Xiaomi je kineski proizvođač koji je posljednjih godina stekao veliku popularnost, posebno na azijskim tržištima. U ostatku svijeta, međutim, nisu previše poznati. Kako su se počeli širiti, neki od njihovih uređaja stigli su i na europska tržišta. Kao rezultat toga, uspjeli smo se dočepati njihovog vrhunskog pametnog telefona: Xiaomi Mi 4 koji dolazi s predinstaliranim Androidom 4.4.4 . ^{(Android 4.4.4)}Nakon što smo se s njim igrali nekoliko tjedana, sada smo željni podijeliti s vama sve što smo pronašli. Pročitajte ovu recenziju kako biste saznali isplati li se kupiti ili ne:

Specifikacije hardvera i pakiranje

Xiaomi Mi 4^{(Xiaomi Mi 4)} dolazi u vrlo jednostavnom i minimalističkom pakiranju. To je jednostavna kartonska kutija, na kojoj ništa nije otisnuto osim Xiaomi logotipa. Na dnu kutije naći ćete neke informacije o njegovom sadržaju, no uglavnom je napisano na kineskom, pa je prilično teško razumjeti što ste upravo kupili.

Nakon što otvorite paket, odmah vidite Xiaomi Mi 4 .

Unutar kutije, ispod pametnog telefona, naći ćete punjač i njegov odvojivi USB kabel, malu iglu za vađenje SIM kartice iz pametnog telefona, jamstvo i brzi vodič. Nažalost, iako se radi o vrhunskom pametnom telefonu, ne dobivate slušalice.

Xiaomi Mi 4 dostupan je u dvije verzije: 4G LTE verzija i WCDMA verzija. Model koji smo dobili na testovima je Mi 4 LTE one . Što se tiče boja tijela, ovaj pametni telefon dostupan je u bijeloj ili crnoj boji. Kao što ste vidjeli na prethodnim slikama, model koji smo dobili na testiranje bila je bijela varijanta.

Mi 4 koristi prekrasan IPS LCD zaslon od 5 inča, s Full HD rezolucijom od 1920x1080 piksela i gustoćom piksela od 441 ppi. Što se tiče hardverskih specifikacija, pametni telefon pokreće Snapdragon četverojezgreni procesor koji radi na 2,5 GHz , dopunjen s 3 GB RAM memorije i brzim Adreno 330 grafičkim čipom. Što se tiče dostupnog prostora za pohranu, možete se odlučiti za kupnju Mi 4 sa 16 GB ili 64 GB interne memorije. Nažalost, ovaj uređaj ne uključuje utor za microSD, tako da ćete biti zaglavljeni s prostorom za pohranu koji dobijete od samog početka. Autonomijom Mi 4^{(Mi 4)} upravlja izdašna litij-ionska polimerna baterija od 3080 mAh.

Stražnju kameru na Mi 4 pokreće Sony slikovni senzor od 13 megapiksela, ima leću od 6 elemenata, bljeskalicu i brzi fokus. Prednju kameru također pokreće Sony slikovni senzor, ali nudi razlučivost od “samo” 8 megapiksela.

Što se tiče mogućnosti povezivanja, dobivate podršku za microUSB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0 i bežično umrežavanje pomoću standarda 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, što znači da se Mi 4 može povezati na bežične mreže od 2,4 GHz i 5 GHz . Zanimljiv dodatak u smislu povezivanja je činjenica da Xiaomi Mi 4 ima IR (infracrveni) odašiljač. To znači da možete koristiti svoj pametni telefon kao daljinski upravljač za druge različite uređaje, poput TV-a u dnevnoj sobi.

Tijelo Xiaomi Mi 4^{(Xiaomi Mi 4)} izrađeno je od aluminija i plastike, ali je teško samo 140 grama. Smartfon ima širinu od 68,5 mm, visinu od 139,2 mm i debljinu od samo 8,9 mm.

Ako želite vidjeti više detalja o specifikacijama Xiaomi Mi 4 , provjerite njegovu službenu web stranicu: Mi 4 Specs .

