Introduction
Xiaomi wanted to expand its reach beyond its few official markets and it had to do just one thing - give up on MIUI. It all started with the Mi A1 - Xiaomi's first Android One smartphone, and now not one but two sequels are coming to replace it - Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite. Our Mi A2 review is done, so today we will be taking the Mi A2 Lite for a spin.
The Mi A2 Lite is not your regular budget smartphone - it has a high-res notched screen with slim bezels, a dual-camera on its back, a very large battery, and runs on the latest vanilla Android OS. The notched screen is probably the highlight feature of the Mi A2 Lite and while controversial, it still adds for some modern looks.
Xiaomi chose a very powerful chipset for the A2, but the Lite model is getting the A1's Snapdragon 625. It's a dated, but still capable piece of hardware and seems like a good choice for a budget offers as the Lite.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite specs
- Body: Aluminum body, plastic antenna strips at the back.
- Display: 5.84" IPS LCD with a cutout, 1,080x2,280px resolution, 19:9 aspect ratio, 432ppi.
- Rear camera: Primary 12MP, 1.25µm pixel size, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF; Secondary 5MP, 1.12µm pixel size, f/2.2 aperture - serving as depth sensor; 1080p@30fps video with EIS.
- Front camera: 5MP, Auto HDR; 1080p/30fps video recording.
- OS: Android 8.1 Oreo (Android One)
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 625: octa-core 2.0GHz Cortex-A53 CPU, Adreno 506 GPU.
- Memory: 3/3GB of RAM; 32/64 storage; microSD slot.
- Battery: 4,000mAh Li-Po (sealed);
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE, microUSB; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n; GPS; Bluetooth 4.2, IR blaster.
- Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader; single down-firing speaker; 3.5mm jack.
The Mi A2 Lite feature set seems like a thoughtful pick, but you can tell choices were made to keep the price low. The weakest link is probably the two-year old chipset Snapdragon 625, but still, that's not a big compromise, as it is still one fine chipset.
Of course, there is more to the Mi A2 Lite story. The smartphone was first released as Redmi 6 Pro running on MIUI in China, and as a Redmi its price is almost half the Mi A2 Lite's. But that's not as shocking though, the Redmi 6 Pro is made in China and for China after all. The Mi A2 Lite, on the other hand, has been backed by Google and should be available worldwide. And now, it's time to check it out!
Unboxing the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
Xiaomi packed the Mi A2 Lite within a white paper box. The retail bundle includes a microUSB cable, a 10W charger, and a transparent rubber case.
There are no headphones in the box, but it's fine for a budget smartphone. The Mi A2 Lite has a 3.5mm audio jack, which means you can use your favorite earbuds.
Design
A good first impression is usually worth a thousand words and the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite aces that. It's made of metal and has an almost bezel-less screen with a trendy cutout for the earpiece and the selfie camera.
Indeed, the 5.84" screen that occupies most of the front complies to the trendiest specs - there are minimal top bezels thanks to the notch, and it has 19:9 aspect ratio. While the jury is still out on the coolness of the cutout, the aspect ratio is undeniably useful. And all but the bottom bezels were kept impressively tiny.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
Inside the display notch are the earpiece grille, the 5MP selfie camera, a couple of sensors, and a tiny LED notification light. The front snapper isn't as impressive as on the Mi A2, but it still does HDR and can do 1080p videos.
There are no buttons at the front - you will rely on Android's virtual ones. You can hide those in some apps as well and use the entire screen area for yourself.
The back of the Mi A2 Lite looks more like a Redmi instead like the Mi A1 and A2. It's not a single piece of metal with embedded antennas, but instead, the aluminum ends on plastic strips around the top and bottom. Those hide all the Mi A2 Lite antennas, and in the meantime, don't add complexity to the design and its production.
Unfortunately, that large metal piece gives in when you hold the phone firmly. Applying just minor pressure with your thumb or index finger will produce some odd cracking sounds and you can feel the whole thing sinking a bit. There is probably some empty space between the battery and the rear panel, which Xiaomi could have handled better.
The back has a vertical dual-camera setup, also a trendy placement lately, and nearby is the fingerprint scanner. The camera on the back is similar to what we saw on the most recent Redmi Note 5 models - a 12MP sensor behind a f/2.2 lens with phase-detection autofocus, and a 5MP secondary cam for depth information for the portrait shots. A single LED flash sits between the sensors.
