Smartphones Xiaomi Mi CC9е and Xiaomi Mi A3 - advantages and disadvantages

On May 2 in Beijing, the official presentation of a new line of youth smartphones - Mi CC, which included three new items - the standard Xiaomi Mi CC9, the more compact CC9e and CC9e Meitu Edition - a special edition, took place. The line was created in collaboration with Meitu.

The article will focus on the Xiaomi Mi CC9e. The smartphone also entered the European market, but with minor changes. Xiaomi decided to change the name of its new product for the European market, so on July 17 in Madrid the device was presented as the Xiaomi Mi A3.

In the review, we will tell you about the features, functionality, performance, advantages and disadvantages of Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3. And also we will make a comparative description with their "older brother" in terms of technical capabilities - Xiaomi Mi CC9.

Differences between Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3

The official presentation showed that Xiaomi Mi CC9e affected only three changes:

1. Name. As mentioned above, the smartphone was renamed Xiaomi Mi A3.
2. Operating system. Mi A3, unlike Mi CC9e, will run on pure Android One, without the proprietary MIUI shell.
3. Memory... Mi CC9e provides 3 options - 4 + 64 GB, 6 + 64 GB and 6 + 128 GB. And Mi A3 - 4 + 64 GB and 4 + 128 GB.

The value of "SS"

Decoding "CC" has many options, here are some of them:

• Colorful & Creative, which stands for colorful and creative;
• Crush & Crush - crush and crush. Which, most likely, means "crushing" your opponents;
• Change & Carry on - change and continue;
• Camera & Camera - camera and camera;
• Camera & Click - camera and click;
• Cheer & Celebrate - cheers and celebrate;
• Chic & Cool 90 is a young development team that has been designing a smartphone.

Comparison table with parameters and technical characteristics of Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3 with Mi CC9

Review of smartphones Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3

Equipment

In addition to the smartphone, the box contains:

• silicone transparent case;
• charging cable (with medium cord length)
• charging block;
• warranty card;
• User's Manual;
• metal paper clip in an envelope.

Design

As mentioned above, the design was done by the young Chic & Cool 90 team. The devices are available in black (Black Prince), white (Romantic white) and blue (Planet Blue). And if the black version is a "classic" of smartphones with an unremarkable design, then the blue and white versions have just a magical holographic color with a 3D effect that shimmers in the sun and in artificial light. The romantic white is reminiscent of a snowy surface, where light is refracted at different angles. And the "Blue Planet" is distinguished by a wave-like pattern that shimmers in the light, like moonlight in the ocean.

The body of the devices is made of glass, most likely, an oleophobic coating is used, since there are practically no fingerprints on the white body. An unusual decision of the developers concerned the company's logo, which is located at the bottom left on the back panel. The logo has an LED backlight that flashes and changes color in time with the music you listen to. How practical this solution will be is unknown, but it looks really nice. In addition to the company logo, on the rear panel at the top left, there is a triple main camera module, below there is an LED flash.

The front camera is mounted in a waterdrop notch at the top in the middle of the screen. Above it is the light sensor, proximity and earpiece. The volume rocker and the power button are on the right side, on the left there is a slot for a SIM card and memory card. At the bottom there is a 3.5 mm audio jack, a conversational microphone, a USB Type-C connector and a multimedia speaker grill. Unlocking is accomplished with a 7th generation in-screen fingerprint sensor. Fingerprint sensor with a pixel size of 7.2 microns has high accuracy and light sensitivity, large scanning area and good unlocking speed.

The phones also support screen unlocking with face recognition.

Display

Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Mi A3 have a capacitive super AMOLED display. The resolution is 720 by 1560 pixels, the diagonal is 6.01 inches, the aspect ratio is 19.5: 9, and the ppi density is 286. The usable screen area is 80.3% or 88.7 cm2. It is extremely unusual to see such a small display against the background of fashion giants. But this is not surprising, since the Mi CC9e and Mi A3 are the compact version of the Mi CC9. The display is chip and scratch resistant with Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

CPU

The Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Mi A3 have a powerful and reliable processor - Qualcomm SDM665 Snapdragon 665 with 11 nanometer process technology. The chipset is powered by eight Kryo 260 cores with a maximum clock speed of 2.2 GHz: four high-performance ARM Cortex-A73 cores (2.0 GHz) and four energy efficient Cortex-A53 (1.8 GHz). For graphics and AI computing, Adreno 610 is responsible, which supports Vulcan 1.1. The smartphone also runs a Hexagon 68 neural processor and a Spectra 165 signal processor (ISP).