Mi 4 je Xiaomijev vodeći pametni telefon i ima što pokazati. S vrhunskim četverojezgrenim CPU-om od 2,5 GHz, 3 GB RAM memorije i kamerom od 13 MP, Mi 4 je jedan od najboljih Android pametnih telefona na tržištu. Njegov hardver će se s lakoćom nositi s bilo kojom vrstom aplikacije ili igre. Jedino čemu bismo se zamjerili je činjenica da Xiaomi ne uključuje slušalice u paketu.^{(The Mi 4 is Xiaomi's flagship smartphone and it has a lot to show off. With a high end 2.5 GHz quad-core CPU, 3GB of RAM memory and a 13 MP camera, the Mi 4 is one of the best Android smartphones on the market. Its hardware will handle with ease any kind of app or game. The only thing we would hold against it is the fact that Xiaomi doesn't include any headphones inside the package.)}

Kvaliteta dizajna i izrade

Xiaomi Mi 4^{(Xiaomi Mi 4)} izgleda kao unibody uređaj, ali čini se da nije. Iako nije lako ukloniti stražnji poklopac, možete ako koristite vakuumsku čašicu. Smartfon izgleda i osjeća se kao premium uređaj. Naplatci su mu izrađeni od aluminija, a stražnja strana je izrađena od visokokvalitetne plastike. Ovaj osjećaj pridonosi i tanki profil od 8,9 mm.

Gumb za uključivanje i tipku za kontrolu glasnoće nalaze se na desnoj strani Xiaomi Mi 4 . Lako ih je pritisnuti, a njihovo pozicioniranje čini udobnim korištenje pametnog telefona čak i samo jednom rukom. S druge strane, nije nam se svidjelo što pametni telefon nema namjensku tipku za kameru. Ovo bi bio lijep dodatak pametnom telefonu s tako dobrom kamerom.

Na dnu Mi 4 naći ćete tri kapacitivna gumba za Nedavne aplikacije, Početna^{(Recent Apps, Home)} i Natrag^(Back) . Ovi gumbi su mali i minimalističkog dizajna, ali izgledaju dobro i lijepo pristaju na okvir.

Stražnja strana Xiaomi Mi 4 također izgleda i osjeća se dobro. Čak i ako je stražnja ploča izrađena od sjajne plastike, kvaliteta je dobra. S obzirom da je blago zaobljen na rubovima i ima metalne naplatke, Mi 4 se osjeća ugodno kada ga držite i ne ostavlja vam dojam da će vam skliznuti iz ruke.

Kao što smo ranije spomenuli, Xiaomi Mi 4 koristi 5 inčni IPS LCD zaslon s Full HD 1920 x 1080 rezolucijom. Budući da koristi IPS panel, dobivate široke kutove gledanja i prirodne boje. Zatim, visoka Full HD rezolucija zajedno s veličinom zaslona od 5 inča znači da dobivate i visoku gustoću piksela (441 ppi). Velika gustoća piksela znači svijetle boje, duboku crnu, oštre rubove i gladak tekst. Pametni telefon također ima koristi od senzora ambijentalnog svjetla, koji automatski zatamnjuje ili posvjetljuje zaslon ovisno o količini svjetla oko vas. Nećete imati nikakvih problema kada koristite ovaj uređaj na otvorenom.

Xiaomi Mi 4 je prekrasan pametni telefon s stvarno dobrom kvalitetom izrade. Da spomenemo samo neke od njegovih jakih strana: zaslon je izvrstan i u zatvorenom i na otvorenom, kamera je jako brza i snima lijepe fotografije, a tijelo pametnog telefona izgleda kao premium uređaj.^{(Xiaomi Mi 4 is a beautiful smartphone with really good build quality. To mention just a few of its strong points: the display is great both indoors and outdoors, the camera is really fast and takes nice photos and the smartphone's body feels like a premium device.)}

Iskustvo pametnog telefona^{(Smartphone Experience)} na Xiaomi Mi 4

Telefonski razgovori na Xiaomi Mi 4 su vrlo dobre kvalitete. Zvuk tijekom poziva je jasan i dovoljno glasan, u svim okolnostima. Čak i ako ste vi ili osoba s kojom razgovarate u bučnom okruženju, nitko od vas neće imati problema s razumijevanjem. Ni kod prijema signala nismo imali nikakvih problema. To je istina čak i u ne tako savršenim uvjetima, jer smo Mi 4 testirali na zemljopisnom području gdje je 4G dostupan, ali jačina signala nije tako velika.

Kvaliteta zvuka pri slušanju glazbe ili upućivanju poziva pomoću slušalica je izvrsna, a dostupna poboljšanja zvuka su stvarno dobra. Međutim, stvari nisu tako sjajne kada koristite interni zvučnik pametnog telefona. Mi 4 ne izobličuje nikakve zvukove, ali najveće razine glasnoće zvučnika su prilično niske, a niske frekvencije (bas) ne zvuče previše sjajno. U redu je ako koristite zvučnik za telefonske pozive, ali ne i za reprodukciju medija.

