Xiaomi Mi4

5-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 pixel OGS display (441ppi)

Xiaomi’s called the Apple of China for the cult following it enjoys in its home country and also for the iconic products it offers. That doesn’t mean its products resemble Apple’s in any way, but one look at the Mi 4 is enough to see how closely it matches the iPhone’s design. Clad in white, the Mi 4 features a stainless steel frame running around the sides, complete with chamfered edges.

Premium flagships these days are moving slowly yet steadily towards 2K displays, though the options are still quite limited in India. The Mi 4 sticks to the norms with its 5-inch, full HD IPS screen, which at 441ppi, offers the same pixel density as the Mi 3. The key difference is that the Mi 4’s screen is based on One Glass Solution (OGS), and since Corning Gorilla Glass is too rigid to apply to screens based on OGS, the Mi 4 utilises another scratch-resistant glass layer from the same stable, dubbed Corning Concore.

Just like the display size and resolution, the Mi 4 isn’t much different from its predecessor when it comes to the primary camera… at least as first glance. Just like the Mi 3 before it, the latest flagship also offers a 13-megapixel primary shooter, but that’s where the similarities end. Inside the Mi 4 is the latest-generation Sony IMX214 stacked CMOS sensor.

Most of us swear by the usability offered by stock Android, though admittedly, custom skins such as HTC’s Sense and ASUS’ ZenUI do offer quite a few nifty features. The Indian brand XOLO has also ventured into custom UI territory with its HIVE UI. These skins are not just a great way to differentiate the offerings, but also showcase the true power of Android as a platform. Xiaomi’s mainstay lies in MIUI (pronounced ‘Me-UI’) that powers all its products, and is also available as a custom ROM for a variety of non-Xiaomi smartphones. More that just a skin, MIUI is a full-fledged platform built over Android that boasts innumerable features designed to make things simple for newbies, yet offer immense control to power users.

In a word, the Mi 4 is zippy. The key ingredients comprise the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 801 processor, which is a quad-core chip running at a blistering speed of 2.5GHz. And then there’s 3GB of RAM, which is very respectable, put mildly. This is a very potent combination that ensures there are no speed bumps whatsoever, making mincemeat of apps and games that come in its path. We've already taken a look at how the Mi 4 performs in benchmarks, but even in the real world, multitasking is buttery smooth, and intensive games fly. It just seems in a hurry to get things done quickly, and there’s nary a sign of any lag.