Xiaomi Mi 3 Review

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The arrival of Chinese
Android smartphones
 has shaken things a little for the smartphone market, however most of them have underpowered processors, limited amount of memory or running on outdated versions of Android. Xiaomi’s smartphones are an exception to our claims above, the company manufactures high quality smartphones with the most powerful specs to date, the company has finally made its presence out of its home country in recent years with the introduction of its Mi 2s, the first smartphone in the world to be powered by Qualcomm’s first quad-core Snapdragon CPU. And now, Xiaomi has finally reached Malaysia by selling their fastest flagship to date – the Mi 3.

Xiaomi Mi3 Video Review

Samsung GALAXY
 S5 vs Xiaomi Mi 3

Premium Design and Powerful Internals

Xiaomi’s mantra is always about making the best smartphones that doesn’t compromise on user experience and performance. The Mi 3’s body houses an aluminum magnesium alloy frame which is coated in three layers of graphite film, the device has a thickness of 8.1mm and weighs 145 grams. We’ve been approached by many people and they really can’t believe such engineering can be done on a Chinese made smartphone.

The Mi 3 may not have the latest CPU and specifications, they are still no slouch as in today’s standards.

Xiaomi Mi 3 Hardware Specifications

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 8274AB Quad Core 2.3GHz

RAM/ROM: 2GB LPDDR3/16GB (
Sandisk
 Flash)

Display: 5″ Full HD (1920×1080) IPS manufactured by JDI

Camera: 13MP Sony Exmor with Dual LED flash(Main), 2MP BSI (Front)

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, BT 4.0, NFC

Features: MIUI V5, Miracast, USB OTG, DIRAC HD Sound

Networks: DC-HSPA+

Battery: 3050mAh, QuickCharge supported

Finally, a Phone that makes you WOW

Probably the last time you WOW about a smartphone was from a fruit company, the Mi 3 is an exciting product when you receive the packaging, once you take the phone out, you’ll be awed with its gorgeous build quality and industrial design. The phone’s 5-inch JDI manufactured IPS display is really awesome with its Full HD resolution and a pixel density of 443 PPI while having extremely great viewing angles, outdoor visibility of the display is decent however it isn’t the brightest that we’ve seen, the display’s touch response is also extremely precise and responsive to our touch, which makes operating the phone a pleasure.

We love the construction of the body however some people has feedback to us on the crudeness of the design. For those who have small hands, you may have difficulty using the phone single handedly due to the long body and sharp-edged corners, however for huge hands, the phone feels good.

Android and MIUI are just like brothers

In the early days, Android wasn’t the most beautiful operating system with its robotic icons and color schemes, which many OEMs have tend to create launchers of their own to beautify the user experience. MIUI may just be another launcher such as HTC Sense and Samsung’s TouchWiz, however on the Mi 3, MIUI seems to have taken over the job of Android by having over 240 features on it, although the core of it is still Android, it doesn’t leave much traces of it behind and feels like a whole new operating system on the phone.

The Mi 3 has Android 4.3 and
MIUI v5
 loaded at this time of writing, the phone will receive its official upgrade to Android 4.4 at a later time as confirmed by Xiaomi officials. Unlike most Android launchers, MIUI doesn’t have an app drawer so apps and widgets are being presented in a paginated way just like iOS. While it’s good to adopt something great from another mobile operating system, it shares the same flaw as in managing app icons and folders, once you’ve installed too many apps on the phone, your home screen starts piling up and folder contents will increase as well, which makes search and management a challenge at times. If it were in stock Android, you’d have been able to choose the most essential apps to display on your home screen.

Android always had the problem of lag due to OEM’s launchers, MIUI is probably the only skin that we’ve seen that doesn’t gives the OS such problems, MIUI is extremely smooth and we face no lags at all in accessing and switching apps, it simply feels as if the Snapdragon 800 CPU can finally unleash its true potential with MIUI and that is why Android and MIUI simply needs each other, just like brothers.

MIUI V5
 – Overwhelming features await you

The best thing about OEM skins is the features that you can have out of stock Android, MIUI houses over 240 features and is supported by a 35 million user community globally on over 228
Android smartphones
. The community has even committed to have a new update release on every Friday, official ROMs will only get updates once the features are tested stable.

The features in MIUI can be too overwhelming for the new user as the software is created for Mi Fans a.k.a geeks by geeks, the company takes the community’s feedback very seriously and will always fulfill them should the feature request make sense. In addition, the features are really practical and you will find the listed in a change log in every software update, as a geek, we love that transparency.

See Also:
64 Tips You Should Know About MIUI V5

One of the best things we love about MIUI is how you are able to customize your user experience with the built-in Theme store. There are tons of beautiful fan made themes available on the theme store with extremely high quality graphics, some of the themes will have features that isn’t available in the original theme. Even better, the themes doesn’t slow down the user experience at all.

Mi Cloud – Probably the best competition to iCloud

Many users perceive cloud storage as cloud service, in fact cloud services for a mobile device is much more than that. Mi Cloud is Xiaomi’s answer to Apple’s iCloud, offering very similar features such as backing up notes, gallery, contacts and messages up to its servers. Most interestingly, you get an initial 5GB of storage per registration and after the first sign in to the service, you get an additional 5GB and signing in to the cloud service every month gives you 1GB of free storage. Ultimately, you already have 11GB of storage space in your account.

Mi Cloud isn’t just a service for storing files, you are able to send and receive text messages from the service and even locate and lock your device or perform a remote wipe if required. Mi Cloud is a mobile cloud service well implemented and probably one of the best that supports
Android smartphones
.

Security as a Priority

The Mi 3 has an security app preloaded which lets you do a variety of stuffs, they include managing your battery life, virus scanning, storage cleanup, monitor network data usage, blocking unwanted callers and managing app permissions.

Cleaner

Android is a very flexible OS just like Windows, every app can have configuration files stored anywhere in the phone, they can also leave traces such as caches and ads on the phone which causes a huge amount of space wasted in the long term. The Cleaner feature helps to detect those unwanted files and remove them to generate more user storage space.

Power

MIUI monitors the phone’s power really agressively with the Power app, you are able to create your own power plans that suit your everyday usage, which you can configure how you want the CPU to perform and toggling wireless connections that you want enabled.

Furthermore, you can even schedule the phone to be automatically switched off when you’re not using it and back on when you’re going to start your day.

Data usage

Most of the time we need to use 3rd party apps to monitor our network data usage and restrict some apps to use our network data, MIUI’s data usage app helps to identify which apps are using the most data and you can restrict the apps to use only mobile data or WiFi only. If your carrier supports it, it can even show your exact data quota on the app.

Virus Scan

Android is probably the most affected mobile operating system due to its open system architecture, with virus scan onboard you won’t need to worry about installing APK files out of the Google Play Store. Virus scan detects every files and even app files on the phone.

Blocklist

The most wanted feature on a smartphone, Blocklist allows you to block messages and calls you do not want to receive, you can even set it to detect keywords in messages to block them.

Permission

Everytime we install an app from the Google Play Store, it will show us a list of permissions that the app will use in the phone, many users have tend to disregard that until privacy issues start to occur.

With the permission app, users are able to monitor permissions that is being used by the apps they install and you can even set the app to ask first before it performs the action, this feature has impressed us a lot and we get to know some unreasonable permission required even by trusted apps we use.

Just like any operating system, Android is able to auto-start apps at boot up, with the auto-start management feature, you are able to deny apps to auto-start while booting the phone for increased performance.

Photography on the Mi 3 – Advanced but simple with amazing results

Mobile photography has grown in the recent years however still limited by the default camera app of the phones despite having a great imaging hardware. The Mi 3’s 13-Megapixel
Sony
 Exmor sensor produces really great pictures out of the box, colors are natural looking with sharp details, it has become our favorite travelling camera during the review period. Check out the camera samples below to believe it.

Xiaomi Mi 3 Camera Samples

Xiaomi Mi 3 Camera Samples with HDR

Xiaomi Mi 3 Front Facing Camera Samples

The Mi 3 records videos up to 1080p Full HD resolution, video quality is decent and sound recording is very clear even with loud volumes in the background, however we realized that the camera faces focus and metering issues at times, which we believe can be fixed by a software fix. Check out the video recording sample down below.

The default camera app has advanced features but it’s really easy to get the hang of it, the app is able to control exposure timing, focusing mode and white balance measurement. However, the app lacks a few shooting modes found on many flagship smartphones today, such as 360 panorama shot and drama shot.

Overall, the camera performance is very fast and reliable and we hope to see fixes on the auto focus and metering issues soon.

Benchmarks – Best in class for a Snapdragon 800 processor

When Xiaomi officials tell us that the Mi 3 is able to outperform a phone with a
Snapdragon 801
 device today, we were skeptical about it and ran it with Antutu and Quadrant.

To our surprise, the phone really managed to outperform a
Snapdragon 801
 device which we’ve recently reviewed, it scores 36456 points and 22254 points on Antutu and Quadrant respectively, which is about 1000 points more than its competition. We believe the additional score can be attributed to the well optimized software of the phone and its extremely fast
Sandisk
 flash storage.

Entertainment and Gaming also a WOW

The Mi 3 doesn’t just stop impressing us with its great performance, the phone is a champ in entertainment and gaming. The loudspeaker of the phone produces really loud and crisp volume without any distortion, making our music listening and movie watching experience really awesome. Thanks to the Snapdragon 800 CPU, gaming couldn’t be much more smoother on the Mi 3, it simply works well like a portable gaming console, however there are chances that you may block the loudspeaker while holding the phone with both hands to play games, which you’ll just need to adjust the way you hold your phone.

Lastly, the Mi 3 has DIRAC HD audio enhancement, putting on your
headphones
 will give you an immersive experience in rich audio dynamics and bass.

Network Quality and Battery Life

Simply put it this way, Malaysians may not have faith in Chinese made smartphones as they worry on network stability and exploding batteries. Of course, the Xiaomi Mi 3 doesn’t have these issues at all! Despite only able to support DC-HSPA+ data connections, the phone rocks in loading web pages and streaming over Maxis HSPA+ networks, we even tried listening to TuneIn Radio via the car stereo driving at 140km/h and the stream never got interrupted unless we are in a really poor coverage area. Call quality and our callers reported clear voice at our end thanks to two active noise cancelling
microphones

With a 3050mAh battery and efficient power management software onboard, the Mi 3’s battery life is pretty decent, it lasted 15 hours on a full charge when we tested it on our day trip with lots of instant messages, 8-10 phone calls, light web browsing, picture taking and uploading them to social networks. Using the phone with light to moderate app usage will give you around 28 hours of battery life on a single charge. Fortunately, the phone’s Snapdragon 800 processor supports QuickCharge, which is able to pump in battery juice really fast when you connect it with a 2A
charger
.

