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Xiaomi looks to set up manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh

A hoarding put up by Xiaomi with 'Make in India' logo at Visakhapatnam airport, followed by a Facebook post, has sparked off speculation.

By PTI | Updated:
Xiaomi looks to set up manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh
NEW DELHI: A hoarding put up by Xiaomi with ' Make in India' logo at Visakhapatnam airport, followed by a Facebook post, has sparked off speculation that the Chinese handset maker might set up its first India plant in Andhra Pradesh.

The company, however, did not reply to queries whether it was planning to set up a manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh.

Posting a picture of the hoarding, Xiaomi Vice President Hugo Barra said: "GOOD MORNING VIZAG! This is what you see as you walk out of the Visakhapatnam airport arrival terminal this weekend. We're about to take a huge step forward here in India! Can you take a guess?"



While the company has not made any official announcements about its manufacturing plans in India, it has put up a hoarding with a 'Make in India' logo welcoming arrivals at Vishakapatnam airport.

In the past, Xiaomi has said it is exploring options for manufacturing in India. With this, the Chinese firm will join the list of other smartphone makers like Asus, Motorola and Gionee that are considering manufacturing in India, where the government is pushing its 'Make in India' initiative.
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India is one the fastest growing smartphone markets globally.

According to research firm CMR, 19.5 million smartphones were shipped in India in the March 2015 quarter.

Xiaomi, which entered the Indian market last year, said it had sold one million units till end of 2014.

While it had forayed into the Indian market through the online route in partnership with eCommerce giant Flipkart, Xiaomi has gradually expanded availability with Snapdeal and Amazon early this year.
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It has also started selling smartphones at brick and mortar stores through partners like the Mobile Store, Airtel and the recently announced tie up with Redington.
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Xiaomi Mi 4i review: A worthy rival at Rs 12,999!
1/15
Anupam Saxena, TOI Tech

Ever since its debut in the Indian market, Xiaomi has managed to capture not just market share but also a good brand recall, which is commendable for a brand that entered the market in July 2014.

Making a statement, Xiaomi launched its Mi 4i premium budget smartphone at its first ever global launch event in New Delhi. The phone, to be introduced first in the Indian market, boasts hardware specifications seen in premium mid-range phones such as Samsung Galaxy A7 and HTC Desire 826, at a more than 50% lower price.

While the phone certainly proves the point that India is a high priority market for Xiaomi, is it a good buy?

We spent a week with the phone to answer this question...
Anupam Saxena, TOI Tech

Ever since its debut in the Indian market, Xiaomi has managed to capture not just market share but also a good brand recall, which is commendable for a brand tha..
Read More
To be honest, the design language of the phone reminded us of Xiaomi's big-screen budget phone, Redmi Note, perhaps more so because of the white polycarbonate back. However, this one's a much more compact device measuring just 138.1x69.6x7.8mm, just marginally wider and thicker than the Apple iPhone 6. Keep in mind that this one houses a 5-inch display while the iPhone 6 sports a 4.7-incher.

Also, the Mi 4i has a unibody form factor which means the polycarbonate back isn't removable making the device feel more durable. The back is slightly curved around the edges and wraps around the phone in a snug manner. Despite being made of plastic, it feels thick and strong and looks pleasant, thanks to the matte finish. The finish also makes it less susceptible to smudges and Xiaomi claims it doesn't stain easily. In our use, we found this claim to be true.

Unarguably the best part about the phone is how it's perfect for one hand use (better than the Mi 3 and Mi 4) and feels nice to hold. The thin bezels and placement of the power and volume rocker keys (placed at the right edge) all play a role in aiding this. Inserting a connector in the micro-USB port (placed at the bottom edge) was a little tricky and takes some effort though The 3.5mm headset act sits at the top edge. The keys offer good tactile feedback.
To be honest, the design language of the phone reminded us of Xiaomi's big-screen budget phone, Redmi Note, perhaps more so because of the white polycarbonate back. However, this one's a much more co..
Read More
We really like how the rear camera (placed towards the top left) is flush with the back of the phone and doesn't protrude out. One of our other gripes is that the speaker outlet is still at the back. Although there's a lip to raise the phone slightly, sound gets muffled when the phone is placed on a soft surface or inside the pockets of skinny jeans. The left edge sports a sim card tray that has two micro sim card slots.

The front of the phone is dominated by the sharp and vibrant full-HD display flanked by three capacitive navigation keys at the bottom and the front-camera lens at the top.

Overall, we feel the Xiaomi Mi 4i is a pleasant looking, compact smartphone that will appeal to people who prefer devices that can be easily used with one-hand.
We really like how the rear camera (placed towards the top left) is flush with the back of the phone and doesn't protrude out. One of our other gripes is that the speaker outlet is still at the back...
Read More
The Mi 4i sports a 5-inch full-HD (1920x1080p) IPS display made by Sharp or JDI. Kudos to the company for including a bright and vibrant, full-HD panel at this price point. We found the display to be really sharp packing in 441 pixels per inch.

