Xiaomi mi 4c review reviews. Xiaomi Mi4C smartphone review, almost a flagship in a budget case! Mobile technologies and data rates

Smartphone provided by Xiaomi.ua store

Equipment

Xiaomi Mi4c is the first smartphone of the company, the box of which was painted in bright orange. The package has not changed. Inside, in addition to the device, you can find a USB cable with a Type-C connector, a charger, paper documentation and a paper clip to open the SIM card tray.

Appearance and usability

Xiaomi this year has already introduced one new smartphone of the Mi family. They became the mid-level device Mi4i. He was with us on the review, which you. But a few months later, Xiaomi surprised and introduced almost the same outwardly smartphone, but with changed characteristics, which was Mi4c. All external differences boil down to the fact that the usual microUSB was replaced with a new USB Type-C, and an infrared port appeared near the headphone jack to control household appliances.

There is nothing wrong with using the Mi4i design. Xiaomi Mi4c retained all the advantages of its predecessor: light weight, dimensions and monolithic body. Mi4c also inherited body colors. Now everyone can choose a phone for themselves, thereby showing their individuality. A white device came to our review.

For convenience, two chips have been added. The first is to turn on the device with a double tap on the screen. The option is already available on many devices from other manufacturers, but Mi4c was the first Xiaomi smartphone with this feature. The second is tapping on the sides of the case to go back or take a photo. In the first case, you need to tap your finger twice on the side of the smartphone. Tapping works quite accurately if you apply a little effort. If you just touch, then the smartphone will not perceive such a gesture.

For a small 5-inch device, the need for this gesture is doubtful. For two weeks of testing, I could not get used to this gesture, since the location of the control keys in it is already convenient. The need for a gesture in the camera is completely doubtful. Yes, the first knock allows you to focus the camera, and the second one takes a photo, but in practice, the photos often turned out to be blurry.

Screen

Xiaomi Mi4c is equipped with a 5-inch IPS screen with FullHD resolution. The screen is made using OGS technology. There is a good oleophobic coating. There is no gloved mode. An interesting fact is that three manufacturers will produce screens for smartphones - Sharp, AUO and LG. We got a smartphone with a display from Sharp.

Measurements showed that the minimum brightness is 1.5 cd/m2, and the maximum is 378 cd/m2. Fans of reading before going to bed will enjoy a slight brightness that will not put pressure on the eyes. The backlight is enough for comfortable work with the device even in sunny weather. Automatic brightness control works correctly. The screen contrast is 1 to 1022 - an excellent result.

The color gamut is very wide. In terms of performance, it is closer to AMOLED than to IPS. The color temperature is close to the reference, but a little too high. The gamma curve shows that the image on the smartphone screen will look a little lighter than necessary. It is also worth considering that there is an adjustment of the color tone and the ability to increase the contrast. There is a reading mode, which is needed for more convenient reading from a smartphone. In this mode, the screen becomes yellow, but the eyes are less tired.

As a result, the screen is one of the main advantages of a smartphone. It is much better than the one in Mi4i. The picture looks bright and juicy. White is also good. But it was not without a fly in the ointment - it was the protection of the screen from scratches. I won't say that it doesn't exist at all, but it is weak. Even with careful use for two weeks, a couple of small scratches appeared on the screen. So I advise future owners to get a protective glass or film.

Hardware platform

Xiaomi Mi4c is an above-average device, it is built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 MSM8992 platform, which consists of four Cortex-A53 and two Cortex-A57 cores. Due to the use of Cortex-A57 cores, it is ahead of the eight-core Snapdragon 615, which is equipped with Cortex-A53 cores, in all respects.

Adreno 418 is used as a video adapter. The performance of the video accelerator is almost identical to the Adreno 420 used in the Snapdragon 805.

There are two versions of the device - with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory, and a version with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory. The younger version came to us for review. There is no support for microSD memory cards, but OTG is. Once enabled, 1 GB of RAM and 10.3 GB of internal storage are available.

The benchmark results show that the performance of the model is on par with the LG G4. There will be no problems with smartphone games. Need for Speed ​​No Limits runs at high graphics settings, but not at the maximum that can be seen on devices with Tegra K1 or iPhone/iPad of the latest generations. Real Racing 3 runs at the highest possible graphics settings very smoothly without the slightest hint of lag.

The downside of high performance is high case heat. It is interesting that in Need for Speed ​​No Limits the device does not heat up much - up to 47 degrees, while if you play Real Racing 3 you can heat up the device to 67 degrees. During normal use, the smartphone does not get very hot. Even when using the camera, the heating is not critical.

Xiaomi Mi4c supports dual SIM microSIM. The device works in FDD-LTE/TDD-LTE/WCDMA/TD-SCDMA networks, as well as in CDMA. We checked the possibility of working with Intertelecom. Xiaomi Mi4c works successfully on the network, however, data transfer is limited to support EV-DO Rev.A, which means that the maximum data transfer rate is 3.1 Mb / s. In reality, it is unlikely to exceed 1.5 Mb / s per download. Working with 3G from Kyivstar did not raise any questions. Also worth noting is support for Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, GPS, Glonass, Beidou. During the use of any problems with their work was not. There is an infrared port, but there is no NFC.

Since the conversation turned to the support of mobile networks, it is important to note the quality of the conversational dynamics. There is nothing surprising in this regard. The speaker is good. The quality of voice transmission is at a high level, but still, third-party sounds sometimes appear, which may be related to the quality of the mobile network in some places. There were no complaints about the microphone from the interlocutors. The volume of the multimedia speaker is high. The vibration is pleasant and quite strong. The sound quality in the headphones is at a high level. My Xiaomi Piston 2 paired with Mi4c sound very good. Even in a noisy metro there is a large volume margin. When the headphones are connected, there is no background extraneous noise, which is sometimes found on other smartphones.

Operating system and shell

Like all Xiaomi Mi4c devices, it runs on the MIUI 7 shell and the Android 5.1.1 operating system. At the time of writing the review, there was no global version of the firmware (Russianized by Xiaomi), so we tested the smartphone on the weekly build of MIUI 7 5.10.8, translated by the MiuiPro team.

During testing, the firmware proved to be stable. In the future, a global version of the firmware with a preinstalled Russian language is expected to appear, as well as an update to Android Marshmallow 6.0.

Fans of fine-tuning the phone for themselves will like the fact that you can immediately enable Root access in the firmware. To whom this will not be enough, or at some point they will get bored with MIUI, they will be able to install third-party firmware - two popular “ROMs” are already available for Mi4c - Mokee ROM and CyanogenMod 12.1. If you look at the number of unofficial firmware for Mi4/Mi3, you can expect that there will be no less of them for Mi4c, so the smartphone will suit fans of different customizations.

If you don't like the default MIUI theme with its slightly cartoonish icons, the Themes app is worth checking out. Here you can find not only ready-made themes, but also just shortcuts, wallpapers, unlock menus and much more. For example, there are ready-made themes for Android Lollipop. Of course, they do not completely duplicate the interface of bare Android, but they make it look similar.

Camera

Xiaomi Mi4c is equipped with two cameras - the main one with 13 MP f2.0 and the front one with 5 MP f2.0. Both cameras record video in FullHD resolution. As in the case of the display, the main camera can be built either on the Sony IMX258 or Samsung S5K3M2 module. Our device has a Sony IMX258 sensor.

