After about 20 days of waiting, Mi 5X fell into my hands. While waiting, I looked at almost all Russian-language reviews of the device, so there was nothing particularly surprising. However, as it happens, the smartphone surprised.
It's worth starting with the appearance. Before this, I managed to hold the Redmi Note 4X in my hands, and we can say that the smartphones are very similar in all respects. If you look at the Mi 5X from the front, you can easily confuse the device with the Redmi Note 4X. However, if you look at the device semi-sideways, it immediately becomes clear that the Mi 5X is much more attractive due to its thin body. When the device is lying on a table with the screen facing up, it can be mistaken for an iPhone 7 Plus due to the thin body and similar shape of the side curves. In addition, the navigation buttons on the front panel are completely invisible when turned off.
The back of the Mi 5X is very reminiscent of the OnePlus 5. And during the day of using the device, I often found myself deciding to pick up the device just to look at its back panel once again.
In addition, the coating of the case was also surprising. The 3 Pro, which we reviewed, had rougher metal, making it not so pleasant to hold the device in your hands. Here the metal is very smooth and pleasant to the touch. The color of the metal itself is also pleasing (a black version was purchased).
I can immediately name the vibration motor as a disadvantage - it is quite unpleasant and spoils the overall impression of the smartphone. Due to its appearance and body materials, the Mi 5X feels premium, but until the vibration motor is used.
Separately, I would like to note the correct arrangement of elements on the bottom end. Everything is symmetrical, the speaker is located in the right place, the diameter of the speaker cuts on the case is also optimal, the 3.5 mm headphone jack looks very miniature. The volume buttons and the power button fit snugly in the body, but have very little play.
At the top end there is an IR port and a microphone. The tray for SIM cards and microSD card is plastic, but has metal inserts around the entire perimeter, which also indicates that meticulous attention to detail was applied to the design of the smartphone.
The Mi 5X runs out of the box on MIUI 8. There is no global firmware yet, and it’s not a fact that there will be one at all, because there is no global version of the Mi 5X. Therefore, sellers supply the smartphone mainly with official Chinese firmware, which does not have Russian language and contains many Chinese unnecessary applications.
I won’t say that MIUI 8 works perfectly on Mi 5X. While watching a movie through the Google Chrome browser, the page very often reloaded, thereby resetting the video. After working with the camera, the screen brightness becomes almost minimal. And every time after exiting the camera application, you have to manually increase the display brightness.
In addition, out of 4 GB of RAM, about 2 GB are free. Where the other two go is unclear. Therefore, you will need to flash your smartphone after purchase in any case.
Already now you can download the ported firmware from Mi A1 and install it on Mi 5X. At the same time, no bugs or glitches in the firmware were noticed due to the identical hardware components of both devices.
To install pure Android from Mi A1 on Mi 5X you need:
- Create Mi account
- Download and install VPN Turbo, select a Chinese server in the application
- In the developer settings, you need to go to the section for viewing bootloader unlock status and click on the button at the bottom of the window
- You need to wait 72 hours, then you can unlock the bootloader through the Mi Unlock application
- Then install TWRP and the firmware itself
At this stage, 72 hours have not yet passed since the smartphone was linked to the Mi account, so we will publish the experience of using the Mi 5X on the Mi A1 firmware a little later.
I don’t want to dwell on the camera in more detail yet; we will pay special attention to it. I'll just leave a couple of examples of photos taken on the Mi 5X below:
Normal mode with HDR enabled
Portrait mode (apple slightly out of focus)
It is also worth noting the lack of HDR support in portrait mode, as well as the rather poor quality of the front camera. In other respects, the camera is only pleasing so far.
Regarding autonomy, some conclusions can be drawn now. The smartphone can work for 1-2 days without any problems. Of course, in terms of autonomy, the device cannot be compared with the Redmi Note 3 Pro, but still, at first glance, the Mi 5X has pretty good autonomy.
