Testing Xiaomi Mi4 – Review of a Chinese smartphone from the top shelf. ✔ xiaomi mi4c firmware. Multimedia capabilities. Sound. Photo and video

Almost a year and a half has passed since the release of Mi4, and Xiaomi is still in no hurry to deliver a new flagship. Instead, after just 5 months, the company decided to update its mid-segment device Mi4i. Despite the absence external changes, the smartphone has been radically redesigned inside: a more powerful processor has been installed, an improved camera, a newfangled USB Type-C with support fast charging and IR port. I have been actively using the smartphone for more than two weeks and now I am sharing my impressions in my usual detailed form.

The text may and most likely does contain grammatical, spelling, punctuation and other types of errors, including semantic ones. I encourage readers to point out these errors using the ORPHUS system. To do this, just select the required section of text and press the key combination CTRL+Enter.

Specifications

Screen:	IPS, 5 inches, 1920×1080, oleophobic coating
CPU:	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, 4 Cortex-A53 cores at 1.4 GHz and 2 Cortex-A57 cores at 1.82 GHz
Graphic arts:	Adreno 418
operating system:	MIUI v7 on Android based 5.1.1 Lollipop
RAM:	2/3 GB (LPDDR3)
User Memory:	16/32 GB (no slot for micro-SD memory cards)
Camera:	13 MP with f/2.0 aperture, autofocus, dual-tone LED flash, ability to record 120fps slow-mo video; front camera 5 MP (f/2.0), viewing angle 85 degrees, FullHD video recording
Network types:	GSM/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900MHz), CDMA 1X/CDMA2000: BC0/BC1, WCDMA (850/900/1900/2100MHz), FDD-LTE (Band 1/3/7), TDD-LTE (Band 38/39/40/41), two slots for micro-SIM cards (one radio module)
Wireless technologies:	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac (dual band, 2.4 and 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 HID, GPS (AGPS)/GLONASS/BeiDou
Additionally:	Fast charging (Quick Charge 2.0), USB-OTG, USB Type-C, IR port, 5 colors (white, gray, yellow, blue, pink)
Battery:	3080 mAh, non-removable
Dimensions:	138.1 x 69.6 x 7.8 mm
Weight:	128 grams
Cost (official):	$203 for the younger and $235 for the older model
Price (real):	and dollars, respectively

Flash before use

My smartphone arrived from a Chinese online store with a pre-installed version of MIUI 7, unknown to anyone. There is a lot of “criminal software”, partial Russification and lack of normal search in the system. The interface is sluggish on the latest Snapdragon 808 processor.

And although I often try to look at the device from the perspective of an ordinary consumer who has decided to order a smartphone from China for the first time, this time I will follow the path of at least some advanced buyer. I'll tell you how not to spoil your impressions of, looking ahead, one of best smartphones in terms of price/performance/size ratio.

The easiest option to get stable firmware on your phone is to download it from the MIUI global website and install it using standard means through the “Updater” program (after downloading the software via cable to your smartphone). The Chinese software will “go away”, and the system will acquire all the necessary functions, but only English and Chinese will be available as the system language. In principle, this would suit me; I have repeatedly intentionally set English as the main system language. To improve mastery of the latter, of course.

For Russified firmware you will have to contact third party developers, which over the entire existence of MIUI have already managed to grow into entire teams. One of them is miui.su with an informative website and good instructions by flashing. The latest version of software for Mi4c can always be found at this link. It is not possible to install Russified firmware through regular update system, so you will have to replace the recovery and install the software from it.

ATTENTION! Neither the firmware developers nor I personally are responsible for all actions with your phone! You perform all operations at your own peril and risk!

And now point by point:

Download the firmware and custom recovery (Google Drive).
We enable developer mode (quickly tap on the line with the MIUI version in the settings) and enable debugging via USB along the path: “Settings” -> “Other settings” -> “For developers”.
We dump the previously downloaded archive with the firmware into the “rom” folder, for example, or simply into the root partition of the smartphone’s memory.
Unpack the archive with the pre-downloaded recovery. I also had to resort to booting into Windows because... Installing the necessary software from this system is greatly simplified.
Turn off the smartphone, and the next time you turn it on, use the “volume down” + “power” key combination to activate Fastboot mode. Connect to PC.
My Windows 10 computer installed all the necessary drivers on its own. In the previously unpacked folder, run the “recovery.bat” file with administrator rights. Next, following the instructions, install the recovery for the development version of MIUI (in my case, press “2” in the terminal window). Once the installation is complete, pressing any key on the computer will reboot the smartphone into recovery.
It is advisable to make a backup copy of your current software here. In the “Wipe” section we do “Factory reset”.
In the “Install” section, select the firmware previously downloaded to the smartphone.
In the window that appears after installing the software, do “Wipe Cache/Dalvik cache”.
Let's reboot. The smartphone is ready to use.

A feature of the developer version of the firmware is open Root access. You can grant superuser rights to a specific application through the “Security” program (section “Permissions”). How to get root on stable firmware read on w3bsit3-dns.com.

The rather large width of the side frames (4 mm) is hidden due to the transition from glass to back cover. All functional elements on the front panel are grouped as compactly as possible at the top of the smartphone. Speaker loud and does not cause any complaints. Xiaomi also applies light-diffusing filters to the indicator LEDs in its smartphones, so that they do not dazzle the eyes at night.

Mi4c has a practical plastic body, and its design is hard to call “boring”. Do not forget that a smartphone is primarily a tool for achieving certain goals. And this tool is convenient. A removable back cover would most likely disrupt the overall solidity of the smartphone, since quite often such devices have design gaps. Personally, I don't feel the need to removable battery, although I’m sure many users will disagree with me.

There is a small bump on the back cover that prevents the multimedia speaker from being blocked when you place the smartphone on a flat surface. The location of the speaker itself is convenient in games, where the holes located at the ends are often closed by hand. Volume is enough high level, while the speaker does not break down into a “mess” at maximum values.

Plastic keys are located on the right side and are endowed with a distinct tactile response. True, it’s quite easy to confuse them blindly, but over time you still remember the location. On the left side there is a tray for two micro-SIM cards.

Smartphones with USB Type-C are no longer a novelty for me, and indeed for the smartphone market in general. The connector is convenient, even seemingly more reliable than micro-USB, and after the release of new Nexus smartphones its distribution is gaining ever more rapid momentum. In the meantime, I recommend thoroughly stocking up on adapters from micro-USB to Type-C and putting them in your clothing pockets, backpacks and other everyday things you use. They are quite cheap (1-2 dollars).

All that remains are the audio output and infrared port, located on the top edge. I'll tell you more about the latter later.

I consider the main advantage of Mi4c to be the ability to more or less conveniently use the smartphone with one hand. Big phones, of course, are more suitable for gaming or consuming multimedia content, but in my humble opinion, a smartphone should remain a device that I can use with one hand and on the go. Without fear of dropping it when taking a photo with the front camera, for example. And Xiaomi Mi4c is one of them.

MIUI 7

At the beginning of the year, I reviewed Xiaomi Redmi 2, which, unfortunately, disappointed me in many respects, in particular in terms of performance, but at the same time the system itself left a pleasant impression. The network is already full of reviews of the seventh version of Xiaomi software, so I will only focus on the key points for myself.

Often in my smartphones the role of the standard launcher is taken by Google Start, With convenient search according to the system and Google Now, which shows the latest news, weather, football scores and much more. It’s difficult to integrate it into MIUI without dancing with a tambourine, but, in principle, it’s not needed here. The system is equipped with no less convenient global search(searches by applications, contacts and on the Internet), which is called by swiping up from the bottom on the desktop. Here you can open the notification panel by simply swiping down, without having to reach all the way to the curtain. The default for typing is Google Keyboard. Usually I have to install it manually.

Application icons in the multitasking window are not very clear, but with a reverse pinch gesture on the icons you can turn them into thumbnails of running applications. Thumbnails, similar to icons, can be recorded in memory by pulling the desired one down.

Sorting applications is conveniently implemented. Using the “pinch” gesture, we go to setting up the desktop, then select “Sorting” and transfer the applications that we want to move to another location to the temporary zone. We return to the desired desktop and discard the pre-selected applications.

