The Xiaomi Mi4 is the phone which continues Xiaomi’s legacy of producing affordable Android smartphones with super specifications. It could be argued that Xiaomi kicked off the current China price wars which has seen the likes of Nubia, Meizu, Huawei and OnePlus all launch phones to complete at the 1999 Yuan price point.
For 2014 though something changed at Xiaomi, and rather than just launch a phone with higher specs than ever before, we saw the company give the new phone a modest boost in performance while most of the changes came down to build quality and materials.
Xiaomi Mi4 Review – Design
The Mi4 wasn’t just highly anticipated as it was the next in the line of Xiaomi flagships, but because many fans who weren’t willing to buy the MI3 were waiting to see what the Beijing phone maker had up their sleeves.
You see after the Xiaomi Mi2 and Mi2S, the Xiaomi Mi3 was a huge leap in performance, only to be let down by a very large body and overall ugly design. It was enough to prevent me from buying it and other have voiced their thoughts on this too.
So the Xiaomi Mi4 launched and proved that the Mi company can build a solid feeling phone while keeping specs up and price down.
Big changes we see on the Xiaomi Mi4 design over the Mi3 are much narrower screen bezels which help reduce the width of the phone, and a new stainless steel metal chassis and good quality plastics.
In your hand the Xiaomi Mi4 is a solid piece of kit, and feels a whole lot more of a premium feel than the previous Xiaomi Mi3.
Some have commented that the body of the Xiaomi Mi4, measuring 8.9mm, is too thick and looks ugly, but this isn’t really the case. The thickness of the phone is actually the same as the OnePlus One, and the rear is curved just enough for the rear of the phone to rest nicely in the palm of your hand.
As I have already mentioned the OPO, I may as well point out that the Mi4 is much more comfortablet in the hand than the OnePlus One. A narrower overall width, and tiny bezels, plus the improved materials really have raised the bar for Xiaomi.
Stainless steel is the big change for Xiaomi and they have made sure that everyone knows what chassis this phone is rocking by having sides of the phone showing the bright metal off. The very sides are a dull finish, almost like a machined alloy, while the top edge that meets the screen tapers in and are highly polished.
Although the rear of the phone is removable it isn’t made easy to pull the back off and you will need a small suction cup to grip it and snap it off. The battery is build in and the single SIM is installed via a SIM tray in the left side of the phone.
In the base we have a micro USB in the left and nicely machined speaker grill to the right.
The top has a 3.5mm headphone jack and opposite that we have an IR blaster. This is an interesting move by Xiaomi who have decided that
NFC is no longer worth adding but an IR blaster is more useful. Personally I don’t use either all that much, but do see that an IR remote app is far more useful around the house.
Finally the left side is where we find the power button and volume rocker. This is exactly where I wish every phone maker would place the physical buttons. They are in reach of either your thumb or index finger (depending on which hand you use) and there is no chance of accidentally taking a screenshot while locking the screen (Meizu take note).
As already mentioned the rear of the phone is removable, but only as Xiaomi intend to release optional rear covers for the phone. The wooden options look especially interesting . The rear has the usual Mi logo and we also find a 13 mega-pixel rear camera and single LED rear flash.
The compact size of the Xiaomi Mi4 makes it a very comfortable and easy to use phone, and a perfect choice for anyone wanting a flagship device that doesn’t exceed 5-inches (this is becoming increasingly difficult).
With a build of stainless steel, Gorilla glass on the screen and quality plastic, the Mi4 is a solid phone and you certainly won’t be bending the device by sitting on it or even physically attempting to with your hands. A very solid phone!
Xioami Mi4 Review – Display
Many Mifans were hoping that Xiaomi would build a phone with either a 5.5-inch display or a 2K resolution and were a little taken back when a 5-inch 1920 x 1080 FHD display was announced.
It makes perfect sense really, the small size helps to keep the phone size down, and the high-resolution means a pixel density of 441ppi. Not only does this mean the screen is on par with other flagship phones, offering bright colours, and deep blacks but also helps to prolong battery life too.
The screen is a very bright and colourful piece of kit, something you will certainly notice when running MIUI V6 which pops off the screen.
Photos taken with the rear camera also look wonderful on the panel as do games, movies and all media in general. So yes while this isn’t the 2K 5.5-inch panel we have seen on the
IUNI U3 or what some fans hoped, but it is still a terrific panel.
Xiaomi Mi4 Review – Under the hood
Xiaomi have always shown that they are capable of launching some of the most powerful phones on the market. The Xiaomi Mi3 spent most of last year as the benchmark all other phones would be compared too.
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