Xiaomi Mi5: test of fast charging and battery life. Difference between Xiaomi Mi5, Mi5 Prime and Mi5 Pro smartphones Xiaomi mi5 battery life

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.

Updated top-series model on the latest Snapdragon 821 platform

We continue to get acquainted with the update of the top Xiaomi Mi line, which the manufacturer of popular Chinese smartphones presented at the end of September 2016 in two new modifications: Xiaomi Mi 5s and Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus. As it turned out when considering Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus, the manufacturer has made noticeable changes to the new products compared to the previous model in the series (Mi 5), and the new models are quite different from each other. The Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus smartphones are aimed at different target audiences and both are quite worthy of separate reviews, so today, following the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus, we will study the regular Mi 5s model.

Main characteristics of Xiaomi Mi 5s

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (MSM8996pro), 4 Kryo cores @2.0/2.15 GHz
• GPU Adreno 530 @624 MHz
• Operating system Android 6.0.1
• Touch display IPS 5.15″, 1920×1080, 427 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 3/4 GB, internal memory 32/64/128 GB
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• No microSD support
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• WCDMA/HSPA+ networks (850/900/1900/2100 MHz)
• LTE FDD Band 1/3/7 networks
• Networks TD LTE Band 38—41, TD-SCDMA, CDMA1X/EVDO (BC0)
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz)
• Bluetooth
• GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
• USB Type-C, USB OTG
• Camera 12 MP (Sony IMX378), autofocus, f/2.0, 4K video
• Front camera 4 MP, f/2.0, fixed. focus
• Proximity sensor, light sensor, pressure sensor, magnetic field sensor, fingerprint sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, step counter
• Battery 3200 mAh, Quick Charge 3.0
• Dimensions 146×70×8.3 mm
• Weight 145 g

Contents of delivery

Xiaomi Mi 5s is sold in a box made of hard matte cardboard, laconically and minimalistically designed. The box is quite large in size, but its limited contents fit into a small additional internal compartment, and most of the box is empty.

The kit includes only a USB Type-C connecting cable, a network adapter with variable output current and voltage (5/9/12 V at 1.5/2/2.5 A) and a key for removing cards.

Appearance and ease of use

Xiaomi Mi 5s looks nice, but is not as impressively designed as Mi 5s Plus. There is no texture like brushed metal, there is no such gloss. The body has a uniform matte surface, looks more modest and is more reminiscent of the latest products from a cheaper family, like Redmi Note 4.

And yet, Xiaomi Mi 5s remains quite attractive: its body is made of a single piece of metal (unibody), there are no plastic end inserts, and all antennas are placed in external grooves covered with composite material. The metal is matte, pleasant to the touch, although, of course, quite slippery.

The smartphone is small in size, and by modern standards it can even be called compact, especially considering the fact that among top-end mobile devices there are almost no smartphones with a small screen size. If you can still find them anywhere, it’s only in the budget segment, but that’s a completely different story. Due to its small width and weight, as well as the sloping edges of the rear wall, the device lies comfortably in the hand. Brushed metal surfaces can sometimes be quite slippery, but certainly not easily soiled.

Based on a two-week acquaintance, there were no complaints about the device regarding the assembly and quality of materials. The parts fit neatly together, there are no gaps or inconsistencies. During testing, neither the metal back nor the front glass had any scratches.

The glass is made in a modern 2.5D version, where the edges are slightly sloping, and this creates the feeling of a more streamlined body. However, Xiaomi smartphones have a clearly defined transition to flat side edges.

On the front panel there is a full set of necessary sensors, as well as an event indicator, touch buttons and even a fingerprint scanner. Moreover, the scanner here is located under a common glass: the developers installed a newfangled ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, which does not have a dedicated area as such, and the place for placing a finger is indicated only by a regular notch.

As experience has shown, the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner installed here recognizes wet and dirty fingers no better than a conventional scanner installed, for example, in Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus. That is, it does not always recognize them, and the speed of recognition (or response to recognition) is not so great; We've come across smartphones that do all this faster and better. In general, acquaintance with the new technology did not cause much enthusiasm.

On the back side of the case, the camera module with a powerful, bright two-section LED flash does not protrude beyond the surface, so the smartphone lies quite stable on the table and does not wobble when you touch the screen.

The cards are inserted into the side connector, which has two slots for Nano-SIM cards, but, like the older model, there is no space for a memory card; the connector is not a hybrid one. Hot swapping of cards is supported.

The side buttons are located on the opposite side and are made of metal. The keys seemed much harder to us than those of the Mi 5s Plus; pressing them is not as pleasant, especially when you press them at the same time to take a screenshot.

At the bottom end there is a USB Type-C connector that supports connecting external devices, including flash drives, in USB OTG mode. Two symmetrical rows of holes are cut out next to the connector, but the sound from the speaker comes out only through one of them. (Behind the other, apparently, there is a conversational microphone.) The speaker does not sound as loud and not as rich as in the larger Mi 5s Plus model, which apparently has a more powerful speaker. But in general, the device is not bad in terms of sound capabilities, although not better than average.