A special feature of Mi4C is a function called “Edge Control” in the localized firmware. The side edges of the smartphone are sensitive to touch. You can set the “Back” action by double tapping on the edge. Or focus on the first press and take a photo on the second in the camera application. None of the functions caught on with me, because both in the camera and in using the interface it is more convenient to use standard methods.

To use the built-in infrared port, the separate application"Mi Remote". The maximum where I was able to use it was in one good cafeteria, the owners of which for some reason scare away visitors with a music channel with some kind of pop music. It's convenient and fun at the same time to watch the waiters make several attempts to restore the flow of terrible music, and then finally calm down.

MIUI is full of various features to simplify the use of a smartphone and this is incredibly pleasing. For example, to turn on the flashlight, just activate the smartphone display and hold down the Home touch key for a few seconds; the camera can also be launched by simply swiping to the left from the lock screen without entering a password. There is a silent shooting function, when holding the volume down key activates the camera, and all subsequent presses will lead to taking pictures. I like this system, along with Cyanogen OS and Flyme. In the latter, I prefer working with the interface (the interaction of the touch-physical key with the system), while in Cyanogen, the actual bare Android interface itself.

Gaming and synthetic performance, display

My main performance test in the form of the game WoT: Blitz the smartphone passes with great difficulty, given the use of one of top processors 2015. It is impossible to play at high settings; the frame drop is noticeable and reaches 12-14 fps in active scenes. Medium settings are already quite comfortable for the game: stable 40-45 frames with drops of up to 25. But in my opinion it’s better to play at the expense of graphics, but with stable 50-60 frames per second. On low settings fps does not drop below 30-35 units.

Such indicators rather indicate poor optimization of the game for this platform, because the graphics component of the Snapdragon 808 in many tests is superior to it in Intel Atom Z3580. Moreover, the latter provides stable 40-50 frames per second at maximum graphics settings in tanks. Screenshots of the AnTuTu Benchmark test:

I installed NFS: Most Wanted, which I had previously purchased from the Play Market, but there were no problems with it. Not a single slowdown, much less freezing. The situation was similar with the fresh NFS: No Limits, even after 30-40 minutes of gaming activity.

For prolonged periods high load The smartphone body heats up to 45 degrees. Unfortunately, Mi4c has a fairly low throttling activation threshold and as soon as the smartphone warms up its performance immediately drops. The issue is most likely in the firmware, so we can only wait for a possible fix for this shortcoming from Xiaomi.

In my case, the smartphone is equipped with 2 gigabytes of RAM. Today this is the minimum for comfortable work with Android version 5.0 and higher. After booting the system to custom app no more than 800 megabytes remain, which disappear when running resource-intensive applications. It won't work here like in ASUS ZenFone 2 with its 4 GB of RAM, store a dozen tabs in the browser without the need to re-download them. By overpaying once again for the amount of RAM (in the 3 GB version ~1.9 is available to the user), you can save on traffic, which will be needed to reload Internet pages.

The situation is similar with user memory. 16 GB (actually 12.14) is, in principle, enough for me, but the smartphone has to be moderated from time to time for unused applications, and photos have to be sent to the “cloud”. Therefore, I think it’s better to overpay and take the older modification Mi4c with 3/32 GB. Especially considering that you are not renting the device for a couple of months.

Displays in modern smartphones raise fewer and fewer questions every day. Even the most budget devices already have IPS matrices with good viewing angles, so I did not include this characteristic in a separate chapter. Mi4c has a 5-inch screen with FullHD resolution. Viewing angles, naturally, are close to maximum.

Much more important parameters today are image contrast and brightness adjustment range. Often, manufacturers (especially Chinese) neglect these parameters, which is why their smartphones are at least unpleasant to use in the dark or simply impossible under the bright sun. Xiaomi has no problems with this; the brightness adjustment range from 1.5 to 378 cd/m2 (information from itc.ua) covers all my requirements. The smartphone does not “hit” your eyes in the early morning, when it is still dark outside, and remains readable under the sun. In the settings you can enable the “Reading” mode, which will lower the color temperature of the display to “warm”. There you can also set the intensity of this parameter.

The oleophobic coating isn't perfect, but it makes it easy to remove fingerprints from the display with most handy fabrics. But to protect the screen during long-term use, I still recommend getting film or glass, since after several weeks I discovered micro-scratches, albeit invisible in everyday use.

Autonomy and wireless networks

In such a compact Xiaomi smartphone placed a battery capacity of 3080 mAh. With an hour of playing WoT: Blitz or other demanding games, the smartphone shows 2.5-3 hours of screen time, while with active exploitation without games you can count on 4 hours. 2 SIM cards were used, one of which constantly functioned in 3G networks. All wireless modules are activated, including Bluetooth (interaction with Pebble watches). GPS is automatically launched in applications that need it.

Mi4c comes with a power supply for fast charging. Quick Charge 2.0 technology is partially implemented. The smartphone gains 1% capacity per minute, which corresponds to 100 minutes until fully charged.

Load resistor 2A

Xiaomi continues to release very strong devices in terms of competition, and the hero of our today’s review only adds points to the manufacturer’s karma - Mi4C offers for $250 the sub-flagship Qualcomm chipset of 2015, which is found in top-end LG devices for $600! Interested in getting to know the device better? Let's get started!

Model	XIAOMI Mi4C (32 GB)
Housing materials	Plastic, polycarbonate
operating system	Android 5.1 (MIUI 7 skin)
CPU (processor)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, 6 cores up to 1.8 GHz
Video processor	Adreno 418
RAM (random access memory)	3 GB
ROM (built-in memory)	32 GB (26.5 free) MicroSD NO
Screen	5″ IPS, 1920 x 1080, 441 PPI
Cameras	13 + 5 MP
Connection	GSM/3G/4G
SIM cards	2 micro
FM radio	No
Data transfer	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, IrDA (IR port)
GPS/GLONASS/BDS	Yes Yes Yes
Battery, mAh	3080
Real battery test	6 hours, 50 minutes video at maximum brightness
Dimensions, weight	138×70×7.8 mm, 129 grams
Official site	http://www.mi.com/en/

Unpacking and packaging.

Xiaomi's box has changed for the first time after many years of monotony - Mi4C comes in a bright orange cardboard package from the manufacturer. There is nothing interesting in the package: charging block, SIM injector, Micro-USB Type C cable, as well as documentation.

Externally, the smartphone looks inconspicuous, but its feature lies in the materials of the case - matte, pleasant plastic is used here (or, as it is fashionable to say, polycarbonate). The smartphone feels like a Nokia Lumia device, and this is only a plus for the device. The plastic itself is soft and pleasant to the touch, and the risks of accidentally dropping the device from your hands are minimal.

Mi4C is available in several colors: classic black and white, as well as original yellow, blue, and pink.

The smartphone has a solid body, so you won’t be able to simply change the battery here.

Dimensions of the device: 138x70 mm, and the body thickness of 7.8 mm allows you to get a feeling of compactness of the device. The smartphone fits perfectly in a man’s hand; the weight of the smartphone adds additional positive impressions - only 129 grams! We can especially recommend this device to girls with small hands - it will look just great in the hand of a representative of the fair sex!

Due to the monolithic body, the manufacturer was forced to place card slots in the sled on the left side of the device - the sled contains only two slots for Micro SIM. As you can already understand, they even decided not to use the universal Xiaomi slot here - there is NO support for Micro SD here!

Well, now let’s go over the important elements that need to be mentioned in the review. Let's start with the fact that the developers do not skimp on such useful things as, for example, an infrared port for controlling household appliances.

The main distinguishing feature of the Mi4C case from other smartphones of the company is that the manufacturer for the first time in its device used a new USB Type C connector.

You won’t find anything else interesting on the case, but it would be strange to demand more from a device in the mid-price category. As for the smartphone itself, we really liked its high build quality. Among the minuses, some may note the simple design, but this is a subjective matter.

Screen, color quality and viewing angles.

Xiaomi Mi4C received a 5″ screen with IPS matrix(manufactured by JDI), its resolution is 1920×1080 pixels. The pixel density on this diagonal is more than sufficient - 441 ppi. The display is covered with Gorilla Glass 3 protective glass with a high-quality oleophobic coating. Three backlit touch keys, standard for smartphones from this company, are used as navigation elements.

