Xiaomi Mi4c review – Xiaomi are back on track


xiaomi mi4c review

After the poor show that was the Xiaomi Mi4i, we have been wondering if Xiaomi could make a comeback, and they certainly proved that they can with the release of the Mi4C. Keep reading for my full Xiaomi Mi4c review.

Although physically identical (well almost) to the Xiaomi Mi4i, the new Xiaomi Mi4c is a different beast. It offers innovative features, better camera, and much more usable performance. This is the phone the Xiaomi Mi4i should have been, and I wish I could keep it.

Xiaomi Mi4c Review – Design

There really isn’t much to say about the Xiaomi Mi4c’s design that wasn’t already said about the Mi4i. They are almost identical to each other, the differences being the Mi4c has an integrated IR remove in the head phone the phone and lacks English writing on the rear of the body.

xiaomi mi4c review

The rest is exactly the same (physically) which means opinions will be once again divided. Personally I really like the smooth finish of the soft white rear panel, and enjoy the compact (thin and narrow) 5-inch polycarbonate phone, but others using the phone say it feels cheap and that they much prefer a metal border.

As someone who routinely uses metal bodied phones, I still love the design and feel of the Xiaomi Mi4C and would say it ranks as one of the best made plastic phones on the market today.

For those of you not familiar with the Mi4c or Mi4i I’ll give you a very brief tour around the phone.

xiaomi mi4c review

The front of the Xiaomi Mi4c has a 5-inch 1920 x 1080 display, below the screen are back-lit hardware buttons (only visible when they are pressed and the LED behind them lights up) and above we have the Mi logo on the left, receiver and a 88 degree wide-angle 5 mega-pixel F2.0 camera.

xiaomi mi4c review

Around the edge of the phone we find the aforementioned IR remote and 3.5mm headphone jack at the top right, a dual micro SIM tray on the left (no SD card slot), power and volume buttons on the right, and USB type C in the base (yes, this is also a physical difference to the Mi4i, sorry).

The white sides of the phone a moulded in to a single rear panel that spreads across the back of the phone too. There is a white version, black version and other options available too.

xiaomi mi4c review

A single speaker sits behind a grill in the rear of the phone, next up is another Mi logo, and finally at the top left we have dual tone LED flash, and 13 mega-pixel camera.

xiaomi mi4c review

If you didn’t like the Xiaomi Mi4i’s design then you are not going to like the Mi4c, I’m lucky and think they both look and feel great.

Xiaomi Mi4c Review – Performance

This is where we really see the difference between the Xiaomi Mi4i and the Xiaomi Mi4c. The Mi4c has a later Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, Adreno 418 GPU and 2GB RAM. The difference between this set up and the one on the Mi4i (Snapdragon 615) is like chalk and cheese.

While the Xiaomi Mi4i suffers from constant lags, over heating and general sluggish performance, the Xiaomi Mi4c is a joy to use. The Mi4c handles everyday use in its stride, barely breads a sweat when pushed, and so far hasn’t missed a beat!

The Xiaomi Mi4c comes with MIUI 7 Beta installed, and like many of you, I wondered if Xiaomi had just finally managed to optimise the phone with the new system. Perhaps installing MIUI 7 on the Mi4i you can get the same terrific performance? The answer to that is sadly no. I have both my Xiaomi Mi4i and Mi4c on the same MIUI 7 Beta, and the Mi4i is still a bag of lags and bugs.

Xiaomi Mi4c Review – Hardware

So the performance is better on the Xiaomi Mi4c due to the new Snapdragon 808 chipset, but are there any other differences? Yes!

xiaomi mi4c review

First of all we have a new side touch control on the Xiaomi Mi4c. Side touch is set to work as a optional camera control be default, but in the settings you can also have it set as a home short cut too. Basically all it does is allow you to tap the edge of your phone to head back to the home screen or snap a photo. It sounds like a gimmick but I found myself using it a lot (its especially good for selfies).

xiaomi mi4c review

The Mi4c also has a IR remote built-in meaning that you can connect home devices to the phone and control them from one universal device. I was unable to use this as my LG TV doesn’t appear to be supported, and that’s the only IR controlled device I have to test it on. Still it is there if you need it.

Audio performance on the Xiaomi Mi4c is good. With headphones attached (I tested with Piston 3 and OP Silver Bullets) audio performance is really good. It’s not as rich or rewarding as LeTV or Vivo, but you aren’t going to be disappointed. Audio from the rear built-in speaker is loud and clear. Im using the phone to play music now and with half volume I have my small living room filled with drum and bass.

xiaomi mi4c review

The battery in the Xiaomi Mi4c is rather large in comparison to the size of the phone. Remember this is a 5-inch device, yet it has a 3080mAh battery inside. There are large phones with smaller batteries (the new Nubia Z9 for example) so I was expecting good battery life and I got it. As the processor runs much cooler I was getting over 6 hours of onscreen time with the Xiaomi Mi4c, with more frugal usage more is possible.

xiaomi mi4c review

Camera’s have also been improved on the Xiaomi Mi4c when compared to the Xiaomi Mi4i. Lens are not much wider front and rear, and now camera performance is more similar to the Xiaomi Mi Note, impressive as the Mi Note has a killer camera set up.

