Smartphones Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3 - advantages and disadvantages

On May 2, in Beijing, the official presentation of a new line of youth smartphones - Mi CC, which included three new items - the standard Xiaomi Mi CC9, the more compact CC9e and the CC9e Meitu Edition - a special edition, took place. The line was created in collaboration with Meitu.

The article will focus on Xiaomi Mi CC9e. The smartphone also entered the European market, but with minor changes. Xiaomi decided to change the name of its novelty for the European market, so on July 17 in Madrid the device was presented as Xiaomi Mi A3.

In the review, we will talk about the features, functionality, performance, advantages and disadvantages of Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3. And also we will make a comparative characteristic with their "big brother" in terms of technical capabilities - Xiaomi Mi CC9.

Differences between Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3

The official presentation showed that Xiaomi Mi CC9e was changed only in three points:

1. Name. As mentioned above, the smartphone was renamed Xiaomi Mi A3.
2. Operating system. Mi A3, unlike Mi CC9e, will run on pure Android One, without the proprietary MIUI shell.
3. Memory. Mi CC9e provides 3 options - these are 4 + 64 GB, 6 + 64 GB and 6 + 128 GB. And Mi A3 - 4 + 64 GB and 4 + 128 GB.

Meaning of "SS"

Decoding "SS" has many options, here are some of them:

• Colorful & Creative, which means colorful and creative;
• Crush & Crush - crush and crush. Which most likely means "crushing" your rivals;
• Change & Carry on - change and continue;
• Camera & Camera - camera and camera;
• Camera & Click - camera and click;
• Cheer & Celebrate - cheers and celebrate;
• Chic & Cool 90 is a young development team that designed the smartphone.

Comparison table with parameters and specifications of Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3 with Mi CC9

Review of smartphones Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3

Equipment

In addition to the smartphone, the box contains:

• silicone transparent case;
• charging cable (medium cord length)
• charging block;
• warranty card;
• User's Manual;
• metal clip in an envelope.

Design

As mentioned above, the young Chic & Cool 90 team handled the design. The devices are available in black (Black Prince), white (Romantic White) and blue (Blue Planet). And if the black version is a “classic” of smartphones with an unremarkable design, then the blue and white versions have just a magical holographic color with a 3D effect that shimmers in the sun and under artificial light. Romantic white resembles a snowy surface, where light is refracted at different angles. And the "Blue Planet" is distinguished by a wave-like pattern that shimmers in the light, like moonlight in the ocean.

The case of the devices is made of glass, most likely, an oleophobic coating is used, since there are practically no fingerprints on the white case. The unusual decision of the developers touched the company logo, which is located at the bottom left, on the rear panel. The logo has an LED backlight that flashes and changes color to the beat of the music being played. How practical this solution will be is unknown, but it looks really nice. In addition to the company logo, on the back panel at the top left, there is a triple main camera module, below the LED flash.

The front camera is installed in a waterdrop notch at the top in the middle of the screen. Above it is a light sensor, proximity and a speaker. The volume rocker and the power button are on the right side, on the left there is a slot for a SIM card and a memory card. At the bottom there is a 3.5 mm audio jack, a spoken microphone, a USB Type-C connector and a multimedia speaker grille. Unlocking is performed using the seventh generation fingerprint sensor built into the screen. The fingerprint sensor with a pixel size of 7.2 microns has high accuracy and light sensitivity, a large scanning area and good unlocking speed.

The phones also support screen unlocking with face recognition.

Display

Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Mi A3 have a capacitive Super AMOLED display. The resolution is 720 by 1560 pixels, the diagonal is 6.01 inches, the aspect ratio is 19.5:9, and the pixel density per inch is 286. The usable screen area is 80.3% or 88.7 cm2. It is extremely unusual to see such a small display against the backdrop of fashion giants. But this is not surprising, because Mi CC9e and Mi A3 are a compact version of Mi CC9. The display is protected from chips and scratches by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

CPU

Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Mi A3 have a fairly powerful and reliable processor - Qualcomm SDM665 Snapdragon 665 with 11 nanometer process technology. The chipset is powered by eight Kryo 260 cores with a maximum clock speed of 2.2 GHz: four high-performance ARM Cortex-A73 cores (2.0 GHz) and four energy-efficient Cortex-A53 (1.8 GHz). Adreno 610 is responsible for graphics and artificial intelligence calculations, which supports Vulcan 1.1. The smartphone also runs the Hexagon 68 Neural Processor and the Spectra 165 Signal Processor (ISP).