The display is worthy of praise: excellent color rendition and viewing angles, a good brightness range and an effective anti-glare filter. If you need, in the screen settings you can adjust the tone and contrast of the screen to suit you.

As expected for Xiaomi, the screen on their smartphone is of very high quality. We cannot find fault with him at all.

Basic tests.

Xiaomi Mi4C is built on the basis of the current sub-flagship 64-bit chipset from Qualcomm: Snapdragon 808, which includes a 6-core processor with a frequency of higher cores of 1.8 GHz, as well as an Adreno 418 graphics system. This whole combination is complemented by 3 GB of RAM (only in the version with 32 GB of ROM, in the version of the smartphone with 16 GB of memory, only 2 GB of RAM), which will definitely be enough for comfortable work.

Let us also note the following point: CPU-Z program showed the frequency of the older processor cores at only 1.44 GHz - this is significantly different from the declared frequency of 1.8 GHz. Surely this was done in order to completely remove any possible risks heating

Let's look at the test results:

The smartphone's Geekbench test results show relatively low numbers, and this performance is really surprising to see from such a powerful chipset that was used in this device. However, the Mi4C works great in the interface, and the performance in games does not cause any complaints - all games will run without lags, except for “heavy” shooters at maximum performance settings..

The device comes in two versions: the younger one with 16 GB of ROM and 2 GB of RAM, and the older one already comes with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of ROM. As for me, it is the older version that is worthy of the user’s attention, because the lack of Micro SD hits hard general impressions from the device. Of the 32 GB, about 26 GB will be available to the user, which is quite enough for most.

The built-in battery of Xiaomi Mi4C has a capacity of 3080 mAh, which is a very decent capacity for a 5″ smartphone with a small weight (130 grams). In video testing at maximum brightness, the device worked for 6 hours 50 minutes - this is a good result. In reality, the user can count on a day of active work and a day and a half of average use.

The external mono speaker is located on the back of the device, but due to the small bump on the rear panel the sound will not be muffled. The speaker itself is loud and of good quality, so you can enjoy watching videos with friends. The sound in the headphones is excellent.

Cameras.

Xiaomi Mi4C is equipped with two digital camera modules: the main one has a 13 MP sensor with LED flash, and the front one has a 5 MP sensor.

Let's look at examples of pictures from the main camera:

It seems to me that the quality of pictures from the main camera is very good. Of course, you can’t call the device a “cameraphone,” but this device is still suitable for high-quality photographs.

Example from the front camera:

The front camera takes mediocre pictures, and seeing something like this against the backdrop of the main camera is, to put it mildly, strange.

Software, shell.

Xiaomi Mi4C runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with proprietary MIUI shell V7. The update to Android 6 will be released immediately after the release of the flagship Mi5.

Xiaomi has long entered the global market of gadgets and smartphones, and at this stage it can already confidently compete with famous brands. In this review, I propose to learn in more detail about the flagship model XIAOMI Mi4C, which is confidently in the top 15 in the antutu, has some innovative functions and remember the saying about “everything new is well forgotten old.”

In addition, I would like to thank the Gearbest store, which, although they tried to “move out,” in the end acted honestly and fairly.

First, I’ll write about why thanks to Gearbest. At the end of October, the brave Chinese mixed up the price and entered $127 instead of $227. Well, it would be a sin not to try to grab this device for this amount.

This was a pre-order, there were approximately a couple of weeks left before the batch was due to be shipped, and when at the end of the pre-sale I received an email canceling the order. Then the painful correspondence began, the search for those responsible, communication with managers and other hassle - well, it’s not my fault that the Chinese were so stupid, but I managed to buy. And in the end, after almost a month of fighting with technical support and the manager, I won.

✔ CHARACTERISTICS OF XIAOMI Mi4C

CPU: Snapdragon 808 with a frequency of 1.8 GHz
GPU: Adreno 418
Screen: 5" IPS Full HD display 1920 1080 441PPI, IPS, viewing angle 178°
Main camera: Sony IMX258 / Samsung S5K3M2 | 13MP, f2.0, phase focusing, writes HD 1080p video
Front camera: 5MP, f2.0, writes HD 1080p video
Memory: 2 GB LPDDR3 RAM + 16 GB flash memory
Bluetooth: 4.1 HID
WiFi: 802.11b/g/n/ac 2.4/5GHz, MU-MIMO
GPS: GPS, Glonass, Beidou, AGPS
SIM: 2 SIM cards
Radio module: one
4G network frequencies: FDD-LTE: Bands 1(2100MHz)/3(1800MHz)/7(2600MHz), TDD-LTE: Bands 38(TD2600)/39(TD1900)/40(TD2300)/41(TD2500)
3G network frequencies: TD-SCDMA: Bands 34(TD2000)/39(TD1900), WCDMA: Bands 1(2100MHz)/2(1900MHz)/5(850MHz)/8(900MHz), CDMA 2000: BC0/BC1
2G network frequencies: GSM: Bands 2(1900MHz)/3(1800MHz)/5(850MHz)/8(900MHz), CDMA 1X: BC0/BC1
Sensors: compass, gravity, light, gyroscope, IR (infrared), Hall, proximity
OS: Android 5.1.1 MIUI V7
Software support for video formats: H.265/HEVC(Main profile), H.264 (Baseline/Main/High profile), MPEG4 (Simple profile/ASP), VC-1(Simple/Main/Advanced profile)
Battery: 3080mAh, support fast charging 2.0, Sony/Samsung/ATL 4.4V banks
Connection to computer/charging: USB Type-C, OTG
Dimensions: 138.1 69.6 7.8 mm
Weight: 132 grams

✔ PACKAGING AND EQUIPMENT OF XIAOMI Mi4C

Regular delivery, which took almost 50 days thanks to jd sales.

Thanks for the adapter, it’s always on point regarding Xiaomi products. The box is poisonous orange with a small logo. (Oukitel perfectly licked the color for himself).

Depending on the 2/3 GB version, a sticker with the characteristics of the smartphone is attached.

General kit.

The instructions, like all Xiaomi products, are strictly in Chinese.

A paper clip for the tray, the thickness of a regular paper clip is perfect.

Cable good quality, except for one thing, but the connector is not yet very familiar USB Type-C, so I recommend buying adapters or spare cables for charging your smartphone at work or with friends.

Charging, as expected with a Chinese plug, the adapter will come in handy here. Charger parameters 5V - 2A, 9V - 1.2A, 12V -1A. Support for Quick charge technology version 2.0.

It can handle a 2A load at 5V without sagging, and in general the smartphone charges with “native” charging much faster than even the “native” 2 Amp One+.

The smartphone itself is covered with a transport film on the front and even on the back cover there is a film with serial numbers, holograms and a warning in Chinese.
We decided not to bother too much with design and materials, focusing more on hardware and software. A plastic cover that fits onto a smartphone like a bumper, available in 7 choices various colors designs from strict to bright.

There are frames, but they were not masked like on 2.5D displays. There is a small company logo on the front. Before this, I didn’t pay attention to this, but the main brands, such as Samsung, Sony and others LG, place the logo on both the front and back of the smartphone, while Chinese manufacturers mostly only on the back, as if afraid to show that the smartphone is not a famous brand.

There is no protective film included in the kit or from the factory, but I recommend buying glass instead - the difference is night and day, not in favor of the film.
At the top of the smartphone there are light and proximity sensors, an earpiece, a front camera and an LED indicator.

The indicator can be configured for any event, but, unfortunately, you cannot set your own color, you can only choose from existing ones.

At the bottom of the smartphone, the manufacturer left space for backlit touch buttons; I don’t really like on-screen buttons even on 5-inch displays.

At the bottom there is a thick USB Type-C connector and a speaking microphone.

At the top there is a 3.5 jack connector for headphones and one of the “goodies” that I mentioned at the beginning of the review, namely an IR transmitter for controlling household appliances. Everything new is good, forgotten old;)

Nice plastic and a “metal” logo at the bottom.

They decided to place the speaker at the bottom, rather than at the bottom end. But even here there are some small tricks, namely a small border, thanks to which the smartphone’s speaker does not close when you put it on the table. If you put it on a soft surface, the sound is muffled! The volume and sound quality are at a high level, I didn’t notice any wheezing, the call can be heard well.

Near the main 13 megapixel Sony IMX25 camera there is a very bright two-color LED lights and a microphone for noise reduction.

