Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Review - Rimless happy ?!

Foreword: Xiaomi Mi Mix 2

When the Chinese electronics giant "Xiaomi" launched the "Xiaomi Mi Mix"Published, the manufacturer showed that concept smartphones can also be implemented. The Xiaomi Mi Mix was not the first "Tri-Bezel-Less" smartphone (see, for example, Sharp Aquos Crystal), but it was the first mobile device of this type that actually caught on and, to a certain extent, started the trend towards the rimless smartphone. In the meantime, many other manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon, as demonstrated by the recently released iPhone X, among other things.

Design, workmanship and delivery

The design of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is again thanks to the French designer Philippe Starck. One of the coolest features of the Xiaomi Mi Mix model series, and thus also of the Mix 2, is the high-quality case back made of ceramic. As a result, the smartphone not only looks damn classy without a case, it is also well protected from scratches. Ceramic is one of the hardest, non-metallic materials. Even after 5 weeks of use without a protective cover, not a single scratch was noticeable on the back. However, the use of ceramics also has some disadvantages. The comparatively smooth property and susceptibility to fingerprints are already noticeable after unpacking. Even if ceramic offers a high level of protection against scratches, the material has a comparatively low breaking strength. If the smartphone falls on its back, breaks cannot be ruled out!

In contrast to its predecessor, the Mi Mix 2 is not made entirely of ceramic. The ceramic back, which is rounded at the edges, merges into an equally rounded, matt black metal housing frame. This means that the smartphone is not too slippery in the hand. The beautiful design of the device does not necessarily have to be hidden behind a protective cover.

The dimensions of the smartphone are 151.8 mm in height, 75.5 mm in width and 7.7 mm in thickness. The weight is 185g. The smartphone is structured as follows:

 The front is the 5.99 inch display, which extends to the upper edge of the case and the sides of the case (Tri-Bezel-Less). A narrow loudspeaker is available and is located above the display. The front camera has moved to the lower, right section of the front due to lack of space. There are no capacitive buttons. Instead, there is a white notification LED in the middle below the display.

As already mentioned, the rounded housing frame is made of metal. The only distinctive feature are the anthracite-colored antenna covers. The SIM tray, which can be equipped with two nano SIM cards, is located on the left side of the frame. The volume rocker and the power button are located on the right side of the frame. The underside of the frame is formed by the central USB-C socket, the loudspeaker and the microphone. You will look in vain for a 3.5 mm audio connection. 

Regarding the case's back, it remains to be said that the main camera with its elegant gold frame, the LED flash on the right and the fingerprint scanner underneath are in the upper third. In the lower part of the back of the case there is also a gold “MIX DESIGNED BY XIAOMI” lettering.

The scope of delivery includes the smartphone, an audio adapter, a hard case, a USB-C cable, a charging adapter with NEMA-1 plug, a SIM needle and a Chinese user manual. The processing quality of the smartphone corresponds to the price and is generally not objectionable.

Display

The term “rimless” shouldn't be taken too seriously for this smartphone either. Although the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 with its 5.99 inch display is even more compact than some 5.5 inch smartphones, the Mi Mix 2 does not completely dispense with bezels. The so-called “bezel”, i.e. the distance between the display and the edge of the housing, is around 5 mm to the upper edge of the housing, 3 mm to the sides and 10 mm to the lower edge of the housing.

The 5.99 inch display has a resolution of 2160 × 1080 pixels and has an extremely sharp point density of 403 PPI. Based on these values ​​and the housing dimensions, a "screen-to-body" ratio of 80.79 percent results. The aspect ratio is 18: 9. One advantage of this format is its handiness. Despite the large 5.99 inch display, the overall size of the smartphone is narrower than comparable 16: 9 devices and can therefore still be operated from left to right with one hand without any problems. However, the operation of the upper part of the display is a disadvantage. Films and series or YouTube videos that were not processed in 18: 9 format are also played on the Mi Mix 2 with a black border.

The display impresses with crisp colors that are almost reminiscent of the color rendering of an AMOLED display. Brightness, contrast and colors can be individually adjusted within the display settings. In addition to an automatic brightness adjustment, there is also an automatic contrast adjustment that optimizes the contrast based on the available ambient light. The ambient light sensor is hidden from view behind the display. Xiaomi specifies the contrast ratio as 1500: 1. Also on board is a reading or night mode that filters blue light.

