The Xiaomi Mi A1 was a massive breakthrough for the company. It was widely available, ran pure Android, and delivered a great experience at an attractive price.
But the new Xiaomi Mi A2 takes things one step further by running the latest iteration of Google’s Android One software and ditching the company’s custom MiUI for Android 8.1 Oreo. While this isn’t a perfect phone, it’s worth considering.
Display
The 5.99-inch display on the Mi A2 is an IPS LCD panel that offers good viewing angles and plenty of color reproduction. It also has an oleophobic coating to help manage finger grease.
The display is legible indoors but doesn’t do a great job outdoors in direct sunlight. It’s also not as bright as other LCD panels, so you must increase the brightness slightly.
The LCD panel on the Mi A2 is not the best we’ve seen, but it’s still good for its price. It’s not as bright as a heavily saturated OLED panel or super bright displays, but it’s not bad by any means and will do fine for most people.
Camera
The Xiaomi Mi A2 packs an excellent camera setup. Its rear and front cameras can produce stunning results when it comes to photos and videos.
The dual rear cameras are powered by the latest and most excellent Qualcomm chipset, the Snapdragon 660. The front camera is a 20MP affair with some fantastic features, including the famous Portrait Mode and AI Beautify 4.0.
The primary lens of the rear camera is paired with a secondary sensor that helps in low-light scenarios. Both sensors can capture excellent images in the daytime and offer some interesting low-light features like Handheld Twilight for super-low-light situations.
Performance
The Mi A2 is a true flagship killer in the mid-range space, offering a great software experience, smooth performance, and a perfect camera. Its shortcomings in display and battery will be of no surprise to any long-term Xiaomi fan, but if you are willing to live with these issues, the Mi A2 is an excellent buy.
The Mi A2’s new 14nm Snapdragon 660 mobile platform (up from the 625 in previous models) is a vast improvement, bringing Kryo 260 cores to power a CPU that flies. Homescreen navigation is snappy, and swapping between apps and jumping into the camera app from sleep is slick.
Battery
The Mi A2 is a great mid-range Android One device that ticks almost all the boxes. It offers a 5.99-inch display, stock Android and a power-efficient Snapdragon 660 processor.
However, it lacks some crucial features that could be a turn-off for some users. These include no 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card slot, or small 3,000mAh battery.
That said, the Xiaomi Mi A2 delivers decent battery life and will last a day or two with regular usage. It’s better than many other mid-range phones in this category.
Price
The Xiaomi Mi A2 is an excellent choice for anyone who wants a high-quality Android One smartphone without breaking the bank. It costs a few hundred euros less than the Mi A1 but still offers more bang for your buck than most other budget Android phones.
Its design borrows heavily from Apple’s iPhone X and is a perfect device to hold in hand. The 7.3mm body is slim enough to be comfortable in your pocket, and the matte black finish is stealthy.
