Xiaomi has finally launched its flagship device in India after a long wait. The company recently launched the Mi MIX 2 for Rs 35,999 and it comes loaded with some pretty interesting features and specifications.
The smartphone is loaded with top-of-the-line design and specifications along with a bezel-less display, which makes it a pretty interesting device at this price point. But will it give the much-needed breakthrough at mid-premium segment? Let’s find out.
Key Specifications:
- Display: 5.99-inch Full HD+ (2160 x 1080 Pixel resolution, 403ppi and 18:9 aspect ratio)
- Chipset: 2.45GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, Adreno 540 GPU
- Memory: 6GB RAM and 128GB storage
- Camera
- Rear: 12-megapixel lens with 1.25μm, 4-axis OIS, 5-piece lens, ƒ/2.0 Aperture Two-tone flash PDAF autofocus, Low-light enhancement, HDR adjustments, Panorama, Burst mode, Face recognition
- Front: 5-megapixel shooter with autofocus, face recognition, mirror and selfie countdown and Wide-Angle lens
- Battery: 3400mAh battery with QuickCharge 3.0, USB Type-C reversible connector
- Operating System: MIUI 8 based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat
- Size: 151.8 x 75.5 x 7.7mm
- Weight: 185 grams
- Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac, VHT80 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, USB Type-C, NFC and hybrid dual-SIM.
What’s Good:
The first thing you will notice about this device is the bezel-less display. As compared to its predecessor, the Mi MIX, this one comes with a much more compact body and a smaller 5.99-inch display. The glossy ceramic body at the back gives a premium look, though it is prone to fingerprints. Thankfully, the company has provided a hardcover with the packaging, which is a welcome move.
Talking about the back, you will find an 18-karat gold plated ring around the primary camera and ‘Mix designed by Xiaomi’ written on the back panel, adding some more brownie points to the design. The company has placed a front-facing camera on the bottom right corner of the display, which allows the top of the screen looks completely seamless. The smartphone does give a premium look and it surely one of the best smartphone made by Xiaomi.
Another thing we like about the MIX 2 is the display. The phone comes with a 5.99-inch Full HD+ display with a screen Resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels. The display is able to deliver some good colour output and outdoor visibility is at par with rest of the devices available in the market. If you want to make the display look even more punchier than you can choose between different modes. Then there is a reading mode, which basically eliminates the blue light to make it a suitable experience in the night.
Coming to the performance, the phone is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Processor along with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The flagship processor along with that much RAM means that the device blazes through all the tasks you throw at it. Whether be it multi-tasking or running some graphic-intense games like Into The Dead 2 or more, the phone goes a pretty good job in most of the departments.
Lastly, the battery life is quite good as well. The 3400mAh battery delivers a day-long backup under normal usage that includes randomly checking Facebook, WhatsApp, and more social media sites, calling, streaming on YouTube. However, under power intense usage, the phone will last more than half a day easily. And if you need a top up then Quick Charge 3.0 charges the device pretty fast.
What’s not Good:
The smartphone has a fair share of drawbacks as well. To start with, the phone is quite slippery in nature and you will require a case for it, which at the end of the day, hide the glossy ceramic finish.
Moving to the display, the phone sports an aspect ratio of 18:9, making it quite tall aesthetically. This makes it a tad difficult to reach the corners of the display. Another disappointing thing about this one is the lack of App scaling option. You get that black spaces at the top of the screen whenever you are using different apps. We have seen many manufacturers like Samsung, LG and even Huawei’s sub-brand Honor to introduce app scaling option for the apps that are not compatible with the latest display trend. So, you end up using most of the apps in the standard 16:9 ratio, which is not a good thing.
Xiaomi had talked length and breadth of the camera during the event. It offers a 12-megapixel Autofocus rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, Sony IMX386 sensor, 4-axis OIS, f/2.0 aperture, 5P lens, PDAF, HDR. Practically it is the same camera, which is present in the Mi 6. However, it is a well-known fact that camera is not particularly a strong point of Xiaomi and it is true with this one as well.
The phone does take some good photos in broad daylight, however, in most of the indoor lighting condition you get softly focused images, which is a not a good thing for a Rs 36,000 priced phone. You can see a lack of detailing in many photos as well. The low -light performance is average as well and you get grainy and noises kicking in most of the time. The selfies camera performance is average as well and most of the time you get average photos from it.
Coming to the software, the MIUI 8 seriously comes loaded with much bloatware. Frankly speaking, during the whole review period we felt like we are using The Redmi Note 4 more than Mi MIX 2. We would like the fact that company could have added some extra features for the MIX 2 on the user interface.