Xiaomi Mi4c Review – MIUI 7

MIUI 7 looks and feels great on the Xiaomi Mi4c. MIUI engineers have done a great hob of optimising the system for the new Snapdragon 808 chipset, but this being MIUI 7 there are also some new features included too.

MIUI 7 now has a Mi Wallet feature. This is like Google Pay and will require that you log in with your Xiaomi account (with connected payment card) and let you pay for products and services. I am using the standard ROM that comes with the phone so I also have the Chinese Game Center will new icons and redesigned UI. The weather app has a new icon design that tells you the current weather in your location, plus there is a new Video application giving you access to Chinese content.

The biggest changes I found were in the settings. For example the battery and performance settings have moved. There is also the Edge Control settings and a new Child mode (at least I haven’t noticed this before in MIUI 6)

Not huge changes, so anyone who has experience with MIUI (or iOS) will feel right at home.

Xiaomi Mi4c Review – Camera

As already mentioned in the hardware section, the cameras on the Mi4c are much better than the Mi4i. While the Mi4i had great sensor, the optics made for narrow images, now on the Mi4c that’s been changed and you can fit much more in to your photographs.

xiaomi mi4c photo sample

Again not much has changed in the camera application on MIUI 7, you still have options to have HDR on, off or in Auto mode. With the speed of the Mi4c I opted for auto most of the time. A swipe from the right will give you a live preview of 12 different filters and a swipe to the left brings up 9 camera modes and a camera settings short cut.

Overall I’m really happy with the performance of the camera on the Mi4c, I just wished the weather was a little better so I could have taken some better photos.

Xiaomi Mi4c Review – Gallery

Xiaomi Mi4c Review – Specifications

Model: Mi4C
Sim Card:
  • Dual 4G SIM (2 x micro), Dual Standby
  • supports 4G, 3G, 2G network, but does not support two slots using 4G network simultaneously.  If one SIM card is using 4G /3G network, the other SIM card can only access to 2G network.
Color: White | Black | Blue | Pink | Yellow
Capacity RAM: 2GB

ROM: 16GB

Multi-Languages English,Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
Chipset CPU: Snapdragon™ Snapdragon™ 808 CPU, 1.8GHz

GPU: Adreno 418 GPU

System MIUI 7 base on Android 5.1 OS
Screen Display Size: 5″ Sharp/JDI Full HD display

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 resolution, 441 PPI

Multitouch: Yes

Technology: All-new Sunlight display with hardware-level,pixel contrast adjustments

IPS 178° wide viewing angle

Camera Rear Camera:13MP Sony/Samsung camera,5-element lens, f/2.0 aperture

Front Camera: 5MP front camera, f/2.0 aperture

Features:  Two-tone flash,Supports manual mode, real-time HDR, Torch Supports 1080p video recordings

Others: 5-element lens, f/2.0 aperture

Network and Wireless Connectivity 4G FDD-LTE: Bands 1(2100 MHz)/ Bands 3(1800 MHz)/ Bands 7(2600 MHz)

TDD-LTE:Bands 38(TD 2600) / 39(TD 1900) / 40(TD 2300) / 41(TD 2500)

3G: TD-SCDMA:Bands 34 (TD 2000) / 39(TD 1900)

WCDMA:Bands 1(2100 MHz) / 2(1900 MHz) / 5(850 MHz) / 8(900 MHz)

CDMA 2000:Bands BC0 / BC1

2G GSM: Bands 2(1900 MHz) / 3(1800 MHz) / 5(850 MHz) / 8(900 MHz)

CDMA 1X:BC0 / BC1

GPS:GPS, AGPS,GLONASS,Positioning by BDS(BeiDou Navigation Satellite System)

Bluetooth:Bluetooth 4.1,Bluetooth HID

WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n, 802.11ac wave 2 include MU- MIMO, supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands,Wi-Fi Display,Wi-Fi Direct

OTG:Yes

USB: Type-C Port

Battery capacity and life

3080mAh all-day battery

Sony/Samsung/ATL 4.4V lithium-ion polymer battery

3080mAh (typ)

3000mAH (min)

Standby Time: About 2~3 days

Sensor Electronic compass,Gravity sensor,Light sensor,Gyroscope,Hall sensor,Proximity sensor

 

Xiaomi Mi4c Review – Conclusion

So physically the Xiaomi Mi4c and the Xiaomi Mi4i are very similar, almost identical, but in use they are very different phones. One is just a headache to use (the Mi4i) and the other is pure joy (Mi4c).

xiaomi mi4c review

As an owner of the Mi4i I am a little upset, I want my phone to be the Mi4c, if it were I would probably give my OnePlus 2 a rest and use the little Xiaomi for a while (you sometimes forget how nice a 5-inch phone can be to use).

However I have to send this review unit back, perhaps I can switch it for my Mi4i though and hope no one finds out.

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202 Comments

  1. Mario Pruteanu
    October 16, 2015

    great review andy, been following your site for more than 1 and a half now

  2. Steve B
    October 16, 2015

    your photos look a lot better than other examples i’ve seen, which though detailed, looked a bit dull and muted. Yours have some pop to them, wonder if it’s the Sony/Samsung factor or just the Andi factor?

    • October 16, 2015

      I’d like to take credit haha

      • Stiven
        October 16, 2015

        Andi is the camera in mi4c better than Letv x600?

