The deceptive reputation of the killer of Apple and Samsung will not lead to good.

New one will be on sale soon flagship smartphone– . Only the lazy did not write about this device, but only a few touched it. We were brought one of these from China, we went with him for a week and came to an interesting conclusion.

I say right away that I am writing from myself, this is not a repost, not a rewrite. Just opinion which the situation prompted.

The phenomenon of Xiaomi, which is about to kill everyone

Xiaomi is a unique company. She doesn't work like most Chinese brands electronics: they have design philosophy, production standards, its own Android shell, top technology and hardware.

Of course there is still Meizu that is openly sold on Russian market, but that one has a problem with the design.

The Xiaomi phenomenon is built into the reputation, the company has in fact legendary status outside of China. Ask any gadget lover, and with a 99% probability he will say that he knows her, that she makes cool things inexpensively, and in general, “you should take xiaomi” as soon as possible.

In general, Americans are used to the iPhone for $700 or 2 years of slavery to the operator in exchange for a big discount. They can be understood. When they see a stylish, metal, unlocked smartphone with a bucket modern technologies for only $250, they can't have any reaction other than AMAZING. Hence the enthusiasm, bold statements about the future dominance of Xiaomi, which are quickly spread around the world by IT publications, greedy for reposts (including us, yes).

The smartphone itself, these reviewers-journalists - with all the great respect for them - often did not use for more than 15 minutes. They didn’t carry it with them, didn’t work with it 24/7, didn’t check for problems. Most importantly, no one stayed with smart after the release of new versions, did not feel the disgusting technical support Xiaomi. As a result, we get continuously positive information background, foreign orders on Chinese sites are breaking records, and what's next is not interesting, the problems of the third world.

For half a year I have their smartphone, which for a long time considered top; there are already 4 of their batteries, which are called the best on the market; Finally, recently there was the very flagship Mi5, which few people managed to see live. I also know the owners of the Mi Band bracelet, I’ll tell a separate story about it in general.

Miracles do not happen, or that Xiaomi will not want to tell you

It’s hard not to fall in love with Xiaomi smarts – their design is excellent, especially for flagship models. I gave up in the middle of 2015 and bought a model Xiaomi Mi4i on an Asian site. The device arrived quickly.

Mi4i is highly valued among gadget lovers: in addition to good hardware, it has one of the best audio chips in smartphones, and the rest of the hardware did not let us down. It should not be confused with Mi4, Mi4s and other modifications that look exactly the same (time to beware). No, this is a former premium device from Xiaomi, which should show a TOP result in all respects.

I was immediately struck by how strong the local Android shell is ( MIU) is similar to iOS. Or is it the other way around? It's hard to say, but there was no addiction. The settings menu was generally copied and pasted with similar icons, and nothing. From the built-in application, you can download a theme with a design for the iPhone, after which the picture can be considered complete.

I used Smart for a couple of weeks, and then I gave it to my parents and did not regret it. They found a few more problems with smart, which generally reflect the real wrong side of Xiaomi devices.

1. It reboots itself from time to time

Maybe once a month, maybe once a week. This problem happens with many models of that year, full resets data, changing the settings does not help. How does Xiaomi solve this issue? No way, a couple of released updates did not fix the situation.

I probably got a marriage, but there is nowhere to return it, nowhere to fix it. There are no official sales in Russia, remember?

2. Battery life is ridiculous for such a battery

Mi4i lasts a maximum day without a heavy load. If you use it as the main handset, the charge disappears by 8 pm. And this is in battery saving mode, in which the performance itself is not a fountain. Turning it off, by 16 o'clock in the afternoon we get a "brick".

I can’t believe that there is a 3120 mAh battery inside, 10% more than in the iPhone 6S Plus! Four times already, Mi4i started to discharge for no reason in just a few hours to zero, and then only resetting the settings helped.

3. Smart only gives the impression of fast

A big plus of the MIU shell is that it mimics the fluid interface that iOS is famous for. But in resource-intensive tasks, with long use, and especially when downloading applications from Google Play the device “hangs up” for a few seconds, tupit. As if this is not a “pearl of Asia”, but a noname-smart for 5 thousand rubles from the window mobile operator. There is no decent optimization of hardware and software, it seems that they did not even invest in it.