Što se tiče operativnog sustava, Xiaomi Mi 4 koristi Android 4.4.4 Kitkat , ali s Xiaomijevom^(Xiaomi) vlastitom kožom - MIUI 5.5.15. No, u kasnijem odjeljku ćemo više govoriti o softveru koji se nalazi na Mi 4 . Za sada ćemo samo reći da je operativni sustav, čak i ako je jako modificiran, vrlo brz i fluidan.

Kao i mnogi drugi vrhunski pametni telefoni, Mi 4 ne razočara kada je u pitanju iskustvo kamere. Xiaomi nije tvrtka koja hardverske komponente drži u tajnosti i zbog toga znamo da glavna kamera na Mi 4 koristi Sony slikovni senzor. Krajnji rezultat snažnog hardvera i dobrog senzora slike je brza kamera i dobre fotografije.

Baterija od 3080 mAh također je impresivna, a pri normalnoj uporabi trebala bi moći održati vaš pametni telefon u radu više od jednog dana. Međutim, to uvelike ovisi o tome kako koristite svoj pametni telefon: ako igrate puno igrica, morat ćete ga puniti više od jednom dnevno. No, vidjet ćemo više o njegovim performansama, kasnije, u odjeljku mjerila u našem pregledu.

Sve u svemu, Xiaomi Mi 4 nudi vrlo dobro iskustvo pametnog telefona. Telefonski pozivi su čisti, a jačina signala je dobra čak i na 4G mrežama. Unutarnji zvučnik pametnog telefona dobro radi za telefonske razgovore, ali ne bismo preporučili da ga koristite za reprodukciju medija. Za to koristite komplet slušalica i nećete se razočarati. Također, operativni sustav je vrlo brz i fluidan, a baterija izdašna.^{(Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 4 offers a very good smartphone experience. Phone calls are clear and the signal strength is good even on 4G networks. The smartphone's internal speaker works well for phone conversations but we wouldn't recommend that you use it for media playback. For that, use a headphones set and you won't be disappointed. Also, the operating system is very fast and fluid, and the battery is generous.)}

Iskustvo kamere^(Camera) na Xiaomi Mi 4

Stražnja, glavna kamera na Xiaomi Mi 4 ima 13 megapiksela, koristi Sony slikovni senzor i nadopunjena je LED bljeskalicom za fotografije pri slabom osvjetljenju. Mi 4 također nudi prednju kameru od 8 megapiksela koju također proizvodi Sony .

Zadani softver kamere dostupan na Xiaomi Mi 4 dolazi s dosta značajki. Otkrit ćete da je ovaj pametni telefon sposoban za snimanje fotografija pomoću HDR -a, može snimati rafalno, može snimati panoramske fotografije i također možete zaključati fokus svoje slike na objektu.

U galeriji ispod možete pogledati kako izgledaju fotografije snimljene Xiaomi Mi 4 . Uključili smo neke fotografije snimljene glavnom kamerom Mi 4 na otvorenom po jakom sunčanom danu, ali i slike u zatvorenom prostoru, slike izbliza i nekoliko selfija snimljenih prednjom kamerom. Imajte na umu da smo za svaku sliku koristili auto postavke za kameru, a za slike na otvorenom uključili smo i HDR mogućnosti.

Dok glavna kamera snima vrlo dobre fotografije, posebno u dobro osvijetljenim okruženjima, prednja kamera nije tako sjajna. Međutim, njegovih 8 megapiksela više je nego dovoljno za videopozive i više je nego pristojno čak i kada je u pitanju snimanje selfija.

Kada je u pitanju kvaliteta videa, Xiaomi Mi 4 nas je iznenadio. Pametni telefon snima videozapise u Full HD -u (1080p pri 30fps), ali je također sposoban snimati videozapise u 4K (2160p pri 30fps) rezolucije 3840 x 2160 piksela i brzinom prijenosa od 40 Mbps . Zvuk koji dobivate je stereo i snima se brzinom od 96 Kbps .

Kako biste stekli uvid u to kako videi izgledaju prilikom snimanja pokretnih objekata, pogledajte naš primjer u nastavku.

A dalje možete vidjeti još jedan video, u kojem smo snimili statičnu panoramu koristeći HDR , dok smo pomicali telefon.

Kamera također može snimati video zapise s time lapse, za koje također možete postaviti interval snimanja, te usporene video zapise. Za primjer kako izgledaju usporeni videozapisi, pogledajte primjer u nastavku.

