Launched almost two months ago in India, Xiaomi Mi 4i slowly made its way to other markets, not through official channels, but with a little help from resellers.
Presented as a flagship in India (something that didn’t go that well with Indian reviewers, and with the public, in general), Xiaomi Mi 4i doesn’t have a top-of-the-class chipset or any mindblowing specs, for that matter, but it still is a remarkable smartphone. There are plenty other devices that outperform it, at least on paper, but I’d pick the Mi 4i over any of them, simply because of Xiaomi’s commitment to deliver high-quality products, regardless of the price tag.
One of the first things to draw attention is the 5″ Sharp/JDI display with a 1920×1080 resolution. While most Chinese phone makers seem to have a hard time making anything smaller than 5.5-inch displays, Xiaomi remembered that not all of us have giant hands and/or pockets.
At the heart of the Mi 4i is a 2nd-gen 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset including four cores running at 1.7Ghz, four others clocked at 1.1Ghz, and an Adreno 405 GPU. Multitasking isn’t a problem, since the Mi 4i comes with 2GB of RAM. There’s no microSD slot available for expanding the internal memory, so users will have to make do with 16GB.
The 13MP back camera, which is made either by Sony or Samsung, has a 2.0 aperture for great photos in low-lighting fixtures. The front camera, on the other hand, has a 5MP sensor and 36 Beautify profiles for retouching on-the-go.
Connectivity is yet another aspect where the Mi 4i shines, as it comes with Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi ac, GPS and 4G working on one of the two SIMs.
As far as the battery is concerned, Xiaomi opted for a 3120mAh battery, which might not sound like much, considering this chipset and the display. However, the 4.4V 700Wh/L Li-Po cell has the highest energy density, so not only does it provide enough juice for this handset, but it also helps it maintain a slim profile.
Xiaomi Mi 4i can be purchased from GearBest for $275.56, but the coupon code MI4I takes the price down to $237.89. Considering that at launch this smartphone cost the equivalent of $205, it may look like a high mark-up, but that price also includes worldwide shipping, so it’s in fact great value for the money.
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