The entire top end is given over to a 3.5 mm headphone jack - there is no infrared transmitter for emulating a remote control, as in the Mi 5s Plus model. It is curious that a remote control emulation program for controlling equipment is pre-installed in this smartphone, but it immediately reports the absence of an infrared port and suggests searching in a single Wi-Fi network for equipment to control it.

Xiaomi Mi 5s is sold in the same four colors as Mi 5s Plus: light silver, dark gray, gold and pink. The smartphone body did not receive protection from moisture and dust.

Screen

Xiaomi Mi 5s is equipped with an IPS display with 2.5D glass with sloping edges. The screen is significantly smaller than that of the 5.7-inch Mi 5s Plus model, its physical dimensions here are 65x115 mm with a diagonal of 5.15 inches, and the resolution is 1920x1080 pixels, so the pixel density is approximately 386 ppi. The body is not much wider than the screen, about 3 mm on the sides, of which about 2 mm is the notorious black frame around the display, which stands out strongly on light-colored Xiaomi devices and is therefore so unloved by users. Without this frame, the screen would be only 1 mm away from the edges of the case, but, apparently, this is not so easy to implement technologically. In any case, even with a frame, the screen still occupies a very significant part of the front panel area; the developers have integrated the display into a truly compact and elegant body.

You can manually adjust the display brightness or set automatic settings based on the ambient light sensor. The AnTuTu test diagnoses support for 10 simultaneous multi-touch touches. It is possible to manually adjust the color tone and contrast; you can also use the reading mode, in which the brightness is reduced and the colors fade into warm yellowish shades. The screen can be activated by double tapping.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Xiaomi Mi 5s, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Xiaomi Mi 5s is noticeably darker (brightness according to photographs is 103 versus 116 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Xiaomi Mi 5s screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. There is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen (noticeably better in efficiency than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed more easily and appear at a slower rate than with regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 640 cd/m², the minimum was 1 cd/m². The maximum brightness is very high, which means, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a good level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 160 cd/m² (too much), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 550 lux) it sets it to 425 cd/m² (it could have been lower), in very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more), the brightness increases to 640 cd/m² (to the maximum - this is what you need); if the adjustment is approximately 50%, then the values ​​are as follows: 7, 180 and 640 cd/m² (the first value is slightly lower than we would like when using the device in complete darkness), the regulator at 0% is 1, 150 and 610 cd/m² (the first value is underestimated, the other two are normal). We were more satisfied with the option with a slider at about 60% of the scale - 13, 220 and 640 cd/m². It turns out that the auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately and, to some extent, allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. Only at very low brightness levels does significant backlight modulation appear, but its frequency is high, about 2.3 kHz, so there is no visible flicker of the screen (but perhaps it can be detected in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect - we, however, were not able to do this ).

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Xiaomi Mi 5s and Nexus 7, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forced to switch to 6500 K.

There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

The uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field is good.

And a test picture:

The colors on the Xiaomi Mi 5s screen are oversaturated (note the tomatoes, bananas and napkin) and the color balance is slightly off. Recall that photography can not serve as a reliable source of information about color rendering quality and are provided for illustrative purposes only. In this case, apparently, due to the peculiarities of the emission spectrum of the screen, the color balance in the photographs is somewhat different from what is visible to the eye and determined by a spectrophotometer.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Xiaomi Mi 5s the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong brightening of black.

And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens has greatly decreased, but the Xiaomi Mi 5s screen is still brighter. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a yellowish tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is average:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1060:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 27 ms (14 ms on + 13 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 44 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.15, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve slightly deviates from the power-law dependence:

In this case, we did not find any dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.

The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

Let's look at the spectra:

Such spectra are (unfortunately) found in top mobile devices from Sony and other manufacturers. Apparently, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix filters, allows for a wide color gamut. Yes, and the red phosphor apparently uses so-called quantum dots. For a consumer device, a wide color gamut is not an advantage, but a significant disadvantage, since as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photo above.

This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the hue warmer or cooler (there are only three values ​​to choose from, despite the slider), as well as select one of three profiles (in the bottom two, the color balance switch is inactive).

The profile is of interest Default(which is not selected by default at all), since it is the only one that attempts to correct the terrible colors by adjusting the color gamut:

The result is average, but the attempt counts. We hope that someday software developers for Xiaomi smartphones will master the simplest operations of matrix algebra and they will get an sRGB triangle without kinks on the sides. For now we have the following result:

Everything is better. In case of profile Increase contrast The screen brightness is maximum, but the balance is also the worst, since the color temperature is too high and the ΔE value is high. For the default profile ( Auto Contrast), the balance of shades on the gray scale is acceptable, since the color temperature is not much higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. When selecting a profile Default color temperature approaches 6500 K, but ΔE increases significantly. However, in this case, it is more important to reduce the saturation to normal. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize: the screen has a very high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. Also, the advantages of the screen include the presence of an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, high contrast, as well as not the worst color balance and approximation to the sRGB color gamut when choosing a profile Default. Significant disadvantages include the low stability of black to gaze deviation from perpendicular to the screen plane. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.

