Xiaomi Mi 4c Review

Xiaomi has established quite a bit reputation in the international market on being the company that produces top notch hardware in not so expensive devices. Although you cannot buy it directly from Xiaomi but there are many websites that sell this handset with some extra charges. Is the new Xiaomi Mi 4c worth the hassle and the money? Find out in our full hands-on review.

DESCRIPTION

The description of Xiaomi Mi 4c includes:

• Qualcomm MSM8992 Snapdragon 808 Chipset system
• Quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53 & dual-core 1.82 GHz Cortex-A57 processor
• Android OS, v5.1.1 (Lollipop) operating system
• Adreno 418 GPU
• 3GB RAM, 32GB storage and no expansion slot for external memory
• 1mm length; 69.6mm width and 7.8mm thickness
• A screen of 0 inch and 1080 x 1920 pixels display resolution
• It weighs 132g
• 13 MP rear camera
• 5 MP front camera
• Price of $240

Build

• The design of the handset is very sophisticated and stylish.
• The physical material of the device is glass on the front and plastic on the back.
• The backplate has a matte finishing.
• After a bit use you will definitely notice a few fingerprints on the device.
• The device feels sturdy in hand, which means no creaks were noticed.
• It is very comfortable to hold and use.
• The weight of the device is 132g,
• The screen to body ratio of Mi 4c is 71.7%.
• The handset measures 7.8mm in thickness.
• There are three touch buttons beneath the screen for the usual Home, Back and Menu functions.
• There is a notification light above the screen which lights up on different notifications.
• On the right side of notification light there is a selfie camera.
• Power and volume rocker button are on the right edge.
• A 3.5mm headphone jack sits on the top edge.
• On the bottom edge you will find a Type C USB port.
• The speaker placement is on the bottom side on the back.
• The handset is available in colours of White, grey, pink, yellow, blue.

 

Display

The good stuff:

• Mi 4c has a 5.0 inch screen with 1080 x 1920 pixels of display resolution.
• The pixel density of the device is 441ppi.
• The screen has a ‘reading mode’ which can be selected from the settings.
• Maximum brightness is at 456nits and the minimum brightness is at 1nits, both of them are pretty good.
• The colours are a bit faulty but other than that the display is amazing.
• Text is very clear.
• The handset is perfect for activities like browsing, eBook reading and other media related activities.

 

The not so good stuff:

• The colour temperature of the screen is 7844 Kelvin which is very far from the reference temperature of 6500 Kelvin.
• The colours of the screen a bit on the bluish side.

Performance

The good stuff:

• The handset has Qualcomm MSM8992 Snapdragon 808 chipset system.
• Quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53 & dual-core 1.82 GHz Cortex-A57 is the processor.
• The handset comes in two version of RAM; one has 2 GB while the other has 3 GB.
• The installed graphic unit is Adreno 418.
• The processing of the handset is very smooth, no sluggishness was noticed.

The not so good stuff:

• Downloading and installation of apps takes too long, this is really annoying when we have to install heavy games and apps.

Memory & Battery

The good stuff:

• Xiaomi Mi 4c comes in two versions of storage; 16 GB and 32 GB.
• On the 16 GB version, 12 GB is available to the user while on the 32 GB version 28 GB is available to the user.
• The device has 3080mAh no removable battery.
• In real life the battery surprisingly gets you through two days of medium use.
• Heavy users can easily expect a whole day.

The not so good stuff:

• The handset has no slot for external storage so you are only stuck with the built in storage.
• The total screen on time for the handset is 6 hours and 16 minutes. This is just passable.

Camera

The good stuff:

• The handset has a 13 megapixel camera at the back.
• The back camera has f/2.0 aperture.
• The front cam is of 5 megapixels.
• The handset has dual LED flash.
• The camera app does not have many modes; mainly there is the HDR mode, Panorama mode, HHT mode and the gradient mode.
• Image quality of the device is stunning.
• The images are very detailed.
• Colours of the images are close to natural.
• HDR mode works nicely to give consistent photos but 1 out of 10 shots turn out to be a bit fake looking.
• Optical image stabilization is not present so sometimes the images are somewhat blurry after sun down.
• Selfie cam has a wide angle, which also gives detailed and natural looking photos.
• Videos can be recorded at 1080x1920p.
• The videos are also very detailed but if your hand is not stable they can become blurry.
• The camera app comes with a few shooting modes.

The not so good stuff:

• The feature of optical image stabilization is not present but you can hardly blame the handset considering the price.
• The camera app has a lot of swipe gestures like sweep left for modes, sweep right for filters and sweep up to change to front camera, this result in unwanted actions when we try to set the exposure.

Features

The good stuff:

• The handset runs Android v5.1 (Lollipop) operating system.
• The handset runs MIUII 6` but we updated it to MIUI 7.
• MIUI 7 is a very impressive interface, some of the apps have many problems but there is nothing that cannot be fixed.
• The design of the interface is very nice; attention has been paid to each and every detail.
• No icon seems out of place or cartoony.
• The earpiece of Xiaomi Mi 4c is very good; the call quality is loud and clear.
• Mi 4c has its own browser, it works smoothly. Scrolling, zooming and loading are jerk free. Even some of the mobile unfriendly sites loaded smoothly.
• The features of Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi, aGPS and Glonass are present.
• 3G works perfectly.

The not so good stuff:

• The phone has many pre-installed apps which are useless to the point of being annoying but this problem was solved by installing MIUI 7.
• The microphone is a little weak in comparison.
• LTE does not work in European countries as the bands are not compatible.

In the box you will find:

• Xiaomi Mi 4c
• Wall charger
• USB type C port
• Start guide
• Safety and warranty information

Verdict

Xiaomi has definitely earned the respect it is getting, very slim and beautiful design, large and sharp display, fast processor, impressive battery life all for only $240. The handset is worth the price, obviously there are a few faults but you cannot really blame the price. Most of the problems can be solved so this handset is definitely worth the consideration.

Have a question or want to share your experience?
You can do so in the comment section box below

AK

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