Xiaomi Mi A series phones have always been in demand because they pair good hardware with clean Android One software and the Xiaomi Mi A3 is no exception. But it is also a phone that seems like ticking a checkbox.

HIGHLIGHTS

Xiaomi Mi A3 was launched recently in India with a starting price of Rs 12,999.

The premium design, big battery and clean Android One software makes this a good phone under Rs 15,000.

The 720P display and average performance make device seem inferior to Xiaomi’s own Redmi Note series phones that have similar prices.

Xiaomi claims its Mi A series phones are best-selling Android One devices in the world. Big claim, but true. In total, Xiaomi has sold around 10 million units of the Mi A1 and the Mi A2. The company expects its third-generation Mi A series phone, and that is the Mi A3, to be as successful as the last two phones. The Mi A3 sells at a starting price of Rs 12,999 in India.

Before the present let’s talk about the past. The Mi A1 launched in September 2017 was a great phone in my opinion and with it Xiaomi introduced the Android One series to the world. Following the Mi A1, Xiaomi launched the Mi A2. But apparently it lacked a couple of bits and people didn’t seemingly like that. The Mi A2 lacked 3.5mm headphone jack and expandable storage option. With the Mi A3, Xiaomi decided to address the concerns Indian users raised. The Mi A3 comes with the headphone jack as well as option to add a microSD card for extra storage. But then it lacks a few things of its own, something that I am going to talk in a while.

For the Mi A3 Xiaomi also polishes the design and increases the battery capacity compared to the Mi A2. Both changes are for the better. The Mi A3 looks gorgeous, also in large part due to Gorilla Glass 5 on front and back and on the camera bump. The 4030mAh mAh battery lasts really long, as well as comes with 18W fast charging support.

But is it all worth the price, is Xiaomi Mi A3 worth Rs 12,999?

Xiaomi Mi A3 design and build

Design is the best part of the Mi A3. It is eye-catching with all that bling-bling finish. And yet, it is subtle enough to look classy. The Mi A3 comes in three colours: More Than White, Not Just Blue and Kind Of Grey. My favourite “More than White”. That is also the variant that you see in the images here in this review.

The main reason why Xiaomi Mi A3 looks so good is because of the “triple” Gorilla Glass used in the phone. Fancy term, but what does it mean? The Xiaomi Mi A3 includes Gorilla Glass 5 support not just on the back panel and over the display but also on the camera lenses. Xiaomi calls this “triple” Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It is not as fancy as what Xiaomi makes it sound, but it adds to the overall appeal and finish of the phone. I believe all this glass also makes the phone — or should make it — durable. The Mi A3 surely feels sturdy in hands.

Besides the stunning design and great build quality, another aspect that I love about the Mi A3 is its size. It is near perfect. To recall the Mi A2 was a big smartphone but this surely isn’t the case with the Mi A3. It feels compact in hands, kind of perfect. And that is also a pleasant surprise because the phone is made of glass and metal and yet it is relatively lightweight.

Xiaomi Mi A3 screen

With the Mi A2 Xiaomi made several “mistakes” but with the Mi A3 not so much. Except I believe this one, which is of more consequences than all the “mistakes” in the Mi A2. For the Mi A3 Xiaomi uses sMOLED panel but offers only 720P display. This is HD display, although Xiaomi calls it HD+ because vertically on the screen the phone packs 1560 pixels. The display otherwise has a resolution of 1560 x 720 pixels, which is lower than the usual 1080P displays in the phones in this price range. For example, the Redmi Note 7 Pro has a screen with resolution of 1080 X 2340 pixels.

The end result is that while you get the goodness of OLED in the Mi A3, you will also see the lack of sharpness and resolution. The Mi A3 sMOLED display shows deep and dark colours most of the time but when you are reading something on this phone, or watching a video in high-resolution you will notice the lack of sharpness. Now, while iPhone earlier used to have lower resolution screens even when the rest of the world moved to 1080P. And that was fine. It was because the iPhone used to have a tiny 4-inch screen. The Xiaomi Mi A3 sports a 6.08-inch display. A FullHD display on it would have been nice.

After spending a week with the Mi A3, I can say that indoors the display of the phone shows nice colours and gets bright enough but outdoors the brightness is less than adequate. This is not a major issue because most of the phones under Rs 20,000 suffer from this problem, but then we expect great things from Xiaomi. Due to relatively low brightness, the display of the Mi A3 is also very reflective.

The screen of the Mi A3 includes 7th generation fingerprint sensor. This is the first time that a Mi A series phone comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor. I mostly used the AI face unlock to unlock the lock screen of the phone because I found the in-display fingerprint sensor on the slower side.

