Android One-based phones have been around since 2014, but, their existence or the lack thereof, is subject of much debate. In fact, well until September 5, 2017, it was widely speculated -- to the extent that it wasn't even a speculation any more -- that Android One was dead. Only Android One was never dead. You can say that it was on a sabbatical or something like it, but, dead it wasn't. September 5, 2017 will go down in history as the day when Android One was re-launched albeit under a slightly different set of rules and guidelines.

At the helm of Android One's second innings is Xiaomi, a company often called, the Apple of China. And the device in question, at the helm of Android One's second innings, is the Mi A1.

The Xiaomi Mi A1, just like Google's Android One phones of yore, is a cost-effective handset geared towards emerging markets like India with promised timely OS updates right from the global search engine giant. Only it's unlike any Android One phone that you've seen before. The Mi A1 is notably the most premium phone, both in terms of looks and build as well as in terms of hardware specs, to launch under Google's Android One program. This is a stark departure from what Google's Android One stood for, once upon a time. The times they are a-changin'. For the better, hopefully.

Design and build quality

The Mi A1, much like any other Xiaomi phone, looks (and feels) like an expensive phone, but it isn't expensive at all. Boasting of a full-metal body and dual rear cameras, the Mi A1 would -- invariably -- remind you of Apple's iPhone 7 Plus, especially from the behind. The same is true about the phone's front as well. Everything from the 2.5 D curved glass -- which is Corning's Gorilla Glass 3 for your reference -- on the front to the antenna lines placement on the back, screams the iPhone. The only visible difference is seen in the fingerprint scanner placement. As opposed to the iPhone 7 Plus that comes with a front-mounted fingerprint scanner, the Xiaomi Mi A1 sports one on the back. The Mi A1 further comes with physical capacitive keys on the front which are back-lit.

The Mi A1 may look remarkably like the iPhone 7 Plus, but, at least it looks good while at it. Also, it costs peanuts in comparison, so that's that. You'll have to dig a little deeper to understand its design philosophy though. The Mi A1, in fact, borrows heavily from Xiaomi's gentle giant, the Mi Max 2: you can call it a smaller Mi Max 2 if you may.

"It's pretty, the Mi Max 2. Had it been a more mainstream phone with a more mainstream size, the Mi Max 2 could have been the best looking phone at under Rs 20,000," is what I had written about the Mi Max 2's design not long ago, clearly smitten by its single slab of metal design. The Mi A1 was the mainstream phone that I was looking for back in the day and now that it is here, well, let's just give some credit where it's due. The Mi A1 is, without a doubt, the best looking phone at under Rs 20,000 right now. Period.

That's not to say that it's without its flaws though. The Mi A1 that takes great pride in its aesthetically pleasing curves can be tad slippery and unmanageable at times. The fingerprint scanner on the back, although it's mostly fast and accurate, isn't in the same ballpark as the one on-board the Redmi Note 4.

Display

The Mi A1 comes with a 5.5-inch Full-HD LTPS display that amounts to 1080x1920 pixels (403 ppi pixel density) and 450nit brightness. Unlike Xiaomi's Redmi Note 4 and Mi Max 2, the screen of the Mi A1 can get really bright and also because it's not as reflective as the aforementioned phones, the Mi A1 offers better overall outdoor legibility in comparison.

Xiaomi could have done a better job with the screen's colour reproduction though. The Mi A1 can get really bright, but, colours on-board aren't always the most accurate: they seem muted and lacking in contrast. The Redmi Note 4 certainly did a better job at colour reproduction, but then, it wasn't as bright as the Mi A1, so I guess, you win some and you lose some.

Software

Xiaomi's custom ROM, aka MIUI, although it offers a seamless experience across the board, is known for some heavy skinning on top of Android, something that hard-core geeks don't really appreciate. Also, because there's third-party skinning involved -- and because Xiaomi likes to update each and every device in its portfolio more or less on similar lines -- the fact that users have to wait longer for updates, doesn't go down well with many. That besides the fact that the company is known to kill some key Android features just so it can maintain uniformity across its devices is a subject of much debate.

Take the Redmi Note 4 for instance. When Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 4 in India in January, the phone shipped with Android Marshmallow (based MIUI 8). In early August, the phone started receiving the Android 7.0 Nougat update (MIUI 8.5) alongside the July Android security patch. Interestingly, the Redmi Note 4 -- as per a Xiaomi listing -- isn't scheduled to get Android 7.1 although an update to MIUI 9 is expected in the days to come. If Xiaomi's listing is to be gone by, chances are the Redmi Note 4 may be stuck with Android 7.0 for the rest of its life. To expect an Android Oreo upgrade from it, would be wishful thinking for now.