The Mi A2 Lite has both a microSD slot and a 3.5mm audio jack, unlike the Mi A2. Even better, the card slot is not a hybrid one - you can have two nano-SIMs and a microSD card.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite • the tri-card tray
The Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite feels great in hand and looks as modern as the Mi A2, some might consider it even fresher. We don't mind the metal and plastic combo at the back and we think most of the users will like both the looks and the grip. Our only beef was with the wobbly back.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
The Mi A2 Lite has a smaller screen than the Mi A2 - 5.84" unit - the same size as on the Huawei P20 Lite. And the Mi A2 Lite spreads at 149.3 x 71.7 x 8.8 mm - same as the Huawei, just 1mm thicker. The Xiaomi is heavy though at 178g - 33g over the P20 Lite - probably due to the larger battery and choice of materials.
The Mi A2 Lite has a smaller screen than the Mi A2 and thus a smaller footprint.
On the other hand, the Mi A2 looks more like an old-school smartphone with that rectangular screen and thicker bezels. It's nice Xiaomi offers a choice for both the traditionalists and those who prefer more trendy design.
The Mi A2 Lite might not be the best-built device, but Xiaomi did try to make it look like a flagship and it succeeded in that. And when the Lite is wrapped in its original case, the odd cracking disappears completely.
Display
One of the coolest features of the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite has to be its notched screen with minimal bezels. It's 5.84" in diagonal and has a resolution of 1,080 x 2,280 pixels or 432ppi. That's pretty much the specs of the screen we saw on the Huawei P20 Lite, and we will be checking how the A2 Lite's is stacking against the Huawei.
Xiaomi hasn't specified the type of glass used on the screen, so we'd advise getting a screen protector just to be on the safe side.
The Redmi S2 display has a maximum brightness of 488 nits - close to the promised 500 nits. Its black levels aren't that deep, though, which led to an uninspiring contrast ratio of 1268:1. That's a bit lower than what Xiaomi is promising - 1500:1 - but it's fine for the segment nevertheless.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.385 | 488 | 1268 | |
| 0.277 | 420 | 1516 | |
| 0.351 | 551 | 1570 | |
| 0.28 | 530 | 1893 | |
| 0.27 | 482 | 1785 | |
| 0.228 | 446 | 1956 | |
| 0.35 | 423 | 1209 | |
| 0.401 | 532 | 1327 | |
| 0.47 | 504 | 1072 | |
| 0.289 | 515 | 1782 | |
| 0.32 | 449 | 1403 | |
| 0.353 | 477 | 1351 | |
| 0.367 | 469 | 1278 | |
Sunlight legibility is nothing to phone home about, although its score is still respectable especially for a budget phone. In real-world terms, the handset remains perfectly usable outdoors. Just don't angle the sun straight at it.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone X
5.013 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S9
4.63 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy Note9
4.537 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
4.537 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - OnePlus 6
4.321 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Oppo R15 Pro
4.251 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei P20 Pro
4.087 - Xiaomi Mi 8
4.086 - Meizu 15
4.082 - Nokia 6 (2018)
4.052 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - vivo NEX S
4.012 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - LG G7 ThinQ (outdoor)
3.978 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Oppo Find X
3.954 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
3.901 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
3.865 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
3.842 - Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018)
3.834 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Nokia 8 Sirocco
3.745 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Huawei P20
3.683 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
3.675 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Sony Xperia XZ2
3.58 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Nokia 7 plus
3.479 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Motorola Moto G6
3.448 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
3.445 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
3.419 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3.397 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
3.393 - LG G7 ThinQ
3.39 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo F7
3.333 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Archos Diamond Omega
3.305 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Xiaomi Mi 5
3.24 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - BlackBerry KEY2
3.212 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Oppo R11s
3.153 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
3.087 - Samsung Galaxy Note9 (Max Auto)
3.087 - HTC U12+
3.085 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
3.077 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
3.019 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Motorola Moto X4
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - LG Q6
2.987 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Huawei P20 Lite
2.952 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
2.951 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA2
2.938 - Oppo Realme 1
2.932 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - Huawei Honor View 10
2.896 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Nokia 3.1
2.837 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Honor 10 (Vivid)
2.757 - Nokia 2
2.752 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
2.737 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Huawei Honor 7X
2.734 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Xiaomi Mi A2
2.696 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.654 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Huawei P Smart
2.563 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2.556 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - BlackBerry Motion
2.494 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 4
2.424 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Vivo V7
2.404 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Sony Xperia L2
2.266 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - HTC U11+ (EU)
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - LG Aka
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Sony Xperia Z2
1.944 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Nokia X
1.291 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
The color rendering is average - the screen offers mostly accurate colors and we measured an average DeltaE of 5.1. The representation of the white color is way colder than it should be (DeltaE of 9), while the rest of the colors that were off looked washed out. So, even with the overall accurate average deviation in color representation, subjectively, the screen still looks a bit washed out and dull.