        • October 16, 2015

          Yup, I would say so

          • Likhon Amin
            October 16, 2015

            Major difference?

          • Dante
            October 16, 2015

            Then is this your new fav phone?

    • MinusPlusDivide
      October 16, 2015

      It’s Andi factor. Andi is the only one who can take sharp pictures even that phone doesn’t have OIS and even sharper than an eyes can see if that phone has OIS.

  3. October 16, 2015

    If the sellers who shipped the phone to you read this review, they’ll certainly be able to tell between the Mi 4i that you send back and the 4c 😛

    • October 16, 2015

      that’s true 🙁

      • Muhammad Yasir
        October 16, 2015

        i feel sorry for u , andi !

      • MaxPower
        October 18, 2015

        hey Andi, i wanted to ask you about the quick charge on this phone, can you confirm that doesn’t support QC2.0?

        also i wanted to let you know that LeTV finally opened the US store
        m.lemall.com/us/
        so far they only sell earphones and speakers.

  4. Joe
    October 16, 2015

    “… perhaps I can switch it for my Mi4i though and hope no one finds out.”

    Old rascal! :p

    • Muhammad Yasir
      October 16, 2015

      HAHA !

  5. balcobomber25
    October 16, 2015

    Xiaomi released two horrible phones (Mi4i and Note Pro) due to their stubbornness to use SD SoCs. They followed it up with two excellent phones (this and Note 2). Interested to see what happens next, an 820 powered Mi5?

    • Tizz
      October 16, 2015

      Honest question; what’s the problem with Mi Note Pro? Anandtech did a review about it and said it doesn’t heat up much, though i agree it’s too expensive.

      • RuR
        October 16, 2015

        You can get a Samsung Galaxy S6 for the price of MI Note pro.

        • Tizz
          October 16, 2015

          Yeah but balco said the Mi Note Pro is horrible because it has the SD810, not for the price.

          • Dante
            October 16, 2015

            Dont listen to anybody on gizchina ( including me ) But you can trust me because i know you like croc – legend of the gobbos . This phone didnt heat up while i had it for 2 weeks even when trying to emulate dolphin which was kind of a first to me , yes in hard gaming it gets warm but thats normal (doesnt get meizu hot)

      • balcobomber25
        October 16, 2015

        Everyone I know that has or had one says it suffers from some of the worst heating of all the 810 phones.

        • Tizz
          October 16, 2015

          Kinda weird since i’ve read some reviews and it says it doesn’t heat up, thanks though.

          • MinusPlusDivide
            October 16, 2015

            It’s not overheat if the manufacturer can manage it, Mi Note Pro has said to be addressed (or lower) the heat issues after few updates although still advise to get normal Mi Note instead. Even LG G Flex 2 has very few into no report of overheating even this is the first device to use SD810.

            The one I know that really suffer from SD810 a lot is Sony Z4/Z3+. This one is the real diaster.

            I can say if you ever hand on a lot of devices, you will know that SD chipsets aren’t hotter than those way overhyped “Exynos” devices people in other tech sites do. Galaxy S6 and Note 5 are very hot devices too and even show sign of overheat which is the same problem from Galaxy S4 Note 3 and still today Samsung can’t fix the problem because I saw S6 overheat itself in recent Mobile Expo.So can be sure that if you hand on both SD810 device and Note 5 you will not know the difference which is hotter.

            and for android device it’s better to choose SD to have the most apps compatible (at least in my country internet banking apps doesn’t work well if you use other chipset than Snapdragon even MTK , Exynos)

            but if you are the same as me who looking for unicorn of the midrange device, I choose to let go this year midrange devices which mostly use SD615 until next year with update SOC and to have every brands include fast charge.

    • MattD
      October 16, 2015

      No doubt about them using sd820 on mi5, everything depends on the soc’s performance… In the worst case though, Xiaomi won’t be starving thank to those beasts of midrangers they’ve launched lately

      • balcobomber25
        October 16, 2015

        Depends on the availability of the 820 and when they want the Mi5 to launch. They are already well past their normal release for the “Mi” flagship phone which is why they released the holdover Mi4c.

        • MattD
          October 16, 2015

          That’s the point: they’re waiting for the sd820 to come out, that’s why they’re months past their usual release date for the flagship!

    • Maciek Buczkowski
      October 16, 2015

      Don’t really know what’s so horrible in MI Note pro. Wonderful phone. No overheating issues and performance smooth as butter.

      • balcobomber25
        October 16, 2015

        Everyone I know that used it says it overheats badly, especially when playing games. I know about 10 people that bought one and regretted it ever since.

        • Dante
          October 16, 2015

          this phone has really been off
          the stocks, But i agree with maciek they use a really effective cooling solution in this phone (if not better than in Op2 which is great) but the 3rd party Roms are lacking , the audio is also amaze on this one

          • balcobomber25
            October 16, 2015

            I haven’t used it myself so I can’t say but from what I have been told by people I trust, you need to wear gloves to do anything processor intensive (games, editing video etc) or you will get burned. Audio is usually excellent on all Xiaomi phones.

            • Dante
              October 16, 2015

              Lol , Maybe its time just to stop thinking about qualqs for a bit

        • Adam Wasilewski
          October 17, 2015

          I have no any overheating issues with my Note Pro.