The performance of the Mi 5X is standard and if you like to play heavy games, the Mi 5X is not for you. The Snapdragon 625 is a fairly average processor that does not evoke a storm of positive emotions. Xiaomi did not rely on performance. Mi 5X is more about design and camera.
It is very difficult to keep up with the addition of the Chinese company Xiaomi's range of smartphones. Every now and then new gadgets appear, which are sometimes noticeably different from their predecessors, and sometimes the difference between them is minimal. Most often, a short time after the release of a model, its improved version appears, receiving the Prime or Pro prefix. Today we propose to understand what are the differences between Xiaomi Mi5 prime and mi5, and whether they exist at all. Both gadgets represent the flagship line, and their technical characteristics are among the leading ones on the market. So which phone is better to buy?
Design and ergonomics
The Xiaomi Mi5 case is made of tempered glass and is characterized by increased scratch resistance. Although carrying the phone in a case will not be superfluous and will increase the duration of maintaining its original appearance. The frame of the smartphone is made of silver metal. This part is much more susceptible to scratches.
In turn, the Xiaomi Mi5 pro in the premium configuration has a body made of the strongest ceramics, and in order to leave a minimal scratch on such a surface, you will have to work very hard.
If we talk about durability and practicality of materials, then Pro definitely beats its opponent. The design of the gadgets looks stylish in both cases. Visually, it seems that you are holding a premium smartphone in your hands, for which you had to pay a tidy sum.
Performance
The Xiaomi performance comparison is one of the most important in our review. The manufacturer itself has repeatedly tried to compare Xiaomi with Samsung smartphones, and in this case a parallel with the Samsung Galaxy S7 (Edge) suggests itself. The compared gadgets run on the Snapdragon 820 chipset with four cores. The clock speed of Mi 5 is 1.8 GHz and 2.15 GHz.
In terms of RAM, the Pro version wins. Here 4 GB versus 3 GB for the competitor. By the way, it beats the base “five” and Xiaomi Mi 5s – it also has 4 GB of RAM. It would be useful to compare Xiaomi in terms of built-in memory - with a result of 128 GB versus 32 GB, the newer Pro version wins again. The following is also important: Mi 5 does not support memory cards, so you will have to limit yourself to 32 GB or buy a more expensive model. Moreover, the difference in price is noticeable - about 270 dollars for the basic package and 400 for Pro.
Comparing Xiaomi in terms of performance in everyday life will give approximately the same results - the devices are powerful, fast and allow you to use any applications at maximum settings without slowdowns. In benchmarks, Mi5 Pro vs Mi5 shows slightly better results, which is not surprising, given the difference in performance. But if you buy a smartphone in order to actually use it, and not enjoy the look of the numbers in benchmarks, then you shouldn’t overpay.
Cameras
Since the main difference in our case is the extreme performance of smartphones, it is not surprising that it is very easy to compare the fifth generation Xiaomi in terms of camera quality - they are identical. The main module has a resolution of 16 megapixels and a dual LED flash. Theoretically, this should be enough to obtain high-quality images regardless of the ambient light level, but in reality it is not so simple. If you compare Xiaomi 5 with previous generations, you will see minimal differences in the quality of pictures. It’s probably time to get used to the fact that this Chinese manufacturer does not focus on the quality of photo modules, trying to win competition in the market based on other indicators.
In both cases, if you shoot in low light conditions, there will be a lot of unpleasant noise in the picture, which at best will simply spoil the view, and at worst, kill it.
The front camera has a resolution of 4 megapixels, and the software setup here is no better than in previous versions. Selfie lovers will have to bypass these gadgets, because with any flagship smartphones the world's competitors leave no chance for the Chinese.