As in other recent Xiaomi smartphones, the camera settings are full of many items. In addition to the usual panoramas, timer and night mode, there is voice control, skin tone, Tilt Shift, fisheye and manual settings. The latter boast a choice of white balance, focal length, shutter speed and ISO. The possibilities of video recording are not so wide. You can choose the resolution, focus mode. The camera allows you to record slow and fast video. Slow motion videos at 120 fps are shot in HD resolution.

Photos in automatic mode

With good lighting, the camera does its job well. There is little noise in the pictures, the focus is accurate, and the white balance is correct. Pictures are saved quickly. It is also worth noting the good macro capabilities. In the dark, the camera is already much heavier. In order to get a high-quality photo, you need to have a bright and preferably a large object on which the phone will be focused, as well as not move for several seconds - otherwise you will get a noisy blurry frame with a focus miss.

Photos in HDR mode

HDR mode is a traditional strong point of Xiaomi devices. In it, all photos are a little more saturated. I like this type of photography, especially beautiful landscapes or flowers.

Front-camera

The quality of photos on the front camera is good, but largely depends on the lighting. For selfie lovers, the front camera is suitable, as it has a wide angle of coverage.

Video recording has never been a strong point of Xiaomi smartphones, but despite this, the quality of video recording cannot be called bad. For reference, we shot examples not only day and night, but also Slow Motion video, as well as an example of Time-Lapse recording.

autonomy

The capacity of the built-in battery is 3080 mAh. Supports Quick Charge 2.0. The complete charger can operate in several modes: 5V-2A, 9V-1.2A, 12V-1A. Unfortunately, the smartphone cannot fully reveal the potential of the charger. Charging lasts about 1 hour 40 minutes and occurs linearly - 1% of the charge in 1 minute.

Xiaomi Mi4c survives a day of intense work with an average active screen of 4 to 5 hours. If you get involved in games, then the device will be asked to charge earlier. After two hours of playing Need for Speed: No Limits, the battery was depleted by 46%. It is important to remember that the discharge of the battery is quite even over the entire range. Even if the battery has 10% charge left, you can count on a couple of hours of standby time. During the night, the smartphone does not discharge much - about 4-6% with Wi-Fi turned on.

Synthetic tests confirmed that the device is doing well with battery life. Yes, we did not get outstanding results, but the active operation of the device is enough for a day.

Results

Now it's time to get acquainted with the cost of the smartphone. Official prices in China are 1299 yuan ($203) for the 2/16 GB version and 1499 yuan ($235) for the older 3/32 GB device. But it is almost impossible to buy a smartphone through the Xiaomi store, so you should focus on $ 290 for the older version when buying in China (for example, on AliExpress) or 7-8.5 thousand hryvnias (depending on the version) when buying in Ukrainian online stores .

According to the combination of characteristics and sensations that Xiaomi Mi4c gives, it can be safely put on a par with flagships. If you look at performance, screen quality and the availability of wireless interfaces, the comparison with or Nexus 5x will be correct. This is where the main trump card of the device comes in - the price. Of course, if you really find fault, then a couple of shortcomings can be found - this is not the best screen protection and the lack of support for microSD memory cards. But these are just quibbles - the behavior of the protective glass depends on the usage model and many smartphones sin with this, and the lack of a memory card slot is solved by purchasing a 32 GB version and more frequent use of cloud storage.

Affordable solution with flagship features

Following the release of an inexpensive smartphone called Mi 4i, which could not boast of anything special, except for rather elegant dimensions and a low price, the Chinese company Xiaomi released another device in exactly the same case by the end of the year, calling it Mi 4c. And if the Mi 4i smartphone, intended for the Indian market, did not shine with technical characteristics, then for their own, Chinese market, the developers created a real flagship, offering it at the same price.

Key Features of Xiaomi Mi 4c

	Xiaomi Mi 4c	One Plus X	Honor 7	Meizu MX5	Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
Screen	5" IPS	5" AMOLED	5.2" IPS	5.5″ Super AMOLED	5.1″ Super AMOLED
Permission	1920×1080, 441ppi	1920×1080, 441ppi	1920×1080, 424ppi	1920×1080, 401ppi	2560×1440, 577 ppi
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (2x Cortex-A57 @1.8GHz + 4x [email protected].5 GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (4 Krait cores) [email protected].3 GHz)	HiSilicon Kirin 935 (8x ARM Cortex-A53 @2.2/1.5GHz)	Mediatek MT6795T Octa-core (8x Cortex-A53 @2.2GHz)	Exynos 7420 (4x Cortex-A57 @2.1GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @1.5GHz)
GPU	Adreno 418	Adreno 330	Mali-T628	PowerVR G6200	Mali-T760
RAM	2/3 GB	3 GB	3 GB	3 GB	3 GB
Flash memory	16/32 GB	16 GB	16 GB	16/32/64 GB	32/64/128 GB
Memory card support	—	microSD	microSD	—	—
Operating system	Google Android 5.1	Google Android 5.1	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 5.0
Battery	non-removable, 3080 mAh	non-removable, 2525 mAh	non-removable, 3000 mAh	non-removable, 3150 mAh	non-removable, 2600 mAh
cameras	main (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)	main (13 MP; video 1080p), front (8 MP)	main (20 MP; video 1080p), front (8 MP)	main (20.7 MP; video 4K), front (5 MP)	main (16 MP; video 4K), front (5 MP)
Dimensions and weight	138×70×7.8mm, 129g	140×69×6.9mm, 138g	143×72×8.5mm, 162g	150×75×7.6mm, 149g	142×70×7 mm, 132 g
average price	T-13002328	T-13057137	T-12670591	T-12675734	T-12259971
Xiaomi Mi 4c Retail Deals	L-13002328-10

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, 6 cores: 2×1.8 GHz (ARM Cortex-A57) + 4×1.5 GHz (ARM Cortex-A53)
• GPU Adreno 418 @600 MHz
• Operating system Android 5.1.1, MIUI
• Touch IPS-display, 5″, 1920×1080, 441 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 or 3 GB
• Internal memory 16 or 32 GB
• Micro-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• No microSD card support
• Communication 2G: GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz, CDMA 1X: BC0/BC1
• 3G communication: WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz, TD-SCDMA
• Data transmission LTE FDD Band 1/3/7; TDD Band 38/39/40/41
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz) MU-MIMO, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display
• Bluetooth 4.1
• USB Type C, OTG
• GPS/A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
• Direction, proximity, lighting sensors, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetic compass (according to AnTuTu)
• Camera 13 MP, autofocus, LED flash
• Camera 5 MP, front
• Battery 3080 mAh
• Dimensions 138×70×7.8 mm
• Weight 129 g

Contents of delivery

The Xiaomi Mi 4c smartphone goes on sale in a very neat, but extremely simple-looking package with a concise design. There is not a single image on it, except for the company logo and a sticker on the back. And at the same time, this bright minimalism leaves no doubt that we have a very high-quality product. A company like Xiaomi will definitely not make dull and tasteless packaging for its products.

The package is extremely ascetic. In addition to a charger with a variable output current (5V 2A / 9V 1.2A) and a USB Type C cable, nothing else was put into the box, but this is quite justified. Firstly, the smartphone is already sold at a very affordable price, and secondly, Xiaomi, which focuses on Apple in everything, offers a huge selection of branded accessories of its own manufacture, so this is a serious business for it. The key for extracting SIM-cards, as usual, is attached to the paper insert.