The maximum display brightness is sufficient to be able to read the display of the Mi Mix 2 reasonably well outdoors and in sunshine. The maximum reduction in display brightness works surprisingly well. Especially when using it in the dark and in combination with the automatic brightness adjustment, you are not blinded by an extremely bright display when you switch on the smartphone. The viewing angle stability of the display is as it should be. No matter how you turn or tilt the smartphone, the display remains unchanged.

The touchscreen of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 recognizes up to 10 simultaneous inputs. All inputs were recognized without problems and, above all, precisely during the test phase. The screen protector consists of an unspecified, hardened display glass.

Performance

Like Xiaomi flagships from other model series, the Mi Mix 2 also relies on the currently most powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip. The 64-bit processor is manufactured in the 10nm process and consists of a total of 8 Kryo 280 processor cores, which in turn are divided into a performance and energy-saving cluster according to the big.LITTLE architecture. The performance cluster includes 4 cores that clock at up to 2.45 GHz. The energy-saving cluster also has 4 cores, which, however, have a clock rate reduced to 1.9 GHz. The processor graphics is an Adreno 540 GPU that promises high-end gaming performance.

The storage equipment of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 amounts to either a 6GB or 8GB LPDDR4X memory and an also optionally 64GB, 128GB or 256GB large UFS2.1 memory. The benchmark results refer to the smallest model with 6GB + 64GB memory. A memory expansion using a microSD memory card is not provided. 

With the Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip, the Mi Mix 2 is one of the most powerful smartphones of 2017. You could almost say that the smartphone takes any app, no matter how demanding, with ease. Apps open extremely quickly and memory access is possible without any major delay thanks to the fast LPDDR4X RAM and UFS2.1 memory. The smartphone masters multitasking with several apps that are open at the same time. Graphically demanding mobile games are not a problem for the powerful Adreno 540 GPU. The heat development is low even with intensive use and was around 41 ° C after an hour of gaming.

user interface

The test copy of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, with which this review deals, was delivered with a Chinese MIUI 8.5 ROM based on Android 7.1.1. A disadvantage of the Chinese ROM is that, in addition to Chinese, only English can be selected as the language. In addition, there are numerous Chinese apps on the smartphone that are purely intended for the Chinese market. The biggest disadvantage, however, is that the Google PlayStore is not preinstalled. This can only be installed retrospectively via detours. If you are not at all familiar with flashing Android smartphones, you should generally make sure to buy a device with MIUI Global ROM when buying a Xiaomi smartphone. The Global ROM is intended for the western market and offers a multilingual language selection, as well as an already installed Google PlayStore.

The current MIUI 9 Global Beta for Mix 2 has also been available since the beginning of November. Alternatively, the so-called Xiaomi.EU ROM is also available for the smartphone. This is a community ROM that is based on the Chinese MIUI Developer ROM, but also offers a multilingual user interface. Updates of the Xiaomi.EU ROM appear weekly. Anyone who is familiar with flashing Android smartphones will be offered numerous ROM options!

Camera

 The main camera is a 1 / 2.9 inch Sony IMX12 image sensor with a native resolution of 386 megapixels. The pixel size is 1.25 μm, the aperture used is f / 2.0. Anyone who has dealt with the recently released Xiaomi flagships has probably noticed that the same sensor was last in the  Xiaomi Mi6  and  Xiaomi Mi Max 2  was installed. A notable feature of the main camera is the 4-axis optical image stabilization. The front camera is an OmniVision OV5675 image sensor that has a resolution of 5 megapixels. 

Practical test of the main camera

The Sony IMX386 image sensor has already proven itself in numerous other smartphones. In contrast to one Xiaomi Mi6 However, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 dispenses with an additional image sensor, which is why it is necessary to dispense with a loss-free telephoto zoom and "bokeh recording" functionally. 

Nevertheless, the Mi Mix 2 has a decent main camera. Shot pictures convince with a pleasant, by no means oversaturated color rendering and a good dynamic range. Especially in good lighting conditions, the Mi Mix 2 delivers flagship-level images that deliver a high level of detail. On the other hand, the recordings at night are less impressive. Despite the optical image stabilization, it is extremely difficult to take shake-free images. The reason for this is the comparatively high shutter speed, which is often set to 5 seconds in automatic recording mode. At the same time, the formation of artifacts increases significantly and details are increasingly lost.