On the right side of the smartphone there are plastic volume and power keys. They protrude a little unusually above the body, but there are no false alarms and they do not cause discomfort.

The body is monolithic, there is no play if you knock a little in the area rear camera, then there is a slight, barely audible rattling sound.
“The lenses in the camera are in an electromagnetic field, i.e. coils are located on two blocks of lenses, when focusing, an electric potential is applied to the coils and thereby the lenses are driven and focused, the moment of focusing by contrast focus is monitored by the controller, when the camera is turned off, there is no potential and they hang freely on the suspension, so when shaking we hear This is a “rattling” sound; as soon as you turn on the camera, you won’t hear this “rattling” sound. This method in Lately used not only in smartphone cameras, but also on “large” cameras, common among Sony, Sigma... The system is reliable and compact.” w3bsit3-dns.com

On the left side there is a tray for two Micro SIMs.

Tray in plastic case, with a metal backing.

Unfortunately, this device is not designed to work with Micro SIM + micro SD.

The dimensions of the smartphone are width: 70 mm, thickness 7.9 mm and length 138 mm.

Weight is 130 grams.

✔XIAOMI Mi4C SCREEN

Xiaomi does not skimp on the quality of its displays, and this device is no exception. The screen is neither a shovel nor a small thing - 5 inches are made using IPS technology without an air gap. Famous brands are used as suppliers - Sharp, LG or AUO. You can find out exactly what type your device has using engineering menu and Dmesg commands, where the manufacturer will be indicated in the Panel Name.

The screen is very rich and bright, and with a FullHD resolution of 1920 by 1080 and 441 PPI, pixelation is practically invisible. The viewing angle is 178°.

Supports 10 simultaneous touches.

An oleophobic coating is applied to the screen; fingers glide quite well, although they leave marks, but they can be easily removed simply by wiping them once on a cloth. It fits perfectly in the hand; when working with one hand, there is no fear that the smartphone will fall out, as I have with 5.5 inches.

It cannot be called thin, but it fits comfortably in the hand thanks to the beveled corners on the lid.

It takes a little getting used to blindly hitting the volume rocker without hitting the off button, but you get used to it.

✔ SOFTWARE OUT OF THE BOX IN XIAOMI Mi4C

Can be used out of the box installed MIUI, but I HIGHLY recommend flashing the phone right away, especially since this is done in a couple of clicks.
I won’t dwell entirely on MIUI7, but in general, it seemed to me that it was much faster than the 6th version.

From the lock screen you can turn on the camera or flashlight without entering a password, applications can be grouped into folders.

You don’t have to reach for the top of the smart phone to open the curtain; just swipe down on the screen. Required applications You can pin it in the application manager. Unfortunately, the translation was not completed completely, which prompted me to reflash it.

Initially, a strange version 87.0.4 was installed out of the box on Android based 5.1.1.

There are quite a lot of settings and some of the applications, such as camera settings, are included in general settings.

There is no Russian search for T9 in the dialer yet, there is also insufficient translation, which can be corrected by flashing it. One of the nice features is the ability to set up automatic recording of conversations “out of the box” and set a short video instead of a regular photo of the subscriber.

A little more about the chips; there are sensors on the edges of the smartphone. It is possible to activate them from the settings menu and then double tapping on the left side of the smartphone is equivalent to pressing the “back” button, and in camera mode it takes a photo, the first touch focuses, the second touch takes a photo. A convenient feature when working with one hand; you don’t have to reach for the touch buttons when working in the browser.

Setting present child mode, where you decide which applications your child can access. Setting up a lock, just like in regular Android. It is possible to enable reading mode, adjust the color temperature and enable double-tap wake-up. By the way, it was noticed that when this option is enabled, battery life is reduced.

For those who are 5 inches, there is still the ability to switch the display to 4 or 3.5 inches mode. After activation, just slide your finger over the touch button from the center to the side to activate and reverse direction to disable this mode.

Manage pop-up notifications and tiles in the curtain. The connection speed is shown “out of the box” when you activate the desired item in the menu.

It is possible to customize the headset keys and touch buttons to suit your needs.

12.14 GB of internal memory and approximately 800 MB of RAM are available to the user.

✔ COMMUNICATION IN XIAOMI Mi4C

As befits a modern smartphone, Mi4 has almost the entire range of wireless communication models. But just as NFC was not present in previous models, it never appeared, I don’t know why Xiaomi abandoned this technology, but it’s a fact.
WiFi module dual-band 2.4 and 5 GHz - Wi-Fi ac/a/b/g/n
Measurements of 2.4 GHz speed in a room with a router and through 2 concrete walls.

Penetration is at a high level, the position of the arrow in the green zone has practically not changed.

Speedtest at 5 GHz, as we can see, the speed drop through 2 walls is already stronger.

The smartphone has bluetooth module version 4.1.

As for GPS, above all praise, both GPS and GLONASS and Chinese Beidou, very fast cold start. Well, there’s nothing to say about accuracy here, everything is excellent.

Instead of NFC, the manufacturer remembered the old ones Nokia smartphone and software for switching TV channels. But in this smartphone everything is much simpler, we select the type of device, select a popular model from the list of popular Chinese brands, or go to the detailed list, where there is simply a huge list of equipment manufacturers.

After choosing a manufacturer, we test the buttons, and if everything is ok, we give a name to the new remote control and indicate the placement of the equipment. Then everything is the same as in the usual remote control, the range is no worse, I tried it from 5 meters, it works perfectly.

As for the sounds from the headphones, here I also give 5 points, my native Pistons sound much better than in my On+, I liked the sound even without third-party enhancers.

✔ XIAOMI Mi4C FIRMWARE

The bottom line is that the firmware was updated, but updates arrived, but the translation was crooked, Chinese extra software and mediocre values in Antutu are three factors for flashing.

All you need to do for flashing:
1- download from mi website
2 - Install it and connect your smartphone. By the way, the application itself is very convenient for everyday use.

3- download the TWR archive and unpack it into a folder -
4- download the firmware - choose it yourself, but I am V7.1.4.0.LXKCNCK, upload it to your smartphone
5- put the smartphone into fastboot mode - turn off the smart phone and turn on the volume "-" key while holding down the volume key. Or run 1.bat with the smart connected, if the option fails
6- connect your smartphone to your computer and run 2.bat
7- after installing custom recovery, select the firmware file from the recovery menu and install with cleaning
8 - rejoice

After flashing, it’s still the same MIUI 7, but without unnecessary software, with almost complete localization and works faster.

✔ XIAOMI Mi4C TESTS

This is the Antutu data obtained after installing the new firmware - 64740 parrot.

Information about the smartphone using CPU-Z.

Info from AIDA64.

And some more ironclad information.

There are all possible sensors, except for temperature, which is strange, since the system has these sensors.

I have no complaints about the performance of the sensors.

GeekBench gave 1021 in one core and 2589 in all.

IceStorm produced 359 parrots, and Quadrant 14175.

Vellamo either overtakes the Meizu MX4 and sits on the tail of OnePlus, or lags behind in the browser by several points.

Comparison and benchmark from GFX.

In Antutu 3D there are 6929 parrots, and in Nenamark 60.1 fps.

Although Cyatdel warmed up the processor, the values at super quality are very high - 49.3 fps.

✔ BATTERY IN XIAOMI Mi4C

The smartphone has a built-in battery with a capacity of 3080 mAh
This device cannot be called super-survivable; in Antuta it scores 6066, while in 4 hours the smartphone drops to 20% at maximum brightness.

There are many settings that can reduce energy consumption, such as turning off at night wireless modules and show the most voracious processes.

In general, there is enough work for a full day, even taking into account games. But if you play a game that requires smartphone resources, then prepare to charge it after about two and a half hours.

In browser mode, face book, audio player, calls - with the screen operating time of about 5 hours, there will still be 10% charge left.

✔ XIAOMI Mi4C GAMES

There were no problems with games. But the heating is present, you don’t burn your fingers, but it’s still there (around 45-50 degrees).

The second point is that when high temperature Throttling appears and performance drops, this is confirmed by Antutu tests, which were carried out in the cold and after 20-30 minutes of play.

There are no problems with this, games can hang in the memory if the smart device is not overloaded with unnecessary resource-intensive applications.

