Xiaomi Mi4C smartphone - magic and excellence for minimal money. Review of the Xiaomi Mi4C smartphone, almost a flagship in a budget package! A web browser is a software application for accessing and viewing information on the Internet

Xiaomi initially tried to become a serious competitor for the largest manufacturers of flagship smartphones, but it was strategically important to occupy its niche in all price segments. Therefore, Xiaomi Mi4c has become popular in the middle class, mainly due to its low price and excellent hardware.

Equipment

Xiaomi Mi4c is a fairly typical smartphone in the line, and therefore its equipment is more than standard: the smartphone itself, instructions, warranty card, SIM card ejector, charger with adapter and USB Type-C cable. By the way, not all deliveries include an adapter for our sockets.

Design

If you have already seen Xiaomi Mi4i, then you will not see anything new. In fact, the design of the Mi4c copies the previous model in the line down to the smallest detail - the same dimensions, the same materials, the same shape. The only details that externally distinguish the Mi4c from the Mi4i are that an IR port has appeared on the top end, and a USB Type-C port has appeared on the bottom edge instead of the outdated micro-USB. However, we must describe the design to you in detail, since it became characteristic of Xiaomi smartphones before the large-scale transition to metal bodies.

So, Xiaomi Mi4c has a fairly simple design - there are 2 main parts: a front glass panel and a back plastic cover that extends to the sides. This plastic panel is pleasant to the touch and slightly rough, matte, which means it will not attract fingerprints. The design is not overloaded with any unnecessary elements - there are no outlines or frames. This minimalism is exactly what attracts.

This smartphone with a plastic body is surprisingly light - 130g, and at the same time it has a 5-inch screen. Even today, Xiaomi Mi4c can be considered a perfect example of a compact mobile device. It fits perfectly in the palm and does not weigh down your pocket. Quite a long time after the announcement, it turned out that the polycarbonate case is practical and designed for different conditions.

On the left side there is a slot for two micro-SIM cards. You can remove the slot using a special clip, which is included in the package.

Unfortunately, there is no provision for using a microSD card instead of one of the micro-SIMs. Alas, you will have to calculate in advance before purchasing how much memory you will have.

The hardware volume and power buttons are on the right side. They are slippery and barely stick out from the body. Finding them by touch will be difficult at first. But they are located perfectly. It doesn't matter whether you hold the phone in your left or right hand - you can easily reach it with your finger. The buttons move elastically.

There are only two elements at the top end - a 3.5 mm headphone jack and an infrared port. To control compatible media devices, the Mi Remote application is specially preinstalled, however, you can mainly control equipment manufactured in China.

At the bottom of the case, everything is also ascetic - a USB Type-C port is installed, so you will no longer be confused about which side to connect the charging cable to. It’s a pity that this standard is still not very widespread and you’ll have to look for compatible accessories.

On the front panel above the screen there is a front camera, sensors, an LED element for notifications, and a speaker. Below the screen there are touch control buttons with dim backlighting. Xiaomi allows you to reconfigure the buttons in the settings or assign additional actions for a long press.

The rear panel has a main camera with dual LED flash. In a rare case, an additional microphone is installed to the right of the camera module and serves for noise reduction. Additionally, in the settings there is an option that regulates support for the operation of one or two microphones at the same time. There is a perforation at the bottom that hides the main speaker.

Display

By tradition, Xiaomi installs fairly good quality IPS screens even in inexpensive smartphones. Mi4c has a 5-inch display with Full HD resolution and is protected by tempered Gorilla Glass 3. The frame on the sides is approximately 4 mm thick. Multi-touch supports up to 10 touches simultaneously. The screen wakes up with a double tap.

The image on the screen is obtained with high clarity - yet the dot density reaches 441 ppi. Regardless of the angle of inclination, the display does not distort the picture and the colors do not change. In addition, color rendition is also at the highest level. In the settings menu, you can select the color temperature according to your preferences. You can also adjust the contrast or leave the “automatic” option.

