Mi A3 – Premium experience on a mid-range budget

The Xiaomi Mi A3 has been released in Nigeria and can be purchased from some online stores. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro was a success in the Nigerian market and Xiaomi will be expecting big things if not bigger from their new mid-range leader. Xiaomi is known for build mid-range budget phones packing a flagship experience. From the Pocophone to Redmi Note Series and Mi A Series, Xiaomi has continued to dazzle us.

Xiaomi recently opened shop in Nigeria much to the delight of thousands of expectant fans. I for one have been expecting Xiaomi to open a Nigerian office since last year, so you can imagine my joy when finally they did.

Today we review the Mi A3 which is a sequel to the Mi A2 released earlier this year. So let’s dive in.

Processor

The Mi A3 packs enough processing power to play the most advanced android game of the moment without glitches. It’s basically a powerhouse of lightning speed.

Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 665

Memory

With 4GB RAM and the option of 64/128GB ROM, there’s enough space to hold your videos and images.

Battery

Xiaomi went a step up with the battery on this one. An extra 30mAh over it’s predecessor and the widely popular Redmi Note 7 Pro means you get just a bit more from your phone in terms of uptime.

Rear Camera

The triple AI Camera feature is something a lot of phone manufacturers are doing this day. It will be surprising if Xiaomi did anything less. The 48MP Sensor does get a lot of details into your composition if you know what I mean.

In-screen fingerprint unlock
Face unlock

Display

I’m both impressed and disappointed with Xiaomi on this one. First, I think the AMOLED screen is great. In fact superb. It all went downhill for me with the HD+ display. I think Xaomi could have done better with such a full feature phone. Gorilla Glass 5 is great but considering they’ve gone with a more compact screen size which definitely improves the PPI. So not bad.

6.088″ AMOLED Dot Drop display

19.5:9 aspect ratio
HD+ display (1560 x 720)
Contrast ratio: 60000:1 (min)
Color gamut: NTSC 102.7% (type) 2.5D glass, rounded display corners
Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5

Dimensions

Height: 153.48mm
Width: 71.85mm
Thickness: 8.475mm
Weight: 173.8

Network & Connectivity

4G dual SIM

3-choose-2 SIM slot

* When using both SIM card slots, either card can be set as the primary card, which supports 4G+/4G/3G/2G calling and data

Network bands

GSM : B2/3/5/8
WCDMA : B1/2/4/5/8
TDD LTE: B38/40
FDD LTE: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/20/28

Connectivity

Supports protocols: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Supports 2.4G WiFi / Supports 5G WiFi / Supports WiFi Direct
Supports WiFi Display
Supports Bluetooth 5.0
IR remote

Ports

USB Type-C charging port
3.5mm headphone port

Navigation & Positioning

• GPS
• AGPS
• GLONASS
• Beidou

Sensors

• Gyroscope
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• Electronic compass
• Vibration motor
• IR blaster
• Ambient light sensor

Multimedia

• MP4
• M4V
• MKV
• XVID
• WAV
• AAC
• MP3
• AMR
• FLAC

Supports H.264 (Baseline / Main / High profile), MPEG4 (Simple profile / ASP) and other video formats.
Supports audio formats such as PCM, AAC / AAC + / eAAC +, MP3, AMR – NB and WB, FLAC, WAV.

Audio

Large 0.915cc speaker box
High audio output amplified by Smart PA

Package Content

Mi A3 / Adapter / USB Type-C cable / SIM eject tool / User guide / Soft case / Warranty card

To conclude, the odds are for this one. I think the Mi A3 would go on and do well in the market. It’s a great phone. Barring the low resolution which is a bit surprising and totally inconsistent with a rich feature set, the  Mi A3 indeed a great phone.

The phone costs around #88,000 to #106,000 in Nigeria and can be ordered online.