After a week of mystery and suspense, Xiaomi has finally launched their first Android One phone in collaboration with Google in India. The phone will be called Xiaomi Mi A1, and it sports a dual camera set-up on the back. It is the first Xiaomi smartphone in the country with dual cameras.
Xiaomi Mi A1 will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box and will run stock pure Android UI on board. This Xiaomi phone will ditch the usual MIUI interface for Mi A1, and run stock Android. Xiaomi has been using MIUI on their handsets for several years and the Mi A1 is the first Xiaomi phone to forego the MIUI interface.
Under the Android One Initiative, the phones run Stock Android. This helps for quick OS updates, bug fixes and has a clean interface. Recently, Lenovo ditched their Vibe UI for stock Android.
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Xiaomi Mi A1 – Specifications And Features
Xiaomi Mi A1 is the first Xiaomi phone in India to sport a dual camera setup.
Design and Build
The Xiaomi Mi A1 will feature a full metal body with rounded chamfered edges. The device is 7.3mm thin, and has an overall sleek design. It has a fingerprint scanner at the back.
Display
Xiaomi Mi A1 will sport a 5.5 inch full HD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It has a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass protection on top.
Hardware
Under the hood it will carry the dependable octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and Adreno 506 GPU.
Software
Xiaomi Mi A1 will run stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box.
Internal Storage
Xiaomi Mi A1 will feature 64GB on-board storage, which can further be expanded using an external memory card.
Camera
The device will sport a dual rear camera setup. It will come with a 12MP wide angle lens and a 12MP telephoto lens which will enable improved Bokeh effect in portraits. The telephoto lens enables 2x optical zoom which is further augmented by 10x digital zoom. It’s other features include Beautify 3.0, Portrait Mode, HDR and more. Up front, Xiaomi Mi A1 comes with a 5MP selfie shooter.
Connectivity And Sim Support
Xiaomi Mi A1 will support 4G with VoLTE, dual-band Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Display, has a hybrid SIM card slot with 3.5mm headphone jack.
Music Output And Variants
Xiaomi Mi A1 has a special headphone amplifier which will support headphones with impedance up to 600 Ohm. It will be available in Black, Gold and Rose Gold colour variants.
Battery
The device packs in a 3080mAh battery, which can power the phone for an entire day’s usage.
Price
Xiaomi Mi A1 has been priced at Rs. 14,999 an will be available on Flipkart and Mi.com in India.
Xiaomi Mi A1 – Detailed Specifications
| Display | 5.5 inch Full HD display (1080 x 1920 pixels) with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass protection |
| Hardware | 64 bit octa core Snapdragon 625 processor clocked at 2 GHz. |
| Software | Android 7.1.1 Nougat with stock Android UI |
| Memory and Storage | 4GB of RAM with 64GB of on-board storage. Storage can further be expanded upto 128GB with an external memory card |
| Rear Camera | 12 megapixel wide angle lens + 12 megapixel telephoto lens |
| Front Camera | 5 megapixel |
| Connectivity and Sim Support | Dual SIMs (Hybrid SIM slot), 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and GPS |
| Battery | 3080 mAh |
| Variants | Matte Black, Gold and Rose Gold |
| Fingerprint Sensor | Located at the back |
| Price | Rs. 14,999/- |
Availability
Xiaomi Mi A1 will be available exclusively on Flipkart, Mi.com, and Mi Home stores from 12pm IST on September 12. It will also be available offline through retail chains (including Sangeetha, Poorvika, Big C, LOT, UniverCell, E-Zone, Croma, and Vijay Sales) as well as the Mi Preferred Partner stores. You can get upto 300GB of additional 4G data from Airtel as a launch offer.
Pros and Cons of Xiaomi Mi A1
Though it is too early to judge the the Mi A1, we can classify the good and not-so-good points of this phone based on the spec sheet. This phone comes close to being the ideal phone in this price range. Of course, we will reserve our final, detailed verdict for after the full review.
| Pros | Cons |
| 1. Camera | 1. Relatively Smaller Battery |
| 2. Display | 2. ‘Only’ 5.0MP Front Camera |
| 3. Processor | |
| 4. Build | |
| 5. Stock Android | |
| 6. Storage |
Alternatives
Based solely on the price range, the Mi A1 will face off against some stellar offerings from established players like Moto G5S Plus, Coolpad Cool Play 6 and Nokia 6.
Verdict
The Xiaomi Mi A1 offers stock Android experience in a good hardware configuration. At least on paper, it seems like good value for the buyer’s money by offering some really good specs at this price point.
