Beebom
Rating8.5
The Mivi One 5G is a surprisingly confident first smartphone from the audio brand. It delivers a clean, fuss-free Android experience, dependable everyday performance, strong battery life and a camera that can handle casual photography well. The big display gives you plenty of room for content, while the headphone jack and expandable storage are welcome touches. It isn't perfect, but the compromises feel reasonable at this price, making it a solid one-of-a-kind first attempt.
Pros
- Clean, near-stock Android experience
- Excellent battery life
- Capable performance for daily use
- Good camera in daylight
- Useful headphone jack and expandable storage
Cons
- Slow charging
- Sub-par audio output
Mivi is best known for its audio products, but the company is now stepping into smartphones with its first phone, the Mivi One 5G. After spending some time with it, here’s my Mivi One 5G review to see whether this Rs 15,000-ish phone has what it takes to stand out.
Mivi One Unboxing
The Mivi One comes in a fairly straightforward box. There isn't much fuss here, and you get most of what you need to start using the phone right away:
- Mivi One smartphone
- 18W charging adapter
- USB-C cable
- SIM ejector tool
- Documentation
Note: Our testing, opinion, and rating for this review are based on the phone's launch price. We recommend checking the current price before making a purchase decision.
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Design and Build
- 168.2 mm height, 9.15 mm thickness
- 210 grams weight
- IP64 rating
I have with me the Dark Blue variant of the phone, and I like how it doesn't try to be too flashy. Do note that the Mivi One 5G launched in Green, Pink, Burgundy and Blue colourways as well. The design is simple and clean, and I like the subtle glittery look of the back panel. The blue finish carries over to the frame as well, giving the phone a uniform look.
The camera module sits neatly in the top-left corner without sticking out excessively, while Mivi has kept branding on the rear to a minimum. The phone is made primarily of plastic, which isn't surprising at this price. However, the overall construction is reasonably solid, as I did drop the phone about twice and didn't notice any dents or cracks (thankfully, phew).
That said, this is a big and fairly chunky phone. It measures 9.15 mm thick and weighs around 210 grams. The 6,000mAh battery (more on this later) is largely responsible for that extra heft, but you will not notice the weight in your hand.
The button placement is familiar. You get the power button with an integrated side-mounted fingerprint scanner and volume controls on the side. The fingerprint scanner is convenient to reach and works well for everyday unlocking.
I also appreciate the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack. It is becoming increasingly rare, even on budget phones, so having the option to plug in wired earphones is useful. I can't listen to music without my IEMs, so this is very useful for me.
The Mivi One 5G also carries an IP64 rating, which gives it protection against dust and water splashes. Just don't mistake that for waterproofing, and I wasn't brave enough to try.
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Display and Audio
- 6.75-inch HD+ (1600 x 720 pixels) 120 Hz LCD display
- 450 nits brightness (as claimed by the brand)
The Mivi One 5G gets a large 6.75-inch HD+ LCD display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. It is protected by 2.5D cover glass and uses a waterdrop-style notch. For the price, I didn't mind the resolution.
For regular usage, the display does its job well. I could comfortably watch YouTube videos, browse Instagram, read articles and use the phone throughout the day. The large screen is also useful if you consume a lot of video content.
While it's obviously not as crisp coming from a Full HD+ display, I could comfortably binge Neagley on Prime Video without much trouble.
The colours were decent, and the brightness was enough to not make me squint indoors. Yes, the sunny outdoors does make things more difficult. Using the luxmeter at the office, I recorded a brightness level of about 400 nits.
There is a single speaker at the bottom, though, and that's one of the more obvious compromises. I don't mind the single speaker, and asking for a stereo speaker in this economy would be criminal, but it's just not loud enough. There were times when I missed my calls due to the sound getting too muffled in my pockets.
Thankfully, the 3.5mm headphone jack gives you an easy way around that.
