Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 - All information about the slider smartphone

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3

Last week Donovan Sung announced the launch of the new Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 smartphone for October 25th. Since then, the head of marketing's Twitter account has not stood still. Almost every day new information about the smartphone came in, from which the first features and specifications were already emerging. The handheld has now been officially presented.

Extendable “slider” design

A smartphone with a slider brings back memories of the late 90s. The front of the new Mi Mix 3 is completely taken up by the display. The front camera and sensors are a nuisance and inevitably have to be located elsewhere. Some manufacturers, such as Oppo and Vivo, rely on an automatically extending camera slider. Xiaomi, on the other hand, is taking a slightly different path. The two front snaps appear not automatically but in the classic way with a “slide-down” movement. You can see what it all looks like in the following video.

Once again designed by Philippe Starck, the curved case of the Mi Mix 3 is made of ceramic. In addition to black, the colors sapphire blue and emerald green are also available.

Better night shots and super slow motion

The retractable front camera comes with two image sensors and a front LED flash. The sensors are a 24 megapixel SonyIMX576 main sensor and an OmniVision OV02A10 secondary sensor. Instead of a software-based bokeh effect, a second sensor will take on the task of creating a depth effect. Xiaomi's camera AI, which improves recordings according to the scene, is now also at the side of the front camera.

With the main camera, Xiaomi attaches great importance to good recording quality in poor lighting conditions. Night shots should convince through richness of detail, sharpness and color fastness. Even the portrait mode should still deliver useful results in poor lighting conditions. The sensors of the dual main camera are identical to those of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S and Xiaomi Mi 8. A 12 megapixel Sony IMX363 with f / 1.8 aperture and a 12 megapixel Samsung S5K3M3 image sensor are installed.

Also on board are a 4-axis image stabilization (OIS) and a fast dual PD autofocus. Im already published DxOMark The Mi Mix 3 performs a little better than the Mi 8. In the photo benchmark 108 points are scored, in the video benchmark 93 points.

The main camera is able to record super slow motion videos. The refresh rate reaches a whopping 960 frames per second. However, you shouldn't set your expectations too high. Resourceful developers of the XDA-Developers have already been able to “defuse” the Mi Mix 3’s SlowMo mode. Accordingly, it is a software effect that conjures up an interpolated 240 FPS from a native 960 FPS. The smartphone records ordinary videos at up to 4K at 60 frames per second.

6.39 inches full bezel-less display

The display extends almost entirely across the front. The lower frame distance, the at Mi Mix 2S was almost 1 cm, it was shortened to 4.46 mm. This achieves a remarkable screen-to-body ratio of 93.4%. The display used is of the AMOLED type and has a diagonal of 6.39 inches with 2340 x 1080 pixels. This results in a razor-sharp point density of 403 PPI and an aspect ratio of 19.5: 9.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 845

The system-on-chip is already from the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S well-known Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. A total of 8 Kryo 385 processor cores (2.8 GHz clock rate) are divided into two clusters that are powerful but also energy-efficient. The SoC's Adreno 630 GPU promises enough performance to be able to play current mobile and AR games smoothly.

There are various configuration options with regard to the memory equipment. The standard model relies on either a 6GB or 8GB memory (LPDDR4X) and a 128GB and 256GB data memory (UFS2.1). Only the special model will be equipped with 10GB RAM and 256GB data storage. There is no provision for memory expansion.

Mobile and others

Donovan Sung hinted at it in September. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is expected to be the first smartphone with 5G technology. However, a model with a 5G modem is not expected until the beginning of next year. When it comes to cell phone frequencies, Xiaomi once again distinguishes between a Chinese and a global model. The following mobile radio frequencies and bands are available: 

The usual mobile radio frequencies in this country are supported by both models. Equipped with a dual SIM slot, the smartphone can be used with two nano SIM cards. Each of the two slots is LTE-capable and supports VoLTE. Additional features include dual-AC WiFi with MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC. Unfortunately, the fingerprint scanner is not integrated into the display, but is located on the back of the case. An AI button ensures even deeper Xiao Ai integration. The operating system is MIUI 10 based on Android 9.

The battery has a capacity of 3200 mAh and should bring the user through the day without any problems. Qualcomm's Quick Charge 4.0 fast charging function is supported so that the smartphone can be recharged quickly. Another new feature is an even faster Qi charging function that charges the smartphone with up to 10W.