Verdict

The Xiaomi Mi 3 is an extremely capable device, it’s been a while since we’ve been seeing great performing
Android smartphones
that focuses that much on the user experience while having a great amount of security controls. The hardware and software works together in harmony, it can almost be the perfect smartphone for both geeks and consumers, however with the lack of LTE and MicroSD storage expansion, these features are definitely worth considering upon buying the Mi 3. The Xiaomi Mi 3 retails at a shockingly affordable price at RM889 off contract, which is 60% cheaper than most competing smartphones with similar hardware specifications, if you can live without the compromises we mentioned, the Mi 3 is highly recommended by us.

The Good:

Superb hardware build quality

Extremely fast and responsive software performance

Able to customize the entire user experience

Amazing battery life

Fast and reliable DC-HSPA+ connection

Gorgeous display and touchscreen

Main camera takes great pictures

Front facing camera great for selfies

The Bad

Form factor can be challenging for small hands

No LTE support

No expandable storage

Loudspeaker placement could be better

MIUI takes a lot of effort to learn

Getting a Mi 3 via
mi.com
 is extremely challenging

We rate the Xiaomi Mi 3 at 4.5 out of 5 stars.


Xiaomi Mi 4 First Look & Unboxing

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We witnessed the unveiling of Xiaomi’s most powerful smartphone the Mi 4 back in China a few weeks back, and now the device is finally here in our labs for us to get our dirty hands on it (of course, the device is still pretty much a virgin as of now). Let’s recap on the specs of the Mi 4, it has a Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz quad-core CPU, 3GB RAM, up to 64GB of built-in eMMC 5.0 flash with no storage expansion, 13 Megapixel AF
Sony
 BSI main camera, 8 Megapixel
Sony
 FSI front camera, 5” Full HD display manufactured by JDI, and a 3080mAh Sony Cell battery.

Xiaomi Mi 4 First Look & Unboxing Video

Our review unit here is the China Unicom WCDMA version which only supports TD-LTE in China, the Mi 4 international LTE version will be released after September. The phone also comes with WiFi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and an IR blaster, we are really surprised that the Mi 4 lacks NFC this time, very surprised. At this time of writing, the Mi 4 comes with MIUI v5 and Android 4.4.2 KitKat, MIUI v6 is scheduled to be released in a few weeks time which we should be able to feature it in our final review.

On first impressions, anybody will say that the Mi 4’s design is a total rip off from Apple’s iPhone 5s, which we won’t deny as the steel frame design resembles the iPhone a lot. In our own perspective point of view, we can only comment that the Mi 4 isn’t a total copy cat, but rather an inspired design from Apple, because the phone’s overall design is brought forward from the company’s recent Redmi Note, albeit more polished and handsome looking. Here’s a plus point though and many iPhone users will hate to admit it, the steel frame feels and looks so much precisely engineered and polished than the iPhone thanks to an advanced “edge coating” being applied to it.

Lastly, we’ll save the talk of some other features in our comparison videos and stories coming right up so stay calm while we work hard on them.


Xiaomi Mi 4 Review: The most beautiful smartphone from Xiaomi

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Remember those days where we used to have super huge tank phones that can cost you a car in today’s standards, then smaller smartphones start appearing with more reasonable price tags, until the day where smartphones can be purchased with just a fraction of your income. Fast forward today, we have smartphones with 64-bit processors and the similar amount of storage and RAM that our PCs have, they can be made with plastic, metal or aluminum, manufacturers start selling their phones at a premium because they can. However, many of them start panicking when one smartphone brand goes international – Xiaomi. The company’s latest flagship Mi 4 crashed the market once again like the Mi 3 early this year, it was built with the strongest piece of steel, it has the most powerful hardware internals that time and it was dirt cheap – at RMB1999 (approx. RM1100).

Xiaomi Mi 4
 Video Review

Xiaomi Mi 4
 (China Unicom) Hardware Specifications

Processor:
 Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz Quad-Core
RAM/ROM:
 3GB/up to 64GB eMMC 5.0 flash
Display:
 5″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) by JDI/Sharp
Camera:
 13MP Sony Exmor f/1.8 (Main), 8MP
Sony
 Exmor f/1.8 (Front)
Connectivity:
 WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, BT 4.0 LE, IR Blaster
Networks:
 TD-LTE/DC-HSPA+/GSM
Battery:
 3080 mAh

Beautiful, simply beautiful

We ‘ve always seen some Chinese phone makers having design similar to each other and most probably inspired by a very popular smartphone company. The
Xiaomi Mi 4
 was seriously accused of that of course, from pictures it actually resembles the iPhone a lot, until you see and pick up the device itself, you’ll definitely feel the difference.

The Mi 4’s body is built from a single piece of reinforced steel, even though it may not look all aluminum like the iPhone or the
HTC One M8
, it still looks extremely premium and elegant. Once you possess the Mi 4, you’ll start admiring the stainless steel frame over and over again, thanks to the special ‘edge coating’ on the frame, it has an extremely smooth polished
surface
 that you will find lacking on similar devices using the same design construction.

The Mi 4’s design language isn’t adapted from some other phone makers as well, but rather from the Redmi family, it was a total design revamp from the Mi 3 and some may have preferred the older design as they feel it more premium looking. That doesn’t mean the Mi 4’s design is totally bad, despite having the same screen size as its predecessor, the phone now has a thinner bezel and thus causing a shorter form factor than the Mi 3, which makes one handed operation more manageable than ever.

The phone’s back cover is removable and exchangeable, Xiaomi has shown us some cases during its launch event back then and we were impressed with that smart idea. Sadly, while you are able to access the battery, you can’t remove and swap it.

The
Xiaomi Mi 4
 is an extremely well built smartphone with a stunning design, it doesn’t need to feature a full aluminum body to make it look good. At least, you don’t need to pay for a premium to enjoy a phone that has a reinforced
steel body
 and we trust that you share the same love with us once you get hold of a Mi 4.

MIUI v6 isn’t innovative, but beautiful

If you have been a MIUI user or fan, the first impression that you will have is that MIUI looks like iOS in every way, it lacks an app drawer, you get pages of applications and widgets as your app list grows and even default apps look very similar to iOS. On MIUI v6, you may have the impression again that it bears resemblance to iOS 7, but once you dive deeper into the software, you will realize that MIUI v6 is far more interesting than iOS.

You still get most of the goodies back on
MIUI v5
 such as moving apps using multi touch and activating the flash light on the lock screen, MIUI v6 doesn’t really introduce new features to the user experience this time, but rather an overhaul on the visual experience to match the phone’s hardware, similar to how Apple has made iOS 7 for the
iPhone 5s
 last year.

Apps such as dialer, mail, messages and music have also been visually overhauled. The music app for have a dynamic background which changes colors accordingly every time a different album art is being shown, you’ll also be able to navigate around to look at your current playlist or lyrics of the song, since the Mi 4 is running off a Chinese firmware, you get access to the Baidu online music service, which even allows downloading MP3 for free.

Probably the most interesting app of all is the Compass app, it activates the camera when you hold the phone in a portrait orientation and lets you pan around to look for directions, it does sound a little gimmicky but it is really a beautiful app.

MIUI v6 is still a developer ROM at this point of time, it feels a little resource heavy on the phone as we experienced transition lags and RAM utilization easily goes up to 80% most of the time, fortunately most of our apps ran reliably and we rarely encounter app crashes, it is also more reliable than
MIUI v5
. Fortunately, the software gets better with a weekly update from Xiaomi and we highly recommend that current Mi 4 users download the ROM from the MIUI forum.

High performance camera, disappointing low light performance

Xiaomi has maintained the phone’s main camera resolution at 13 megapixel, the camera sensor is now an upgraded
Sony
 Exmor sensor with a huge f/1.8 aperture while the front facing camera also has the same specifications albeit with a lower 8 megapixel resolution.

In good lighting conditions, the camera’s fast 0.3ms autofocus speed is pretty impressive, exposure can be adjusted on the fly on the focus ring and it works well most of the time in brightly lit conditions. However, indoor and low light shots can be underwhelming with high noise levels and loss of detail, unless you want to mingle around with the camera’s manual settings but you certainly want to save that trouble when you are already having a good camera sensor onboard. Check out some of the samples below taken from the Mi 4’s camera.

Having a high resolution front facing camera is certainly a requirement for flagship smartphones today, the Mi 4’s front camera fortunately doesn’t disappoint in taking wide angle shots however falls short similar to the main camera in taking low light photography.

The Mi 4 supports 4K video recording and it is the most impressive smartphone we’ve seen to date that takes high bitrate videos, the phone also records fast and slow motion and HDR videos, you can check them out down below.

Benchmarks, Battery Life and Network Quality

The Mi 4 is the highest performing
Snapdragon 801
 device that we’ve seen to date in benchmarks, of course one could always argue that Xiaomi has purposely made the phone perform its optimal speed on benchmark apps, we won’t deny that and can conclude real world performance isn’t really impressive. Try the HTC One M8 then the Mi 4, you’ll know what we mean here.

On the bright side, battery life is good on the Mi 4 as you’ll be getting a full working day or slightly more on a full charge with medium to heavy weight usage such as receiving group text messages, music streaming, some phone calls and video streaming, the screen is obviously consuming the most power so make sure you have auto brightness enabled. Despite using a China Unicom variant of the Mi 4, network quality is exceptionally good on the Maxis and Celcom network, voice calls are clear on both sides and the phone performs brilliantly over a HSPA+ data connection.

Verdict – The Best Xiaomi Smartphone ever made

Undeniably, the Xiaomi Mi 4 is the most beautiful and powerful smartphone that the Chinese company has ever attempted, but if it were to compete with some of its major competitors out there, Xiaomi still has a lot to catch up in terms of features and hardware. The Mi 4’s only advantage would be pricing, which still poses a threat to many established smartphone makers, the company has recently grown to the No. 3 smartphone maker globally even without getting out of Asia, if Xiaomi could’ve put more effort in introducing a much more innovative software experience on the Mi 4, make it work well with its entire hardware ecosystem like its Mi Router, Mi TV 2 and Mi Pad, the company could easily take the Apple of Android crown. The Mi 4 FDD-LTE variant will be introduced to the Malaysian market later this year and we hope for a price reduction since the phone’s hardware are starting to get dated.

The Good:

+ Solid build construction
+ Beautiful and bright display
+ Decent battery life
+ Fast camera performance
+ Beautiful and customizable software

The Not so Good:

– MIUI v6 takes up hardware resources
– Camera underperforms in low light
– No NFC
– Non-removable battery though accessible

Based on the scores we gave above, the Xiaomi Mi 4 gets an 8.2 out of 10 from the average score.