        • Maciek Buczkowski
          October 20, 2015

          Ok, maybe these people were right. On the other hand, I was using the device for a couple of months. None of the issues you mentioned noticed. Heat like in 801 tbh. I got to admit though, I am not and never was a heavy gamer. Just casual.

  6. Muhammad Yasir
    October 16, 2015

    whats wrong with cam ?! why only 8.5 why not 9.5 ?!

    • Tajwar
      October 16, 2015

      Imo the photos look better then the ones shot from the op2

      • October 16, 2015

        Nope not quite as good, but not far off

        • KatieC
          November 20, 2015

          Hi Andi. Do you think this is a better buy at the moment than the Mi Note considering the camera delivers similar results?

      • Muhammad Yasir
        October 16, 2015

        exaxtly … at least a 9 would suffice

    • Dante
      October 16, 2015

      Buy this already – its the perfect ocasion to get a phone that is perfect in every aspect (and also has a good price) plus sd808 is my fav chipset of this year

      • Muhammad Yasir
        October 16, 2015

        mine too !
        BUT its a bit expensive (250$ = 35000 PKR and in Pakistan , THATS a big deal!)

        plus its a 5 incher when im looking for a 5.7 incher … will settle for 5.5

        • Dante
          October 17, 2015

          Huh .. then uh … Wait … For the P9000… Maybe it wont be junk… Maybe…

          • Muhammad Yasir
            October 17, 2015

            maybe … we saw alot of improvement in elephone Trunk !
            i hope p9000 is good throughout !

            • Dante
              October 17, 2015

              Lol yeah…

          • RuR
            January 14, 2016

            Elephone are rubbish compared to Xiaomi.

  7. guerrierodipace
    October 16, 2015

    The second sim slot can also be uesd as microsd expansion memory?

    • MaxPower
      October 16, 2015

      no

    • MattD
      October 16, 2015

      Nope

  8. G'n'T
    October 16, 2015

    Andi, do you know which camera is in your review model? Would be interesting to know if its the Sony or Samsung.

    • RuR
      October 16, 2015

      I think Both will be good

    • October 16, 2015

      No, idea. I would have to take it apart to see

      • G'n'T
        October 16, 2015

        If you look at the properties of the pictures themselves, does that not tell you? Sometimes the meta data will reveal the camera used for the pictures. Not sure if its the same for smartphones though..

        • Sander Van de Moortel
          October 21, 2015

          It just says Xiaomi

  9. Cuong
    October 16, 2015

    What about video quality? I’ve seen a lot of good pictures produced by Mi4c but its video samples i found on Youtube doesn’t look really good – lack of detail and have lots of motion blur. I were hoping that’s just firmware problem.

    • MattD
      October 16, 2015

      Maybe it’s the usual YouTube’s issue messing up with videos’ quality when they’re uploaded

  10. Mario Pruteanu
    October 16, 2015

    great review andy, been following your site for more than 1 and a half a year now

  11. Steve B
    October 16, 2015

    your photos look a lot better than other examples i’ve seen, which though detailed, looked a bit dull and muted. Yours have some pop to them, wonder if it’s the Sony/Samsung factor or just the Andi factor?

    • Andi Sykes
      October 16, 2015

      I’d like to take credit haha

    • Stiven
      October 16, 2015

      Andi is the camera in mi4c better than Letv x600?

    • Andi Sykes
      October 16, 2015

      Yup, I would say so

    • Likhon Amin
      October 16, 2015

      Major difference?

    • Dante
      October 16, 2015

      Then is this your new fav phone?

    • Guest
      October 16, 2015

      It’s Andi factor. Andi is the only one who can take sharp pictures even that phone doesn’t have OIS and even sharper than an eyes can see if that phone has OIS.

  12. Steve B
    October 16, 2015

    your photos look a lot better than other examples i’ve seen, which though detailed, looked a bit dull and muted. Yours have some pop to them, wonder if it’s the Sony/Samsung factor or just the Andi factor?

    • Andi Sykes
      October 16, 2015

      I’d like to take credit haha

    • Stiven
      October 16, 2015

      Andi is the camera in mi4c better than Letv x600?

    • Andi Sykes
      October 16, 2015

      Yup, I would say so

    • Likhon Amin
      October 16, 2015

      Major difference?

    • Dante
      October 16, 2015

      Then is this your new fav phone?

    • Guest
      October 16, 2015

      It’s Andi factor. Andi is the only one who can take sharp pictures even that phone doesn’t have OIS and even sharper than an eyes can see if that phone has OIS.

  13. Yash Garg
    October 16, 2015

    If the sellers who shipped the phone to you read this review, they’ll certainly be able to tell between the Mi 4i that you send back and the 4c 😛

    • Andi Sykes
      October 16, 2015

      that’s true 🙁

    • Guest
      October 16, 2015

      i feel sorry for u , andi !

    • MaxPower
      October 18, 2015

      hey Andi, i wanted to ask you about the quick charge on this phone, can you confirm that doesn’t support QC2.0?

      also i wanted to let you know that LeTV finally opened the US store
      m.lemall.com/us/
      so far they only sell earphones and speakers.

  14. Guest
    October 16, 2015

    “… perhaps I can switch it for my Mi4i though and hope no one finds out.”

    Old rascal! :p

    • Guest
      October 16, 2015

      HAHA !