Xiaomi Mi 4 ima odličnu kameru. Iako se možda ne može usporediti s kamerama kojima drugi dobavljači opremaju svoje pametne telefone, ipak je sjajan. S obzirom da je Xiaomi Mi 4 vrhunski pametni telefon, ali ima bolju cijenu od svoje izravne konkurencije, ne možemo biti ništa drugo nego zadovoljni.^{(Xiaomi Mi 4 features a great camera. While it might not compare to the cameras other vendors equip their smartphones with, it is still great. Considering that the Xiaomi Mi 4 is a high end smartphone but comes at a better price than its direct competition, we cannot be anything else but satisfied.)}

Android 4.4.4 Kitkat , MIUI 5.5.15 i aplikacije u paketu^{(Bundled Apps)}

Xiaomi Mi 4^{(Xiaomi Mi 4)} koji smo dobili na testovima radi na Androidu 4.4.4 ^{(Android 4.4.4)} Kitkat . Međutim, to nije originalni Android operativni sustav, već njegova jako prilagođena verzija, nazvana MIUI . U vrijeme našeg testiranja, MIUI je bio na verziji 5.5.15.

Iako nije originalni Android , moramo priznati da nam se svidjelo koliko je pametni telefon brz i brz. Drugo, MIUI stvarno izgleda sjajno, budući da je ljepota bila vrlo visok prioritet za njegove programere. Zanimljiva razlika u odnosu na ono što smo navikli vidjeti na Android uređajima je da, umjesto da nudi ladicu za aplikacije, MIUI radije drži sve na svojim početnim zaslonima. Međutim, kako biste malo organizirali svoje stvari, uvijek možete kreirati mape.

Umjesto da nudi Googleove^(Google) izvorne aplikacije, Xiaomi radije spaja svoje vlastite aplikacije. Naš testni uređaj imao je sve što vam je potrebno u pogledu osnovnih aplikacija. Došao je s vlastitom aplikacijom Mail , aplikacijom za glazbu^(Music) , aplikacijom za kameru^(Camera) , aplikacijom za pohranu u oblaku - Mi Cloud , File Explorer i tako dalje. Međutim, čak i ako ih ne možete ukloniti, ako vam se ne sviđa nijedna od ovih aplikacija, možete instalirati vlastitu i zatim je postaviti kao zadanu.

Po našem mišljenju, Xiaomi Mi 4 nudi dobro softversko iskustvo. Radi na Androidu 4.4.4 Kitkat, ali s vlastitom kožom proizvođača: MIUI 5, koja nudi vrlo lijepo i responzivno korisničko iskustvo. Volimo ga i smatramo da je puno bolji od drugih prilagođenih skinova koje smo vidjeli, kao što je Samsungov Touchwiz.^{(In our opinion, Xiaomi Mi 4 offers a good software experience. It runs on Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, but with the manufacturer's own skin: MIUI 5, which offers a very beautiful and responsive user experience. We love it and we consider it to be a lot better than other custom skins we've seen, such as Samsung's Touchwiz.)}

Važne stvari koje biste trebali znati prije kupnje Xiaomi Mi 4^{(A Xiaomi Mi 4)}

Xiaomi je kineski proizvođač i njegovi se uređaji uglavnom prodaju na azijskim tržištima. Budući da je Kina^(China) glavna meta Mi 4 , Xiaomi je prilično oprezan u pogledu ponude Googleovih^(Google) usluga svojim klijentima. Prema zadanim postavkama, Mi 4 koristi Xiaomijev^(Xiaomi) vlastiti Mi Market umjesto Google Playa^{(Google Play)} na koji smo svi navikli. Nadalje^{(Furthermore)} , aplikacije unaprijed instalirane na pametnom telefonu razlikuju se od zemlje do zemlje, ovisno o tome gdje Xiaomi prodaje svoj uređaj.

Prije kupnje Xiaomi pametnog telefona još jednom provjerite radi li se o varijanti za europsko ili američko tržište, a ne za azijska. Pametni telefoni koji su stvoreni za azijska tržišta nemaju predinstalirane Googleove aplikacije. ^(Google)Pod tim zapravo ne mislimo ništa: bez Google Playa^{(Google Play)} , bez Gmaila^(Gmail) , bez Google kalendara^{(Google Calendar)} i bez Google dokumenata^{(Google Docs)} . Ako planirate kupiti Xiaomi Mi 4 , svakako prvo provjerite ima li predinstalirane Google aplikacije.^(Google)

Performanse u mjerilima

Već znamo da je Xiaomi Mi 4 zvijer kada je u pitanju hardver koji ima unutra. Ali samo poznavanje specifikacija ne znači puno, bez testiranja hardvera. Dakle, da bismo dobili bolju predodžbu o tome koliko performansi Mi 4 nudi, izvršili smo neke referentne vrijednosti.

