Xiaomi Yi 4K Review

Xiaomi as a whole is a fantastic company that is known for making amazing products at insanely good prices. For example their tablets, smartphones and even laptops are all well known. Most importantly their Xiaomi Yi action camera, which gained attention immediately. I have even rated it as the best budget action camera available as it literally delivers the most bang for buck. I mean $50 and the video quality is better than most other $120+ cameras. But because technology has advanced since the original release, they have now come out with the Xiaomi Yi 4K action camera, which I just received. It costs $249 and based on the specs, it performs just as good as the $500 GoPro Hero4 Black. I’m not going to put a side by side comparison here but I will most definitely do that next. So as promised last week, here is my Xiaomi Yi 4K review.

Technical Specification

Dimensions: 65x42x30mm / 2.5×1.6×1.2″

Chipset: Ambarella A9SE75

Sensor: Sony IMX377 12MP 1/2.3″

Angle Of View: 155º

Video resolutions: 4K 30/25fps; 2.5K 30/25fps; 1440p 60/50/30/25fps; 1080p 120/100/60/50/30/25fps; 720p 240/200fps

Photo: 12MP

Modes: Timer, Burst, Time Lapse Photo, Shutter, Loop Recording, Auto Low Light

Features: 2.2″ LCD touch screen, WiFi, Electronic Image Stabilization, Dual Microphone, Gyroscope/Accelerometer, 1/4″ Tripod hole

Ports: MicroUSB, MicroSD card slot

Memory: MicroSDHC and SDXC cards, up to 128GB

Battery life: 2 hours of 4K 30fps recording

In The Box

Xiaomi Yi 4K action camera

1400mAh battery

USB cable

Design & Accessories

The new Xiaomi Yi 4K has a completely new design. It looks much more expensive, modern and sleeker than it’s predecessor. The action camera is made out of high quality plastic that feels really nice in hand. You can choose between 3 colors: black, white and pink. Who hasn’t wanted a pink camera? It has also got bit different dimensions (65x42x30mm / 2.5×1.6×1.2″) than the previous version and GoPro. Which I’m personally a bit not happy about. I mean the difference between the Xiaomi Yi 4K and GoPro is just 6mm / 0.3″ in length. Which means that the action camera won’t fit into any GoPro mounts. Luckily there is a work around, Xiaomi has added a 1/4″ tripod hole mount to the bottom so we can use an adapter for GoPro designed mounts. It isn’t exactly a problem, just adds that tiny bit more work to get it attached to something.

The Xiaomi Yi 4K is very easy to operate. It has only got 1 button: power on/off/record. A short press powers the camera on. Once it’s on, every short press you do either starts or stops recording. To turn the action camera off, just press the button down for a little longer. Simply right? All of the settings and live feed can be viewed from the touch screen behind the action camera. It works very smoothly and the screen is high quality. It is a 2.2″ retina LCD after all and has gorilla glass for protection. The live view does have a little delay though so pay that in mind.

The side of the action camera holds the MicroUSB port. So plugging the Xiaomi Yi 4K to a tv is not an issue. Xiaomi has also cleverly added the microSD slot inside the battery compartment, which can be found underneath the camera.

Accessories are kind of problematic at the moment. As I mentioned, the Xiaomi Yi 4K comes has a 1/4″ tripod hole that can be used to attach to a GoPro adapter and then mounted basically anywhere. For an extra $25 you can also get the action camera with a waterproof case up to 40m / 131ft. The real issue is that the waterproof case doesn’t have a GoPro adapter connected to it though. I mean it would be nice to connect it to a mount attached to a moving car for example. It would protect the camera as well.

Video & Features

Xiaomi Yi 4K is capable of capturing videos up to 4K at 30/25fps and 1080p 120/100/60/50/30/25fps. These 2 are in my opinion the most important resolutions and you will probably be shooting most of your videos in those 2. Especially the 1080p. With 4K, the action camera should be able to easily produce a very nice looking video. Most hollywood movies are shot at 24fps so 30fps will easily be enough to create a nice smooth image. 1080p and up to 120fps is what I love. Those high fps come handy when you are shooting videos from fast moving objects, such as cars and bikes. But enough of that, let’s see how well the image actually looks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRtekNfyLUc

I have no words other than wow. The video quality is literally amazing. Everything is clear and sharp. The colors are perfect, everything is well balanced. It all just looks so natural. If you noticed then during movements there was some visible shaking. That is because the Electronic Image Stabilization feature doesn’t work when shooting in 4K. So if you want a smoother 4K video then you are going to need to use a gimbal.

Here is a 1080p video test with the Electronic Image Stabilization system turned on. The video looks much smoother during movements. There are still some minimal shakes though but that is fine.

Here is a 4K example in a dark environment. The colors look very nice and vibrant. Even natural looking. Because it is dark, there is some noise there when you go full screen. It is quite a hard environment to capture a good footage at though so I would say that the action camera did well. The Xiaomi Yi action camera was stabilized with a gimbal in this video.

4K videos are here and they are going to be getting more popular. Besides just amazing quality, Xiaomi Yi 4K also has great battery life. It is capable of shooting 4K videos for 2 hours. That is if the WiFi is turned off. With WiFi turned on, you can expect the battery life to be around 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Even though the action camera comes with a touchscreen, you can still connect it to your smartphone via WiFi and an app. The app is actually really well made and it is available for Android and iOS. Especially surprising considering that it was made by a Chinese company. Usually the apps are confusing and have translation issues. Definitely not the case with Xiaomi Yi 4K.

And finally the dual mic system. Again, amazing. Even with excessive background noise, your voice is captured clearer than ever when speaking directly to the camera. It is freaking awesome.

Conclusion

Honestly, the Xiaomi Yi 4K action camera has blown my mind. There is literally no competition in the $250 and below price range. It is simply amazing and if you are looking for a new action camera in this price range, get it. Or if you are looking for a camera for underwater diving, then just pay the extra $25 and you will get a nice waterproof case as well with a floating grip.

Now is it as good as say the GoPro Hero4 Black or Silver? I can’t really answer that at the moment. I’m going to compare it with both of the action cameras and I’ll be able to tell then. Either way, you really can’t go wrong with the Xiaomi Yi 4K. The quality is just so good that it is easily the best action camera in the $300 range.