But although the tanks are running quite confidently, on the average graphics, on the maximum there are freezes, either this is a flaw in the game or throttling is to blame.

✔ CAMERA OF XIAOMI Mi4C SMARTPHONE

The main camera with a Sony IMX258 module has a resolution of 13 megapixels. Information about photos and videos.

The camera is pretty fast quick start and focus. Judge the quality of the pictures for yourself, but they turn out to be of pretty good quality.

Almost without focusing, it does not blur the photo.

In a dark elevator, the flash works very well.

Just a bright banner.

Eat.

In low light conditions, it is better to use the HDR mode.

Manual focus.

Poor lighting.

It shoots video in FullHD format, and can also shoot slow-motion video at 120fps in 720P mode.

✔ VIDEO REVIEWS of XIAOMI Mi4C

Review of the appearance of Xiaomi Mi4C - Snapdragon 808 64-bit Hexa Core 1.44GHz 2GB RAM 16GB ROM

Comparison XIAOMI MI4C 2GB 16GB vs 3GB 32GB

Firmware XIAOMI MI4C 2GB 16GB how to flash MIUI recovery fastboot

Tests, capabilities and Antutu of the XIAOMI MI4C 2GB 16GB smartphone review

✔ TOTAL FOR XIAOMI Mi4C

I tried to tell as much as possible about this smartphone, indicating both strengths and weak sides, I will summarize below.
I'll list the advantages:
- excellent performance
- high-quality FullHD display with normal oleophobic coating
- the camera takes really good pictures
- presence of IR and a large number of sensors
- additional features + notification LED
- MIUI in in this case also a plus
- in this case, the monolithic body is also an advantage
- fast charging
- easy flashing
- I’ll consider the battery a plus, only because it’s higher than 3000mAh

The cons:
- no possibility of memory expansion via microSD
- low throttling activation threshold
- damp pre-installed firmware
- lack of NFC
- high power consumption when gaming

Characteristics:

Case materials: plastic, metal, glass
Operating system: Android 4.4.2, MIUI V5 (an update to MIUI 6 will be available in September)
Network: GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSDPA, TD-LTE (current version does not support FDD)
Processor: quad-core, 2.5 GHz, based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 platform
RAM: 3 GB
Storage memory: 16/64 GB
Memory card: no
Interfaces: Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB connector (USB 2.0, MHL support, USB-OTG) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset
Screen: IPS-LCD, 5” diagonal, resolution 1920x1080 pixels, 441 ppi (automatic backlight level adjustment, three color temperature profiles to choose from)
Main camera: 13 MP with autofocus and flash, video recorded in 1080p
Front camera: 8 MP, video recorded in 1080p
Navigation: GPS (A-GPS support), Glonass
Additionally: accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor, gyroscope, magnetometer (compass)
Battery: Li-Ion capacity 3080 mAh
Dimensions: 139.2 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm
Weight: 149 grams

Introduction

The speed at which Chinese brands are progressing is amazing. Just two years ago, Xiaomi was a relatively small company with several models in the “slightly above average” category (Xiaomi Mi1 and Mi2), which attracted mainly by price and characteristics. Externally and based on the materials of the case, these devices could be of interest, perhaps, only for their simplicity and conciseness, but certainly not for the quality of workmanship and materials.

With the release of Mi3, it became clear that having reached the required level in terms of price and performance, Xiaomi decided to focus on two other elements - design, external (body) and internal (shell). The Xiaomi Mi4 smartphone is only the first example of a new direction chosen by the company, but it is already very impressive. Yes, the Chinese do not hide their love for Apple at all and boldly, without a shadow of doubt or reproach, copy everything that seems interesting to them. In the case of Xiaomi Mi4, the design was partially copied, in the case of MIUI 6, almost everything, from the style of icons to translucent interface blocks and menus. But this is not important, in the end, Mi4 can just as well be called a copy Huawei Ascend P7, and it, in turn, is a copy of something else. Another thing is important, as soon as you take Xiaomi Mi4 in your hands, thoughts about copying or some kind of secondary design instantly disappear, and you understand: here it is, excellent execution in detail and real quality.

This is no longer just a Chinese smartphone - this is a new level both for Xiaomi and for many other companies from China in general, because others will follow Xiaomi’s lead.

Contents of delivery

The packaging, already familiar to Xiaomi devices, is a compact box made from recycled materials that can support the weight of several people. Inside minimum set necessary accessories, in addition to the device itself: a charging block, a USB-microUSB cable, a clip for installing a SIM card (microSIM format) and several thin paper instructions.

Design, body materials

Immediately after the presentation, I wrote on Twitter that the design of the new Xiaomi Mi4 reminds me very much of the Apple iPhone 5/5s. As happens in such cases, readers' opinions were divided; some said that the devices are really very similar, especially if you look at the smartphones from the ends, others cursed and noted that the design of the Mi4 is original, and everyone who accuses the company of copying is like that themselves.

Now that I’ve been using Xiaomi Mi4 for a week, I absolutely don’t want to say that its design is borrowed from someone else. The quality of workmanship, the materials used, the shape of the case and the dimensions - all these components are made so well and efficiently that the device is perceived as a solid product that does not need to be compared or tried to match with anything.

The design is based on simplicity of form and quality of materials - the front panel with three keys at the bottom and sensors above the screen is protected by glass, the frame of the case is made of stainless steel with a slight bevel closer to the front panel so that there are no sharp corners, the back of the device is made of plastic. In the case of the white model, it is glossy plastic with a translucent top layer and a white inner layer, with a diamond-shaped texture.

One of the main design features of Xiaomi Mi4 is the replaceable panels. Moreover, if in the case of Moto X, a smartphone that revived a certain fashion for “customization” appearance devices, the panel was selected when ordering on the website and, in fact, was non-replaceable, and OnePlus One offered less than ten options for replaceable panels, Xiaomi took a very bold step in this direction. Firstly, replacement panels will be available separately, and the ordered panel can be easily installed instead of the standard one yourself. Secondly, more than 20 options for replacement panels have already been announced, and in the future there will probably be even more of them.

From the point of view of practicality, the Mi4 case is also good - traces and prints on the “back”, although it is glossy, are invisible, the front panel, naturally, gets dirty, but marks can be easily removed from it.

Assembly

There are no complaints about the build quality of the smartphone - everything is very solid and reliable, the body feels like a monolith, despite the ability to remove the cover and replace it with another one. There is no play in the lid, the keys “sit” tightly in their places, and the tray for the microSIM card is made of very high quality and fits as precisely as possible to its slot, so dust and dirt between the tray and the body (as in the Apple iPhone 5c, for example) will not get clogged .

Video about creating the base of the case for Xiaomi Mi4

Dimensions

Due to the minimal thickness of the frame on the left and right of the screen (3 mm from the edge of the body to the actual image on the display), as well as the reasonable use of space at the top and bottom, Xiaomi Mi4 turned out to be one of the most compact smartphones among models with 5" screens.

Judge for yourself:

(5"") – 139.2 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm, 149 grams
Xiaomi Mi3(5"") - 144 x 73.6 x 8.1 mm, 145 grams
Apple iPhone 5S(4"") – 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm, 112 grams
HTC One (M8)(5"") – 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm, 160 grams
Nokia Lumia 930(5"") – 137 x 71 x 9.8 mm, 167 grams
Samsung Galaxy S5(5.1"") - 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm, 145 grams
Hu awei Ascend P7 (5"")– 139.8 x 68.8 x 6.5 mm, 124 grams

Xiaomi Mi4 beats almost all other smartphones with five-inch screens in the main thing - the width of the body. Namely, the width is the main indicator of how comfortable it will be for you to hold the device in one hand.

It is precisely due to its adequate width that the Mi4 fits perfectly in the hand and is quite comfortable to use with one hand. The only thing I want to draw your attention to is that if you are switching to Mi4 from some noticeably more compact model, it will still take time to get used to its dimensions.

Compared to IUNI U2

Compared to Meizu MX2

Compared to HTC One (M8)

Controls

Below the Xiaomi Mi4 screen there are three backlit touch keys: “Menu”, “Home” and “Back”. Long-pressing any of the buttons is assigned the action of opening the running application manager or closing the current program. Also in the settings you can specify the time you hold the key, at which the “long hold” function will work. In addition, in the settings you can turn off the backlight of the buttons under the screen and set the operating time, from 1 second to 20 or “always”.

