Every year at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) exhibition, many companies present their new products, and this year Xiaomi was among them for the first time. Interestingly, last year Xiaomi for the first time organized its own booth at MWC, and this year it decided to make a presentation. Apparently, the Chinese company wants to “taste” the exhibition gradually.
Perhaps that is why Xiaomi decided to do without high-profile announcements this year, but still brought some new items to Barcelona. To begin with, the first Xiaomi smartphone with support for 5G networks, the Mi Mix 3 5G, was introduced. Actually, this is the only truly new Xiaomi smartphone at MWC 2019.
Then came the international announcement of the new flagship Mi 9, which Xiaomi recently introduced in its native China. And at the end, the Mi LED Smart Bulb was shown. It is about these new products that we will tell in more detail below, paying the most attention to the new flagship.
Xiaomi Mi 9
So, what is the new flagship Xiaomi Mi 9? In short, this is one of the most affordable smartphones currently based on the top Snapdragon 855 single-chip platform, which is also able to offer a high-quality camera and an attractive appearance.
Appearance and display
And now in more detail. Like many modern flagships, the new Mi 9 is made on a metal frame, which is covered with glass panels on both sides. Several color options are available: black (Piano Black), blue (Ocean Blue) and purple (Lavender Violet). The latter two have a special texture, due to which the back cover shimmers with different colors depending on the angle of view and lighting. The black version also looks quite attractive, although a bit duller.
The rear panel of Mi 9 is covered with damage-resistant curved glass Gorilla Glass 5. The absence of a fingerprint scanner on the rear panel (it “moved” under the display) benefited the appearance of the smartphone. Now on the back there is only a triple rear camera with flash and the Xiaomi logo with mandatory certification marks. Note that the version of Mi 9 Explorer Edition will also be available, in which the back panel is made partially transparent and opens up a view of the "innards" of the smartphone.
The back panel smoothly passes into rather narrow side faces, which are made of metal. On the right side there are volume buttons, as well as a lock button. On the left is a SIM card tray, as well as a Google Assistant call button. From above, only the IR interface for controlling home electronics and the microphone hole are visible. On the bottom edge is a USB Type-C port and speaker holes. There is no 3,5mm headphone jack.
The new Xiaomi flagship received a large, 6,39-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2340 × 1080 pixels. The aspect ratio is 19,5:9. The screen has a very high brightness, so it should be comfortable to use the novelty in the sun. As befits an OLED display, the picture on the Mi 9 is juicy and contrasting, but no frills. In general, everything looks very pleasant to the eye. More detailed testing of the display will be carried out already in the preparation of the review.
The screen is framed by fairly thin bezels, the bottom of which is somewhat wider than the rest. At the top of the display there is a small U-shaped cutout for the front camera. It was not possible to place anything else next to the “front camera”, so there is no question of any 3D face recognition. But the fingerprint scanner is located under the display, which is very convenient. Protects the screen glass Gorilla Glass 6, which is positioned as the most durable glass in the world of smartphones at the moment.
Hardware component
As mentioned above, Xiaomi Mi 9 is based on Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 855 single-chip platform. This 7nm chipset is built on Kryo 485 processor cores, which are divided into three clusters. The first, the most productive, includes one core with a clock speed of 2,84 GHz, the second, slightly less powerful, offers three cores with a frequency of 2,42 GHz, and the third, with four cores and a frequency of 1,8 GHz, is considered energy efficient. The graphics processor is Adreno 640.
In Barcelona, Xiaomi announced two versions of Mi 9. Both have 6 GB of RAM, and differ in the amount of internal memory - 64 or 128 GB. Note that in China, the manufacturer also introduced a version with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory. The aforementioned Mi 9 Explorer Edition will immediately offer 256 GB of internal and 12 GB of RAM.
Xiaomi will also release a more affordable version of its flagship called Mi 9 SE. It will receive a 10-nm Snapdragon 712 platform with eight Kryo 360 cores, of which two operate at a frequency of 2,2 GHz, and the other six at 1,7 GHz. Adreno 616 acts as a graphics processor here. The amount of RAM will be 6 GB, and 64 or 128 GB of memory will be provided for data storage. At the same time, it is worth noting that the Mi 9 SE has a smaller display, the diagonal of which is 5,97 inches. But everything else, including the camera, will be the same as the Mi 9.
The Mi 9 is powered by a 3300 mAh battery, while the younger Mi 9 SE received a 3070 mAh battery. Not too much, but for a day of quite active use should be enough. Supports fast charging, both wired and wireless. In the first case, power is provided up to 27 W, and in the second - up to 20 W (for wireless charging, this is very good).
Камеры
The main camera is one of the key features of Mi 9. Here, Xiaomi first implemented a system of three modules. The main one is built on the new 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 image sensor and equipped with f/1,75 aperture optics. Note that in the standard mode, the smartphone compresses the photo to a resolution of 12 megapixels, using a bundle of four pixels as one when shooting. To switch to full resolution, there is a special switch in the camera application.
However, you will not notice a big difference in the photo. In any case, such an impression was formed after getting acquainted with the smartphone camera as part of the exhibition stand. The camera software does a good job, and the 12MP shots come out crisp and rich. The resolution of 48 megapixels also produces high-quality photos. But when approaching, the difference in the photo is not very noticeable, although theoretically, with a higher resolution, the picture should be better near.