  15. balcobomber25
    October 16, 2015

    Xiaomi released two horrible phones (Mi4i and Note Pro) due to their stubbornness to use SD SoCs. They followed it up with two excellent phones (this and Note 2). Interested to see what happens next, an 820 powered Mi5?

    • Tizz
      October 16, 2015

      Honest question; what’s the problem with Mi Note Pro? Anandtech did a review about it and said it doesn’t heat up much, though i agree it’s too expensive.

    • RuR
      October 16, 2015

      You can get a Samsung Galaxy S6 for the price of MI Note pro.

    • Tizz
      October 16, 2015

      Yeah but balco said the Mi Note Pro is horrible because it has the SD810, not for the price.

    • MattD
      October 16, 2015

      No doubt about them using sd820 on mi5, everything depends on the soc’s performance… In the worst case though, Xiaomi won’t be starving thank to those beasts of midrangers they’ve launched lately

    • boober
      October 16, 2015

      Don’t really know what’s so horrible in MI Note pro. Wonderful phone. No overheating issues and performance smooth as butter.

    • balcobomber25
      October 16, 2015

      Everyone I know that has or had one says it suffers from some of the worst heating of all the 810 phones.

    • balcobomber25
      October 16, 2015

      Everyone I know that used it says it overheats badly, especially when playing games. I know about 10 people that bought one and regretted it ever since.

    • balcobomber25
      October 16, 2015

      Depends on the availability of the 820 and when they want the Mi5 to launch. They are already well past their normal release for the “Mi” flagship phone which is why they released the holdover Mi4c.

    • Tizz
      October 16, 2015

      Kinda weird since i’ve read some reviews and it says it doesn’t heat up, thanks though.

    • MattD
      October 16, 2015

      That’s the point: they’re waiting for the sd820 to come out, that’s why they’re months past their usual release date for the flagship!

    • Dante
      October 16, 2015

      this phone has really been off
      the stocks, But i agree with maciek they use a really effective cooling solution in this phone (if not better than in Op2 which is great) but the 3rd party Roms are lacking , the audio is also amaze on this one

    • Dante
      October 16, 2015

      Dont listen to anybody on gizchina ( including me ) But you can trust me because i know you like croc – legend of the gobbos . This phone didnt heat up while i had it for 2 weeks even when trying to emulate dolphin which was kind of a first to me , yes in hard gaming it gets warm but thats normal (doesnt get meizu hot)

    • balcobomber25
      October 16, 2015

      I haven’t used it myself so I can’t say but from what I have been told by people I trust, you need to wear gloves to do anything processor intensive (games, editing video etc) or you will get burned. Audio is usually excellent on all Xiaomi phones.

    • Dante
      October 16, 2015

      Lol , Maybe its time just to stop thinking about qualqs for a bit

    • Guest
      October 16, 2015

      It’s not overheat if the manufacturer can manage it, Mi Note Pro has said to be addressed (or lower) the heat issues after few updates although still advise to get normal Mi Note instead. Even LG G Flex 2 has very few into no report of overheating even this is the first device to use SD810.

      The one I know that really suffer from SD810 a lot is Sony Z4/Z3+. This one is the real diaster.

      I can say if you ever hand on a lot of devices, you will know that SD chipsets aren’t hotter than those way overhyped “Exynos” devices people in other tech sites do. Galaxy S6 and Note 5 are very hot devices too and even show sign of overheat which is the same problem from Galaxy S4 Note 3 and still today Samsung can’t fix the problem because I saw S6 overheat itself in recent Mobile Expo.So can be sure that if you hand on both SD810 device and Note 5 you will not know the difference which is hotter.

      and for android device it’s better to choose SD to have the most apps compatible (at least in my country internet banking apps doesn’t work well if you use other chipset than Snapdragon even MTK , Exynos)

      but if you are the same as me who looking for unicorn of the midrange device, I choose to let go this year midrange devices which mostly use SD615 until next year with update SOC and to have every brands include fast charge.

    • Adam Wasilewski
      October 17, 2015

      I have no any overheating issues with my Note Pro.

    • boober
      October 20, 2015

      Ok, maybe these people were right. On the other hand, I was using the device for a couple of months. None of the issues you mentioned noticed. Heat like in 801 tbh. I got to admit though, I am not and never was a heavy gamer. Just casual.

  16. Guest
    October 16, 2015

    whats wrong with cam ?! why only 8.5 why not 9.5 ?!

    • Tajwar
      October 16, 2015

      Imo the photos look better then the ones shot from the op2

    • Andi Sykes
      October 16, 2015

      Nope not quite as good, but not far off

    • Guest
      October 16, 2015

      exaxtly … at least a 9 would suffice

    • Dante
      October 16, 2015

      Buy this already – its the perfect ocasion to get a phone that is perfect in every aspect (and also has a good price) plus sd808 is my fav chipset of this year

    • Guest
      October 16, 2015

      mine too !
      BUT its a bit expensive (250$ = 35000 PKR and in Pakistan , THATS a big deal!)

      plus its a 5 incher when im looking for a 5.7 incher … will settle for 5.5

    • Dante
      October 17, 2015

      Huh .. then uh … Wait … For the P9000… Maybe it wont be junk… Maybe…

    • Guest
      October 17, 2015

      maybe … we saw alot of improvement in elephone Trunk !
      i hope p9000 is good throughout !