Battery life
The Mi A2 Lite is powered by a large 4,000mAh sealed battery - the same as on many Redmi Notes. It supports regular 5V/2A charging, which restores about 24% of the battery in 30 minutes of charging from zero. Not exactly fast, but as fast as expected for the price segment.
The A2 Lite has the same energy-efficient Snapdragon 625 chip as the A1 and many other Redmi phones, and it easily scored an excellent result in our battery test with a 106-hour Endurance rating. It did a great job in all tested scenarios - video playback, calls, web browsing and had an outstanding stand-by performance.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern, so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Loudspeaker
The Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite has a single bottom-firing loudspeaker and scored an Excellent mark in our loudness test. It performs great for music and the sound output is rich and clean.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 64.8 | 70.1 | 72.0 | Average | |
| 66.1 | 68.4 | 82.1 | Good | |
| 70.7 | 70.4 | 78.0 | Very Good | |
| 68.7 | 72.7 | 78.3 | Very Good | |
| 66.3 | 71.5 | 84.9 | Very Good | |
| 68.4 | 71.6 | 84.8 | Very Good | |
| 64.8 | 70.5 | 89.9 | Very Good | |
| 68.0 | 73.8 | 84.8 | Very Good | |
| 70.6 | 74.0 | 86.1 | Excellent | |
| 89.5 | 72.2 | 89.8 | Excellent |
Audio quality
The Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite had faultless output with an active external amplifier - great clarity and nicely high loudness.
Headphones caused a hike in stereo crosstalk that was about average, but none of the other readings were affected, which meant the output is still among the best out there. Volume didn’t drop at all either rounding up an impressive performance for the affordable Mi A2 Lite.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.02, -0.06 | -90.4 | 90.4 | 0.0016 | 0.014 | -93.4 | |
| +0.00, -0.08 | -93.1 | 92.9 | 0.0022 | 0.046 | -58.4 | |
| +0.02, -0.06 | -91.6 | 91.6 | 0.0018 | 0.014 | -95.3 | |
| +0.08, -0.12 | -92.6 | 92.6 | 0.0028 | 0.120 | -69.0 | |
| +0.07, -0.03 | -89.7 | 89.9 | 0.0060 | 0.201 | -91.7 | |
| +0.22, -0.21 | -91.6 | 91.0 | 0.016 | 0.305 | -56.2 | |
| +0.01, -0.10 | -92.5 | 92.7 | 0.0019 | 0.0077 | -91.2 | |
| +0.50, -0.20 | -91.4 | 91.8 | 0.0079 | 0.402 | -51.5 |
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Vanilla Android 8.1 Oreo runs on the Mi A2 Lite
The Mi A2 Lite, just like the Mi A1 and A2, sticks to Android One - meaning pure Android experience with quick updates as soon as Google has them cooked. Sure enough, the Mi A2 Lite we have here is running the latest Android 8.1 Oreo, with the July 1 security patch. We hope Android Pie arrives soon enough.
Android as Google intended shows up when you wake up the phone - clock, notification cards, two shortcuts on the bottom. Fingerprint enrollment uses the standard Oreo interface. Unlocking works as advertised and is quick and reliable. Past that is the standard Android 8 homescreen with a pull-up app drawer.
Lockscreen • Fingerprint enrollment • Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer
The quick toggles and notifications shade change color depending on the wallpaper - white for lighter ones, black for darker ones. A setting for that is coming with Android P. The task switcher is the usual rolodex and wouldn't it be great if Google put the 'clear all' button at the bottom instead of up top? Anyway, multi-window is supported natively since Nougat.
