My new toy, the Xiaomi Mi 4i

I have got myself a new phone, the Xiaomi Mi 4i! After upgrading my phone, I got to browse faster with 4G, and battery life has become manageable.



It began with my status update on my former Samsung Galaxy S3. I bought it way back in 2012, after I completed my Honours year. I posted some status updates on Facebook describing how sluggish my S3 has become and the short battery life. My friends urged me to upgrade my phone. So I know it's time already.

I made the decision to purchase a Xiaomi Mi 4i under a Digi contract at Digi Specialised Store @ Low Yat Plaza. I have been a loyal prepaid customer with Digi, and the shopkeeper transfer me seamlessly to postpaid. To top it off, I got a rebate for my remaining prepaid balance!

When you buy handphones, it's best to buy it at reputable stores. As a matter of fact, it's better to buy from big stores at established locations. Digi flagship store don't dare to cheat customers one, everyone should know right? My dad bought his Lenovo from small shops in seemingly dodgy places, and turned out he got imitate (fake) phones and of course faced minor problems in his everyday usage.



My first impression: its display is brilliant! It’s a 5-inch 1920 x 1080p panel. I can view Youtube videos in high definition.



The Mi 4i has 4G LTE, which means faster mobile Internet. It's one of reason why I made the leap to Mi 4i. Viewing Facebook feed, downloading Instagram photos and watching Youtube is blazingly fast. Coupled with Digi's LTE network, I have no problem keeping connected with my friends and social media followings.

Digi has 4G coverage in major urban centres like Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, Shah Alam (& most of Klang Valley), Penang, Johor Bahru, Malacca as well as minor population centres Muar, Batu Pahat, Taiping and Langkawi island. Considered very good already.

Dual SIM is cool but I'm only putting one SIM for now.



The Xiaomi Mi 4i comes with the largest capacity found in Xiaomi phones so far, 3120 miliAmpere hours (mAh). Speaking about battery life, it lasts longer thanks to battery saving features built into its MIUI, lasting up to 1.5 days on a single charge. I can say goodbye to battery running out of juice the next day and affecting my communication with fellow colleagues, since they update on important matters relating to work on Whatsapp group.



After talking about its impressive features, the only complaint I have on the gadget is its small memory. Its 2 GB RAM is not much, considering the memory intensive nature of apps and the habit of multitasking on smartphones. On the Mi 4i, I have experienced apps shutting down due to insufficient memory. The issues will become bigger as I install more apps to meet my growing needs.

Overall, I am impressed with the Xiaomi Mi 4i for its features. Indeed, Xiaomi needs to pull up its socks over some performance issue as time passes, as SoyaCincau and GizChina has mentioned, otherwise it struggles to live up to its flagship status. For now, it delivered a seemingly stellar performance without breaking the bank.

** the Xiaomi Mi 4i photos are taken elsewhere around the net