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Performance Tested
- Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset
- Up to 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB UFS 2.2 storage
The Mivi One 5G is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, a 4 nm chipset designed primarily for affordable 5G smartphones. In the current market, this is the best possible chipset you can find on a phone at this price point. The benchmarks are proof of this:
Regular tasks such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Chrome, YouTube and switching between everyday apps are handled beyond comfortably. The phone doesn't feel unnecessarily sluggish, and the clean software certainly helps here.
Storage is also expandable through a hybrid SIM slot, which is useful if 128 GB isn't enough for your photos, videos and apps.
Gaming is possible, but I wouldn't recommend buying the One 5G as a gaming phone. Casual games like BGMI, Free Fire and CoD Mobile run fine in Low settings at 60 FPS, but demanding titles like Genshin Impact aren't really what this phone is built for.
The hardware is better suited to someone who wants a reliable everyday phone that can handle some gaming on the side. And honestly, that is perfectly fine at this price.
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Software and Updates
- Android 16
- 2 years of OS upgrades
If there is one thing about the Mivi One 5G that genuinely surprised me, it is the software. The phone runs on Android 16, and Mivi has resisted the temptation to load it up with unnecessary apps and games. There is no massive collection of pre-installed junk, which is what I liked best.
The interface is clean, simple and familiar. Apps open without unnecessary fuss, the menus aren't overloaded with features, and the overall experience feels close to the Android that Google intended.
This is particularly important on a budget phone. You don't necessarily need dozens of AI features or elaborate customisation options. Sometimes, simply having a phone that stays out of your day-to-day tasks is a better experience.
Mivi is also promising two Android OS upgrades, taking the phone through Android 18. That is a useful commitment from a brand making its first smartphone.
The company also brings its audio expertise to the phone with Mivi ClearTalk, which uses the Mivi Neural Voice Engine to reduce surrounding noise during calls. For a company coming from the audio space, this is a nice way to bring some of its existing expertise into its first smartphone.
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Cameras Reviewed
- 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL main camera, f/1.8, paired with auxiliary lens and LED flash
- 8 MP front camera
The Mivi One 5G has a 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL primary camera with PDAF, accompanied by a secondary auxiliary sensor. For selfies and video calls, there is an 8 MP front camera.
This isn't a camera phone in the traditional sense, but the primary camera is surprisingly capable for casual photography. In daylight, images have decent detail and generally pleasing colours. Mivi doesn't go completely overboard with processing, so photographs don't look excessively sharpened or artificially saturated.
The camera also has a slightly cinematic look to some images, which I actually quite like. Whether you prefer that style will obviously come down to personal taste, but the output is generally social-media-ready without requiring much editing.
The 2x option is also available in the Camera app, although this is essentially a crop rather than a dedicated telephoto camera. As you push the zoom further, detail naturally starts to fall away.
Low-light photography is where the limitations become more obvious. In very low-light conditions, shots can get slightly blurry. However, with the aid of stronger light sources, shots come out decent, and those light sources are handled pretty well.
The 8 MP selfie camera does a decent job, though. Selfies have enough detail for some casual social media posting and video calls.
Video recording is limited to 1080p. Still, overall, considering the price, I came away reasonably impressed with what the primary camera can do.
Battery Life and Charging
- 6,000mAh battery
- 18W USB PD charging
- Charger included in the box
With regular browsing, social media, calls and video streaming, a full day is comfortably achievable. Lighter users should be able to stretch it further. I was able to squeeze in around 7.5 hours of screen-on time.
The included 18W charging top it off from 0–100% in about an hour and 45 minutes, so there's that.
Mivi One Review Verdict: Should You Buy It?
The Mivi One 5G may not be perfect, but it gets the important things right. Clean Android 16, good performance, a capable main camera and a 6,000mAh battery make it a solid first attempt.
The HD+ display and slow charging are compromises, but at this price and considering the worsening RAM crisis, they are easy enough to live with. For Mivi’s first smartphone and at Rs 15,999, the One 5G is a surprisingly good start and something I'd definitely recommend for those on a super tight budget.
