Xiaomi jumped onto the Android One bandwagon with the release of the Mi A1 last year, which featured mid-range specifications in a good quality chassis running stock Android, instead of Xiaomi’s MIUI Android skin. While the Mi A1 seemed to be a compelling buy at first, Mi A1 users all around the world faced quite a lot of issues with the device. Rupesh here at Beebom even used it as his primary device for quite some time and, much like other Mi A1 users, got fed up of the poorly optimized stock Android experience. Quite recently, Xiaomi launched the second generation update for its A300ndroid One lineup – the Mi A2 (Rs. 16,999) – in India. Once again, the device brought along the promise of a great stock Android experience on mid-range hardware. While we expected Xiaomi to have fixed all the issues we faced with the first-gen device, not much seems to have changed. Read on to find out how the Mi A2 fared in our testing:

As always, before getting further into the review, let’s get the Xiaomi Mi A2’s specifications out of the way. Here’s a quick look at all that’s packed within the new Mi A2:

Design and Build Quality

Xiaomi is known for using premium components and offering great build quality even in their mid-range devices and the Mi A2 is no different. The device looks quite a lot like the Redmi Note 5 Pro, with a smooth metal back and a glass front. Quite like the Redmi Note 5 Pro, the Mi A2 also features a vertically oriented dual camera setup on the back and a circular fingerprint sensor placed high in the center. What differentiates the Mi A2 from the Redmi Note 5 Pro are the device’s antenna lines and the Android One branding.

On the left edge lies the SIM card tray which supports dual SIM cards but doesn’t include support for a microSD card slot, which is quite disappointing. Down on the bottom edge, the device features a USB Type-C port flanked by speaker grills on either side. Even though the device features two speaker grills, it only has a single bottom firing speaker. Up top, the device features an IR blaster along with a secondary noise cancellation microphone. What’s more disappointing, however, is the fact that the Mi A2 lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Another aspect of the Mi A2’s design that I didn’t like was the substantial camera bump which made the device wobble when kept on a flat surface. On top of that, having the device rest on the camera module isn’t all that reassuring, because if a user accidentally places any pressure on the device when it’s kept on its back, it might damage the camera module. While it’s quite clear that Xiaomi took that route to make the device as slim as possible, the company could have easily minimized the camera bump, by making the device thicker which would have also allowed the company to include a bigger battery and perhaps a headphone jack. That move alone would have dealt with three main issues that I found on the Mi A2.

Coming to the display, the Xiaomi Mi A2 packs in a decent 5.99-inch FHD+ IPS LCD which has an 18:9 aspect ratio and no notch. The display looks fairly impressive at first glance and even after using it for quite a while, I noticed that it doesn’t get all that bright, which means sunlight visibility will be an issue. Color accuracy on the Mi A2 isn’t all that great either and since it’s running stock Android, it doesn’t have an option to change color temperatures according to their preferences.

Being an Android One device, the Mi A2 runs stock Android 8.1 Oreo with almost no bloatware. While the device does ship with a few apps pre-installed, including Mi Store, Mi Community, Mi Drop, Mi Remote and Google Tez, they’re not installed as system apps, which means that they can be uninstalled in case they’re deemed unnecessary. The stock Android experience on the Mi A2 isn’t nearly as good as the stock Android experience on other devices, which was the case with its predecessor as well. The device feels a bit unoptimized from the get go, with UI elements lagging or stuttering in just a couple of days of use.

The Xiaomi Mi A2 packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM, but it doesn’t perform as admirably as you’d expect it to. I tested the device quite thoroughly, running most popular benchmarking apps and intensive games, and I was left disappointed. The Xiaomi Mi A2 was able to manage decent scores in AnTuTu, Geekbench 4 and 3DMark, when compared to Snapdragon 636 powered devices like the Redmi Note 5 Pro, the ZenFone Max Pro M1 and the Nokia 6.1 Plus.

In day-to-day use, the device fared quite well in the first two days of use, but it started lagging and freezing soon after. On several occasions the device’s screen froze while running a benchmark or playing an intensive game, making the navigation buttons unresponsive and forcing me to force shutdown the device by holding the power button.

Stills

The last-gen Mi A1 packed in a 12MP+12MP dual camera setup, with one of the 12MP sensors featuring a telephoto lens for 2x lossless zoom. This year, however, Xiaomi has swapped the telephoto lens with a 20MP secondary sensor which aims to provide better low-light performance. The primary 12MP sensor is also better than the last-gen device, with a f/1.8 aperture, over the Mi A1’s f/2.2.

