Since withdrawing the Xiaomi Mi3 from India, Xiaomi has had no device to sell in the competitive 10-15k price segment, until now. The Xiaomi Mi4i was launched in India yesterday and costs a mere Rs. 12,999. The Xiaomi Mi4i is been currenty marketed as a 'made for India' device, supporting Xiaomi's decision to first lauch the device in India. Having said that, it has huge shoes to fill and a tough competitor in the Asus Zenfone 2. We're just beginning to put the Xiaomi Mi4i through its motions, but since you guys don't seem to be ready to wait, here's a sneak peak at preliminary testing results. You can also read our review of the Xiaomi Mi 4i to get full information and buying advice on the Xiaomi Mi 4i
Performance
We'll start with the area that Xiaomi has made its name out of. The company's smartphones offer high-end performance at a fraction of the price. The Mi4i has a Snapdragon 615 processor, but Xiaomi says this is the second generation version, which is faster. We put it up against two first generation Snapdragon 615 running devices (Yu Yureka and HTC Desire 826), and also a Snapdragon 801-powered OnePlus One to give you an idea of how far or near they are from the next level of SoCs.
Geekbench 3
The Geekbench 3 benchmark is a good test for new generation SoCs. You can see that the Xiaomi Mi4i is just slightly faster than the Yu Yureka and the HTC Desire 826.
3D Mark Ice Storm Extreme
On the graphics performance though, these phones are quite close. The numbers differ by just a little, which means they perform pretty much the same.
AnTuTu Benchmark
AnTuTu results are what you would expect them to be though.
Camera
Another area where Xiaomi has always excelled at is the camera. The company's camera, starting with the Redmi 2 and going up to the Xiaomi Mi4, have all been great. Here are some samples.
Note: Images that are shown here are cropped representations of the original. They should give you an idea of what the real images were.
Colours
The colours are pretty accurate, but we've seen better from Xiaomi. The colours are better than what we've seen the the 4GB variant of the Zenfone 2 though.
Low light
The Mi4i seems to be struggling with low light conditions, but one image isn't enough to tell.
Left: Xiaomi Mi3, Right: Xiaomi Mi4i
Xiaomi Mi3 vs Xiaomi Mi4i
The rear cameras on both these devices stand at 13MP and we loved the Mi3's camera earlier. It seems the Mi4i offers slightly better detailing, while other aspects remain pretty much the same.
Sunlight Display
One interesting aspect of the Mi4i is the Sunight Display feature. Look at the colour of the keyboard on the right, you can see that it has changes when light falls on the light sensor. This happens throughout the display, correcting for errors due to uneven light or bright sunlight.
Xiaomi has added the feature at the hardware level, which means it won't conflict with Lollipop's ambient display and could actually offer better battery life like the company claims.
Display
Speaking of the display, that is one aspect of this smartphone that we absolutely love. The 1080p display is crisp and sharp and it's brighter than usual Xiaomi displays.
Build Xiaomi Mi4i
Overall, the Mi4i is perhaps the best built device in the sub-15k segment. Xiaomi talked a lot about this aspect of the smartphone and while it is light, it's still quite sturdy.
Thinness
The Xiaomi Mi4i is not the slimmest smartphone in the world, but it sure feels like it, because of the seamless unibody design that the company has come up with.
Size
We didn't have an iPhone 6 handy, but you can see that the 5 inch Xiaomi Mi4i is the same size as the 4.7 inch Lumia 730 on the right. In addition, it is considerably smaller than the Xiaomi Mi3.
Wrapping up..
Xiaomi is selling a lot of devices in the market right now, but the Mi4i is the first that is made for India. It seems the company has brought a good one for us. While we'll wait for the review before passing a judgement, it is safe to say that we're impressed.