Xiaomi Mi 4i Philippines Demo, Hands-On Video : Plus, What's The Connection Between Mi 4i, a Permanent Marker, and an Eraser?

In line with TechPinas' vision of sharing specs and beyond to help build a tech-informed and tech-empowered nation, I try to do the best I can bring tech brands as well the people behind them closer to Pinoy consumers not just by blogging or sharing information on my social networking accounts but also by doing video interviews.

I believe that if users could hear information about the gadgets they are thinking about buying straight from the people who helped in crafting those devices, they'd be more interested about the product and even the tech industry as a whole, which could benefit in our country in more ways than one.

Mark Milan Macanas, Steve Vickers

Last July 20, 2015 at Yardstick Cafe in Makati City, I got to interview Mr. Steve Vickers - General Manager of Xiaomi in South East Asia - about the key features and main selling points of the freshly launched Mi 4i. I asked him some questions that you guys sent me about this cool smartphone.

Xiaomi Mi 4i Philippines

Xiaomi Mi 4i is the lighter, slightly less powerful, and far more affordable version of the Chinese company's current flagship.

Xiaomi Mi 4i Philippines

Designed to fit perfectly in your hand, Mi 4i features a 5-inch 1080p Full HD IPS display with a sleek polycarbonate unibody design and features a 13 MegaPixel f/2.0 rear camera and a 5 MP selfie cam combo.

Xiaomi Mi 4i Philippines

Under the hood, the device runs its MIUI 6.0 skinned Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system with its second generation 64-bit Octa Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, handles multitasking with 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM and has 16GB of on-board storage. The combination of which makes Xiaomi Mi 4i a fairly powerful smartphone that's capable of running the most specs-intensive 3D games that you can download from the Google Play Store.

Xiaomi Mi 4i Philippines

Watch my interview with Sir Steve here:

If you have more questions about the handset, kindly leave them in the comments section  below and I'll do my best to forward them to our friends from Xiaomi.

And here's a bonus: What do you think is the connection between Xiaomi Mi 4i, a Sharpie permanent marker, and an eraser? Well, Miss Anne Olvido - Product Manager of Xiaomi Philippines - shows us exactly what that link is.

Thank you so much, Anne! :-)

Xiaomi Mi 4i is out now in the Philippines; It sells for Php 9,799 at Lazada Philippines and via all of the company's authorized retail stores across the country. You can also get the handset for free when you subscribe to Smart Postpaid Surf Plus Plan 999, which also gives you 5GB of monthly data allowance, 100 All-Net text messages, 30 Minutes of All-Net calls, and free use of one application (current app choices include Spinnr, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Line, Viber, WeChat, Messenger, Twitter, Waze, Yahoo Mail, and Gmail), with a 30-month contract.

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)
Name Xiaomi Mi 4i
Type Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)
Price Category Midrange
Dimensions138.1 x 69.6 x 7.8 mm
Weight 130 grams
Available Colors Dark Gray, White
Operating System Android 5.0.2 Lollipop, MIUI 6.0 Skin
Display 5.0 inches (~71.7% screen-to-body ratio), 1080 x 1920 pixels (~441 ppi pixel density), IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Processor Quad Core 1.7 GHz ARM Cortex-A53 + Quad Core 1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A53, Adreno 405 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 chipset
RAM 2 GB RAM
Internal Storage 16 GB ROM, non-expandable
Camera Main: 13 MegaPixels, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, Dual Tone LED flash
Front: 5 MegaPixels
Video Capture Main: 1080p@30fps, 480p@120fps
Front: 1080p@30fps (TBC)
Audio and Video Playback MP4, DivX, XviD, WMV, H.264, H.263, MP3, WAV, eAAC+, FLAC player
Ports microUSB v2.0, TV-out (via MHL A/V link), USB On-The-Go Support, 3.5 mm audio jack
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, 3G HSPA+; LTE Variant: Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL
GPS Yes, with GLONASS and A-GPS
Sensors Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity, Gyroscope
Network 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 and SIM 2, 3G Network HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100, 4G Network LTE band 3(1800), 7(2600), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
SIM Card Type Dual microSIM
Battery Non-removable Li-Ion 3,120 mAh battery
Uptime 35 Hours of Talk Time
Value-Added Features MIUI Skin
Announcement Philippines: July 20, 2015
Availability Philippines: August 1, 2015
Price Official SRP in China: $200
Official SRP in the Philippines: Php 9,799