Xiaomi Mi A3 camera The cameras of the Mi A2 were great. They clicked great pictures. Almost the same can be said for the Mi A3 as well. The cameras of the Mi A3 produce a pretty good result, especially in daylight and outdoor scenario. In good lighting, the Xiaomi Mi A3 clicks pretty detailed pictures with great colours. Some pictures clicked inside the room with the Mi A3 miss out on details but the colours come out pretty good. It is great to see a Rs 12,999 phone offering top-notch camera specs. On the rear panel the Mi A3 comes with three cameras — 48MP primary Sony IMX 586 sensor plus 8MP ultra-wide lens and then a 2MP depth sensor camera. On the front, the Xiaomi Mi A3 includes a 32MP camera. I often find the Mi A3 camera app to be slow and the shooter takes some time to focus on subjects. The image processing also takes some time. Switching between camera app and gallery isn’t very smooth either. Notably, despite being an Android One phone the Xiaomi Mi A3 comes with MIUI camera app. In most good lighting situations the Mi A3 managed to click great pictures. Keeping the HDR on brings better results but you’ll need to switch on the HDR mode every time before clicking a photo. The normal mode (12MP) of the phone clicks good pictures but the 48MP mode improves the photo quality and adds more contrast to it. Pictures clicked in low-light turn out to be decent if not great, similar to what the Redmi Note 7 Pro manages. There’s a Night Mode, but it isn’t as good as the Night Mode of the Note 7 Pro. Earlier, the Mi A2 received appreciation for its amazing portrait mode. Xiaomi carries the legacy forward with the Mi A3. The Xiaomi Mi A3 clicks stunning portrait shots with crisp edges and background perfectly blurred out. The selfie camera of the Mi A3 also does a good job. The selfie camera comes with several AI features but I prefer the normal mode. The selfies clicked with the Mi A3 appear with a good amount of details and colours. The selfie portraits turn out to be great with background perfectly blurred out. In selfie portrait, the hair strands at the edge are clearly visible and aren’t mushy. Xiaomi Mi A3 performance and software On paper, the Xiaomi Mi A3 is an upgraded version to the Mi A2. The Mi A2 was powered by Snapdragon 660 processor. The new Mi A series phone aka the Mi A3 is powered by Qualcomm latest 600 series chip – Snapdragon 665. Like I said on paper it looks like an upgrade but in real experience, the Mi A3 running on SD665 seems to suffer some mysterious lags. Whether it is opening apps, switching between apps, browsing through social media applications, the Mi A3 lags. For a regular user who doesn’t care about that extra blaze of speed, the Mi A3 will be good enough. But some users will definitely notice that performance between this phone or, say the Redmi Note 7 Pro. I used the Mi A3 as my primary device – this means I used the smartphone to make calls, message on WhatsApp, browse social media apps like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, watch movies and also play games. For me, Xiaomi Mi A3 feels slow. I hope Xiaomi improves the performance of the smartphone in the future with software updates. As far as games are concerned the Mi A3 does a decent job with low-graphics games like subway surfer and Temple Run 2. The phone shows signs of stutters but it still manages to run them well. Games like PUGB – high on graphics – run on low graphics by default. A 30-minute session of PUBG and Asphalt on high graphics show drop in frame rate so I had to change the graphics setting to low almost the time. The good bit and the key highlight of the Mi A3 is its software. The Mi A3 is a part of Google’s Android One program. This means the Mi A3 comes with clean software. There is no MIUI, no MIUI ads, and no third-party applications in Mi A3. Being an Android One phone the Mi A3 is eligible to get upgraded to upcoming two Android generations — Android 10 and Android 11. The Mi A3 runs on Android 9 Pie right now. Xiaomi has confirmed that the Mi A3 will be among the first phones to get Android Q update in the world. Being an Android One device, the Xiaomi Mi A3 will also get faster security updates. Xiaomi Mi A3 battery The Xiaomi Mi A3 offers fantastic battery life. This Android One smartphone is packed with a massive 4030mAh battery and comes with 18W fast charging support. However, users will need to buy the 18W charger separately. In the box, the Mi A3 comes bundled with a regular 10W charger. For me, on a single charge, the Mi A3 lasts more than a day.

Should you buy Xiaomi Mi A3? The competition under Rs 15,000 price bracket is tough in India. There are phones like the Realme 5 Pro, the Redmi Note 7 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy M30, among others. Despite tough competitors, I believe at Rs 12,999 the Mi A3 is a good deal if not great. Why not great? It’s because of the screen and the overall performance of the smartphone. If you don’t like the MIUI and the system ads but love Xiaomi, the Mi A3 makes a lot of sense. There are no Ads here. It also makes sense if you’re looking for an under Rs 15,000 smartphone that offers amazing design, excellent battery, stock Android experience and decent cameras. However, if performance and good screen matter to you then there are other better options available in the market. Source: India Today