Chinese handset manufacturers like Xiaomi built its reputation on building ON other designs in vogue, at an amazing price. This approach has worked wonders for it, with the Redmi series making it to the top sellers in india too.
Building on this momentum, with a slight change in tack when it comes to features, Xiaomi yesterday launched its Mi Note 2 and Mi Mix. While Mi Note 2 aims to be your Note 7 replacement, Mi Mix is where Xiaomi has entered the list of of first movers with its bezel-less display. Well, one might argue that Sharp Aquous Crystal was already there with bezel-less display but that device never sold in the market and was merely a prototype.
Xiaomi Mi Mix however, is for real and will be available starting November 4th, 2016 in China. Xiaomi is yet to communicate launch dates for other markets. The Mi Mix has 91.6 percent of screen to resolution. Which means the bezels on this phone is as thin as they can probable be. Bezel-less smartphones come with a bunch of issues which Xiaomi has addressed and resolved intelligently. So Mi Mix is bezel-less on three sides except the bottom chin. With the bottom chin serving as the place chosen by Xiaomi to put on all the display drivers and the front facing camera.
You must be wondering, then what about ear piece and other sensors? Well, the Proximity Sensor has been replaced by an ultrasound sensor and for the ear piece Xiaomi has included a Pizoeletric sensor which vibrates the metal frame to generate sound. Pretty sweet, Xiaomi.
The new concept comes with a lot of features to match. Mi Mix comes with a ceramic body and a 6.4-inch (2040 x 1080) edgeless display (17 : 9) with a 91.3 percent screen to body ratio. It is powered by 2.35 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 821 64-bit Processor along with Adreno 530 GPU. The dual SIM smartphone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating with MIUI 8 and has a 4400 mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 technology. The design of the phone has been done by French designer Philippe Starck. Caveat- while playing a video short from another device the content will not cover the entire display but when you have captured the content from Mix’s own camera then it looks gorgeous.
Talking about the camera, Xiaomi Mi Mix offers a 16-megapixel Autofocus rear camera with dual tone LED flash, PDAF, f/2.0 aperture, 4K video recording and a 5-megapixel front camera. On the connectivity front, the device offers 4G with VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), GPS with AGS/GLONASS and USB Type C. The handset measures 158.8 x 81.9 x 7.9mm and weighs 209 grams.The device comes in two variants 4GB RAM + 128GB internal storage for CNY 3,499 (approx. Rs 34,500) and 6GB RAM + 256GB internal storage for CNY 3,999 (approx. Rs 39,500).
But will you buy this device if it comes to India? We couldn’t find any reason to not buy this device except that it is very delicate and not exactly manhandling friendly. Xiaomi has provided a case inside the box for that eventuality.
Xiaomi has been a pleasant surprise when it comes to concept phones and the Mi Mix will finally make the transition to market for the firm. So if you are one of those who are looking for something distinct design wise, the Xiaomi Mi Mix might just tick the right boxes for you. We are looking forward to getting our own hands on the device too and subjecting it to some tough love, so look forward to that update.