Xiaomi has used Corning's Concore One Glass Solution to ensure protection against scratches at the same time making the screen thinner and more sensitive.
The Mi 4i sports a 5-inch full-HD (1920x1080p) IPS display made by Sharp or JDI. Kudos to the company for including a bright and vibrant, full-HD panel at this price point. We found the display to be..
Read More
The app icons and UI elements do appear to float on the screen enhancing the interaction. Xiaomi claims the abrasion resistance is similar to that offered by Gorilla Glass 3. We found that it was less susceptible to smudges and even minor scratches.

Xiaomi uses a special technology called Sunlight Display to ensure the display renders graphics well even under direct sunlight.

It lights up the darker pixels through a smart algorithm and hardware-based processing so that the pictures, videos and UI elements including keyboards look as good as they would in normal light. We were impressed by this feature during our use. It's also helpful while clicking pictures under sunlight.
The app icons and UI elements do appear to float on the screen enhancing the interaction. Xiaomi claims the abrasion resistance is similar to that offered by Gorilla Glass 3. We found that it was les..
Read More
Xiaomi Mi 4i runs Android 5.0 Lollipop-based MiUI 6, the latest operating system from the company.

The Mi 4i doesn't explicitly feature Android Lollipop's UI tweaks. Even the app switcher is the one featured in MiUI and system apps don't feature Material design.

Xiaomi has added support for 6 Indian languages and Visual IVR for India. Visual IVR allows users to navigate through Interactive Voice Response Systems in a menu-driven fashion. Currently, Visual IVR is in beta and supports three services (IRCTC, Cleartrip and Indigo). Our review unit did not come with the feature.
Xiaomi Mi 4i runs Android 5.0 Lollipop-based MiUI 6, the latest operating system from the company.

The Mi 4i doesn't explicitly feature Android Lollipop's UI tweaks. Even the app switcher is t..
Read More
The new OS boasts of a flatter design, smoother transition effects, better multitasking and notifications interfaces and gestures, among other features.

MIUI resembles Apple's iOS in design and navigation and doesn't come with a separate app drawer.

It focuses on ease of use in addition to offering enhanced native apps, better notifications and things like call recording and call blocking. For a detailed look at the software, please read our Xiaomi Mi 4 review.
The new OS boasts of a flatter design, smoother transition effects, better multitasking and notifications interfaces and gestures, among other features.

MIUI resembles Apple's iOS in design an..
Read More
The Xiaomi Mi 4i sports an 5MP front camera (with 5-element lens, f/1.8 aperture) and a 13MP Sony stacked CMOS rear camera (with 5-element lens, f/2.0 aperture). The rear camera comes with a Apple iPhone 6-like two-tone flash to balance out light when it's used.

The Mi 4i features the same Camera app that we've seen in the Mi 4. it doesn't feature basic and advanced modes. Instead, there are three screens when you slide horizontally (in Still mode) - the first one featuring live filters, the middle one is the default camera interface and the last one has toggles for Panorama, Timer, Manual, Beautify and Refocus modes and a settings button. In video mode the interface is limited to two screens with one offering toggles for fast and slow motion video in addition to Settings that lets you select full-HD video recording mode.

The Manual mode offers granular settings for attributes like White Balance, Focus, Exposure time and ISO.

Images captured by the camera in day light turned out to great with good level of detail, accurate colour reproduction, little or no noise and good contrast.
The Xiaomi Mi 4i sports an 5MP front camera (with 5-element lens, f/1.8 aperture) and a 13MP Sony stacked CMOS rear camera (with 5-element lens, f/2.0 aperture). The rear camera comes with a Apple iP..
Read More
Low-light and indoor shots were also decent, but had some noise, especially at 100% zoom. Shots taken under HDR mode had deeper colours and had lighter shadows. The front camera also captures decent quality selfies in tandem with the beauty mode that makes these look good.

Xiaomi Mi 4i offers video recording in 1080p, 720p and 480p resolution and includes an image stabilizer anti-shake feature (doesn't include Optical Image Stabilization though). It takes good quality video and the quality of audio was also good.

We have to say the phone has one of the best cameras available in its price segment.
Low-light and indoor shots were also decent, but had some noise, especially at 100% zoom. Shots taken under HDR mode had deeper colours and had lighter shadows. The front camera also captures decent ..
Read More
Unlike the Mi 3, the Xiaomi Mi 4i doesn't come with a high-end processor but instead the company has powered the phone with Qualcomm's new 64-bit 1.7GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor. It has Adreno 405 graphics and 2GB of RAM along with 16GB storage but no microSD card slot.

In one week of using the phone we felt that while overall performance matched premium budget and mid-range phones there were a few niggles. Firstly, the transition effects and animations part of MiUI 6, were a little jerky with occasional frame drops. Tweaking the settings in the developer options settings helps but why not smoothen these up by optimising the hardware (GPU and processor) out of the box?

We also observed that the phone had the tendency to get a little warm after playing games and with multiple apps running in the background. As the phone gets warmer, the CPU performance is affected and the user experience gets sluggish. We measured the the temperature of the battery and found it to be in the range of 37 to 40 degree celsius at these times. Our typical usage comprises of a Twitter client with updates on (Fenix), WhatsApp, Facebook, Chrome, Spotify/Google Play Music, Instagram and some news apps.
Unlike the Mi 3, the Xiaomi Mi 4i doesn't come with a high-end processor but instead the company has powered the phone with Qualcomm's new 64-bit 1.7GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor. It has Adr..
Read More
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