Smartphone Xiaomi Mi Play: advantages and disadvantages

Chinese manufacturers have long won the label of pioneers in the world of electronics. And with the entry of well-known brands to the world market, the percentage of defective goods from China immediately decreased. However, even their engineers can't always see at a glance a future-favorite design feature like a waterdrop notch for the camera. The Xiaomi Mi Play smartphone, the advantages and disadvantages of which will be discussed in this review, is the first of the entire Xiaomi line to receive this fashionable feature.

Stylish and affordable

It's no secret that the budget and mid-price segment is very important for Xiaomi, where they have really good developments. At the same time, the development of unique design and technology speaks to the company's desire to gain the support of young people. However, this is clearly seen in the latest models and even their advertising (which is mostly young people).On December 24, 2018, Mi Play was officially presented, and after some time the first images of the novelty appeared.

Design

Xiaomi is doing its best to catch up with its closest competitor - Huawei, known for its interesting design solutions. Therefore, when creating Mi Play, a shell was actively developed that could attract the attention of buyers.

The back part has not changed much, remaining familiar to the latest Xiaomi phones. In the upper left corner there is a vertical dual camera and a flash, a little to the right and below there is a fingerprint scanner, below it, almost at the very bottom, there is a company logo highlighted in white. The power and volume buttons are located on one end on the left.

The news about the colors will delight fans of the company. So, it was originally planned to release the model in one color, but now it is available in three colors - Black, Dream Blue and Dawn Gold, with "blue" and "gold" gradient. All three options look very worthy, and therefore buyers will be able to choose a model to their liking.

In front, the drop-shaped cutout of the front camera is immediately striking, which replaced the very ambiguous “eyebrow” and is located in the middle of the top. This innovation looks good and does not spoil the impression of the device.

The decision to leave the 3.5mm jack seems quite interesting, especially given the desire of Chinese engineers for everything new and wireless.

Narrow bezels, handy size, stylish design with the now popular glass cover and bright gradient coloring show exactly who this smartphone is aimed at.And if we take into account the productive iron and the affordable price (which in China is approximately 11,000 rubles), we can safely say that the new product has a good chance of success.

Technical specifications

cameras

The popularity of Xiaomi models is undeniable. However, if the key selection criteria are the rear and front cameras, it is better to look at more expensive options than Mi Play. Equipped with dual sensors of 12 and 5 megapixels, the device can boast a good picture in good light. However, the use of zoom or tests, like photographing at night, the device is unlikely to pass perfectly. The same goes for the 8 MP selfie camera, which by today's standards is already insufficient for good photos. True, given the positioning of the model as an inexpensive but productive smartphone, these characteristics can be called very good.Video recording will take place in 1080p at a frame rate of 30 fps, HDR is present, perhaps it is thanks to him that the pictures will look more realistic without highlights and blackouts.

The Secret of Play

Advertising plays a very important role in the sale of any product. It's no secret that sometimes marketers resort to very simple but effective methods. One of them is adding the “correct” prefix to the name that can attract the attention of buyers. So, analyzing the rating of high-quality devices at an affordable price, a person will definitely be interested in the word “Play”, especially if the phone for games is a priority. Below we will try to understand what is hidden behind the novelty - a publicity stunt or a really powerful stuffing.

Performance

When creating a smartphone for young people, we must not forget about power. After all, they are looking for a smart device that can handle modern applications. And here, Xiaomi engineers did everything right - they did not deceive the expectations of the public and equipped the smartphone with a brand new (and not expensive compared to Qualcomm Snapdragon) MediaTek processor with a Helio P35 chip. Eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores (4×2.3 GHz Cortex-A53 and 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A53) coupled with IMG PowerVR GE8320 energy-efficient graphics can handle most tasks and pull the latest in the gaming industry. And the optimal value of 4 GB of RAM with 64 GB of storage will allow you to achieve good performance and not overpay for unnecessary features, because most games will run on medium graphics settings.

storage

Each person is individual - someone cares about the amount of RAM, someone has a place to store data, others do both. And here Xiaomi acted very democratically, giving customers three options to choose from:

• 4/64 GB for $160;
• 6/64 GB for $190;
• 6/128 GB for $

It is also already known that users will be able to increase the storage through SD-cards up to 256 GB. A rather important point, because more and more manufacturers are refusing such a solution, while the smartphone supports dual sim (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by).

Operating system

Recently, more and more people are paying attention to the stock version of Android, because no one wants to use outdated technologies. However, in the case of Mi Play, you should not be afraid of the “native” Android 8.1 Oreo OS – Xiaomi has a very good policy regarding this issue and regularly releases updates even for older devices, to say nothing of the novelty. It is also worth considering that the proprietary MIUI shell is on top of the OS.

Screen

There are no particular problems with this item - the device has a 5.84-inch display (the usable area is 80.1%) with an aspect ratio of 19:9 (convenient for watching videos and in everyday life), a nice IPS LCD matrix and supports a resolution of 2280 × 1080 pixels (Full HD+). A pleasant surprise will be the installed protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass, which will avoid trouble, since replacing a broken screen in budget models is often a large percentage of the original cost. The only question is the maximum brightness, as well as contrast in the sun, but so far there is no information about this.

autonomy

If for most smartphones from the best electronics manufacturers, battery life is an important, but not the main aspect, then for a phone with a hint of digital entertainment, this is almost the main characteristic. Here, the desire to reduce the cost is clearly visible - having equipped the device with good hardware, Xiaomi seems to have decided to save on battery capacity.So, a 3000 mAh battery is responsible for power, but how many hours it will last for active games is an open question.

Technologies, communication standards, dimensions

You should definitely not expect something supernatural (for example, NFC), but all the necessary functions are present.

• Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v5.0, LTE (Cat-7 DL / Cat-13 UL) with Dual 4G VoLTE mode;
• Navigation: A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS;
• Network and Internet: GSM, CDMA, HSPA, LTE;
• Sensors: Fingerprint (rear), accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, compass, charging 5V/2A 10W;
• Optional: microUSB 2.0, USB On-The-Go, Jack 3.5;
• Dimensions: 147.76x71.89x7.8 mm. Weight - 150 grams.

Results

After getting acquainted with Xiaomi Mi Play, there are some incomprehensible and ambiguous sensations. On the one hand, there is powerful hardware, which looks like a very attractive option to get for such money. On the other hand, a mediocre camera and a short battery life spoil the impression. There are thoughts that the price of the device is fully justified and made up by a compromise between cost and quality.

• Design;
• The right to choose (colors, amount of RAM, ROM);
• Power;
• Price;
• Support for external flash memory.

• autonomy;
• Cameras.

Xiaomi's attention to the budget segment is very commendable, especially considering that the company really has something to offer, and the new Mi Play could be a great start for a whole line of youth smartphones. Moreover, if we take into account the fact that many people almost always have a power bank at hand, one of the main disadvantages disappears by itself.And the attractive price obtained by using cheaper processors from Mediatek and other compromises in production without significant loss in quality, as well as a successful advertising campaign, will definitely attract the attention of the public.