On the right edge of the device are the volume and power keys. Both buttons protrude above the surface of the case, and it is convenient to press them even “blindly”. The power key can be disabled, and activation of the smartphone screen can be assigned to pressing the volume button. And another interesting setting is to turn on the camera with the “Back” button.

On the left edge there is a tray for a microSIM card. The tray can be opened using the supplied paper clip or any sharp thin object: a paper clip, a pin, etc.

At the top end of the Mi4 there is a 3.5 mm jack for headphones and a headset, as well as a small IR port window. At the bottom end on the left there is a microUSB, on the right there is a ringing speaker grille, and a speaking microphone is hidden in it.

Above the screen, on the front surface, there is a speaker, a front 8 MP camera and light and proximity sensors. The light indicator is located under the screen, below the “Home” key.

Screen

The smartphone has an IPS LCD screen with a 5" diagonal and a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, ppi value 441. A matrix from Sharp / JDI is used. Accurate information There is no information about the manufacturing company of the smartphone’s protective glass, as is the case with Mi3. This could be Gorilla Glass 3 or Dragontail from Japanese Asahi Glass. The main thing you need to know is that the smartphone uses durable protective glass, scratch-resistant, with oleophobic coating. Touch screen responds not only to touches with fingers, but also to touches with gloves.

The picture quality on the screen is excellent: the image is clear, smooth, with maximum viewing angles and high detail. In the screen settings you can also choose one of two saturation modes and color temperature, from natural to cool or warm.

In the sun the display behaves well, the picture fades but remains readable. The screen has a decent amount of brightness, and the minimum backlight threshold will allow you to read comfortably in complete darkness. Automatic adjustment brightness works approximately like in Xiaomi Mi3, that is, according to the “when and how” principle, sometimes the system successfully adjusts the brightness, sometimes it’s completely different from how you would set it.

Below are screen comparison shots of Xiaomi Mi4 (top) and HTC One (M8) (bottom) as one of the reference devices with a 5" screen.

Camera

The main camera in Xiaomi Mi4 has the following characteristics:

Resolution 13 megapixels
Sony sensor Exmor RS
6 lenses
f/1.8 aperture
LED flash

The front camera resolution is 8 MP, it uses 5 lenses, and the aperture value is the same as for the main camera – f/1.8.

The flash can be used as a flashlight; there is a separate utility for this. In the camera settings, you can immediately select a simple mode (with a minimum of parameters adjustable in the viewfinder mode) or a normal mode, when all settings are in a couple of clicks. In addition to the standard options: brightness, contrast, ISO values and resolution, Xiaomi Mi4 also has manual settings for shutter speed, color temperature and manual selection of focal length.

You can also manually select the white balance and effects applied to the photo directly in the viewfinder mode (even before shooting).

An ingenious feature of the Xiaomi Mi4's camera interface is the ability to take a photo by tapping again on the area you just focused on. I don’t remember if this is present in any other smartphones, but I used to often encounter the following problem. The device has several shooting options: usually it’s shooting by touching a certain area of the screen (the camera focuses and immediately shoots) or shooting with an on-screen button, then you need to first tap to focus on a certain area, and then, freezing, carefully move your finger to the shooting key and take a photo. In Mi4, you can tap to focus on a certain area and then tap on the ring again to take a photo without moving your finger anywhere - very convenient. The exposure scale is also displayed on the focus ring, and by rotating it, you can change the value of this parameter.

Now, as for the quality of the photos. I took pictures on Xiaomi Mi4 in different conditions: indoors, in the evening, on a sunny day and almost at night - and based on the results, after looking at all the photographs and comparing them with similar pictures from the LG G3, “I have to say the following.” The camera in Xiaomi Mi4 is one of the best among all smartphones on the market. Moreover, we're talking about It’s not about any single parameter, be it the sharpness of images or correct color rendition, it’s about the balance of the camera in Mi4. The frames are moderately sharp, with correct color rendition, accurately defined white balance, without unnecessary post-processing - in a word, natural.

Below you can see blocks of comparative photographs taken on Xiaomi Mi4 and LG G3 as reference smartphones in terms of camera quality.

Shooting on a sunny day:

	LG G3

Shooting in the evening/night:

	LG G3

Shooting indoors:

	LG G3

The HDR mode on a smartphone works more or less accurately, especially if you shoot with it in the evening and at night:

Original	HDR

Xiaomi Mi4 (no HDR)	LG G3 (no HDR)

Xiaomi Mi4 (HDR)	LG G3 (HDR)

And here are a few more photos taken with the main camera, as well as photos taken with the front camera:

Video smartphone writes in maximum resolution 4k, there is also the more familiar 1080p, there is software image stabilization during video recording and continuous focusing (you can turn it off and focus by tap). There is a slow motion mode (30 times slowdown - 1800 times). During video recording, you can zoom in on the image and manually select the exposure value using the scale inside the focus ring.

Autonomous operation

The device has a non-removable Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 3080 mAh. In video playback mode in 1080p quality, 5000 kbps (volume and brightness are set to three quarters or about 70 percent, battery mode is “balanced”, Wi-Fi and GPS are disabled), the smartphone lasts about 6-7 hours. The figure is not a record, but quite at the level of many other models based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 platform.

With daily use, the Xiaomi Mi4 lasted all day without problems, by the evening 15-20 percent of the charge remained with the following operating scheme: uncharging at 9-10 am, about 1 hour of calls per day, 10-20 text messages, Gmail, 3-4 hours of listening to music, 1-2 hours active use mobile internet(Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Chrome), constant correspondence throughout the day on WhatsApp and Facebook messenger(in total, at least an hour), photography (about 50 useless frames per day, sometimes less).

In the MIUI settings, you can choose one of three types of display of the current battery charge: a green bar at the top of the screen, a digital percentage inside the battery icon, or the usual way - an icon with a melting charge bar.

Platform, memory

The smartphone is built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 platform (MSM8974AC) with a quad-core processor with a frequency of 2.5 GHz, graphics subsystem (GPU) – Adreno 330 with a processor frequency of 578 MHz. The device has 3 GB of RAM and 16 or 64 GB of internal memory. In the 16 GB model, about 13.3 GB is available to the user. There is no slot for a microSD card.

Performance, tests

In synthetic tests (Antutu), Xiaomi Mi4 is among the top five most productive devices, but in reality it’s still just as good. The smartphone does not stutter or slow down, there are no delays when opening programs. I don’t know what criticism can be caught here, the device works smoothly and quickly.

The device also plays FullHD video in high quality without any problems and allows you to comfortably play all games available for the Android platform.

There is no heating during daily work and solving common tasks for most people (calls, access to the Internet, listening to music). When launching hardware-demanding games, the device heats up, but I can’t say that it’s critically hot, although perhaps I just didn’t have the patience to play on the smartphone for so long for it to warm up properly.

Interfaces

Now there are several versions of the smartphone, one for each Chinese operator. Two models work in second and third generation networks, another one also supports 4G. At the presentation of the device in China, Xiaomi representatives paid special attention to 4G/LTE support. In practice the situation now is this: Xiaomi versions Mi4, available for order or through online stores, as well as those that will appear in September, do not work in Russian networks fourth generation(FDD), but are designed to work in TD-LTE. The company promised to release a version of the smartphone with LTE FDD closer to the end of this year, but for now we can say that Xiaomi Mi4 temporarily does not have support for “our” LTE.

To synchronize with a PC and transfer data, the included microUSB cable and USB 2.0 interface are used. There is support for USB-OTG, you can connect to the device via an adapter external drives with FAT/FAT32 file systems.

Built-in module Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP profile.

Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac). C Wi-Fi module no problems, works correctly, does not lose the network. There is support for the DLNA standard, allows compatible devices transmit and receive by home network various media content (images, music, videos), and also display it in real time.

Wi-Fi router. Like any other modern Android smartphone, Xiaomi Mi4 can be used as an access point, “distributing” the Internet via Wi-Fi.

NFC. There is no NFC support in Xiaomi Mi4.

You can turn wireless interfaces on and off using a tab inside the notification shade, as well as through the settings.