Outdoors in sunlight, the Xiaomi Mi4c screen does not disappoint. In this price range, it is rare for a smartphone screen to remain readable. There's enough brightness to match.

Performance

At the beginning of our review, we already noted that Xiaomi Mi4c runs on a six-core Snapdragon 808 processor. This 64-bit SoC is produced using a 20 nm process technology, it has 2 clusters - 2 Cortex-A57 cores and 4 Cortex-A53 cores. Graphics performance is provided by the Adreno 418 accelerator with support for OpenGL ES 3.1.

Depending on the version of Mi4c, you can get 2 or 3 GB of LPDDR3 RAM. Internal memory is also your choice - 16 or 32 GB. Remember, you will have to calculate in advance how much will be enough for you, since there is no support for microSD cards. The maximum that can be done is to connect a flash drive using a USB OTG adapter.

During the test, we received the following file transfer speeds (remember, this is a USB Type-C port):

• via USB 2.0 – ~22MB/s;
• via USB 3.0 – ~28MB/s.

The benchmarks show the following results:

• AnTuTu 64 bit – 51827 points (55214 after software update);
• AnTuTu – 49106 points;
• GeekBench 3 – 1269/3308 points (1271/3569 after software update);
• Ice Storm Unlimited (3D Mark) – 19591 points.

To be honest, Xiaomi Mi4c surprised us with its performance, as we expected more modest results. The same Nexus 5X on the Snapdragon 808 processor turned out to be weaker. We can safely say that the performance of the Mi4c is enough for all everyday tasks and you can even play graphically demanding games on it. When under load, the smartphone heats up to a maximum of 38 degrees, and during games – up to 45 degrees.

Technical characteristics of Xiaomi Mi 4c

Manufacturer	Xiaomi
Model	Xiaomi Mi 4c
Announcement date	2015, September
Network support	GSM/HSPA/LTE
- 2G	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 and SIM 2
- 3G	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
- 4G	LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
Bluetooth	v4.1, A2DP
WiFi	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, access point
Dimensions	138.1 x 69.6 x 7.8 mm (5.44 x 2.74 x 0.31 inches)
Weight	132 g (4.66 oz)
Accumulator battery	Non-removable, Li-Ion 3080 mAh
Display	(~71.7% of the smartphone surface)
- permission	1080 x 1920 pixels (~441 ppi)
CPU	Qualcomm MSM8992 Snapdragon 808
- CPU frequency	Quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53 and dual-core 1.82 GHz Cortex-A57
- graphic arts	Adreno 418
Memory	16 GB, 2 GB RAM 32 GB, 3 GB RAM
USB	Type-C 1.0 reversible connector
Camera	Photo/Video
- main	13 MP, f/2.0, 24mm, phase detection autofocus, dual LED dual-tone flash
- frontal	5 MP, f/2.0, 1080p
operating system	Android OS, v5.1.1 (Lollipop)

operating system

All Xiaomi smartphones come with its own MIUI OS. Mi4c at launch runs on MIUI 7, which is based on Android 5.1.1.

The interface looks simple, neat, and the settings are arranged logically. If you are familiar with MIUI, then you will not find anything new. There is even an opportunity to reduce the working part of the screen if the 5-inch screen is too big for you. Depending on the firmware version, there may be a different set of pre-installed applications, but there are not many of them. MIUI still pleases with the possibility of customization, system speed, and optimization of energy consumption. It is difficult to criticize this OS for anything, since it is an order of magnitude better than stock Android.

Camera

The Mi4c has a 13-megapixel IMX258 camera from Sony, or a Samsung S5K3M2, but each with an f/2.0 aperture. Photos are clear, highly detailed, with bright and natural colors.

The Mi4c camera can shoot video with Full HD resolution, there is no 4k support. Slow-mo video can be recorded at 120 frames per second.

Example video from the camera of a Xiaomi Mi 4c smartphone

Autofocus is fast, the shutter lag is only about 0.1 sec. The dual LED flash is bright and easy to use in the dark. We won’t talk much about the camera application – there are a lot of settings, filters, and shooting scenarios.