The Mi A1 is essentially a Xiaomi phone running stock Android and to cut short the chase here: it flies like no other phone at its price point

Just so you know, Xiaomi's phones are in no way inadequate -- or inferior -- in software standards to counterparts. It's just that Xiaomi operates in an entirely different manner. Xiaomi doesn't toil with Android AOSP APIs. Rather, the company adds its own features on top of the AOSP. A lot of this happens at the ground level which is why -- for most users -- there would generally be very little visible difference between a Marshmallow-based MIUI and a Nougat-based MIUI.

A lot of this also happens without changing an Android version. It is the MIUI version that one would see changing at all times, and going by went sXiaomi's history, the company is in the habit of changing that way too frequently. Xiaomi's phones may not always boast of the latest version of Android, but, they most certainly aren't losing out on much anyways, according to Xiaomi. This also helps Xiaomi to keep updating all its phones no matter the release window.

But there is still an audience, and a sizable one at that, that would still take Android Nougat over Marshmallow and it would want it as quickly as possible. That's where Xiaomi's new Mi A1 steps in. Not only would the Mi A1 pack in the latest and greatest in Android at all times, it would be the closest thing next to what a certain Google Pixel has to offer at the end of the day: unadulterated software.

The Mi A1, for your reference, runs stock Android 7.1.2 Nougat out-of-the-box and will be updated to the recently announced Android Oreo by the end of this year, Xiaomi has confirmed. Xiaomi (and Google), in fact, have gone so far as to say that the Mi A1 will also be getting Android P -- or whatever Google decides to call the Android O successor -- when it launches later next year.

Unlike a certain Nokia 6, or a Moto G5S Plus, or a Lenovo K8 Plus -- that all run a stock version of Android Nougat out-of-the-box -- however, the Xiaomi Mi A1 is the closest it gets to pure unadulterated Google software. Both Lenovo and Moto phones ship with extra apps and features, in addition to a slightly tweaked (non-Pixel) launcher. Both Lenovo and Moto are expected to roll out Android Oreo for many of its key phones, but there's no definite time-line for the same. The same is true about the Nokia 6 (the Nokia 5 and the Nokia 3) as well. The Mi A1 Android One-based phone, meanwhile, is pretty well sorted in this regard.

Having said that, although the Xiaomi Mi A1 runs a near 100 per cent version of stock Android, the phone also ships with the company's Mi Feedback and Mi Remote apps. While the purpose of the Mi Feedback app is to let users report issues with the phone, the Mi Remote app allows users to use the Mi A1's IR-blaster. While the Mi Remote app can be uninstalled, the Mi Feedback app can't. Also, the camera app in the case of the Mi A1 is again hallmark Xiaomi. This is because the stock Google camera app can't do dual camera gimmickry like taking portrait shots at this point of time, according to Xiaomi.

Performance and battery life

The Mi A1 is powered by a 2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor clubbed with Adreno 506 GPU, 4 gigs of RAM and 64GB of internal storage which is further expandable by up to 128GB via a hybrid micro-SD card slot. The Snapdragon 625, which is also inside the company's much popular budget phone the Redmi Note 4 (as also inside the gigantic Mi Max 2), is notably the first Snapdragon 600-series chipset to be built on the power-efficient 14nm finfet process. The technology essentially allows a processor -- the Snapdragon 625 in this case -- with multiple cores to hit higher clock speeds without overheating and draining the battery quickly. In layman's terms, you're more likely to get (much) better battery life and little (or no) overheating in phones powered by a chipset on the lines of the Snapdragon 625.

It's safe to say that the Mi A1 offers the best dual camera implementation on a mid-level budget phone right now

The Snapdragon 625 has worked its magic in the Redmi Note 4 (as also the Mi Max 2). The Mi A1 has the same processor, but, unlike the Redmi Note 4 (as also the Mi Max 2), the Mi A1 has stock Android at its core. The combination -- a deadly one at that -- ensures the Mi A1 feels faster in almost every sense of the word in comparison to the Redmi Note 4 that runs MIUI: a custom ROM based on Android. There is of course some room for improvement and hopefully, the next-generation Android One phones from Xiaomi would be a little more refined, especially in terms of touch latency, but overall the Mi A1 paints a pretty picture.

