Xiaomi India has announced a new colour variant of the Xiaomi Mi A1, until now, the users have the choice to choose between the Black or Gold colour options, and from now, the users can also opt for the new Rose Gold Colour, which makes it look like a smartphone from Apple.
If you are choosing a Rose Gold back, then the front of the display will be in the white colour shade, making it look premium. The device does retail for the same ₹14,999 price tag and will be available across the country via Mi Home, Mi Preferred resellers, Flipkart, and the other 3rd party resellers. Initially, the stock will be made available only on Flipkart and Mi.com (on 21st November).
With respect to the design and build quality, probably, this is one of the best looking Xiaomi branded smartphone under the ₹20,000 price tag. The full metal unibody with a rear-facing fingerprint scanner is in line with the other premium flagship smartphones.
Tech specifications: The Xiaomi Mi A1 features an old-school 5.5-inch 1080p IPS LCD laminated screen, with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass on the top. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-core SoC, based on 14 nm FinFET technology. This energy efficient processor is paired with 4 GB LPDDR3 RAM and 64 GB onboard flash storage with a dedicated hybrid SD card slot (up to 128 GB).
In terms of connectivity, the device does offer dual SIM card slots with 4G LTE and VoLte capability out of the box with support for dual-channel WiFi, WiFi Hotspot and Bluetooth 4.2. However, the device doesn’t offer NFC, which might be the deal breaker for some users. So, with respect to connectivity, this device should cover for the most part.
The most interesting part of this model is the camera. The Xiaomi Mi A1 offers a rear dual camera with dual 12 MP RGB shooters, one being a telephoto lens and a wide-angle lens. The wide-angle lens offers a F/2.0 aperture and the telephoto lens offers F/2.6 aperture with X2 optical zooming capability. For the selfie camera, the device uses the standard 5 MP selfie shooter. The main camera does support 4K video recording up to 30 frames per second and the front-facing selfie camera tops at 1080p.
In terms of operating system, the software updates are taken care by Google (as this is an Android One certified smartphone). Currently, the device runs on Android Nougat 7.1.2 with stock UI on the top with an expected Android Oreo update in the near future. The device is also entitled to receive Android P update in the near future.
Finally, the device features a ~3000 mAh Li-ion battery with normal charging capability via USB type C port. The smartphone also offers a special audio amplifier, which enhances the sound quality via 3.5 mm headphone jack port. So, if you are into stock Android, faster OS and security updates, premium dual camera setup, then this is the go-to-go smartphone.