Xiaomi Mi A3: The Pros, Cons, And The X Factor

The Pros

Perfectly Fits One Hand, Premium Aesthetics 

Xiaomi has tried to make the Mi A3 as ergonomic as possible. With 72mm width, Xiaomi Mi A3 is the most ergonomic handset in the company's Mi A-series line-up. The smartphone also borrows design cues from flagship Redmi K20 series like the 3D curves glass and curved chassis that makes it an absolute bliss for consumers who prefer handy devices. 

There's Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on both front and the rear panel and even on the camera setup. Additionally, the P2i coating is also offered to make the handset splash-resistant.

Xiaomi Mi A3 will be available in three colors- Kind of Grey, Not just Blue and More than White. The White color variant looks absolutely stunning.

48MP Primary Camera Captures Vibrant Shots With True-to-Eyes Colors

The 48MP primary lens on the Mi A3 is essentially the same camera that we have tested on the Redmi Note 7 Pro. The camera works on the Sony IMX 586 sensor and captures crisp shots with good detailing. Pictures captured on the Mi A3 shows realistic Colors, unlike the shots captured from Realme 5 Pro that look slightly edited. 

You also get an 8MP ultrawide angle lens with 118° field-of-view, which adds a new perspective to your photography. The 2MP depth-sensor manages to create a pleasing Bokeh effect. Xiaomi Mi A3 can record 4k videos at 30fps, crisp slow-motion and time-lapse videos.

32MP Selfie Camera

Xiaomi Mi A3 also brings some massive upgrades to the front-facing camera. The Mi A3 boasts the largest selfie sensor available in the market. The front camera works on Samaung-made 32MP sensor which captures vibrant and detailed pictures. The front camera also features AI Beautify and AI scene detection.

Good Battery Life

Thanks to the lower resolution display, efficient chipset and a big battery cell, the Mi A3 easily lasts a day. The smartphone is backed by a 4,030 mAh battery unit and gets 18W fast-charging support. With moderate usage, the Mi A3 can easily last for a good 36 hours.

The Cons

HD Resolution Display Lacks A Punch

Even though the Super AMOLED panel on the Mi A3 offers punchy colors and good contrast levels, the low-resolution of the HD panel is a bit setback. The screen does not come across as sharp as Full HD panels available on some rival devices and even on the company's Redmi Note 7 Pro.

The lack of adequate sharpness leads to some level of pixelation which is visible while playing games, video playback and reading.

Sluggish In-screen Fingerprint Scanner

The Mi A3 is the first handset in the Mi A line-up to feature an in-screen fingerprint scanner. The smartphone features the 7th Gen. In-screen fingerprint scanner; however, it feels slightly sluggish and takes its sweet time to unlock the device. In fact, it is one-of-the slowest in-screen biometrics I have tested in a while.

Powerful And Better Gaming Phones Available In The Market

I was expecting the Mi A3 to deliver a good gaming performance as the underlying hardware (Adreno 610 GPU) has to push pixels to a low-resolution display; however, the gameplay experience is not at par with the competition. For instance, the Vivo Z1 Pro retailing at similar price-point comes out as a better overall gaming handset.

Even the newly launched Realme 5 Pro also brings a faster chipset- SD712 as compared to the Snapdragon 665 SoC that powers the Mi A3.

PUBG Mobile started with low settings on the Mi A3 and the gameplay experience was not very smooth. Graphics looked mediocre due to low frame rate while playing PUBG mobile and other popular game titles. If you are in the market for a good gaming handset in the sub 20K price-point, there are better phones available than the Mi A3.

The X Factor

A Xiaomi phone with stock Android UI is a rare thing to see, and that's what makes the Mi A3 quite interesting. The handset runs on the stock Android Pie unlike the company's MIUI skin, which means there are no unwanted advertisements and bloatware to hamper your user experience. 

Additionally, the Mi A3 is signed up for faster updates and longer support from Google. The handset will get two years of OS updates and three years of security updates from Google. The Mi A3 will among the first few devices to receive the Android Q update.

Should You Buy It?

If you prefer goodness of stock Android over customized skins, the Mi A3 is a wonderful bargain. The smartphone offers almost everything that you would desire in a mid-range smartphone- premium design, smooth software experience, good cameras and long-lasting battery life. The company has also re-added the microSD card slot and 3.5mm headphone jack, two utmost required features in this respective price-bracket.

If you cannot compromise on the display resolution, Redmi Note 7 Pro is still available in the market and you must check out the newly launched Realme 5 Pro that brings in a better chipset, dedicated microSD card slot and an additional macro lens. You can watch the comparison of Realme 5 Pro vs Xiaomi Mi A3 on our YouTube channel and stay tuned for our comprehensive review of the new Xiaomi Mi A3.