Xiaomi Mi A3 review: Back to basics

Apple said it took cour to remove hephone jack on iPhone 7. move did raise a few eyebrows, but hey, body panicked per se. But when Xiaomi, a company often called Apple of China, tried something very similar with Mi A2, everyone – literally, everyone – lost ir minds. While Apple hasn’t looked back ever since, Xiaomi has done just opposite - bringing hephone jack back in Mi A3. t many tech companies have cour to mit a mistake, let alone fix it. I don’t kw about you, but that’s real cour. 

lack of a hephone jack wasn’t only problem with Mi A2. It did t support expandable stor. Its screen and battery life also left a lot to be desired. You can say that people in India have grown accustomed to Xiaomi maintaining a consistency in pricing across its device portfolios – year-on-year. And Mi A2 was more expensive than Mi A1 at launch – which meant justifying all treoffs wasn’t easy, even though thing h good all-round performance and stellar cameras. 

t only does Mi A3 bring back jack, it ds a slot for micro-SD. It has a Samsung-me AMOLED screen and a girmous 4,030mAh battery – largest in any Xiaomi Mi A-series phone. And, with a starting price of Rs 12,999, Mi A3 is also most affordable Mi A-series phone to date – undercutting Mi A1 which was launched at a price of Rs 14,999. Clearly, Mi A3 is all about going back to basics. Question is, will that be eugh? Let’s find out. 

Design 

Mi A1 looked and felt way ahe of its time and even though Mi A3 is coming at a time when re’s dearth of premium-looking budget phones (including at least a couple from Xiaomi itself), it still mans to look and feel special. Like Redmi te 7 Pro, Mi A3 also has a glass sandwich design – with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on front and back, and a plastic frame in middle. Mi A3 is a lot curvier in comparison though which entails in a much more comfortable grip. And because it’s a smaller phone, Mi A3 is also a lot more pocketable. I’ll go so far as to say that Mi A3 strikes just right balance of size and ergomics.  

Mi A3 has a grient finish on back, but it’s a lot more subdued when you compare it with Xiaomi’s aura design seen in Redmi te 7 Pro. This is also true about colors. Mi A3 will be available in three options loosely inspired by Google Pixel - Kind of Grey, t just Blue and More than White.  t just Blue variant I have for review is most striking, if you’re someone who likes to flaunt it – this one sees distinct ‘S’ patterns dancing across whole surface when light hits panel at specific angles. More than White variant should appeal to those who like to work hard and party harder, while Kind of Grey variant is specifically meant for those looking for a -nsense device. Xiaomi has also color-coated sides accordingly, which I feel is a nice touch. 

t only is it a good-looking phone, Mi A3 is also built rock solid. Xiaomi has gone a step furr and put Corning glass protection on top of camera module as well which is a nice thing to have considering that it protrudes out quite a bit. re’s waterproofing as such but Xiaomi is using its tried and tested P2i hydrophobic coating in Mi A3 which makes it resistant to accidental splashes of water or rain. 

Display 

Mi A3 takes a couple of steps forward here, but also a step back. Let me explain. Both its predecessors came with IPS LCD screens – Mi A3 has an AMOLED display. IPS LCD screens of both its predecessors left a lot to be desired when it came to all-round quality – AMOLED display of Mi A3 is a big step up when it comes to all-round quality, with deep blacks and generally punchier – if a little inaccurate – colors. It can get equately bright too, although we’ve surely seen better in this price segment.  

So, what’s catch, you ask. Mi A3 is a 6.01-inch phone with an HD+ or 720p+ (720x1560, 286ppi) resolution display. That's both a good and b thing. Good that re are much fewer pixels to drive (as opposed to a phone like Redmi te 7 Pro that has a 1080p+ resolution display) so that should bode well for performance and battery life, and b that it’s based on a PenTile Super AMOLED. One can argue that that’s same techlogy that Samsung uses in all its high-end flagships, and that’s right, but also, it’s t suitable for low-resolution screens. This is because setup has fewer subpixels than conventional RGB, and while it does have its vants, re’s a visible pattern – re, pixelization and jagged texts - when you look at it closely.   

While your eyes may t be able to tice pattern in high-end Samsung phones with pixel dense screens, re’s escaping it in a phone like Mi A3. effect is particularly accentuated while watching video with scenes with solid background, or while reing. I am t even sure why Xiaomi decided to go with AMOLED when it brings real-world benefit – IPS LCD-toting Redmi Y3 with 720p+ resolution looks way better in comparison. Surely you get punchier colors, but at what cost? 

That AMOLED panel also allows Xiaomi to offer an in-display fingerprint reer in Mi A3. But while it’s also seventh generation like one on Redmi K20 Pro, it’s where close in actual us. It’s inconsistent and slower. 

Software 

biggest difference between Mi A3 and or Xiaomi phones is software. While or Xiaomi phones run MIUI, Mi A3 runs stock Android Pie our-of--box - because it’s an Android One phone. Because it’s an Android One phone, Mi A3 is also expected to get faster software updates and should oretically receive Android 10 - which is next version of Android - before or Xiaomi phones. That’s essentially what you buy into when you buy a Mi A-series phone – you must absolutely be into pure, unulterated Android, way that Google designed it, and even though Xiaomi sneaks in a few useful ditions, what you get is second only to a Pixel. Those into MIUI’s hefty customization options wouldn’t even care about Mi A3. 

