Xiaomi's
high-end but reasonably-priced phones and flash sale model have in just about
six months turned it from a Chinese newcomer into a brand everyone knows, even
if not too many people have been able to purchase the company's devices.
The Xiaomi Mi 4launched in
China in July 2014, just ahead of the India launch of
theXiaomi Mi 3. Six months
later, this gets repeated, with the Xiaomi Mi Notelaunch in China in
January coming just ahead of the India launch of
the Mi 4
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When the Mi 3
launched though, there weren't too many alternatives available with similar
specifications at the price. The Mi 4 enters into a much more competitive
market just four months later, and that is a problem Xiaomi will have to
address.
The Chinese
company announced it is only brining the 16GB variant of the Mi 4 to India,
though Hugo Barra, Xiaomi Global Vice President, stated at the launch event
that the 64GB version will also come to the country at a later date.
The phone will
be sold via Flipkart using Xiaomi's usual flash sale model, with the
registrations having started on Wednesday, and the first sale on February 10.
The phone will cost Rs. 19,999, and runs on Android 4.4 KitKat with the
company's MIUI 6 skin on top. It is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon
801 processor clocked at 2.5GHz alongside 3GB of RAM. It has a 5-inch full-HD
display (1080X1920 pixels) and a 13-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel
front camera, along with a 3080mAh battery.
All of this
sounds pretty good on paper, but we'll be putting the phone through its paces
in our detailed review soon. At first glance though, the phone seems a little
dated today. The 5-inch screen is surrounded by a thin bezel to the sides, and
a larger space above and below. The face of the phone is in fact very
reminiscent of the iPhone 5s,
though the screen occupies a bit more of the front than on Apple's device.
The steel rim on
the sides furthers this impression, though the slightly curved back of the
phone makes it really comfortable to hold. The straight sides also make the
phone seem thicker than it actually is.
Booting up the
phone takes you to MiUI, which does not have an app drawer unlike regular
Android. This can be a little disorienting at first, but it's actually not that
big a deal. The tweaks to Android take a little getting used to, but it is all
clearly explained and you're never really at sea.
The phone itself
seems really smooth - launching apps happened quickly and basic activities like
browsing, organising the icons and other simple uses all worked without any
visible issues. Of course, both performance and battery life need to be more
thoroughly measured, which will come in our detailed review, but a short look
at the phone is at least promising on the performance front.
The screen is
bright and colourful, and seems to have decent viewing angles. Camera
performance also appeared satisfactory. It falls a little short on detail,
particularly in tricky lighting conditions. On the plus side, it focuses
quickly and takes pictures near instantaneously.
At first glance,
the Xiaomi Mi 4 looks like a promising device, though not perhaps the best
value for money as it launches in a more competitive market than its
predecessor did. Limited internal storage on the 16GB variant with the lack of
expandability option might also be a deal breaker for some. We'll be back soon
with our detailed review, which should help answer these questions fully.