As for gestures and shortcuts, there's a single one - double press the power button to launch the camera, if that even counts as a gesture.
Quick toggles • Notifications • Task switcher • Multi-window • Gestures
As for multimedia, it's all in the hands of Google and its default apps. Google Photos is in charge of gallery-related tasks and video playback, while Google Play Music is the audio player, and Google's Calendar is the Mi A2 Lite's calendar of choice. The default Files file manager with batch actions and Google Drive sync is present, but let's face it - it's beyond basic.
Google Photos • Google Play Music • Equalizer • Calendar • Default file manager
No wonder then that Xiaomi's added its own, with categories and fancier looks. There's also the Mi Remote app which lets you use the phone's built-in IR emitter to control a wide selection of home appliances - Mi TV's included, naturally. The company's in-house file sharing app Mi Drop is also pre-installed.
Xiaomi File Manager • Mi Remote • Mi Drop
Benchmarks and performance
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite is yet another smartphone to utilize the dated but widespread Snapdragon 625 chipset. Xiaomi's first Android One device - the Mi A1 had the same chipset, but it was the popular choice back in 2017. Now, a year later, the 625 model has been demoted to the entry-level class, and we are looking forward to its retiring in 2019.
Anyway, the Snapdragon 625 employs a typical CPU configuration - eight Cortex-A53 cores clocked at up to 2.0GHz. There is also the Adreno 506 GPU, which usually thrives on a 720p screen, but the Mi A2 Lite's 1080p screen would present a challenge.
You can get the Mi A2 Lite with either 3 or 4 gigs of RAM (depending on the storage configuration).
We'll kick off the performance tests with GeekBench. As usual, we got some decent numbers - the A2 Lite's processor is doing a good job for the class, but there are already more powerful offers on the market for the same cash.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Oppo F7
5901 - Oppo Realme 1
5741 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
4696 - Xiaomi Mi A2
4625 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
4388 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
4313 - Xiaomi Mi A1
4292 - Nokia 6 (2018)
4225 - Huawei P20 Lite
3756 - Nokia 3.1
2624 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
2328
On its own, the A53 core is trailing behind the newer A73 and Kryo cores.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi A2
1617 - Oppo F7
1531 - Oppo Realme 1
1511 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
1327 - Huawei P20 Lite
938 - Nokia 6 (2018)
882 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
881 - Xiaomi Mi A1
877 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
848 - Nokia 3.1
664 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
639
The Adreno 506 is probably the bare minimum for a decent GPU performance at 1080p gaming. Recently it's been tasked with handling mostly 720p displays as it's already getting long in the tooth. So as you can imagine, it really needs to give it best on the Mi A2 Lite's 1080p panel.
And indeed, while the Adreno 506 scores some okay points in the offscreen tests, when it comes to real-life onscreen performance - it is bested by every other competitor we've tested but one.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi A2
22 - Oppo F7
20 - Oppo Realme 1
20 - Nokia 6 (2018)
14 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
9.9 - Xiaomi Mi A1
9.8 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
9.7 - Huawei P20 Lite
8.7 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
7.1 - Nokia 3.1
5.5
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi A2
21 - Oppo Realme 1
20 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
18 - Oppo F7
18 - Nokia 6 (2018)
15 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
13 - Nokia 3.1
10 - Xiaomi Mi A1
9.7 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
9.4 - Huawei P20 Lite
8.1
Finally, we ran the most popular compound benchmark - AnTuTu. The Mi A2 Lite score is what qualifies as mediocre and its score fell near the bottom of the chart. We suspect the below average GPU performance is what's dragging it down.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Oppo F7
139414 - Oppo Realme 1
138524 - Xiaomi Mi A2
130927 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
107737 - Nokia 6 (2018)
90918 - Huawei P20 Lite
87431 - Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
77964 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
77488 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
58757
The Snapdragon 625 should have been retired already, but it was repacked and demoted to budget smartphones. And the Mi A2 Lite, even with its trendy notched screen, is a budget phone and we can't be angry with the choice of hardware.
Despite the uninspiring benchmark scores, the Mi A2 Lite is a smooth runner in real life, and most of the popular games we tried ran fine, with minor but occasional hiccups occurring though nothing that bad. The 14nm manufacturing process makes the S625 silicon quite energy-efficient and keeps it cool under peak load.
