New Article: Xiaomi Mi 9 Smartphone Review: People's Candidate

It all started with licensed smartphones of the Mi series for Xiaomi - Redmi and all sorts of variations in the style of Mi Max or Mi Mix began much later. Therefore, it is critically important for the company to release its flagship, ready to compete with “real” A-brands (this concept has been pretty blurred lately) and second-line flagships (Honor, OnePlus).

Xiaomi Mi 9 has absorbed all the key trends of recent times (the continuous increase in the number of rear cameras, the reduction in the size of the notch cutout on the screen) and added traditional values ​​to them, including those presented in Mi 8: a large (6,4-inch) AMOLED display, Qualcomm's latest flagship platform (Snapdragon 855) and glass body. Will this be enough to definitely win the race in a world where just releasing a smartphone on the most powerful platform at half the price of the flagship is no longer enough?

In Russia, at the time of writing the review, Xiaomi Mi 9 is not yet officially sold, moreover, even a “gray” device cannot be quickly obtained. Prices are based on current ones on Aliexpress, where the smartphone is already in stock.

Technical specifications

Design, ergonomics and software

The first "droplet" that I happened to encounter was a micro-notch in a modest BQ Universe smartphone - and then I took it rather with modest irony. Who knew that we are talking about a trend and companies will begin to measure those who have less “bangs”, and users will rejoice, because this decision “does not copy Apple”? Xiaomi is in the same stream, and following OnePlus 6T (and many others), it placed the front camera in a very small influx, which almost does not take up space from the status bar - there was enough space and time on it, and all the icons, and the treasured number of the current battery status in percentages.

Otherwise, Xiaomi Mi 9 very consistently inherits its predecessor, Mi 8: a glass body (with aluminum ribs and a glossy back), a vertically oriented camera unit, and a back with bevelled edges. The frames around the display are minimal - while there is no need to talk about complete framelessness, they are noticeable both from below and above, and along the perimeter.

However, there are some changes, in addition to the very notorious "droplet". The fingerprint scanner disappeared from the rear panel, moving, as is now customary, to the screen. And the colored (not black, as we tested) versions of Mi 9 received a special texture that changes color depending on the lighting. We saw something similar, for example, in the Samsung Galaxy S10 – this is not about a gradient in the style of Huawei / Honor, but about a special type of even fill.

The Mi 9 looks really good in the end, and perhaps it really is “the most beautiful Xiaomi smartphone in history,” as the company’s representatives stated before its announcement. But this rather speaks of the not very high bar of beauty set by the Chinese than of a real achievement in industrial design. First of all, Xiaomi Mi 9 looks ordinary. Just as you would expect from him.

Well, it’s also very slippery - it just so happened with glass smartphones, with rare exceptions. There is a silicone case in the kit - I recommend putting the device into it right away, especially if you have a black Mi 9: there is nothing special to brag about.

Compared to Mi 8, the new flagship is almost the same in size (it has become a little more elongated, but has not changed in thickness), and weighs only two grams less. We can safely say that the sensations of working with him are exactly the same - this is a large, two-handed smartphone, which at the same time fits freely in almost any pocket.

The front panel is covered with tempered glass Gorilla Glass 6, as in the Samsung Galaxy S10 mentioned above. I already noted in the review of the Korean smartphone that the latest version of the famous glass is much more resistant to micro-scratches than the previous one, and the experience of using Mi 9 reinforces this impression. Another thing is that an unexpectedly weak oleophobic coating is used here (or was it forgotten at all?) - the screen is very easily covered with prints, which are then very difficult to wipe off.

As in Xiaomi Mi 8 or Mi 6, there is neither a mini-jack nor the declared moisture and dust protection. The manufacturer does not even try to hide the purpose of abandoning the analog connector: it is both a tribute to fashion and an attempt to make money on wireless accessories.

A new control has been added - the power and volume keys on the right side have received a partner on the left. It activates the voice assistant by default, but you can assign other functions to it - we have already seen this in Mi MIX 3. There are options with on-screen navigation - three virtual keys can be removed and you can work with your smartphone exclusively with gestures.

A small notch looks nice and interferes less with full-screen video playback, but its use also has a downside - Mi 9 has lost additional sensors that were previously placed on a large “monobrow”. Face unlock is available, but only the front camera is used for it, without IR illumination. As a result, this unlocking system is ineffective in the dark. Xiaomi itself warns about the insecurity of this method - they say, use a better fingerprint sensor, a password or a graphic key.

c

The fingerprint scanner here is ultrasonic, located under the screen - this solution can already be officially called generally used. The sensor works very well at the same time - the percentage of successful operations, in my opinion, is the best among all competitors. In terms of speed, of course, it is inferior to almost any capacitive sensor, but in its league it is, if not a champion, then at least a contender for a medal. The same, by the way, applies to face recognition - it works instantly, you just have to pick up a smartphone. Probably, there is also the merit of the latest hardware platform, better adapted for these tasks.

Xiaomi Mi 9 runs on Android 10.0 out of the box Android 9.0 Pie with MIUI 10. I already wrote about it in my very recent review of the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3. Two details are important for the Mi 9. The first is how the software handles the notch: the issues we discussed with the Mi 8 are gone. The notch is neatly integrated into the operating system and doesn't get in the way anywhere. The second is, naturally, there's no separate screen that activates when you slide the phone open (activating the slider mechanism). Otherwise, it's the same user interface—fast and nice-looking (but with those ugly bezels around apps).

However, other issues arose that I didn't encounter with the third "mix"—in some places, the user interface appeared to be incompletely translated. On the lock screen, for example, information about the current location and weather, as well as some notifications, were displayed in hieroglyphs—even though, of course, I was testing the global version of the smartphone, and immediately after starting testing, a major update arrived, which I promptly installed. In short, this is a classic Xiaomi problem with the lack of polish on smartphone software at the start of their sales. A strange and unpleasant problem, considering that the company began as a developer of user interfaces for mobile devices. Android and entered the gadget market later. Other highly controversial aspects are familiar from previous versions of MIUI – I'm talking about the advertising embedded in various basic apps and the lack of a clear on-device search system.

scanner_3.png

Source: 3dnews.ru