The phone I got in my hand is the Xiaomi Civi 2. Civi series is a new series specially designed by Xiaomi for female users. Theoretically, the second generation should be better than the first, but it seems that this is not the case.

Design

Let’s start with the appearance, still light and thin body, although heavier than the previous generation, but you can hardly feel the difference between them. Of the four colors, I recommend this white the most, because the blue is too cheap, black is too ordinary, pink and last year’s one is similar, only the white is the most special.

Not only does it look wave-like, it is also bumpy to the touch. They say the inspiration comes from Hello Kitty, whatever, it’s quite comfortable to touch. The camera module design seems to have been seen somewhere, but it’s quite nice. Compared to the first gen, the biggest step back in the design of Civi 2 is the frame, from metal to plastic, which makes it look and feel cheaper than Civi 1.

Front Camera

Since it is a phone designed for females, it is certainly important to see how good it is at taking selfies. This time, Civi 2 not only keeps the 32MP autofocus front main camera of the first gen, but also has a 32MP ultra-wide angle front camera, this one without autofocus. They are also flanked by two Dual-tone LED flashes.

When you just need to take a selfie alone, then the front main camera performs just as well as its previous model, with autofocus allowing every detail of your face to show up perfectly in the photo. Civi 2 still retains two beauty effects, one that retains a certain amount of skin texture, and another that makes your skin extra smooth and white. The ultra-wide camera has not changed much except for the wide field of view, so we won’t repeat it again. The flash this time is a cold and warm flash, so you can choose to take a cold or warm selfie depending on your mood at that time.

Selfie

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The ultra-wide camera means you can shoot vlogs more easily with the front camera, and with this teleprompter feature, you can make great vlogs with the Civi 2 in most cases. this footage is what I recorded with the Civi 2, and I think it’s pretty good for recording life. You guys can check it out in the video.

But unfortunately, the front camera still does not support 4K resolution recording, nor does it support switching lenses during recording. The background bokeh algorithm is not particularly good, and the keying problem is particularly obvious. In the outdoors, when there is enough light always ensure that the face exposure is normal, which is great. But after all, the sensor size of the front camera is too small, once the light is not enough the image will be very noisy. So try to choose a bright place when recording video with the front camera.

Rear camera

The rear camera has been upgraded a lot, with the IMX 766 and the new 20MP ultra-wide camera already beating many phones in its price range. The main camera is our old friend, performing basically the same as the Xiaomi 12 and getting an excellent photos most of the time. With no OIS, your hand needs to be steady on the phone at night, or you’ll get a blurry photo.

Main cam

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The ultra-wide camera has not only gotten more pixels, but the new algorithm has made it very high contrast. I really like the sense of atmosphere, especially in the night scenes. It doesn’t look very bright like other phones. It makes night scenes look more like they were taken at night. There is no doubt that the Civi 2 is better than most other budget phones with ultra-wide cameras.

Ultra wide cam

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Benchmark & Gaming

So, if you are only concerned about the design and photo users, as you can see, it is worth buying. But if you also care about other parts, then it may have to let you down. Let’s talk about performance first. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, which uses Samsung’s 4nm process, has weak performance.

As with the previous generation, don’t expect much from its gaming performance, running PUBG smoothly is its limit. Genshin Impact’s test we only ran on the grass in Mondstadt, and even with just medium graphics, the processor couldn’t hold out anymore. The temperature is not too high, and the frame rate is not too high. Simply put, for the same price you can buy a phone with much better performance than it, think about whether you can accept its gaming performance before you buy it.

Display

The screen is also an average one, with a 120Hz FHD+ screen, which is about the same level for everyone at this price point. The most noteworthy is the Android version of the “Dynamic Island”. Although it is the first dual-punch-hole screen since the launch of the iPhone 14 series, I don’t think the Civi 2 is a copy of the iPhone 14 Pro. Because it was a very long process from design to production, Xiaomi didn’t design any interaction design or animation for this area. The flash on both sides also didn’t allow it to put the punch-hole on the side, so it’s probably just a coincidence.

Battery & Charging

The battery is 4500mAh like Civi 1, and the battery life is as shown in the picture, which is average. Charging power is increased to 67w, 10 minutes to charge 32%, half an hour to charge 83%, and 42 minutes to fully charge, this speed is still very satisfactory. However, one thing that is less satisfying that the speakers have changed from stereo dual speakers to single speaker. This is a huge step backward I think. (For speaker testing, please watch the video)

I have made a table where you can clearly see where the Civi 2 has improved and regressed. So whether it’s worth recommending this phone depends on whether you can accept its shortcomings. According to our colleague Carries comments, she loves this phone. Because it can make her selfies more pleasing to the eye. So what do you think, would you buy it?