Unboxing and review of the MI Yi Smart Camera

Fellow MIUIers,

today I bring you the unboxing of a XiaoYi Smart Camera, a gift from a friend from China which arrived on Saturday. This is not a newly launched device, but it's not easy to get one in my country. So here it is, the unboxing and first impression of the XiaoYi Smart Camera.

Unboxing

Similar to the Mi Headphones, the XiaoYi Smart Camera comes in a white cardboard packaging, simple yet functional

The tech specs are clearly stated at the bottom of the box, as usual for a Xiaomi device

Removing the cover reveals the camera underneath it

Everything from the user manual to the camera, all kept in a compact box

The complete set of items in the box, including a two-pin adaptor and a USB cable to power up the device

The camera is manufactured by XiaoYi, one of Xiaomi's ecological chain enterprise

The camera is a 1MP unit capable of shooting 720p footage

It comes with a built-in mic that allows for sound recording, and a speaker that'll play a recording done from your end

If you don't want to use the stand, you can remove the camera unit from it

Whadaya know! The camera comes with a free 8GB Class 4 SD card to store the videos and pictures

Set-up

Just plug the camera to a USB cable and it'll start up right away. When it's ready, it'll ping and play a message of "等待连接“ (Translate: Waiting for connection)

Now it's time to connect it to your phone, either through Mi WiFi app or XiaoYi's own app

Mi WiFi App

First is a walkthrough to setting up with Mi WiFi app. In Mi WiFi app, tap on "Smart Devices" (For this to work, you'll need a Mi WiFi Router)

After that tap on "Quick Connect" to allow the app to scan for new Mi devices to add to the app controls (The app is stil partially in English, translations are attached in screenshots)

 

After a successful connection, the camera will show up in the list of devices connected to the Mi WiFi Router. Tap on it to allow the camera to start running

 

Voila, the camera starts running and feeds a live cast to your phone. You can choose between HD, SD or auto video footage quality here

 

You can access the settings and change the camera name if you want, besides offering options to check for updates and access all recorded videos

 

Accessing the fourth option, 全部视频 (translate: All videos) will bring up a calendar from which users can choose a particular date of which they want to view the footage

XiaoYi Camera App

Here's the tutorial to set up using the XiaoYi Camera app. Tap on the button in the top right corner to add a new device

Similar to the previous guide for Mi WiFi app, the XiaoYi camera app will connect to the camera if the camera has prompted users to connect to it

It'll require you to connect to a WiFi connection to search for a camera (Doesn't require a Mi WiFi router to work)

After a successful connection, the scan initiates immediately and will prompt for connection if a camera is found on the network

 

Similar to the Mi WiFi app, a suite of options will be made available to control the app, though the Xiaoyi Camera app offers more options than the Mi WiFi app

Not only that, the camera can show the last image seen by the camera on its main screen and allows for management of cameras by swiping in from the left

 

First Impressions

The camera is capable of shooting clear HD videos but requires a faster internet connection, and offers an option for a smoother SD video recording. The mic allows for two way conversation between the person in front of the cam and the person controlling the cam, but the sound is a little distorted like a normal phone call. As the camera offers a 111-degree viewing angle, the camera app will show a different portion of the live feed according to users' movement, ie: if I move my hands towards the right the camera feed moves towards the right. If you prefer to view everyting in one shot, just switch to a landscape view. If you want to take some pictures, just tap on the shutter button, same goes for the video recording. Sadly no IR or night-vision functions are not-available, but it's okay for a camera at its price range.

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That's all of my unboxing and first impressions of the Xiaoyi Smart Camera. I hope you like it and thanks for reading!

Source:MiuiForum