Xiaomi x Disney
Last month, I took a trip to Disneyland in Hong Kong. As I was lounging around Disneyland, a news item popped up on my phone that Xiaomi had released the Disney phone. What?
Xiaomi Civi 3 Disney 100th Anniversary Limited Edition?
Xiaomi CIVI 3 Disney 100th Limited Edition
It’s almost the same as the standard Civi 3, but the look has been completely upgraded to a more vibrant Disney style. And Xiaomi seems to tap hard into the full energy of the world-famous brand. In this co-branding, Xiaomi has expanded its custom options to all kinds of Xiaomi products but not limited to the phone, including a smart band, wireless earbuds, a power bank, and a suitcase.
So to show you how ambitious Xiaomi is, we spent quite some money on the entire customized collection except for the suitcase and the power bank. Hope you guys like it and don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and give us a like. It really means a lot to us.
Okay without further ado, let’s go straight to unboxing.
Their silver packaging is filled with icons of Disney and Mickey. You can even only find the Xiaomi logo in the top corners. The logo of Disney 100 at the bottom obviously tells us that they are released to celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary. Turn the boxes around and we can see all of them have an authorized Disney security sticker on the back. You have to be aware of this when you receive the products since the co-branding campaign runs with limited sales.
We don’t see any custom connection between Mickey and the corresponding products. But it’s Disney after all, and we all know how expensive their authorized cartoon images are. So that’s all you would have from the outside.
Now the phone goes first. Open the box and see a card pin designed in the iconic silhouette of Mickey Mouse’s head, with gold edges and a red paint job. Open the compartment, there’s a Mickey phone case, a sticker full of Mickey images, and a certificate card with an exclusive number. Put them aside and let’s focus on the phone.
Like the standard variant, the phone still has a thin and light design, and it feels quite premium with an eye-catching custom red back cover well as the gold frame. The frame feels very close to the texture of metal, but unfortunately, it’s actually made of plastic.
The ring with delicate scales outside the camera module is also in a golden tone. Here’s a Mickey image, whose finger is raised to point to the cameras, kinda like introducing the phone to us. And if you shake the phone gently, there’s a visual reflection of radiating lines that greatly stylize the whole design. To the right of the camera, you can see Xiaomi once again emphasizing that it’s a tribute to Disney’s 100th anniversary.
The power button is also replaced with a red one. So that’s it about the look. Not really exceed my expectation but it does look good.
So the hardware customization ends up here. It’s not really impressive, since Xiaomi doesn’t even want to put a spin on its charging kit.
In addition to the custom look, the phone’s software also got some special ideas. The default launcher has been redesigned in the red Mickey theme that unifies with the back cover, including redesigned icons in Mickey style, a Mickey lock-screen wallpaper, and a Mickey AOD clock.
Apart from the theme, there are a custom charging effect and several photo-editing features including a few Disney picture frames, picture stickers, and a Mickey-shaped bokeh.
That’s all about the phone. As a phone, it looks great but I don’t think it will genuinely surprise Disney fans.
Xiaomi Buds 3 & Xiaomi Band 8 Disney Limited Edition
Now let’s look at these two Xiaomi wearables, the Disney variants of the Xiaomi Buds 3 and the Xiaomi Band 8.
The accessories of the earbuds inside are nothing different from the standard Xiaomi Band 8, including a cable and the user manual. Only the Disney stickers remind us that we’re now unboxing a Disney-limited variant.
So we could only focus on the special smart band. We can see that it has the same design style as the phone but technically only the strap got customized into a Disney style. On the strap, there’s an image of Mickey and the Disney 100 logo. And the clasp is designed as a fine Mickey head.
As for software, Xiaomi offers a few dial patterns of Disney theme for the limited edition. But we also saw someone has already shared them on the internet for standard variants.
Let’s move on and see what the Xiaomi Buds 3 can bring to the table. The first thing that comes to mind is the earbuds as well as the charging case. The partition is filled with the patterns of Mickey’s heads as well as the Disney 100 logo.
Put the case aside for a moment, and let’s check the accessories at the bottom. Here we have a manual as well as yet another set of Disney stickers. At the bottom, we can see a regular charging cable, but next to it, the nifty red storage bag of the charging case is a surprise. it feels like some leather. At the bottom of the bag, there’s a small hole for charging, which is really a smart design that we couldn’t see before.
On the front, we can see yet another Mickey. Well, all are about Mickey. It has a magnetic closure, and there’s a pull tab in the shape of Mickey’s head here that lets you hook it up to your backpack.
The charging case is still in a charming red color and has another Mickey head under the Xiaomi logo, which is not very imaginative. On the front, it’s another Disney 100 logo as well as one of Mickey’s hands reaching for a musical note. Pull out the earbuds, and we can see they are also in a charming red design. The stem got a Xiaomi logo while the microphone got two smaller circles on top forming a Mickey’s head.
Put them back into the small bag. It does look really cute and special.
Verdict
To be honest, I did get tired during the unboxing. I actually didn’t have to introduce so much, and especially keep saying Mickey, Mickey and Mickey. But I really wanted you to feel my exhaustion.
So, that’s what makes them special, all are about Mickey: Mickey’s head, Mickey’s drumming, and Mickey’s pointing at something. Well if you guys are interested in the product’s performance, you can check out our channel. We have reviewed all of their regular variants, which perform the same as the limited editions.
