Flashback: Xiaomi's promising but ill-fated Android One phones

03 April 2022
Xiaomi's excellent value-for-money hardware married with a mostly pure Android. What could go wrong?

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  • Anonymous
  • XM%
  • 20 Mar 2023

How reboot phone

    • T
    • TTT
    • bGd
    • 24 Feb 2023

    I till use my A2 lite and A3 today love it after it have all the issue with the sw and i have to replace battery after 3yrs. True fan of Android one but now. after all of the time it may be the end no phone maker want to make it like xiaomi any more.

      Android One has it own fanbase. I would love it dearly if Xiaomi can achieve it. The crapware itself take too much space and put unnecessary bugs and problems that shouldn't even exist in first place. Too bad Xiaomi didn't take it seriously.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • IWR
        • 07 Apr 2022

        This is the reason why I chose Nokia over Xiaomi. At least they fix bugs much quicker than Xiaomi did. No issues whatsover on my Nokia

          • v
          • vs88
          • SXw
          • 06 Apr 2022

          Its really shame that android one didnt survive. Xiaomi of all brands had the community power that could achieve it. But they just failed to build on all experience and fans they have. Some wrong decisions with A3 and the bad software killed it. As I said, its shame, because xiaomi android one was perfect balance - good HW, pure SW..I still have my A2Lite-it has no dealbreaking troubles, actually none right now. Its almost 4 years old and it just works. Honestly, I dont know what to buy next when A2Lite comes to end of life.. And it really bothers me quite much.

            • K
            • Kalpesh
            • Dkd
            • 06 Apr 2022

            Mi A1 is the best phone ever..I am using last 4 years ther is no problem behind software and hardware company providing timely updates its okay but fan gonna unhappy with A3 ..I think small player can come to this philosophy and makes big profit..
            Very few phones comes under Pure Android in mid range..

              • J
              • Jude
              • XBA
              • 05 Apr 2022

              rizki1, 04 Apr 2022for me is google, they can't give stable OS and delaye... moreI agree with you on this, it was reported that initially android 11 had a lot of bugs that OEMs had to deal with before seeding the updates to their phones, I believe that Samsung has the largest software department of all android OEMs so they could get theirs ready earlier than others, xaiomi seeded the android 11 updates to their miA series phones without extensive testing which led to a lot of issues that they had to patch, another android one OEm(Nokia) took time to work on the android 11 bugs before they seeded it to their phones and as a result were late in updating their phones to android 11 but had no problems with it, every new OS has bugs that affects certain phones and even Google has been affected by it too (just look at the pixel 6 issues with android 12)

                Anonym, 04 Apr 2022The real problem with Android One or any other Google lead ... more"Phone manufacturers want to profit more than just th......"
                Rubbish. What was the market share of Android One phones from all the manufacturers combined at its peak? (It was >5%). None of the brands I mentioned had any significant share ever. And that cannot be because manufacturers don't want to give clean UI.
                Motorola (except their Android One lineup) is doing good since past 2 years and that's because there isn't any other manufacturer providing clean Android in that budget. Once there are more provide similar VFM and clean Android, it will again start failing.
                That's because the market is very limited

                LineageOS? Dude, if you don't know about something, better don't argue because of it.
                Firstly, LineageOS is free. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have any perks related to it. Devs usually post the ROM they developed on their GitHub profile. And GitHub profile plays a very important role when applying for a formal jobs
                (secondly) because of which, there are hundreds of devs indulged in it. They aren't doing any social service. Ask them if they'd develop MIUI or One UI or ColorOS for free without being permitted to release its source code (on GitHub).

                Yes, Pixel is doing good. But we all know it survived because Google has our data to sell and earn money and then invest in Pixel. Had it been only an OEM, I highly doubt if Pixel would have last even 5 years.
                Also, as I said earlier, the market for clean Android is very limited and is not expanding at significant rate. Thus, fall of Essential, Fairphone and HMD have left only Google and Motorola as the options for that market. If there will be competition, everyone will perish, just like in the past

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • HIZ
                  • 05 Apr 2022

                  Mi A1 was my first Xiaomi phone. In an era when all of my friends bought Samsung or LG or the rich ones, Apple, I decided to pay less but gain more. I was fascinated by the Fullmetal body and curved glass on front. The camera setup which was the one on iPhone 7 plus, 1080 5.5" IPS screen and really, I mean reeeaaaallllllyyyy smooth UI. These were the wild card(s). Xiaomi made me a fool, though. My second phone from this company is Redmi Note 10 and omfg, this phone is buggy as hell! I think sometimes if Mi A1 had MIUI, would I love that as much as today? Android One was really a stepping stone for Xiaomi, the thing that reminds us Xiaomi is staying behind as long as it has the MemeUI on its phones which have generally good specs, but awful UI.

