Xiaomi is undoubtedly what can be defined as a rising brand
, going from being a foreign brand to most people to being a brand known for
two key values: honest prices and excellent performance .
In fact, in recent years Xiaomi has been able to assert
itself by presenting high quality devices able to compete head to head with the
most well-known brands on multiple price ranges from entry level to top of the
range .
Despite having always kept prices lower than the
competition, the Chinese company has always been able to keep the quality and
performance level of their devices high, giving other brands on the market a
lot of trouble and also carving out a large slice of loyal users.
About a year and a
half ago Xiaomi presented the excellent Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphone , a device that
certainly did not shine for a particular aesthetic as could happen then with a
Mi Mix of the same brand, but which had been able to offer a choice at the same
time economic and at the same time efficient to that base of users who did not
want or could not address the costs of the higher brackets.
The success of Xiaomi Mi A1 was enormous , reaching the
title of one of the best-selling devices on Amazon and among the most
recommended on the Android forums as a quality / price ratio.
On the strength of this success, Xiaomi has seen fit to
update their "A" series with a new device while maintaining the same
affordable price and the same excellent quality that had characterized the
predecessor.
Thus was born Xiaomi
Mi A2 , the new best buy smartphone offered by the Xiaomi giant that would like
to be on a par with the quality of its lucky predecessor .
Will it live up to expectations? Let's find out together
during this review.
Packaging and unboxing
On the line taken in the past with its Mi A1, Xiaomi Mi A2
also comes to the user in a rather simple and not very elaborate packaging ,
such as those that can be found for Mi or Mi Mix 2S, with an opening system
that recalls the one also adopted by Apple with its iPhones.
The white packaging shows on the front an image of the
device and the model name , while on the back of the packaging you can observe,
as expected, the key technical specifications of the product such as the size
of the storage, the mounted ram and all the rest of the usual copyright notices
relating to the product.
Nothing too elegantsince it is basically a budget phone.
Inside the package we
obviously find the device , a battery charger ( 5V 2A ) with a one meter USB
Type C cable , a silicone cover , a Type C / Jack 3.5mm adapter and the basic
manuals .
The addition of a
smoky gray silicone cover , absent in the previous Mi A1, is pleasant , a small
" tribute " that has now become a habit for other manufacturers.
We will see later that this small cover will be more
necessary than expected for some design reasons not too well chosen .
The aforementioned adapter, however, immediately brings to
light one of the things we did not appreciate about Mi A2, namely the absence
of the 3.5mm Jack , an element now rare in the top of the range but generally
preserved in this price range .
A real shame .
Technical
specifications of the device
The technical specifications of this Xiaomi Mi A2 are well
in line with the price of around € 200, offering similarly to the predecessor a
rather balanced and efficient solution at a competitive price.
Obviously, one should not think of being in front of a
top-of-the-range device but certainly the hardware on board this Mi A2 is a
solid choice for an " ordinary " phone .
To strengthen the stability of the device, in addition to
the balanced hardware sector , the Android One software that was already
present in the Mi A1 predecessor also contributes.
This OS, which we will see better later, offers a “stock”
experience of the Android ecosystem without burdening the device with useless
bloatware which only worsens performance.
Reading this data sheet, 3 big shortcomings in this device
obviously jump to the eye : the audio jack , NFC connectivity and the Micro SD
slot .
The lack of NFC connectivity, a useful tool that allows you
to take advantage of digital payment applications ( such as Google Pay ), to
associate multimedia devices and headphones without having to make complicated
combinations or to communicate with smart devices, is an insignificant flaw for
some but potentially discriminatory for more demanding users .
On the other hand, the inability to expand the system memory
with a Micro SD is very negative, forcing the user to use " only "
the on-board memory.
The SIM cart , usually used in a dual way for both a second
SIM card and a microSD card ( depending on the user's choice ) in this case
will only accommodate the SIM cards .
A bad step back from Mi A1 that we would not have wanted to
find on a device like this.
AESTHETICS
If with Xiaomi Mi A1 the design had been declared to be all
too similar to an iPhone 7 Plus , the same cannot certainly be said of Mi A2
even if despite the improvements and changes made, it certainly does not shine
for being a truly innovative device in terms of design. .
In fact, the device offers a thin matt aluminum monocoque (
in our specific case of a pleasant dark gray ) with a large 5.99 ”front display
protected by Corning Gorilla Class 5 to make a greater difference than in the
past.
The 18: 9 aspect ratio without notch makes the Mi A2 look
visuallyvery elegant thanks to a rather clean front .
The edges have been
greatly reduced compared to the past , allowing in fact to insert a generously
sized screen while still maintaining a rather small format , even if for the
choice of design " without notch " the increased upper and lower
bands still persist as in past devices.
Personally, not being lovers of the notch, we liked this
design choice a little against the trend compared to the fashion launched by
the iPhone X.
Despite the " bars " the screen of Mi A2 offers
77.4% of screen-to-body -ratio and thanks torounded corners of the display the
final effect is decidedly clean and modern .
Above the screen , in
a central position, we find a thin speaker , which obviously houses the primary
ear capsule .
To the left of the ear capsule there are the 20 Mp front
camera and the proximity and ambient light sensors while on the right we find a
convenient LED flash and a small notification LED ( unfortunately set on a
white monochromatic solution instead of a more convenient RGB setting ).
