More and more low-priced phones have been coming out featuring performance and camera quality unheard of even a few years ago. Last year’s Xiaomi Mi A1 was good example of this. This year, its Android One successor, the Mi A2, goes even further. You can buy it here in philippines through Lazada via Cash On Delivery.
Display and Design
Xiaomi Mi A2 packs a 5.99-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD Display. It’s a half-inch bigger than its predecessor, with a new 18:9 aspect ratio, but the overall footprint of the Mi A2 is pretty much identical to the Mi A1. It has a 1,080 x 2,160 resolution with a pixel density of 403 ppi — not bad given its size — ensuring crisp detail.
Despite being an LCD, the panel offers decent contrast and bright, but not over-saturated colors. If you like Samsung displays you might find it a little undercooked. If you prefer a more neutral palette you’ll likely not mind. The Mi A2 has pretty decent viewing angles and good touch response, but its brightness leaves a little to be desired. The Mi A2 is still legible outdoors in anything but the most intense midday sun, but you’ll likely need to bump up your brightness. In fact, you’ll probably find yourself always keeping the Mi A2 screen at a higher brightness percentage than usual.
The build quality of the Xiaomi Mi A2 is excellent, building on the classic styling of the Mi A1. The discrete antenna bands, brushed aluminum, and smooth lines of my black unit give it a pebble-like look. Just don’t go dropping it in any rivers though — there’s no IP rating. The all-aluminum back is grippier than most glass-backed phones. It handles general wear and tear better too. The design is about as unassuming as most other phones these days, with fairly small bezels surrounding the display and a familiar iPhone X-like layout on the back for the vertically stacked dual cameras. The rear-mounted fingerprint scanner is good and reliable, though not as fast as higher-end sensors. In many ways the hardware just gets out of the way here, providing a clean foundation for the software. The Mi A2’s design won’t necessarily inspire you, but it’s equally unlikely to make you cringe.
Software and Performance
The Xiaomi Mi A2 runs stock Android 8.1 Oreo with the August security patch. It’s a nearly-unadulterated version of Android with only a few additions. The Camera and Feedback apps can’t be uninstalled, but Mi Community, Mi Drop (local file sharing app), Mi Remote (for the IR blaster), and File Manager (a more powerful file manager), can all be removed if you don’t want them.
If you’re familiar with stock Android, you’ll find yourself immediately at home here. Launcher 3 is your launcher, the Quick Settings and notifications drop-down are untouched, and neither are the Settings. Even System UI Tuner is there. Google’s other apps are pre-installed as well: Calculator, Calendar, Chrome, Clock, Contacts, Drive, Duo, Gmail, Google, Maps, Messages, Phone, Photos, Play Movies, Play Music, Play Store, and YouTube.
The Mi A2 includes the new Snapdragon 660 mobile platform (up from the 625 in most other comparable Xiaomi phones). The 14nm 660 comprises four high-performance Kryo 260 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and four low-energy Kryo 260 cores at 1.8GHz. The GPU is the Adreno 512. This processing bump is noticeable throughout the Mi A2.
There are a few RAM and memory configurations: 4GB of RAM with 32GB or 64GB of storage, and 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage. I used the 4GB/64GB version for this Xiaomi Mi A2 review. At the time of this review, the only version available in India is the 4GB/64GB version, with the 6GB/128GB version coming later. There is no microSD expansion on the Mi A2, which makes the 32GB version hard to recommend.
Camera
The Mi A2 has a primary 12MP, f/1.75 lens and a secondary 20MP, f/1.75 lens. Unlike the Mi A1, there’s no longer a 2x optical zoom lens. Now the secondary lens is dedicated for low light shooting, though it also helps for portrait mode bokeh effects. The Mi A2 uses pixel binning to combine light data from four adjacent pixels on the 20MP sensor into two-micron Super Pixels, resulting in a 5MP image that’s upscaled back to 20MP resolution.
The front-facing camera uses the same 20MP sensor at f/2.0 aperture. It also offers front-facing HDR, a 4,500K selfie light and portrait mode. In the camera’s app portrait mode, the Mi A2 will automatically choose the best camera for the conditions. The rest of the time you’ll have to manually switch to the 20MP sensor by swiping over to Manual mode and tapping the button on the side. Despite what you might have read elsewhere, the Mi A2 only switches automatically in portrait mode, which is not all that great.
The Mi A2 offers auto HDR on both the rear and front-facing cameras. There are AI beautification modes if you’re into that kinda thing, a front-facing flash for low-light selfies, a good panorama mode, filters, and a straighten option to correct your wonky horizons. For video, there’s support for 4K at 30fps, FHD at 60 and 30fs, and HD at 30fps. Video stabilization only works well at FHD and it’s best during daylight hours. While the stabilization is still there at night time, it’s much easier to spot, and thus less effective, thanks to the shuddering lights in the footage. There are also slow-motion and time-lapse videos.
Battery
The Xiaomi Mi A2 has a svelte 3,000mAh battery in order to fit into that ultra-slim chassis. While battery life wasn’t bad, the thought of the larger battery Xiaomi could’ve put in a slightly thicker device persisted. Had Xiaomi opted for a 3,500mAh battery that concern would have been quashed and we’d still have a super-thin phone. Of course, this would have stepped on the toes of the Mi A2 Lite’s 4,000mAh cell (and non-existent camera bump).
The combination of stock Android with no bloatware and the economical Snapdragon 660 means you’ll still get a decent day’s usage out of the Mi A2. At my standard screen brightness (around 50 percent) I consistently managed over five hours of screen-on time. Battery life was perfectly acceptable, but not groundbreaking. The LCD display and more power-hungry chipset are the most likely culprits here.
The global Mi A2 unit (which I have) supports 5V/2A charging via Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0. The version available in India will support Quick Charge 4.0, although you won’t get a QC4 charger in the box; it’ll be 10W no matter where you are.
There’s only the standard battery-saving mode in Android Oreo, but Android Pie will bring Adaptive Battery and Adaptive Display to help eke out a little more from the Mi A2’s diminutive battery. Fast charging the 3,000mAh battery takes an hour and a half.
Full Specifications:
- Android 8.1 Oreo, Android One
- Dual SIM, Dual standby
- 5.99-inch FHD+ IPS display, 2160 x 1080 pixel resolution, ~403ppi
- 2.2Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 octa-core processor
- 4GB/6GB RAM
- Adreno 512 GPU
- 32GB/64GB/128GB internal storage, non-expandable
- 20-megapixel front camera, 1.0µm, f/2.2, LED flash
- 20-megapixel (1.0µm, f/1.8) + 12-megapixel (1.25µm, f/1.8) dual rear cameras, LED flash
- AI photo modes, HDR
- Fingerprint scanner
- HSPA+, 4G LTE
- WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
- Bluetooth 5.0
- GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- FM Radio
- USB Type-C
- Infrared blaster
- Dimensions: 158.7 x 75.4 x 7.3mm
- Weight: 166g
- Colors: Gold, Rose Gold, Blue, Red, Black
- 3,000mAh non-removable battery, 10W charger
One For All 