We all know that there is a trend of the full-screen smartphones today. The Xiaomi Mi Mix was one of the first mainstream phones to offer near bezel-less design and the Mi Mix 2 is a successor to it. It indeed looks beautiful, it has top-shelf specs and more. Learn more in the full Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 review.

Just before we start, the phone costs about $550 at Gearbest.com but you will find a generous discount code at the end of this review. 

VIDEO REVIEW

UNBOXING

The phone ships with a standard set of accessories.

Some extras include a 3.5mm headset jack adapter and a high-quality case that looks nice and fits the phone nice and snug.

DESIGN and DISPLAY

There is no doubt that the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is one of the most beautiful phones out there. The star of the show is a sharp, bright and vibrant 5.99” LCD display. It has 1080p+ resolution, 18:9 aspect ratio and it is covered with the Gorilla Glass 4.

The ceramic back looks really nice in practice and it is curved on each side for aesthetics and a better grip. If you add a premium aluminum frame and responsive buttons, you definitely feel that you hold a true flagship phone.

It’s obvious that the Mi Mix 2 can be complete smudge fest if you don’t clean it, just like most of the glass-made phones. But the thing that annoys me the most is that the device is very slippery. Yes, it sounds like a cliche but it is much more slippery than other glass-made phones I’ve tested in recent memory.

When it comes to optics, we are looking a tradition camera setup that has one 12MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture lens and 4-axis OIS.

Here is a minute of a few little but important features: the fingerprint scanner is one of the best out there, selfies can be taken using a 5MP snapper and there is a nice LED notification light. Keep in mind that selfie camera is implemented on the bottom right corner, so you would need to hold the phone upside down to take portrait selfies.

However, there is no microSD card slot and no headset jack but the supplied adapter assures a very good sound quality.

There is a pretty good sound system too that is provided by a stereo speakers setup.

HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Xiaomi Mix 2 is no slouch when it comes to hardware as it ships with top-shelf components that include a Snapdragon 835 chip, 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

You can also opt in for a more expensive model that has 8GB of RAM and whopping 256GB of internal storage.

As expected, the phone can handle 3D games without any issues. However, there is one serious software bug that prevents you from installing games that take a lot of storage space. You simply get an error message every time you try to download and install a game from the Play Store. I know this can be fixed somehow but this is what you will get out of the box. That’s really frustrating and hopefully, it will be fixed with a software update soon.

BENCHMARKS

USER INTERFACE

If you are familiar with Xiaomi phones, you will feel right at home since the device ships with the MIUI 8.5 that is built on top of Android 7.1.

My phone shipped with the original Chinese ROM, meaning that you would need to install Google Services yourself which takes about a minute to do that. However, you still need to deal with some bloatware apps. Also, an error message pops up every time I open up the Gmail app, which is annoying. We have all the same features and customization options Xiaomi phones have been famous for. You can tweak the phone in a variety of different ways, adjust a ton of settings and change the looks.

Most importantly, I can assure that the phone is fast and responsive even after installing a lot of apps.

CAMERAS

The camera app can take pictures quite fast. There a few shooting modes including a pro mode that allows you to adjust some image settings. There is also a slow-motion video mode.

The overall image quality is quite good but I expected better results from the phone this expensive. Obviously, you can take some good-looking daylight pictures but some of them could have more detail. Also, I got a few shots that were out of focus.

The low-light camera performance is okay but again, I expected better results from a $500 phone.

The 4k video looks quite good and 4-axis OIS does the job reducing the shakiness. However, I found that there are some video artifacts, continuous auto-focus is not always reliable and sound recording quality could be a lot better.

1080p selfie video looks great. Just bear in mind that awkward selfie camera position.

Download full resolution camera samples

CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, I can assure that the call quality has improved a lot over the original Mi Mix. Also, signal reception is great, Wifi works fine and the phone has Bluetooth 5 and NFC connectivity options. The GPS works exceptionally well. Finally, the phone has a bunch of sensors, just like any other flagship in the market.

BATTERY LIFE

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 ships with a 3400mAh battery that performs really well considering the size of the display. The max. SOT time I was able to reach was over 8 hours, which is quite impressive. If you use the phone more intensively, you should expect to achieve about 5-6 hours of SOT every day.

Finally, the supplied charger fully charges the phone in just over 1 hour and 20 mins thanks to Quick Charge 3.0 technology.

CONCLUSIONS

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is probably the most beautiful phone the company has ever made and it sure has a lot of flagship-grade qualities for a lower price than the mainstream flagships. Also, I love the Mix 2 for its display, the overall build quality, great performance and good battery life.

However, there are quite a few shortcomings. There is no microSD card slot, no headset jack and the phone is not water-resistant. There are also a few bugs in the UI that perhaps will be fixed with the future software updates. What | also expect from Xiaomi’s software team is to improve the overall image quality.