Kako bismo izmjerili brzinu CPU - a, koristili smo Vellamo , popularnu benchmarking aplikaciju za Android .

Prvi test koji smo proveli bio je Vellamo Multicore , koji ima za cilj izmjeriti performanse CPU -a pri izvršavanju više zadataka u isto vrijeme. Xiaomi Mi 4 uspio je dobiti 1696 bodova, što ga stavlja iznad Samsung Galaxy S5 , ali malo ispod HTC -ovog One M8.

Zatim smo htjeli vidjeti koliko dobro CPU rješava operacije s jednim zadatkom. Ovaj test je posebno važan jer mnoge aplikacije ne znaju koristiti više od jedne procesorske jezgre. Xiaomi Mi 4 dobio je 1586 bodova na Vellamo Metal testu, što ga ovoga puta stavlja iznad ostalih flagshipa kao što su LG G3 , HTC One M8 ili Samsung Galaxy S5 .

Drugi važan aspekt, posebno za igrače, je igračka izvedba pametnog telefona. Da bismo to testirali, koristimo GFXBench GL Benchmark . Dva testa za koja smatramo da su najrelevantnija s gledišta igara su Manhattan i T-Rex . U obzir uzimamo samo njihovu Offscreen verziju jer se na taj način testovi izvode u rezoluciji od 1080p, bez obzira na izvornu razlučivost uređaja.

Na testu na Manhattanu ^(Manhattan)Xiaomi Mi 4 je dobio 706 okvira, što ga stavlja u rang sa Samsungovim Galaxy ^(Samsung)S5^{(Galaxy S5)} .

Na T-Rex testu Xiaomi Mi 4 dobio je 1534 okvira. Ovaj rezultat pokazuje da su performanse igranja koje nudi Mi 4 slične onima koje ćete dobiti od Apple iPhone 5S ili HTC One M8.

Sada kada znamo kako se Xiaomi Mi 4 ponaša u smislu sirove snage i iskustva igranja, htjeli smo vidjeti koliko je dobar u zemaljskijim aktivnostima, poput pregledavanja weba. Kako bismo izmjerili njegovu učinkovitost na ovom području, ponovno smo se obratili Vellamu^(Vellamo) . Njegovi testovi preglednika mjere performanse uređaja kada je u pitanju renderiranje web stranica pomoću HTML 5 , CSS 3 ili pokretanja JavaScripta^(JavaScript) . Xiaomi Mi 4 uspio je dobiti 4043 boda, što ga je rangiralo više od LG G3 ili Samsung Galaxy S3 .

Zatim smo došli do našeg posljednjeg mjerila, a to je testiranje autonomije uređaja. Da bismo to učinili, u potpunosti smo napunili bateriju Xiaomi Mi 4 , a zatim smo pokrenuli PCMark Work test trajanja baterije . ^{(Work battery life)}Xiaomi Mi 4^{(Xiaomi Mi 4)} uspio je izdržati oko 9 sati, što je prilično impresivno.

Xiaomi Mi 4 je vrhunski uređaj, a benchmarking testovi potvrđuju ovu izjavu. Pametni telefon nema nikakvih problema u rješavanju čak i najzahtjevnijih zadataka koje mu bacite.^{(The Xiaomi Mi 4 is a high end device, and the benchmarking tests confirm this statement. The smartphone has no trouble whatsoever at handling even the most demanding tasks you throw at it.)}

Presuda

Mi 4 je vodeći model kineskog proizvođača pametnih telefona Xiaomi . To je uređaj s vrlo jakim hardverom, dobrim dizajnom i dobrom kvalitetom izrade. Prilagođeni Android okus - MIUI - također je fino podešeno korisničko sučelje koje je lijepo i jednostavno za korištenje. Ako također uzmete u obzir da je njegova cijena niža od svojih izravnih konkurenata sa sličnim hardverom i značajkama, ne možete ne pomisliti da je ovo vrlo dobra kupnja. Jako nam se sviđa Xiaomi Mi 4 , i preporučujemo ga svima. Međutim, ako ne živite u Kini^(China) ili nekoj drugoj bliskoj azijskoj zemlji, svakako kupite model koji uključuje Google Apps .

