Xiaomi is leading the Android One program, which provides a stock Android experience with the Mi A1 and Mi A2. We believe both smartphones have an impressive price segment. The most noteworthy part about it was the camera at that time.
Considering the processor of the smartphone, we are going to see the latest offering from Xiaomi MI A3. Not to mention, this device is used to sell in the budget segment. Honestly, the device seems promising and is going to impress you as well. Meanwhile, we are also keeping the lowest benchmark for the budget segment in mind.
Xiaomi Mi A3 Android One Smartphone Review with Pros, Cons, and Everything Else!!
Let’s see if this device could stand up and be worth buying as a smartphone or not. So, let’s find out what the device holds in today’s review of the Xiaomi Mi A3. This is one of the most competitive price segments. We already have smartphones such as the Redmi Note 7 Pro and Vivo Z1 Pro. Thing
Here are some quick specs for your reference. This Mi A3 is an Android One smartphone that comes with a Snapdragon 665 SoC (Octa-Core, 11 nm Process). It comes with a 6.08-inch super-MOLED display with a waterdrop-notch display. The SOC is huge, with 4/64GB and 6/128GB variants.
The device has a triple-camera setup alongside the front camera. The device is equipped with a 4030mAh battery bundled with a 10W charging adapter with USB Type-C Wired. Even though it has a flash-in-display fingerprint sensor, here are the full specifications.
Design
The design of the display is quite similar to today’s smartphones, and there are major improvements compared to its predecessor. The device is built using a metal frame and glass design. To protect the glass on the front and rear, it is well protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Make the device look like a premium-offering device.
First of all, the device is not premium. While hands-on, you are going to feel the device is cheap. The design pattern changes while changing the reflection angles concerning light, despite not having a polycarbonate panel. However, once I got used to the device, it looked quite mesmerising.
Because of this design, the device makes a difference from other devices in similar price segments. Here is one popular quote that says, “The First Impression is Not the Last.” The curved edges around the side of the display make holding the device comfortable.
They pack the screen with a narrow bezel, except for the chin at the bottom. Which to me seems a bit bigger compared to other devices in this price segment. Even though it has a waterdrop notch at the top of the display, it packs a front camera inside it.
The bottom part of the device is equipped with a single speaker rim, right next to the USB Type-C port. If you think about secondary grills, they’re just gimmicky. It’s more for a more symmetric design. For the reason that it has a single speaker, you would not have to compromise due to its pretty loud bottom-firing speaker.
The earpiece on this device is better compared to other Redmi devices. The quality is property-clear and premium-loud.
Furthermore, you also have a 3.5mm audio jack at the top. It makes a scene for budget-segment devices. It was removed from Mi A2 for no reason, but yeah, we appreciate that it’s back in this series. There were a lot of different opinions because we all know that the future is Bluetooth headphones. Either wired headphones are still worth it most.
Display
Nowadays, smartphones come with a super-large display size but with a very compact design. They fit easily and are usable with one hand. It comes with a 6.08-inch super-AMOLED display. In this price segment, determine the device’s worth and set a new benchmark at this price point.
However, the screen resolution is just 720p. Dealbreaker for a Potential Buyer because you are going to Face a Problem Regarding Pixelation. Additionally, sunlight visibility is average. Screen colour output is slightly boosted, which you are not going to like because its density is less than 00 ppi. If we compare the Redmi Note 7 at the same price, even though it doesn’t offer a super-AMOLED display, it offers a full HD resolution.
The thing is that at this price segment, most of the devices are offering a full HD resolution, so the tradeoff between super-AMOLED and 720p resolution doesn’t feel like a good offer.
In contrast, if the device has an AMOLED display, then it makes sense to use the current trend for devices featuring a flash-in-display fingerprint sensor. Yeah, the device’s in-display fingerprint sensor is slow and not up to standard. Considering the use of an AMOLED display panel on this device, it is pretty much useless.
It might give a temporary premium feel to the device, considering the screen resolution and a gimmicky fingerprint sensor. In this case, Xiaomi should bring an LCD panel instead of a SAMOLED panel. It also has Face-Unlock, but we recommend using a fingerprint. It is not as secure as you might think because it still uses a camera sensor and does not have a dedicated face-unlock recognition sensor.
Camera
From the beginning, the device camera was one of the highlighted parts. People nowadays love to capture images directly from their smartphone cameras. We seem to have a large pixel count and are slowly replacing digital cameras. Make the point that a lot of buyers judge their phones based on their camera performance.
At this price, the Xiaomi Mi A3 allows you to capture well-quality images but is not exactly mind-blowing. There is a triple rear camera setup housing a 48MP primary Sony IMX586 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. The rear camera doesn’t have inaccessibility and provides you with natural-looking photos.
Moreover, the viewing experience is enjoyable and Instagram-ready. That is because the rear camera emphasises a lot of uncertain colours in an image. Almost the rear camera can capture a range of colours and light, further complementing the device’s display, which is a super-AMOLED panel.
Under the Hood, the viewed images on LCD and AMOLED look different, but we tested things out on our PC. Surprisingly, the same camera sensor from the Redmi Note 7 and Mi A3 makes the Note 7 look better, and charging because of the light captured by the Note 7 is faster. In comparison to the Mi A3 Note 7, it resembles the actual scenario, where the Mi A3 captures darker. Even in portrait mode, the Note 7 Bro leads with decent edge detection and a lighter and blurrier effect.
Also, it has a wide-angle lens to capture images more easily when you need them. Generally, the wide angle is good for what it offers. There is a 48MP Ultra Mode to use the full capability of the primary sensor. If you are using 48MP, then definitely the size will be bigger because it stores a lot of details. Still, normal mode has done its job.
During low-light conditions, the Mi A3 struggles to capture details in low light. Not for the 32MP selfie sensor, which captures fine images alongside portrait images. Selfie is much better than Note 7 and MIUI Camera UI using its Beauty Mode, with much more offering better image algorithms for capturing photos. Certainly, taking macro shots was slow to focus and occasionally required making some distance from the subject to lock in focus.
Performance
This device meets our expectations for smooth translation due to its stock Android UI. The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC, which is okay for general use of a smartphone. Where PUBG runs on balance and is not high, you can’t change the frame rate in the settings.
Still, you can run PUBG just as fine and stable with the settings. While gaming, it only gets slightly warm, but it is common. There is no case for overheating. The chipset is based on an 11nm FinFET and has 4x Kryo 260 cores clocked at 2GHz alongside 4x Kryo 2530 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. Where the SOC is coupled with 4/6GB of RAM and 64/128GB of UFS 2.1 storage.
The benchmark results out there Mi A3 achieved a 141,132 score on AnTuTu, where single-core and multi-core tests gave us 1,504 and 5,386 points on Geekbench. Moreover, it also managed to achieve 51 fps and 13 fps in GFXBench T-Rex and CarChase, respectively.
Battery
To power the device, it packs a massive 4000mAh battery using a USB Type-C Wired Charger. Which can’t hold a single day, meaning you have to charge your device twice a day. Even though it doesn’t offer a fast charger bundled in the box, it supports 18W charging. The device takes 2 hours to charge with the charger bundled in the box.
The device runs on Android 9.0 Pie under the Android One program. Experience bloatware-free, but the custom Xiaomi apps might be an issue for some potential buyers. But it is so close to the Pixel and has almost a clean UI. This device also comes with a physical white LED notification light, which you only see nowadays on Xiaomi devices.
The network reception on this device is far better than most smartphones nowadays. It comes in a top-tier package like a flagship, and with a low network, you can make voice calls without any worries.