no MicroSD card slot and the battery is non removable, thus only reason to plug out the rear cover is to replace it with another one of your choice.

The 5 Inch IPS LCD display with full HD resolution is very vibrant with nice colors. MIUI allows you to change color saturation and temperature to an extent and this should keep everyone happy. The display quality, viewing angles and brightness are all good. We are not yet sure if the Indian variants will have Gorilla Glass 3 on top

Processor and RAM

The processor used is Snapdragon 801 quad core with krait 400 cores clocked at 2.5 GHz. It is not a 64 bit SoC, but that shouldn’t matter much as the Mi4 is extremely snappy and the Adreno 330 GPU is quite capable of handling heavy lifting. The top of the line specs also include 3 GB RAM, which makes us optimistic about the performance in the long run. By default, the phone will be in balanced mode which is good enough to run all apps. However, to play heavy games you would want to switch to high performance mode first.

Camera and Internal Storage

The rear camera uses Sony Exmor IMX214 sensor which is the same one used by OnePlus One. The camera can record 4K videos, but that is not of much use, especially with limited 16 GB storage. There is a wide aperture F/1.8 6 piece lens on top as well. In our initial testing, camera performance looks pretty decent even in low light conditions. The front 8 MP sensor uses Sony Exmor IMX219 sensor, but with a tiny wide aperture lens on top. The selfie camera is good too, but don’t expect it to be at par with a good quality 8 MP rear camera. If any, the internal storage is the week point of Xiaomi Mi4. There is no MicroSD card and power users can gulp down 16 GB in no time. You can find some solace from USB OTG support which allows you to store media files in an external flash drive.

User Interface and Battery

Xiaomi Mi4 will be the first smartphone to run MIUI 6 out of the box in India (or perhaps anyplace else). The new design brings flatter look and adds more vibrant colors to already feature rich MIUI. Several new features have been added too, with the most noticeable one being how it handles notifications.

The MIUI 6 will differentiate between notifications based on their priority. You can handle notifications from any place and notifications also switch to floating notifications to avoid disruptions. Battery capacity is 3080 mAh which is a marginal improvement from Mi3. We will have to spend some more time with the device to surely know how long this will last in day to day usage. But things look good so far.

Conclusion

The Xiaomi Mi4 eliminates the flaws in Mi3 and strikes as a high end smartphone for half the price. Xiaomi Mi4 has the beauty, brawns and brains which makes it an easy recommendation, and the only reason you should back out, is if 16 GB won’t fit your intended usage pattern.