Camera

The front module here is apparently the same as that of the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus, the camera has a 4 megapixel sensor with a pixel size of 2 microns and a wide-angle lens (80°) with a maximum aperture of f/2.0, with a fixed focus and without its own flashes. As usual for Xiaomi smartphones, there is a function to automatically detect the gender and age of the subject. There are also photo decoration modes. The shooting quality is average.

The main camera here is not dual, like the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus, but a regular one. It uses a Sony IMX378 sensor (12 MP) and a six-component lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.0. Phase detection (PDAF) autofocus pleases with its performance both during the day and in low light conditions. The dual multi-colored flash is bright.

The control menu is the same as in all Xiaomi smartphones, there are no noticeable differences here, with the possible exception of the appearance of more and more additional special modes, such as GroupShot, tilt-shift, etc. The dual camera in the Mi 5s Plus modification had two more unusual modes - stereo and monochrome, but for obvious reasons they are not here. There is a special night mode, and even if you do not turn it on manually, it turns on itself when shooting in low light conditions without a flash.

As usual, in the settings there is no choice of resolution in specific numbers; you can only set high, medium or low quality, and also adjust clarity, saturation and contrast - again, by choosing presets. In manual mode, settings for ISO (up to 3200), shutter speed, and white balance are added. Using the Camera2 API, you cannot transfer camera control to third-party applications, and there is also no option to save pictures in RAW.

The camera can shoot video in a maximum resolution of 4K, for slow motion Slow Motion the resolution is limited to 720p, and there is switchable stabilization for video. It's not perfect, but it still successfully compensates for minor hand tremors when shooting on the go. And in general, the camera copes well with video shooting: sharpness, color rendition and detail are normal, as is the recorded audio. The sound is clear, there is no echo effect, the noise reduction system copes with its responsibilities adequately.

• Video No. 1 (95 MB, 3840×2160@30 fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 2 (57 MB, 1280×720, slo-mo)

We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench using our method.

The camera turned out to be nice. It is not without its drawbacks in the form of areas of blur that periodically appear at the edges of the frame, but otherwise everything is quite good. The program works neatly and almost unnoticeably. Overall, the camera performs well in a variety of scenarios.

Telephone and communications

The hero of the review has rich communication capabilities: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC provided the smartphone with the X12 LTE Cat.12/13 modem, and Xiaomi took care of supporting multiple frequency bands, including 3 FDD LTE bands (Band 1, 3, 7). Unfortunately, the LTE 800 MHz frequency (Band 20), which best meets the requirements for indoor communications and in sparsely populated areas, is not supported. For residents of some regions, this may become a certain problem in terms of using the 4G network, but in the urban areas of the Moscow region the device behaved more or less confidently. The quality of signal reception does not cause any particular complaints, although it was not possible to achieve maximum speeds in LTE in the usual testing places.

In addition, the wireless interfaces support Bluetooth 4.2, both Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz) MU-MIMO, WiDi, and even NFC with support for Mifare Classic. There are no complaints about the sensitivity of the Wi-Fi module. You can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The USB Type-C connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode.

The navigation module works with both GPS (with A-GPS) and the domestic Glonass, and sees the device and satellites of the Chinese Beidou network. The first satellites during a cold start in the absence of a wireless network for data transmission are detected within the first tens of seconds. The smartphone is equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the digital compass of navigation programs usually operates.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. There is a built-in blacklist for unwanted contacts. The standard keyboard supports Swype-type stroke input by default. There is pluggable support for VoLTE. In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor remains recognizable, there is no extraneous noise. The main speaker has good volume, the sound is of average quality, but quite clear. The volume level will be sufficient for any environment. The vibration alert can be adjusted, and at maximum power it is quite noticeable.

The smartphone supports dual SIM cards. The standard interface allows you to select a specific card for each function in advance or directly during the connection. Work with two SIM cards is organized according to the usual Dual SIM Dual Standby standard, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

Software and multimedia

As a software platform, Xiaomi Mi 5s uses Android OS version 6.0.1 and its own proprietary MIUI 8 shell, which we have already become familiar with more than once on the example of both the older model Mi 5s Plus and Redmi Note 4 from a simpler line. As in the case of Mi 5s Plus, we received a model for testing with the international firmware MIUI Global 8.0 already installed, so we did not have to resort to installing the Play Store and Google Apps ourselves. This need may sometimes arise among those who like to order Chinese smartphones from online stores, but usually these users know what they are getting into and are ready to do a little magic with the firmware. However, it is worth noting that online stores most often supply Xiaomi smartphones with modified firmware, and in this case the device has a customized global version that is not updated over the air. In the real global version, the index is different, camera2api works there and there is the ability to save in RAW.

Performance

The Xiaomi Mi 5s hardware platform is based on the same SoC as the Mi 5s Plus - Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (MSM8996pro). Basically, this is a slightly improved version of the Snapdragon 820, Qualcomm's top and most expensive platform for mobile devices. It’s just that the maximum core frequency of the Xiaomi Mi 5s was reduced to such an extent that the platform in this parameter is not much different from the regular Snapdragon 820. Obviously, this was done in order to artificially lower the performance of the Mi 5s model in relation to the Mi 5s Plus and justify thereby increasing the cost of the latter.