Appearance and usability

In appearance, the hero of the review practically does not differ from the Xiaomi Mi 4i smartphone released a little earlier specifically for the Indian market. This is still the same very simplified device in design and structure, the body of which consists of a front glass and a rear plastic part that completely covers not only the back side, but also all four sidewalls.

This plastic trough is made of matte polycarbonate and has a hard, but rough surface that is pleasant to the touch and does not leave fingerprints. The case does not have any additional decorative elements, such as side frames, rims, overlays and the like, the design is as ascetic as possible, but at the same time attractive in its stylish minimalism.

The dimensions of a smartphone for a five-inch display are almost minimal, the thickness is also small, the weight of nearly 130 grams is ideal for a pocket device. Due to all this, the device is not only perfectly held in a hand of any size, but also quite comfortable for carrying in pockets. Due to the matte finish, the smartphone does not slip out of the hands, and apparently, this case is practical and designed for long-term use.

For cards, a side installation option is provided. A double slide slides into a single slot, on which two Micro-SIM cards can be installed. Here lies one of the most significant drawbacks of the device, since it is impossible to replace one of the SIM cards with a memory card. This is quite unexpected, most modern Chinese smartphones provide the user with such a choice.

You can remove the sled in the usual way using the supplied key or a thin paper clip. Card slots are equivalent in their capabilities, both support 4G, so there is no need to think about which SIM card to insert where.

All elements on the case are standardly placed in their usual places. On the back side, at the top, there is a camera module with a dual LED flash that can play the role of a flashlight. Here you can also see the small hole of the auxiliary microphone, which serves for noise reduction. By the way, it is proposed to optimize the operation of this system on your own by choosing support for one or two microphones for these purposes in the settings.

At the bottom of the rear side there is a grill that covers the speaker output and is made in the form of many small holes. The camera module does not protrude beyond the surface, the smartphone lies flat and stable on the table, but the speaker output is practically not blocked by the table surface, so the sound remains loud, there is no fear of not hearing the call signal.

On the front panel in the upper part, in addition to the front camera module and sensors, there is such a useful element as an event indicator, a round dim dot notifying about the charging status and incoming messages.

At the bottom of the front panel there is a row of hardware touch control buttons, which have a soft, pleasant milky backlight. The operation of these buttons can be independently adjusted in the corresponding settings section, for example, by assigning additional functions to their long press.

The USB Type C connector is embedded in the middle of the bottom end, it is convenient because you can insert the plug into it in any direction. The bad thing is that you will have to once again buy additional accessories with a new type of connector. This applies, for example, to an adapter for connecting devices in USB OTG mode, which is supported here, but the adapter itself is not included in the smartphone kit.

A 3.5 mm headphone jack is installed on the top end. The headphones themselves were not included in the kit either. Nearby you can observe the dark eye of the infrared transmitter, which serves to emulate the remote control. Among the programs installed in the smartphone, there was the Mi Remote program, but the support for European and American technology in it is in question: its work is sharpened to control the technology common in China, much is depicted in hieroglyphs, and the program was unable to cope with an old Philips TV.

Hardware metallized keys on the right side face are absolutely smooth, slippery, they protrude very little beyond the surface of the case, it is problematic to find them blindly. At the same time, the buttons are located logically, it is convenient to reach them with the fingers of any hand, the move is quite distinct and elastic, there are no problems with this.

The case of Xiaomi Mi 4c is not protected from dust and water, there is no strap attachment on its case. The device does not support wireless charging. Xiaomi offers the market its new smartphone in several colors at once, including white, black, blue, pink and yellow.

Screen

The Xiaomi Mi 4c smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch screen combined with Gorilla Glass 3 protective glass. The physical dimensions of the display are 62 × 110 mm, the diagonal is 5 inches. The screen resolution is 1920×1080, the dot density is approximately 441 ppi. The frame around the screen, together with the thickness of the sides of the case, is at least 4 mm on the sides and about 15 mm on top and bottom.

The display brightness is automatically adjusted based on a light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle 10 simultaneous touches. The screen can be unlocked by double tapping on the glass.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Xiaomi Mi 4c, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of Xiaomi Mi 4c is even darker (brightness in photos is 104 versus 110 for Nexus 7). The doubling of reflected objects in the screen of Xiaomi Mi 4c is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of borders (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. There is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen (in terms of efficiency, it can only be slightly worse than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed more easily, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and with a white field displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 490 cd / m², the minimum was 0.9 cd / m². The maximum brightness is high, which means that, given the excellent anti-reflective properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a good level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control by light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. This function depends on the position of the brightness slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 150 cd / m² (a little too much), in an office lit by artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets it to 370 cd / m² (it could have been less), in a very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) the brightness increases to 490 cd / m² (to the maximum - it is necessary); if the adjustment is about 50%, then the values ​​​​are as follows: 12, 160 and 490 cd / m² (ideal combination), the regulator at 0% is 0.9, 30 and 490 cd / m² (the first two values ​​​​are underestimated, which is logical). It turns out that the auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately and allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. Significant backlight modulation appears only at a very low brightness level, but its frequency is high, about 2.3 kHz, so there is no visible screen flicker (but can possibly be detected in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect).

This smartphone uses an IPS type matrix. Micrographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even at large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of Xiaomi Mi 4c and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens is initially set to about 200 cd / m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K. A white field is perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:

The colors on the Xiaomi Mi 4c screen are oversaturated (note the tomatoes) and the color balance is slightly different. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on Xiaomi Mi 4c, the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to strong black highlights and a larger drop in brightness. And the white box:

The brightness at an angle of the screens has decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but the Xiaomi Mi 4c screen is darker (brightness in photos is 214 versus 235 for Nexus 7). The black field, when deviated diagonally, is highlighted strongly and acquires a reddish tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1200:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 28 ms (14 ms on + 14 ms off). The transition between 25% and 75% grayscale (according to the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 44 ms. The gamma curve constructed from 32 points with an equal interval according to the numerical value of the shade of gray did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows. The fit exponent is 1.96, slightly below the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve somewhat deviates from the power dependence:

Due to the dynamic adjustment of the brightness of the backlight in accordance with the nature of the displayed image (brightness decreases on dark ones), the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential grayscale output almost on the entire screen . For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black flare at angles - when displaying special patterns with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in full screen. Let us show the dependence of brightness (vertical axis) on time when switching from a black field to a white field in half of the screen alternately, while the average brightness does not change and dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness does not work (graph 50%/50% ). And the same dependence, but with alternate display of fields in full screen (chart 100% ), while the average brightness is already changing and the dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness is working with might and main:

In general, such a non-switchable brightness correction does nothing but harm, since it reduces the visibility of gradations in the shadows in the case of dark images, and constant brightness jumps are very annoying. In addition, this dynamic adjustment, when displaying any image other than a white field in full screen, lowers the brightness, which impairs readability in bright light.

The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

Let's look at the spectra:

Such spectra (unfortunately) are found in top mobile devices from Sony and other manufacturers. Apparently, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and a green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix light filters, allows you to get a wide color gamut. The red phosphor apparently uses so-called quantum dots. For a consumer device, a wide color gamut is not an advantage, but a significant drawback, since as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photos and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photo above.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is not much higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, at least the color temperature changes little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance does not matter much there, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the hue warmer-colder.

