Xiaomi Mi A3 review: More than just an Android One phone

Brand: Xiaomi
Product name: Xiaomi Mi A3
Key specs: 48-megapixel triple camera, Android One, Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC, 4,030mAh battery
Price: ₹12,999 (base model)
Rating: 3.5/5

Xiaomi's Mi A2 was one of the best mid-range smartphones at its time. Despite great camera performance, Mi A2 made some big trade-offs - removing 3.5mm headphone jack and no microSD slot - all crucial elements for budget and mid-range phones in India. With Mi A3, Xiaomi is trying to fix these gaps. The latest model comes with a trendier glass design, there's an AMOLED panel on the front, and more importantly, 3.5mm headphone jack is back.

Xiaomi has kept the pricing also very competitive with Mi A3. The base model with 4GB RAM and 64GB built-in storage is priced at ₹12,999. Xiaomi Mi A3 is also available with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage which can be purchased at ₹15,999.

Overall, Mi A3 looks really good and seems quite promising too. My experience has been likewise but there were some tiny but important issues that stood out. Here's our detailed review of Mi A3 to shed more light on this.

Design, display

Xiaomi Mi A3 is one of the best looking phones available right now. The phone is wrapped in a glass body in three colour options of blue, white and dark grey. My personal favourite is the 'More than White' Mi A3 which is similar to Samsung's Galaxy S10 but in a good way, of course. Mi A3 also houses the new Xiaomi branding which is refreshing and good to look at.

The 6-inch display on Mi A3 is an almost bezel-less one but with a dewdrop styled notch on top. Here, the drawback is the HD+ resolution but its saving grace is the AMOLED panel. The experience isn't so bad and many people won't notice the difference. Content hungry people will enjoy watching videos on the phone.

Performance

Xiaomi Mi A3 is powered by Qualcomm's mid-range Snapdragon 665 processor. The phone is fast for regular stuff and multi-tasking as well. It doesn't heat up either during prolonged use. The speakers are attached at the bottom of the phone. While the audio quality is pretty good, it can be a nuisance when your fingers cover the speaker grille.

Battery life of the Mi A3 is highly commendable. The 4,030mAh battery will last the Mi A3 well over a day including 8-9 hours of standby. The phone comes with a 10W charger in the box. Now, charging isn't great on the Mi A3 as it takes almost two hours to fully charge. Games like PUBG Mobile not only run smooth but also look great on the Mi A3. Even with graphics set to medium, PUBG Mobile looks quite immersive.

Courtesy of its Android One platform, Mi A3 offers near-stock Android Pie. It does come pre-loaded with Xiaomi apps like Mi Community and Mi Store. But you can always delete them off your phone. Mi A3 also receives regular software updates. Mi A3 also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor which is quite fast.

Camera

With the Mi A3 you get the camera goodness of Redmi Note 7 Pro. Xiaomi Mi A3 has a triple-camera setup with a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Photos taken in daylight turned out pretty good as expected from the camera sensors. Colours are very natural and photos look sharp as well. Low light photography wasn't pleasant though with the Mi A3. Night mode does give that additional brightness but details are missed and the photos turn out blurry.

For selfies, you get the same 32-megapixel camera on the Redmi Y3. As we've mentioned in our review, selfies are great with this camera and one of the best in the budget range.

Verdict

Based on my experience, Xiaomi Mi A3 is a very well packaged phone. It comes with all the necessary features a user would need from a phone in this category. Yes, the display standard could have been better but the AMOLED screen does make up for a lot of it. For ₹12,999, the Mi A3 is a definite buy.