Be that as it may, the chip configuration here includes four Kryo processor cores in two clusters, the maximum frequency of the older cores reaches 2.15 GHz (versus 2.34 GHz for the Mi 5s Plus). The Adreno 530 video accelerator is responsible for graphics processing; the frequency of its cores has also been reduced to 624 MHz (versus 652 MHz for the Mi 5s Plus). The amount of RAM is 3 or 4 GB, and the internal memory is 32, 64 or 128 GB, depending on the configuration. About 57 GB remains free on the 64 GB flash model, and about 1.4 of the 3 GB of RAM is usually free after a fresh reboot and memory wipe.

There is no possibility of expanding memory by installing microSD cards, but you can connect an external flash drive in USB OTG mode. The simultaneous connection of a USB flash drive and an SD card using an OTG hub also works well (Transcend Smart Reader RDC2 was used for testing).

Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 821 is about 10% faster than its predecessor. Here, the performance of the SoC, slightly reduced in frequency of the CPU and GPU cores, clearly demonstrates the opposite picture: the results of all tests without exception (complex, graphics, and even browser tests) are slightly lower than those of the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus. In AnTuTu, for example, this difference was about 11K (141K versus 152K), in other tests the gap is within the same limits. But both Xiaomi models, of course, have such high performance that most modern smartphones cannot even dream of such results. The hero of the review is one of the most powerful modern smartphones; today only a few can compare with it in terms of performance.

The platform provides the highest numbers in benchmarks, and in real scenarios it confidently copes with any tasks, including the most demanding games. Any games we tested, including Dead Trigger 2, Modern Combat 5, Mortal Kombat X, not to mention less demanding ones like World of Tanks, run without the slightest slowdown at maximum settings and are played with great comfort. The device is very powerful, it has a significant performance reserve for future updates over several generations.

Testing in the latest versions of comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	Xiaomi Mi 5s (Qualcomm Snapdragon 821)	Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus (Qualcomm Snapdragon 821)	Xperia XZ (Qualcomm Snapdragon 820)	Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (Samsung Exynos 8890 Octa)	Huawei P9 Plus (HiSilicon Kirin 955)	Doogee F7 Pro (MediaTek Helio X20)
3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot (more is better)	1916	2000	2368	2130	952	961
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (Onscreen, fps)	26	28	32	24	11	11
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen, fps)	26	29	31	26	10	11
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (Onscreen, fps)	59	60	60	52	27	34
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen, fps)	75	81	90	84	26	36

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is more localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 37 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is relatively little.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a table.

According to the testing results, the test subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network, in this case, audio files. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 sound format.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720, 24 fps, AAC	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720, 24 fps, AC3		The video plays fine, there is no sound
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24 fps, AAC	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24 fps, AC3	The video plays fine, there is no sound	The video plays fine, there is no sound

Further testing of video playback was performed Alexey Kudryavtsev.

Due to the lack of the necessary adapter, we could not check the hypothetical presence of the MHL interface, as well as Mobility DisplayPort, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) Red marks indicate possible problems associated with the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and, in most cases, without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: in the shadows, only about a couple of shades merge with black, and in the highlights all gradations are displayed.

Battery life

The non-removable battery installed in the Xiaomi Mi 5s has a smaller capacity of 3200 mAh than that of the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus. By modern standards, this capacity is not impressive, but the smartphone, even with its super-powerful platform, showed not only decent battery life results, but also better than many competitors in the top segment. Particularly pleasing is the long operating time when watching videos and playing games - both new Xiaomi devices function in these scenarios for a very long time, and these are relatively life-long scenarios, in contrast to, for example, a day of continuous reading of e-books.

Of course, in real life the situation is usually more complicated, and even the most durable smartphone may not last until an evening charge, but with normal average use, the hero of the review is quite capable of easily surviving a day or more without recharging. Testing has traditionally been done at normal power consumption levels without using power-saving features.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
Xiaomi Mi 5s	3200 mAh	14:30	11:50 am	7:30 a.m.
Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus	3800 mAh	22:00	15:30	8:00 am
Doogee T6 Pro	6250 mAh	27:20	20:00	8:30 a.m.
Doogee F7 Pro	4000 mAh	15:00	9:00 a.m.	3 hours 30 minutes
Huawei P9 Plus	3400 mAh	18:00	10:00 am	5:00 a.m.
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	3600 mAh	24:00	14:35	6:30 a.m.
Sony Xperia XZ	2900 mAh	17:00	9:00 a.m.	6:20 a.m.

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) with auto-scrolling lasted about 14.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality ( 720p) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device operates for a little less than 12 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can work for up to 7 hours or more, although here, of course, everything will depend on the specific games and their settings.

The device supports the proprietary fast charging function Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0; from the included network adapter it charges in approximately 1 hour 40 minutes with a current of 2.3 A at a voltage of 6 V. The smartphone does not support wireless charging.