                    • F
                    • Furkan
                    • pT4
                    • 05 Apr 2022

                    Anonymous, 04 Apr 2022The problem with Xiaomi, or at least the way I see it, is t... moreXiaom is number 3 in world you know?

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • uu2
                      • 04 Apr 2022

                      The problem with Xiaomi, or at least the way I see it, is they have too many sku to manage for software updates.
                      Not only they have 86 phones from 2021 (which they'll try to provide updates for), they also have region variants, resulting in hundreds of customized Miui updates every quarter. It is not only difficult to manage and provide in intended timelines, but integration of bug fixes would be a nightmare.
                      Just the routine providing of Android security updates would take away too much development and qa time for the hundreds of skus, on top of that the bug fixes, they probably don't have many resources supporting the actual R&D.
                      It's like you have a family coat, which you are opening stitches, sewing new stitches so it can fit every family member.
                      Unless Xiaomi starts outsourcing parts of Miui, or redesign how it builds updates, or bring every sku to the same Miui, or partner with dedicated app makers, the apps won't improve, camera software won't improve, updates will be scarce, there will always be a chance of getting new/old bugs because of an integration issue or several other reasons I mentioned.

                        • A
                        • Anonym
                        • LiK
                        • 04 Apr 2022

                        SShreyas, 04 Apr 2022As they say, "grass on the other side is always green&... moreThe real problem with Android One or any other Google lead "stock Android" initiative is pretty clear: when you can only install Google Services and the Google Store, then only Google can make money from the software. Phone manufacturers want to profit more than just the hardware alone, those "bloatware apps" and ads are there for a very good reason.

                        Furthermore, LineageOS is perfectly capable of updating the officially supported phones every *week* for many, many years. They don't get paid for it, don't need "a whole team" dedicated to that one phone (they have volunteer maintainers for each phone), and it just works without major snafus. Why manufacturers couldn't get that done is beyond me -- I do get why they can't do weekly updates, Google needs to certify the update package and that takes time and bureaucracy.

                        Last but not least, Google Pixel phones seem to be on the rise. They have more models and they have more sales. There is nothing inherently wrong with stock Android other than business model: as it stands, only Google can profit from it.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • XWT
                          • 04 Apr 2022

                          This was my first Xiaomi phone and i really enjoyed it that's the reason i thought when upgraded i choose for Xiaomi phone Redmi k20 pro to be precise. Now i am using custom rom on it just because i am fed up with the bugs in miui.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • PWD
                            • 04 Apr 2022

                            blue, 04 Apr 2022Man, that's a lot of nonsense in one paragraph. First... moreReplied to your comment, thanks

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • PWD
                              • 04 Apr 2022

                              Anonymous, 04 Apr 2022Xiaomi may have more brand identity, but general build qual... moreSorry replied to the wrong comment

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • PWD
                                • 04 Apr 2022

                                blue, 04 Apr 2022Man, that's a lot of nonsense in one paragraph. First... moreXiaomi may have more brand identity, but general build quality and software has fallen from grace, really sad where Xiaomi is at now just pure cashgrab. Cheap price, yes, but UI is prone to bugs and many hardware faults be the global (non-Asian) version. The last good phones were the Mi 10 Ultra and Poco F2 Pro. After that, iPhones became a lot better and Xiaomi flagships became forgettable and Realme is quickly beating Xiaomi in the midrange segment. Low end segment will be Samsung.

                                  • l
                                  • lord5
                                  • ixd
                                  • 04 Apr 2022

                                  Xiaomi's promising but ill-fated by shouting down updates for Mi9 flagship so never again Xiaomi for me

                                    Rkm, 04 Apr 2022By the time when a2 was launched, there were several nokias... moreNope. They weren't. In fact, Motorola's stock Android felt way more refined, fluid and optimised than their Android One phones.
                                    And HMD is a brand that I try to refrain myself speaking about. But it was way worse in terms of optimisation, especially as the model got older.

                                      As they say, "grass on the other side is always green"
                                      Those who haven't used stock Android crave for one and those who have used it, know the use of custom UI on top of Android (latter is from my experience)
                                      I don't know what else to conclude from the fact that no manufacturer was able to survive with Android One (Essential, Fairphone, Pixel, HMD, Motorola, Xiaomi, etc.) except that the program itself was flawed.
                                      Who will allocate an entire team to give monthly updates for 3 years? That too, with only a month time (at most and ideally) to optimise the phone.
                                      Quarterly updates are good. And anything more than that is just gimmick.

                                        • B
                                        • Bechmen
                                        • pXb
                                        • 04 Apr 2022

                                        Used to have a A2 lite, one of the best phones i used in my life
                                        To bad the series ended like that.

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