A nimble processor and graphics chip create a good environment for both fast daily tasks and gamers. Also improves graphics performance and gameplay, Game Turbo 2.0 and Game Mode game modes.

Interface

Mi CC9e runs on Android 9.0 Pie operating system with the addition of a proprietary MIUI 10 shell.
Features of MIUI 10:

• Safe backup of data, messages, photos, videos, files;
• Using a smartphone as a remote control for electronic equipment;
• Large selection of necessary system applications;
• Second workspace;
• Creation of a double account;
• File manager to simplify work with moving, copying, deleting, formatting and storing files;
• Mi Drop - provides fast data transfer without internet between devices running on Android;
• Quick launch of applications;
• Beautiful design;
• Convenient smartphone interaction with full screen gestures.

Mi A3, as mentioned above, runs on pure Android 9 Pie, without a proprietary shell.

Memory

Mi CC9e is presented in three variants:

• 4 GB of RAM + 64 GB of internal memory;
• 6 GB + 64 GB;
• 6 GB + 128 GB.

And Mi A3 can be bought in two versions:

• 4 GB + 64 GB;
• 4 GB + 128 GB.

Both phones support UFS 2.1 version.

How much do new items cost?

Xiaomi Mi CC9e

• Modification 4 GB + 64 GB - about $ 202;
• 6GB + 64GB option - about $ 219
• 6GB + 128GB - Approximately $ 239

Xiaomi Mi A3

• The 4GB + 64GB version will retail for $ 279;
• And 4 GB + 128 GB - $ 313.

The maximum memory expansion possible with a memory card is 256 GB.

Photo opportunities

Rear camera

The main camera consists of three modules:

1. The first, wide lens with a Sony IMX586 sensor has a resolution of 48 megapixels (8000 by 6000 pixels). The aperture is f / 1.8, the sensor size is ½ and the pixel size is 0.8 micrometers.
2. The second, ultra-wide lens with a viewing angle of 120 degrees, has a resolution of 8 megapixels, an aperture of f / 2.2 and a pixel size of 1.12 micrometers.
3. The third module is a depth sensor with a resolution of 2 megapixels and an aperture of f / 2.4.

Camera features:

• Slow motion, at a speed of 960 frames per minute and HDR;
• Super night mode and scene recognition;
• Portrait mode bokeh, LED flash and panorama;
• Face beauty mode and professional shooting;
• Quad Bayer filter that improves image quality in low light by combining filters.

Front-camera

The camera is presented with a resolution of 32 megapixels, aperture f / 2.0 and a pixel size of 0.8 micrometers. The selfie camera is the highlight of the CC line, which has a special image algorithm. The quality of the photos is amazing: high detail, excellent brightness and color reproduction. There are many goodies for improving the quality of photos, as well as a large number of tools for editing them.

The camera also takes great photographs at night, which is also helped by the Quad Bayer filter, which combines 4 pixels into one large one. Users can use Mimoj's 3D animated feature to create animated characters by choosing accessories, faces and hairstyles.

Autonomy

CC9e and Mi A3 boast high battery life. The smartphones have a built-in non-removable lithium polymer battery with a capacity of 4030 mAh. This capacity will be enough:

• for active games for more than 5 hours;
• 10 hours of video viewing;
• 9 hours of active use;
• 30 hour talk time.

The function of fast 18 W charging is supported, which will quickly return the device "to service". The package includes a 10W charger.

Advantages and disadvantages of Xiaomi Mi CC9e and Xiaomi Mi A3

• compact and convenient device;
• a productive, nimble processor and a graphics chipset, whose power is enough for demanding games;
• very beautiful back panel of smartphones in blue and white;
• an interesting solution in the form of a glowing logo;
• 7th generation built-in fingerprint sensor;
• face recognition function;
• protection of the display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5;
• proprietary MIUI 10 shell in the Mi CC9e version;
• modification of models with different memory;
• the ability to increase the amount of memory;
• excellent photo capabilities of the front and main cameras;
• high level of battery life.

• Lack of NFC module.

Conclusion

Paying from $ 219 to $ 313, you get a smartphone with high quality photos and videos, good battery life, functionality and performance.