Battery

Xiaomi has installed a 3000 mAh battery in the Mi4c, which takes about 1 hour 50 minutes to fully charge, but this is taking into account Quick Charge 2.0. The hardware and software are well optimized, so the smartphone delivers excellent battery life.

With an average load of 4-5 hours, the smartphone will require connecting the charger after 16 hours, that is, Mi4c will work all day. If you don’t use the phone often, it will last up to two days without recharging. After 8 hours in standby mode, the battery loses 20-30% of its charge, depending on the functions running.

Video – Review of Xiaomi Mi-4c

Results

pros

• fast processor;
• high-quality display;
• fast and stable MIUI OS;
• good camera;
• long battery life.

minuses

• no support for microSD cards;
• choice between 16 and 32 GB of memory;
• non-removable battery.

Based on the results of the review, we see that Xiaomi has tried to satisfy the needs of the mass buyer. Mi4c turned out to be a compact, convenient smartphone with powerful hardware, its performance approaching the top segment of that time (September 2015). This smartphone has a small screen with Full HD resolution - the colors are bright, rich, pleasant, with high contrast. It is ideal for games, and is in no way inferior to smartphones that cost twice or even three times more. But there are a couple of complaints - despite the plastic case, there is a non-removable battery, and besides, there is no way to increase the memory.

Inexpensive solution with flagship characteristics

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

Main characteristics of Xiaomi Mi 4c

	Xiaomi Mi 4c	OnePlus 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, 441 ppi	1920×1080, 441 ppi	1920×1080, 424 ppi	1920×1080, 401 ppi	2560×1440, 577 ppi
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (2x Cortex-A57 @1.8GHz + 4x [email protected])	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (4 cores Krait [email protected] GHz)	HiSilicon Kirin 935 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53 @2.2/1.5 GHz)	Mediatek MT6795T Octa-core (8 Cortex-A53 cores @2.2 GHz)	Exynos 7420 (4x Cortex-A57 @2.1 GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @1.5 GHz)
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; 4K video), front (5 MP)	main (16 MP; 4K video), front (5 MP)
Dimensions and weight	138×70×7.8 mm, 129 g	140×69×6.9 mm, 138 g	143×72×8.5 mm, 162 g	150×75×7.6 mm, 149 g	142×70×7 mm, 132 g
average price	T-13002328	T-13057137	T-12670591	T-12675734	T-12259971
Xiaomi Mi 4c retail offers	L-13002328-10

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, 6 cores: 2x1.8 GHz (ARM Cortex-A57) + 4x1.5 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 (2.4/5 GHz) 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 laconic 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 this is a very high-quality product. A company like Xiaomi definitely won’t make dull and tasteless packaging for its products.

The equipment is extremely ascetic. Apart from a charger with variable output current (5 V 2 A / 9 V 1.2 A) and a USB Type C cable, nothing else was included in the box, but this is quite reasonable. Firstly, the smartphone is already sold at a very affordable price, and secondly, Xiaomi, which follows Apple in everything, offers a huge selection of branded accessories of its own making, so this is serious business for it. The key for removing SIM cards is, as usual, attached to a paper insert.

Appearance and ease of use

In appearance, the hero of the review is practically no different 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 front glass and a rear plastic part that completely covers not only the back side, but also all four sides.

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

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

There is a side mounting option for cards. Double slides slide into a single connector, onto which you can install two Micro-SIM cards. Here lies one of the most significant disadvantages 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 the opportunity to make such a choice.

You can remove the slide in the usual way using the supplied key or a thin paper clip. The 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 body 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 act as 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 yourself by selecting in the settings to support one or two microphones for these purposes.

At the bottom of the rear side there is a grille 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 at the top, 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 section of the settings, 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 the plug can be inserted into it from either side. 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 with the smartphone.

A 3.5 mm jack for connecting headphones was installed at the top end. The headphones themselves were also not included in the kit. Nearby you can see the dark eye of an infrared transmitter, which serves to emulate a remote control. Among the programs installed in the smartphone, there was the Mi Remote program, but its support for European and American technology is questionable: its work is designed to control equipment common in China, much is depicted in hieroglyphs, and the program was not able to cope with an old Philips TV.