    • Dante
      October 17, 2015

      Lol yeah…

    • KatieC
      November 20, 2015

      Hi Andi. Do you think this is a better buy at the moment than the Mi Note considering the camera delivers similar results?

    • RuR
      January 14, 2016

      Elephone are rubbish compared to Xiaomi.

  17. guerrierodipace
    October 16, 2015

    The second sim slot can also be uesd as microsd expansion memory?

    • MaxPower
      October 16, 2015

      no

    • MattD
      October 16, 2015

      Nope

  18. G'n'T
    October 16, 2015

    Andi, do you know which camera is in your review model? Would be interesting to know if its the Sony or Samsung.

    • RuR
      October 16, 2015

      I think Both will be good

    • Andi Sykes
      October 16, 2015

      No, idea. I would have to take it apart to see

    • G'n'T
      October 16, 2015

      If you look at the properties of the pictures themselves, does that not tell you? Sometimes the meta data will reveal the camera used for the pictures. Not sure if its the same for smartphones though..

    • anonymous_fisk
      October 21, 2015

      It just says Xiaomi

  19. Josef Ovethsky
    October 16, 2015

    Andi Ive been with you since xiaomi mi2/2s days, I love your website and the review is great, thanks alot!

  20. Derp herp
    October 16, 2015

    Too bad every reseller only lies about stock. Waiting for phone to ship since 25th september

    • balcobomber25
      October 16, 2015

      Which reseller do you go through? I have had no issues with Merimobiles, 1949deal or Honorbuy/Gizchina Shop.

      • Derp herp
        October 16, 2015

        iBuyGou, waited from 25th september, cancelled order on 10th of october. Later ordered on Honorbuy 13.10, should be shipped in 48 hours. Nope … Hopefully atleast on monday or another cancel :/

        • Max
          October 17, 2015

          You might want to try gearbest or banggood too. 🙂

          • Derp herp
            October 17, 2015

            Honorbuy shipped today (on saturday). Didn’t expect it, but so happy about it.

  21. Cuong
    October 16, 2015

    What about video quality? I’ve seen a lot of good pictures produced by Mi4c but its video samples i found on Youtube doesn’t look really good – lack of detail and have lots of motion blur. I were hoping that’s just firmware problem.

    • MattD
      October 16, 2015

      Maybe it’s the usual YouTube’s issue messing up with videos’ quality when they’re uploaded

  22. Norbert Ciszek
    October 16, 2015

    Hi Andi, just one question about the display. Is it the same great panel that was used in Mi4i? Because after watching these two videos… I have to admit I’m not so sure. What’s your say?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9M9R14PkvA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rY-Ap-1Lmk

  23. Likhon Amin
    October 16, 2015

    Great review as always Andi 🙂 A question, how does the camera of leTV le 1 fare against the camera of mi4c?

  24. waterresist
    October 16, 2015

    Great review Andy and really comforting after Mi4i. Only one question came in mind: does the screen have a scratchproof coating?

    • Young
      October 18, 2015

      Get tempered glass.

      • waterresist
        October 21, 2015

        This is exactly the question. Do I need an extra layer of protection? Even Ulefon Paris have Gorilla 3 according to GizChina review.

  25. bojan radovanovic
    October 16, 2015

    You wanna say Mi4c has 2x better battery life, or at least SoT times, then Mi4i with same capacity!?
    Yeah, i am even more sorry that i have Mi4i. From first day i am not satisfied, so many bugs, bad battery, overheating, Xiaomi’s expectatins that we, users will be beta testers… And now, i see the totaly fu*d all of us that have bought that peace of crap, and offer something that it really could be called “cheap flagship”.

  26. MinusPlusDivide
    October 16, 2015

    I wish this phone has micro sd slot to be my perfect 5″ mid range for a middle guy like me.

    • Max
      October 17, 2015

      This would be the perfect chinese phone with good build quality and decent pricing with a sd-card-slot. Perfect i say.

  27. Derp herp
    October 16, 2015

    Too bad every reseller only lies about stock. Waiting for phone to ship since 25th september

    • balcobomber25
      October 16, 2015

      Which reseller do you go through? I have had no issues with Merimobiles, 1949deal or Honorbuy/Gizchina Shop.

    • Derp herp
      October 16, 2015

      iBuyGou, waited from 25th september, cancelled order on 10th of october. Later ordered on Honorbuy 13.10, should be shipped in 48 hours. Nope … Hopefully atleast on monday or another cancel :/

    • Max
      October 17, 2015

      You might want to try gearbest or banggood too. 🙂

    • Derp herp
      October 17, 2015

      Honorbuy shipped today (on saturday). Didn’t expect it, but so happy about it.

  28. jimberkas
    October 16, 2015

    Andi, you’ll move a lot of Mi4c phones with this review! xiaomi should definitely give you one for free!
    great review. great phone. wish it worked on US bands…

  29. VMortens
    October 16, 2015

    Not a word about the Type-C connector being only USB 2.0. Neiter a single one about lack, or presence of the uick charge technology, which can be really important for a battery of this size …
    What the heck Andi? Is it already just a marketing note, or it is a review?

    • Muhammad Yasir
      October 16, 2015

      marketing !

    • Sirrr
      October 17, 2015

      When “Xiaomi Mi4c first impressions” was posted 2 weeks ago, there were some debates on this subject.

