Xiaomi launches the $64 Yi Action Camera featuring full HD video recordings

✎ CJ Magowan | 🕑 03.04.2015

If you think Xiaomi has focused itself only on smartphone devices, Think again. The Chinese tech firm has announced a new compact action cam with the Yi Camera, though not directly produced by Xiaomi but from its partner company Xiaoyi. Though Xiaomi has taken full responsibility to market the new Yi Camera that is designed to directly compete with the popular Action camera GoPro Hero.

Based on pricing alone, The Yi Camera takes a leap over the based model from GoPro which sells around $130 while the Yi Camera is only around $64 and that’s also half the price against the competing product. Though many of us are delighted with the price, the availability however has been focused in the Chinese market as of late with no information if Xioami would open its doors for the Yi Camera to be available in other regions. But some had also taken into alternative route as the Yi Camera are currently sold only at Xiaomi’s Mi online store with the usual Xiaomi flash sale model.

The Yi Action Camera comes equipped 16 Megapixel camera coming from Sony’s Exmor R BSI CMOS sensor, one of the highest rated camera image sensors in the market and is able to take full-HD 1080p videos at 60 frames per second compared to the GoPro’s 1080p at 30fps and 720p at 60fps. Not only that, the Yi Action Camera comes also twice the memory from the GoPro as it features a 64 GB of storage and also weigh far lesser than the GoPro at 72 grams compared to the 111 grams of the latter. Xiaomi’s new action cam also comes with a wide-angle lens at 155 degrees but that for instance does fall behind the GoPro’s 170 degrees of view but despite the disadvantage, it still does the job however.

Additionally, the new Yi Action Camera comes with a larger battery so it boosts a longer battery life which should take more shots than the competition. Like most action cameras in the market, the Yi Action Camera can also dive underwater at a maximum depth of 40 meters.

But the lower price you pay means some things are missing in the package. Unlike the GoPro’s which comes included with a casing for the camera, The Yi Action Camera doesn’t comes with that accessory. However, the Travel Edition of the Yi Action Camera includes a selfie stick for a price of $80.

But Good thing to know for instance is that there’s also an accessory that’s sold separately where you could strap the Yi Action Camera anywhere you want where it’s applicable even on cats. Xiaomi hasn’t release any information regarding its availability outside of China but if the demand seems logical, it won’t take long for the Chinese firm to let the device available in other regions as well. And did we say it’s half the price cheaper than the competition with virtually the same performance and features? Well, that friends, the Yi Action Camera sounds very interesting to us.