The metalized hardware keys on the right side are absolutely smooth, slippery, protrude very little beyond the surface of the case, and it is problematic to feel them blindly. At the same time, the buttons are located logically, it is convenient to reach them with the fingers of either hand, the movement is quite distinct and elastic, there are no problems with this.

The Xiaomi Mi 4c case is not protected from dust and water, and there is no strap mount on its case. The device does not support wireless charging. Xiaomi offers the market its new smartphone in several color options, 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 62x110 mm, diagonal - 5 inches. The screen resolution is 1920x1080, the pixel 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 approximately 15 mm on the top and bottom.

The display brightness is automatically adjusted based on the 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 process 10 simultaneous touches. The screen can be unlocked by double tapping 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 sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. 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 switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Xiaomi Mi 4c, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Xiaomi Mi 4c is even darker (brightness according to photographs is 104 versus 110 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Xiaomi Mi 4c screen is very weak, this 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 - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (in terms of effectiveness it may be only slightly worse than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed more easily and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

With manual brightness control and when the white field was 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, given the excellent anti-glare 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. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, when external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 150 cd/m² (a bit too much), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets it to 370 cd/m² (it could have been lower), in 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 - this is how it should be); if the adjustment is approximately 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. Only at very low brightness levels does significant backlight modulation appear, but its frequency is high, about 2.3 kHz, so there is no visible screen flicker (but could possibly be detected in a stroboscopic effect test).

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs 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 with large viewing deviations from 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 screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K. There is a white field 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 off. Now at an angle of approximately 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 the Xiaomi Mi 4c the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong brightening of blacks and a greater drop in brightness. And a white field:

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 has a darker screen (brightness according to photographs is 214 versus 235 for the Nexus 7). When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a reddish tint. The photographs 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:

The 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 halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 44 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 1.96, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates somewhat from the power-law dependence:

Due to the dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image (in dark areas the brightness decreases), 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 output of shades of gray on almost the entire screen . For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in the entire 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 (graph 100% ), while the average brightness is already changing and dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness is working with all its might:

In general, such non-disabled brightness correction does nothing but harm, since it reduces the visibility of gradations in the shadows in the case of dark images, and constant jumps in brightness are very annoying. In addition, this dynamic adjustment, when displaying any image other than a full-screen white field, 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 are (unfortunately) found in top mobile devices from Sony and other manufacturers. Apparently, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix filters, allows for 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 disadvantage, since as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have an 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 color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the tint warmer or cooler.

The curves in the graphs above Without corr. correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves Corr.— data obtained after moving the correction slider to the “warm” side all the way. 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 settings do in a group? Contrast, we never found out, since they do not have any noticeable effect on the image visually or with the help of instruments. What can't be said about the settings on the page? Reading mode— the slider there really reduces the intensity of the blue component, as 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 reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a 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 standard. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane, dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness and an excessively wide color gamut. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics specifically for this class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high, although you should be prepared for strange and not entirely natural shades.

Sound

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

In headphones the situation is even better: the sound is rich and rich, there is enough bass, the volume level is high, although not excessive. Branded headphones were not included with the smartphone, but in the settings you can select specialized profiles with preset values, specifically 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 or distortions. The noise reduction system generally copes with its tasks adequately. The vibration alert is quite weak, you may not feel it in your bag.

There was no FM radio in the smartphone. The device can record telephone conversations using standard means; during a conversation, you just need to press the corresponding button directly in the interface of the telephone application. Both talking parties are recorded, the sound quality is low, but speech can be understood.

Camera

Xiaomi Mi 4c is equipped with two digital camera modules 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 f/2.0 aperture 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 facial decoration effects, and here it is not the usual slider that is used, but only three levels of possible changes. Something unusual: traditionally for Xiaomi smartphones, the function of determining the gender and age of the subject is used by default. True, the correctness of her work is a big question, since the age and sometimes even gender do not match. Perhaps the program copes more successfully with Asian faces. The quality of the resulting images is average, there is nothing particularly to praise for, but for the level of selfies in general it is enough.