Reviewing Xiaomi Mi 4 - The Chinese High End Android Smartphone

Xiaomi is a chinese manufacturer that gained a lot of popularity in recent years, eѕpeciallу in the Asian markets. In the rest of the world however, they are not very well known. As they began expanding, some of their devicеs arrived on the Europeаn markets. As a result, we managed to get our hаnds on their top smartphone: the Xiaomi Mі 4 that comes with Android 4.4.4 preinѕtalled. After playing with it for a few weeks, we are now eager to share with you everything we found. Read this review to learn whether it is worth buyіng or not:

Hardware Specifications & Packaging

The Xiaomi Mi 4 comes in a very simple and minimalistic package. It's a simple cardboard box, with nothing printed on it except the Xiaomi logo. On the bottom of the box you will find some information about its contents, but it's mostly written in chinese, so it's pretty hard to understand what you just bought.

Once you open the package, you immediately see the Xiaomi Mi 4.

Inside the box, under the smartphone, you'll find a charger and its detachable USB cable, a small pin for taking the SIM card out of the smartphone, the warranty and a quick start guide. Unfortunately, even though this is a high-end smartphone, you don't get any headphones.

Xiaomi Mi 4 is available in two versions: a 4G LTE version and a WCDMA version. The model we received in tests is the Mi 4 LTE one. In terms of body colors, this smartphone is available in white or black. As you've seen in the previous pictures, the model we received for testing was the white variant.

Mi 4 uses a beautiful 5 inch IPS LCD display, with a Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and 441 ppi pixel density. In terms of hardware specs, the smartphone is powered by a Snapdragon quad-core processor running at 2.5 GHz, complemented by 3GB of RAM memory and a fast Adreno 330 graphic chip. When it comes to the storage space available, you can opt to buy the Mi 4 with 16GB or 64GB of internal memory. Unfortunately, this device doesn't include a microSD slot, so you'll be stuck with the storage space you get from the start. Mi 4's autonomy is handled by a generous 3080 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery.

The rear camera on the Mi 4 is powered by a 13 megapixels Sony image sensor, has a 6 element lens, flash and high speed focus. The front camera is also powered by a Sony image sensor, but offers a resolution of "only" 8 megapixels.

In terms of connectivity options, you get support for microUSB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0 and wireless networking using the 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac standards, meaning the Mi 4 is able to connect to both 2.4 GHz and 5GHz wireless networks. An interesting addition in connectivity terms is the fact that Xiaomi Mi 4 has an IR (infrared) emitter. That means you can use your smartphone as a remote control for other various devices, like your living room TV.

Xiaomi Mi 4's body is built from aluminium and plastics, but weighs only 140 grams. The smartphone has a width of 68.5 mm, a height of 139.2 mm and is only 8.9 mm thick.

If you'd like to see more details about the specifications of the Xiaomi Mi 4, check its official website: Mi 4 Specs.

The Mi 4 is Xiaomi's flagship smartphone and it has a lot to show off. With a high end 2.5 GHz quad-core CPU, 3GB of RAM memory and a 13 MP camera, the Mi 4 is one of the best Android smartphones on the market. Its hardware will handle with ease any kind of app or game. The only thing we would hold against it is the fact that Xiaomi doesn't include any headphones inside the package.

Design & Build Quality

The Xiaomi Mi 4 looks like a unibody device, but it appears it is not. While it's not easy to remove the back cover, you can if you use a suction cup. The smartphone looks and feels like a premium device. Its rims are made from aluminium and the back is built from high quality plastic. The thin 8.9 mm profile also adds to this feeling.

The power button and volume rocker are both found on the right side of the Xiaomi Mi 4. They are easy to press and their positioning makes it comfortable to use the smartphone even with only one hand. On the other hand, we didn't like that the smartphone doesn't have a dedicated camera button. This would have been a nice addition to a smartphone with such a good camera.

On the bottom of the Mi 4, you'll find three capacitive buttons for Recent Apps, Home and Back. These buttons are small and have a minimalistic design, but they look good and fit nicely on the bezel.

The back of the Xiaomi Mi 4 also looks and feels good. Even if the backplate is made of glossy plastic, its quality is good. Being slightly rounded on the edges and having metal rims, the Mi 4 feels comfortable when you hold it and doesn't give you the impression that it will slip from your hand.

As we mentioned earlier, Xiaomi Mi 4 uses a 5 inches IPS LCD display with a Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution. Because it uses an IPS panel, you get wide viewing angles and natural colors. Then, the high Full HD resolution put together with the 5 inches screen size means you also get a high pixel density (441 ppi). A high pixel density means bright colors, deep blacks, sharp edges and smooth text. The smartphone also benefits from an ambient light sensor, which automatically dims or brightens the display depending on the amount of light around you. You won't have any kind of trouble when using this device outdoors.