Xiaomi Mi 4 vs Xiaomi Mi 3 (Video)

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The Xiaomi Mi 4 has impressed everyone with its extremely sophisticated manufacturing process and powerful hardware internals while maintaining an affordable price tag as a flagship, how does it compare to its predecessor the Mi 3? The Mi 4 that we have over here is the China Unicom version which is already available in grey import sources, while the Mi 3 is still a very sellable smartphone here, there has been lots of speculations if the Mi 4 is a worthy upgrade from the Mi 3, though it introduces a much more refined build quality and hardware internals. Our comparison video down here will bring you straight to the conclusion if the Mi 4 is going to replace your Mi 3 or make you transition from other makes. We have camera samples down below as well.

Xiaomi Mi 4 vs Xiaomi Mi 3 Video

Xiaomi Mi 4 and Xiaomi Mi 3 Comparison Gallery

Xiaomi Mi 4 Camera Samples

Xiaomi Mi 3 Camera Samples

Xiaomi Mi 4 and Xiaomi Mi 3 Side by Side Camera Sample comparison

Left: Xiaomi Mi 4, Right: Xiaomi Mi 3

Left: Xiaomi Mi 4, Right: Xiaomi Mi 3

Left: Xiaomi Mi 4, Right: Xiaomi Mi 3

Front facing camera – Left: Xiaomi Mi 4, Right: Xiaomi Mi 3

Xiaomi Mi 4 vs Xiaomi Mi 3 Video Recording Comparsion


Xiaomi Mi 4i launched in Malaysia at RM749 and starts selling on 28 May

346

After two weeks of the Mi 4i’s debut in India, the Mi 4i will be making its way to Malaysia on 28 May and will start selling at an affordable price of RM749, slightly cheaper on what we’ve anticipated back then, the phone will go on sale over at
Mi.com
 at 12PM and Xiaomi has ensured that supply will be sufficient for the phone this time as they already have a local warehouse here.

The Mi 4i is Xiaomi’s latest mid-range flagship and has the highest quality of hardware internals on board, which includes a custom made 2nd generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 1.7GHz Octa-Core CPU mated to 2GB RAM, 16GB of eMMC storage, a 5-inch Full HD IPS Sunlight Display, 13-megapixel f/2.0 main camera and 5-megapixel f/1.8 front camera, Dual 4G LTE standby, WiFi 802.11ac and a 3120mAh battery.

Available in 6 different colors – Turquoise, Yellow, Pink, Blue, Grey and White, the Mi 4i sports a solid unibody construction similar to the Mi Note and has extremely slim screen bezels, which makes the phone very operable with one hand, the company has also emphasized that the Mi 4i comes packed with the highest quality hardware internals sourced from top suppliers.

Xiaomi’s Donovan Sung has also taken some time off to take apart a working Mi 4i in a separate session to show how dense the motherboard of the phone is to achieve such thin form factor and allowing a huge battery onboard, the lack of MicroSD has also been discussed in the session whereby the company feels that 16GB is sufficient for the majority users out there and flash storage delivers far superior performance than MicroSD cards, which ensures reliability throughout the product experience.

We’ve gotten ourselves a Mi 4i and will be performing the review and comparison with other smartphones really soon, so stay tuned for more folks.


Xiaomi Mi 5 image in the clear

320

Rumors of Xiaomi’s new flagship has been making rounds since early last year, but Xiaomi has surprisingly gone through a whole year, stalling the Mi 4’s successor throughout 2015.

The Chinese company, which managed to jump into the top 5 phone makers worldwide, has barely penetrated the western market, with its phones not officially present in the west side.

The stalling of the Mi 5 might be due to the overheating issues of the Snapdragon 810. But Xiaomi has since confirmed that the flagship will be unveiled on the 22nd of February.

An image has surfaced from Chinese social media site Weibo, suggesting that the sleek looking Mi 5 has a resemblance to Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge, with curved sides on its screen. The alleged image of the phone also shows that the flagship has a physical home button, very much likely to have a fingerprint scanner beneath.

The Mi 5 is rumored to feature a 5.2 inch QHD screen, a Snapdragon 820 chip with 4GB of RAM, a 16MP rear camera and a 8MP front facing camera, powered by a 3,600mAh battery.

With a month left before its unveiling, let’s be patient, shall we?

Source:
PhoneArena
  Picture credits: Weibo

flagship
mi5
snapdragon
xiaomi


Xiaomi Mi 5 leaked completely in hands on video and press renders

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Xiaomi may have missed the chance to introduce its new Mi flagship this year, but this didn’t stop someone (probably from Xiaomi itself) to show the world how the Mi 5 will look like in a completely leaked press render and even a hands on video on how it works, this is probably Xiaomi’s worst kept secret ever and I guess Lei Jun won’t really mind about this.

The Mi 5 now comes in four colors – Black, White, Gold and Pink, and takes on the Mi Note’s design language with its 2.5D glass front and back, an oval shaped home button that also acts as a fingerprint scanner is now present just below the screen like Samsung’s Galaxy phones, in other ways the phone also looks like a HTC One A9 clone. No hardware specs have been revealed as part of the leak, however previous rumors have suggested that the Mi 5 should come with a Snapdragon 820 SoC, 4GB of RAM, a 5.2-inch QHD display, 16-megapixel main and 8-megapixel front camera, and a 3030mAh battery. In addition, a larger 5.7-inch Mi 5 Plus is also believed to be unveiled together.

We should expect Xiaomi to launch the Mi 5 before Chinese New Year assuming the way Chinese does things, and according to sources, the Mi 5 should be priced at RMB2500 (RM1300) and we hope Xiaomi will no longer release its flagship with a 16GB storage version.

SOURCE:
GSMArena

leaks
mi5
rumors
snapdragon
xiaomi


Xiaomi Mi 5 receives price cut in China prior to Mi 5S unveiling

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A couple of days ago, Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has released a media invite heavily hinting at a Mi 5S launch on the 27th of September which is next Tuesday. As Xiaomi gears up for the event, a Chinese online retailer seems to have slashed the price of Xiaomi’s current flagship, the Mi 5.

The Xiaomi Mi 5 is seeing its price cut from 1,799 CNY (RM1,119.80) to 1,599 CNY (RM995.30) on Lynx, a Chinese online retail store. This is probably a classic attempt to clear off the old before bringing in the new, though the rumored specs of the Mi 5S doesn’t seem to be worthy of upgrading from the current Mi 5. The Mi 5 in local Malaysian markets features a Snapdragon 820 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The Mi 5 in China however, is offered in two variants – 3GB of RAM with 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM with 128GB of storage. The upcoming Mi 5S is rumored to be powered by a slightly more powerful Snapdragon 821 chipset with 3GB RAM and 4GB RAM variants just like its predecessor.

Having said that, it might take a while for the Mi 5S to arrive at Malaysian shores, possibly a couple of months after its China launch. And that depends on Xiaomi’s master plan for its handsets as well. Do you happen to be a Xiaomi Mi 5 user?

5
5s
cut
discount
mi
price
reduction
xiaomi


Xiaomi Mi 5 set for launch next month

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The long wait has been over! Xiaomi’s newest flagship, the Mi 5, is set to be launched on the 24th of February, barely a month away from now.

This isn’t a rumor as it has been confirmed by the Chinese company’s international Vice President Hugo Barra on his official Twitter account.

Barra posted up an image with a big “5” in it, captioned “all you ever imagined, and more”. According to him, the Mi 5 will be Xiaomi’s first product for 2016.

This flagship is rumored to feature a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 5.2 inch QHD screen, a 16MP rear camera and a 8 or 13MP front facing shooter, powered by a generous 3600mAh battery.

We have yet to know the dates for region-specific releases. But we’re sure that this device will be selling as hot as its predecessors. Super quick flash sales again? We’ll find out very soon.

Source:
Android Authority

flagship
hugobarra
launch
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Xiaomi Mi 5 specs leaked in full

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As we approach MWC at Barcelona next week, the spec sheet of Xiaomi’s upcoming flagship, the Mi 5 has been leaked in full detail. The specs were spilled from alleged slides meant for the flagship’s presentation during the launch next week.

According to source GizChina, the Xiaomi Mi 5 will come in 3GB RAM and 4GB RAM variants as predicted via various rumors prior to this. Both variants will be sporting the powerful Snapdragon 820 chip with a clock speed of 2.15 GHz. The 3GB RAM version is tipped to feature a 16MP camera equipped with OIS and laser autofocus whereas the higher end 4GB RAM version will come with a massive 23MP rear facing shooter. Both variants will reportedly have 32GB of internal storage and a 5.2 inch 1080p display. Looks like QHD will have to wait.

Other specs according to the slides include micro SD expansion, a rarity in flagship devices nowadays, Cat. 10 LTE, USB Type C with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, dual SIM slot and NFC. According to GizChina, a previous leak shows the Mi 5 to be powered by a 3,000 mAh battery.

The Mi 5 will be unveiled at Barcelona next week. Xiaomi’s devices have always been highly competitive when it comes to pricing, making it widely popular in the Asian consumer market. We shall see whether Xiaomi will be able to maintain its competitive price point this time round.

Source:
GizChina
 Via:
Android Authority

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Xiaomi Mi 5s to be unveiled on September 27

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Chinese manufacturer has started rolling out media invites to an event set for next Tuesday. Although the invite only teases a huge “S”, we’re pretty certain that it is of the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5s that has been rumored for a while now.

The Xiaomi Mi 5s will be a minor upgrade from the Mi 5 that was launched earlier this year. Based on previous rumors, the Mi 5s is expected to sport a 5.15-inch display at 1080p just like its predecessor, a slight bump up in processing power with a Snapdragon 821 chipset alongside 3GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. Xiaomi might also include a higher end model of the Mi 5s with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Qualcomm’s ultrasonic fingerprint technology is rumored to make its appearance with the handset, that uses ultrasonic sound for fingerprint reading instead of the current image based ones.

On the camera side of things, the Mi 5s is said to feature a 16MP PDAF rear camera with an f/1.8 aperture, coupled with a 5MP selfie shooter on the front. The phone is also rumored to pack a 3,490mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 support. Other rumored details include the implementation of 3D Touch technology as seen on Apple’s iPhone’s, in which if true, will make the display of the Mi 5s a pressure sensitive one.

Sounds like a pretty impressive phone so far, but definitely not worth the upgrade if you’re coming from the Mi 5 or other similarly spec-ed flagship phones alike. What do you think?

Source:
Playfuldroid

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The Xiaomi Mi 5X may arrive in India as an Android One device

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The Mi 5X is a rather impressive smartphone with the Mi 6 adapted dual camera system, while it is most certain that the phone will be making its way out of China, it seems that Xiaomi has intended to sell the Mi 5X in India as an Android One smartphone, which is a pretty surprising move as the Mi 5X isn’t an entry-level spec smartphone in many ways, the Android One program is intended for affordable smartphones that runs on Google’s latest Android OS and security patches, while ensuring a low price tag and meeting certain hardware requirements.