Autonomy
It is also very easy to compare the fifth generation Xiaomi in terms of battery capacity - in both cases this figure is 3000 mAh. But even despite this, it is obvious that the basic configuration of the “five” wins in terms of autonomy. It is inferior in power to its competitor, and therefore will consume less energy during operation. The indicator in both cases is not maximum, but the battery should be enough for one day of moderate use.
conclusions
Concluding our comparison of the fifth generation Xiaomi, we can summarize that both the basic version of the smartphone and the Pro version are powerful enough to cope with as many everyday tasks as are relevant to the user. At the same time, if you are choosing what to buy - the Pro version or the Mi5, then the Mi5 Pro seems a little preferable, if only because of its greater performance. Well, if you want a gadget that is significantly ahead of the “five” in terms of characteristics, then we recommend purchasing Xiaomi 6.
One of the most important characteristics of the Xiaomi Mi5 smartphone is its autonomy - the duration of operation on a single charge and the time it takes to fully recover the latter.
According to testing results, the battery is fully charged in 1 hour 20 minutes. The figure is not a record, especially against the backdrop of the recently announced SuperVOOC technology, which allows you to charge a 2500 mAh battery in just 15 minutes. But if you look at the charging graph, you can see that in 30 minutes the battery life is replenished by 57%, and this is a very decent result today.
In terms of autonomy, Xiaomi Mi5 was tested for 5 hours of continuous web surfing, listening to music, watching videos and playing games. After all tests, the remaining battery life was 19%. The most voracious were online games and videos. With moderate use of the smartphone, by the end of the day the battery charge is 24%. And it’s nice to note that in standby mode when connected to Wi-Fi, for 8 hours of operation, the smartphone consumed only 1% of energy. In general, we can say that the battery life of the Xiaomi Mi5 will last for at least a day with an average load on the smartphone.
We have already talked about how Chinese journalists tested the camera of the 2016 flagship – the Xiaomi Mi5 model. Now the new product has been tested for autonomy.
If you look at the test results, to replenish the battery's full charge XiaomiMi5 it took about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Of course, we cannot say that this is a record result, there is more in the light of the latest presentation of innovative technology SuperVOOC, which charges the battery in just 15 minutes.
However, if you take into account the test charging schedule, you can see that in 24 minutes the flagship battery XiaomiMi5 Already received 57% charge.
Xiaomi Mi5 testing details
Battery life of the 2016 flagship – Chinese phone model XiaomiMi5 checked for 5 hours. During the test, the smartphone was in continuous online surfing mode, watching videos, playing games, and listening to music. After completion of the test, the battery power life was about 19%.
The largest percentage of energy consumption belongs to online games, as well as videos. If the phone resource XiaomiMi5 If used moderately, by the end of the day its battery charge is 24%. Therefore, we can safely say that with a standard load, the energy capacity of the flagship is enough for a whole day of work.
It is worth noting that when Wi-Fi is connected, the smartphone XiaomiMi5 In standby mode, it used up only 1% of the charge in 8 hours.
We still have to try them in the future. The manufacturer is increasingly concentrating on the budget segment, but does it have the strength to adequately perform in the top segment?
Characteristics of Xiaomi Mi 5s
- screen: IPS 5.15 inches, resolution 1920×1080 pixels, 2.5D protective glass
- platform: quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
- RAM: 4 GB, ROM: 128 GB
- Main camera: 12 MP, front camera: 4 MP
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, USB Type-C, GPS, GLONASS
- battery: 3200 mAh
- accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor, fingerprint scanner, pressure-sensitive display
- dimensions: 145.6x70.3x8.3 mm, weight: 145 g
- OS: Android 6.0, MIUI 8
Appearance and comfort
The top-end smartphone Xiaomi Mi 5s is packaged in an aluminum case, which is diluted with plastic inserts on the back and ends to combat radio signal shielding. The device is stylish and neat. The ends of the device are beveled on the back, which usually has a good effect on ergonomics.
However, the Xiaomi Mi 5s is not a comfortable smartphone: the bevel of the body is too sharp, and almost at the display it turns into the edge of the frame, forming an acute angle. Because of this, it is difficult to grasp the smartphone firmly without touching the display, and the metal closer to the screen module puts a lot of pressure on the palm.