Performance and battery life 

Snapdragon 665 processor inside Mi A3 is like Snapdragon 660 inside last year’s Mi A2 – or this year’s Redmi te 7S/Redmi te 7 – in many ways, except that former is based on more efficient 11nm manufacturing process while latter’s based on 14nm. core architecture remains nearly same, so unsurprisingly, all-round performance is also on very similar lines. SD665 in Mi A3 is paired with up to 6GB LPDDR4x RAM and up to 128GB UFS 2.1 flash stor which is also expandable by up to 256GB via a hybrid micro-SD card slot.  

Basic day-to-day tasks are handled well by Mi A3, so is multi-tasking – better than its predecessor phone. Of course, near stock Android helps, but it also helps that Xiaomi has been able to well optimize hardware with software, so overall phone feels faster than Redmi te 7S/Redmi te 7 – phones that felt slower with competing hardware. Basic games are handled well as well – so are graphical games like PUBG at low and sometimes even at medium settings. 

While I really like whole user experience and how seamlessly everything works here, you must also kw that re are more powerful phones in and around Mi A3’s price point – should you be looking for more power and graphical performance.   

same is true about Mi A3’s battery life. 4,030mAh battery inside Mi A3 will easily last you a day with moderate us, but this is one area where I really missed MIUI’s more sophisticated battery saving algorithms. Plus, even though Mi A3 supports 18W fast charging, Xiaomi bundles a paltry 10W charger in box. It doesn’t help that  Realme 3 Pro offers a bigger battery and a 20W fast charger in box at similar pricing.  

Cameras 

Snapdragon 665 may t necessarily offer a next-generation performance jump, but it does bring support for a 48MP camera – that's all r in world of budget and mid-tier smartphones se days. Xiaomi spearheed phemen by launching most affordable 48MP camera phone in India earlier this year – Redmi te 7 Pro. Which was n followed by an even more affordable Redmi te 7S. Mi A3, even though it sits in middle, is w most affordable phone with a flagship Sony IMX586 sensor. After software, that’s its second biggest highlight.  

Mi A3, in fact, has three cameras in all – a 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor behind f/1.79 26mm lens, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor behind an f/2.2 13mm lens, and a 2MP sensor behind an f/2.4 lens for portrait shots. On front, Mi A3 has a 32MP camera. 

48MP main camera (that shoots 12MP photos by default) can capture some crisp photos with good detail, good dynamic range, and little or metering issues in well-lit situations. More importantly, colors look true to source mostly, which is a stark departure from Xiaomi’s torious saturation boosting ways. Low-light photos are a different story though. In low-light, Xiaomi’s highly aggressive ise reduction algorithm entails in softer-looking photos. Xiaomi’s long-exposure night mode helps shoot brighter, more detailed photos in such cases, but we’ve surely seen better from rivals. 

8MP wide-angle camera offers a wider perspective (with 118-degree field-of-view) so you can capture a lot more of your subject. quality may t be as good as primary camera – Xiaomi’s distortion correction works well mostly but re’s ticeable softness towards corners – but at least you get option. quality of wide-angle photos is thing to write home about in tricky and low light. 

Portraits have always been a strong suit of Xiaomi’s Mi A-series phones and Mi A3 is also different.  

All said and done, Mi A3 is t fastest Xiaomi camera phone at autofocusing. It’s rar slow actually. So that’s that. 

Mi A3 can shoot 4K videos at 30fps and 1080p videos at 60fps and at 30fps (with EIS). Videos shot with Mi A3 have same plus and minus points as shooting stills – across board.   

32MP front camera of Mi A3 can capture some good-looking selfies with good amount of detail and colours that are mostly true to source – although beauty algorithm does tend to soften details a bit. Dynamic range is quite good too, with little or metering issues. In low light, this camera can capture brighter exposures with higher ISO – brighter, cleaner and more detailed selfies with little or ise.  

Should you buy Xiaomi Mi A3? 

So, let's start with pros. Mi A3 looks attractive and it is also built well. It is a capable performer and runs stock Android. It has outstanding battery life. It has stellar cameras. It is priced very aggressively too. 

And w cons. Come to think of it, re’s just one actually – its low-resolution display. But I’ll still be willing to bet my money on it for all or things – pros that far outnumber cons. That’s t my main concern though. What really concerns me is a phone called Redmi te 7 Pro, that offers more value for money at just 1,000 rupees more. Or even Redmi te 7S, that’s even cheaper. re’s also very competitive Realme 3 Pro that costs as much as Mi A3. In which case, it will all narrow down to just one thing – how b do you want a phone with stock Android. 

re’s denying that Xiaomi has tried to correct many of mistakes that it me with Mi A2 here, and re’s also denying that Mi A3 is able to fix most of m, but be that as it may, is it as compelling as Mi A1? t really. But that has got little to do with Mi A3 as a product, and more to do with competition. Survival of fittest is clearly new rm and Mi A3 has a long way to go. 

(Photos by Saurabh Singh)

Also Re:  Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro Review: Rewriting Flagship Phone Rulebook, circa 2019

Also Re:  Xiaomi Mi A3 First Look: Android One, Triple Cameras, 4,030mAh Battery