We review the Xiaomi Mi A3!
As we all know that the Mi A3 is obviously the successor of the Mi A2 which did not really took off like the Mi A1 did. Now on its third iteration, the Mi A3 is expected to blow us away with some of its awesome specs that we cant deny that its really mind blowing. Take note that this phone is exactly the same as the Xiaomi CC9e which we know will only be sold within China only as of press time.
Tech Specs of Mi A3:
- · Qualcomm SDM665 Snapdragon 665 Octa-core processor 11nm (2×2.0 GHz Kryo 260 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver)
- · Adreno 61 GPU
- · 4GB of RAM LPDDR4x 1866Mhz
- · 6.088-inch Samsung AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display, (~80.3% screen-to-body ratio) TUV Reinland Certified
- · 720 x 1560 pixels HD+ (~286 ppi pixel density), 60,000:1 contrast ratio, 19.5:9 Ratio, NTSC 102.7%
- · High color saturation, 350nit, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
- · Glass Back Battery Cover Edge to Edge Round Edge
- · Pearl White, Blue, Gray
- · 64/128GB of storage UFS 2.1
- · 48 MP, f/1.79, 1/2″ Light Sensing Area, 1.6µm, SONY IMX Sensor 586
- 8 MP Ultrawide Lens, f/2.2, 1.12µm
- · 2 MP Depth Sensor, f/2.4,1.75µm
- · 32 MP front camera, f/2.0, 1.6 µm, 3D Beauty, Teardrop Notch
- · 7th Generation On Screen Finger print scanner
- · Dual SIM (nano sim size) + Hybrid Expansion Memory Storage
- · 3G, LTE, 4G+ Carrier Aggregation, VoLTE Calls
- · LTE FDD: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/20/28 LTE TDD Network Bands: B38/40
- · Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, Single Band GPS Phone, A-GPS
- · 4030mAh battery, Quick Charge 3.0 Supported, 18 Watts Fast Charging (10W Charger Included)
- · 2×2 MIMO Technology to support MU-MIMO
- · Sensors: Ultrasonic distance sensor, Under Screen Ambient Light sensor, Gyro, Vibration Motor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Electronic
- Compass, Camera Laser Sensor, Infrared Sensor
- · 3.5mm Audio Jack High-Res Audio
- · Android Pie 9, MIUI 10.2
- · USB-C port, UFS 2.1
- · 153.48 mm x 71.85 mm x 8.475 mm
- · 173.8 Grams
Design
The Mi A3 sports the same outside appearance with the Mi CC9e, in fact it is exactly the same as the CC9e except for the LTE bands that it supports. Otherwise, everything else is just carbon copy. With a screen size of 6.088 versus a 6.39 from the CC9, the A3 feels solid on the hand and best is that it can perform using one hand. It sports the same icy effect on the back of the phone like that from the Glacier Blue of the Mi 9T and the waterdrop notch was carried over from the Mi 9 flagship. They have only 3 color for the A3 which is the pearl white, blue and gray. The glass protection is mentioned to be Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for both front and back, just as same as the Redmi Note 7.
Display and Audio
We were expecting a lot from the display side as we know that its sporting a Samsung AMOLED, tho this is already a norm for Mi Series since the Mi 8. The Full HD display did blew me away with its awesome rendering of photos and videos, and probably one thing that is not good with AMOLED is the burn in problems like those on the Samsung Galaxy Flagship Series that we have heard about. After holding the Mi 9T with the popup camera and notchless display, we felt that we did took a step backward as we went back to the teardrop notch display similar to the Mi 9 flagship. We watched several movies and I can say its pretty crisp but there was a little drawback in watching 1080p movies as this is only HD+ which means it supports only up to 720p quality movies. The sound was excellent, especially the louspeaker it was quite loud. Even it is not stereo sounds, but playing games are pretty solid, the output of the sounds are quite loud but the Mi 9T has performed better than this one. Bluetooth connectivity on my Redmi Air Dots headset is also no problem on this unit. Upon transfering files from Mi 9T, Mi Drop was also seamless. Playing games like PUBG was not a problem tho we cannot access the highest definition, but its not really much of a problem as we can use GFX Tool to fix this.
Audio Format supported by the Mi A3
Supports PCM, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, MP3, AMR-NB and WB, FLAC, WAV and other audio formats
3.5mm headphone jack | Hi-Res Audio (high resolution audio)
Video Format Supported by the Mi A3
- MP4
- XVID
- M4V
- MKV
- APE
- AAC
- FLAC
- AMR
- WAV
- MP3
Video formats such as H.265/HEVC (Main profile), H.264 (Baseline/Main/High profile), MPEG4 (Simple profile/ASP), and supports high dynamic range display when playing HDR10 video content.
Snapdragon 665
Xiaomi did took a slight step forward improving from SD 660 to the SD 665 from Mi A2 to the Mi A3 which is also the exact unit as the Mi CC9e. Honestly there was not much changes on this SoC but the downgrade of 2.2Ghz down to 2.0Ghz might mean a lot for some people. The GPU did get a lot better as well as the AI Camera thats for sure. The SD 665 is powered together with the Adreno 610, and of course an ample serving of 4GB of RAM, it will give you an above average performance in both multitaksing and gaming category, running PUBG and NBA2k19 was not really a problem its just that we cannot set it to the maximum graphic setting. the best midrange experience up to date.
AnTuTu benchmark gave it a 141253 point out of the box which is the expected score for this processor. This score is almost the same as the one from the Mi CC9e.
Camera
The Mi A3 series probably has the Best Selfie Camera among all the Mi A series phones that I ever held, the front shooter is not only just another 32MP camera, but it has probably one of the most advanced selfie camera I have ever seen. Coupled with the Sony IMX 586 48MP camera at the back, this camera should capture awesome photos wherever you go. Lets check out the specs and of course my favorite, the sample shots! Lets Go!
Sample Shots
Selfie Camera
Sample Video
Battery and Benchmark
The Mi A3 supports the Qualcomm Quick charge 3.0 and up to 18W of speed. We charged the Mi A3 and it took in 7V 2.2 Amperes based on our testing using the 18W charger and cable. We charged the phone from 18% to 100% in 1 hour and 57 minutes which was a little off from my expected 1 hour 30 minutes for a 4030 mAh capacity phone. We recorded a 15 hour and 34 minute SOT endurance test under normal usage using the PC Mark Battery Stress Test. If these statistics are true on a normal daily use, then it’s really a good sign for the said smartphone, and based on my daily usage for several days, the battery almost last me a day without hitting the charging dock.
Verdict
The Mi A3 for me is probably one of the easiest to handle phone I had ever handled, not that I havent handled the likes of the Redmi 7 which is almost the same size, but this one I can say that it has outperformed any rivals of its level. The camera was the superb part as well as the SD 665 was able to handle all the multitasking I threw at it. Tho its just having a little problem handling Mobile Legends under high frame rate, but not everyone is a gamera right? If you are in the market looking for the best budget 6 incher phone with great camera and battery life, have no doubt that this is definitely the phone just for you! The good side is that its vanilla android therefore you can customize it up to your needs, and its pretty clean as well. Check it out!
Mi A3 vs Mi CC9e
Mi3 vs CC9e