At the end of the day, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 still offers a lot of true flagship features for a lower price tag but please consider a few shortcomings before making a buying decision.

You can now get the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 with a generous discount code ($50 OFF the retail price). COUPON: MIMX2K

The post Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Review – The Bezel-less BEAUTY with a few Flaws appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Mi Note 3, the latest offering by Xiaomi that has made a lot of phones this year. Same as last years model, this device is beautiful and well made but it has midrange level specs along with its compelling dual camera setup. We have spent quite a bit of time with the device and here is our full Xiaomi Mi Note 3 review.

Buy Xiaomi Mi Note 3

VIDEO REVIEW

UNBOXING

Just before we start, the phone costs about $450 but I I will leave a generous discount code in the video description down below.

DESIGN and DISPLAY

If you are familiar with Xiaomi’s phones, you will probably see that the Mi Note 3 looks almost identical to the Mi 6. In fact, it is really hard to tell the difference except for the fact that the Mi Note 3 is a bit larger and it now uses a matt metal frame instead of the glossy one found in the Mi 6.

The device just looks beautiful and the build quality is nothing short of a true flagship. However, I found the Mi Note 3 to be very slippery and I’m not going to talk about those fingerprints as they are very easy to clean, right?

The 5.5” display is now covered with the Gorilla Glass 4 for scratch resistance and I found it to be very sharp and vibrant both indoors and outdoors.

Same as the Mi 6, this phone has a dual camera setup that consists of one 12MP shooter with a wide-angle lens and another 12MP sensor with the telephoto lens that gives 2x optical zoom and the ability to take beautiful portrait photos with that bokeh effect.

On the front, there is a beefy 16MP selfie camera.

Now a few features in a nutshell: the fingerprint is super fast and accurate, there is no headset jack but you can use a supplied adapter to connect your favorite headphones and the sound quality is great. There is also stereo speakers setup that produces rich and balanced sound.

A few extra features include nicely backlit capacitive keys, a notification LED light, the IR blaster and a face recognition feature that works quite well but I always prefer using a fingerprint scanner. It’s just a faster way to unlock the phone.

HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

When it comes to hardware, the Mi Note 3 is not the most powerful phone out there but it still has great specs.

The phone ships with the Snapdragon 660 chipset, 6GB of RAM and either 64 or 128GB of storage, which is, however, not expandable. The gaming performance is excellent. No stutter, no skipped frames on the highest graphics in the 3D games I played and the phone does not overheat.

BENCHMARKS

USER INTERFACE

Speaking of that software, the MIUI 8.5 is built on top of Android 7.1 and the Mi Note 3 is one of the fastest Xiaomi phones. I have a Chinese model, meaning that there are no Google Services pre-installed but it takes just a minute to do that.

The device just flies despite all the apps I installed and extra features that all Xiaomi phones have. You can customize the phone by changing themes, wallpapers, reassigning buttons or using other little tweaks and change a lot of different settings.

CAMERAS

We have a familiar Xiaomi camera app that allows you to take pictures very fast. You can also play with some basic shooting modes and settings. E.g. you can adjust some image properties using the manual mode or shoot slow-motion videos at 720p.

There is also 2x lossless zoom mode that allows you to utilize that secondary camera sensor and this feature comes really handy. The results are pretty good, definitely a lot better than using digital zoom.

The portrait mode takes good-looking pictures with bokeh effect but sometimes you may get a picture with a bit unnatural looking blurred background.

When it comes to the image quality using auto-mode, the Mi Note 3 can take great pictures in good lighting. There is plenty of detail, the colors look nice and noise reduction is pretty good. However, I found that the dynamic range adjustment is not always accurate. The indoor and macro shots are great too. Again, there is lots of detail and you get that nice bokeh effect thanks to the bright lens.

The low-light camera performance is decent but I would still love to see more detail and less noise as I’m always picky when it comes to camera performance.

The 4k video quality is great. The footage is detailed and the continuous auto-focus feature works well. The colors look nice too but they seem to be slightly oversaturated. Also, there are some video artifacts going but in general, the video looks great.

The 1080p video looks good too. Obviously, there is less detail but the OIS seems to do a better job than in 4k video mode.

The selfies look great as there is a lot of detail and the colors are accurate. However, the quality decreases quite dramatically in lower-lit situations.

The 1080p selfie video looks quite good and the sound recording quality is decent yet not the best I’ve heard.

CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 is flawless. The call quality and signal reception have been excellent, the Wifi range and speed are good, the Bluetooth works fine and finally, the GPS is very accurate, thanks to a reliable Snapdragon processor.

The phone has NFC and a lot of sensors including a gyroscope, so you are all set in this department.