Curves in the charts above Without corr. correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves Corr.- data obtained after shifting the correction slider to the "warm" side as far as it will go. It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, since the color temperature has approached the standard value. What do the settings in the group do contrast, we have not found out, since they do not have any noticeable visual or instrumental effect on the image. What can not be said about the settings on the page Reading mode- the slider there really reduces the intensity of the blue component, which can be seen in the spectra below (maximum correction):

However, the developers "forgot" to proportionally reduce the intensity of the green component, so as a result the screen acquires a nasty greenish tint (and ΔE increases to 15-16 units).

To summarize: the screen has a high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. It is permissible to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. Also, the advantages of the screen include the presence of an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, high contrast, as well as a color balance close to the standard. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen, dynamic adjustment of the brightness of the backlight and an overly wide color gamut. Nevertheless, given the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered high, although it is worth getting ready for strange and not quite natural shades.

Sound

Xiaomi Mi 4c sounds exactly the same as its aforementioned predecessor Mi 4i: for its level, the sound is very good. The main speaker produces a clear and bright sound, pleasant to the ear, but without a noticeable presence of low frequencies. But the volume reserve is quite enough, although, of course, we have met louder smartphones.

In headphones, the situation is even better: the sound is rich and juicy, there is enough bass, the volume level is high, although not excessive. Branded headphones were not included with the smartphone, but at the same time, in the settings, you can select specialized profiles with preset values ​​​​specially designed for specific headphone models. Also in the branded music player, the user has access to manual sound quality control settings in the form of preset equalizer values.

In conversational dynamics, the interlocutor's speech, timbre and intonation remain recognizable, the sound is clear without noticeable impurities and distortions. The noise cancellation system does its job well. The vibrating alert is rather weak, you can't feel it in your bag.

FM radio was not found in the smartphone. The device can record telephone conversations using regular means, it is enough to press the corresponding button during a conversation directly in the interface of the telephone application. Both talking parties are recorded, the sound quality is poor, but you can make out the speech.

Camera

Xiaomi Mi 4c is equipped with two modules of digital cameras with a resolution of 13 and 5 megapixels. The front camera is equipped with a 5-megapixel sensor and a wide-angle lens (85 °) with an aperture of f / 2.0 without autofocus and its own flash. The number of settings is minimal, in fact there are none for the front camera at all. There is only the possibility of adding face decoration effects, and here it is not the usual slider that is used, but only three levels of possible changes. From the unusual: traditionally for Xiaomi smartphones, the function of determining the gender and age of the subject is used here by default. True, the correctness of her work is a big question, since the age often does not match, and sometimes even the gender. Perhaps the program copes with Asian faces more successfully. The very quality of the resulting images is average, there is nothing to praise especially for, but for the level of a selfie in general it is enough.

The main camera is equipped with a sensor with a resolution of 13 megapixels, a Sony IMX258 or Samsung S5K3M2 module is used. In both cases, the maximum aperture of the lens is f / 2.0, and five lenses are used in the optical design of the lens. There is no optical stabilization, no laser rangefinder. Phase detection autofocus works quite quickly and is practically not mistaken. Dual flash consists of multi-colored LEDs.

One of the innovations, first applied here and not seen in previous Xiaomi models, is called Edge Tap. This technology allows you to use the side of the device as a shutter button, and there are no touch surfaces or curved screens. Indeed, an icon appears on the screen, indicating that the Edge Tap function is enabled, and then every time you touch the plastic side of the case, a frame is taken. The function works with both the main camera and the front camera. In general, the technology is quite convenient, but with the same success, shooting can be done by pressing the volume key.

The menu for controlling the camera uses its own, familiar from other smartphones that use the MIUI interface. The menu with additional modes is pulled out with a side gesture, the settings menu is called up by clicking on the gear icon. There are many settings, the menu is detailed, but you need to get used to it. For example, you can't directly set the image resolution, you can only choose between veiled definitions like "high or low quality" or "normal or wide aspect ratio". In manual mode, it is possible to influence the white balance, shutter speed, ISO level, there are also several additional modes, such as panoramic, night, etc. Transferring control to third-party applications using the Camera2 API is not supported here, there is also no possibility of saving images in RAW .

Video camera can shoot at resolutions up to 1080p, there is the possibility of slow and fast recording. The camera copes with shooting video medium, the image is loose, but smooth, without noticeable artifacts and jerks. The sound is recorded well, the noise reduction system, which uses two microphones in its work, generally copes adequately with its tasks, including wind noise.

• Movie #1 (35 MB, 1920×1080 @30 fps)

	Macro photography works well for the camera.
	The text worked out well, with the exception of unsharp corners.
	Good detail in the background, but there is a large area of ​​blur on the left.
	Sharpness across the field and according to the plans is not bad, not counting the blur zone on the left.
	The image is quite clean, software artifacts are almost invisible.
	Good field and plan sharpness, but only in the central part of the frame.
	Shooting indoors works well with the camera.
	The number of the nearest car is distinguishable.

We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench according to our methodology.

If not for the annoying problem with sharpness on the left side of the frame, apparently caused by a defect in the optics, the camera could be called very good. She works out the details well, works neatly with the program and does not abuse processing. In most cases, the image is quite clean, except for the blur zone. And the laboratory test confirms the good and well-coordinated work of the sensor and the program.

If we assume that the defect in the lens is only a defect in a particular instance, the camera can be considered good - perhaps even a flagship one. She is good at documentary and feature photography.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone has support for many bands of different networks, including 2G GSM, 3G WCDMA and LTE FDD, used by Russian operators. There is support for fourth-generation networks LTE FDD 1800/2100/2600 MHz, that is, two of the three most common 4G bands in Russia (1800 and 2600 MHz) are supported by the smartphone. In practice, with the SIM card of the MTS operator in the Moscow region, the smartphone was stably registered and worked in 4G networks. The quality of signal reception does not cause any particular complaints, the device confidently maintains communication indoors and does not lose the signal in areas of uncertain reception.

Also, the smartphone has support for Bluetooth 4.1, supports two Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. NFC is not supported. The USB Type C connector can connect flash drives (and other devices) in USB OTG mode.

The navigation module works with GPS (A-GPS) and Glonass, there is also support for Beidou (BDS). The response speed of the navigation module does not raise any claims; during a cold start, it takes literally a couple of tens of seconds to search for the first satellites. The smartphone is also equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the compass of navigation programs functions.

The smartphone supports two SIM cards, in the settings you can specify a specific SIM card for data transfer and voice calls. But to send SMS-messages, you must select the desired card each time.

A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G / 4G networks, however, only one of the cards can operate in this mode at the same time. To change the assignments of card slots, you do not need to swap places - this can be done directly from the phone menu. Working with two SIM-cards is organized according to the usual Dual SIM Dual Standby standard, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

OS and software

The software shell for all Xiaomi smartphones is traditionally the MIUI interface, which is installed on top of the standard Google Android system. In the case of Mi 4c, this is Android OS 5.1.1 with the MIUI 7 shell installed on top. The shell is very familiar to mobile technology lovers, since it initially turned out that it was MIUI that began to be widely used to customize mobile devices of various brands. Now Cyanogen OS has firmly taken this place, but MIUI is still in use in this capacity.

The shell looks neat, concise, all the settings are conveniently distributed in their sections, everything is combed and ordered. Of course, there is no separate menu of installed programs, the icons of installed applications are immediately laid out on desktops, it is possible to create folders and widgets. It is possible to reduce the working area of ​​the screen for easy one-handed operation. At the same time, there is not such a wide variety of support for working with gestures, as in the same Flyme OS, the shell will appeal to lovers of practical minimalism. There are few pre-installed third-party programs, but it also depends on the firmware version. And of course, such lightweight and polished interfaces as MIUI and Flyme always delight with system responsiveness and optimized power consumption.

