Xiaomi Mi A1 review: the perfect budget phone?

The Xiaomi Mi A1 brings stock Android to an affordable Xiaomi phone via Android One. But what's it like? Find out in our full Xiaomi Mi A1 review!

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[Kyranio]

Ah yes, the delightful IR blaster, for messing with public television screens on conventions or events...
The dumb faces people make when you're being so damn childish with it. Amazing.

[titan]

*Why other companies don't make phones and release it with Android stock, pure Android?*
*Phone companies should offer 2 options for their phones, one with Android stock and other with their Android modifications.*

[AbhijitBiswasDBZ]

I own this phone and I'm from India so I'd like to add some info....

1. Display: The display is fantastic with insanely good contrast and colours, however like with the Pixel phones, this one is calibrated to sRBG and not the DCI-P3 color gamut and hence the colours don't feel that great, but it's just as good as Xiaomi displays are, and trust me, if you don't know this, Xiaomi provides one of the best displays on phones.

2 Camera: The camera on this phone is amazing in day light and the portrait mode is flagship level good but the portrait mode works only in decent lighting, the app lets you now about that. The app has very good manual controls too including ISO and shutter speed.

3Low Light: The night time and low light camera performance is quite bad but mostly coz the phone doesn't have auto HDR, using HDR, or the built-in low light mode turns out very good pics, infact using the manual controls you can change the ISO and shutter speed to get fantastic results. You'll suddenly see much better pics than you'd expect.

So yes, the phone is good and the camera needs a bit of know how to get great results.
Using the Google Camera works too, to an extent.

[MrWazzup]

Love this phone. Value for money.
No need to spend more than ₹15k /250 dollars to get a good phone.

[bugdroid]

I love that more and more OEMs are making stock Android devices. Lenovo and Xiaomi make some nicely speced devices, it's cool to see more stock Android.

[biryanibeatsnbike]

This is my first non motorola phone in over 6yrs and I'm pleasantly surprised at how good this phone has been. Bought it the first day it was launched here in india. Amazing battery life for its capacity.

[nimeshthakur]

he said the price in Indian rupees also
love from india to android authority

[MacJunkyFlips]

what people need to realize is this is a 200 DOLLAR PHONE! this thing is amazing for the price! i hate seeing all these apple fanboys comparing this thing to the latest iPhone. its like comparing a Ferrari to a Camry.

[hardiancandra]

Created By Xiaomi
Powered By Google
Design By Apple in California

[Sebastian-kdus]

If I'm a kiddo and I don't use any kind of payment method.
The no NFC isn't a problem for me?

[wpymes]

I wanted a budget phone and got me a RedmiNote 4 Global Version. Sacrificed camera but got a great battery life w 4000mAh. And until now MIUI 8.5 is a fantastic experience. Two great choices in the mid range from Xiaomi.

[hugoprh]

Pretty happy with my Mi A1, got the ported Google Camera HDR+ running on it and low light pics are much better, now it's perfect 👍

[TrojanThugMusic]

Great phone. But, after having mine for about 9 months. There's like a burn mark under the screen, near the volume button. It's like a yellowy colour & is now irritating me cos I know it's there!
It can only be seen with a bright background, so YouTube and Facebook - it's there!

[ChiekoGamers]

Most reviews about the Mi A1 is the hifi dac which is really rare for budget phones.

[Ghotra]

Yess, it is. Almost using for 1 month.. no issues.. super smooth stock android.. sound quality is damn good in big headphones. No need of external amplifier...

[huguan]

Xiaomi mi a1 made in - India, China and Indonesia.

Smart move by xiaomi to gain support and customer from these 3 country. Totally huge market.

China - 1.3 billion people
India - 1.3 billion
Indonesia - 350 million

Xiaomi will take apple place in 3rd largest manufacturer and world market by next year.

2018
1 Samsung
2 Huawei
3 Xiaomi
4 Apple

[hidenproductions]

Definitely the best budget device.
I have a suggestion for all tech youtubers when it comes to camera: Instead of criticizing the cameras on budget phones, give the average user useful tips on how to get the best quality out of them. The way to go is manual controls, and a basic tripod. This way for a minute of effort, your low light photos will look like they have come out of high end phone. For instance I use the Lenovo P2, and the difference between low light photos taken on auto and manual is ironically "day and night". Try this, and you will be surprised how good your $200 phone can be at taking photos in low light.

[oaba]

I own a zenfone 3 as my secondary phone. It uses the 625 as well. The battery life is just expect the battery life on this phone to be exceptional....

[trialsoren]

In love with my Mi A1. Don't have to carry any battery packs, snappier than my Galaxy Note4, and has better audio output.

Just hoping Xiaomi wouldn't mess around too much with software updates 🙌🏼

[TirthPatel]

Watching this on my Mi A1. Just arrived today morning! Xiaomi + Google = <3