The fast processor and graphics chip create good conditions for both fast daily tasks and gamers. Also improves graphics performance and gameplay, Game Turbo 2.0 and Game Mode.

Interface

Mi CC9e runs on the Android 9.0 Pie operating system with the addition of a proprietary MIUI 10 shell.
MIUI 10 Features:

• Safe backup of data, messages, photos, videos, files;
• Using a smartphone as a remote control for electronic equipment;
• Large selection of necessary, system applications;
• Second workspace;
• Creating a dual account;
• File manager to simplify the work with moving, copying, deleting, formatting and storing files;
• Mi Drop - provides fast data transfer without the Internet between devices running on Android;
• Quick application launch;
• Beautiful design;
• Easily interact with your smartphone using full-screen gestures.

Mi A3, as mentioned above, runs on pure Android 9 Pie, without a proprietary shell.

Memory

Mi CC9e is presented in three versions:

• 4 GB RAM + 64 GB internal memory;
• 6GB + 64GB;
• 6 GB + 128 GB.

And Mi A3 can be bought in two versions:

• 4 GB + 64 GB;
• 4 GB + 128 GB.

Both phones support UFS 2.1 version.

How much do new items cost?

Xiaomi Mi CC9e

• Modification 4 GB + 64 GB - about $ 202;
• 6GB + 64GB variant – about $219;
• 6GB + 128GB - about $239.

Xiaomi Mi A3

• The 4GB + 64GB version will cost $279;
• And 4 GB + 128 GB - $ 313.

The maximum possible memory expansion with a memory card is 256 GB.

Photo opportunities

rear camera

The main camera consists of three modules:

1. The first, a wide lens, with a Sony IMX586 sensor has a resolution of 48 megapixels (8000 by 6000 pixels). The aperture is f/1.8, the sensor size is ½ and the pixel size is 0.8 micrometers.
2. The second, an ultra-wide lens with a 120-degree field of view, has an 8MP resolution, f/2.2 aperture, and a 1.12 micrometer pixel size.
3. The third module is a 2MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture.

Camera Features:

• Slow motion, 960fps and HDR;
• Super night mode and scene recognition;
• Bokeh portrait mode, LED flash and panorama;
• Face beauty mode and professional shooting;
• A Quad Bayer filter that improves image quality in low light by combining filters.

Front-camera

The camera is represented by a resolution of 32 megapixels, f / 2.0 aperture and a pixel size of 0.8 micrometers. The selfie camera is the highlight of the CC line, which has a special image algorithm. The quality of the photos is amazing: high detail, excellent brightness and color reproduction. There are many "goodies" to improve the quality of photos, as well as a large number of tools for editing them.

The camera also takes excellent photos at night, which is also helped by the Quad Bayer filter, which combines 4 pixels into one large one. Users can use Mimoj's 3D animated feature to create animated characters by choosing accessories, faces and hairstyles.

autonomy

The CC9e and Mi A3 both boast good battery life. The smartphones have a non-removable lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 4030 mAh. This capacity will be enough:

• for active games for more than 5 hours;
• 10 hour video viewing;
• 9 hour active use;
• 30 hour talk time.

Supports fast 18W charging, which will quickly return the device to "service". The package includes a 10W charger.

Advantages and disadvantages of Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3

• compact and convenient device;
• productive, nimble processor and graphics chipset, whose power is enough for demanding games;
• very beautiful back panel of blue and white smartphones;
• an interesting solution in the form of a luminous logo;
• 7th generation fingerprint sensor built into the screen;
• face recognition function;
• display protection with Corning Gorilla Glass 5;
• MIUI 10 proprietary shell in the Mi CC9e version;
• modification of models with different memory;
• the possibility of increasing the amount of memory;
• excellent photo capabilities of the front and main cameras;
• high level of autonomy.

• No NFC module.

Conclusion

Having paid from 219 to 313 dollars, you get a smartphone with high quality photos and videos, good autonomy, functionality and performance.