Telephone features

While using Xiaomi Mi4, I had no problems with the quality of network reception or bad connection(I guess I just live in such a good area). The speaker is average in terms of volume, there is no special reserve for very noisy rooms, but in general, the volume level is sufficient. The ringing speaker is slightly above average in volume, there is only one drawback - the speaker is located on the bottom end, and if you put the smartphone in your pocket, it may turn out that the speaker will overlap and sound quieter than usual. The vibration alert in Mi4 is good, you can feel it even while walking, when the device is in your pocket.

Xiaomi Mi4 (more precisely, MIUI) has blacklists for calls and messages, a vibration function when answering an outgoing call, as well as a function for recording conversations by pressing a key or automatic recording. Moreover, you can enable auto-recording of all conversations or only conversations with subscribers from a specific list that you configure yourself. Conversations are recorded from the line, so both the interlocutor and you can be heard perfectly.

Navigation

Mi4 has GPS (as well as A-GPS and Glonass), the satellite search speed in the “high accuracy” mode is very fast, literally five seconds pass, and the device already receives signals from 4-5 satellites. If you select the GPS-only location mode, the search will take 10-15 seconds. There is no special navigation software in the smartphone; only Google maps are installed.

MIUI 5/6

Here we must immediately make a reservation. Now (as of August 2014) the smartphone runs MIUI V5, based on Android 4.4.2. I have already repeatedly talked about various features of MIUI and, in particular, the fifth version, so below I will only briefly go over the most important points. The main idea of the new Xiaomi Mi4 is not only in the external design, but also in the internal design, that is, in the interface design. And therefore, Xiaomi separately, after the announcement of the smartphone, presented the updated MIUI 6. The interface was seriously redesigned in appearance, becoming flat, light, transparent, like iOS7, in short.

Here short video about what MIUI 6 is:

A firmware update with MIUI 6 for Xiaomi Mi4 will appear approximately in September or early October (I would like to believe), but for now it is being tested, and Mi4 is sold with MIUI V5 on board.

An important point: the smartphone comes from China without the Russian language and without Google services, so if you buy it through the official website, you need to be prepared to install services or simply update the firmware to a version with services and Russian. If you decide to buy a device from an online store already in Russia, it is worth checking in advance with the seller in what condition the device is being sold in terms of software: with Russian language or not, with Google services or not. The online store pixelphone.ru, where I got the device for review, sells Xiaomi Mi4 with Russian language and Google services installed.

Now briefly about MIUI V5 on Xiaomi Mi4.

MIUI is based on the idea of desktops without a program menu, when each new application appears on one of the screens, as in iOS. The bottom panel with shortcuts is fixed and does not change when you scroll through desktops. The icon grid can be 4x4 or 4x5 in size, and the notification shade format can also be changed from simple to complex.

From the lock screen you can launch the camera, or go to calls or text messages. Music playback control buttons are also available here if you have turned it on.

While the device is charging, the locking ring also serves as a charge indicator.

MIUI has a convenient system for recording consumed traffic, with the ability to configure notifications when a specified threshold is reached. There is a convenient dialer that allows you to quickly search for the necessary contact and immediately make a call to him or start writing a message.

For typing, a Chinese keyboard is used with an English layout as an option, but if the smartphone has Google services installed, it will most likely already have a standard Google keyboard for Android.

MIUI comes pre-installed with a set of proprietary applications to solve most problems. File manager, gallery, video and audio players, voice recorder, notes, etc.

However, MIUI V5 still has controversial issues related mainly to the overall stability of the firmware. For example, in my Xiaomi Mi4 sample, notifications in Facebook chat completely refused to work - I could only see new messages when I launched the program myself. Instagram does not receive notifications (they are neither in the notification shade nor in the notification bar), although I forced everything to be turned on in the settings. At the same time, in Xiaomi Mi3 with the same version of MIUI, I didn’t have these specific problems, that is, all this is situational and unpredictable. I in no way belittle the enormous amount of work done by the creators of MIUI and users who try to make the firmware better with their feedback, but I personally still have a slight taste of a constant state of “beta” from communicating with MIUI.

Conclusion

In China, the Xiaomi Mi4 16 GB smartphone costs approximately $320 (~11,500 rubles), the 64 GB version costs about $400 (~14,500 rubles), you can’t just go to the website and buy a new product. Traditionally, Xiaomi sells a top-end device in waves, and as usual, you can expect a very large percentage of sales through this method to resellers. They, in turn, resell the smartphone further in China and beyond. In Russia, Xiaomi Mi4 16 GB is available in several online stores, the price range is still very large, from 17,000-18,000 rubles to 20,000-22,000. If you want, you can probably find it cheaper. We should expect these prices to drop in the coming months, but even if we base it around 19,000 per device, it is certainly worth it.

There is no point in listing all the strengths of Xiaomi Mi4, there are simply a lot of them, this smartphone in itself is one big plus. There are only a couple of drawbacks, one of which is temporary. This is the lack of LTE support in Russia (you need to wait for the version with LTE FDD at the end of the year), as well as the lack of a slot for a memory card (this problem is more obvious, but can be completely solved by choosing the 64 GB version).

Just in case, I’ll remind you what’s good about the device. Xiaomi Mi4 is one of the most compact smartphones among models with a 5" screen, equipped with one of the best cameras on the market, an excellent balanced screen, acceptable operating time and excellent performance. As for MIUI, the firmware, of course, is not yet ideal (still), but even if you suddenly come across an unstable version or something like that, you can easily reflash the smartphone; in Xiaomi this process is seriously simplified and does not take too much time and nerves. Therefore, Xiaomi Mi4 should definitely be considered among potential devices for purchase, even if you are still waiting for the Apple iPhone 6.

Delays in the development of the new flagship Mi5 caused by the problem of overheating in the top ones Qualcomm processors, forced Xiaomi to create new budget and mid-range devices so as not to lose the market. In 2015, the company introduced several such gadgets, characterized by a good ratio of price, quality and functionality. One of them was the new Xiaomi Mi4c, to which our review is dedicated.

The device became a modified version of the top model presented in 2014. Some of its characteristics were improved, some remained the same, some were simply implemented alternatively, with the same capabilities. Xiaomi Mi4c was released in September 2015 in China, at a price of about 200 dollars for the younger model (2GB/16GB) and 250 (3GB/32GB) for the older one. Now you can buy it for about the same money, but from us, and in some cases you can even find it for 190 USD.

How the smartphone differs from its predecessor, and whether there are any deteriorations compared to its predecessor, our review will help you find out.

Xiaomi Mi4c has received updated specifications, but it cannot be said that they have undergone a radical improvement. This is simply an improvement to suit the trends of the times and reduce costs.

Design, materials, dimensions and weight

The Xiaomi Mi4c case is made of high-quality plastic. The regular Mi4 used metal and glass, so the changes here don't look too good. However, there are no complaints about the assembly, the smartphone does not creak in the hands, everything fits well. Externally, it differs little from other devices from this manufacturer. Rectilinear shapes, slightly rounded edges, lack of hardware physical buttons under the screen - all this has long been familiar. There are three touch control buttons.

The glass front panel is black. The speaker slot and camera eye are visible on it. The touch buttons are gray and not noticeable. The back panel can be white, gray, pink, yellow and blue. It has a camera with a flash in the top corner and a speaker mesh in the bottom center.

On the right side there are buttons for adjusting the volume and locking the screen/turning on the device. On the left is the SIM card tray. At the bottom end there is a USB Type C connector, at the top there is a headset jack and an infrared port.

The dimensions of the device are slightly smaller than most five-inch gadgets. Because of this, the ratio of screen area to the entire panel is almost 72% (versus the traditional 70). A size comparison with other five-inch smartphones in this price category can be found in the video review at the end of this article.

Height – 138 mm, width – 69.6 mm, thickness – 7.8 mm. The weight of the smartphone is 132 grams, that is, in terms of this indicator it is no different from its competitors. But compared to the regular Mi4, it is 13 grams lighter.

CPU

Iron has undergone noticeable changes: instead of Snapdragon processor 801 (4 cores) in Mi4c installed Snapdragon 808 (6 cores). It consists of a quad-core Cortex A53 cluster (1.4 GHz) and a pair of Cortex A57 cores (1.8 GHz). The transition to a new technological process (20 nm versus 28 nm) had a positive effect on performance.