The main camera is equipped with a sensor with a resolution of 13 megapixels, using a Sony IMX258 or Samsung S5K3M2 module. In both cases, the maximum aperture of the lens is f/2.0, and the optical design of the lens uses five lenses. There is no optical stabilization or laser rangefinder. Phase detection autofocus works quite quickly and makes virtually no mistakes. The dual flash consists of multi-colored LEDs.

One of the innovations, first used here and not found 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 noting that the Edge Tap function is enabled, and then each time you touch the plastic side of the case, a frame is taken. The function works with both the main camera and the front one. In general, the technology is quite convenient, but shooting can be done just as well 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 icon with the image of a gear. There are a lot of settings, the menu is detailed, but you need to get used to it. For example, you cannot directly set the resolution of an image; you can only choose between veiled definitions, such as “high or low quality” or “normal or widescreen aspect ratio.” In manual mode, it is possible to influence white balance, shutter speed, ISO level, and 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, and there is also no possibility of saving pictures in RAW .

The video camera can shoot with a resolution of up to 1080p, and there is the possibility of slow and fast recording. The camera does an average job of shooting video; the image is loose, but smooth, without noticeable artifacts or jerks. The sound is recorded well, the noise reduction system, which uses two microphones, generally copes with its tasks adequately, including wind noise.

• Video No. 1 (35 MB, 1920×1080 @30 fps)

	The camera does macro photography well.
	The text is well done, with the exception of blurred corners.
	There is good detail in the background, but a large area of ​​blur is noticeable on the left.
	The sharpness in the field and in the plans is not bad, not counting the blurred area on the left.
	The image is quite clean, software artifacts are almost invisible.
	Good field and plane sharpness, but only in the central part of the frame.
	The camera does well when shooting indoors.
	The number plate of the nearest car is visible.

We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench using our method.

If it were not for the annoying problem with sharpness on the left side of the frame, apparently caused by an optical defect, the camera could be called very good. She handles details well, works carefully with the program and does not overuse processing. In most cases, the image is quite clear, except for the out-of-focus area. And a laboratory test confirms the good and coordinated operation of the sensor and the program.

If we assume that the lens defect is only a defect in a specific copy, the camera can be considered good - perhaps even flagship. She is good at documentary and artistic photography.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone has support for multiple bands of various 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 a SIM card from the MTS operator in the Moscow region, the smartphone was reliably 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 poor reception.

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

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

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

A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G/4G networks, but only one of the cards can function in this mode at a time. To change the assignment of slots, cards do not need to be swapped - this can be done directly from the phone menu. Work 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, 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 lovers of mobile technology, since initially it turned out that it was MIUI that began to be widely used for customizing mobile devices of various brands. Now this place is firmly occupied by Cyanogen OS, but MIUI is still in use in this capacity.

The shell looks neat, concise, all settings are conveniently distributed into their own sections, everything is neat and orderly. Naturally, there is no separate menu for installed programs; the icons of installed applications are immediately laid out on the desktop, and it is possible to create folders and widgets. It is possible to reduce the working area of ​​the screen for ease of operation with one hand. 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 this also depends on the firmware version. And of course, such lightweight and polished interfaces as MIUI and Flyme always please with the system’s response speed and optimized power consumption.

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

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

Performance

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 Cortex-A53 cores remain four, that is, there are 6 in total. The Snapdragon 808 integrates the Adreno 418 GPU, which supports OpenGL ES 3.1. The memory controller supports LPDDR3 memory, while the amount of RAM is 2 or 3 GB 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. There is no option 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 included 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. Over a USB 3.0 port using the same included cable, the transfer speed for this file was approximately 28 MB/s (1:47). The same results (28 MB/s) were obtained with both the unnamed Chinese USB Type C cable and the bundled cable from the Meizu Pro 5 smartphone.