As reported by XDA-Developers via Krispitech, the Android One Mi 5X will be allegedly called the Xiaomi A1 or Xiaomi Tissot, it is still assumed to be powered by a Snapdragon 625 SoC, which is more than decent than any entry-level chips, MIUI will be scrapped and replaced with a clean stock version of Android, these information are extracted from the screenshot above, which is assumed to be some sort of regulator’s list that is retrieved by
Krispitech,
while its good to know that the Mi 5X will retain the dual camera setup and 5.5-inch Full HD display, we can’t say the same for the phone’s RAM and storage, given the fact that it needed to keep costs low as an Android One device.

Xiaomi is definitely a big name in India, but it also faces strong competition from local companies such as Micromax, Spice, and Karbonn, all of which have Android One devices in their portfolio, and in order to compete in the entry-level space, releasing an Android One device could give the company advantage in selling more phones in the Indian market. Should this become true, then we might see Xiaomi do the same to other markets like Indonesia, where the Android One program is also present.

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Xiaomi Mi 5X (Mi A1) Review: Best value budget phone

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Does a good smartphone need to cost an arm and leg? Perhaps it is justifiable if the company adds in a boatload of features that we might never use all of them in the lifespan of having the phone. Could massive 8-core processors on the phone with clock speeds reaching that of the desktop PC that you possibly own be another justification. Well to answer the first question, it is a NO. The Xiaomi Mi 5X is here to show the world that a humbly priced smartphone with a decent performance and simple features can still offer what we need out of a smartphone and perhaps takes that extra step.

Design

First off, let’s take a walk into the design department of the phone, the Sleek aluminium body has a nice smooth feel and at the same time does not feel like it might just slide out of your hand and shatter all over the floor. The nicely curved edges are crafted perfectly making it easy to grip and use the phone with comfort even when using it in one hand. Overall the look of the phone give a very premium feel and sometimes when I take it out I get a lot of comments that the phone looks a bit like the iPhone’s back, whether that is a compliment or not, really depends on you. Picking up this phone is enough to tell you that the company did put a lot of effort when it came to the build and design of the phone, which is something many companies seem to neglect.

Performance

Being pretty on the outside is one thing but, just because it has a pretty face does not mean the inside has been forgotten because Xiaomi has done an excellent job with the specs as it comes with a very decent mid-range Snapdragon 625 processor alongside 4GB RAM and 3080mAh battery capacity. That does not stop there as it also shows then navigating the phone, for the past 2 weeks of using this phone, I found almost no slowdowns or lags when opening apps overall making for an enjoyable experience through my time using the phone.

User Experience

Now I have not been a fan of the MIUI even since I tried using the Mi 3 phone a few years back, but now I find myself getting more used to the UI seeing as they have improved a lot of factors in the interface.
 Even if I am a fan of the stock Android experience, the MIUI 8.5 on this phone is now very simple to navigate and something I really like is the settings menu, as it really feels like they took some notes from the stock interface settings page and applied it here.

It is not confusing or frustrating to look for the particular settings and most of the functions are not hidden away deep within the page. Adding to that, i was surprised but I found myself using the Mi remote app a lot, I love the fact that my phone can be used as a conventional remote control, and honestly I wish more phones adopt this feature because our phones are always with us but I remote controls seem to always go missing no matter how well you keep it.

At least I know I can switch on my TV or my air conditioner rather than turning my room upside down looking for the remotes to my devices.

Camera

For a budget phone you would expect the camera to be just subpar but again, Xiaomi did not drop the ball because the dual 12MP camera on the back takes pretty great shots. Even in low lights, there are not many issues as it still produces a nice amount of detail as long as you have a light source nearby.

However, even if the camera does have nice night shots, you have to have really stable hands when taking a low light shot as it tends to blur very easily due to the fact that it does not have image stabilization. Day shots, however, come out really nice. Pictures that I have taken look pleasing to look at, as it seems to capture colours very nicely and it is also good to pick up details as you can see on the wooden bench, the cracks and marks are very obvious so I am pretty impressed with the quality of detail in pictures.

If the subject is in the distance or you want to get a close-up of the subject, simply tap on the x2 button and that activates the x2 optical zoom, because it is an optical zoom rather than a digital zoom, there is no loss in quality when taking pictures, in fact it is much easier to capture more details in the subject’s features.

Now that might worry some of you that are conscious of your complexion, which is why Xiaomi has included a beautifying effect in it which you can tweak giving you the option to use the smart feature which will automatically set the amount of beautifying based on the low medium or high preference, or go with the manual mode where you can slim down your face, change the skin tone, and the smoothness of the skin. Now I know some people will definitely use this feature but no matter how I play with the settings, my portraits come out like my skin looks like plastic. The effect is just too obvious for my liking and it makes it look eerie and inhuman when the feature is turned on. But those of you that like to use the beautifying effect will be happy to know that the Pro mode really allows you to fine tune your selfies, particularly to your liking.

Battery

With all the performance and features pack into this phone, you would expect that the battery might have a hard time keeping up with all of this, but in fact battery life is very good as I can get 1 and a half days of use with my daily usage of messaging, music listening, browsing the internet and watching videos.
Times where I use my phone less than usual, the battery can go up to 2 days, but just as long you keep calm when seeing the 20% battery warning sign as you get home from work.

[fshow url=https://flic.kr/s/aHsm3Rm8J9]

Overall, the 5X is one of the best budget phones I have ever tried so much so that it feels like you are getting a 2000 ringgit device for the price of only 950 ringgit which the 5X cost. Xiaomi has also produced the Mi A1 which is basically the 5X running on a pure stock android. If you do not like the MIUI interface that comes with the 5X, you can easily opt of the A1 which is the exact same specs but running on stock android.
If you are looking to pick up the 5x, you can head over to
GearBest
 as they are having a promotion on the phone which you can pick up for under RM1,000.

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Xiaomi Mi 5X will launch on July 26

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Xiaomi is bringing its next smartphone up onto the dual camera bandwagon, and it will be revealed on July 26. Earlier this year, the Chinese manufacturer unveiled the Mi 6, Redmi Note 4 and the Mi Max 2. The Mi 5X will finally make its appearance a week from now as Xiaomi gears up for its launch.

Xiaomi posted a teaser image on its official Weibo account, which shows the phone in all its glory. The Mi 5X according to the image sports a dual rear camera setup which looks similar to that of the iPhone 7 Plus. The metal unibody device also features a rear fingerprint sensor as seen in the picture.

The Mi 5X is rumored to have a 5.5-inch display in Full HD resolution, a Snapdragon 625 SoC with 4GB of RAM. The phone is predicted to be the first ever Xiaomi device to run on its MIUI 9 software, which is set for a release on the same day.

The handset is also expected to carry a budget price tag, rumored to be around RM 1,300 based on conversion. All we do know now is that the Mi 5X will feature a dual rear camera setup and will be revealed on the 26th of July.

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Xiaomi Mi 6 already in the works

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2016 has been a pretty year for Xiaomi, having launched multiple devices. Two days ago, the Chinese manufacturer unveiled the flagship Mi Note 2, a Mi VR headset and the attractive bezel-free Mi MIX concept phone. The launch of these three products come after the company’s recent unveiling of the Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus, which are minor refreshed of Xiaomi’s initial Mi 5 flagship that was launched earlier this year. Xiaomi doesn’t seem to be resting on its laurels, as the company is already rumored to be working on the Mi 6 for next year.

According to GizmoChina, Xiaomi has reportedly conducted an online questionnaire for its fans, allowing them to vote their preferences on its next flagship handset. The Mi 6 will likely carry a 1,999 CNY price tag like the current Mi 5. Xiaomi has provided three preset options regarding the specs of the Mi 6. Option 1 consists of a Snapdragon 8xx processor, 4GB of RAM, 32 GB storage and a 20MP rear camera enclosed in a metal chassis. Option 2 features a curved glass design with a Snapdragon 65x chip, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage with a dual rear camera setup plus OIS. Option 3 reverts back to the more conventional metal body while retaining the same Snapdragon 65x processor, but with a bumped up 6GB of RAM, 64GB storage and dual rear cameras without OIS.

The Xiaomi Mi 6 is expected to go official within Q1 of 2017. It is unlikely that the company will go for a midrange Snapdragon 65x series processor underneath the hood but we can’t be certain for sure. Which option would you choose? Let us know your thoughts at the comments section below!

Source:
GizmoChina

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Xiaomi Mi 6 Ceramic Edition sold out in a jiffy

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Xiaomi has always been known for its flash sales of its own products online. The company has managed to have successful sell out flash sales for a while now, breaking new records especially when it comes to newly launched smartphones. Earlier today, Xiaomi put the Mi 6 Ceramic Edition up on sale in China, and the units were sold out in a blink of an eye.

Earlier this month, the standard edition of the Mi 6 was being sold online in China, and units of the phone were reportedly sold out in a matter of seconds. Chances are that the Mi 6 Ceramic Edition was under similar circumstances, though we’re not sure how many units of the premium handset were actually put up on sale.

The Mi 6 Ceramic Edition features pretty similar specs to the standard edition, such as the 5.15-inch Full HD display, Snapdragon 835 processor with 6GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, dual 12MP rear camera setup (wide angle + telephoto) and a 3,350mAh battery. Design wise, things are a little different as the former features a ceramic body as the name states, plus 18-karat gold camera rims.

Ceramic built smartphones are known to take a longer time in production, and resources are often limited, like the concept Mi MIX flagship phone by Xiaomi. Would you get the Ceramic Edition of the Mi 6 for yourself?

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Xiaomi Mi 6X is now official, comes with a Snapdragon 660 and 6GB RAM

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Xiaomi has unveiled the new Mi 6X in China which comes with an 18:9 ratio display and comes with great mid-range specs. This phone is the successor of the decent Mi 5X which we thought for a mid-range phone, offers great performance and could take great pictures.

The Mi 6X comes with a 5.99-inch display which looks very close to the Redmi Note 5. Other than that, it has a Snapdragon 660 processor, 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 128GB of storage. Again, similar to the Redmi Note 5, the Mi 6X highlight is its camera, which features a 20MP selfie camera and on the back, there is a 12MP+20MP sensor. The phone also comes with AI Scene Recognition for better colour in the photo, similar to what the P20 Pro can do. Powering the device is a 3010mAh battery that supports QuickCharge 3.0.

The phone comes with an all-metal body and comes in five colour options, Red, Gold, Rose Gold, Blue, and Black. The 4GB RAM 64GB storage option retails for 1,599 Yuan and the 6GB RAM 128GB variant will cost 1,999 Yuan. The Mi 6X is meant for the Chinese market but just like the Mi 5X being released as the Mi A1 internationally, there are some assumptions that the MI 6X will release as the Mi A2 for the international market

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Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite has officially launched in Malaysia starting from RM999

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Xiaomi fans rejoice! Now you can finally get the latest Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite as it has been officially launched in Malaysia.

The Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite comes in two color variants which is respectfully named as “Aurora Blue” which is a gradient of Blue and Purple, and another which is named as “Midnight Black” which is a fully black for those who likes a much simple design.

The phone comes with dual 12MP + 5MP rear camera, along with 24MP front camera which is capable of AI scene detection and AI light adjustment so your photos are stunning day or night. It also comes with the all new AI makeup that accurately identifies features and analyzes hair, eye brows and lashes to enhance natural beauty and maintain a genuine look, what’s more, even videos are beautified in real time. No matter how you show your face, it will always be your good side.

The Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite has also built in a 6.26 inch notch display, which is 45% smaller notch compared to their previous phone models. It’s also powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, runs on Android 8.1 Oreo, alongside with 4GB RAM + 64GB of storage or 6GB RAM + 128GB of storage. Weighs at 169 gram and 7.5mm device thickness, the Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite is packed with 3350 mAh battery.

You may purchase the Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite on online stores such as Shopee and Lazada with the price starting from RM999. For more information about the Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite, log on to
https://www.mi.com/global/mi-8-lite/

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Xiaomi Mi 8 might come with Quick Charge 4.0 based on leaked Qualcomm webpage

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News on the Xiaomi Mi 8 has been all over the Internet and we know that it will come with the latest flagship specs and an under display fingerprint sensor. However, it would see that there is still a few things that we still did not know about the phone.

This time the leak comes from Qualcomm and its based on their page that states the phones that will support QuickCharge 4.0/4.0+ and you guessed it, the Mi 8 was on that list. The leaked image was found on Weibo. But if you were to go to the official Qualcomm website, the Mi 8 is not listed under the QuickCharge 4 list, which was last updated in May. This might not mean that the Mi 8 will not come with QC4.0/4.0+, as it is their Anniversary phone and it is assumed to come with all the bells and whistles.

QC4.0+ is a small step up from QC4.0, as it reduces heat by 3 degrees, 15 percent faster charging and 30 percent more efficient charging.

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Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review: A powerhouse with a unique design

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Okay, we’re a little late on this review, but bear with us. The Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro may be a 2018 flagship but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a viable option for your next upgrade. Here’s why.

After about a week of usage, the Mi 8 Pro has impressed. In short, the phone is a capable flagship device that boasts proper power and performance at a decent price. After being almost half a year being in the market, the Mi 8 Pro hasn’t quite gotten a price cut, so it still costs it’s original low RM2,000 price; much like its competitors, the Samsung Galaxy S9, Huawei P20 Pro and OnePlus 6T.

One of the things that sets the Mi 8 Pro from the rest is its transparent glass back. Although HTC U11+ did the whole transparent case thing first, Xiaomi does it well. But once you realize that the ‘components’ beneath the glass case aren’t real, it does make the design feel gimmicky. But hey, I’m a sucker for cool looking phones.

But as most glass cases go, you’ll find that the Mi 8 Pro is a fingerprint magnet. The phone also doesn’t come with a headphone jack but a USB-C audio dongle is provided.

The phone weighs 177g and has a slim 7.6mm form factor, making the Mi 8 Pro an easy device to handle, which makes for a good daily driver. In my unusually large hands, the Mi 8 Pro still feels comfortable to hold thanks to its rounded frame.

It’s 6.21 Super AMOLED display is similar to the regular Mi 8 so it’s nothing to boast about; but it gets the job done. The brightness levels of the phone is great while the colours are crisp – making the daily usage of this phone pleasurable.

What makes this phone worth your money is its snappy performance – the Mi 8 Pro packs the beefy Snapdragon 845 that’s paired with the capable Adreno 630 GPU. My experience with PUBG Mobile set to Ultra with HD textures on was silky smooth with little to no stuttering. Asphalt 9 suffered slightly but mostly during menu transitions, while gameplay was mostly smooth.

The device comes with 8GB RAM making it a bona fied beast of a smartphone. There isn’t an SD card slot but its 128GB storage space should suffice. Really, if you want a smartphone with a bit of juice, the Mi 8 Pro is a tough contender.

Moving on to the camera, the Mi 8 Pro sports a similar setup with the regular Mi 8. What you get is a double 12MP lens main setup with 2x optical zoom – it performs fine during the day, during low-light situations the camera performs exceptionally well too. It needs to be said however, that it takes due diligence when using the camera app.

Our takes occasionally produced unintentional bokeh in unwanted areas of the photos, so some pinpoint tapping to focus is required.  I’m happy to report that the colours are not too saturated, so that’s a plus.

The Mi 8 Pro sports a pressure-sensitive in-display fingerprint scanner as opposed to the regular Mi 8’s rear-mounted sensor. I can understand the decision for an in-display scanner for maximum screen real estate, but I wish it could be more reliable. The scanner can be unresponsive at times, especially if it’s trying to scan a print that isn’t used frequently – or maybe it’s just my huge fingers, who knows.

You can also unlock your phone with the infrared face sensor, which according to Xiaomi, instantly recognizes facial features. I have found that to be true. Response time is near instant.

What baffles me is the phone’s relatively small 3000mAh battery, which is smaller than the regular Mi 8’s 3400mAh battery. On a full charge, the battery just barely gets you through the day with heavy gaming and regular web browsing as well as video streaming.

This isn’t a good look for Xiaomi since similarly priced competitors such as OnePlus 6T, Huawei Mate 20 and Oppo R17 sport far larger batteries than the Mi 8 Pro.

The phone supports Quick Charge 4+ and comes with an 18W QC3.0 charger. A full charge from below 10% battery life will take 45 to 50 minutes or from 10% to 60% in 25 minutes, which is pretty fast.

Out of the box, the Mi 8 Pro comes with Android 8 Oreo, but as of today, the phone can be upgraded to run on Android 9 Pie. You’ll also get MIUI 10 here, which is a hit or miss with some folk. It also lacks an app drawer so that could be a deal breaker for some.

Verdict

We’re two months into 2019 and phones such as OnePlus 6T, Huawei Mate 20 and Oppo R17 are available. They boast similar specs, if not better, and cost around the same too. What you get with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro, however, is the unique transparent glass back, flagship-level performance and great ergonomics.

You can get the phone at Xiaomi’s official Lazada page at for RM2,399.

The Good

Unique back design

Performance

Comfortable ergonomics

Decent camera

The Not so Good

Small battery

Unreliable fingerprint scanner

Fingerprint-magnet body

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Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro’s in-display fingerprint sensor has a pressure sensitive feature

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In-display fingerprint sensors are the future of fingerprint recognition as it allows for two things, a full display phone without the fingerprint sensor on the back, and the removal of facial recognition which has been proven to not be as secure as its fingerprint counterpart. However, it looks like the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro will be utilizing both the technology with a twist on the fingerprint sensor.

Although the Mi 8 Pro is not the company’s first phone with an in-display fingerprint sensor, it has a unique feature that allows the phone to save battery when compared to other phones like the Vivo and Huawei.

 The phone comes with the same specs as the non-Pro version, Snapdragon 845, 6.21-inch screen and the same dual 12MP sensors. However, it will come in an 8GB RAM variant and face detection, for those of you that still prefer facial recognition. Coming back to the in-display fingerprint sensor, the Mi 8 Pro will utilize pressure sensitive on its fingerprint reader. The reason behind this is so the sensor does not constantly drain the battery as it will only activate when a finger is placed on it, unlike other phones which are constantly searching for a fingerprint. At the same time, the company also announced the Mi 8 Lite which comes with a Snapdragon 660 processor, 4 or 6GB of RAM and a 24MP sensor on the front.

The Mi 8 Lite will be available on 25 September and the Mi 8 Pro will be available starting 21 September for $204 and $467 respectively.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 with 8GB+256GB configuration set to be introduced with same price as current variants

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The current Xiaomi Mi 9 flagship is a fantastic value-for-money device that ticks many boxes – performance is one of them. In Malaysia, it’s paired with a Snapdragon 855 chipset is 6GB RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage – the phone performs well enough with this configuration, but it looks like Xiaomi is planning to do one better by introducing a new variant with 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage.

Image credit: Xiaomi

The new model is set to be introduced in China – but of course for them, the only upgrade would be the extra internal storage. It is priced at 3,299 Yuan (RM1,958) – cheaper than the current 6GB + 128BG model which is priced at RM1,999.

Although China will get to buy the new variant tomorrow, it is unsure if it will arrive in Malaysia at all, but if it does and has a similar price tag or not too much more, we can see it selling like hotcakes.

As a refresher, the Xiaomi Mi 9 is a 6.39-inch device with a Samsung AMOLED display, a triple rear camera setup (48MP mian + 12MP telephoto + 16MP ultra-wide lens), a 3,300mAh battery, fingerprint unlock and support for wireless charging.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 comes with more than 24W charging power, hints Xiaomi CEO

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In a Weibo post made by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, he stated that the Redmi Note 7 supports Quick Charge 4 up to 18W. But in the post itself, it seems like the CEO is also leaking some information about the Xiaomi Mi 9.

Image credit: Weibo

In his post, a fan replied by asking if the Mi 9 will come with 24W charging power or even higher, and Lei Jun’s reply is that the Mi 9’s fast charging will definitely be better. This matches previous reports that suggest the Mi 9 might actually come with 3500mAh battery with 32W fast charging. However, Lei Jun could also mean that the Mi 9 will be better compared to Redmi Note 7, which could indicate to the 24W charging power.

Now 32W fast charging is tied to the Quick Charge 5.0, which is rumoured to come with Snapdragon 855 chipset and can support 15W wireless charging. Indeed, Mi 9 is reported to come with the flagship Snapdragon 855 chipset though it is said to lack support for wireless charging.

Image credit: Tech Key

Other leaks mentioned that the Mi 9 will come with a 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a water drop notch with an in-display fingerprint scanner. The Mi 9 is also equipped with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, in addition to being shipped with Android 9 Pie with MIUI 10 on top. Besides that, it will sport a 48MP main camera, a secondary 12MP camera and a 3D TOF camera.

The phone is expected to be priced from CNY2,999 and available in March, and many are predicting that there will be an announcement at MWC near the end of February.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 features have been revealed – NFC, dual frequency GPS, dark mode and more

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Xiaomi are expected to announce the Mi 9 flagship sometime today, but in an attempt to build hype, they’ve revealed several key features which will ship with the phone – and we’d be lying if we said we aren’t hyped.

According Xiaomi’s posts on social media, we can see that the Mi 9 will utilize a “smart antenna” which allows for better signal reception; a dedicated Google Assistant button will also be present – which comes as a welcome news considering Google services are banned in Xiaomi’s native China.

Image credit: Xiaomi

In terms of UI elements, Mi 9’s MUI 10 will have “dark mode” which Xiaomi says reduces display power usage by 83% under full brightness and 50% under half brightness. When your screen is locked, there will also be always-on colored icons for ease of access to apps.