The interface in the smartphone as a whole is exactly the same as in other devices running MIUI, it makes no sense to enumerate all its capabilities once again. However, it is worth noting some of the innovations that appeared in Xiaomi Mi 4c. One of the most noticeable differences is the ability to control by touching the side faces of the device. This feature is called Edge Tap, and it works without any dedicated touch pads. To control some functions, such as returning to the previous menu or taking a photo, just touch any of the plastic sidewalls with your finger.

There is a lot of talk about the new technology, but in fact, to be honest, it is more trouble than good. So, I want to turn off the function of returning to the previous screen after using the smartphone for half an hour and never turn it on again, because any awkward touch of the side faces with your fingers (and how else to hold the smartphone in your hand ?!) leads to an unintentional transition to a step back, and in in the case of running applications - also to exit them, which is very inconvenient. Probably, regular users will eventually get used to deftly managing Edge Tap, but it will definitely take some getting used to. For the camera, Edge Tap looks much more useful, but even here this function is redundant in principle: it is quite possible to get by with pressing the same volume button. The good news is that different options for using Edge Tap can be turned off and on separately in the settings.

Performance

The work of Xiaomi Mi 4c is based on a powerful 6-core SoC from Qualcomm's top family of single-chip systems - Snapdragon 808. This 64-bit SoC is made using a 20 nm process technology, the number of ARM Cortex-A57 cores is reduced to two, and the Cortex-A53 cores remain four, that is, there are 6 in total. The Adreno 418 GPU is integrated into the Snapdragon 808, which supports OpenGL ES 3.1. The memory controller supports LPDDR3 memory with 2 or 3 GB of RAM, depending on the amount of internal memory - 16 or 32 GB. In the case of 32 GB, about 23 GB of free memory remains for the user's needs. It is not possible to expand it using microSD cards, but you can connect an external flash drive to the USB port in OTG mode using a third-party adapter.

In practice, using the supplied USB Type C cable, transferring a 3 GB file from a computer via a USB 2.0 port to a smartphone took 2 minutes 18 seconds, that is, the speed was about 22 MB / s. Through the USB 3.0 port using the same supplied cable, the transfer rate of this file was approximately 28 MB / s (1:47). The same results (28 MB / s) were obtained with the unnamed Chinese USB Type C cable, and with the bundled cable from the Meizu Pro 5 smartphone.

According to the test results, the smartphone on a powerful hardware platform showed an even higher level of performance than expected. At the very least, its AnTuTu results were higher than the Nexus 5X, based on the same SoC. Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 top-level platform is able to compete with other current flagship alternatives such as HiSilicon Kirin 935 and MediaTek MT6795. Snapdragon 808 shows results no less than those of the listed SoCs, both in complex and specialized graphics tests (according to the results of the popular AnTuTu benchmark, this is in the region of 50K points). At the same time, the Snapdragon 808 is noticeably inferior to the currently leading Exynos 7420 used in the most powerful modern Samsung Galaxy S6/S6 edge/S6 edge+ devices.

In any case, the Xiaomi Mi 4c smartphone is at the level of modern flagships in terms of performance, and its hardware capabilities will be more than enough for a long time to perform any tasks, including demanding games.

Testing in the latest versions of AnTuTu and GeekBench 3 comprehensive benchmarks:

For convenience, we have summarized all the results obtained by us when testing a smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks in tables. Several other devices from different segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark gaming tests, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (due to which the speed can rise above 60 fps).

	xiaomi mi 4c (Qualcomm Snapdragon 808)	One Plus X (Qualcomm Snapdragon 801)	Honor 7 (HiSilicon Kirin 935)	Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (Exynos 7420)	Meizu MX5 (Mediatek MT6795T)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better)	10097	Maxed out!	6922	Maxed out!	Maxed out!
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better)	16471	15403	12113	21773	16390
3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot (more is better)	418	700	289	—	—
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen)	25 fps	23 fps	13 fps	38 fps	27 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen)	25 fps	21 fps	12 fps	50 fps	27 fps
Bonsai Benchmark	3958 (56 fps)	3464 (49 fps)	3310 (47 fps)	4155 (59 fps)	3966 (57fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them depend significantly on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

thermal images

Below is a thermal image of the back surface taken after 10 minutes of running the GFXBenchmark battery test:

It can be seen that the heating is a little more localized at the top and closer to the right edge of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 38 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), this is not very much.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, you should not expect everything from a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the results of testing, the standard player was able to fully play all test files with sound, but the subject could not do the same using a third-party MX Player video player. In it, when playing some of the videos, you need to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 audio format.

Format	container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Regular video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280x720 3000Kbps, AC3		plays normally
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280x720 4000Kbps, AC3	Video plays fine, no sound¹	plays normally
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920x1080 8000Kbps, AC3	Video plays fine, no sound¹	plays normally

¹ Audio in MX Video Player only plays after installing an alternative custom audio codec

Video output features tested Alexey Kudryavtsev.

Due to the lack of the necessary adapter, we could not check the presence of the MHL interface, as well as Mobility DisplayPort, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video signal playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) 720/24p Great No

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Passes green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

According to the criteria for displaying frames, the quality of playing video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. The smartphone does indeed implement dynamic adjustment of the screen refresh rate, at least it works for files with 50 fps, since the frames are of equal duration. At other frame rates in the file, the output is at the traditional 60 Hz refresh rate. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution, however, the rightmost column of pixels (in landscape orientation) disappears somewhere and is not displayed on the screen. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows, only a couple of shades of gray do not differ in brightness from black, and in the highlights, all gradations of shades are displayed.

Battery life

The capacity of the battery installed in Xiaomi Mi 4c is quite decent for modern flagships 3080 mAh. At least, with such a small thin case, everything could be much worse. Test tests have shown that the smartphone as a whole is able to demonstrate good, but far from record-breaking battery life in all standard use cases. Obviously, both the rather high screen resolution (Full HD) and the most demanding SoC have an effect here. With moderate use, the device lives for a day, maybe more, but most likely, most users will have to put the device on charge every night, so that by the middle of the next day they will not find themselves with a discharged smartphone.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D game mode
Xiaomi Mi 4c	3080 mAh	13h 30m	8 a.m.	4h 20m
One Plus X	2525 mAh	15:00	8 a.m.	4 a.m.
LG Nexus 5X	2700 mAh	2:30 p.m.	6 a.m.	4 a.m.
Honor 7	3000 mAh	13:00	10:40	3h 50m
One Plus 2	3300 mAh	14:00	11:20	4h 30m
LeTV One	3000 mAh	10:30	8h 20m	3h 50m
HTC One M9	2840 mAh	11:00 a.m.	8h 20m	3h 50m
Samsung Galaxy S6	2550 mAh	20:00	12:00 p.m.	4 a.m.
Google Nexus 6	3220 mAh	18:00	10:30	3h 40m
Meizu MX5	3150 mAh	15:00	11:00 a.m.	4h 10m

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted about 13.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged. With continuous viewing of video in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level through a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted 8 hours. In the 3D-games mode, the device worked for more than 4 hours. At the same time, charging is carried out quite quickly. The smartphone is promised support for proprietary Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 fast charging technology. In practice, charging from the complete charger is carried out with a current of 9 V 0.8 A, with it the total battery charging time is about 2 hours.

