Xiaomi with its products has long been leading in the price-quality ratio: this applies to smartphones, wearable devices, robotic vacuum cleaners and much more. Devices from a Chinese manufacturer are a good choice for budget-conscious buyers. Unsurprisingly, Xiaomi also makes TVs. As you would expect, the Xiaomi Mi 4S is a smart TV at a great price: for a 43-inch model with 4K resolution, they officially ask for only $250!
Picture and equipment
Given the low price tag, what picture quality can the new TV offer? If you believe the model’s specifications, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision can be used in the HDR range – but in practice, the picture quality cannot be compared with more expensive and advanced devices. However, those who do not care about the HDR level will enjoy the image.
The maximum brightness of 463 cd / m 2 does not reach the level of the best equipment, but, in general, is a good indicator. In addition, since Xiaomi has abandoned the Dimming technology, the black areas of the image are never completely black.
The color reproduction of Xiaomi Mi 4S is not bad, but with its own shortcomings. The standard RGB color space, which corresponds to Full HD Blu-ray, is almost completely covered by the TV, with our measurements showing 99%, which is a good level. But users, of course, will not get full coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, because the result of the Mi 4S here is only 86%. Because of this, the Xiaomi model cannot compete with more expensive HDR TVs.
You may notice that the white point on the display has a noticeable blue tint. And the viewing angle is typical for a VA-LC display, that is, it is seriously limited. If you look at the display from the side, you will see a rather hazy picture.
In our subjective tests, the TV also performed quite averagely. For example, in Blu-ray benchmarks, details are poorly visible in dark scenes. As a PC monitor, the TV is also not very suitable due to the fuzzy display of the font. In addition, it has a very long response time of 73 milliseconds.
Ultimately, Xiaomi is quite a good TV, especially thanks to the Ultra HD resolution and a very competitive price, but it falls short of the quality of home theaters.
Equipment
For the sound in Xiaomi Mi 4S, there are two 8W speakers without a subwoofer. At high volumes, minor background noises such as rattling and squeaking noise are noticeable. But we had to test TVs with significantly worse speakers, so the Xiaomi sound can be considered average – sometimes better, but there is no need to complain. If possible, we recommend using an external speaker such as a soundbar.
The operating system of the smart TV is Android TV, which gives you access to a wide range of applications. Popular streaming providers and media players are supported, as well as major video and audio formats. An interesting feature of Smart TV from Xiaomi is the ability to search for movies and TV series at once among all platforms, and not separately. The only downside to Android TV is there is no direct support for Apple Airplay.
Equipped with Xiaomi Mi 4S, it is not as rich as the best TVs in our rating, but we did not notice significant gaps. He has TV tuners for receiving cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcasting, although in a single version, and not in a double one. The user will have three USB outputs, in addition, recording via USB is possible. With three HMDI ports, you can connect peripherals, and thanks to the ARC function, this works with your home theater speaker system.
For audio, there is an optical digital output and a cable headphone jack. Wireless models can be connected via Bluetooth 4.2. Other connections are possible via Wi-Fi ac and LAN port for network cable.
Conclusion
The TV’s picture quality is not very good, but given the very low retail price it can be forgiven. In the equipment of the model, we did not find any significant shortcomings at all.