      I also posted some links and info and i was interested to find some clarification about QC on Mi4c.

      But i guess nobody bothered to read the comments…

      • Sander Van de Moortel
        October 21, 2015

        there is quickcharge

    • slartiblart
      December 1, 2015

      It’s quick charge.

  30. Muhammad Yasir
    October 16, 2015

    THIS SUCKS no sd card !

    • Chico Migraña
      October 17, 2015

      There’s no need of SD Card slot

      • Muhammad Yasir
        October 17, 2015

        why ?

        • Chico Migraña
          October 17, 2015

          You don’t even have a smartphone yet, with 16gb is OK for your first phone. You have a Mi cloud for photos and backups and OTG if you need more space, for the price is a good phone 😉

      • Max
        October 17, 2015

        There indeed is. Everyone not in need of more than 16GB (10-11 free) of , doesn’t need such a powerful phone. You want to make many photos, play Games because of the good CPU and GPU and install many apps to multitask and loads Gigs of in it because of the good sound. 16GB definetely not enough at least not for people really using the powers of this phone. 🙂

        • Chico Migraña
          October 17, 2015

          32gb version is enough if you want more GB, and you have 1Gb RAM extra so you can use multitask without problem

      • sHmoX
        October 18, 2015

        It’s important for me, some games need almost 2gb storage, so…

  31. Norbert Ciszek
    October 16, 2015

    Hi Andi, just one question about the display. Is it the same great panel that was used in Mi4i? Because after watching these two videos… I have to admit I’m not so sure. What’s your say?

  32. Norbert Ciszek
    October 16, 2015
  33. Likhon Amin
    October 16, 2015

    Great review as always Andi 🙂 A question, how does the camera of leTV le 1 fare against the camera of mi4c?

  34. waterresist
    October 16, 2015

    Great review Andy and really comforting after the dissapointing Mi4i. Only one question came in mind: does the screen have a scratchproof coating?

    • Young
      October 18, 2015

      Get tempered glass.

    • waterresist
      October 21, 2015

      This is exactly the question. Do I need an extra layer of protection? Even Ulefon Paris have Gorilla 3 according to GizChina review.

  35. bojan radovanovic
    October 16, 2015

    You wanna say Mi4c has 2x better battery life, or at least SoT times, then Mi4i with same capacity!?

    F**k yeah, now, i am even more sorry that i have bought Mi4i.
    From first day i am not satisfied, so many bugs, bad battery, overheating, Xiaomi’s expectatins that we, users will be beta testers…
    And now, i see they totaly fu*d all of us that have bought that peace of crap, and offer something that it really could be called “cheap flagship”.

  36. Guest
    October 16, 2015

    I wish this phone has micro sd slot to be my perfect 5″ mid range for a middle guy like me.

    • Max
      October 17, 2015

      This would be the perfect chinese phone with good build quality and decent pricing with a sd-card-slot. Perfect i say.

  37. jimberkas
    October 16, 2015

    Andi, you’ll move a lot of Mi4c phones with this review! xiaomi should definitely give you one for free!
    great review. great phone. wish it worked on US bands…

  38. VMortens
    October 16, 2015

    Not a word about the Type-C connector being only USB 2.0. Neiter a single one about lack, or presence of the uick charge technology, which can be really important for a battery of this size …
    What the heck Andi? Is it already just a marketing note, or it is a review?

    • Guest
      October 16, 2015

      marketing !

    • Sirrr
      October 17, 2015

      When “Xiaomi Mi4c first impressions” was posted 2 weeks ago, there were some debates on this subject.

      I also posted some links and info and i was interested to find some clarification about QC on Mi4c.

      But i guess nobody bothered to read the comments…

    • anonymous_fisk
      October 21, 2015

      there is quickcharge

    • slartiblart
      December 1, 2015

      It’s quick charge.

  39. Guest
    October 16, 2015

    THIS SUCKS no sd card !

    • Ricardo A.
      October 17, 2015

      There’s no need of SD Card slot

    • Guest
      October 17, 2015

      why ?

    • Max
      October 17, 2015

      There indeed is. Everyone not in need of more than 16GB (10-11 free) of , doesn’t need such a powerful phone. You want to make many photos, play Games because of the good CPU and GPU and install many apps to multitask and loads Gigs of in it because of the good sound. 16GB definetely not enough at least not for people really using the powers of this phone. 🙂

    • Ricardo A.
      October 17, 2015

      32gb version is enough if you want more GB, and you have 1Gb RAM extra so you can use multitask without problem

    • Ricardo A.
      October 17, 2015

      You don’t even have a smartphone yet, with 16gb is OK for your first phone. You have a Mi cloud for photos and backups and OTG if you need more space, for the price is a good phone 😉

    • Guest
      October 18, 2015

      It’s important for me, some games need almost 2gb storage, so…

  40. Thang Cheong Pin
    October 16, 2015

    Too bad that this Mi4c didn’t launch in all other country except China. I’m from Singapore and the local Xiaomi is still selling the Mi4i. Even the Redmi Note 2 is not here. They’re slow in bringing new models to their foreign branches.

  41. Thang Cheong Pin
    October 17, 2015

    Too bad that this Mi4c didn’t launch in all other country except China. I’m from Singapore and the local Xiaomi is still selling the Mi4i. Even the Redmi Note 2 is not here. They’re slow in bringing new models to their foreign branches.

