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Xiaomi Mi 4 Pad Review / A multitasking living room

The interest in the tablet market is increasingly going to wane, perhaps due to the "limited" use of such devices, perhaps due to the ever larger panels that are inserted into a smartphone. Nevertheless Xiaomi surprisingly still wanted to present his new Mi Pad 4 which revolutionizes many aspects compared to the previous generation, improving performance in a nutshell. Over time Xiaomi has adopted every type of CPU going from Tegra K1 to Intel X5 and then to MediaTek MT8176 up to the solution offered by Qualcomm. But will all this be enough to reignite the minds for buying a tablet? Let's find out together in our full review, made possible by sending the sample provided by HonorBuy, but remember to use the discount code: XT5OFF.

⚠️ If the coupon has expired, look for the updated one on ours Telegram Channel

Minimal packaging in white color with the multicolor 4 number in plain sight, while inside in addition to the product we also find the small network charger with Chinese connection (the store provides however the European socket adapter) with output from 5V / 2A, USB Type-C charging and data transfer cable and a small cardboard bag containing the quick manual and guarantee in Chinese language and the pin for removing the micro SD cart.

From the first generation of tablets, the 4 Mi Pad has made significant progress in terms of design offering basic simple and attractive lines. Completely made of metal with the exception of the upper band that serves to give vent to the reception of the various modules WiFi, Bluetooth or LTE in the specific variant. Sui profiles with metal core and slightly curved to improve the grip, we find the volume rocker and the power button on the right while on the left is located the cart for the Micro SD (or SIM + Micro SD in the LTE variant) with support up to 256 GB. The upper profile is dedicated to the second microphone for the reduction of environmental noise and thejack input from 3,5 mm, really welcome despite the presence of the entrance USB Type-C 2.0 with OTG support placed on the bottom side of the tablet, where we also find the main microphone and 2 stereo speaker.

The sound returned by the two speakers is really of excellent quality, very high volume but without any smudging at the highest level. All frequency ranges are reproduced in a balanced way, but if in this respect I must applaud Xiaomi from another I have to make a first negative consideration, as I did not understand why the speakers were not placed on two different profiles so as to really recreate a feeling of sound stereo and second beat I did not appreciate the lack of presence of the IR transmitter. In short, a tablet is a sofa product and what better opportunity to exploit this feature?

Continuing the path in terms of design in the back cover made of metal we do not find many elements if not the slightly protruding room, even if once placed the 4 Mi Pad on a flat surface the classic "dancers" movements due to use in this case are absent. Finally the front on which there is no physical button as inserted on the display which in the upper part integrates the sensor the proximity and brightness sensor, the frontal chamber and a small monochromatic notification LED. But before talking about the screen, I want to dwell on the'excellent ergonomics work that Xiaomi has developed for this Mi Pad 4 that despite the dimensions of 200.2 x 120.3 x 7.9 mm and a weight of 342 grams, he can be exploited with one hand seen also the reduction of the frames that allowed to save about 1 cm in height, at least at the level of grip while on the actual use I refer you to the software chapter.

As promised I speak to you of that on Mi Pad 4 is a unit IPS from 8 inches with resolution Full HD 1920 x 1200 pixels, 282 ppi, 1200 contrast ratio: 1 and with aspect ratio in 16: 10. There is no protection for glass that is flat for this reason it is necessary to have third-party solutions, perhaps in tempered glass, such as those proposed by the store HonorBuy. In any case we have a multi touch panel up to 10 touches and the colors are reproduced more faithfully even in extreme angles. In short, enjoying your TV series or movies on the screen of Mi Pad 4 is really a pleasure especially in combination with powerful stereo speakers and support for various video formats and audio without problems, even under direct sunlight. What is missing, however, is the oleophobic treatment which will inevitably force you to continually clean the glass. There is also the possibility of set the color temperature with 16 million possibilities or adjust the contrast, decide the width of the font, activate the reading mode (to reduce the emission of harmful blue light) and finally activate the awakening of the display through a double tap. Unfortunately the Widevine L3 certification must be reported, which means limiting the streaming on platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video at resolutions of 480p. We hope that a future firmware update will solve this inconvenience.

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But maybe you are more passionate about gaming and so you will be pleased to know that at Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 nothing is missing to give you some really rewarding game sessions. In fact, under the tablet's body we find the performance pQualcomm Snapdragon 660 rocessor octacore (4 core Kryo 260 @1843 MHz + 4 core Kryo 260 @2208 MHz) to 14 nm 64 bit to which is added the Adreno GPU 512 to 650 MHz supported by one RAM from 4 GB and LPDDR4X dual channel and storage from 64 GB eMMC 5.1 expandable via micro SD (RAM and storage provided by Samsung). Many acronyms and numbers that translate into one general fluidity of the extraordinary system, zero or lag and if we try to stress our tablet we will be pleasantly surprised because the performance of the CPU remain unchanged. So returning to gaming operations, these can be performed without any particular problem with graphic details at most and without frame loss thanks also to the Game Boost function which will increase performance by reducing background activities. During long sessions of games I've never detected overheating problems albeit in the repeated benchmark phase I have been able to verify a few spikes in thermal throttling, but these are definitely limits.

And at the hardware level, there is no lack of excellent Dual band 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac WiFi module with support for WiFi Direct and a Bluetooth of 5.0 type, while there is no FM radio, IR transmitter and GPS location is relegated to the 4G model only. Xiaomi has also improved the battery and the autonomy of this new 4 Mi Pad by equipping it with a unit from 6000 mAh on which it appears absent support for fast chargingTherefore, arm yourself with patience as they will occur about 3 hours and 30 minutes for full energy, while at the level of autonomy it becomes difficult to estimate because the use of the tablet in this case is typical of the domestic pastime, then readings on the couch, games and display of multimedia content, editing Office documents maybe in bed, or why not reading e-book, sending e-mail and social consultation while you are intent in typical efforts of the bathroom etc .. in short, I assure you that you will not be disappointed, even coming to 3 days of use without having to resort to charging.