Xiaomi Mi 4 is a beautiful smartphone with really good build quality. To mention just a few of its strong points: the display is great both indoors and outdoors, the camera is really fast and takes nice photos and the smartphone's body feels like a premium device.

The Smartphone Experience On Xiaomi Mi 4

Phone conversations on the Xiaomi Mi 4 are of very good quality. In-call sound is clear and loud enough, in all circumstances. Even if you or the person you speak with is in a noisy environment, neither of you will have problems in understanding each other. We also didn't encounter any problems when it comes to the signal reception. That is true even in not so perfect conditions, as we tested Mi 4 in a geographical area where 4G is available, but the signal strength isn't that great.

The audio quality when listening to music or making calls using a headphones set is excellent and the available sound enhancements are really good. However, things are not so great when using the smartphone's internal speaker. Mi 4 doesn't distort any sounds, but the speaker's highest volume levels are quite low and the low frequencies (bass) don't sound too great. It's OK if you use the speaker for phone calls, but not for media playback.

In terms of the operating system, Xiaomi Mi 4 uses Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, but with Xiaomi's own skin - MIUI 5.5.15. But we'll talk more in a later section about the software found on the Mi 4. For now we'll just say that the operating system, even if heavily modified, is very fast and fluid.

Like many other high end smartphones, the Mi 4 doesn't disappoint when it comes to the camera experience. Xiaomi isn't a company that keeps the hardware components a secret and, because of that we know that the main camera on the Mi 4 uses a Sony image sensor. The end result of the powerful hardware and good image sensor is a fast camera and good photographs.

The 3080 mAh battery is also impressive, and in normal use it should be able to keep your smartphone running for more than a day. However, that depends a lot on how you use your smartphone: if you you play lots of games you will have to charge it more than once a day. But we'll see more about its performances, later on, in the benchmarks section of our review.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 4 offers a very good smartphone experience. Phone calls are clear and the signal strength is good even on 4G networks. The smartphone's internal speaker works well for phone conversations but we wouldn't recommend that you use it for media playback. For that, use a headphones set and you won't be disappointed. Also, the operating system is very fast and fluid, and the battery is generous.

The Camera Experience On The Xiaomi Mi 4

The rear, main camera on the Xiaomi Mi 4 has 13 megapixels, it uses a Sony image sensor and is complemented by a LED flash for low light photographs. Mi 4 also offers a front camera with 8 megapixels that is also manufactured by Sony.

The default camera software available on the Xiaomi Mi 4 comes with quite a few features. You will find that this smartphone is capable out-of-the-box of taking pictures using HDR, is able to do burst shootings, it can take panoramic photos and you can also lock the focus of your picture on a subject.

In the gallery below, you can see how photos taken with Xiaomi Mi 4 look. We included some photos taken with Mi 4's main camera outdoors in a bright sunny day, but also indoor pictures, close-up pictures and a few selfies taken with the front camera. Note that for every picture we used the auto settings for the camera, and for the outdoor pictures we also turned on the HDR capabilities.

While the main camera takes very good photos, especially in well lit environments, the front camera is not that great. However, it's 8 megapixels are more than enough for video calls and it's more than decent even when it comes to taking selfies.

When it comes to the video quality, the Xiaomi Mi 4 took us by surprise. The smartphone captures videos in Full HD (1080p at 30fps), but it is also capable of recording videos in 4K (2160p at 30fps) with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and a bitrate of 40 Mbps. The sound you get is stereo and it's captured at a 96 Kbps bit rate.

In order to get a glimpse on how videos look when recording moving objects, check our sample below.

And further on you can see another video, in which we recorded a static panorama using HDR, while moving the phone.

The camera is also able to capture time lapse videos, for which you can also set the shoot interval, and slow motion videos. For an example of how slow motion videos look, check the sample below.

Xiaomi Mi 4 features a great camera. While it might not compare to the cameras other vendors equip their smartphones with, it is still great. Considering that the Xiaomi Mi 4 is a high end smartphone but comes at a better price than its direct competition, we cannot be anything else but satisfied.

Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, MIUI 5.5.15 & Bundled Apps

The Xiaomi Mi 4 we received in tests runs on Android 4.4.4 Kitkat. However, it's not the original Android operating system, but a heavily customized version of it, called MIUI. At the time of our testing, MIUI was on version 5.5.15.

