Xiaomi has been on a roll as they released so many smartphones and the Mi5s is one of their latest and greatest offerings. It is all-metal, it has Snapdragon 821 chip and a lot more. This is Linus, stay tuned for a full review.
Thanks to Oppomart for sending the Xiaomi Mi5s for a review.
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: VIDEO REVIEW
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: UNBOXING
The phone ships with all the usual stuff that includes a charger, USB-C cable, SIM ejector tool and some paperwork.
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: SPECS
Display |
5.15″ 1080p LCD (~428 ppi pixel density) |
Processor and GPU |
Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 821, Quad-core (2×2.15 GHz Kryo & 2×1.6 GHz Kryo), Adreno 530 GPU |
RAM |
4GB |
Camera |
4MP Front/12MP Back |
Connectivity |
Bluetooth, 3G, 4G, GPS, WIFI, GSM,EDGE, GPRS, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, dual-SIM. |
Battery |
3.200 mAh (non-removable) |
Dimensions |
145.6 x 70.3 x 8.3 mm / 145g |
OS |
MIUI 8 (Android 6.0) |
Storage |
128GB (not expandable) |
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
My initial impressions once I took the phone out of the box where… wow, this is the most beautiful Xiaomi phone ever.
Seriously, this thing looks and feels just gorgeous. We have a unibody all-metal shell with nicely rounded edges and tactile metal buttons.
There are no plastic parts whatsoever except for these nano-injected inlays for antennas.
I love the fact that the Xiaomi Mi5s is a compact phone due to its 5.15” 1080p display, which is sharp, vibrant and awesome-looking panel.
We don’t have any physical buttons as Xiaomi implemented a home key, which you can simply tap on. Also, it works as a fingerprint scanner, which I found to be pretty accurate and it unlocks your phone straight from the standby mode. The capacitive buttons are nicely backlit and they can be highly customized.
Gone is the IR blaster but we have the headset jack, which assures a very good sound quality, to be honest. The quality of sound via the loudspeaker is good but nothing exceptional.
We have a 4MP Ultrapixel selfie camera, which sits next to the highly customizable LED notification light.
As for optics, we have a 12MP Sony sensor with f/2.0 aperture and dual tone dual-LED flash. However, there is no OIS.
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
Xiaomi phones have been known to pack some of the latest and greatest hardware components available on the market and the Mi5s is no exception.
I have the high-end model that sports a brand new Snapdragon 821 chip, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and whopping 128GB UFS 2.0-based storage.
You can also opt in for a lower-end model that has 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Keep in mind, however, that only the high-end model has a pressure-sensitive display.
As expected, the 3D gaming performance is just excellent. No matter what kind of games you play on the Mi5s, the phone just flies. Also, I didn’t notice any overheating issues.
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: BENCHMARKS
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: USER INTERFACE
The Xiaomi Mi5s ships with the Android 6.0-based MIUI 8 that we have already seen on other Xiaomi phones.
As usual, we have a ton of customization options, various settings, tweaks and little features to make the phone look your own. One of the key features is the pressure-sensitive display, which works great with certain apps. It is not a feature I can’t live without but hey, if you get used to using it, it may increase your productivity.
Some of other cool features include a baked-in theming engine, where you can choose from a lot of themes, fonts and wallpapers.
Also, you can go to the so-called second space, which is as Xiaomi says “like having two devices” at the same time.
Finally, I’m fairly impressed with how fast the Mi5s is despite having all those features. The phone is fast, fluid and I didn’t have any hiccups or lag.
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: CAMERA
The camera app allows you to take pictures extremely fast. As usual to Xiaomi phones, there are a few shooting modes and settings to play with.
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: IMAGE QUALITY
The 12MP camera can produce very nice-looking images even though I took them in the cloudy day. The pictures are sharp, there is plenty of detail and the color reproduction is good. However, I found some of the shots to be underexposed for my taste.
When it comes to the low-light photography, the Mi5s is pretty good yet not perfect. You can take some nice-looking images but most of the shots look grainier than I expected from this device. On the other hand, the dual tone dual-LED flash does a pretty good job illuminating the scene.
The 4MP front camera takes some great selfies for the social media.
When it comes to video, the phone can shoot in 4K. The quality of footage is great and it is probably the best I’ve seen on a Xiaomi phone yet. The video looks sharp and detailed, the colors look nice and the continuos auto-focus feature works great but it can sometimes be a little jumpy. However, there is quite a bit of noise if you shoot videos in low-light.
I shot the videos with the EIS (electronic image stabilization) feature on. It does not remove the shakiness completely but I have to say that it does a pretty good job reducing it. I also noticed that the sound recording quality is better than e.g. Xiaomi Mi5 I have previously reviewed.
When it comes to the selfie video, the quality of footage is pretty good too.
Download full resolution camera samples
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: CONNECTIVITY
The Mi5s comes with a dual nano SIM card tray but there is no microSD card slot.
When it comes to connectivity, I didn’t have any issues with the call quality, Wifi, Bluetooth or GPS.
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: BATTERY LIFE
The 3100mAh battery supports Quick Charge 3.0 but the phone does not ship with the fast charger.
As for battery life, the phone will get you through the day even if you are a heavy user and you will get at least two full days if you are a light user. That translates to over 6 hours of screen-on time, depending on the usage.
Xiaomi Mi5s Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Xiaomi Mi5s is yet another phone made by the Chinese giant but it is definitely one of the best devices the company has produced.
The phone is well-built, it is compact and it simply looks beautiful. Also, the display is sharp and vibrant, and powerful internals assure a great day-to-day and 3D gaming performance.
Also, you can be rest assured that the phone will take some brilliant photos in good lighting and the battery will probably last you at least two days of moderate usage.
However, some users may be disappointed that there is no microSD card slot for storage expansion. Also, the low-light camera performance could be slightly better and there is no OIS like on the Xiaomi Mi5.
Other than that, the Xiaomi Mi5s is a very solid and one of the best phones you can buy as the lower-end model can be bought for just under $350.\