  42. fido futte
    October 17, 2015

    Wonder if there is any EU version available of the Mi4c ? since B20 and EU language support is totaly missing, so unless you speak Chinese – this phone is not for you!

    • Derp herp
      October 17, 2015

      Nope. This phone is for Asia. But I dont mind lack of B20 anymore and neither would you. Unless you are downloading movies or watching HD streams on mobile data.

    • JPiliouras
      October 20, 2015

      But, it has English language available..

  43. fido futte
    October 17, 2015

    Wonder if there is any EU version available of the Mi4c ? since B20 and EU language support is totaly missing, so unless you speak Chinese – this phone is not for you!

    • Derp herp
      October 17, 2015

      Nope. This phone is for Asia. But I dont mind lack of B20 anymore and neither would you. Unless you are downloading movies or watching HD streams on mobile data.

    • JPiliouras
      October 20, 2015

      But, it has English language available..

  44. John L
    October 17, 2015

    Any news on when the Black 3GB version might be available

  45. Guest
    October 17, 2015

    Any news on when the Black 3GB version might be available

  46. Antonio Cappiello
    October 18, 2015

    Does somebody know if Andy uses a Stable Rom or a Developer one?
    And what’s the keyboard name?

  47. Kingu Prima
    October 18, 2015

    No 3gb version ?

  48. Kingu Prima
    October 18, 2015

    Still no infos about thé mi5 witz snapdragon 820 ? Thanks ????

  49. Kingu Prima
    October 18, 2015

    No 3gb version
    [Edit] there’s one

  50. Kingu Prima
    October 18, 2015

    Still no infos about thé mi5 witz snapdragon 820 ? Thanks 🙂🤓😆🙃

  51. Allanitomwesh
    October 19, 2015

    Just get the 3GB RAM version for yourself Andi

  52. Allanitomwesh
    October 19, 2015

    Just get the 3GB RAM version for yourself Andi

  53. Sander Van de Moortel
    October 21, 2015

    Just bought the phone from the official website. Camera performs nowhere near as advertised. More than half of the indoor shots are blurred, most unacceptably so, unless you really take your time to stabilise the phone with two hands. Outdoors, if bathing in sunlight, shots are acceptable if not perfectly sharp. Anno 2015 this is substandard for any phone.

    • bouet
      October 22, 2015

      Just got it yesterday and I guess yours was flawed? Mine is doing some amazing shots and I love it!

    • slartiblart
      December 1, 2015

      You sure you talking about the same phone? Got mine, the camera is stunning! Fast and not noisy and definitely not blurred. Your may have xiaomi potato version.

    • Hendri Go
      February 22, 2016

      mine is great..so amazing clear

  54. anonymous_fisk
    October 21, 2015

    Just bought the phone from the official website. Camera performs nowhere near as advertised. More than half of the indoor shots are blurred, most unacceptably so, unless you really take your time to stabilise the phone with two hands. Outdoors, if bathing in sunlight, shots are acceptable if not perfectly sharp. Anno 2015 this is substandard for any phone.

    • Guest
      October 22, 2015

      Just got it yesterday and I guess yours was flawed? Mine is doing some amazing shots and I love it!

    • slartiblart
      December 1, 2015

      You sure you talking about the same phone? Got mine, the camera is stunning! Fast and not noisy and definitely not blurred. Your may have xiaomi potato version.

    • Hendri Go
      February 22, 2016

      mine is great..so amazing clear

  55. Nishikanta
    October 23, 2015

    NO SD CARD. Thats the thorn in shoe

  56. Nishikanta
    October 23, 2015

    NO SD CARD. Thats the thorn in shoe

  57. Roberto Tomás
    October 30, 2015

    seems like you overvalued the camera to me. 5mp only for front? same 13mp you’d find on .. for example, the umi iron at $150

  58. Roberto Tomás
    October 31, 2015

    seems like you overvalued the camera to me. 5mp only for front? same 13mp you’d find on .. for example, the umi iron at $150

  59. thelion
    November 4, 2015

    2016

    • Milo
      December 24, 2015

      Is it true or fake?

  60. thelion
    November 4, 2015

    2016

    • Guest
      December 24, 2015

      Is it true or fake?

  61. xiaomi lezz
    January 8, 2016

    Just took delivery of my Xiaomi Mi4 today, Thought I would post a heads up to anone looking for one with fast shipping as these are in the EU warehouse. http://www.banggood.com/EU-Warehouse-Xiaomi-Mi4-5-inch-3G-WCDMA-16GB-ROM-3GB-RAM-Snapdragon-801-Smartphone-p-1017437.html?p=2O21111526893201504H mine came in just four days, So happy to be rid of my old Huawei, like moving from a Hillman Imp to a Jag !

  62. Guest
    January 8, 2016

    Just took delivery of my Xiaomi Mi4 today, Thought I would post a heads up to anone looking for one with fast shipping as these are in the EU warehouse. http://www.banggood.com/EU-Warehouse-Xiaomi-Mi4-5-inch-3G-WCDMA-16GB-ROM-3GB-RAM-Snapdragon-801-Smartphone-p-1017437.html?p=2O21111526893201504H mine came in just four days, So happy to be rid of my old Huawei, like moving from a Hillman Imp to a Jag !