Outcome

The main thing that can be said from the results of testing Xiaomi Mi 4c: the company once again satisfied the needs of buyers who do not want to use large-sized smartphones, which are now the vast majority on the market. It is very difficult to choose a smartphone with a small size, and at the same time with a powerful flagship hardware platform - these are incompatible things in the modern mobile device market. Apple iPhone 6 (6s), devices of the Sony Z Compact series, and even such occasionally born Xiaomi products - these are the few things that lovers of powerful, but relatively compact smartphones have to be content with, for all their seeming diversity.

Light and thin, a small smartphone with an excellent bright screen with Full HD resolution just begs to be in your pocket. The capabilities of its most powerful hardware filling are enough not only for any, even the most demanding games - in terms of performance, Xiaomi Mi 4c turned out to be higher than many modern flagships, the price of which is sometimes several times higher than the cost of the review hero.

Of course, it was not without drawbacks, and the main one is the lack of the possibility of increasing the amount of flash memory. Memory cards are not supported by the Mi 4c model, so those users who are used to handling a large number of files (for example, lovers of music archives) will be forced to fit into 32 GB. Xiaomi Mi 4c, perhaps, has no other frank shortcomings: the camera, sound, network capabilities and the level of autonomy are at the hero of the review at a confidently satisfactory level for most users. Little things like the lack of a fingerprint scanner or, for example, wireless charging are already particulars, you can do without them. In general, the smartphone turned out to be very interesting, and given the low price of Xiaomi Mi 4c (about $200), there are practically no competitors in this niche.

Xiaomi is not shy about releasing the same models under different sauces. And the market reacts to this normally, because the manufacturer does not raise prices for new items, and innovations seem timely and appropriate (although we still have to know the need to release Redmi Note 3 Pro almost immediately after Redmi Note 3 (unpacking). It would seem that the Mi4i model (review) was recently released, which is a rethinking of the Mi4, and now the Mi4c is already being sold with might and main, which is in no way inferior to the Mi4i. Let's take a look at what's new.

We thank the online store GearBest.com for the device. He currently sells the Mi4c with 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM, and the 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM modification will set you back. It is possible that prices have already changed when you are reading this - check the website.

Specifications of Xiaomi Mi4c:

• Network: GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), WCDMA/HSPA (850/900/1900/2100 MHz), FDD-LTE (1, 3, 7)
• Platform (at the time of announcement): Android Lollipop with MIUI v7 firmware
• Display: 5", 1920 x 1080 pixels, IPS, 441 ppi
• Camera: 13 MP, 5-lens optics, f/2.0, dual-tone flash, phase detection
• Front camera: 5 MP, f/1.8, 80 degrees
• Processor: 6 cores (2 x Cortex-A57 @ 1.8 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz), Qualcomm Snapdragon 808
• Graphics chip: Adreno 418
• RAM: 2/3 GB LPDDR3
• Internal memory: 16/32 GB
• Memory card: no
• GPS and GLONASS
• WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac)
• Bluetooth 4.1
• USB Type-C
• IR port
• 3.5mm jack
• Two micro-SIM slots
• Battery: non-removable, 3000-3080 mAh
• Dimensions: 138.1 x 69.6 x 7.8mm

Video review and unboxing

Video review will be added in a few days.

Design and equipment

The phone is available in several colors and to emphasize the bright nature of the device, the box received an orange design. Inside, everything is standard: a smartphone, documentation, charging with a Chinese plug, a USB Type-C cable, a needle for opening the SIM tray. The store additionally comes with a general instruction in English and an adapter for our sockets (perhaps they no longer go).

Mi4c and Redmi Note 3

For those who have seen the review of Mi4i, Mi4c will surely cause a feeling of déjà vu. Indeed, the new model almost does not differ from the previous one - the shape and materials are similar, the dimensions are the same. Of the external differences, one can note only the IR transmitter that appeared on the upper end, and the USB Type-C connector on the lower end, which replaced the rapidly aging microUSB socket. The main differences between Mi4c and Mi4i lie inside - a more powerful filling and an improved camera - about them below.

The monoblock has a non-removable cover, which minimizes the chances of squeaks and backlashes. The volume and power buttons are at the right height and are easy to interact with. The three touch keys below the display are backlit and the touch zones are large enough to make it extremely difficult to miss them. The tray with two micro SIM cards is located on the left side (it's a pity that the tray does not allow the use of a microSD memory card instead of a second SIM card - now this is a very popular solution among Chinese manufacturers). On the back, we see a 13-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, a microphone, a logo and a multimedia speaker grille. The speaker produces a loud and high-quality sound, although it lacks the study of low frequencies (I do not have a Mi4i at hand, but if my memory does not fail me, the Mi4c is louder).

For Mi4c, as well as for Mi4, as well as Mi4i, the company has chosen a high-quality 5” Full HD-screen with an IPS matrix. The absence of an air gap, good contrast, a sufficient margin of brightness, high viewing angles, a comfortable pixel density per inch (441 ppi) - this is all about the Mi4c panel. You can only grumble at the chilly temperature of the display of a particular test sample. Not long to grumble, as the settings reveal the “colors and contrast” section, where you can choose one of three white balance modes – warm, standard and cold.

Software

There are many MIUI firmwares for Xiaomi smartphones. Along with the official ones, in which there are only Chinese and English languages ​​​​(by the way, official firmware are divided into stable ones, which are rarely updated, and developer ones, which are updated frequently), there are unofficial, but localized ones with a number of differences in the software set. There are also custom builds. In general, supporters of different firmware have various pros and cons, but in order to minimize the likelihood of glitches and lags as a result of third-party interference from enthusiastic developers, I flashed my Mi4c to the official stable firmware with English, manually installing Google services. At the time of writing the review, the software version is MIUI V7.1.4.0.LXKCNCK.

The phone came from the store with all sorts of Chinese garbage, which is usually put by sellers along with Google services (don't blame the sellers, blame the Chinese flashing utilities for this). Of course, using a smartphone in this form is not very cool, and there can be viruses - I advise you to update it yourself to the selected firmware after receiving Mi4c from any store.

The seventh version of MIUI, like previous releases, is a very interesting platform. In terms of its device, it is far from naked Android and at the same time borrows many things from iOS, due to which, in fact, it is popular. Those who follow our reviews of Xiaomi devices know that we haven't been too flattering about MIUI in general. Having the opportunity to use flagships from almost all manufacturers, having the opportunity to compare and evaluate software from the outside, we could not help but notice sudden lags, regular brakes, application crashes and MIUI errors. However, in its current form, you can only find fault with Mi4c on MIUI v7 if you really want to. In terms of stability and elaboration, it is at the level of firmware from other vendors, with its pluses and minuses.

pre-installed software on the official Chinese firmware

Since the official firmware is intended for Chinese users, it is full of applications and services for them. In international firmware, something is simply missing (online cinema), something is offered in a truncated form (online playback is removed from the music player), and something is redone (the weather is able to see cities outside the Celestial Empire). I note that the Edge controls function, which allows you to perform the “back” action and take a picture by double tapping on the side face, was made just for show. It doesn’t always work, and what’s the point of it at all?