Bottom line

Xiaomi Mi 5s turned out to be pleasant to look at, practical and easy to use, small and light. This very attractive smartphone has a high-quality screen and camera, which is very important to justify the considerable price of the device. Excellent communication capabilities and a high level of autonomy complete the rosy picture. In addition, Xiaomi Mi 5s is the most productive smartphone. In short, once again we have to admit that the small Xiaomi Mi series devices are now almost the only worthy alternative to Apple smartphones for lovers of miniature mobile devices with maximum capabilities.

The hero of the review may be inferior to his older brother Mi 5s Plus in some ways, having a smaller display and a “simple” camera, but the regular model is cheaper and is, of course, designed for a more mass consumer. The cheapest option is priced at 1899 yuan, and the older one (4 GB RAM, 128 GB flash memory) is priced at 2299 yuan, which corresponds to approximately 17,500 and 21,500. But these are official prices for China, and online stores, especially domestic ones, will definitely throw something on top.

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.

Readers regularly asked us about this device and complained that the review had not been published for a very long time. The reason for this is quite simple: we wanted to test the normal PCT version of the model, and not order it from China. Why? The point, of course, is the firmware, since when we test versions of the Mi 5s with Chinese firmware and find that there is something wrong with it, we often run into negativity from readers who claim that we need to manually install global, fixes, etc. .d.

Characteristics

Specifications
Class	Flagship
Form factor	Monoblock
Housing materials	Aluminum
operating system	Android 6.0 + MIUI 8.0
Net	2G/3G/LTE (800/1800/2600), two SIM cards
Platform	Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
CPU	Quad-core
Video accelerator	Adreno 530
Inner memory	32 GB
RAM	4 GB
Memory card slot	No
WiFi	Yes, a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
Bluetooth	Yes, 4.2 LE, A2DP
NFC	Eat
Screen diagonal	5.15 inches
Screen resolution	1920 x 1080 pixels
Matrix type	IPS
Protective covering	Glass
Oleophobic coating	Eat
Main camera	12 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, 4k video shooting
Front-camera	4 MP, f/2.0
Navigation	GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
Sensors	Accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor
Battery	Non-removable, 3200 mAh
Dimensions	145.6 x 70.3 x 8.3 mm
Weight	145 grams
Price	From $280 / 31,000 rubles

Equipment

• Smartphone
• Charger
• PC cable (also part of the charger)

Appearance, materials, control elements, assembly

When you look at the Mi 5s, you immediately understand that when creating it, the company was inspired by the Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE; the back of the case has the same beautiful curve, only, unlike the EDGE, it is made of aluminum, not glass.

But the glass on the front panel has only a slight bend, and this is actually great. Owners of the same S7 EDGE regularly complain that the edges of their smartphone dig into their hands and because of this it is not very convenient to use. The Mi 5s does not have this problem; thanks to the curve at the back, the device feels thinner and lighter, and the absence of a strong curvature of the screen allows you to hold it with greater comfort.

The smartphone is sold in four colors: silver, dark gray, gold and pink; we tested the first option.

Above the display there is a front camera, a speaker mesh, light and proximity sensors, and an indicator light.

Below the screen there are three touch buttons: “Recent Apps”, “Home” and “Back”. The central button is integrated into the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. I like that the scanner was mounted on the front, but its performance was disappointing. Unfortunately, it only successfully unlocks your smartphone half the time. At first I thought that this was an isolated problem, but readers complained that it was also unstable for them. Just for fun, I read the 4PDA thread on the device, they suggest either installing some special version of the firmware, or driving the same finger four times, or very carefully adding all areas of the finger. In any case, the problem exists, keep it in mind before purchasing.

There is a mini-jack at the top end, and a Type C port, an external speaker grille and the main microphone at the bottom. Keep in mind that the speaker here is not stereo, two meshes are made just for beauty, and a microphone is hidden in the left one.

On the right there is a volume rocker and a power button, and on the left there is a tray for two SIM cards; alas, there is no slot for a memory card.

On the back cover you can see the main camera eye, dual LED flash, laser autofocus and plastic inserts for antennas.

The device is well assembled; after a month of use, I had no complaints about its assembly.

Dimensions

In the comments, readers often ask why I call five-inch devices compact. The fact is that smartphones with a smaller diagonal are practically no longer on sale, and most flagships are gradually moving from 5 to 5.5-inch displays. Therefore, even a smartphone with a 5.15-inch screen already looks and feels compact in the hand.

Compared to Apple iPhone 6

Mi 5s feels great in the hand, it is quite thin and light, and the narrowing at the edges of the body visually and tactilely makes it even thinner.

Screen

To be honest, before I looked at the table with the characteristics, I was sure that this device had an AMOLED matrix installed. The fact is that the contrast of the picture is very similar to AMOLED displays. Moreover, you can even notice red halos along the edges of the letters when scrolling! Surprisingly, for some reason I didn’t see any information about this in other reviews.

The problem with ghosting is solved by switching to the “default” mode. Auto-tuning is initially enabled, but I recommend turning it off.

It is problematic to check the behavior of the screen in the sun in the current weather, but on the street the picture is clearly visible at about 60-70% brightness and higher. It is also convenient to read from a smartphone, thanks to the wide range of brightness.

