Xiaomi Yi Smart Car DVR is a 1080p HD dashboard camera that can record at a frame rate of 60 and 30 fps. Don’t confuse it with the Xiaomi Yi action camera that is often called the GoPro clone; it’s a new product altogether that is meant for use as a stand alone dashcam in your car. It is equipped with a 3MP sensor and 240mAh battery. Though the sensor looks small, it is highly sensitive to light and is good for recording at low light environments like during night driving, in tunnels and underground parking lots. Likewise, the battery too is sufficient since it is meant for emergency use only; at all other times, the cam is powered by the car itself and the battery should only be used for saving video files when your car is turned off.
In addition to a microUSB port, Xiaomi Yi Smart dashcam also has built-in WiFi for wireless data transfer through an Android or iOS app on your smartphone. You can turn the WiFi on whenever you want to connect the dashcam with your mobile phone. The camera can be charged through the microUSB port. Yi car cam also offers GPS information but for this, you need to keep it connected to your phone through WiFi.
The camera uses super wide angle lens of 165 degrees. To put it in perspective, that is roughly about twice the capacity of human eyes. So, it is wide enough to easily capture 3 lanes of the highway. It also supports audio recording which can be muted when you don’t need it.
Xiaomi Yi is extremely small and light weight but features a tough, buckle design with heat emission holes at top and bottom. It comes with a strong suction cup to mount it on your vehicle’s dashboard. The power cable is long enough; you can easily hide it behind the panels of your car. The camera supports up to 64 GB MicroSD card which is more than enough keeping in view the loop recording feature. The manufacturers recommend a class 10 memory card for superior performance.
The LCD display screen is 2.7 inches wide. It plays the live view at a resolution of 960×240 pixels. You can either completely turn off the screen or set it to automatically turn off after a timeframe of 1, 5 or 10 minutes. There are 4 buttons and 2 LED lights at the bottom of the display screen. The first button is a record button that can be used to trigger emergency recording. Remember, there is no need to press any button for standard recording; it starts automatically as soon as the camera is USB powered.
Even the emergency recording is triggered automatically by the camera. The inbuilt G-Sensor detects any irregular movement of the vehicle and triggers recording in unfortunate situations like accidents and collisions. You can’t turn off the G-Sensor but change its setting to high, medium or low. Moreover, the emergency clips are automatically protected against loop overwriting.
All the recorded files are stored in the library. Thumbnails of image files are marked with ‘.jpg’ and those for video files are marked with ‘.mp4’ on the left corner. Emergency video clips are marked with ‘.mp4’ with a purple background.
Another highlight of Xiaomi Yi dashcam is the ADAS or the Advanced Driver Assistance System. It uses a combination of voice and display based warning/reminder system to guard you against lane departure and forward collision (safe distance from the front vehicle). You can choose to turn the ADAS function on and off as required. However, keep in mind that ADAS function only works at a setting of 1080p at 30fps.
Full Specs
Dimensions: 2.91 x 0.76 x 2.06 inches
Video resolution: Full HD 1080P 60fps
Image sensor: 1/2.7 inch, 3.0unit pixel, 4000mV / lux – s
Image Format : JPG
Image resolution: 3M (2048 x 1536)
Lens Angle: 165 degrees
LCD Screen: 2.7″
Battery: 240mAh Li-polymer
Storage: MicroSD, up to 64GB
Chipset: YI A12 dual core + DSP enhanced WDR 3D
ADAS warning system: Yes
WiFi: Yes
G-Sensor: Yes, six axis sensor
Supported on: Android, iOS
Model: Xiaomi Yi
What’s in the Box?
Xiao Yi Dash Camera
Suction cup mounting bracket,
Car charger adapter
USB Cable
Sample Videos
Daytime video footage
Night time video
