Xiaomi's new Mi 4i smartphone is officially a real phone, and it's looking pretty snazzy. Launching this month for roughly $205 unlocked, the super-affordable Mi 4i packs a 64-bit processor and a 13-MP camera into its slim and colorful body.
While the Mi 4i serves as a more wallet-friendly little sibling to the company's Mi 4 flagship, its design and specs are still compelling on their own. Xiaomi seems to have taken some inspiration from the iPhone 5c's vibrant color options. The 7.8-millimeter-thin Mi 4i comes in pink, baby blue and yellow, in addition to white and black. The handset is covered in a matte, anti-grease coating for better grip and fewer fingerprints.
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On the inside, the Mi 4i is powered by a 64-bit, octa-core Snapdragon 615 CPU with 2GB of RAM, and touts an Adreno 405 GPU for intensive mobile gaming. The phone's 5-inch, 1080p display promises a 95-percent color gamut. Its 3,120-mAh battery is built to provide 11 hours of HD playback, and a whopping 59 hours of music playback.
The Mi 4i utilizes a 13-MP Sony/Samsung camera for photos, complete with two-tone flash for natural colors in low light. There's also a 5-MP selfie cam that offers a tool called Beautify, which offers 36 profiles for sprucing up your photos. The new handset runs Xiaomi's MIUI software, which adds a slick, iOS-inspired layer of gloss over the phone's Android 5 Lollipop backbone.
The Mi 4i is shaping up to be one of Xiaomi's most attractive and affordable handsets yet, and could resonate with smartphone shoppers who want powerful Android device dressed-up as an iPhone. The handset launches April 30 in India, though there's no word yet on global availability.
Mike Andronico is an associate editor at Tom's Guide. Follow Mike @MikeAndronico and on Google+. Follow us @TomsGuide, on Facebook and on Google+