There is also a separate reading mode in the settings; when you turn it on, the entire color scheme turns yellow. There is also a slider that adjusts the intensity of such a transition. I didn’t like the reading mode; I feel like it makes my eyes even more tired. In general, there are a lot of color settings; I was particularly pleased with the ability to turn on the display with a double tap.

The oleophobic coating is excellent, in no way inferior to flagships from other major brands. The finger glides perfectly on the glass, and swiping is convenient.

To summarize: the screen in the model is excellent, using it is a pleasure.

operating system

The device runs Android 6.0 and MIUI 8.0. Once again I promise to tell you about the shell in more detail, I think that the time to do this has come. Below I will list the main features of MIUI, although, in a good way, it deserves a separate review.

Work tables. The launcher in MIUI has not changed much over time; it still uses the display of all applications at once on desktops and oval rims for the icons of some third-party programs. Interestingly, the settings are called up here by pinching with two fingers; a long press does not work. I liked the application sorting mode; when you turn it on, you can add as many icons as you like to the bottom panel, and then scatter them across your desktops. A kind of help in general cleaning on the desktop.

Dialer. The dialer in MIUI has long become a standard for many users; I myself use the exDialer application, made on its basis. The program supports the Russian language, there is a search on T9, setting up actions for left-right swipes, a separate black list and call recording. Unfortunately, in Russian versions of Xiaomi smartphones, for some reason, the search for Russian contacts does not work, I don’t know what this is connected with.

SMS messages. The application is quite simple, but if you are logged into your Mi account, it automatically makes a backup copy of your correspondence.

Browser. I like that the browser's home page has shortcuts to popular pages, making it easy to navigate to the page you want. Of course, you can add your own links, change their places or delete them. But the separate reading mode does not work well; when it is turned on on our website, the pictures are automatically flattened.

Notification curtain. MIUI 8 abandoned the division of the curtain into two parts, and this is the right decision; when you lower it, you immediately see four shortcuts and a brightness adjustment slider. The transition to the next buttons is made using a horizontal swipe, as in TouchWiz. A long press of the button opens the settings of the corresponding interface, this is convenient.

Screenshots. Now, after taking a screenshot, it hangs in the upper right corner for about three seconds; if you click on it, the settings for editing and forwarding it will open. MIUI can also take long screenshots.

Second space. Ability to create an additional user on a smartphone. This is convenient if you want to use different accounts for the same applications at work and at home, for example.

Dual applications. Well, if you just need to have two accounts in some WhatsApp, then for this you can use this function, which creates a copy of it within one account.

Permissions. MIUI has a very detailed application permissions panel, where you can fine-tune which interfaces and functions a particular program will have access to and which ones it will not.

One-handed control mode. To enter this mode, slide your finger from the center to the left touch button, and to exit, tap on the dark area of ​​the screen. In the settings you can specify which diagonal emulation you want to use.

Keys. For the lower buttons, there is fine-tuning of actions for both short and long presses.

Headphones. MIUI can also customize actions for the buttons on the headset. This is convenient if you want to skip to the previous/next track instead of changing the volume.

In general, the entire MIUI is made in such a way that you can customize anything, and that’s why geeks love it.

Performance

I received several requests from our regular readers regarding testing the performance of devices, in particular, they asked to add results from GeekBench, measure the write speed of a card, and also check the performance of the device in WoT Blitz. I think the Mi 5s review is a great reason to start doing all this.

The smartphone runs on a top-end chipset from Qualcomm and has good internal memory speed, this is felt in all operating scenarios: desktops and the browser are scrolled quickly, all games run at maximum settings. Now about WoT: Blitz, it also runs at maximum settings, there are no stutters or delays, the picture in the toy is simply amazing.

After 15 minutes of playing, the smartphone gets very hot, the body temperature rises to 45 degrees. The back cover gets hot, it's noticeable.

In everyday use there are no such problems; the body of the smartphone is only a little warm.

Autonomous operation

I also changed the battery life section a little. Now, instead of testing the operating time when watching HD video and reading mode, I will measure the operating time when watching an FHD YouTube video and while playing WoT. And, of course, my daily use regimen has not gone away either.

When using Mi 5s, you can safely count on one day of work, there are no super impressive results here.

The smartphone supports Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 technology; in half an hour the device is charged by 41%, in an hour by 83%, the total charging time is approximately 100 minutes. Unfortunately, you will need a separate charger to use this mode.

Camera

I asked Roman Belykh to evaluate the shooting quality of the Mi 5s, below is his detailed comment:

The camera takes excellent pictures during the day, there are practically no complaints, the only thing I would like is a little higher detail. Focus is instant and precise.

