This review is written in descriptive terms and I have purposely kept numbers to a minimum. If you want technical information about the phone, look here.
Design
The Mi A1 is pretty, with a rather feminine body accentuated by the gold colour that I chose for mine. The other option is black.
It fits nicely in the hand, even my small ones. However, the screen is still big enough that watching videos and playing games are pleasurable.
If I have one complaint about the physical aspect of the phone, it would be regarding the buttons. The hard power button, located in its usual position halfway down the right edge of the chassis, feels mushy when pressed and it can be difficult to tell if you have successfully activated it. Along the bottom, the three touch buttons for Menu, Home, and Back suffer from a different problem: their areas of activation are very limited and you have to be extremely accurate in hitting the correct spot in order to get them to respond. This means that if you keep your eyes on the screen while trying to make the phone go back, you are likely to miss the button completely and be left bewildered for a couple of seconds wondering why the phone failed to do what you wanted.
Software
The stock Android that the Mi A1 has by default can be a bit disorienting because most of us would be used to the Android skins of our favourite brands, such as HTC Sense or Xiaomi's own MIUI.
Stock Android is really bare-bones stuff. Your phone will work, but not much besides. The good thing is the lack of bloatware, those redundant apps that come together with every new phone and cannot be deleted. But some very basic apps that should be there are also omitted. For example, there is no file manager app and you will have to install a third-party one from the Play Store.
Personalisation can also be a challenge. Stock Android does not give you the option to easily add your own custom ringtones, notification sounds and alarms. You will have to use the third-party file manager app mentioned above to copy the sound files you want to use into the respective "Ringtones", "Notifications", or "Alarms" folders in the phone's internal memory, then go to the Settings menu where you should now be able to find your desired sound clips.
The keyboard is another area which is sorely lacking. Its predictive feature does not seem to learn my personal language patterns well, but does pick up obscure things like Chinese names (e.g., Swee Ling). It also fails to autocorrect properly even if only one letter out of the whole word is wrong. If you have a favourite third-party keyboard, just use that straight off the bat.
On the plus side, being on the Android One programme means that your phone gets all the latest updates straight from Google. Your phone will be protected against the newest cybersecurity threats. These patches go out about once a month. Each time, you will have to connect to the internet to download a tranche of about a couple of gigabytes, and then let the phone install the update and restart itself. The entire process takes about 15 minutes.
Performance
I readily admit that I abuse my phones. They work really hard for me as I use them for many intensive activities. It was with this in mind that I selected the Mi A1 with its beefy RAM, generous internal storage capacity, and large battery.
The phone does not disappoint on any of these counts. It is a joy to use as it feels snappy and handles regular tasks with impunity. Multitasking is a breeze too. No need to worry about sending apps to the background while you attend to incoming messages or emails. They will be in the exact same state you left them in when you return, and you can resume using them immediately with no noticeable lag.
I have installed dozens of apps in my phone so far and its internal memory is only about half full. Of course, it helps that there is no bloatware taking up valuable space.
The battery has amazing endurance and has no problem lasting a full day of normal usage. I have even watched YouTube videos for about five hours continuously and the battery level only reached about half. To get the most out of both your screen and battery, set the brightness to the dynamic mode, which will adjust itself according to the ambient lighting in your surroundings. Also set your geolocation to battery-saving as this will stretch your battery life even further while still being accurate enough for most purposes.
Speaking of YouTube videos, the Mi A1 has a real powerhouse of a speaker! It is LOUD and clear, and I love watching videos and listening to music on my new phone.
In case you are wondering, I have deliberately not commented on the display and camera, which are standard elements in any phone review. This is because I am not fussy about those parts of a phone beyond whether they work or not. The Mi A1 has a fancy dual camera at the back which supposedly enhances depth-of-field, but I have no idea what that means and have not noticed anything different in my shots so far. And the display is functional and renders images, videos, and games well. That is all that matters to me and is all I can say on this issue.
All in all, the Xiaomi Mi A1 delivers high-end performance for a low-end price. It has its flaws, particularly to do with the drawbacks of the stock Android operating system. But those can be rectified yourself within minutes using downloadable third-party apps from the Play Store, and should not detract from what is a solid and satisfying piece of hardware that deserves a place in everyone's pocket.
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