Xiaomi launched its latest smartphone, the Xiaomi Mi 4i last year in India. The Mi 4i was a global launch in India and keynote presenter and Xiaomi VP of global, Hugo Barra claimed that the ‘i’ denomination meant it was inspired and made for India. It took almost 1 year to reach the Mobile in Kuwait market, but the wait was worth.
Making a statement, Xiaomi launched its Mi 4i in Kuwait by XCite by Alghanim. The phone boasts hardware specifications seen in premium mid-range phones such as Samsung Galaxy A7 and HTC Desire 826, at a more than 50% lower price.
Xiaomi is known for making affordable high-end devices and great low-end phones , but its latest Mi 4i sits somewhere in the middle.
With the white polycarbonate back, Xiaomi's Mi 4i is much more compact device measuring just 138.1x69.6x7.8mm, just marginally wider and thicker than the Apple iPhone 6. Keep in mind that this one houses a 5-inch display while the iPhone 6 sports a 4.7- incher. The back cover is non removable and this cover wraps the phone from the rear side giving smooth rounded corners and edges. The volume rocker and the power/standby button on right hand side are made of steel and have a nice feedback. 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. The thing that strikes you when you hold the phone is the fact that it’s light (130gm) and slim (7.8mm). Unarguably the best part about the phone is how it's perfect for one hand use and feels nice to hold.
Xiaomi claims it has an anti-grease coating that will even let you erase ink from permanent markers.
The Mi 4i sports a 5-inch full-HD IPS display made by Sharp or JDI. Kudos to the company for including a bright and vibrant, full-HD panel at this price point. Colours are vibrant and text appears sharp. We found the display to be really sharp packing in 441 pixels per inch. 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. The display decrease the amount of glare on the screen, making it very usable outdoors, which makes a lot of sense. This is quite impressive.
The Xiaomi Mi 4i houses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC (second generation) which has an octa core processor. 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
Xiaomi Mi 4i has the 13MP rear camera. Images captured by the camera in day light turned out to great with good level of detail, accurate colour reproduction, little or no noise and good contrast. The HDR mode comes in two variants – Normal mode clicks a series of three shots (underexposed, normal exposure, overexposed) whereas the Live HDR mode shows you the image it would ultimately appear.
The phone supports most popular audio and video file formats and with USB OTG support you can even play the ones stored on an external pen drive.
The Mi 4i houses a 3120mAh battery which is quite a large capacity battery on a 5-inch device. It supports quick charge technology. The battery easily lasted over 12-14 hours of moderate usage.
Xiaomi as a brand has acquired a lot of goodwill among Indians since its launch in India. With the Mi 4i, Xiaomi is offering you a phone that has premium specs, a great display, good camera, good battery life at an affordable price point. At 79.900 KD, the Mi 4i is a worthy rival to other much expensive phones such as Samsung Galaxy A7 and HTC Desire 826.
THE BOTTOM LINE Xiaomi's polycarbonate handset sports a large bright screen, a decent 13-megapixel camera and a big replaceable battery packed into its slim frame. The Xiaomi Mi 4i packs in a surprising level of polish and solid performance for a low-cost global handset. It feels surprisingly sleek and comfortable