In general, it is advisable to take recordings using the manual recording mode of the MIUI camera app. This provides, among other things, individual setting options for white balance, focus, shutter speed and ISO. What the manual recording mode lacks is the ability to save images in raw format RAW or DNG. There is also no automatic HDR mode, which is why HDR has to be switched on or off manually. In good lighting conditions, automatic focusing succeeds within a fraction of a second. With increasingly poor lighting conditions, the focus speed also decreases and, as already mentioned, the shutter release time increases.

 The main camera of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 records videos with maximum 4K resolution at 30 frames per second. A lower resolution of 1080p can be selected, but the frame rate remains at a fixed 30 frames per second. A smooth 60 frames per second cannot be set. The superiority of optical image stabilization is particularly evident in video recordings. Videos can be recorded without wobbling and without any loss of quality. The only criticism is the sound recording quality. Particularly in loud scenarios, the recorded sound tends to overdrive and, above all, sounds tinny.

Practical test of the front camera

The front camera generally delivers a good recording quality and is quite suitable for one or the other selfie. However, the position of the front camera takes some getting used to. Especially when the shutter is released, it is not uncommon for you to cover the camera with your hand or to simply not achieve the desired orientation. An interesting feature of the MIUI camera app are the various beauty filters on the front camera. Among other things, faces can be narrowed and softened with it.

connectivity

Telephony

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is one of the few Xiaomi smartphones with global cellular support. The LTE bands commonly used in this country (3, 7 and 20) are supported. Even the LTE band 8 recently used by Telekom is available. Nothing stands in the way of full LTE reception, regardless of the provider. As a dual SIM smartphone, the SIM tray can be equipped with 2 nano SIM cards. The reception quality in the mobile network is convincing. Spoken speech is transmitted in a clearly understandable manner and the noise-suppressing microphone filters out interference noises very well.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

The smartphone supports the WiFi protocols 802.11a / b / g / n / ac. The smartphone is also MU-MIMO compatible. The achieved data throughput as well as the connection range or connection stability are not objectionable. Bluetooth 5.0, currently the latest Bluetooth standard, is also supported. Unfortunately, there are still very few Bluetooth 5.0 devices, which is why only a Bluetooth 4.2 speaker was used in the test. Here, too, there were no dropouts in connection and transmission.

GPS and sensors

There were no noticeable problems with the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 when navigating. The smartphone finds a GPS fix within a few seconds. Positioning is accurate to within a few meters and remains constant. Even inside buildings, the smartphone proves to be extremely receptive.

The sensor equipment consists of an ultrasonic distance sensor, a gyroscope, an acceleration sensor, an e-compass, an ambient light sensor, a barometer and a Hall sensor. There is also a fingerprint sensor on the back, which unlocks the smartphone without any major delay and impresses with its high recognition rate. NFC is also on board.

Audio

 Following the trend, the Mi Mix 2 also manages without a 3.5 mm audio jack. Headphones or external loudspeakers can only be wired to the USB-C socket on the smartphone. A necessary USB-C to 3.5 mm jack adapter is included in the scope of delivery. The sound quality via the adapter leaves nothing to be desired. Different sound profiles and an equalizer can be configured individually via the settings menu.

The smartphone generates a stereo sound via the speaker on the underside in interaction with the auricle. We already know the same method of generating a stereo sound from the previously released Xiaomi Mi6. However, the implementation of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is less successful. At normal volume, the sound quality is satisfactory, but as soon as you approach the maximum volume, the sound becomes increasingly unclean and tends to be distorted.

Battery

 A highlight of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is the battery. Despite the now more common capacity of 3.400 mAh, the Mi Mix 2 is extremely energy-efficient. In everyday life you can easily get through the day with normal use. In the test, with active WiFi, location services and 2 active SIM cards, a use of 1 ½ days was no problem. The screen-on-time averages 7 1/2 hours. Depending on how you use the smartphone, up to 10 hours are possible.

Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 is supported for fast charging. With a suitable charger, the smartphone is fully charged in just 1 ½ hours.