Over the past couple of years we haven’t seen any noticeable change in smartphone designs – candy bar form and some minor changes. The last big thing was edge screen we saw on Samsung Galaxy “Edge” family. Not so long ago Xiaomi decided to change that with what I call, the “XPS of Smartphones” (yes, we’re referring to Dell’s Apple-killer design notebooks). Mi Mix is smartphone with no bezels, and in that way is one of the first smartphones to bring this design to life. But let’s get it clear, this phone looks like one of those leaked fake designs of future Apple or Samsung phones. Actually – it is a tweaked version of Sharp Aquos.
Specifications
Xiaomi has not compromised on any equipment in the Mi MIX. Under the hood, MIX is powered by an Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with Adreno 530 GPU. Device can be equipped with 4 GB or 6 GB of RAM, with either 32, 128 GB or even 256 GB internal storage. Xiaomi’s internal memory is based on fast UFS 2.0 witch should give good performance. In daily use, the Mi MIX proves to be a fast everyday companion. There were no apps that forced the smartphone to the buckle at the knees, and while using it the phone didn’t heat up very much. In short, performance of the Mi MIX hardware is more than enough to give the user with a fluid experience of MIUI 8. The phone also features 6.4” IPS LCD screen with AIDA64 from Sharp and, according to the technical specifications provided by Xiaomi, resolution is 2040×1080 pixels. MIX also features mono speaker with average sound quality and 3.5 mm jack. In the terms of camera, front camera is in a weird position, the lower right corner of the phone. Back camera In the MI Mix features 16 MP with electronic image stabilizer and aperture f/2.0. It was probably not possible to integrate an optical image stabilizer due to the flatness of the main camera. The phone also have fingerprint reader placed on the back.
Design
As I said already this phone design is magnificent. Xiaomi’s MIX concept was only available in black color. 2017 CES saw Mi MIX debuting in white. Besides the new design of the screen, for the first time, Xiaomi has opted to use ceramic as a material in one of its smartphones. OnePlus used ceramic in a limited version of the OnePlus X . The material is heat-resistant, extremely hard, but unfortunately quite fragile at the same time. So if you get a Xiaomi Mi MIX, you don’t have to worry about scratches on the barely polished case, but you definitely shouldn’t drop it. Downside of this kind of screen design, and the size of the phone is that it has to be used with both hands. Using it with one hand leads to a really big number of miss hits.
Battery
You can guess from the size of this phone that it hosts a large battery inside. The battery has capacity of 4,400 mAh. At almost the same dimensions as the Huawei Mate 9 (4,000 mAh), it gives an extra 10 percent of juice.
Final verdict
This phone is really a good example how smartphones will probably be designed in future. For the first time we have an bezel-less phone available all over the globe. In terms of using it in VR I think that for its 6.4” and a bit higher resolution than FHD it won’t give best performance, if you find matching headset for this beast. If you want to buy this phone you can do it here. On this link you can also check availability for your country and provider.
