Xiaomi Mi A2 Pros and Cons: Should You Buy It?

In the past few years, we have seen phone prices vary like anything. On one hand, we have the flagships where the pricing is through the roof. On the other, there’s the affordable segment which offers a bevy of features in a reasonable price range. One such phone to join the league is the new Xiaomi Mi A2.

Xiaomi’s second Android One device has plenty of solid features, including an AI-powered processor and a stock Android interface. But wait, that’s not all. If you’re considering buying the Xiaomi Mi A2, we say that you should know everything that the phone has to offer.

So, if you’re thinking of upgrading your smartphone, here’s what you need to know.

Xiaomi Mi A2 Pros

1. Snappy Processor for the Price

Priced at just 249 Euros, the Xiaomi Mi A2 bundles a snappy processor for the price. The Snapdragon 660, substitute to the older Snapdragon 653, is one of the powerful processors in the 600-series.

The Kryo 260 cores, coupled with the Adreno 512 GPU, brings the gaming advantage along with increased high-intensity task sharing capabilities to the table.

We dabbled with a couple of high-resolution games such as Asphalt 9 and the experience has been good so far. The phone didn’t heat up and neither did we see much lags.

2. Good Camera With EIS + Selfie Light

What’s one of the key elements that you look for when you buy a smartphone? For most of us, the camera is second only to the hardware specs. Xiaomi, to date, has produced phones with decent cameras and with the Mi A2, it’s no different.

The combination of the 20-megapixel primary camera and the 12-megapixel secondary camera produces admirable photos with accurate color reproduction. HDRs, macros and indoor photos are justified for the price.

However, I feel that the background blur in Portraits could have been a bit less. At times, it tends to look overprocessed and artificial. Now that we are talking about the blur, an option to control the background blur would have been more than welcome.

At times, the background blur in Portraits looks overprocessed and artificial

Apart from that, the Mi A2 packs EIS in the rear camera. So, your videos will be more stable and wobble-free. Also, low-light pictures will have less blur even if you have an unstable hand.

Selfie lovers are in for a treat as this phone packs a selfie light.

3. The Quick Charge Advantage

The Xiaomi Mi A2 is one of the few phones to support Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4+. The revised version of Quick Charge is undoubtedly faster and more efficient.

In fact, it’s 20% faster and 30% more efficient than its previous generation. Aside from that, it goes by the tagline of 5 for 5 meaning that it can give 5 hours worth of battery life in under 5 minutes for a 2,700mAH battery.

However, in the European market, the Mi A2 is limited to Quick Charge 3.0.

4. Gorilla Glass 5

Xiaomi is not really known for the build quality of its phones. After investing a decent sum of money, dropping a phone and breaking the screen is probably one of the worst feelings one can have.

Thankfully, the Mi A2 ships with Gorilla Glass 5. This glass solution provides higher protection against drops to prevent chipping and shattering.

Xiaomi Mi A2 Cons

1. The Absence of Expandable Memory

Is 64GB of internal storage enough for you? If not, you are in for some major disappointment. The Mi A2 doesn’t have expandable memory meaning that if you buy the 4GB /64GB variant, you’ll be stuck with it until you switch to a new phone.

The Mi A2 doesn’t have expandable memory

If you are someone, who has a limited number of apps and you back up photos and documents on the cloud regularly, it’s unlikely that it would hamper you much. But if you’d rather keep everything on your phone, you have to up your spring cleaning game.

On the bright side, Xiaomi has revealed that they would launch a 6GB / 128GB variant soon.

2. Ships with a Standard 10W Charger

Again, the Mi A2 ships with a standard 10W charger. So, even if the phone supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4+ technology, you’d have to shell out extra bucks and buy the compatible charger.

Fun Fact

: Did you know that Quick Charge 4 was announced in November 2016?

3. No Headphone Jack

The Xiaomi Mi A2 is one of the newest phones to shun the 3.5mm headphone jack. Though the phone comes with a USB-C audio adapter in the box, you won’t be able to charge the device and use your wired headphones (such as the Sennheiser Earphones CX 180) at the same time.

If you are someone who is accustomed to wireless Bluetooth headphones, you probably won’t find much of a difference. But if not, you might want to charge your phone fully before embarking on your listening journey.

4. Lacks Face Unlock

If you follow the tech scene, you know that there are four features that smartphones manufacturers are swearing by — dual camera, slim bezels, 18:9 display, and Face Unlock.

In this regard, Xiaomi’s Mi A2 goes only halfway. It lacks both Face Unlock and slim bezels. Face Unlock is not only an easier way but also a speedier way to get past the lock screen.

Plus, I would have liked the bezels to be more streamlined and thin.

5. Display Issues

Last but not the least, we found it a bit annoying to use the Mi A2 under sunlight. On a regular sunny day, we struggled to read text from the screen even when the screen was at its brightest point.

Also, we felt that the display could have been a tad sharper. But at the end of the day, the phone is priced at just 249 Euros. So these are a couple of trade-offs that come along with it.

Pricing and Availability

The Xiaomi Mi A2 is priced at €250 for the 4GB / 32GB variant. The 4GB / 64GB variants are priced at €279 (Rs 16,999) while the top-spec 6GB / 128GB model is priced at €349.

This device is an Amazon exclusive in India and will go on sale starting 16th August.

The Xiaomi Mi A2 is already available in Europe.

Yay or Nay?

With the Mi A2, Xiaomi has stayed true to its core mantra of offering value-for-money products. Be it the processor or the camera, the Xiaomi Mi A2 packs some pretty neat features for the price.

It’s, of course, not perfect. Issues like the lack of a dedicated headphone jack or the absence of expandable memory may bind your hands in getting the most out of the phone.