Chinese mobile giant Xiaomi’s has today launched the Mi A1 smartphone for ₹14,999 in partnership with Google. “Created by Xiaomi, Powered by Google,” the tagline being used at the launch, indicates that Xiaomi has officially joined the Android One program in India.
Google’s Android One initiative was meant to offer the Android experience at rock bottom prices and first appeared three years ago with a handful of inexpensive phones, including from Micromax. The program was not quite a roaring success. But seeing Xiaomi’s rise in India, Google has obviously deemed it worthwhile to give the program a shot in the arm again, specifically with Mi A1, a well-built 5.5-inch smartphone that comes with pure Android — that being the proposition of Android One.
Because Xiaomi’s new phone is far and away from the flimsier and cheaply built phones of three years ago, Android One has a fair chance of becoming more popular, even though it means letting go of Xiaomi’s own feature-filled interface, the MiUi9. On the other hand, it also means that the software experience will be smooth and lag-free, unencumbered by too much customisation on the part of a manufacturer.
Sweetening the deal further for fans and potential customers is a dual-camera set up on the Mi A1 that significantly enhances photography compared with many in the budget segment. At the global launch event in New Delhi, India, it was announced that Mi A1 would be available in India on September 12th (incidentally the date of Apple’s major iPhone event) and also in more than 40 markets around the world including Indonesia, Vietnam, Russia, Poland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Mexico. Local pricing in these markets will be available at a later date.
Innovation
Xiaomi Senior Vice President Wang Xiang said: “Mi A1 is a strategic device in our global expansion, marking a milestone on our quest to bring innovation to everyone. From the beginning Xiaomi has been all about choice, and we are delighted to offer users a new way to experience the power of Xiaomi.”
"By taking this next step with Android One, we are excited to be working with partners around the world to bring high quality Android device experiences to more consumers,” said Jamie Rosenberg, Google’s VP of Business & Operations, Android & Google Play. “Mi A1 marries excellence in device design with a simple and pure Android experience, the best of Google built in, and a commitment to future software and security updates. We're thrilled to welcome Xiaomi and the Mi A1 to the Android One family."
Telephoto lens
Mi A1’s dual camera configuration similar to that in Mi 6, not launched in India, uses wide angle and telephoto lenses used to effect to calculate what is in the foreground and what is in the background, creating a depth-of-field effect that typically requires a DSLR lens to achieve. An improved Beautify mode that makes selfies look more natural, now works with the both the front 5MP camera as well as the 12MP dual rear camera. Mi A1 supports 2x optical zoom, which makes photos of distant subjects remain clear, while 10x digital zoom is also supported.
At the launch event, Xiaomi exhibited a gallery of prints from photos taken on the Mi A1. The stock Android software also means that Google’s security patches and system updates will flow in to make for a safer and smoother experience. Currently, the device is running on Android Nougat, but will update to Oreo earlier than other devices.
Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor based on the 14nm manufacturing process, as well as a 3080 mAh battery, Mi A1 comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage.
(The article first appeared in The Hindu BusinessLine.)