Mi A3 – Review – The Pixel, you can afford!
The biggest selling point of any Google Pixel mobile is its camera. Pixel mobiles have stock android optimized for the hardware and so does any other Android One mobiles. Pixel mobiles are insanely expensive and their cheapest Pixel 3a will set you back by Rs 40K. Android One mobiles from Nokia or Motorola in the mid-range segment are not as good as Pixel in the camera department. Xiaomi’s Mi A series of mobiles were introduced to fill this gap. This year’s Mi A3 aims to be a good camera mobile with a clean Android experience and affordable by everyone. Will, it hit that target?
In the Box
- Mi A3 Mobile
- TPU Back case
- 10W charger
- USB C Cable
- SIM Tray eject pin
- User manual
Design
Mi A3 has a premium glass body design with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the front and back. It is a major upgrade from Mi A2 in the design department. It has a 3.5 mm audio port, IR Port, USB- C port and also a hybrid SIM card tray for memory card support. It has a P2i coating to protect from water splashes. With a display size of 6.08″, the mobile is compact and comfortable to hold. It is available in 3 color variants: Not just Blue, more than white and just black, a naming convention inspired by Pixel. The white looks gorgeous, in my personal opinion. The blue has a nice shine dancing in the light and the black means pure business. I have nothing to gripe in the design department, so let’s move on.
Display
Mi A3 has a Super AMOLED panel with HD+ resolution and a screen measuring 6.08 inches diagonally. Mi A2 was an FHD+ panel and I still don’t get the logic as to why Xiaomi went for an HD+ panel in 2019. MiA3 has an in-display fingerprint scanner, but not always-on display. The fingerprint scanner is a tad bit slow, but the face unlock mechanism is fast. The front camera sits inside a teardrop notch above the display. The AMOLED panel is brilliant. It is vibrant and has excellent contrast levels. But the fonts are chunky and the pixels are visible, because of the HD+ panel, if you look closely. The viewing angles and the sunlight is also good, but if only it had been an FHD+ panel, Mi A3 would have driven an arrow straight into the heart of Pixel 3a.
Camera
Mi A2 had a brilliant camera and the Mi A3 is a massive upgrade in the camera department. It has a 48 MP Sony IMX586 sensor, 8 MP ultra-wide sensor and a 2 MP depth sensor at the back. The front camera is a 32 MP quad pixel selfie camera. The rear is capable of shooting up to 4k videos, but EIS is available only for 1080p videos and below. The video footage is smooth and the colors are accurate. The primary camera can shoot brilliant images. It comes very close to quality when I tried with a GCAM only the Mi A3. But still, the GCAM has brilliant nightscape and portrait shots. Night mode shots and portrait on the MiUi camera is good as well. The dynamic range is wide, color is accurate and the image has sharp details. The wide-angle shots have minimal distortion on the edges, but it can click near-sharp shots as well. The front selfie camera is absolutely brilliant. The selfies are sharp and the portrait mode is perfect. The skin tone is natural, once you disable all the beautification features. The Mi A3 has one heck of a camera arrangement.
Hardware Performance
Mi A3 runs on a new processor, Snapdragon 665 with Adreno 610 GPU. It has DDR4 RAM and UFS 2.1 type storage for internal memory. If you are playing PUBG on it, the game is on low graphics mode as Tencent is yet to optimize PUBG Mobile on SD665. Mi A3 has all the sensors you would need and it does not have the NFC which you would not need. The performance of the mobile is smooth. Apps and Games and handled smoothly. The UI is buttery smooth with no hiccups. The gameplay is lag-free and there is no frame drop. The quality of graphics is good as well. I never had any over-heating issues while using the mobile. For a mobile priced at Rs 13k, the Mi A3 has a superior performance.
Software
You are looking to buy the Mi A3 for its stock Android experience and by now you understand that Stock UI does not have all the bells and whistles of a skinned UI like MIUI. Android One based Android 9 on Mi A3 has a few gestures and Digital well-being feature. Otherwise, it does not any other feature and for that, you will have to install separate apps. It does not have any ads, and if you install apps that bring in an ad, Mi A3 is not the one to be blamed. In Mi A3, you get a clean Stock Android experience, if that is what you want.
Battery
Mi A3 runs on a 4030 mAh battery, which is another massive upgrade from Mi A2. Mi A3 supports 18W QC3 charger but has a 10W charger in the box. You can get a QC3 charger from mi.com for Rs 449. The 10W charger is not bad either. It can charge the mobile from 10 to 100% in about 2:15 hours. Once charged, Mi A3 gives about 6 to 7 hours of screen one time and on moderate usage, it would last for more than a day.
Verdict
Mi A3 is a Pixel mobile that you can afford. It has a great camera and a stock Android experience, with Android updates straight from Google. The design is gorgeous and my suggestion would be the white variant. It has an HD+ panel, but the brilliant AMOLED panel tends to make me look at the screen beyond the resolution. If you are looking for the perfect mobile with the best camera and stylish design under Rs 13k, the Mi A3 is a no-brainer choice.
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