Xiaomi Mi 4 Goes Up Against Crabs, Lobsters in Unusual Toughness Test

Posted by Chinese company's official Facebook account, the video showed how the Xiaomi Mi 4 fared when it was put up against crabs and lobsters.

The video titled "Mi4 crab and lobster claw test" shows the handset surviving against the likes of live freshwater crab and Japanese blue crab. Both these crustacean arthropods come with pincers and the shared video stresses how tough it can be passing through a pincer.

The video at the end also shows a lobster going up against the Mi 4; though the video ends without showing the result and leaves commenters to "take a guess." The video might be an unusual way to promote the toughness of the Mi 4 (Review | Pictures), which features a stainless steel metal frame claimed to pass through 40 processes and 193 steps; though the video caused some controversy with some commenters questioning the use of animals in labs.

One of the commenters even went on to question if the company was ready for the international stage, saying, "I'm afraid it's quite true that Xiaomi is not ready for international markets. Especially with a marketing department that seems to think that cruelty to animals makes good advertising."

Another commenter questioned the test overall and added, "It's quite silly to be honest. Why don't you try accidents in real life like dropping the phone on its corner or on the front panel for example?"

(Also see: Xiaomi Mi 3 vs Xiaomi Mi 4)

Xiaomi India on Tuesday in the second flash sale of the Mi 4 on Flipkart cracked down on profiteers.

The company ahead of the sale revealed that consumers who will add the Mi 4 into the cart would only have time till 2:30pm to complete the transaction on Flipkart. During previous flash sales, users who were able to add the phone in their cart had almost 4 hours (or till 6pm IST) to complete the transaction, offering people enough time to 'sell' the unit to others for a premium and have it shipped to the buyer directly via Flipkart. Cutting down the window to just 30 minutes meant people had less time to engage in reselling, so only genuine buyers participated in the sale.

The 64GB Mi 4 variant priced at Rs. 23,999 is all set go on sale starting February 24, which also happens to be a Tuesday - the traditional day for Xiaomi flash sales in India.