Compared to other reviews this time I face immediately the photographic section of the 4 Mi Pad that adopts a 13 megapixel solution on the rear, sensor OmniVision OV13855_F13V10L, opening ffinal match. with possibility of registration Full HD video to 30 fps. Of course you should not expect miracles, after all it would be absurd to take pictures and videos worthy of memory with a product like that, but Xiaomi was able to still amaze. Indeed, lquality of photos and videos with good lighting are really thick. On the front we find the usual instead 5 megapixel optics, sensor Samsung S5K5E8, opening ffinal match. also with the possibility of capturing video in Full HD to 30 fps. In this case the quality is certainly not at the levels of the posterior optics but the shots and the videos are quite satisfactory. On the other hand, the use of the selfie camera in this case serves more than anything else to make video calls / chats with software like Skype or the new features introduced by Xiaomi on this new Mi Pad 4 is the possibility to unlock the tablet with the face, or the Unlock Face, whose operation is not really fast but is a nice feature not to be underestimated. At the software level we are reduced to the bone as they are guaranteed only the essential functions such as automatic HDR, auto focus as well as the inclusion of filters in real time including the one dedicated to the beauty face but we note the absence of any form of stabilization.

And I left last the software chapter because although basic is very simple, on this aspect I have to dedicate the major attention. Let's start by saying that Mi Pad 4 adopts at the moment the China Stable ROM on MIUI 9.6 basis recently updated at 9.6.7.0 version based on Android 8.1.0 Oreo and June 2018 security patch (I received a firmware update while I was in Madrid for the Mi Explorers experience). At the moment this is the only ROM in circulation that adopts only the Chinese and English languages ​​and on which Google services are absent, even if installing them is really very simple and does not require particular modder skills. In reality there are some incompatibilities of the app, such as the Mi Home itself. On the web they already circulate beta versions of the new MIUI 10 but above all find in Italian the ROM developed by the MIUI.it team, that we thank for the work done. Personally I could not try this ROM for technical reasons, but I could see the ROM at work and I must say that the first impressions are really positive.

But let's get to the considerations inherent in the software to which I could not find a logical sense. First of all, the Mi Pad 4 adopts a version MIUI castrated: Themes are not present, the widgets can not be inserted on the screen if not in a special screen, it is not possible to modify the grid of the App. Finally there are missing features like the Dual Space and the possibility to clone the applications. Moreover, the Mi Pad 4 has been presented as a tablet that allows one-handed use, and partly is true thanks to the excellent ergonomics and the possibility of take advantage of the Quick Ball as well as the gesture on the screen. But the latter are precisely poco optimized in fact if we take into consideration the one that allows us to go back, we could apply it only up to poco more than the upper half of the display thus limiting its functionality. Furthermore the one-handed mode is not present that instead we find in the smartphone software. Absurd…

For the rest fluidity is not lacking, applications are performed without delay, comfortable the presence of the divided screen that in Mi Pad 4 finds the true sense but honestly the software at the general level has not impressed me. I would have liked some features dedicated and above all an experience MIUI to full potential and not a rough version of the software.

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PROJECTED IMPACT

Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 undoubtedly represents a positive generational leap compared to the previous versions proposed by the company while maintaining broadly the same price range. The "faults" that I have listed do not undermine the usability of the product, and many of these can be solved with future updates while those at the hardware level, such as the absence of the IR transmitter we must keep them as they are. But at this price it is impossible to find a tablet with the hardware provided by the 4 Mi Pad which in fact allows an excellent experience of use in the office, but also multimedia and gaming. in conclusion if you are looking for a home tablet characterized by the excellent construction, beautiful design and performance of all respect then Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 is the right solution for your needs and that you can find for sale on HonorBuy at a price around € 240, using the discount code XT5OFF with shipping from Italy, assistance and warranty for 24 months.

8.2 Total score
XIAOMI MI PAD 4

Perhaps the Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 does not revolutionize the Tablet market, but in any case it offers on the market with decidedly interesting qualities while maintaining the excellent quality / price ratio. It is true that the exaggerated screens of smartphones could overshadow any tablet, but believe me with Mi Pad 4 you will rediscover the pleasure of use in many areas: reading e-books, viewing multimedia content and lots of fun.

CONFEZIONE
7
DESIGN AND MATERIALS
8.3
DISPLAY
8.6
HARDWARE
8.9
AUDIO AND CONNECTIVITY
8.2
SOFTWARE
6.5
CAMERA
7.8
BATTERY
9.4
ERGONOMICS
9.3
USER EXPERIENCE
7.5
PERFORMANCES
8.8
PRICE
8.5
PROS
  • ERGONOMICS
  • PERFORMANCE
  • DESIGN
  • PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPARTMENT (if compared to the Tablet category)
  • PRICE
  • DISPLAY
CONS
  • ABS IR TRANSMITTER
  • ABSENCE FAST RECHARGE SUPPORT
  • MIUI POCO OPTIMIZED
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Emanuele Iafulla
Emanuele Iafulla

Nerd, Geek, Netizen, terms that do not belong to me. Simply myself, technology lover and provocative as Xiaomi does with his products. High quality at fair prices, a real provocation for the other most famous brands.

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CiceroPavei
CiceroPavei
5 years ago

At Xiaomi is a show, ontem eu comprei dois smartphones from Xiaomi
Um Mi Max 3, and um Redmi S 2

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