The second of the three cameras is built on a 12-megapixel Samsung S5K3M5 sensor and is equipped with a telephoto lens that allows you to implement a 16x optical zoom without losing quality. And the third camera is built on a 117-megapixel image sensor and has a wide-angle lens with an angle of view of 4 degrees. There is one very interesting feature here: support for the "Macro" mode with the ability to shoot from a distance of XNUMX cm.
Unfortunately, the ability of a smartphone to shoot in the dark is problematic to evaluate at the exhibition. Therefore, we leave this topic for a full review. On a personal note, I would like to say that at first glance, Xiaomi has finally managed to make a really good camera. It shoots better than the cameras in previous models. Photos are bright and juicy. But again, these are just the first impressions after a short acquaintance with the smartphone.
Of course, Xiaomi, as part of its presentation, did not forget to note that, according to DxOMark, the Mi 9 smartphone is the best video shooter at the moment – the new product received 99 points. To what extent this assessment is fair, we will find out already in full testing. In the meantime, just note that the new Xiaomi supports shooting format videos up to 4K @ 60FPS, and it is also possible to record slow motion video at a frequency of 960 fps.
The front camera is nothing special. It uses a 20-megapixel sensor and a lens with an aperture of f / 2,2. We note support for shooting with a high dynamic range (HDR), which should have a positive effect on the quality of your selfies.
Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G
As mentioned at the very beginning, the first thing Xiaomi presented was the Mi Mix 3 5G smartphone. Essentially, this is the same , but in the new product, last year's Snapdragon 845 was replaced with the current Snapdragon 855, and a Snapdragon X5 50G modem was also added. From the point of view of design and other technical characteristics, there are no changes.
Xiaomi, as part of its presentation to demonstrate the capabilities of 5G, made a video call through the fifth generation network. This demonstration turned out to be very controversial, since during the call a very noticeable delay was noticeable, and the picture quality cannot be called outstanding. Most likely, this is due to errors and flaws in setting up the equipment. Still, the technology is quite new, and there is not much experience with it. We hope that by the next demonstration all this will be corrected.
Despite a more powerful processor, as well as proper 5G support, the new Mi Mix 3 5G is not much more expensive than the original model. The official price of new items in Europe will be 599 euros. The “regular” Mi Mix 3, for comparison, sells for 499 euros. In general, such a difference can be considered quite justified, especially since this is one of the first smartphones to support fifth-generation networks. Xiaomi promised to start selling the new Mi Mix 3 5G in May this year. But will public 5G networks be available by then? We will talk about this in one of the future materials on MWC 2019.
Mi LED Smart Bulb
But, of course, the “main” announcement from Xiaomi at MWC 2019 was the Mi LED Smart Bulb. Jokes apart, in general, the device on the farm is very useful. Through the Mi Home application in the smartphone, you can control the color, light temperature and brightness of the light bulb, as well as set various operating modes and, of course, turn the light on / off. There is support for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
As for the technical specifications, they are as follows: E27 socket (thick), power 10W (equivalent to a 60W incandescent lamp), color temperature range from 1700 to 6500K, support for Wi-Fi 802.11n 2,4GHz. The manufacturer declares a resource of 12 on / off cycles or up to 500 hours of operation.
Note that Xiaomi is now actively trying to develop in the direction of "smart" homes and other home automation. So branded Mi LED Smart Bulb bulbs, which can be controlled by all at the same time through an application on a smartphone, fit perfectly into the concept of the company's development in this direction.
Like many Xiaomi products, the novelty is cheaper than its counterparts from other manufacturers. In Europe, the official price of Mi LED Smart Bulb was 19,90 euros.
Conclusion
Well, the Xiaomi presentation itself did not cause much enthusiasm among the public. Everyone was expecting something really new and interesting, since it was not known in advance what the Chinese company had prepared for MWC. However, we have what we have: not quite a new smartphone with 5G, a re-announcement of the flagship and a light bulb, where are we without it.
Nevertheless, the booth of the Chinese company was already crowded within the framework of the exhibition itself. Nevertheless, before the flagship Mi 9 was presented only in China, and many wanted to take a look at the new product with their own eyes and evaluate what Xiaomi offers us this year.
I personally liked Xiaomi's new products, especially the flagship Mi 9. Of course, Mi Mix 3 5G is also an interesting device, but you must admit - where are we, and where are the fifth generation networks? This is still a very “young” technology, but it’s good that Xiaomi is not lagging behind other manufacturers, because really many smartphones and devices with 2019G were presented at MWC 5.
Returning to the flagship, I would like to say that at first glance it seems to be a very successful device. Xiaomi has finally made a smartphone with a really good camera. Of course, a more detailed analysis may reveal some nuances, but at first glance, it is very good. Otherwise, the novelty is also excellent: attractive appearance, top-end filling, and all this at a very pleasant price.
In Europe, the official price of Xiaomi Mi 9 starts at 449 euros. So now it turns out that Xiaomi is able to take not only the price-performance ratio, but also the appearance and, most importantly, a really cool camera.
Source: 3dnews.ru