The specific bend also led to another drawback - the grooves for the keys could not be machined perfectly, which is why the keys dangle when shaken. Otherwise, there are no complaints about the assembly, but for comfortable use you should immediately buy a case along with your smartphone. Fortunately, small frames around the screen allow you to increase a couple of millimeters at the ends with virtually no loss of comfort.
Display
The Xiaomi Mi 5s screen with a diagonal of 5.15 with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels pleased us: rich colors, moderately contrasting picture, ideal viewing angles and a decent level of minimum brightness. At most, I would like a little more so that I don’t have to peer at the image in the sun, but I can still make out even small text with almost no effort. The image quality and standard calibration are excellent.
The display is covered with 2.5D glass, the bend of which is almost imperceptible, but sufficient to smooth out sharp corners. The oleophobic coating is also good: prints are easily erased, but they can be collected without problems either.
The display diagonal seems reasonable: not too large to be difficult to control with one finger, but large enough to watch a video or enjoy the picture and at the same time conveniently control the avatar in games. There is a visual deception with frames, but users have long been accustomed to such tricks of Chinese brands.
Performance
Xiaomi Mi 5s runs on the 4-core flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor - this is the company’s most productive solution, which will be replaced by the Snapdragon 835, but only by the summer will it begin to appear from other manufacturers. The flagship position is clearly demonstrated in the benchmarks:
Games work perfectly: online shooters, open-world games, sports simulators and any other project demonstrate high and stable frame rates, and also allow you to turn the graphics to the maximum. At the same time, the case heats up noticeably, but does not reach critical temperatures: after 20 minutes of playing, using the device is more or less comfortable.
The shell runs smoothly, like any application software. The performance of Xiaomi Mi 5s is not inferior to most flagships either in synthetic tests or in feel. This is a very powerful and fast smartphone, both in the low-end configuration with 3 GB of RAM and in the high-end configuration (with 4 GB of RAM), which the site tested.
Autonomy
The battery capacity of the Xiaomi Mi 5s was 3100 mAh, the charging speed from the standard charger is high: the battery charges 54% in half an hour, 91% in an hour, and full energy recovery occurs in 1 hour 20 minutes. The presence of fast charging is important not only for forgetful people who may not connect the device at night, but also in general, since autonomy can hardly be called excellent.
Connector - USB Type-C
Unloaded use with active optimization of background work of programs and exceptions for three instant messengers showed a result of 5 hours of active display with 22 hours of standby mode - the daylight barrier is overcome under typical load. Not a record, but enough for most potential owners.
Xiaomi Mi 5s is positioned as a flagship, the battery life matches most of the top competitors on the market, and considering its compactness (by 2017 standards), the result is even good.
Camera
Xiaomi Mi 5s received a 12-megapixel (f/2.0) main camera with dual flash. Photos on a sunny day come out well: moderately saturated colors, correct color reproduction, decent clarity and accurate rendering of texture. The range turned out to be wide enough to compete with smartphones at the same price. Moreover, the result is quite comparable with many more expensive flagships of famous brands. The HDR mode copes with difficult conditions; the speed of creating images in it is high, and no halos or blurriness appear.
HDR
Shooting at dusk and indoors is also acceptable, but highly artistic photographs will no longer be possible, and at night the result turned out to be noticeably worse than that of top-end devices from other manufacturers. At the same time, the quality is not inferior to competitors in the price segment of 10-12 thousand UAH. The video recording quality is mediocre, more at the level of mid-range players than flagship, but what is truly frustrating is the inability to manually select the focus point - the camera itself chooses which of the compositions will be in focus.
If we omit video shooting, almost every user will be satisfied with the Xiaomi Mi 5s. The Chinese smartphone offers one of the best cameras that you can get for 10-12 thousand UAH.
Additional features
Xiaomi Mi 5s, as befits a flagship, offers not only the standard set of functions familiar from MIUI, but also several unique features. The most striking features were the 3D sensor, the lack of an infrared port (Xiaomi usually installs this sensor to control equipment in the house) and a fingerprint scanner.
The ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, which looks like a contact pad under the display, is slow compared to almost all flagships and even budget devices, for example, or. But the reading is accurate, including when the fingers are wet. In addition, the device can wake up when you touch the scanner.
By the way, to the left and right of it are the “Menu” and “Back” buttons, the functionality of which can be changed in the settings; they are designed as two dots, which allows you to not disturb the visual aesthetics when reassigning buttons.
The 3D sensor is sensitive to the force of pressure on the display, the usefulness of which tends to zero: only Quick Actions, which are called when you press hard on the display, migrated here from the iPhone implementation; the innovation is not used anywhere else.
Android 7.1
MIUI
An absolutely meaningless thing, especially considering that the context menu when touching an icon is already implemented in Android 7.1 without a hardware component. Of course, none of the third-party developers supported Xiaomi's proprietary feature. We hope that the manufacturer will rebuild the 3D sensor to accommodate the capabilities of stock Android when it releases the appropriate update.
Communications, sound
The radio modules of Xiaomi Mi 5s work perfectly: GPS is accurate, Bluetooth is stable, communication with operator base stations is also reliable. The high quality of voice transmission is also satisfactory - the interlocutor hears clear speech even when the user is in a noisy place. Wi-Fi (up to 802.11ac) also works stably, the range is typical for many smartphones. I was pleased with the presence of NFC, which is necessary for contactless payments.
Sound is, by flagship standards, one of the most uninteresting features of a smartphone. In headphones it is loud, but inexpressive, and there is basically no bass: enough for podcasts, films and videos. You can also listen to music, but you won’t be able to make out all the details of a rich composition. The external speaker is mediocre: there is only one, not very loud, but the sound is clear.
Competitors
Xiaomi Mi 5s is available in three versions: with 32 GB of storage and 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage and 3 GB of RAM, and 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of ROM. The choice should be approached carefully, because the device does not have a slot for memory cards.
It is in the same price category, but offers protection from moisture, which the Xiaomi Mi 5s does not have, and an always-on display. But in terms of performance, the difference is huge (albeit noticeable only in games) in favor of the Chinese, the camera is slightly better, and the body is not glass, which means dropping it is not so dangerous. At a cost of 10,999 UAH, the Korean new product attracts attention due to additional features, but is inferior in basic characteristics, so if power is important, you should take Xiaomi.
The OnePlus 3 is marginally inferior to the Mi 5s in terms of performance, has a lightning-fast fingerprint scanner, a more comfortable body and a slightly better camera. The choice between these devices is based on the size of the display: the hero of the review has a 5.15-inch one, which still applies to smartphones, while the competitor offers a 5.5-inch phablet screen. OnePlus 3 will cost 12 thousand UAH for the version with 64 GB of memory.
Sony Xperia X is less productive than Xiaomi Mi 5s, the camera is questionable, the battery capacity is only 2620 mAh, and there is a decent amount of the device on the market. But the moisture protection and Sony design. The price is 9999 UAH, which can hardly be called a reasonable purchase, at least at the beginning of 2017.
conclusions
Xiaomi Mi 5s came out as a traditional device for the manufacturer: powerful, high-quality and inexpensive. In most respects, the device is on par with smartphones costing 15-20 thousand UAH, only being inferior to them in the nameplate and (slightly) camera. The appearance also did not disappoint - discreet and neat will look organic in the hands of a student and a manager, a woman and a man.
Although the screen diagonal is not large, the device still cannot be called convenient due to the specific shape of the case. In fact, this is the main and almost the only complaint. It’s good that you can solve the problem by simply buying a cover, even if it spoils its appearance.
High performance, stable operation and a high-quality display, and even with a good camera for only 10-12 thousand UAH - an excellent offer in the current price realities. Give me two.
5 reasons to buy Xiaomi Mi 5s:
- excellent display
- excellent performance
- fast charging
- good camera
4 reasons not to buy Xiaomi Mi 5s:
- no IR port
- uncomfortable body
- slow fingerprint scanner
- you basically don’t buy Xiaomi
Thanks to the online store for providing it for review.
