Xiaomi Mi A2 (Mi 6X)

Xiaomi Mi A2 is the stock Android variant of Redmi, designed to attract Android purists. Priced at Rs. 10,770, this modification of the Mi A1 has a lot of distinctive traits to attract the stock Android crowd.

However, the Mi A2 cuts back on several features. While it does come with a suitable processor, the battery fuel is not adequate to keep the phone chugging for long. It is a mix and match, and people would have to decide on what they want from the phone when they are purchasing it.

The Mi A2 is quite a well-crafted phone. It is a metal unibody which carries a premium feel. The sides of the phone are curved, giving it a comfortable feel. However, the phone remains quite slippery in hand. The power button is ergonomically placed, but the volume rocker is a bit too high. The phone, thankfully, comes with a USB Type-C charger set at the bottom. With modernisation, the phone also loses the 3.5mm headphone jack, which might be quite a dissatisfaction for many traditionalists. The camera module of the phone sticks out a little bit but does not cause discomfort. The fingerprint scanner is placed just beside the module and hence can be reached without much trouble.

Mi A2 comes with a 5.99-inch full-HD+ screen with a high pixel density rounding off at 403 ppi. The colours are sharp, but the display does not reach adequate amount of brightness. The phone is not suitable if you are going outdoors as the reflections might affect your viewing experience. Otherwise, the viewing angles of the phone are quite decent. The problem is that you cannot tweak the display as there is no option for it. There is also the Ambient display present on this phone which wakes up the phone whenever you get a notification.

Mi A2 gets its power from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660. The processor is paired with 4GB RAM and has an Adreno 512 GPU. This mid-range chipset can be seen on Nokia 7 Plus. There is no lagging or stuttering when you are multitasking with this phone. It also has a good RAM management system which kills background apps. The fingerprint scanner works well and fast. It scores about 4840 in Geekbench multi-core which is beaten by Nokia 7 Plus’ 5780. In case of playing games, high-end games like Asphalt 9 or PUBG ran at medium settings without a problem. The phone does not get too hot, either. Plus, it runs stock Android Oreo, which makes the performance smoother.

Mi A2 has focused on developing its cameras. It comes with a 12MP primary rear camera with an f/1.75 aperture. Supporting it is a 20MP camera which uses 4-in-1 pixel binning and arrives with an f/1.75 aperture. It has a 2X zoom with the supporting camera making it suitable for low-light shots. The camera app allows white balance in manual mode, has features like Short Video, Square, Portrait, etc., as well as ‘regular’ or ‘low light’ modes. According to Xiaomi, it uses the 12 MP camera for portrait modes in ideal light conditions, and the 20MP one for low-light portraits. The other camera lens becomes depth-sensor. Autofocusing is quick on the phone and macros turn out to be quite sharp with proper background differentiation. In low light conditions, the shutter speed lowers to make more light enter. The details are good, but there is a bit of aggressive noise reduction in dark places, making a watercolour effect come up. Selfies, on the other hand, are quite detailed, with the 20MP selfie camera. HDR is also available in the selfie camera and allows beautification adjustments.

Video recording on the Mi A2 is maxed out at 4K while the selfie camera chooses to go for 1080p. It can shoot 60fps video with the rear camera too, though video focusing can be difficult. Video stabilisation works well for steady footage.

The Mi A2 comes with a mediocre 3000mAh battery. To put it in perspective, Redmi Note 5 has about 4000 mAh battery. The phone was able to last for about 8 hours 13 minutes in an HD video loop test which is quite mediocre. Redmi Note 5 was about to last 16 hours in the same test. Average usage, like playing games for a few minutes, as well as social media browsing and video streaming saw the power saving mode was activated within 7 and a half hours. It comes with Qualcomm Quick Charge support which can speed up the charging. In general, it takes a long time to charge, around 2 hours.

The Mi A2 has incredible cameras and a power-efficient Snapdragon 660 processor. It comes with certain advancements like the USB Type-C port. However, regarding the battery, it does fail, considering the competition is chooses to tackle. It is still a tempting phone, especially if you are looking for mid-range performance. The lack of headphone port can lead to some dissatisfaction, though. If you are looking for Stock Android experience, then this is a great phone to go for.