Image credit: Xiaomi

On top of these features, we also know the regular Mi 9 will come with a iridescent back, while a special edition version will sport a transparent back. The Mi 9 will feature three back cameras – one capable of shooting at 48MP. The phone will be powered by a Snapdragon 855 chipset and will ship with 6GBs of RAM and Android 9.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 has passed SIRIM certification and could arrive in Malaysia soon

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If you’ve been keeping up with the release of Xiaomi’s Mi 9, and are excited about it, you’ll be glad to know that reports have surfaced that the device have passed SIRIM certification.

That’s right, the Xiaomi Mi 9 could be coming to Malaysia soon according to SoyaCincau.

The Mi 9 will be Xiaomi’s new flagship – it sports a 6.39-inch Samsung AMOLED display with a tear-drop bezel, while its form factor is supposedly “fully-curved” according to Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun during the announcement of the phone in China.

The phone will also come equipped with the Snapdragon 855 chipset with either 6GB or 8GB RAM, a Kryo 485 processor as well as the capable Adreno 640 GPU. The Mi 9 also ships with a triple-camera setup which includes a 48MP lens.

During Lei Jun’s presentation, the Mi 9 scores a respectable 107 on the DxoMark benchmark. The phone is powered by a relatively small 3,300 mAh battery, but it does support wireless charging.

Image credit: Xiaomi

Based on the prices given during the launch in China, we can expect the Xiaomi Mi 9 to cost around RM1,816 when it hits the local market. There is no news yet when the Mi 9’s smaller Mi 9 SE and beefier Mi 9 Transparent Edition will arrive, but we reckon it won’t take too long.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 hinted to be released this month with exceptional specs

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It appears that Xiaomi may be releasing its the Mi 9 earlier than expected.

Image credit: Gizmo China

According to reports by Gizmo China, Xiaomi has hinted at a February release date for the flagship phone via a cheeky comment on their official Weibo page. A Weibo user posted a question asking representatives of Xiaomi to reply with a dog emoji if the Mi 9 would be releasing in February, which prompted Xiaomi to do exactly that.

Image credit: Gizmo China

To build upon the suspicion, the Xiaomi M1902F1TG model numbered was recently registered in Singapore as the Xiaomi Mi 9, so the phone may be closer to arrival than we think.

Gizmo China has also mentioned that the Mi 9 could be the leaked code-named Xiaomi Cepheus phone which apparently comes equipped with Snapdragon 855 chipset, 6GB RAM, and Android 9 Pie – these are flagship-device specs alright.

So, if you’re planning to get new Xiaomi, you might want to hold off until at least the end of the month before making your purchase.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 is officially available in Malaysia bringing with it the Snapdragon 855 chipset

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Xiaomi has just released arguably their most highly-anticipated device for the year, the Xiaomi Mi 9. As per tradition, Xiaomi introduces the device as a truly affordable flagship that boasts impressive specs and performance across the field.

The phone features a 6.39-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a waterdrop notch to boot. The screen pushes 1080 x 2340p resolution and it gets Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection – all signs lead to a competent flagship indeed.

At the back, the Mi 9 sports a glass back and aluminium frame – similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy 10.  The phone is equipped with a triple-camera setup (48MP main + 16MP ultrawide-angle lens + 12MP telephoto lens), while the selfie camera is a capable 20MP lens.

Here comes the fun part: The Mi 9 is powered by the latest Snapdragon 855 chipset – this is telling of a proper flagship – along with either a 6GB + 64GB internal storage or 6GB + 128GB internal storage memory configuration.

What’s surprising is that Xiaomi has opted for a relatively small 3,300mAh battery for their new flagship – which means the Mi 9 has a smaller battery compared to its predecessor. Not cool Xiaomi, not cool. There’s also a lack of a headphone jack as standard of Xiaomi, but a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle is provided.

The phone sports a Type-C port and supports Quick Charge 4+ fast charge. You’ll also get an in-screen fingerprint sensor, which our tests with the Chinese OEM model proved to be an improvement from the older model. The Mi 9 also supports wireless charging which is a big plus considering its price.

The phone will be available in two colours – Piano Black and Ocean Blue, while a third colour, the Lavender Violet will come at a later date. The 6GB + 64GB ROM variant is priced at RM1,699 and will be exclusively available on Lazada from April 6 onwards, while the 6GB + 128GB ROM variant is priced at RM1,999 and will be available at Mi stores on April 13, while pre-orders will begin on April 6 which will also net you a Xiaomi 20W HighSpeed Wireless Charger.

A special edition of the Mi 9 with a transparent back and 12GB + 256GB ROM will be available soon.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite will be available in Malaysia starting this November 1 priced from RM1,199

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The Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite will officially be in Malaysia starting November 1 from RM1,199. The phone is sort of a mix of the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE and Mi 9T.

The phone has a 6.39-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with the same drop notch we’ve seen across the Mi 9 series. At the back, you get a different looking wavy shimmer and what’s new is an LED-lit Xiaomi logo on the back panel that serves as your notification lights and will pulse to the rhythm of your music.

For imaging, you get a three-lens setup – a 48MP main lens, an 8MP ultrawide shooter and a 2MP depth sensor. At the front, you’ll also find a 32MP selfie lens – the highest resolution front shooter in the series.

On the opposite end, the Mi 9 Lite also has the weakest chipset in the series – a Snapdragon 710. Memory configurations for this phone are 6GB of RAM as standard, paired with either 64GB or 128GB internal storage. You can expand it via a microSD card of up to 256GB.

Powering the phone is a 4,030mAh battery that charges via USB C with support of up to 18W fast charging. Xiaomi claims that you can get up to 43% battery life in half an hour, not bad.

You can get the Mi 9 Lite in Pearl White, Aurora Blue and Onyx Grey. The 6GB+64GB variant will be priced at RM1,199 while the 6GB+128GB variant will be priced at RM1,299. The former will be sold exclusively on Xiaomi official Lazada and Shopee pages, while the latter will also be available at all authorised Mi stores in the country.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 might come with 32W charging power, 48MP camera and improved in-display fingerprint unlock

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Xiaomi Mi 9 is expected to be released this year, and unofficial renders have surfaced which shows the outer appearance of the Mi 9.

According to the renders, the Xiaomi Mi 9 comes with 6.4-inch screen and a teardrop notch. However, an alternative render of the Xiaomi Mi 9 also shows the phone with a notch that’s much bigger than the previous renders.

Yesterday I’ve also posted on a new in-display fingerprint scanning technology that was revealed by Xiaomi’s cofounder Lin Bin, and this technology is expected in the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 9. If it’s true, the Mi 9 will have a wider surface area that allows its user to place their fingers to unlock their phones.

Other reports also suggested that the Xiaomi Mi 9 might come with the Snapdragon 855 processor and holds up to 10GB RAM with 512GB storage. With Xiaomi’s reputation of having competitive pricing, it might be able to steal away the spotlight from other flagship phones.

In addition, the Xiaomi Mi 9 is also expected to come with a triple rear camera setup including a 48MP main camera. The other two cameras are predicted to be of 18MP and 8MP. The front camera will remain as a single lens though we are not sure how many megapixels it might come with.

That aside, rumour has it that the Xiaomi Mi 9 will come with a 3,500mAh battery that supports 32W fast charging. This aligns with the previous information where Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun also stated that the Xiaomi Mi 9 will come with faster charging power than 24W, meaning that the Mi 9 could come with the Quick Charge 5.0.

Apart from that, there might also be a lite version of the Xiaomi Mi 9 called Xiaomi Mi 9 SE. This model is reported to come with a smaller screen size and a midrange processor so it will be much cheaper compared to the Xiaomi Mi 9.

As the Xiaomi Mi 8 was released in May 2018, we are expecting the Xiaomi Mi 9 and Mi 9 SE to appear some time this year around May too, but there are also reports saying that it’ll arrive as early as March. As for the pricing, many believe that it will cost CNY2,999, which is less than RM2,000 when converted to MYR.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro 5G will sport a Snapdragon 855+ chipset, launching alongside the Mi MIX Alpha

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We’ve heard of the Mi MIX Alpha that will sport a dual display, but Xiaomi will also be launching the Mi 9 Pro 5G with the Mi MIX Alpha.

Appearance-wise, the Mi 9 Pro 5G looks similar to the Mi 9 that has a 6.3-inch AMOLED screen with a waterdrop notch and thin chin. The leaked images on Weibo reveals the phone in a colour similar to the recent Xiaomi Mi A3’s More Than White variant, and it should come with an in-screen fingerprint sensor since there’s no physical mount on its back.

What makes the Mi 9 Pro 5G stand out is its specs — Snapdragon 855+ chipset, up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. It will also be shipped with MIUI 10.4.1 based on Android 9 Pie and it’ll get a bigger 4,000mAh battery that supports 30W fast charging and 10W wireless charging.

The Mi 9 Pro 5G will also feature a 48MP triple camera setup but hopefully it will be sporting a better Sony sensor than the Mi 9 that wasn’t too impressive when it comes to lowlight photography. We should still be getting a 20MP lens for its front camera.

Either way,
GizmoChina
 reported that the phones will be launched in China today, so we’ll get all the confirmed details soon.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is officially in Malaysia and is available for purchase in two days

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The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is finally available in Malaysia bringing along with it a new player in the premium mid-ranged market. The Mi 9 SE is a smaller version of the regular Xiaomi Mi 9 – the SE sports a 5.97-inch dot drop display, meaning it’s great for one handed use.

Like the regular Mi 9, the SE comes with a triple-camera setup, but its lenses push lower resolutions than the flagship – think 48MP wide-angle lens + 8MP telephoto lens + 13MP ultra-wide angle lens for the SE; while the regular Mi 9 pairs the 48MP lens with 12MP telephoto and 16MP ultra-wide angle lenses. Over on the front is a 20MP selfie shooter for the Mi 9 SE.

Image credit: Xiaomi

As a mid-ranged device, the Mi 9 SE is powered by a Snapdragon 712 chipset, which is a massive downgrade from the regular Mi 9’s SD 855 – but hey, it’s a mid-ranged phone, what can you do. In terms of memory configurations, the SE comes with 6GB RAM and your choice of either 64GB or 128GB internal storage.

There is also a 3,070mAh battery that’s charged via USB-C. The phone supports fast charging and coms with an 18W charging brick. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support wireless charging like the Mi 9, but like its bigger brother, the SE also packs an in-screen fingerprint scanner; which is rare for a mid-ranged phone to get, so that’s a plus.

Image credit: Xiaomi

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is available from May 4 and is priced at RM1,299 for the 6GB+64GB variant and RM1,499 for the 6GB+128GB variant. With only RM500 separating the top variants of both the SE and regular Mi 9, we reckon many would still opt for the flagship model since it comes with the much more powerful Snapdragon 855; but if you’re on a tight budget, the Mi 9 SE could be a decent daily driver too.