4. Each model has a ton of versions, firmware, modifications

If you come from the world of iOS, Xiaomi will not be easy for you. By ordering a phone from Asian sites, you will receive one of a dozen of its varieties. Differences may be in the processor model, volume random access memory, screen quality - in general, in all aspects, except for design. In this case, the model will be called the same.

Moreover, the biggest problem is different versions MIUI skins for different markets. One will have Russian, the other will not. One feature is there, the other is not for some reason. For example, there is often no radio. Somewhere even English language not put - something in between with an admixture of Chinese. It is always possible to reflash, but this is time, risk and other moments that you do not expect when buying smart for more than 10 thousand rubles.

5. In devices from China, a bunch of left-handed software is flooded, which eats resources

It's almost everyone's disease. modern smartphones on Android, but the flagships of other companies have already begun to get rid of it. Almost every device has an all-powerful “improver” Clean Master, and Xiaomi goes further - adds some more left-wing defender programs, blockers, and so on. A bunch of chats, closed app stores, incomprehensible processes - you buy a Trojan horse, from which you then clean everything with a magnifying glass, turn off these processes.

You can remove all the nonsense only with the help of root, that is, jailbreak.

6. Xiaomi is hitting smartphones faster than Western brands

The last and most important point. Everyone happily laughs at LG, Samsung, who upgrade their old smartphones to a new one android version with a big delay. But Xiaomi doesn't do it at all. For example, the same Mi4i will obviously remain on Lollipop 5.1.1, because the Chinese are too lazy to update the MIUI shell.

They have a new smartphone Mi5- Android 6 has already been uploaded to it, and let the rest endure.

The lack of updates and support for the manufacturer is a sure way to the imminent appearance of problems, unsolvable glitches and a happy life of the owner on w3bsit3-dns.com forums as a home page. There is nowhere to complain! And if you have some kind of glitch, jamb, problem - well, then you saved it.

The problem is not only in smarts. How Xiaomi threw bracelet owners

I'm sure everyone here knows the sports bracelet Xiaomi Mi Band– which is super-cheap and seems to be good. So, Xiaomi took and threw the owners on the function for which the majority purchased this tracker. And iOS users had the worst.

At the end of last year, Xiaomi updated the iOS app and silently removed the function of tracking the phases of sleep. So far, the feature has not returned. Disappeared with her smart alarm clock. Moreover, even the usual alarm clock and notifications are now buggy. Do not believe me - read the official forum on Reddit, where people are panicking looking for a way to restore old version official application.

Knowing all this, I did not experience much enthusiasm from Mi5. You can eat a new pear, but you will still choke in the same way.

The most forte device - its cool glass back panel. The top model generally has a ceramic panel that does not scratch. But such a model in Russia will cost 40-50 thousand, and then who needs it?

The fact that the design is practically licked to zero with Samsung flagships Yes, details. Apple borrowed shiny edges. As a result, the device lies very strange in the hand: the bottom panel is comfortable, and the edges dig into the hand. To the credit of the Chinese, the screen is well very high quality, color reproduction is natural.

Inside put a top-end processor Qualcomm 820, which flaunts in the flagships of 2016 from eminent manufacturers. 3-4 gigabytes of RAM, an NFC module, a cool camera ... In general, on paper we have a cool smart, worthy of standing on a shelf with best models market.

But miracles don't happen. Firmware is disappointing again. The screen lock sometimes works with a long delay. Periodically starts to lag for no reason. The opening time of applications in general can be abnormally long. Well, takeoffs, of course. I don’t want to talk about how the settings in the system are arranged at all - it’s just an endless dark forest of menus.

The new Xiaomi Mi 4 is not without reason considered the most epoch-making miracle that China has revealed to the mobile world in recent times. And I must say that this device, which was very aptly called the "Apple of China", to a large extent changed the public's attitude not only to Xiaomi products, but also to Chinese phones in general, and for the better - more about them.

Today, the multimillion-strong army of Chinese Xiaomi fans is replenished literally every day with new thousands of “volunteers” from other countries who not only buy Xiaomi Mi 4, but also generate a real wave of laudatory reviews on the Web, praising the advantages of this smartphone in every way.

And, they say that Xiaomi Mi 4 still has something to please the user, so the device owes its sensational popularity not only to the company's marketers.