According to test results, a smartphone on a powerful hardware platform demonstrated an even higher level of performance than could be expected. At least its results according to the AnTuTu test were higher than those of the Nexus 5X, based on the same SoC. The top-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 platform is able to compete with other modern flagship alternative solutions such as HiSilicon Kirin 935 and MediaTek MT6795. Snapdragon 808 demonstrates results no less high than those of the listed SoCs, both in complex and specialized graphics tests (according to the results of the popular AnTuTu benchmark, this is around 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 performance of the Xiaomi Mi 4c smartphone is at the level of modern flagships, and its hardware capabilities will be more than enough for any task for a long time, including demanding games.

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

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). 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 gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	xiaomi mi 4c (Qualcomm Snapdragon 808)	OnePlus X (Qualcomm Snapdragon 801)	Honor 7 (HiSilicon Kirin 935)	Samsung Galaxy S6Edge (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 (57 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is slightly 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), which is not very much.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (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 Internet. 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 options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect 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 testing results, the standard player was able to fully play all test files with sound, but the test subject was unable to do the same using the third-party video player MX Player. In it, when playing some 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	Standard 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 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3		plays normally
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹	plays normally
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹	plays normally

¹ sound in MX Video Player is only played after installing an alternative custom audio codec

Tested video output features Alexey Kudryavtsev.

Due to the lack of the necessary adapter, we were unable to 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 playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) 720/24p Great No

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. The smartphone actually implements dynamic adjustment of the screen refresh rate, at least it works for files with 50 fps, since the frames have equal duration. At other file frame rates, output is at the traditional 60Hz 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 by pixel, that is, in the original resolution, but 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 the Xiaomi Mi 4c is 3080 mAh, quite decent for modern flagships. At least with such a small, thin body, things could have been much worse. Tests have shown that the smartphone as a whole is capable of demonstrating good, but far from record-breaking, battery life in all standard use scenarios. Obviously, this is due to both the fairly high screen resolution (Full HD) and the most demanding SoC. With moderate use, the device lasts for a day, maybe more, but most likely most users will have to charge the device every night so as not to end up with a discharged smartphone by the middle of the next day.

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

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted about 13.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged. When continuously watching video in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted 8 hours. In 3D gaming 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 fast charging technology Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0. In practice, charging from the supplied charger is carried out with a current of 9 V 0.8 A, with which the total battery charging time is about 2 hours.

Bottom line

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

A light and thin, small-sized smartphone with an excellent bright screen with Full HD resolution just begs to be in your pocket. The capabilities of its powerful hardware are enough not only for any, even the most demanding games - in terms of performance, the 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 hero of the review.

Of course, there are some drawbacks, and the main one is the lack of ability to increase 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, fans of music archives) will be forced to fit into 32 GB. The Xiaomi Mi 4c probably has no other obvious shortcomings: the camera, sound, network capabilities and level of autonomy of the review hero are at a level that is confidently satisfactory for most users. Little things like the lack of a fingerprint scanner or, for example, wireless charging are already particular, you can do without them. In general, the smartphone turned out to be very interesting, and given the low price of the Xiaomi Mi 4c (about $200), there are practically no competitors for it in this niche.

Canalys analysts predict a great future for Xiaomi, since by mid-2015 this manufacturer topped the list of leading smartphone sellers in the Chinese market. Now competitors have a new reason to worry - a gadget Xiaomi Mi 4c, equipped with a powerful 6-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, with an Adreno 418 video accelerator. It is believed that Xiaomi Mi 4c will be able to thoroughly tease the owners of LG G4, which does not hide its flagship claims, and even reduce the popularity of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 tablet, which is why the first batch will not exceed 100 thousand units.

Appearance

Since the letter “C” is in the name, the smartphone will mostly be sold in the domestic market, although an export version of the device is also planned. The design and dimensions (138.1 x 69.6 x 7.8 mm) of the model completely duplicate those of the Xiaomi Mi 4i, intended mainly for the Indian market. The body is made of plastic in white, blue, pink, black and yellow. Weight – 132 g.