* Recommended to upload a 720*312 image as the cover image

Article Description

Preface. Now there will be a kind of review-but-not-quite. One could call this operating experience, but since it is only 3 days so far, I will call this a small essay about Xiaomi Mi5 from a person who used to look at Chinese smartphones from the most skeptical point of view. A minimum description of the smartphone itself and a maximum of subjective impressions and observations. At the same time, I’ll try to answer the main question: is it worth buying Mi5 in 2017. First, a short introduction. My acquaintance with the Android ecosystem began, so to speak, right off the bat - with the Samsung Galaxy Tab in 2011. Seven inches, 1024x600, Android 2.2 - in general, someone will remember that first tablet pancake of the Korean company, which seemed to be not lumpy, but it was very difficult to call it a masterpiece. However, for me, not spoiled by good mobile technology, this tablet became a kind of revelation, which was not spoiled even by the average ergonomics of the device and the frankly “telephone” OS. Over time, however, the shortcomings became much more obvious, and in 2012, having quickly sold the device on the secondary market, I moved to literally the opposite camp, buying an iPad 2. There was no trace of the above-described “jambs”, so happily I used it until the very end of 2013, when I replaced it with an iPad Air, which still serves me now. All this “tablet” digression led me to the fact that, in fact, the smartphone became for me just a dialer or, at most, a “little assistant” of the tablet that performed all the main functions. At the end of 2014, however, I nevertheless deviated from this rule by purchasing an iPhone 6 at what was then a relatively reasonable price. A quite good device, albeit overpriced, on the whole I was very pleased, and remembering the bad experience with the Galaxy Tab, I didn’t even consider alternatives on Android. Then, as a result of an unfortunate combination of circumstances (namely, ice), the “apple”, which served me well for two and a half years, turned into an extremely used device. Having looked at the current prices for fresh iPhones and being horrified, I nevertheless decided to make a second entry into the camp of the green robot, and began to scour my favorite specialized Internet resources for a worthy replacement. So, in fact, after days of wandering and sorting through options, my choice settled on Xiaomi Mi5, as the device with the most adequate price-quality ratio. I still decided not to take risks with Chinese online stores, and after adding a certain amount, I purchased this device in my own city for 18,990 (small spoiler: the price here is much less than the final quality). Design and ergonomics. In terms of design, I have absolutely no questions about the Mi5, only delight. I took the device in a “golden” color, which in the end seems more like beige to me. Externally, the smartphone is wonderful without any discounts. Smooth transitions of glass to metal and back, original pattern on the back panel, external “framelessness”: all this creates the impression of a really expensive, if not high-status, device, and the competitors I reviewed for the same price are not even close in this regard, this a completely different level. The impression only intensified when I picked up the Mi5. The weight with such materials and screen sizes is simply minimal: the iPhone 6, with its smaller dimensions, weighs about the same, so Xiaomi deserves nothing but applause here. The assembly is also ideal: there is no play, no creaks, and no tendency to fall off, so the smartphone looks and feels solid and firmly put together. In fact, the only relatively negative feature of the device is precisely its size: to learn how to use it with one hand after 4.7" apple" I had to try a little. I won’t call it a minus, since everything here is very subjective. In general, for the design and ergonomics of the Mi5, I received a solid “ten”, and my unfamiliarity with this does not affect this in any way. Moreover, using the device alone hand is still quite realistic and even comfortable. Myth No. 1: Mi5 with its metal edges digs into the hand when used. Reality: Yes and no. It depends on how you hold the device. After getting used to it and developing a grip that is comfortable for me, this I no longer notice any problems at all. On the contrary, thanks to the bend of the body, the Mi5 fits into the hand like a glove. Myth No. 2: The Mi5 is very slippery and constantly “asks to land” Reality: This is where I completely disagree. Yes, it slides, which when glass back cover is inevitable. But I can’t say that this is more pronounced here than on the same iPhone. Maybe this is a peculiarity of my grip specifically, but in three full days of using the smartphone, I never had to grab the Mi5 to prevent it from falling. Myth No. 3: the volume and power buttons in the Mi5 play and cut into my fingers when pressed. Reality: in On my device, I didn’t even notice anything like that: there is no gap at all between the body and the buttons, and their sizes are sufficient so that they do not dig into your finger. Myth No. 4: The home button is too narrow, which prevents you from using the fingerprint scanner properly, and In general, she is terrible. Reality: Nothing like that. The button is quite convenient, and to eliminate any problems with fingerprint recognition, it is enough to apply different parts of the fingertip when creating it. In general, by the way, the fingerprint scanner pleased me even more than in the same iPhone. The touch keys also did not cause any inconvenience. Screen. In this section I want to put a lot, a lot of exclamation marks, which I won’t do. I'll be honest: the Mi5's screen is simply gorgeous. I won’t go into detail and disassemble the display into pixels; it’s easier to briefly describe my impressions. Color rendition, contrast and picture clarity: delight. True, I had to remove automatic contrast adjustment in the settings, since it slightly bothered me. In standard mode, there is simply nothing to complain about: playing, watching videos, surfing the Internet and performing other tasks inherent in a smartphone are simply divinely pleasant on the Mi5. An adequate diagonal plays an important role here - 5.2" allows you not to peer at the screen, without turning the device into a shovel. Myth No. 5: the frames around the display are a kilometer thick and generally larger than the screen itself. Reality: No, no, and no again. I don’t know how things are with this in the white Mi5, but on the “gold” one you stop noticing the notorious frames already in the first minutes