Mi4i Unveilled

Xiaomi,  at its first global launch event, unveiled its Mi 4i smartphone and the Mi band at New Delhi, to a crowd of over 1500 fans and followers(they actually got the Mi band free) in a packed Siri fort Auditorium, in the presence of Xiaomi CEO and founder Lei Jun and president Bin Lin, even as global vice president Hugo Barra took to the stage, when the event being streamed online to the world. 

The Mi4i is the first phone from Xiaomi designed outside China and has been advertised as the phone for the Indian market

and the Indian customers kept in mind..

This phone is a slightly tweaked version of the Mi4, a less expensive sibling, so as to say, with a few minor changes and a significantly reduced price tag of 12999Rs.

The smartphone features an impressive 5-inch, 1080p full HD display with a pixel density of 441ppi (Pixels Per Inch). The screen is laminated OGS (one glass solution) which reduces the thickness of the display. The smartphone ships android 5.0 lollipop out of the box with the all-new MiUI 6. The MiUI 6 has quite a few impressive features, but the one creating the waves is the visual IVR allowing users to see options in automated calls and respond, thus saving time.

The Mi4i runs on 2nd Gen Qualcomm snapdragon 615 octa core 64 bit processor (which previous products in the same range, lacked) based on A53 architecture with 4 power saving cores clocked at 1.1 Ghz and 4 performance cores clocked at 1.7 Ghz and comes up with Adreno 405 and 2gb of DDR3 ram and 16GB on-board storage but sadly lacks an SD card slot. The performances cores and the Adreno 405 gpu have enough power for some of the powerful 3D games in the market and the 2GB Ram certainly is good enough to run the device smoothly. The power saving cores keeps battery usage significantly low when under minor usage.

The Xiaomi Mi4i comes with a 3120 Mah battery with a quick charge technology, which enables the user to charge the phone upto 40% in an hour, and fully in 3. The battery is said to have been adjusted to make the phone slimmer, while giving enough juice for around 36 hours.

The phone possesses an impressive 13mp camera same as the Mi note phablet.

Xiaomi has added a new feature called 'sunlight display' which, as demonstrated, increases the visibility of images during harsh sunlight. Also the HDR feature has been improved for Gamma correction contrast tuning colour correction and low light ‘noise’ reduction. The front camera is a decent 5mp, good enough for all the ‘selfies’.

Also a new feature called the ‘beautify’ that, as the name suggests, enhances the photo. It enables users to reduce aging, wrinkles etc. and alter their selfies

 The Xiaomi mi4i has a polycarbonate unibod with an anti-fingerprint and grease matte finish at the back. The phone will be available in 5 colours.

The phone has a dual sim (second sim as standby), with 4G supported on both sim card slots. It comes with WiFi 802.11 ac with M-MIMO support(supporting both 2.4ghz and 5ghz brands) WiFi display,WiFi direct Bluetooth 4.1 and Bluetooth HID.

The verdict: At the price of 12999rs, the Mi4i really does pack a punch, which will go a great way in aiding MI’s inroads into the Indian market. The phone is bound to make a mark in the Indian mid-range smartphone market, and rivals such as Micromax and Karbon are likely to take a hit.

But despite the lucrative package, actually buying this phone is the tough part, considering that the flash sale module is still in use. The phone will also be available on Amazon, snapdeal and other channels too, albeit later.

After Micromax announced its arrival with a bang, this is Xiaomi's next move to captivate and capture the Indian market and get a powerful grip on the mid-range smartphone market. Will this move aid their cause, or are the consumers slowly getting disenchanted with the flash-sale module that is accompanied by the hype?

Only time can tell. (or even we can, in time)