Alongside the Mi Smart Band 5 and Mi Watch Revolve, the Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi launched its smart living device for the first time in India, the Mi Smart Speakers powered by Google Assistant. The smart speaker is incredibly priced at ₹3,999 and directly competes with the Google Nest and Amazon Echo devices. Take a look at the Mi Smart Speaker unboxing and full review.
Mi Smart Speaker Specifications
- Design: 2.5-inch metallic mesh with a ring notification light and touch controls
- Driver: 63.5 mm sound drivers
- Speaker Output: 12 Watts
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2 (A2DP), Wi-Fi (Dual Band 2.4GHz/5GHz),
- Microphones: 2 far-field mics
- Power Adapter: 18W (12V, 1.5A)
- Compatibility: Android 4.4 or above, iOS 9.0 or above
- Dimensions: 131 mm x 104 mm x 151 mm
- Weight: 853 grams
- Color: Black
- Price: ₹3,999 (₹3,499 for early buyers)
Design & Features
Speaking of its design, it has a matte finish design with metallic mesh on the sides giving a premium look. Comparing to the size of the Google Home and the Amazon Echo, it’s quite large in size with over 853 grams in weight and 131 mm x 104 mm x 151 mm in dimensions, and hence, it occupies a little more space comparatively.
But at its price, it should be compared with similar priced mini speakers such as the Google Nest Mini and Amazon Echo Dot, it’s way too far when it comes to the size, performance, and build quality. The build quality is solid, the metallic speaker grill as you can see has a total of 10531 holes on all four sides as the company says.
On the top, you will find touch controls along with a ring notification light similar to the Amazon Echo. The LED light glows when you give voice commands using Ok Google and when the Assistant responds to your commands.
There are a total of four touch buttons, two for speaker volume, one for play/pause the music, and one for mic mute. No buttons on the top are backlit, you won’t be able to see the buttons under the darkroom. Alongside the buttons, there are two far-field microphones for voice commands.
The bottom side has four grips that hold the speaker on the surface. The front side has a Mi branding and the backside has a power input, no other ports found on the Mi Smart Speaker. The power adapter it comes with is rated 18W i.e. 12V and 1.5A. Unlike Amazon’s Echo, there’s no AUX input provided anywhere on the speaker.
Specs, Performance & Audio
Digging to the technical specs, the Mi Smart Speaker comes with a large 63.5 mm sound drivers that offer 12 watts output, there’s only a single speaker in it. On the connectivity sides, it packs Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi with dual-band support, 2.4 GHz, and 5 GHz. It uses an 18 watts adapter (12V, 1.5A) for power input.
The speakers can be controlled via the two far-field microphones which are quite average when we tested, the Echo on the other hand offers 8 microphones for catching voice commands, but that’s just about more than double the price of the Mi Smart Speaker.
To use the speaker, you will need to pair it with the Google Home app. Yes! no Xiaomi app or any third-party apps, it can be controlled via the Google Home app which is great, you can easily manage your Google devices in the Google Home app if you already own any.
The Mi Smart Speaker does offer a great sound in this price range, compared to the mini speakers from the two giants, the Nest Mini and Echo Dot, the audio experience is amazing, the audio output is significantly loud. There’s also support for DTS Audio which can be an added advantage. We think this is the best sound experience from a smart speaker if this is the price.
You can control the music just by the voice, I don’t find the play/pause button any useful since I use the command to stop or control the music, but anyway, it’s a nice addition if you are close to the speaker, you can instantly pause and play the music using it.
It has built-in Chromecast support and works with both English and Hindi languages. The Chromecast support will let you stream your music or any audio from the supported apps such as YouTube. To make it better, you can connect two Mi Smart Speakers for a cinematic stereo sound experience.
Pricing & Verdict
The Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker comes in Black color for a price of ₹3,999 and is available for purchase in India via the online stores – Flipkart and Mi.com as well as the offline store Mi Home. The introductory offer lets you grab the smart speakers for ₹3,499 along with a 1-year free Gaana Plus subscription.
Xiaomi has done great work by bringing this speaker to the affordable category. The audio performance when compared with the Nest Mini and Echo Dot is mind-boggling, there’s no doubt that it clearly disrupts the competition at this price.
For people who are looking for a budget smart speaker with great audio performance, this is it, there’s no better deal you can get. The Mi Smart Speaker is available for ₹3,999 (₹3,499 for early buyers) and it’s by far the most affordable Google Assistant smart speaker currently available in the country.
Strength
- Metallic Mesh & Ring Notification Light
- DTS Audio Support
- Built-in Chromecast
- Loud Audio & Good Speaker Performance
- Stereo Experience With Two Mi Smart Speakers
- Value For Money
- 1-Year Free Gaana Plus Subscription & ₹500 off as introductory offer
Weakness
- Mediocre Mic Response (2 Mics)