So, as far as the Mi A2 Lite performance is concerned - it's enough for the class and will do even for gaming, you just have to make peace with the minor lag and stutters you may experience with heavier game titles.
It's a dual-camera, alright
The notched screen is not the only cool feature on the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite. The rear camera has a 12MP sensor with f/2.2 lens and 1.25µm big pixels. There is another snapper nearby - a 5MP one, whose sole job is to provide scene depth information. Phase-detection autofocus, and a LED flash complete the camera specs.
The camera app puts toggles for HDR, filters, and the flash toggle on the left. The app also offers quite a few different shooting modes - Panorama, Timer, Straighten, Manual, Beautify, Tilt-Shift, and Night (HHT) as well as the camera settings. Unfortunately, the Manual mode lets you tweak only ISO (100-3200), and white balance, but not the shutter speed or focus.
Camera app
Image quality
The image quality is very good in broad daylight - photos are sharp and detailed, and noise is kept reasonably low considering the f/2.2 aperture, and the contrast is nice. The colors are true to life, but in some rare occasions photos came out with a bit washed out colors though nothing that extreme.
The dynamic range is above the average and we rarely had to use HDR.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite 12MP camera samples
For those rare occasions where either Auto HDR reacts or you turned it on, you'll get a picture with restored highlights and improved resolved detail in the shadows.
HDR off • HDR on
The Mi A2 Lite night shots came out quite soft and noisy. You can see what's in the picture, just don't expect much detail when you zoom in. There is a lot of noise, sometimes we also got blurry images due to the lack of stabilization, but those would probably do for the social networks.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite 12MP low-light samples
If you leave the automatic low-light enhancement enabled, also known as HHT in Xiaomi's speak, you will get less noise in the images but most of the samples won't benefit from much more detail or higher contrast. Still, we prefer the less noise and we suggest keeping this option on in spite of it taking a second longer to capture the scene (probably because of picture stacking).
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite 12MP HHT low-light photos
You should check how the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite does against the Mi A2 and Mi A1 in our Photo Compare Tool. We've pre-selected these two, but you are free to pick any other phone to compare it against.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite vs. Mi A2 vs. Mi A1 in our Photo compare tool
Portrait Mode
The Mi A2 Lite uses the combination of the two cameras to shoot the trendy Portrait shots. It's a process of mapping the distance to all objects of the scene and attempting to isolate the subject in front by defocusing the background gradually in accordance with its distance to the subject. This works best when you're shooting a well-lit person or an object which stands out against the backdrop.
Shooting a portrait is easy, but it takes a while for the camera to read the scene and apply the depth effect. Most of the samples turned out pleasant with mostly accurate shapes and blur effects. There are occasions where wrong details get blurred - like hair or parts of the face, but that's probably because of the busy scenes. As we mentioned above - it's better to have a background which is not so busy and shoot in a well-lit environment.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite 12MP Portrait samples
Selfies
The Mi A2 Lite has a 5 MP sensor for selfies, f/2.0 lens, and has some AI abilities. The machine learning comes handy when the phone is in Beautify mode or Portrait Selfie mode.
Xiaomi brags that the AI allows for much more accurate subject separation than the competition. And indeed, we found the Portrait shots taken with the selfie camera very impressive. The person is almost perfectly mapped, as is the background brilliantly blurred. Messy hair or not - the camera does an excellent job in recognizing it, while in the meantime even the tiniest of background spots visible between the hair and the arms are nicely blurred.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite 5MP portrait selfies
The regular selfies are rich in detail, have good contrast and colors, and while the dynamic range is limited, you can use the auto HDR option as it does a very good job in using HDR when it's needed. The samples are a bit noisy, but still - quite pleasant.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite 5MP selfies
Video camera
The Mi A2 Lite video recording maxes out at 1080p@30fps mode. Those are captured at a bitrate of 20Mbps and have rock solid 30fps. The audio is stereo captured at 96KBps bitrate.
The video quality is very good - the resolved detail is enough, the dynamic range is about average, the colors and contrast are very good. The noise is kept quite low, too. The audio sounds good, unlike on the Y1, and even though the bitrate is the same.
The Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite also offers gyro-based video stabilization - you just have to enabled it from settings (it should be ON by default). It does an excellent job stabilizing the videos at the minor expense of detail and field of view. The viewfinder won't show you the stabilized video, but we are still very happy with what we got in the end.
You can also download the 1080p@30fps (9s, 24MB) video sample taken straight off the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite.
Finally, you can use our Video Compare Tool to see how the Mi A2 Lite stacks against the Redmi S2 and Oppo F7 when it comes to video capture.
1080p: Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite against the Redmi S2 and the Oppo F7 in our Video compare tool
The Snapdragon 625's DSP does support 4K video recording, which however is not available on the Mi A2 Lite. We've encountered similar oddities with some cheap Redmis, so we suspected we could get 4K clips with a third-party app since Xiaomi is using a standard camera APIs. So, we just downloaded the OpenCamera app from the PlayStore and bingo! 4K@30fps. And even EIS is working, too, although it's not as good as the 1080p EIS from the regular camera app.
The MP4 video has no issues, and runs very smooth, with a rock-solid frame rate of 30 and over 40 Mb/s bit rate on the AVC video stream. Resolved detail is clearly better.
And as we said, EIS is working as well. Once again, you won't see the result until after you've shot the video, but we'd call that greedy on a €200 phone.
You can download this untouched 4K video sample (10s, 49MB). And here is the 4K videos from the Mi A2 Lite in our video compare tool.
2160p: Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite against the Mi A2 and the Mi A1 in our Video compare tool
The Competition
There is no doubt Xiaomi has made a great budget smartphone. The Mi A2 Lite has a lot going on - a high-res screen with tiny bezels and a notch, a dual-camera on the back, a large battery with excellent power autonomy, and is part of Android One program.
The A2 Lite is a bit cheaper than the regular Mi A2, but not that far behind. The A2 has a bigger and perfectly rectangular screen and runs on the powerful Snapdragon 660 chipset that guarantees some great gaming sessions. The A2 has a more advanced dual-camera with brighter lens and better low-light performance, and its selfie experience is much better with a 20MP shooter and a LED flash. The only thing that the Lite has and the A2 doesn't - is an impressive battery life.
Last year's Mi A1 may be aging, but it is still a great alternative to the Mi A2 Lite. The A1 runs on the same Snapdragon 625 as the Lite, has a regular 1080p screen with bezels, but it offers better main camera with telephoto zoom and dual-tone flash. Its regular updates will end a year before the Mi A2 Lite's though, so there is that.
Xiaomi's Redmi Note 5 Pro is also worth considering - a device with a traditional 5.5" screen, runs on MIUI, but has more powerful chipset and a better selfie cam. It has the battery life of the A2 Lite, so you may want to try it.
Huawei P20 Lite is more expensive, but offers a similar screen and performance, wrapped in a beautiful glass-like body. It has a higher-res selfie camera but lacks the Android One experience and the long battery life.
Oppo's F7 is may be all-plastic but has the looks and the screen to grab your attention. The F7 is way more powerful than the Mi A2 Lite and focuses on the premium selfie experience with a 25MP snapper. The F7 has an even cheaper version - Realme 1 - same power but lacks the notched screen and premium selfies. The Realme is an amazing bang for the buck, so if you live where Oppo sells - you should check those out.
Xiaomi Mi A2 • Xiaomi Mi A1 • Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro • Huawei P20 lite • Oppo F7 • Oppo Realme 1
The Verdict
There is very little the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite lacks and that's great. We would have preferred a better chipset, but now that the Snapdragon 625 is migrating to the budget class we should be meeting it occasionally for at least another year.
Pros
- Modern-looking screen with tiny bezels and high resolution
- Outstanding battery life
- Very good audio quality, excellent speaker loudness and output
- Takes very good photos and videos
- The selfies turned out fine, too
- Android One
- Cheap
Cons
- Dated Snapdragon 625 with mediocre performance
- Cheap build with creaking back, no NFC
- You need a third-party app for 4K video capturing
The Mi A2 Lite is very affordable, with broad availability, and vanilla Android experience. The screen is modern, the camera does portraits, and the battery life is superb. Indeed, Xiaomi did a great job with the A2 Lite.
Sure, there might be some better phones out there, but none of those will give you the regular Android updates and unburdened operating system that only Android One device could offer. And on that price the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite deserves to be considered every time someone is shopping a budget smartphone.
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