Is the Xiaomi Mi A3 as bad as they say?

The Mi A1 and A2 family have presumed to be the most sold in the history of the Android One program, despite the fact that they have brands like Nokia, which just makes phones that stand out in design and software, however, the big secret. The success of Xiaomi has been the price, and just the Mi A3 returns to repeat a very competitive price, although it is also the first time that a team of this family enters into controversy for some function, which in the case of this device is the screen resolution.

The good:

• Competitive price.
• Good feeling in hand.
• Android One
• Great autonomy
• The 3.5 mm jack returns

The bad:

• Screen resolution
• There is no NFC.
• The fingerprint reader on the screen is not going as well as on other equipment of the brand.

Screen: sacrificing improvements to keep the price

Unlike the Mi A1 and Mi A2, the Mi A3 is the first Android One phone of the brand that incorporates an OLED screen, something that certainly helps it to offer more natural colors, with better definition and much deeper colors, in addition that allows you to save battery when we activate the dark mode in applications or use a black wallpaper.

In addition to that, another great advantage of the OLED screen is that thanks to it we have a fingerprint reader under the screen, the problem is that it does not work as fast as in other equipment of the brand, and the unlock animation does not help that the unlocking does not feel eternal.

Of course, we can rely on facial unlocking, which works well in "normal" conditions, but with a lot of little light, it is basically impossible to recognize our face.

But let's talk about the great controversy of this screen, the resolution, because unlike the Mi A2 and its Full HD + resolution, the Mi A3 goes down to the HD + resolution, and although after several days of use you end up getting used to it, it shows that there is A downgrade of quality with respect to most devices in this range.

One of the most common problems is that there are screen elements that seem a bit blurry, a point that clearly indicates the lack of resolution, it is a very strange principle, especially when you come from a QHD + or Full HD + screen, but with the As the days go by you get used to the resolution.

In the end I think it is not such a serious problem, it is not something we have to do a tantrum or that will affect the user experience too much, because Netflix can be seen in HD, YouTube also plays videos at 720p, so It's not like we're not going to have high definition content either.

Finally, we must not forget that its price is much lower than that of other equipment, especially compared to Nokia's Android One, in fact, the brand has mentioned that the issue of the resolution was a decision they made to maintain the price as low but adding improvements like the triple camera, or the fingerprint sensor under the screen.

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Performance: not the best but meets

The Mi A3 takes a small leap in terms of the previous generation, since we went from a Snapdragon 660 to a Snapdragon 665, and if you already used the Mi A2 I can tell you that you will not see a palpable improvement in performance, yes, the processor and screen resolution help you manage the battery much better.

While the Snapdragon 665 is capable of executing virtually anything, we could notice some unexpected closure or some warming when we really put it to work but, this is not something serious or constant, but it is good that you know that if you are looking for a phone To play most of the time, this is not the phone you need, but if it is not the case, then the Mi A3 will fulfill very well with anything you ask.

Another point where we do not see a great improvement is in RAM and internal storage because in the case of Mexico we have the 4GB version of RAM with 64GB of internal storage. While Android One helps those 4GB to manage all tasks well, most of the high and medium-range are already arriving with 6GB of RAM, although we return to the most important point of the equipment, the price, and we could not ask for more for what it costs

Autonomy: few phones do the same

It is true that the resolution of the screen is a point against the MI A3, but this also gives it a great advantage in autonomy, because at a lower resolution lower battery consumption, and if the screen is OLED, then that better.

This was the section where I was much more surprised, because with a single charge the phone is able to withstand more than one day of use without a problem, so you can surf the Internet, take some pictures, use social networks, listen to music and watch videos without major problem.

You could even bet that users who give it a more discreet use can hold up to 2 days on a single charge.

A very important detail to consider is that although the Mi A3 supports fast charging of 18W, the charger that comes in the package is 10W, so if we want to enjoy fast charging we will have to buy a charger separately or use another one of some phone we have at home.

Camera: very good for its price

This is also the first Xiaomi Android One with 3 rear cameras, we have the main sensor of 48 MP, a wide angle of 8 MP, and a depth sensor of 2 MP. This combination allows us to do many interesting things, and the results are good in general, but not surprising.

In good lighting conditions the camera of the Mi A3 does things better than the Mi A2, the contrast, white balance and color are correct, and as a tip, it is always good to have the HDR activated, which is when the best photographs are taken with this device.

A pleasant surprise is that we have the night mode, which is not very common in devices with Android One, because currently the Motorola One Vision is the only Android One with night mode available in Mexico, and the good news is that the night mode of the My A3 seems much better in this section, especially because it relies on the great work that the brand does with its artificial intelligence.

Although the results are acceptable, we are not going to obtain images at the level of other high-middle range, in fact, it seems to me that it is not up to other Xiaomi smartphones, but it should be among the 3 best cameras of phones with Android One, although we still have to see what Nokia 7.2 has to offer in this regard.

Conclusion:

The Mi A3 is a phone that offers more than it costs because we can find it for approximately 4,500 pesos, and today I do not see in the market a phone with this price with better camera, autonomy, and processor, which is why I think you can forgive the screen resolution.

In fact, I am almost certain that the Mi A3 will once again be a success in sales, and at this moment without a problem, it is in the top 5 of the best smartphones with Android One, especially because Nokia or Motorola will hardly launch a team with better cost-benefit relation.

That is why the Xiaomi Mi A3 is like a hamburger, it is not expensive, it takes you out of trouble and in one of those even you are surprised how good it is and how little you paid for it.