New Delhi Sep 19 (IANS) When it comes to mid-segment smartphones with loads of impressive features Xiaomi s name pops up first -- and why not? The China-based manufacturer rules the low- and mid-segment smartphone market in the country.
While every other brand is trying to dislodge Xiaomi from the top slot the Chinese conglomerate has launched the Mi A1 that offers a rear dual-camera system that runs Android Nougat 7.1.2 OS to deliver a near-stock Android experience at only Rs 14 999.
This segment is ruled by Motorola s "G" series which has been a favourite owing to its stock Android experience and performance. Nokia 6 is also fighting for a space by offering a secured stock Android OS.
Can Xiaomi again prove to be the leader? Let s find out.
Mi A1 comes with a design that is similar to other Xiaomi devices -- slim beautiful and easy to hold.
The ergonomically placed volume rocker power buttons and fingerprint scanner (at the back) keeps the design simple yet attractive -- somewhat similar to the iPhone 7.
For Xiaomi s followers the Mi device running on Android Nougat 7.1.2 and an "Android Oreo" update before the end of this year is a treat. The device comes with Google Assistant arguably the best voice assistant currently available.
No bloatware with clean and smooth performance by Qualcomm s Snapdragon 625 processor coupled with 4GB RAM does wonders for the phone. For us time with Mi A1 was the best ever.
Motorola s biggest reason in leading this segment was the operating system and camera quality. With Nokia 6 already making it difficult for the Lenovo-owned brand to keep up the high numbers Xiaomi launched this device to make a further dent in the sales of Motorola.
Moto kicked Nokia out of the competition with the launch of G5s to directly compete with Xiaomi s dual-camera system.
Mi A1 has a pair of 12MP sensors where one is a wide-angle lens and the other a telephoto lens.
Both combine to shoot photos with DSLR-like "bokeh" effects. Just like other premium devices there is a "Portrait Mode" meant for shooting photos with blurred background.
As a package the phone clicks beautiful photos in the right lighting conditions. Nothing remarkable in the camera but the output does justice to the dual-camera system.
When we clicked pictures with the "Portrait Mode" it immediately detected the subject and blurred the background with Phase Detection Auto-Focus (PDAF) and face-detection features.
Android in its purest form consumes very less battery. Our tests showed exactly why the company chose to keep the battery at just over 3 000mAh.
In our daily usage that included light gaming connected to multiple social media accounts with some music playback and moderate calling time the device gave us a day-long back-up.
In the under Rs 15 000-segment Mi A1 supports USB Type-C charging port that took a little less than two hours to charge the device.
What doesn t work?
The 5MP front camera is average for clicking photos. An 8MP camera could have been better.
Mi A1 kept the battery at 3 080mAh battery which is less when compared to Redmi Note 4 (4 100mAh) -- given that both devices share similar hardware under the hood.
Conclusion: In our opinion this is one of the best Xiaomi devices in this price segment. Mi A1 will be a recommended device if the options were the Moto G-series or Nokia 6.
(Sourabh Kulesh can be contacted at sourabh.k@ians.in)
--IANS
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