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Xiaomi Mi 9T and Xiaomi Mi Band 4 available on Shopee – expect vouchers and gifts!

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If you were excited with the launch of the Xiaomi Mi 9T yesterday, you’ll be glad to know that you’ll be able to purchase the phone on Shopee from June 27 onwards.

Only the 6GB + 128GB variant of the phone will be available, priced at RM1,399, but it will also be bundled with a complimentary Redmi Air Dots, which is worth RM129 each. Plus, those who follow the follow the Xiaomi Global store who’ve purchased the Xiaomi Mi 9T will also get a Xiaomi Mi Compact Bluetooth Speaker 2 (RM49.90).

Besides that, you’ll also be able to get the latest Xiaomi Mi Band 4 from today onwards for RM149. On June 23, in conjunction with the Shopee Men’s Sale, you will also receive a RM5 storewide voucher.

The products that you buy from the Xiaomi Global Store on Shopee are shipped form China, but will be global versions of the product, so fret not about compatibility and region issues. Visit the store
here
.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 offered with a host of goodies during Xiaomi’s Merdeka promo

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Ah, Merdeka Day, a time of celebration and singing aloud proudly to ‘Keranamu Malaysia’ without knowing the full lyrics – fun times ahead. What makes it more fun though are all the promos that will be happening in conjunction with our Independence Day!

Image credit: Xiaomi Malaysia

Joining the party of course is Xiaomi – from now until August 31, the Chinese brand is offering a list of their phones with a bunch of goodies. Particularly the Xiaomi Mi 9 – the 6GB + 128GB variant is going for RM1,999 and will come with a 20W wireless charging pad, a Mi Urban strap case, and one screen protector.

The Mi 9T and Redmi Note 7 models will come with one Mi Casual Backpack and Daypack respectively, while the Redmi 7 will score you a 32GB microSD card. The let’s shift focus to the Mi 9 for a bit.

The Mi 9 flagship is as reliable as they come – it boasts impressive performance, great camera quality and a neat design to boot. If you’ve been looking to get a smartphone, we think a you should consider the Mi 9 during the Merdeka promo.

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Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro official sale starts this August 30 and is priced from RM1,599

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We recently covered news of the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro’s availability and price via Mobile2Go and Shopee. Now Xiaomi has officially introduced the Xiaomi MI 9T Pro in the country, confirming previous reports. The phone is pretty much a cross between the Mi 9T and the Mi 9.

Just to cut to the chase, the Xiaomi Mi 9T will be available for purchase this August 30 and will be priced at RM1,599 for the 6GB+64GB and RM1,799 for the 6GB+128GB variant. You’ll be able to get the phone in Carbn Black, Flame Red and Glacier Blue. The Pearl White will only be available for the 64GB variant at authorised Mi stores only.

Unlike it’s smaller sibling, the Mi 9T Pro is equipped with a Snapdragon 855 processor, making it a flagship, like the regular Mi 9. You’ll also get 6GB RAM with up to 128GB internal storage. This makes it similar to the Xiaomi Mi 9.

It’s got a 6.39-inch AMOLED display with a 91.9% screen-to-body ratio. This is made possible of course thanks to the phone’s pop-up selfie camera. So no notches here.

Speaking of cameras, you get a 48MP main lens with a 13MP ultrawide-angle lens and a 8MP telephoto lens. The selfie shooter is a respectable 20MP shooter.

Powering the phone is a 4,000mAh battery, and charges via 27W fast charge – however, only an 18W charger will be provided.

The phone will be available for purchase on
Lazada
 and
Shopee
 as well as all authorized Mi stores nationwide. For more information on the phone, visit Xiaomi’s website
here
.

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Teasers from Xiaomi Malaysia confirms the arrival of Mi 9T Pro and it might be very soon

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Xiaomi Malaysia just posted a tweet a few hours back with a poster that says “It’s Time For Mi 9T Pro”. Since we already know the Xiaomi Mi 9T is, in fact, the Redmi K20, the Mi 9T is naturally the K20 Pro that attracted many’s attention.

The Mi 9T Pro supposedly launches tomorrow in the Netherlands and since its teaser background is similar to the one Xiaomi Malaysia has posted, it is possible that Malaysians will soon get access to the Mi 9T Pro too.

The Mi 9T Pro is the global version of the Redmi K20 Pro, sporting a 6.39-inch Super AMOLED display. It has a pop-up selfie camera like the Mi 9T and houses an in-display fingerprint sensor. Under the hood, the Mi 9T Pro has a flagship Snapdragon 855 chipset paired with 64/128GB storage and 6GB RAM.

Do you want the
#Mi9T
 pro version?
 Like = YES!
 RT = YEEEEEEES!
#PopUpInStyle

#Mi9TPro

pic.twitter.com/9Zm7uRpBFZ

— Xiaomi Malaysia #TerminateTheRival (@XiaomiMalaysia)
August 19, 2019

The Mi 9T Pro also has a 48MP main camera paired with an 8MP telephoto lens and a 13MP ultrawide sensor. On the front, it holds a 20MP selfie camera that has LED light whenever the camera pops up. In addition, the phone sports a 4,000mAh battery that supports 27W fast charging.

The Mi 9T costs RM1,399 for the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant, which leads us to assume that the Mi 9T Pro will probably be priced around RM2,000 and maybe even below RM2,000 for the lower storage variant.

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Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro Review: A Competitive Flagship All-Rounder

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The Redmi K20 Pro managed to attract many of us when it was first announced, so it’s only logical that I got excited when I’m given its global version — the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro — to review. I’ve been using the phone for about a month now and I have to say, it’s generally impressive but still has one or two aspects that could be improved.

Let’s begin with its design. The Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro that I have with me is in Carbon Black featuring a carbon fibre-like texture. It also doesn’t attract fingerprints as terribly as some other phones out there and with a matte black case included in the box, I don’t have to worry about the case being decorated with oily fingerprints.

The Mi 9T Pro sports a 6.39-inch AMOLED display with no notch as it has a pop-up mechanism. The display is bright, vibrant and beautiful under usual circumstances but it does have one enemy — direct sunlight. Under the glaring sun, the display is slightly disappointing but this is an issue that many other phones are also facing, so I’m not too disappointed.

Like the Mi 9T, this phone has both face unlock and in-screen fingerprint unlock. If you’ve watched my Mi 9T review video, you would’ve already known my preference. The in-screen fingerprint unlock is simpler and faster than the face unlock because I don’t have to swipe up on the screen to wake the front camera.

Now this is where the Mi 9T Pro triumphs over its sibling. It is powered by a Snapdragon 855 chipset and it’s evidently better performance-wise. I can play PUBG with the highest settings available for the phone (HDR graphics and Extreme frame rate) and the phone is able to run the game smoothly. Playing with the highest frame rate settings will quickly drain the battery, but the gameplay was significantly better and I was genuinely amazed.

As for MIUI, I’m pretty used to it already, but as always, I wish Xiaomi would include an app drawer for better app organisation. The Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage which I have found sufficient for me. I still have plenty of storage left and I haven’t experience any lagging when it comes to launching multiple apps.

I also prefer the Mi 9T Pro over the Mi 9T when it comes to its cameras. Despite having the same 48MP main camera, 8MP telephoto camera and 13MP ultra wide-angle camera, the Mi 9T Pro sports a Sony IMX586 sensor instead of a Sony IMX582 sensor that is used by the Mi 9T.

Ultra wide-angle image
Ultra wide-angle image
Telephoto image

With the AI feature switched on, pictures of food, flowers and sceneries all turned out great with natural yet vibrant colours and great details. The colours are also pretty good on ultra wide-angle photos, but it is undeniable that there’s a slight warp at the end of the pictures which is especially noticeable when it comes to objects like vehicles.

The Mi 9T Pro is also a device worth considering when it comes to its lowlight photography. Using Night mode, I’ve managed to capture some great photos when I visited the Artbox event at night. There are definitely more noise, but the cameras managed to keep the exposure at the right level and still maintain lots of details. I also took a portrait shot which did look a bit artificial at first, but once I’ve adjusted the aperture the bokeh effect looks more natural.

The Mi 9T Pro has a pop-up selfie camera, which seems to be the go-to option for manufacturers who wants to ditch the notch — I’m totally fine with that. The device’s 20MP selfie camera worked great be it daytime or night time. Even when it’s at night, my strands of hair are well-defined and doesn’t just turn into blurry patches. However, the portrait mode on the front camera is less impressive because it seems to always blur out the top of my head and when I take nighttime portrait selfies, it’ll always cut out certain parts of my hair, especially the strays. Simply put, the Mi 9T Pro has a great camera setup — just skip the portrait mode if you’re taking lowlight selfies.

The Mi 9T Pro also comes with a 4,000mAh battery that charges via USB-C and comes with an 18W charger, but it can support 27W charging. I don’t need to worry about bringing my charger along with me on my usual day because the phone can last me the whole day even when I game for an hour or two. It is one of the few devices that I enjoyed using to game without having to worry about its battery life. Furthermore, I only need 90 minutes to get the phone to 100% with its 18W charger, so I never have to worry about its battery consumption.

Verdict

The Mi 9T Pro starts at RM1,599 but this variant (6GB+128GB) will cost you RM1,799. With such a competitive price, the device is definitely worth its value because it comes with amazing performance and an awesome battery life. I think it’s a great alternative to gaming smartphones, minus its audio experience and perhaps the lack of advanced heat dissipation technology as seen in gaming phones. Nevertheless, the Mi 9T Pro is definitely one of the phones that should be considered for those who are looking for flagship phones that don’t require you sell your kidneys.

The Good

Great overall performance, including gaming

Impressive daytime photography and selfies

Above average lowlight photography performance

Durable battery life and fast charging speed

The Not So Good

Disappointing portrait selfies

Single speaker

Display is unsatisfactory when under sunlight

Mi 9T Pro
xiaomi


Xiaomi Mi 9T set to receive Android 10 update this October according to reports

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Android 10 is out for Google Pixel devices and we’ve seen its new features – well, most of them at least. We tested them out and you can find out what we think here:

Eventually, the new OS will roll out to other manufacturers using Android, but it looks like one of the earlier ones will be Xiaomi’s Mi 9T. According to GSM Arena, owners of the phone can expect to the get the update sometime October this year.

It’s odd that we’re not seeing the Mi 9 get Android 10 yet, since it’s Xiaomi’s flagship – so either we could see it roll out to the device sooner or the Mi 9T will really be the first of Xiaomi’s repertoire to receive the new OS. Either way, it’s a sign of commitment from the Chinese company, who’ve so far hasn’t put a foot wrong this year.

If you don’t have a Xiaomi Mi 9T but want one, check out our review
here
!

