New day, New Mi.
Mi4i, 16 GB, White.
1st impressions: I did try the phone at the recent Xiaomi launch event and it was impressive overall. Build quality is good. No creaks. Feels solid. The screen is now flush with the sides (unlike Mi3). Dual SIM, both LTE capable.
Phone came with about ~51% battery. Updated some 9-10 apps, shot some pics, played with the settings etc and it lost ~9% in the process (OST ~35 mins). It did heat up (but not crazily) and settled down after ~ 25 mins.
Screen is gorgeous. Better than the Mi3. Great contrast. And the sunlight feature ACTUALLY WORKS ! Below are some unedited photographs showing the same (pardon the darkness. Deficient lighting):
Inside the room:
To mimic external light/sun, shone a torch on the sensor and you can clearly see that brightness has been increased in toto with the objects on the screen. So the keyboard brightness has been bumped up more wrt the rest of the screen. Tried with a couple of other images and the result is fab. This is awesome !
There was visible lag for the first 20-25 mins till the phone settled down. Smooth now, though I do feel Mi3 is more snappy overall (SD615 vs SD800).
MIUI Lollipop is great and the statusbar colors change matching the background app.
Camera is at par with Mi3, clicking crisp pics. HDR mode is the same as well (pics attain a grainy look).
Thinner than Mi3, thinner bezels, bigger LED. I prefer the back of Mi3 though. Buttons are a tad too flush with the body, and they need a firm press as opposed to those of Mi3 (I prefer the Mi3 buttons).
Will be updating with more info as I use it.