The future’s bright… the future’s orange 360… with the new Xiaomi MiJia Dual-lens Action Cam. If you’ve ever thought about diving into the world of 360 yourself, then there’s another option on the table from the all might Chinese brand Xiaomi. During testing, I’ve had several firmware updates each time I connected to the app. Xiaomi are known for their continued product support. It’s worth mentioning the Kodak PIXPro SP360 as it hands-down beats the Xiaomi MiJia 360 in terms of video quality and resolution. But, it does suffer from stitch marks and requires a technical post editing of videos to get a premium finish.

Xiaomi MiJia 3.5K 360 Panorama Action Camera Review

With a waterproof body, 4K at 60FPS, and electronic image stabilization, plus a pile of accessories (including a spare battery and remote control), this has a lot going for it. More and more brands are releasing their own action cameras with each passing year due to the massive surge in action sports enthusiasts, vloggers, and social media influencers using action cameras to capture their content. The action camera market can potentially be extremely lucrative and although GoPro dominates the space in the west, there are a number of solid brands from the east starting to try and push into the western markets.

Our Verdict

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Action Camera review | TechRadar Yi 4K+ Action Camera review | TechRadar

Just having one button for shooting footage makes it a dream to use, and then you have the touchscreen for when you want to play with the settings. All the settings can be accessed via the app as well. Currently, the action camera market is split into two. There’s GoPro and then there’s everyone else. You can extend the battery life further by using the Xiaomi Action Cam in standalone mode with the WiFi turned off. With WiFi turned on, the battery will drain a lot faster and since you’re shooting 360 footage, most of the time, you don’t need a digital viewfinder. To test out how well the MiJia Mini 4K films at night I took it to the Chiang Mai Sunday Walking Market and I was more than happy with the footage! Normally cheaper camera produce grainy, unusable night footage. While not perfect the low light footage is clear and very usable. cameras can often live & die by their software with the Xiaomi MiJia 3.5 being no exception. The reason for this is that the only method for editing the videos and photos is via dedicated software usually your smartphone or tablet.Since first unboxing the Xiaomi 360 Action Camera, 3 weeks ago, it’s had a total of 3 firmware updates. Too often, I’ve bought gadgets that haven’t received a single update after the initial launch so seeing how dedicated Xiaomi are to improving their camera software only bodes well for the future of the device.

Xiaomi Mi Global Home - Xiaomi

At its top resolution, AKASO’s budget shooter can deliver crisp footage at 4K25. Drop to 1080p and the EK7000 is capable of 60fps for those epic slow mo clips. There’s also a 16 megapixel sensor if stills are your bag. Built-in electronic image stabilisation takes care of smoothing your footage if the action gets a little unruly or your subject is moving fast, while the adjustable viewing angle enables power users to switch between narrow and super wide. I tried it with the bike attachment – which holds the camera a little way in front of the bike, over the front wheel – and was amazed at the footage which makes it look like I'm cycling toward a perfectly controlled drone. Better still, by syncing with my phone I could draw GPS data and have it overlaid, in the form of a speedometer, by the Insta360 app before sharing. Compact action cameras are ideal for FPV drones or helmet mounts and, like many, this sacrifices the display to maximise the battery. Fold-out mounts improve portability and mountability.

Design & Build Quality

As well as producing JPEGs, the Yi 4K+ records raw images at DNG files. However, shooting in raw does require a little patience, with an approx. 10-seconds wait between each shot. It also doesn't produce the cleanest raw photo you'll ever see, but they're good enough to produce some much better-looking results through Photoshop. Not convinced? Try these The Mi Sphere app itself is split into three sections. Featured 360 images from the community. The gallery, which shows both local and pictures / videos on the camera itself. Finally, you can connect to the MiJia Camera via WiFi and see a live feed from the camera. You shoot in low light: Thanks to its large 1-inch sensor, the One R 1-inch edition gather light better than a GoPro. I haven’t torn the camera apart either to see how easy a DIY battery replacement would be as (I love this cam) this may damage the IP waterproof seal. In all honesty, in a couple of years, this camera will seem pretty obsolete so you probably won’t be worrying about the enclosed battery anyway. You’ll be more interested in the latest and greatest 8K 36o Cameras.