The Mi A2’s camera performance was quite satisfactory, with the device managing to churn out decent photos in almost all lighting conditions. Images clicked in good lighting conditions were quite sharp and detailed, with accurate color reproduction and no over-saturation. The dynamic range was also pretty great, with the camera managing to capture enough detail to separate a wide array of colors in a single frame. Take a look at some of the images clicked using the Mi A2 in good lighting conditions:

Low light performance was also surprisingly good for a smartphone in this price range, with the Mi A2 being capable enough to capture ample amount of light with great detail and little to no noise. All images clicked in low-light situations were well exposed and there was minimal loss of color saturation due to the low-lighting conditions. Here are a few sample images clicked in low-lighting conditions:

Since the Mi A2 features a dual camera setup, it’s quite obvious that it packs in portrait mode capabilities. Portrait images clicked using the device turn out really nice, with good subject separation, accurate edge detection and a natural background blur. The device didn’t face any problems clicking a wide variety of subjects, including inanimate objects. Here are a few portrait mode shots captured using the Mi A2:

The 20MP f/2.8 front facing sensor is a significant step up from the Mi A1’s 5MP selfie shooter and the difference is quite apparent in the sample images. With plenty of light the selfie shooter on the Mi A2 captures detailed images with great color accuracy and little to no noise. The front-facing camera, however, lacks the dynamic range of the rear camera setup and therefore tends to mess up when the camera is facing a light source.The front facing camera also packs in portrait mode capabilities and the software implementation is quite satisfactory. Portrait mode images captured using the selfie shooter have good subject separation and a nice background blur. Here are a few sample images captured by the Mi A2’s front facing camera:

All-in-all, the Mi A2’s cameras perform quite well and easily beat the competition in all scenarios. Compared to the Redmi Note 5 Pro, the ZenFone Max Pro M1 and the Nokia 6.1 Plus, the images captured by the Mi A2 have far more detail, little to no noise and great color accuracy. The cameras may perhaps be the only redeeming feature on the Mi A2.

Video

The primary camera setup on the Xiaomi Mi A2 is also capable of capturing 4K video at 30fps and while the video quality is pretty good, the lack of any form of stabilization means that the resulting video is very shaky. 1080p video at 30fps, on the other hand, makes use of electronic image stabilization and the resulting video looks great and is absolutely stable. Here are the sample videos clicked using the Xiaomi Mi A2’s primary camera:

Mi A2 vs. Competitors: Camera Comparison

While it might not do as well in other scenarios when compared to its competitors, the Redmi Note 5 Pro, the ZenFone Max Pro M1 and the Nokia 6.1 Plus, it surely outshines the others in the camera department. Both in good lighting conditions and in low light, the images captured by the Mi A2 have more details and better color reproduction. I was fairly impressed by the camera’s performance. Here are some of the sample images we used for comparison:

As you can probably tell from the sample images, the Mi A2 not only outperforms the other devices in good lighting, but it also fares better in low lighting conditions. Portrait mode images clicked using the Mi A2 also offer better edge detection, a more natural looking bokeh effect and ample amount of details. Check out the sample below:

The front facing 20MP camera on the Mi A2 also outperforms the competition, delivering high-quality images both with and without the bokeh effect. Just take a look at these samples below:

Audio Quality

The Mi A2 features a single downward firing speaker which gets reasonably loud and remains quite clear at max volume. However, it suffers from the same problem every device with a downward firing speaker faces, the speaker gets muffled quite easily while using the device in landscape mode and the experience isn’t as ideal as you’d get with a device featuring front facing speakers.

The Xiaomi Mi A2 also falters when it comes to connectivity. While most smartphones in this price range offer at least a hybrid SIM card tray, with some even featuring a triple slot tray with room for two SIM cards and a microSD card, the Mi A2 doesn’t offer either. Even though I personally never feel the need for more than 64GB of storage on my smartphone, as I store most of my media in the cloud and don’t really download movies or TV shows, quite a lot of people in the country do and this makes the Mi A2 less than ideal for said people.

Even in the battery department, the Xiaomi Mi A2 lags behind the competition. The device features a 3,010mAh battery, which compared to the 4,000mAh and 5,000mAh batteries found on the Redmi Note 5 Pro and ZenFone Max Pro M1 isn’t quite as impressive. I conducted an extensive battery test with the Mi A2, to check how it performs in regular use and with intensive use.

Honestly, no. The Xiaomi Mi A2, unlike the Mi A1 from last year, doesn’t bring anything to the table that other mid-range devices don’t offer. Its competitors – the Redmi Note 5 Pro, ZenFone Max Pro M1 and Nokia 6.1 Plus – perform better in real-world use, and offer a more stable/optimized Android experience. The Mi A2 lacks crucial components, like the 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot, and it features a comparatively smaller 3,010mAh battery. On top of that, its competitors offer great value for money, especially the ZenFone Max Pro M1, making the Mi A2 one of the least desirable smartphones in this price range. The Mi A2 has several shortcomings and the Android One experience that it banks on isn’t that great, so you should definitely skip the device and purchase one of the aforementioned competitors or perhaps save up for the Poco F1.

Cons:

  • Poorly optimized Android One experience and choppy performance
  • No 3.5mm headphone jack
  • No microSD card slot for expansion
  • Average battery life

See Also: Xiaomi Mi A2 Performance and Gaming Review: Nothing Too Remarkable

Well, that rounds up our review of the Xiaomi Mi A2 (Rs. 16,999). The device offers a decent design and premium build quality at the price range, but it lacks quite a few essential features that users have come to expect from devices in this price range. On top of that, its stock Android performance isn’t as optimized as I expected it to be, making it far less desirable than competing smartphones that run skinned versions of Android. If Xiaomi had optimized the Android experience for the device just a tad bit more, it could have done wonders even without the 3.5mm jack and the microSD card slot, but unfortunately, the devices proves to be as laggy as its predecessor.