Although it's not the original Android, we must admit we loved how fast and responsive the smartphone feels. Secondly, MIUI really looks great, since beauty was a very high priority for its developers. An interesting difference from what we were used to see on Android devices is that, instead of offering an app drawer, MIUI rather keeps everything on its homescreens. However, in order to organize your things a little, you can always create folders.

Instead of offering Google's native apps, Xiaomi prefers to bundle its own apps. Our test device had everything you need in terms of core apps. It came with its own Mail app, Music app, Camera app, cloud storage app - Mi Cloud, File Explorer and so on. However, even if you cannot remove them, if you don't like any of these apps, you can install your own and then set it as default.

In our opinion, Xiaomi Mi 4 offers a good software experience. It runs on Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, but with the manufacturer's own skin: MIUI 5, which offers a very beautiful and responsive user experience. We love it and we consider it to be a lot better than other custom skins we've seen, such as Samsung's Touchwiz.

Important Things You Should Know Before Buying A Xiaomi Mi 4

Xiaomi is a Chinese manufacturer and its devices are sold mainly on Asian markets. Because China is the main target of the Mi 4, Xiaomi is rather cautious about offering Google services to their clients. By default, Mi 4 uses Xiaomi's own Mi Market instead of the Google Play we're all used to. Furthermore, the apps preinstalled on the smartphone differ from country to country, depending to where Xiaomi sells its device.

Before purchasing a Xiaomi smartphone, double check that it is a variant for European or American markets, not Asian ones. The smartphones that are created for Asian markets have no Google applications preinstalled on them. By that, we really mean nothing: no Google Play, no Gmail, no Google Calendar and no Google Docs. If you plan on buying the Xiaomi Mi 4, be sure to check first if it has Google apps preinstalled.

Performance In Benchmarks

We already know the Xiaomi Mi 4 is a beast when it comes to the hardware it packs inside. But just knowing the specs doesn't mean much, without testing the hardware. So, to get a better idea on how much performance the Mi 4 offers, we ran some benchmarks.

In order to measure how fast the CPU is, we used Vellamo, a popular benchmarking app for Android.

The first test we ran was Vellamo Multicore, which aims to measure the CPU's performance when running multiple tasks at the same time. Xiaomi Mi 4 managed to get 1696 points, which puts it above the Samsung Galaxy S5, but just under HTC's One M8.

Then we wanted to see how well the CPU handles single task operations. This test is especially important, because many apps don't know how to use more than one processor core. Xiaomi Mi 4 got 1586 points in the Vellamo Metal test, which this time around puts it above other flagships such as LG G3, HTC One M8 or Samsung Galaxy S5.

Another important aspect, especially for gamers, is the gaming performance of a smartphone. To test that, we use GFXBench GL Benchmark. The two tests we think are the most relevant from a gaming point of view are Manhattan and T-Rex. We take into consideration only the Offscreen version of them, because that way, the tests are run at a resolution of 1080p, no matter the native resolution of a device.

In the Manhattan test, Xiaomi Mi 4 obtained 706 frames, which puts it on par with Samsung's Galaxy S5.

In the T-Rex test, Xiaomi Mi 4 got 1534 frames. This score shows that the gaming performance offered by Mi 4 is similar to what you'll get from an Apple iPhone 5S or an HTC One M8.

Now that we know how Xiaomi Mi 4 fares in terms of raw power and gaming experience, we wanted to see how well it does in more earthly activities, like browsing the web. To measure its performance in this area, we turned to Vellamo again. Its browser tests measure the performance of a device when it comes to rendering web pages using HTML 5, CSS 3 or running JavaScript. Xiaomi Mi 4 managed to get 4043 points, ranking it higher than an LG G3 or a Samsung Galaxy S3.

Then, we got to our final benchmark, which is testing the autonomy of a device. To do that, we fully charged the battery of the Xiaomi Mi 4, and then we ran the PCMark Work battery life test. The Xiaomi Mi 4 managed to resist for about 9 hours, which is rather impressive.

The Xiaomi Mi 4 is a high end device, and the benchmarking tests confirm this statement. The smartphone has no trouble whatsoever at handling even the most demanding tasks you throw at it.

Verdict

The Mi 4 is the flagship of the chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi. It's a device with very strong hardware, good design and good build quality. The custom Android flavor - MIUI - is also a fine tuned user interface that is both beautiful and simple to use. If you also take into consideration that it's price is lower than its direct competitors with similar hardware and features, you can't but think that this is a very good buy. We really like the Xiaomi Mi 4, and we recommend it to everyone. However, if you don't live in China or other close Asian country, you should make sure you buy a model that includes Google Apps.

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