of getting to know the device. Yes, they are there, so you can’t call the display absolutely frameless. But with direct comparisons, oh horror , it turns out that the frames in other smartphones are often much larger, only they are made of metal/plastic and are not part of the display. OS, shell and internal memory. It is worth noting that the MIUI shell made the transition from iOS to Android as easy as possible for me, so how there are similar elements, such as the absence of an application menu. In general, everything here seemed even more convenient to me: having scattered the applications into folders, I brought them to the most convenient structure, which, moreover, does not interfere with admiring the wallpaper. There are also no complaints about the convenience and speed of the system none: everything is fast, smooth, beautiful and at the same time as user friendly as possible. The ONLY small “jamb” that I noticed in the system is that when you minimize and reopen the device’s settings, for some reason they open on the start page, and not on the one where you left off. As for the performance of the Mi5 in games and applications, I won’t even stutter: everything flies and will continue to fly for a very, very long time. I didn’t notice any micro or macro lags anywhere. By the way, if applications like CPU-Z tell you that your processor frequency is, say, 1.36 instead of 1.8 GHz, do not be alarmed and do not take the device to the store: this simply means a bunch of “standard” cores intended for simple calculations ,the remaining two are connected as needed. As for memory, 32GB in the device turned out to be quite enough: after installing all the applications and games, I still had more than 16 gigabytes free, which is more than enough for photos and videos. Myth No. 6: MIUI is unfriendly to ordinary people because of necessity flashing. Reality: Perhaps, when ordering a device from China, everything is the same. I, although I’m not a “lamer” in such things, did not encounter a problem at all: out of the box the device had MIUI 7, which was easily updated via OTA to version 8. After which, by updating the built-in applications, the device can be used just like any other. Battery and autonomy. I was even a little afraid about this point, because the scenario for using the smartphone is quite aggressive (for example, constant work as a Wi-Fi access point -Fi and long screen time). In reality, everything turned out to be much better. Yes, you shouldn’t expect miracles of battery life from Mi5, which is easily explained by the ratio of its filling and 3000 mAh battery. But even with my use, the smartphone easily lives from 8 am to 16-17 pm. However, I wouldn’t find fault here, even if the device was discharged earlier, because thanks to fast charging, you can add another 35-40% charge to Mi5 in a measly 20 minutes (these are real numbers based on my experience) Myth No. 7: Mi5 It gets very hot during operation. Reality: Yes, it gets hot. No, not much. The same iPhone 6 turned into a hot cake after an hour of working as an access point. In Mi5, I didn’t notice anything like that: even with “hard” use, the smartphone does not heat up to uncomfortable temperatures. And it cools down very quickly. Camera. This is where we come to one of the most important functions of a smartphone for me - the camera. I won’t lie, I really love filming. Not for Instagram and Contacts, but for yourself, friends and family. On my computer I have a huge array of photos from a variety of devices: from the very first touchscreen Samsungs on JAVA systems and iPads to cameras and camcorders. So, when choosing a new smartphone, I almost first of all looked at the characteristics and examples of shooting of its main camera. In order not to languish for a long time, I will say right away: I liked BOTH cameras in the Mi5. Very. True, there is one condition: I’m not using the standard camera application, but a modified version of it with noise reduction turned off. It doesn’t interfere when shooting during the day and in good lighting, but in the worst conditions it gives the photos an unpleasant “watercolor” effect. So I preferred to put up with noise in the dark, but get more honest pictures. Otherwise, the cameras here are simply wonderful. I won’t talk for a long time about the front camera, which I use very rarely, but I also really, really like the quality of its pictures, and the detail even surprised me quite a bit. The rear camera on my Mi5 practically never rests: I take a lot of pictures, at least some of them then they go into the trash. Yes, in low light the local IMX298 does not produce anything extraordinary, but this is not required of it, it is enough that even in dim room light or in the light of night lamps you can take a quite pleasant photo, which will not only be informative, but will also have some artistic value. I note that I do not consider myself a great expert on mobile cameras, and I rely only on my own small experience and subjective impressions. I also really liked the camera’s operation in long exposure mode: “hand-held” you can quite easily take pictures of up to 1-4 seconds, without blurring them too much, and by placing the smartphone in a stable position, you can get light and bright images using an 8-32 second shutter speed. clear images even in extremely dark scenes. In initially good conditions, the camera sometimes produces simply stunning results: I did not even expect such detail and elaboration of the dynamic range from a camera in a smartphone. The “Auto-HDR” mode works very clearly, which almost always correctly guesses where to apply this effect, and where it would only spoil the picture. Moreover, I was very, very pleased with the quality of the pictures in general in all shooting scenarios: from macro and text to portrait and landscape photos. In general, I can say that although I have a very small range of devices with which I could compare the camera of the hero of the review, From my subjective impressions, I can’t imagine what else I would like to get from a relatively small smartphone module. I can’t say anything more about the camera. Conclusion: I won’t give scores here and talk about the pros and cons of the device, since all this can be seen from the previous text. I’ll just say that for me specifically, the Mi5 not only beat back its very modest price several times over, but also became generally the best smartphone I’ve ever used. Yes, progress does not stand still and probably after some time a device will appear with which I can adequately replace my Mi5, but for now it’s quite difficult for me to imagine its characteristics and appearance. Bravo, Xiaomi, bravo.