On the other hand, Mi4, which, at least in the domestic Chinese market, has already defeated all its competitors, including Galaxy and iPhone, being a device of the so-called HighEnd class, has become a real surprise for many users. In the sense that not everyone manages to master all the possibilities of this smartphone as quickly as they would like.

But, judging by the reviews in the reviews of Xiaomi tablets and smartphones - for example - the somewhat specific-looking MIUI interface (Mi Yu Ai), nevertheless, allows you to use the new Xiaomi Mi 4 very comfortably and manage with its more than extensive functionality.

However, for true neophytes who have not yet had time to really understand the capabilities of Mi4, knowing a couple of on-duty tricks will certainly not hurt.

So, you have Xiaomi Mi 4, now remember:

1. To do screenshot (screenshot) Xiaomi Mi4 just press the "Menu" and "Volume Down" buttons at the same time. The resulting image is automatically saved in the main image catalog.

2. Player Mi4 “plays” (i.e. plays files) even when the smartphone screen is locked. Double-tap on the circle on the locked screen (it's orange) and go to the screen with the player controls.

3. You don't have to be afraid of the dark. Torch in Xiaomi Mi 4 it turns on too easily and simply: press and hold the Home button and - fiat lux !

4. If you are interested in how well your carrier's network functions, then you can display a special Speed ​​indicator data transmission. To do this, go to Settings", further - in" Notification panel" and turn on " Show speed...» ( Settings -> Notifications -> Show Connection Speed).

5. Xiaomi Mi 4 has " pocket mode “, with which the device can be carried in your pocket, without worrying too much about the fact that it will be unlocked and begin to call unauthorized calls to everyone it can.

6. In Mi4 you can hide important messages from prying eyes. To do this, open the desired message and drag it down the screen until the “ Private messages ". If necessary, the message can also be password protected.

7. As you know, background data transfer (silent) mode is one of the main causes of accelerated battery drain. Therefore, in MIUI, the user can choose which of the active applications can run in the background. Unnecessary or too voracious programs are turned off with a couple of clicks.

8. If you know (or suspect) that others can use your Xiaomi Mi 4, then in this case it is better to activate guest mode in which personal data and important information will be hidden. To enable this feature, go to " Settings", then in " Safety» and run Guest mode.

While using a Xiaomi smartphone, a rather unpleasant and, at first glance, incomprehensible situation can happen - the phone turns off and does not turn on. What can be ways to solve this problem and what can it be?

Of course, for each individual smartphone, problems can be completely different and various factors influence their appearance, but we will consider the most common of them.

Problem number 1. deep discharge

A fairly common problem is that Xiaomi smartphone does not turn on and the red LED flashes. This may speak of full discharge battery. In this case, the smartphone does not have enough energy to start the system, and therefore, pressing the power button does not lead to the desired result.

Solution: put the smartphone on charge and only after a while (one hour) try to turn it on by long pressing the power button (10 seconds)

But there may be a problem here too - damaged charging cable. Try connecting some other smartphone or any other device to it and see if it will charge. Replace cable if necessary.

This also includes the problem with a broken USB port in a smartphone, which will require replacement at a service center.

Problem number 2. System freeze

The second common problem is a system crash that turns off the smartphone and prevents it from turning on normally.

Solution: for smartphones with a removable back cover, you can try to get battery and re-install it in the smartphone, and then try to turn it on. For most that have non-removable covers, there is another way - long press the power button for up to 10 seconds. In this case, a deep reboot will be performed and there is a possibility that the smartphone will be able to turn on.

More about this is described in the article:

Problem number 3. Breakage of the power button and other mechanical damage

There are situations when the inability to turn on the smartphone is connected precisely with mechanical damage that arose when the device fell or as a result of a manufacturing defect.

In this case, you will most likely need to contact service center for troubleshooting and troubleshooting.

It may also be due to a malfunction of the power controller when the smartphone does not turn on and does not charge. To check this, you need to insert a known charged battery into the smartphone and try to turn it on.

Problem number 4. Firmware failure

Very often you may encounter a problem when the screen lights up, but the smartphone does not boot. This is due to a firmware bug. To resolve this issue, you will need to reinstall software. One way could be using the Mi Flash app.