The whole front of
the device offers quality protection thanks to the excellent Corning Gorilla
Glass 5 which should ( theoretically ) offer greater resistance to scratches
and bumps than normal glass.
The back of Mi A2 lacks instead of little originality ,
inevitably getting lost in the middle of the large array of phones with the same
design .
However, it is not bad, it still appears as a well-made and
"premium" device , but this design solution is perhaps now too
exploited in the smartphone world.
In addition to the
common aluminum monocoque we find the camera block at the top left , the
fingerprint detector at the top center , and the MI and Android One logos at
the bottom center .
The camera block ( which houses the two SONY lenses and a
double dual-tone LED flash ), although following the trend launched by the
iPhone X, protrudes a little too much from the back of the device, making it
necessary to use a cover in order to make it less " pebbly " ”The
device when you place it on a flat surface .
The same cover will
then be essential to remedy the slipperiness of the body itself , a problem
common to all smooth aluminum devices .
Even if the pebble due to the camera will persist undeterred
( even if reduced ), the use of the cover supplied in the package will
significantly improve the grip of the device , thus avoiding accidental falls.
On the side edges of the device we find: a classic volume
bar and the power button on the right side ( which offer a good pressure feed
despite the reduced profile ), the aforementioned USB Type C port and two grids
for microphone and speaker respectively on the side bottom, the trolley for the
SIMs at the top on the left side and finally environmental microphone and IR
Blaster to conclude everything on the upper side.
The result obtained
with the thickness of the device is praiseworthy, which with only 7.3mm of
maximum height is easily placed in the middle of the thinnest devices on the
market .
Even the weight of the device, equal to 166g , although not
the lightest on the square, confirms an excellent compromise between usability
and solidity .
Xiaomi Mi A2 therefore brings some innovation from the
aesthetic side compared to its predecessor, but in some ways it continues to
get lost in the midst of numerous other Android devices .
However, the good feel offered by both the materials and the
balanced weight that give it a good feeling of " consistency " and
solidity remains commendable .
The elegant design , especially for the price range at which
it can be purchased, makes Mi A2 a real Xiaomi “jewel” .
Display
As we had already mentioned, Mi A2 boasts a large 5.99 ″
display with a resolution of 2160 × 1080 ( Full HD + ) which occupies 77.3% of
the front of the device using a modern 18: 9 format and elegant rounded corners
.
Nothing to highlight about the panel technology that remains
a " classic " IPS LCD solution that can be found on other devices of
the company and in many other devices of the same market segment .
Since this is an IPS
panel, we should not therefore expect the bright and bright colors of an AMOLED
panel but rather a palette more similar to reality with colors that are more
washed out but also more natural .
The color rendering of this panel, however, unlike a
high-end IPS LCD such as the one found for example on the iPhone XR, does not
have the right color fidelity that should instead be expected from the use of
this technology .
The colors tend to be too cold and tending to a blue tint
probably due tonot a very good choice of the backlight system .
Furthermore, unlike some Huawei's mid-range devices, there
is no integrated possibility in the Android One system to adjust the
temperature, range and colors of the display and Xiaomi has unfortunately not
solved the problem with a special app.
Removed the
unpleasant color change, the details on the screen are extremely sharp, with a
good definition of the characters and images on the screen , obviously thanks
to the high pixel density of 403 ppi and a preset setting of the display for a
high level of sharpness. image .
Even by setting very small fonts on the screen, they
remained perfectly legible with a result comparable to higher-end devices .
The brightness of the display is good but not excellent ,
unfortunately not high enough to allow optimal use in direct sunlight .
In fact, at this juncture, although it was still possible to
use the phone , the user experience became very tiring for the eyes , an aspect
unfortunately accentuated by the high reflectance of the Gorilla Glass placed
to protect the front panel.
On the other hand,
when used in environments with regulated brightness or in environments with
reduced brightness, the display is instead much more enjoyable also for the
pleasant characteristic of being able to greatly reduce the brightness thus
allowing optimal use during the night .
As expected from the use of In Plane Switching technology,
Xiaomi Mi A2 offers good viewing angles both horizontally and vertically with a
good maintenance of brightness and color fidelity even at high angles almost
parallel to the display.
The display therefore, although pleasant in a general sense
, is not the best available , it does its job offering clear and well-reported
images but shows the side of a poorly maintained chromatic fidelity and a
rather problematic visibility in the sun .
For the cost of the
device , which we remember is around € 200 , it should however be emphasized
that it is still an above average endowment able to offer an excellent overall
user experience, especially when compared with other competitors of its price
range.
Nothing to say instead on the aesthetic side of the display
, as we have already pointed out previously in fact this large screen with
reduced frames gives a very "modern" look to the device that we
really liked ( also perhaps due to the absence of the annoying upper notch ).
Performance
Xiaomi Mi A2 follows the quality of Mi A1 or stands as the
best choice in terms of performance when compared to many of the competitors in
the same price range ( or even a little higher ).
The mounted processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 to 64-bit
( 4 Kryo 260 at 2.2 GHz + 4 Kryo 260 to 1.8 GHz ) paired with 4 GB or 6 GB of
memory RAM , a combination that does not shout obviously the miracle but
perfectly capable to offer a solid performance in a device like this.
We were surprised at how pleasant it turned out to be using
this device , with a fluidity and responsiveness that one would expect from
much more expensive devices .
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