Display and camera

The display is 5 inches with a resolution of 1080p FullHD (1920 x 1080 pixels) with an IPS matrix. The eyes of the device are the 13 MP main camera with autofocus on a module from Samsung S5K3M2 or Sony IMX258. In both cases, the maximum aperture is F/2.0, and the optical system consists of 5 lenses. LED lighting is also a good help. The 5 MP front camera will satisfy the needs of more selfie lovers.

Equipment and functionality

The highlight of the model is Edge Tap technology, which allows you to use the side surface to control your smartphone. A double tap can return the device to the menu or browser, and a single tap (in camera mode) allows you to capture a frame. The device is controlled by a completely recent version of the Android 5.1 OS, in the MIUI 7 shell. A noticeable detail Xiaomi mi 4c is the presence of a USB Type-C interface, which, due to the planned sales volumes, will most likely attract considerable attention to the new connector in other countries.

Equipment and memory

An interesting fact is that the phone comes with a charger and a standard MicroUSB connector, connected via an adapter. The built-in memory, although decent, is 16 GB with 2 GB of RAM, the absence of microSD is still somewhat surprising. Some compensation is the ability to use USB OTG, with expansion up to 32 GB. The model supports 4G/LTE and is equipped with slots for a pair of SIM cards. Battery life 3000/3080 mAh.

The starting point of the price for the gadget is fixed at around $200.

The bottom line is this: whoever, despite such obvious compactness, appreciates style supported by powerful filling will find in Xiaomi Mi 4c what you were looking for.

Xiaomi Mi4C is the former flagship smartphone of the Chinese company. It differs from the Mi4 model for the worse in its plastic body without a metal frame, but for the better in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor versus 801. At the moment, this is the cheapest smartphone that can rightfully be called a gaming smartphone. Its Adreno 418 graphics accelerator will run any 3D game at high graphics settings.

Video in 4K

The Mi4C's 13 MP camera is based on a 1/3.06" Sony IMX 258 sensor, which is now more common in budget than mid-price and, even more so, flagship smartphones. But good optimization of camera drivers allows you to take pictures that are an order of magnitude better than 13 MP cameras of other smartphones, and the Snapdragon 808 processor also supports 4K video recording.

Maiden memory

The main disadvantage of the Xiaomi Mi4C is the small amount of memory by modern standards: 2 GB RAM, 16 GB permanent storage, and without the possibility of expansion with a MicroSD card. If the lack of RAM can still be solved by flashing from MIUI to Cyanogen (LineageOS), then you will simply have to put up with the lack of flash memory.

Cheap and cheerful

But all this is more than offset by a very low price - the included Mi4C fast charging alone costs almost half the price of a smartphone. To be as brief as possible, the Xiaomi Mi4C is a smartphone with average characteristics by modern standards, which is sold at the price of entry-level models.

The “Chinese phenomenon” is when very young Chinese companies suddenly find themselves among the leaders of the local market, and then begin successful expansion into the international market. What do they take? As a rule, low price and excellent quality. If these two rules are not followed, you can forget about popularity. Why do the Chinese succeed and others not? Is this pure dumping or are other manufacturers chasing huge margins?

Of course, there are still issues of royalties for the use of various technologies, R&D, legal fees - all this affects the final cost of the product. Some Chinese companies have apparently found a way around many of the pitfalls, otherwise it is difficult to explain their success.

In September, Xiaomi presented its next device - Mi 4c with a 5-inch Full HD screen. Taking into account the price and characteristics, the model turns out to be twice as attractive, and here's why.

Appearance and practicality

Xiaomi Mi 4c is a rather nondescript smartphone. This impression is probably due to the color of the case: we had at our disposal a graphite blue version, which is actually “gray”, but with a barely noticeable tint. The manufacturer's line also includes more “cheerful” colors.

In the upper left corner of the front panel there is a shiny manufacturer's logo in international format - MI. At the top there is a small speaker slot, to the right of it there is a peephole of the front 5-megapixel camera that supports video recording in 1080p format, and on the sides there is a barely noticeable standard set of sensors and sensors.

