Xiaomi Mi 4i review
Xiaomi Mi 4i has the dimensions 138.1×69.6×7.8mm and is more
durable as it comes with a unibody form factor. The back is somewhat bent and
even though it is built of plastic, it appears strong and thick due to the
matte finish.
As a result, the device is less vulnerable to stains. The
smartphone is convenient for a single-handed use owing to the thin bezels and
the power as well as volume rocker keys placed at the device’s right-hand
corner.
The rear camera towards the top left-hand side does not
project outwards and the speaker outlet is also at the back. The left corner of
the device has a sim card tray with two slots for micro sim cards.
The front of the smartphone is controlled by the full-HD
display lined by three navigation keys at the bottom and the lens of the
front-camera at the top.
The smartphone sports a full-HD IPS display screen measuring
5 inch having a resolution of 1920x1080p protected against scratches by
Corning’s Concore One Glass Solution.
Design
Xiaomi Mi 4i comes with a polycarbonate rear cover which is
non removable and this cover wraps the phone from the rear side giving smooth
rounded corners and edges. In terms of design there are more hints of the Redmi
2 rather than the Mi 4. The dual SIM tray is located on left hand side. On the
top you have the 3.5mm audio jack and at the base there is the micro USB
charging and data transfer port.
On the rear side, you have the 13MP camera placed on the top
left hand corner beside which is the dual LED flash unit. The camera is flush
with the surface of the rear side which is quite good. Towards the base you
have the silver coloured embossed Mi branding and below it the grilles of the
speaker along with a tiny lip to help raise the phone a bit when it is resting
on a flat surface, so as to not muffle the sound.
Features
The Xiaomi Mi 4i houses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC
(second generation) which has an octa core processor. You get a quad core
Cortex A53 clocked at 1.7GHz also known as the performance cores and another
quad core processor clocked at 1.1GHz known as power saving cores. It has an
Adreno 405 GPU. This is paired with 2GB LPDDR3 RAM.
The Mi 4i runs Android 5.0 Lollipop with the MIUI 6 skin on
top. It comes with 16GB of internal storage of which 12.9 GB is available to
the user. Sadly, there isn’t a provision to add in a microSD card. Xiaomi has
used a small form factor motherboard to accommodate a large capacity battery
(3120mAh). The Xiaomi Mi 4i has a dual SIM, dual standy mode and can take in 4G
SIM cards in both the slots. It features 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0,
GPS/GLONASS and USB OTG.
Software
First Xiaomi phone to be launched with Android 5.0 Lollipop.
But thanks to the MIUI 6 skin atop the phone, you can barely tell the
difference between the look of the Mi 4i from the Mi 4 or even Redmi 2.
Xiaomi has added on some good touches. You now get floating
notifications so that you are not interrupted (while making that decisive photograph
or while playing your favourite game) when you get a message or a call, as it
will show up as a floating notification at the top. The Mail app has also been
redesigned.
One of the key
features includes the layout of threaded email conversations which actually
appears like chat messages. Other proprietary apps include the Mi Account,
Security, Themes, Music and so on.
Performance
second generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC paired with
2GB RAM is enough to handle most tasks. The phone works well in the performance
mode and the Adreno 405 GPU is capable of handling heavy games such as Asphalt
8: Airborne and Dead Trigger 2. Browsing on Chrome with over 10 tabs open at a
time, along with 10 apps running in the background didn’t slow down the device
or make it freeze.
Display
The 5-inch full HD display is vibrant and comes with IPS panel which gives it great
viewing angles. Just like the higher end Mi 4, the Mi 4i also has a 441ppi
pixel density. Colours are vibrant and text appears sharp. There isn’t any
visible warm tinge to the display. Xiaomi has used a One Glass Solution instead
of Gorilla Glass protection. The screen is resistant to smudges and when the
phone display is off, you can see a continuous black top. Only when you observe
closely will you notice the separation between the screen and bezel.
Xiaomi has employed a technology called ‘Sunlight Display’,
which basically is a hardware based always on signal processor, which
dynamically adjusts the contrast of pixels in real time so as to help you show
a balanced display in situations where there is extreme glare.
Camera
Xiaomi Mi 4i has the same camera 13MP rear camera as its
elder sibling – the Mi 4. But the only area where it differs is that the Mi 4
has a 6-element f/1.8 lens whereas the Mi 4i has a 5-element lens configuration
with an f/2.0 aperture. On the front-face it has the 5MP camera.
Battery Life
The Mi 4i houses a 3120mAh battery which is quite a large
capacity battery on a 5-inch device. Over 3000mAh batteries are generally seen
on 5.5-inch devices. battery easily lasted over 12-14 hours of moderate usage
involving surfing the web, calling for couple of hours, social media use,
photography, video streaming and so on. In performance mode will last around
10-11 hours depending on your usage. But you can easily extract a day’s worth
of battery life from the Mi 4i.