BATTERY LIFE

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 ships with a 3500 mAh battery that performs great. I used my phone very intensively for taking a lot of pictures and shooting 4k videos, running benchmarks, installing a lot of apps and so on and I still managed to get over 8 hours of screen-on time.

If you use the device just for the basic stuff, you should be able to get 9 or even 10 hours of SOT. Keep in mind, that SOT is always very subjective.

Finally, the Mi Note 3 ships with the fast charger. It takes about 1:30 h to fully charge the phone, thanks to the Quick Charge 3.0.

Conclusions

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 is a solid phone overall. Yes, it does not ship with the most powerful chip out there but I found it to be very fast and powerful enough to even handle 3D games. Also, the phone simply looks beautiful, the display is sharp, the cameras are pretty good and the battery life is great.

Even though there is plenty of storage space, some users will be disappointed by the lack of the microSD card slot. Also, there is no headset jack and the phone is very slippery, so you may want to keep it in the case.

If you can live with these shortcomings, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 is a solid phone that offers a lot of flagship qualities for a lower price.

Gizmochina readers get a special discount with the COUPON CODE: note364gb that let you buy the phone for just $389.99 ($60 off the retail price). 

Buy Xiaomi Mi Note 3

The post Xiaomi Mi Note 3 Review – Premium Midrange Flagship! appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi’s Redmi Note series has been one of the most successful among budget smartphones. I have the cheapest version of the Redmi Note 5a that costs just about $120 but it offers a lot of features for the price. Learn more in the full Xiaomi Redmi Note  5a review.

VIDEO REVIEW

UNBOXING

The phone ships in a rather unusual for Xiaomi red box. Inside of it, you can find all the usual stuff, no extras included.

DESIGN and DISPLAY

As far as design goes, the Redmi Note 5a is kind of plain looking and it is very similar to the Redmi 4a. The phone is made entirely of plastic and while it does not look or feel premium, the build quality is excellent.

The 5.5” display sports only 72op resolution but it is still quite sharp for everyday use.

We do have an IR blaster, a notification LED light and 5MP selfie shooter but the buttons are not backlit.

There is no fingerprint scanner on this phone whereas the Prime model has this feature.

As for the camera, we have a 13MP shooter with a single LED flash.

The sound quality via the headset jack is pretty good and the loudspeaker is not bad at all for the price of the phone.

HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The hardware configuration is not really impressive on the Redmi Note 5a but this is what you have to expect at this price point.

The phone has a Snapdragon 425 chip, just 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. What is awesome, is that there is a dedicated microSD card slot along with a dual-SIM card tray. I think this should become a standard feature on each phone.

The gaming performance is pretty good overall. However, you should expect some skipped frames in some of the 3D games if you play them on the highest graphics settings.

BENCHMARKS

USER INTERFACE

My Redmi Note 5a shipped with the original Chinese ROM, meaning that I had to install Google Services myself but it takes just a minute to do that. MIUI 8.5 is based on Android 7.1 and if you used any Xiaomi phone before, you will feel right at home as nothing has really changed much. We have the same looks, features, customization options and little tweaks to make the phone look your own.

I’ve installed a lot of apps as usual and I found the phone to be snappy and responsive all the time and that’s the most important thing on any phone.

IMAGE QUALITY

The image quality is quite good considering the fact this is a $120 phone. However, even at this price point, I would love to see more detail and sharpness in the pictures.

The low-light camera performance is quite good but again, this is a budget phone camera after all.

The selfies look nice and clear, I don’t have many complaints here.

The 1080p video is above average as the footage could look sharper but that is the case with most of the phones in this price range.

The 1080p selfie video looks great. The sound recording quality could have been decent but there is a lot of background noise, which is caused by a poor implementation of noise reduction or other stuff.

Download full resolution camera samples

CONNECTIVITY

As far as connectivity goes, I have no complaints.  Everything, including Wifi, Bluetooth, and GPS works fine. Also, the call quality and signal reception are decent.

BATTERY LIFE

A 3080mAh battery performs very well, like on most of the Xiaomi phones. Depending on how you use the phone, you should expect to achieve 8 or 9 hours of screen-on time. Well, these were my results.

The phone supports Qualcomm® Quick Charge 2.0 technology but it ships just with a regular charger. It takes about 2 hours to fully charge the device.

CONCLUSIONS

The Redmi Note 5a is another budget phone made Xiaomi. Again, it offers quite a lot of value for the price but honestly, I don’t see any significant upgrades over the last generation models.

I would love to see a slightly better camera and a fingerprint scanner even at this price point but overall,  I still think that the Xiaomi Note Redmi 5a is a solid phone for the price but you can also check out the older Xiaomi phones, as they are very similar to this one.

What do you guys think about the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5a?

The post Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A Review – Revolution or More of the Same? appeared first on Gizmochina.