The side frames of the screen cannot be called thin. At the bottom there are dedicated navigation buttons with a pleasant light blue backlight. It is activated immediately after the phone wakes from sleep mode.

On the right side there is a “chrome” volume rocker and a power button. They have a small but clear stroke. On the left side there is a slot for two microSIM cards, but there is no room for microSD.

At the top left there is a headphone jack, and just to the side of it there is an infrared port. They are not placed on the same line and therefore look a little sloppy.

At the bottom end is the main microphone. It is located to the right of the USB Type-C connector (at the other end the included cable has the usual full-size connector). The latter has not yet become widespread, so you will have to carry the “cord” with you: asking someone for a charging cable is unlikely to work.

The back panel is covered with plastic with an oleophobic coating, but in reality it still collects fingerprints, which can be clearly visible due to the dark color of the case. At the top left is the main camera with a dual photo flash and a microphone for noise reduction, at the bottom is the speaker grille.

Noticeably rounded corners of the case visually reduce the dimensions of the device (138.1 × 69.6 × 7.8 mm). The Mi 4c weighs 132 g, but the model feels lighter in the hand.

The smartphone looks like a neat and sturdy device, without the pretense of “seeming expensive,” which is a plus for it.

Performance and battery life

The performance of “smart phones” used to be able to be assessed using a set of synthetic tests, but recently benchmarks have become just a way to compare numbers to see who has the most.

The smartphone in question received a 6-core 64-bit Snapdragon 808 chip. Four Cortex-A53 cores operate at a frequency of 1.44 GHz, two Cortex-A57 at a frequency of 1.82 GHz. Adreno 418 is responsible for graphics, the amount of RAM is 3 GB. In benchmarks, the Xiaomi device was inferior to a number of models, and among them were flagships from a much higher price category.

What's in reality? Subjectively, the device turned out to be very productive. Along with the smooth operation of the interface, “heavy” applications, primarily games, also worked without lags or stutters; only the demanding Real Racing showed a drop in fps. However, an unbiased user is unlikely to notice this.

In the process of performing tasks requiring maximum performance, the back cover of the smartphone became warm: the temperature remained within a comfortable range, but was still noticeable.

Battery life is a bit disappointing, but again, the non-removable 3080 mAh battery only doesn't perform well in stress tests. With everyday use, the battery will last a standard day and a half, with active use - a day. In Full HD video playback mode at maximum screen brightness, medium volume and wireless modules turned off, the device worked for 4.5 hours.

By the way, attempts to charge the smartphone via USB from an old laptop were unsuccessful: the computer drained the last couple of percent. Apparently, this is a cost of Qualcomm Quick Charge technology and the used USB Type-C.

We note the presence of an LTE modem, which is important in a new generation network in Belarus.

The device is equipped with a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1080×1920 pixels and a density of 441 ppi. The screen is bright enough, has high contrast and good viewing angles; you can operate it with gloves. It was not possible to check whether the display would go blind in bright sunlight due to the gray weather. There were no problems with high-intensity artificial lighting, and the manufacturer has provided some software tweaks to adjust the image. Videos look rich and bright. For a mid-class smartphone, the performance is excellent.

Camera

The model received a 13-megapixel main and 5-megapixel front camera. The face module is rarely used - for selfies and rare video calls. As for the main camera, the verdict is as follows: good for its class, without noticeable problems.

The main complaint, oddly enough, is not about the pictures, but about the features of the micromotor that controls autofocus. It rattles a little if, for example, you knock on the smartphone’s body, shake it vigorously, or place it on a table. Nothing critical, but there are concerns about whether the strumming will intensify over time. However, the experience of using “large” cameras shows that the likelihood of this is negligible.

In the past, there have been complaints about blurry photos and slow shutter times. However, the problem was related to the software, and Xiaomi is known for regularly releasing updates and patches and actively responding to community comments. The test sample worked quickly.

Software