It's safe to say that the Mi A1 doesn't disappoint, as far as regular day-to-day usage is concerned. And also, it runs mostly cool while at it. It is quick and responsive in every sense of the word and there were no drastic visible lags or stutter while navigating between home screens and/or multitasking in my review unit. The Mi A1 handles basic games quite well. Graphics-intensive games are prone to some lag especially during extended usage.

The bottom-firing mono speaker on-board the Mi A1 can get loud but there is often some digitization at peak volume. Phone calls made with the phone are of excellent quality and we did not encounter any odd call drop issues with our review unit.

The 3,080mAh battery inside the Mi A1 may not inspire the same level of confidence as the 4,000mAh+ and 5,000mAh+ batteries inside the Redmi Note 4 and the Mi Max 2, but, it should easily get most users through a full working day without any hiccups. Extreme usage scenarios got us close to 11 hours on the Mi A1 which is a fairly respectable score.

The phone charges over USB Type-C -- which is a first for any budget-orientated offering from Xiaomi -- and the company is also including a custom 380V charger in the box that it says is designed to handle India's notorious voltage fluctuations.

Camera

The Mi A1 comes with a dual camera setup on the rear -- 12-megapixel + 12-megapixel -- where one lens is wide-angle while the other is telephoto (or zoom lens). The Mi A1, is in fact, the first Xiaomi phone in India to ship with dual cameras.

In terms of core specifics, the 26mm wide-angle lens on-board the Mi A1 comes with an f/2.2 aperture while the 50mm telephoto lens boasts of an f/2.6 aperture. This dual camera system offers 2X optical zoom and 10X digital zoom (just like the iPhone 7 Plus) and therefore should technically result in clearer distant shots and professional bokeh effects in portraits. The system is further aided with phase detection auto-focus and a dual-LED (dual-tone) flash but there is no optical image stabilisation. On the front, the Mi A1 comes with a 5-megapixel camera.

Dual cameras are fast becoming the industry norm, even in the mainstream segment. A lot of them don't do much though. A lot of this also has to do with the fact that a lot of the phones at under Rs 20,000 with dual cameras don't offer the complete package. Dual cameras exist as mere luxuries and solve no real world purpose. The Mi A1 changes all this. Not only does the Mi A1 offer a complete package with respect to paper specs, it's the closest that you can get as far as realizing them in actual usage is concerned. In fact, it's safe to say that the Mi A1 offers the best dual camera implementation on a mid-level budget phone right now.

The Mi A1 literally excels at portrait shots when the lighting is ideal, offering crisp and detailed shots and a creamy background, with little or no blurry edges. The same is true about indoor shots under good artificial lighting as well. The Mi A1's dual cameras will, in fact, surprise you at how good they can be at their low price. Just don't expect the moon from them however. The Mi A1, especially its USP portrait mode, is a disappointment in low light. Zoom shots taken with the Mi A1, meanwhile, are fairly respectable for taking reference shots.

As far as normal photography is concerned: the Mi A1 captures some good-looking photos -- with occasional softness -- in good light with good amount of detail and mostly spot-on colours. Also, the Mi A1, surprisingly, does well in macro photography scenarios which means close-up shots come out well (enough) when the light is adequate.Xiaomi's new phone is also able to capture well to-do photos -- with occasional softness -- in tricky light situations with good detail. Low light photos are prone to noise.

Should you buy it?

Xiaomi may go to great lengths to claim how good the Mi A1 looks and feels and does in the camera department, but, the real star of the show here is the software. The Mi A1 is essentially a Xiaomi phone running stock Android and to cut short the chase here: it flies like no other phone at its price point.

There's no denying that Xiaomi makes some great hardware at rock-bottom prices. But the recent turn of events in the market -- with major companies lining up to offer stock Android in their phones -- seems to indicate, there's a growing demand for unadulterated software, now more than ever. That's probably why Google also felt that it was the right time to invest in Android One, one more time, see how it goes.

If phones like the Mi A1 are the future of Android One, well, let's just say, Google's much-ambitious initiative to connect the next billion, is off to a great start as far as redemption stories are concerned. The Xiaomi Mi A1, as far as I can tell, has every ingredient in the book to make fans (and critics) fall in love with, and the first valiant effort from house Google to resurrect Android One and make the platform count. Shut up and take my money already.