march 2015 Better PhotograPhy
in India, which is what we tested. The Mi 4
features a 13MP 1/3inch Sony-made sensor
with an f/1.8 aperture. Like the Mi 3 before
it, the phone also features an Auto mode,
allowing you to control White Balance,
Focus, Exposure Time (1sec–1/1000sec) and
ISO (ISO 100–3200). Maybe I’m expecting
too much, but a RAW mode should have
been the next logical step for Xiaomi.
Hopefully we’ll see one in the next flagship.
Another new feature introduced in the
phone is a Refocus mode, which recreates
what the Lytro camera does by allowing you
to choose different points of focus in the
image. Plus, you can now make 4k video at
30fps as well.Something Borrowed?
You can now also adjust the exposure on
the fly, simply by tapping the screen and
moving your thumb forward and backward
in a circular motion. The same feature can
be seen in Apple devices running iOS 8.
Was Xiaomi going for the poor man’s iPhone
with this version of the Mi?What’s My Age Again?
The Mi 4 features an 8MP front-facing
camera, which is quite nice. However, by
default, the phone displays what it thinks isyour age and sex when you are shooting a
selfie. I happen to be a 50–year-old man!Hot and Cold
The camera performance of the Mi 4 is a
mixed bag. In bright sunlight, the highlights
would be completely blown out. The images
were also very saturated. I found this quite
strange, as we were quite pleased with the
image quality of the Mi 3. The video quality,
on the other hand, was quite good.
As a whole, the Xiaomi Mi 4 is a good
phone, but an average shooter. It is priced
at Rs. 19,999, but I’d still prefer the image
quality of the much-cheaper Xiaomi
Redmi 1s over it.AT A glANCe
specifications 13MP, f/1.8 lens, 8MP front camera, 16GB inbuilt memory, 2.5GHz quad-core
Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB RAM, 4k video, Rs. 19,999 for 16GB version
What We like Fantastic design, Manual mode, speedy
What We dislike Non expandable memory, average image quality
Why buy it? It is one of the better Android phones around and its processing power
packs a considerable amount of punch
FINAl RATINgS 86%
caMeRa featuRes RaW Manual mode, 8MP front camera, refocus mode 23/25
iMaGe Quality Average image quality, tendency to blow out highlights 23/30
Video Quality 4k video at 30fps 13/15
handlinG Sturdy phone, easy to operate with one hand 13/15
speed & ResponsiVeness Very quick, no shutter lag 14/1559testThe phone has an
Audio mode as well,
which will make a picture
as soon as it hears
an audible command
like ‘Shoot’ or ‘Say
Cheese’. It was almost
always effective.All photographs by Supriya JoshiYou can release the
shutter by pressing the
volume button, which
is especially useful
when you’re shooting
vertical frames.FuN AppS To TRY
BlendPic is a free
image editing app for
Android operating
systems. With this
app, you can make
double exposures
by blending two
photographs together.
The transparency
is easily adjustable
and it comes with
several presets as
well. Plus, the images
can instantly be
shared on any social
media network of
your choice.