I will highlight the Mi Remote application, which uses an IR transmitter. With the help of a sensor, which is missing in Mi4i, you can remotely control your home appliances. So in no time I was able to make friends with the phone with a Sony TV and made fun of my wife a little, switching channels without a remote control and portraying sincere surprise at the enraged TV set. Do you remember how companies started massively integrating IR transmitters into flagships and then all of a sudden stopped? In my opinion, a sensor in a smartphone is needed insofar as (manufacturers probably studied the usage statistics and came to the same conclusion), but the fact that it is there is a small, but still a plus for Mi4c.

The Mi4c does not have a dedicated amplifier and DAC (like the Mi4i, no matter what anyone says), so the codec integrated into the SoC Snapdragon 808 is responsible for the sound. I listened to music with Denon D600 and Xiaomi Mi Headphones. In general, I was satisfied - Mi4c with Denon D600 plays at the level of OnePlus 2, slightly inferior to Meizu MX5 and LG G4. It is comfortable to listen at a volume of 70-80%, that is, there is even a margin. The bass is a bit lacking and I don't like the emphasis on the upper mids, but you can make some adjustments to the seven-band EQ. The Xiaomi Mi headphones themselves are quite mediocre in sound, and the preset for them in Mi Sound Enhancer does not make them much better. Headphones for inexperienced listeners who value design.

Camera

In terms of camera characteristics, Mi4i and Mi4c differ only in support for phase focusing by the main 13-megapixel Mi4c module. No change in resolution, 5-lens optics, f/2.0 aperture, dual color dual flash. Phase focusing allows you to aim at the subject in just 0.1 seconds, says Xiaomi. And with enough light, the camera really aims instantly, but in the room and in the twilight it takes significantly longer to focus, although less than the Mi4i or Mi4. In the dark, laser autofocus helps to aim well, but Xiaomi does not use it in its smartphones yet. Only the flagship Mi Note line has optical stabilization, and for Mi4c it would come in handy, but alas, there is no OIS, and the electronic stabilizer is not able to fully compensate for hand shaking and provide a confident shot with one hand (in general, there is a feeling that when taking a photo it just doesn't work). In this regard, I advise you to click 2-3 times in order to get a clear frame for sure (although it is still almost impossible to get a blurry picture at night anyway).

The camera app has several modes, the most interesting of which is manual. The vertical orientation of the interface looks crooked, the controls and buttons are not very convenient, but the focus, white balance, ISO and shutter speed settings are there - this is the main thing. I like to shoot macro, and with manual focus adjustment, it's quite easy to do. Evaluate the shot with a drop - you won’t be able to shoot this on the vaunted Sony Xperia Z5 for 3 times more, since the phone “with the best camera in a flagship smartphone” (as Sony Mobile advertises the Z5, which personally makes me wildly buhurt) full manual mode with adjustable focal length. You can change the exposure by tapping on the screen - tap on the focus area and rotate it clockwise or counterclockwise to make your photo brighter or darker.

auto and handheld night mode

Shots with Mi4c come out good in good lighting and satisfactory quality in low light. Lubrication is to blame. For example, out of 9 attempts to shoot a Christmas tree toy at home, none was successful, and the houses in the distance on the night composition were out of focus in all 5 pictures. In general, if you shoot mostly in near-ideal conditions, then there is nothing to worry about, but if you like to take pictures indoors and at dusk, and even without a tripod (a joke for MT people from VK), then you should consider another smartphone.

without effects and with retouching effect

For selfies, a 5-megapixel module with f / 1.8 aperture is provided. It shoots with high quality, just do not forget to turn off the retouching mode - details are lost with it.

The maximum video resolution is limited to Full HD. Tracking autofocus is turned off by default - and it's for the best. If the option is activated, then the focus will constantly scour. Audio is recorded in stereo, but the mics are set to capture ambient sounds rather than the operator's voice, which is predominantly on the right channel (we experienced a similar issue with the Xperia Z3 and Z3+ until it was fixed in the Z5). Electronic stabilization works very sluggishly.

Delays in the development of the new Mi5 flagship, caused by the overheating problem with Qualcomm's top processors, forced Xiaomi to create new budget and mid-range devices in order not to lose the market. In 2015, the company introduced several of these gadgets, which are distinguished by a good ratio of price, quality and functionality. One of them was the new Xiaomi Mi4c, to which our review is dedicated.

The device has become a modified version of the top model, presented in 2014. Some characteristics have been improved, some have remained the same, some have simply been implemented alternatively, with the same capabilities. Xiaomi Mi4c was released in September 2015 in China, at a price of about $ 200 for the younger model (2GB / 16GB) and 250 (3GB / 32GB) for the older one. Now you can buy it for about the same money, but already with us, and in some cases you can even find it for 190 USD.

How the smartphone differs from its predecessor, is there any deterioration against its background - our review will help to find out.

Xiaomi Mi4c received updated specifications, but it is impossible to say that they have undergone a radical improvement. This is just an improvement to suit the trends of the time and reduce costs.

Design, materials, dimensions and weight

Xiaomi Mi4c case is made of high quality plastic. The usual Mi4 used metal and glass, so the changes here do not look too good. Nevertheless, there are no complaints about the assembly, the smartphone does not creak in the hands, everything fits well. Outwardly, it differs little from other devices of this manufacturer. Rectilinear forms, slightly rounded edges, the absence of hardware physical buttons under the screen - all this has long been familiar. There are three touch control buttons.

The glass front panel is black. It has a speaker slot and a camera eye. The touch buttons are gray and do not catch the eye. The back panel is available in white, grey, pink, yellow and blue. On it is a camera with a flash in the upper corner and a speaker mesh in the lower center.

On the right side there are buttons for adjusting the sound and locking the screen / turning on the device. On the left is the SIM card tray. On the bottom end there is a USB Type C connector, on the top there is a headset jack and an infrared port.

The dimensions of the device are slightly smaller than most five-inch gadgets. Because of this, the ratio of the screen area to the entire panel is almost 72% (against the traditional 70). Size comparison with other five-inch smartphones in this price range can be found in the review video at the end of this article.

Height - 138 mm, width - 69.6 mm, thickness is 7.8 mm. The mass of the smartphone is 132 grams, that is, according to this indicator, it does not differ from its competitors. But against the background of the usual Mi4, he felt better by 13 grams.

CPU

The hardware has undergone noticeable changes: instead of the Snapdragon 801 processor (4 cores), the Snapdragon 808 (6 cores) was installed in the Mi4c. It consists of a quad-core Cortex A53 (1.4GHz) cluster and a pair of Cortex A57 (1.8GHz) cores. The transition to a new process technology (20 nm versus 28 nm) had a positive effect on performance.

The graphics accelerator has also become better. Adreno 418 is slightly more powerful than Adreno 330. In AnTuTu 6, the smartphone scores not 50 thousand points, but the older version with 3 GB 55-60 thousand points (such a spread due to different firmware). This is enough to run any modern game, the same WoT will run at maximum graphics (with grass in the scope), it gave out a stable 40-50 FPS.

Memory

RAM in Xiaomi Mi4c 2 or 3 GB, depending on the version. In comparison with the usual Mi4, a modification with 2 GB was added (it was not there before), which we had on hand. At the start, about 1 GB of RAM is occupied. But, again, it all depends on the firmware: there is no official Russian-language modification of the OS, and the custom ones differ in the level of optimization, so the numbers may be different.

For data storage, the younger version is equipped with 16 GB of permanent memory, of which about 10 are available. The more expensive model has acquired 32 GB of storage (about 25 are free). Both modifications do not have a slot for a memory card (just like their predecessor did not have it).

