Xiaomi Mi5 Review Chinese Flagship Killer 2016 and First Antutu Benchmarks Scores

Xiaomi Mi5 Review Chinese Flagship Killer 2016 and First Antutu Benchmarks Scores

Xiaomi Mi5 Release date and price

The Xiaomi Mi 5 was announced at the event organized by the brand 24 February 2016 at the MWC in Barcelona. Its marketing will begin on March 1 in China. The phone will unfortunately not officially available in globally for the moment. If you want it ASAP then you will have to go through the import box to be able to get it.

Three versions of the Mi 5 will be offered for sale: Xiaomi Mi 5 Pro (with 4 GB RAM, 128 GB storage, 820 Snapdragon clocked at 2.15 GHz and a ceramic finish on the back) and costs 2699 yuan ( or 376 euros) Xiaomi Mi 5 (with 3 GB of RAM, 64 GB storage, 820 Snapdragon clocked at 2.15 GHz and a glass finish on the back) and costs 2299 yuan (320 euros) Xiaomi Mi 5 (with 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB storage, 820 Snapdragon 1.8 GHz and a glass finish on the back) and costs 1999 yuan (278 euros).

As you can see, the prices are particularly aggressive, but it would be surprising that you can get the Chinese tariff in worldwide. It will certainly count several dozen additional euros to be able to buy.
Finally, the Mi5 is available in several colors: white, black and gold.

Xiaomi Mi 5 Design and finishing

Xiaomi was never a design pioneer. Yet this phone marks a revolution in the design of the Chinese brand. The smartphone and adopt materials such as metal and glass. The screen is also slightly curved at the edges to give a 3D effect, which gives a similar effect to the new Galaxy S7.

Compared to its predecessor, the MI5 has rounded edges and a slimmer profile. Its dimensions (144.55 x 69.20 x 7.25 mm) are fairly compact but it was his weight that surprises compared to the competition. The phone weighs only 129 grams. This is both very nice when worn in the pocket of jeans but also quite "stressful" as we are afraid of breaking it.

In a diagonal of 5.15 inches, the IPS screen is rather beautiful and phone wants to be very simple to use, with quick gestures that offer a very valuable user experience. Thank you to the ergonomics of the product, especially because we appreciate the location of buttons that fall easily to hand, both the volume buttons as the power button.

For the first time, a physical button oval appeared on the front of the phone. This hides the smartphone fingerprint reader, a feature that all brands are implementing now on their devices, including those mid-range (5X Honor, Honor 7). On the front, there are also the front camera 4 megapixel (seen on the Mi Note), the speakerphone for calls and IM famous brand logo.

Above, the minijack takes place. In the lower part, there is a USB Type-C, the hidden microphone under one of the gates of a speaker and a speaker. Having taken up the Pro version in 128GB Mi 5, I dealt with a rear portion made of ceramic (glass is for versions 32 and 64 GB). Despite the quality of the material, I sometimes feel that it was a different material as the lightness of the product made me doubt. To return to the back of the product, it also has a new sensor about 16 million pixels made in Sony and an LED flash. Finally, unlike the LG G5, the battery is not removable unfortunately.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 5 made me a strong impression. Its design is very successful with extra fine screen edges besides ergonomics, is the product quality and finishes for this award is impressive and is now closer to the top players in the market (Samsung, Sony, Apple ...). I just add a little flat is its strong resemblance to the Galaxy S7.

Xiaomi Mi 5 Screen

Contrary to rumors, there finally is a single screen diagonal for Xiaomi MI 5. The smartphone and has an IPS LCD Full HD screen of 5.15 inches. Compared to MI 4, the new smartphone will therefore not change its definition but Xiaomi has worked hard to offer additional options to improve the final result.

During my grip, I was able to observe that the colors were bright and excellent viewing angles. The extra-thin screen edges leave more space to the bright display (600 nits). During the presentation of the launch, Hugo Barra particularly stressed Sunlight Display, a function that automatically adjusts the contrast level according to the brightness outside, making the dark parts of the brighter screen for better visibility of the screen. During my few tries, I do not particularly see differences but a more comprehensive test will help us further explore this feature.

