Xiaomi's Mi 4i debuts with polycarbonate body in five colors (hands-on)
Launching first in India, the Mi 4i has a 5-inch display and a quick-charge feature for a rapid battery boost.
NEW DELHI -- Xiaomi today announced the Mi 4i, a smartphone meant for markets outside of its home country and largest market, China. Emblematic of its global ambitions, this is the first time Xiaomi's skipping China for another country.
With an Indian launch event, Xiaomi wants to build momentum in its second largest market. The Mi 4i's price of 12,999 Rupees (which converts to around $205, £140 or AU$265) makes it much cheaper than its immediate competitors, such as the Samsung Galaxy Alpha A7 or the Moto X.
It's a ridiculously attractive price point, one that's guaranteed to make sure the phone not only sells out almost immediately in India when it launches on April 30, but also in the other markets where it will debut next month. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia are the other countries where it will be sold.
But apart from the low price, does the Mi 4i have it where it counts?
Design
The Mi 4i has a very standard rectangle design, with no special curved edges or a bent screen, but it doesn't need such fripperies to make an impression. Its profile is a slim 7.8mm, and it weighs just 130 grams (4.6 ounces). Holding it in my hand, it has a reassuring heft that exudes quality despite its plastic case. The steel power and volume buttons located on the right help with this.
Instead of the more premium glass and metal materials you typically find on flagship Mi phones such as the Mi Note or the Mi 4, the Mi 4i has a polycarbonate chassis. Its soft-touch matte design feels pretty smooth and luxurious, and Xiaomi claims it has an anti-grease coating that will even let you erase ink from permanent markers. That's really impressive if true, and while Xiaomi did show a video of just that, I'll be looking forward to testing this myself when I get a review sample.
Taking a page from Apple's book of tricks, the Mi 4i comes in snazzy colors, like the iPhone 5C. There will be five versions to choose from: white, black, blue, orange and pink, and there will also be covers for more color options that you can snap onto the phone to protect it.
Keeping in line with the move towards larger screens, the Mi 4i comes packing a 5-inch full-HD display -- that's 1,920x1,080-pixels, giving a pixel per inch density of 441ppi. This puts it above the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which Xiaomi was keen to point out at the launch here. Xiaomi also talked up its Sunlight Display feature, which uses local tone mapping, helping it prevent onscreen images from looking washed out in India's scorching sunshine.
The only thing that Xiaomi seems to have left out of the phone's design is a microSD card slot for expanding storage, but it does have space for a dual-SIM 4G slot located on the right side of the phone.
Features and hardware
While Xiaomi claims this is a flagship phone for India, the specs are decidedly mid-range. Before you start raising your pitchforks, hear me out. Instead of the more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 range of processors found on the higher-end flagship devices, the Mi 4i uses a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor. To be fair, it's the second generation version, and is slightly faster at 1.7GHz for the main four cores, and 1.1GHz for the lower-powered cores.
It packs 2GB of RAM, which is fine, but it only has 16GB of storage with no expansion. That's not a good sign, especially if you love watching videos on your phone. There are no 32GB or 64GB variants planned, which coupled with the lack of expansion is a bit of a downer. I think Xiaomi could easily sell a 64GB version with a slight premium for those who need more space.
Other specs include a 13-megapixel rear f/2.0 camera, and a 5-megapixel front shooter. Xiaomi claims to have improved its HDR feature, and its "beautify" feature (found on its current phones) will also be present on the Mi 4i. This feature basically makes your selfies look better, especially if you have wrinkles, which it smoothes out. Connectivity-wise, it will come with dual-SIM 4G LTE capabilities, and based on previous experiences with Xiaomi devices, it should work on some carriers in the UK or Australia, but not in the US. Bluetooth 4.1, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and GPS complete the package.
One of the biggest things to note about the phone is that it comes powered by Android Lollipop 5.0, with the company's custom MIUI skin on top. It's still version 6, similar to the one found on the Mi Note. The company showed off a clever virtual voice menu system for India too. This lets you skip quickly through voice menus ("Press 1 for...") by simply selecting the option on the phone's screen, which will then correctly input the sequence. Handy in a country where not all information is available online.
For topping up its 3,120mAh battery, the Mi 4i has a quick-charge feature that will deliver up to 40 percent charge in 1 hour and a full charge in 3 hours. Xiaomi also claims it's the biggest battery found on phones with similarly sized displays, and will allow for a day and a half of usage.
Outlook
Between its low price and healthy feature list, Xiaomi should have another hit on its hands. In the past, the company has done well in identifying the right segment and price point that will resonate with its fan base. With such a low price, it's likely not making a great profit from this phone, but that's not the Mi 4i's goal.
Rather, it's a great strategy for grabbing even more market share, and India is the right country for Xiaomi to go in with all guns blazing. The Chinese smartphone maker came from virtually nowhere in India to becoming one of the top five with a 4 percent market share in less than a year. In a highly competitive market, with homegrown brands such as Micromax hot on the heels of Korean giant Samsung, that's quite a feat.