Battery

The battery in Xiaomi Mi4c has not changed. This is still the same 3080 mAh non-removable battery, which is slightly larger than that of an average smartphone by 5". Autonomy indicators increased slightly compared to its predecessor, but only after a software update. The first firmware sometimes differed by spontaneous battery consumption.

In games, the smartphone will be discharged in about 5 hours, while surfing the web or watching videos (at partial brightness) it will last up to 7 hours. It's not much, but a little above average.

The bundled charger (with a Chinese plug, so you need an adapter for European sockets) has a capacity of 2 A. With it, Mi4c charges in about 1 hour and 40 minutes. There is QuickCharge 2 fast charging technology, which allows you to charge quickly from the network. From the computer, the capacity is replenished from 0 to 100% in 5 hours.

cameras

Depending on the release batch, Xiaomi Mi4c can be equipped with a camera with a Samsung or Sony sensor. In both cases, its resolution is 13 MP, the optical aperture is f / 2, the pixel size is 1.12 microns. There is a flash and phase detection autofocus is supported. There is no significant difference between the sensors, in both cases the smartphone shoots approximately at the level of Redmi Note 2 and 3 (which uses the same matrix from Samsung). The quality of the pictures can be called good, but nothing more: it is far from the new flagships. We shot the same frame at the same time with three smartphones in the same price range ($190-200). These are Xiaomi Mi4C, Samsung Galaxy J5 (2015) and LG K8 (in the same order from top to bottom):

As you can see, the Mi4c camera took the best shot, the colors are the most saturated, the white balance is better than that of competitors. The clarity is comparable to the Samsung J5, but the dynamics of the light in the Samsung image is narrow, the sky is heavily overexposed. The LG K8's camera performed poorly in comparison. In general, Xiaomi can be given first place.

Another shot on the main camera:

The 5 MP front camera of the smartphone has an aperture of f/2, it is also identical to the sensor in Redmi Note 2 (which is not surprising, since smartphones came out at about the same time). Against the background of 8 MP, the regular Mi4 has a decrease in resolution, but there is no significant difference between the pictures. The viewing angles of the front camera are wide, with an outstretched hand, you can take a picture of yourself in full growth. See example below:

The main camera records video at a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels, with a frame rate of 30 FPS. The front can boast of the same. Video quality is average: hand tremors are noticeable, detail is not ideal, but tolerable.

Screen

With displays, Xiaomi Mi4c also has a scatter. In any case, the matrix has a diagonal of 5", a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (440 DPI) and a brightness of about 350 cd / m2. But its manufacturer changes in different batches. In this "lottery" you can win and stumble upon an IPS screen from LG or Sharp ( considered to be of higher quality), but you can buy a smartphone with a matrix from AUO (also quite good, but unloved by some users).

The touch screen is covered with glass, but there is no data on its hardening (the Mi4 without the letter C had Gorilla glass). It supports up to 10 simultaneous touches and has an oleophobic layer (medium quality and efficiency, since streaks still remain).

Connection

The smartphone is equipped with two SIM cards, but there is only one module, so only Dual Standby mode is supported. Supported networks include GSM, 3G and 4G. The LTE frequency range is large, but not complete: 3 and 7 are available, but 20 is not supported. So in Europe (including Russia, and especially Moscow), high-speed Internet will not be everywhere where there are fourth-generation networks.

Internet access is provided by dual-band Wi-Fi, which supports frequencies of 2.4 and 5 GHz. To connect the headset wirelessly, there is Bluetooth 4.1 with stereo support and power saving features. Of course, it can also be used to share files, but Wi-Fi Direct in the face of MiDrop makes it faster and more efficient.

Navigation works with GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou satellites. The signal reception quality is excellent, with a cold start, a dozen satellites are located even when driving in a car. As usual, 2 Chinese satellites are visible in Eastern Europe, Russian and American - 6-8 each.

Sound

There is no dedicated audio processor in the smartphone, so you should not expect spectacular sound. The speaker is loud, clear, dry, as in 95% of high-quality smartphones. Everything is better in headphones, bass appears, listening to music is comfortable. For some users, the volume in the "ears" (also depends on the model of headphones) may seem excessive. Unfortunately, there is no radio in Xiaomi Mi4c.

Operating system

Unlike the 2014 model, Xiaomi Mi4c runs on Android 5.1 (not 4.4). To be more precise, a modification of MIUI version 7 is used, which is based on the core from Lolipop. The user interface has been significantly changed (for example, there are themes, but there is no familiar Android menu). Everything works quickly and without brakes. In the background, simultaneously launched WoT Blitz and Opera are quietly kept with a dozen open pages.

On the first versions of the OS (especially those hastily Russified by sellers), premature battery consumption and minor bugs were observed, but they were fixed later. True, now you need to be careful when updating software: starting from version 6.14, the developers blocked the bootloader and removed root. So those who care about it will have to flash on custom. Well, or turn to the Chinese to unlock.

Peculiarities

Unlike Mi4 2014, the smartphone received a USB Type C interface connector (instead of the traditional MicroUSB). But its functionality is not fully implemented: there is a connection to a PC, OTG is present, but MHL is not).

Xiaomi Mi4c is equipped with an infrared port to control household appliances. The database contains many modern devices (TV, tuners, air conditioners, media centers, etc.). But the port is not trained (there is no IR receiver), so the remote control will not be able to work with exotic and some Chinese products.

An interesting feature is the "sensitive" case. By tapping on its right and left corner, you can adjust the camera's autofocus or go back. However, this function does not work well and does not work the first time, so tap and take care of your nerves.

Pros and cons of Xiaomi Mi4c

• new, faster hardware;
• improved autonomy;
• good price;
• Good (for the money) camera.

• no memory card slot;
• no support for the twentieth LTE band;
• poorly optimized software;
• cheaper case materials. compared to Mi4.

Who is a smartphone for?

The smartphone is suitable for those who appreciate the ratio of cost and functionality, unbiased attitude to the brands "Made in China". It is designed for people who do not like large devices at 5.5". Gamers will appreciate the speed in games and normal autonomy, fans of movies and web surfing will be satisfied with the screen. A good camera will satisfy those who need normal pictures with friends, and detailing at the level of dust does not matter.The gender ratio of the target audience is approximately equal: it will suit both men and women (especially since there are bright colors of the case).

Fans of phablets, connoisseurs of large internal storage and fans of metal will not like the smartphone. It will not suit enthusiasts who love to "dig" the firmware either. In such cases (if you need Xiaomi), it is better to pay attention to Redmi Note 2 (it looks and functions almost identical, but the screen is 5.5", there is a memory card, the bootloader is not blocked, the price is $ 50 less) or Redmi Note 3 Pro (5.5" screen, slightly faster, metal body and fingerprint scanner, same price).

Review from the site site about the smartphone Xiaomi Mi4c

Xiaomi Mi4c is a worthy update of the popular flagship of 2014, which made the device faster, more economical and cheaper. The review did not reveal any critical flaws in the smartphone, the device is good. The price at the level of 200-250 dollars makes it interesting for those who are free from prejudices about Chinese technology. All modern tasks are within our power, so the smartphone can be called universal.

As a drawback, it would be worth noting the raw early versions of the software, which is critical for those who want to upgrade to a stable modification of the OS, but are afraid of losing the Russian language, Google applications and root. But practice shows that sellers usually install a fresh Russian-language version of the software, so the minus can be neglected.

Video review

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