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Xiaomi launches the mid-ranged Xiaomi Mi 9T with a Snapdragon 730 – price starts from RM1,199

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Xiaomi today announced the Xiaomi Mi 9T, the mid-range variant of the Mi 9 line-up of phones. This is essentially a re-branded model of the recently announced Redmi K20.

The phone is a 6.39-inch AMOLED display that pushes 1080p resolution – there are no notches, thanks to a pop-up selfie camera.

Over at the back is a triple lens setup – 48MP main + 13MP ultra-wide + 8MP telephoto lens. The phone comes equipped with a Sony IMX 582 imaging sensor too. The 3D glass back is another note-worthy feature of the phone – the Flame Red and Glacier Blue versions sport flame decals towards the edges of the panel, while Carbon Black sports Kevlar-like patterns instead.

The 20MP pop up selfie camera is your regular affair, aside from two LED lights that accent the module when it rises. The LED light doesn’t stay on however, so it’s a gimmick at best.

Inside, you’ll find a Snapdragon 730 chipset, 6GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB of internal storage. Powering the phone is a 4,000mAh battery, which is much large than that of its siblings, the Xiaomi Mi 9 and Mi 9SE.

The phone charges via USB Type-C and supports fast charging. The phone retails at RM1,199 for the 6+64GB variant and RM1,399 for the 6+128GB variant. The phone is available for pre-order starting today; while a flash sale on Lazada on 25 June, 10am will give you the chance to get the 6+64GB variant for only RM1,099.

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Xiaomi Mi 9X With 6.4-inch AMOLED Display and 32MP Selfie Camera Arriving in April

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Last week, a
report
 published by XDA-developers claimed Xiaomi is working on three new smartphones featuring in-display fingerprint sensors, including the Mi 9X. Alleged specifications of the Mi 9X have now surfaced online.

According to the new leak, the Xiaomi Mi 9X will sport a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution, an in-display fingerprint sensor, and a waterdrop-style notch at the top. The waterdrop notch will house an impressive 32MP resolution selfie camera.

Under the hood, Xiaomi Mi 9X is rumored to run on the same Snapdragon 675 octa-core processor as the Redmi Note 7 Pro. When it comes to performance, the Snapdragon 675 is a significant improvement compared to the Snapdragon 660 chipset inside the Mi 6X. In terms of memory, the leak suggests Mi 9X will be available with 6GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage.

In addition to an impressive 32MP selfie camera, the smartphone is said to feature a 48MP + 13MP + 8MP triple camera setup on the back. While the Mi 9X will be more impressive than the Redmi Note 7 Pro in the camera department, it will not be nearly as impressive in terms of battery life. The Mi 9X is said to have a 3300mAh capacity battery with 18W fast charging support. The smartphone will apparently start at CNY 1,699 (RM1,032) in China. It is claimed to be launching in Xiaomi’s home market in April, although no specific date has been confirmed. The global version of the Mi 9X is expected to be launched sometime later this year as the Mi A3.

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Xiaomi Mi A1 to be available by end of September for RM1,199

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The Mi A1 is technically the fastest Xiaomi smartphone to be made available locally after its global launch, as our friends at Xiaomi Kluang, who is an authorized reseller of Xiaomi, has started taking pre-orders of Xiaomi’s first Android One device for the price of RM1,199, which is similarly priced to the grey import Chinese version of the handset, the Xiaomi Mi 5X.

The Mi A1 has the same exact hardware of the Xiaomi Mi 5X, the phone comes with a Snapdragon 625 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, its dual camera setup is similar to the one on the Mi 6 while lacking optical stabilization. Unlike the Mi 5X, the Mi A1 ships with a vanilla flavor of Android Nougat as opposed to Xiaomi’s MIUI software, the phone has the advantage of receiving the latest version of Android for at least two years, making it an excellent alternative to Google’s more expensive Pixel devices.

If you want to get your hands on the Mi A1, do check out our friends at Xiaomi Kluang, they do offer mail delivery services as long as you are located in Malaysia.

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Xiaomi Mi A1 Special Edition launches in Indonesia

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Most of us do know that Xiaomi’s MIUI software is far from stock Android, mainly taking inspiration from Apple’s iOS platform. Things took a surprising turn when the company unveiled the Mi A1, a rebranded version of the Mi 5X running on stock Android under the Android One program. The reception for the Mi A1 has been good so far, so Xiaomi has taken things up a notch by launching a special edition Mi A1 in Indonesia.

The Xiaomi Mi A1 Special Edition is basically the phone with a new red paint job. Instead of the current Black, Gold and Rose Gold, this phone comes in a red aluminium finish. The specs remain the same throughout apart from its new color. Just to recap, the Mi A1 is powered by a Snapdragon 625 chipset, 4GB of RAM and comes with 64GB of expandable storage.

The display is still the same 1080p screen measuring at 5.5-inches. The dual camera setup consists of two 12MP sensors – one wide angle and one telephoto, while the front facing shooter is of 5 megapixels. It packs a 3,080mAh battery. The phone still retains its IDR 3,099,000 (RM 886.10) price tag and will be sold at the Mi Store through Lazada Indonesia.

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Xiaomi Mi A1 supports quick charging after Oreo update

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Xiaomi surprised the smartphone world by launching the Mi A1 earlier this year. The Mi A1 is a rebranded Mi 5X that runs on stock Android instead of MIUI. This comes as somewhat ironic since the company’s MIUI Android skin usually strays as far away from stock as possible. Xiaomi phones typically don’t support Qualcomm’s Quick Charge technology despite their hardware being Quick Charge ready, but the Mi A1 has allegedly gotten quick charging support from it’s most recent software update.

The folks at Telecom Talk have tested the latest beta software of the Mi A1 which is based on Android Oreo. They discovered that the handset now supports fast charging as compared to before. The Mi A1 managed to be fully charged in just 92 minutes, which is pretty impressive for a phone that previously doesn’t have quick charge support. One thing to note is that this was tested using OnePlus’ Dash Charge adapter, hence we can’t confirm that the Mi A1 will officially support quick charging.

Regardless, it is a welcome addition to the Mi A1 on top of its stock Android software based on Oreo, which includes new features such as notification channels, picture in picture support, adaptive icons just to mention a few.

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Xiaomi Mi A2 can now be bought from Lazada for as low as RM869

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Xiaomi recently launched the Mi A2, their second generation stock Android devices that were made on a collaboration with Google. However, during the launch, they announced the prices in Euro and said that the phones will come at a later date to Asia Pacific. Knowing Malaysia smartphone sellers, they already brought in the phones and you can get them now.

By just doing a quick search on Lazada, we found that there were multiple shops selling both the Mi A2 and the Mi A2 Lite, both for below RM1000. However, there are a few things to note if you are planning to buy from these sellers. The first being that these phones might not come with the official warranty, but rather a shop warranty, and second they are international sets so the time for these devices to get an update might vary from the local devices that Xiaomi Malaysia offers. If you don’t mind all the points that were mentioned, the Mi A2 Lite 4GB RAM and 64GB storage can be purchased for as low as
RM779
, while the Mi A2 4GB RAM and 32GB storage can be bought for as low as
RM869
.

If you are willing to wait, Xiaomi Malaysia will be launching these phones very soon, and in a recent product posting leak from Lazada, which has now been removed, told us that the Mi A2 6GB RAM 128GB storage will retail for RM1,199, which tells us that the lower spec variants could very well be priced below RM1000.

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Xiaomi Mi A2 leaked image shows it comes with a Snapdragon 660 processor and Android 8.1

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Its known for awhile now that Xiaomi is releasing the successor to the Mi A1 simply called, Mi A2 and for a long time, we have not heard much about the phone other than its rumours and speculations. However, recently, a live image of the phone has surfaced on the internet complete with its specs.

A photo that was released by Slash Leaks shows the phone complete with its About section as well as the Model name confirming that this is the Mi A2. The phone is a white variant and from what we can see, there looks to be no notch on the top of the screen but rather, obvious bezels. The Mi A phones are the company’s efforts with Google to release a stock Android version of their phones which was received very well all over the world and it comes with the latest version of Android. Other than that, it seems to be confirmed that the phone will be equipped with the Snapdragon 660 processor, a formidable mid-range processor.

Xiaomi is expected to launch this phone during their global launch event that is happening soon. A listing from a Swiss website mentioned that 32GB variant will cost around CHF 289 (RM1176.66), the 64GB variant will cost CHF 329 (RM1339.52) and the 128GB will come with a price of CHF369 (RM1502.38).

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Xiaomi Mi A3 Tipped to Feature an In-Display Fingerprint Scanner

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Xiaomi is expected to launch its second-generation Android One smartphones later this year. According to a new report from XDA-developers, the two upcoming Android One smartphones from the popular Chinese brand will include a game-changing feature.

XDA Junior Member franztesca has discovered that Xiaomi has started testing three new devices codenamed “pyxis”, “bamboo_sprout”, and “cosmos_sprout”. Going by the _sprout suffix in their codenames, it is being speculated that “bamboo_sprout” and “cosmos_sprout” could be Android One devices. On the other hand, “pyxis” will likely be the Chinese variant of the Mi A3 and a direct successor to the Mi 6X.

All the three smartphones are said to be undergoing testing with “fod” or fingerprint on display. Since all the three models are expected to be relatively affordable, they will probably use an optical in-display fingerprint sensor like most Android smartphones equipped with the technology. Even though smartphones with in-display fingerprint scanners are starting to become more common in the high-end segment, there are still very few smartphones offering the technology in the budget segment.

Apart from an in-display fingerprint sensor, the trio is tipped to feature a 32MP selfie camera with 4-in-1 pixel binning support. The Mi A3 is expected to ship with a Snapdragon 675 chipset under the hood, while the Mi A2 Lite might feature a Snapdragon 632 or Snapdragon 636 instead. Xiaomi had launched the Mi 6X in China in April last year, so there is a good chance that “pyxis” may be officially unveiled very soon.

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Xiaomi Mi Band 2 set to launch on June 7

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Having sat out when Xiaomi launched the Mi Max phablet alongside the unveiling of MIUI 8, the Mi Band 2 is slated to finally make its official appearance early next month, according to a report by Chinese site MyDrivers.

During the release of Xiaomi’s Mi Drone yesterday, Lei Jun, the company’s CEO has apparently revealed that the Mi Band 2 will be launched on the 7th of June, which is less than two weeks from now. Lei Jun has previously mentioned on Chinese social media that the Mi Band 2 was facing some production issues, which will lead to a delay in terms of its launch and sale, but looks like we don’t have to wait for as long as a month for the fitness band to be unveiled.

The Mi Band 2, which was allegedly flaunted on camera by Lei Jun not too long ago, appears to have a small display, something which was non existent on the first Mi Band and the Mi Band Pulse. The fitness wearable is said to cost at least double the price point of its predecessors. But comparing with the likes of Fitbit and Jawbone, the Mi Band 2 might just pose as a potential threat.

Source:
MyDrivers

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