Xiaomi Mi 5 Other features Fingerprint Reader

The Xiaomi Mi 5 offers a fingerprint reader. For the first time, the Chinese brand decided to expand into the home button front of the smartphone.

NFC

Xiaomi decided to push NFC technology on its phones more and partnerships for its use. Mi 5 is compatible. Remember, it is possible with this feature to exchange data between two smartphones and make payments using wireless short-range connectivity.

Xiaomi Mi 5 Software Interface

Do not expect a classic Android interface, Xiaomi has made a habit of proposing its own overlay: MIUI. It is the MIUI interface 7 which we deal. As always, it will inspired many iOS as does its Chinese competitor Huawei / Honor with EMUI. Five themes are pre-installed by default, as a number of applications.

Among the preinstalled applications, in addition to Google services, we find something new application Mi Video Calls created by the brand that allows you to make video calls, to send pictures and interact in real time with your contacts offering 6 different effects for video.

On this MI5, Xiaomi has greatly changed its interface, visually speaking, but various improvements are present. Android Marshmallow is of course available by default, so no need to wait for an update. This is rather good news because Xiaomi is quite slow to move from one Android version to another.
During my grip, I have not found problems or delays or closures forced the application.

Xiaomi Mi 5 Performance

As LG G5, the Xiaomi MI5 sailed under the hood the new Snapdragon processor 820 along with 3GB of RAM on models 32 and 64 GB. Only the Mi 5 Pro model has 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage . It should also be noted that on the first 32GB model of the Mi 5, the Snapdragon 820 processor is clocked at 1.8 GHz (2.1 GHz cons for other versions). Graphic side is an Adreno 530 chip that is the game. Finally, the Xiaomi Mi 5 is dual-sim and compatible with 4G + up to 600 Mbps to provide better audio quality during calls.

The new Qualcomm processor should give better performance than the 810 and above should end the overheating problems on different devices known in 2015. Xiaomi is particularly confident about the performance of its new flagship smartphone. The Chinese company has insisted phenomenal score of 142,084 points obtained in AnTuTu test.

Since its launch in China, the first benchmarks of the phone are also known. According GizmoChina, the standard version of the Mi 5 (with a processor 1.8 GHz) achieved the 110 000 points on AnTuTu, 1901 points at single core of GeekBench and 4707 points on the multicore. The performance would be 20% lower than the versions of the Mi 5 64GB and Mi 5 Pro.

During my testing, Mi 5 was able to switch from one application to another without problem, of the open and close very quickly. A more comprehensive test will allow us to learn more about its capabilities, especially in relation to the new Samsung Galaxy S7.

Xiaomi Mi 5 Camera

The Xiaomi Mi 5 is equipped with a Sony camera sensor (IMX298) 16 megapixels. The phone offers optical stabilization on 4 axes to deliver sharper images, a PDAF autofocus and DTI technology for purer colors.

During my test, the phone unit worked very well. In brightly lit indoor conditions, the Xiaomi Mi 5 was able to take good pictures, including when shaking. Thank you optical stabilization to 4 axes for it. The autofocus is quick, even when you switch to video mode (4K is also possible).

The camera application has a manual mode that adjusts white balance, focus, exposure time and ISO, as well as the typical image filters. On the front is a 4-megapixel camera that, if this seems at first sight, is able to make good portraits, partly due to the pixel size of 2 microns. To assess the quality of the images, it will take again the arrival of the drafting device to make a final opinion.

Xiaomi Mi 5 Battery Life

It is always difficult to judge this aspect not spend several days with the device. For now, we just know that the Xiaomi Mi 5 integrates a battery of 3000 mAh which should be more than sufficient to use the device all day without too many problems. The phone also boasts fast charging that promises 80 to 90% of energy after one hour of charging.

Final verdict

Xiaomi made us wait more than a year and a half after the release of his previous top of the range. But the wait seems to have been necessary to justify the good work on the Mi 5. Attractive design, a metal frame, interesting options like ceramic finish left me a good first impression. Certainly, the smartphone does not offer real innovation compared to its competitors but given its introductory price in China, we can only welcome the work done by the teams of Xiaomi.

The company appears to have put everything on his side to win the high-end market. Only disappointment for us, the mobile will likely not officially available in across the globe.