The graphics accelerator has also improved. Adreno 418 is slightly more powerful than Adreno 330. In AnTuTu 6, the smartphone scores not 50 thousand points, but the older version with 3 GB gets 55-60 thousand points (this variation is due to different firmware). This is enough to run any modern game, the same WoT will run on maximum graphics (with grass in sight), it gave a stable 40-50 FPS.

Memory

RAM in Xiaomi Mi4c is 2 or 3 GB, depending on the version. In comparison with the regular Mi4, a modification with 2 GB was added (it didn’t exist before), which we had on hand. At start, about 1 GB of RAM is occupied. But, again, it all depends on the firmware: there is no official Russian-language modification of the OS, and custom ones differ in the level of optimization, so the numbers may be different.

For data storage, the junior version is equipped with 16 GB permanent memory, about 10 of them are available. The more expensive model has 32 GB of storage (about 25 free). Both modifications do not have a slot for a memory card (just as the predecessor did not have one).

Battery

The battery in Xiaomi Mi4c has not undergone any changes. This is the same non-removable 3080 mAh battery, which is slightly more than the average 5" smartphone. The battery life indicators compared to its predecessor have increased slightly, but only after a software update. The first firmware was sometimes characterized by spontaneous battery consumption.

In games, the smartphone will be discharged in about 5 hours; in web surfing mode or watching videos (at partial brightness) it will last up to 7 hours. This is not much, but a little above average.

Complete Charger(with Chinese plug, so you need an adapter for european sockets) has a power of 2 A. With it, Mi4c charges in about 1 hour 40 minutes. There is QuickCharge 2 fast charging technology, which allows you to charge quickly from the network. From the computer, the capacity is refilled from 0 to 100% in 5 hours.

Cameras

Depending on the production batch, Xiaomi Mi4c may be equipped with a camera with a Samsung or Sony matrix. In both cases, its resolution is 13 MP, the optical aperture is f/2, and the pixel size is 1.12 microns. There is a flash and phase detection autofocus is supported. There is no significant difference between the sensors; in both cases, the smartphone shoots at approximately the same level Redmi Note 2 and 3 (which uses the same matrix from Samsung). The quality of the images can be called good, but nothing more: it is far from the new flagships. We photographed the same frame, at the same time, on three smartphones in the same price category ($190-200). These are Xiaomi Mi4C, Samsung Galaxy J5 (2015) and LG K8 (in the same order from top to bottom):

As you can see, the Mi4c camera took the best picture, the colors are the most saturated, and the white balance is better than its competitors. The clarity is comparable to the Samsung J5, but the light dynamics in the Samsung image are narrow, and the sky is heavily overexposed. The LG K8 camera performed quite poorly in comparison. In general, Xiaomi can be given first place.

Another shot from the main camera:

The front camera of the smartphone is 5 MP and has an aperture of f/2; it is also identical to the sensor in Redmi Note 2 (which is not surprising, since the smartphones came out around the same time). Against the background of 8 MP, the regular Mi4 has a decrease in resolution, but there is no significant difference between the images. The viewing angles of the front camera are wide, you can take a full-length photograph of yourself from an outstretched arm. See example below:

The main camera records video in a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels, with a frame rate of 30 FPS. The front camera can boast the same thing. The video quality is average: hand shakes are noticeable, detail is not ideal, but tolerable.

Screen

The Xiaomi Mi4c also shows some variation in displays. In any case, the matrix has a diagonal of 5", a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (440 DPI) and a brightness of about 350 cd/m2. But its manufacturer changes in different batches. You can win this “lottery” and stumble upon an IPS screen from LG or Sharp ( considered to be of higher quality), but you can buy a smartphone with a matrix from AUO (also quite good, but unloved by some users).

The touch screen is covered with glass, but there is no data on its tempering (Mi4 without the letter C had Gorilla glass). It supports up to 10 simultaneous touches and has an oleophobic layer (of average quality and effectiveness, since stains still remain).

Connection

The smartphone is equipped with two SIM cards, but there is only one module, so only Dual Standby mode is supported. Supported networks include GSM, 3G and 4G. The LTE frequency range is large, but not complete: 3 and 7 are available, but 20 is not supported. So in Europe (including Russia, and especially Moscow), high-speed Internet will not be available everywhere where there are fourth-generation networks.

Internet access is provided by dual-band Wi-Fi, supporting frequencies of 2.4 and 5 GHz. To connect a headset wirelessly, there is Bluetooth 4.1 with stereo support and energy-saving functions. Of course, it can also be used for file sharing, but Wi-Fi Direct MiDrop does this faster and more efficiently.

Navigation works with GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou satellites. The signal reception quality is excellent; during a cold start, a dozen satellites are present even when driving in the car. As usual, on site of Eastern Europe you can see 2 Chinese satellites, Russian and American - 6-8 each.

Sound

There is no dedicated audio processor in the smartphone, so you shouldn’t expect spectacular sound. The speaker is loud, clear, and dry, like in 95% of high-quality smartphones. Everything is better with headphones, bass appears, and listening to music is comfortable. Some users may find the volume in their ears (also depends on the headphone model) to be excessive. Unfortunately, there is no radio in Xiaomi Mi4c.

operating system

Unlike the 2014 model, Xiaomi Mi4c runs on Android 5.1 OS (not 4.4). More precisely, a modification is used MIUI version 7, which is based on the core from Lolipop. The user interface has been significantly changed (for example, there are themes, but there is no familiar Android menu). Everything works quickly and without brakes. WoT Blitz and Opera running simultaneously with a dozen open pages quietly stand in the background.

The first versions of the OS (especially those hastily Russified by sellers) experienced premature battery consumption and minor bugs, but they were later fixed. However, now you need to be careful when updating the software: starting with version 6.14, the developers have blocked the bootloader and removed root. So those for whom this is important will have to flash custom ones. Well, or contact the Chinese to unlock it.

Peculiarities

Unlike Mi4 2014, the smartphone received a USB Type C interface connector (instead of the traditional MicroUSB). But its functionality is not fully implemented: there is a connection to a PC, OTG is present, but MHL is not).

Xiaomi Mi4c is equipped with an infrared port for controlling household appliances. The database contains many modern devices (TV, tuners, air conditioners, media centers, etc.). But the port is not trainable (there is no IR receiver), so the remote control will not be able to work with exotics and some Chinese products.

An interesting feature is the “sensitive” body. By tapping its right and left corners, you can adjust the camera's autofocus or go back. However, this function does not work well and does not work the first time, so tap and take care of your nerves.

Pros and cons of Xiaomi Mi4c

new, faster hardware;
improved autonomy;
good price;
Not a bad (for the money) camera.

no memory card slot;
no support for the twentieth LTE band;
poorly optimized software;
cheaper body materials. compared to Mi4.

Who is a smartphone suitable for?

The smartphone is suitable for those who value the ratio of cost and functionality and are open-minded about “Made in China” brands. It is designed for people who do not like large 5.5" devices. Gamers will appreciate the performance in games and normal battery life, movie lovers and web surfers will be satisfied with the screen. A good camera will satisfy those who need normal photos with friends, and detail at the level of dust particles does not matter. target audience approximately equal: it is suitable for both men and women (especially since the case is available in bright colors).

Supporters of phablets and connoisseurs of great internal storage and metal fans. It will not suit enthusiasts who like to “digging” the firmware either. In such cases (if you need Xiaomi), it is better to pay attention to Redmi Note 2 (almost identical in appearance and functionality, but the screen is 5.5", there is a memory card, the bootloader is not locked, the price is $50 less) or Redmi Note 3 Pro (5.5" screen, slightly faster, metal body and fingerprint scanner, same price).

Review from the site about the Xiaomi Mi4c smartphone

Xiaomi Mi4c is a worthy update to the popular flagship 2014, which made the device faster, more efficient and cheaper. The review did not reveal any critical flaws in the smartphone; the device is good. The price of 200-250 dollars makes it interesting for those who are devoid of prejudices about Chinese technology. It can handle all modern tasks, so the smartphone can be called universal.

As a drawback, it would be worth noting the crude early versions of the software, which is critical for those who want to update to a stable modification of the OS, but are afraid of losing the Russian language, Google applications and root. But practice shows that sellers usually install the latest Russian-language version of the software, so the disadvantage can be neglected.