The Android 8.0 Oreo update comes with Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphone

The Android 8.0 Oreo update comes with new features such as Picture-in-Picture mode, Notification dots, Background limits, Smart text selection, Background limits and more.

Camera

The Xiaomi Mi A1 brings a dual camera setup to a mid-range smartphone. It’s not the first brand to do this, but it is the first one to offer 2x lossless optical zoom in its segment.

The camera setup includes a 12 MP wide-angle 26mm f/2.2 lens and another 12 MP 50mm f/2.6 telephoto lens, with a dual-tone LED flash.

In ideal lighting conditions, the camera on the Mi A1 manages to take some really good portrait shots with natural looking colors. Most shots had clearly defined edges and just the right blurring. In a few cases, it overdid the blurring, though. The landscape shots were also impressive and offered accurate color reproduction and good sharpness.

Design and Display

The Mi A1 has design elements in common with other Xiaomi devices, but feels like an elegantly crafted upgrade.

It offers a premium metallic feel and looks solid in construction. At 7.3mm, it is still quite slim. It’s 165 gram weight feels great in the hand. Although slightly wider, it fits nicely in the palm and has great ergonomics because of its round edges and sleek side profile.

At the back, the dual cameras protrude a bit— an aberration for Xiaomi devices— but it’s neither an eyesore nor a deal breaker. Below the cameras, in the center of the phone, is the Mi A1’s fingerprint reader. We found it to be on par with other devices in this price category.

Overall, the Mi A1 has a striking visual appeal with neat elements, like the nicely crafted speaker grille and the antenna lines at the back. I think that it is one of the best looking Xiaomi devices we’ve seen, ignoring the Mi MIX series of course.

While the ample brightness results in good enough sunlight viewing, it is certainly not the best, especially because of the reflective display panel. Also, outdoors in the sun, the colors often appear washed out. There’s also no reading mode like on other MIUI-based Xiaomi devices of late.

The display on the Mi A1 is vivid and bright. Its graphics look great and its text is sharp. The color reproduction could be more accurate, but most users won’t notice unless they have it side-by-side with a better panel.

Performance and Connectivity

The Xiaomi Mi A1 is powered by 2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor and it comes with 4GB of RAM. The phone packs 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card.

The Xiaomi Mi A1 runs Android 7.1.2 and is powered by a 3080mAh non removable battery. It measures 155.40 x 75.80 x 7.30 (height x width x thickness) and weigh 168.00 grams.

The Xiaomi Mi A1 is a dual SIM (GSM and GSM) smartphone that accepts Nano-SIM and Nano-SIM. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, Infrared, USB OTG, 3G and 4G (with support for Band 40 used by some LTE networks in India). Sensors on the phone include Compass Magnetometer, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor and Gyroscope.