Xiaomi Mi 5 first impressions: this beast costs half the price of the Galaxy S7

SUBSCRIBE TO ANDROID AUTHORITY
by: Lanh Nguyen3 hours ago
341
22 319

Xiaomi may be yet to get a foothold in the US, but the Chinese OEM is very popular in its home market, and is also making waves in emerging markets like India. Xiaomi just took the wraps off of their latest high-end offering at MWC 2016, and we got to spend some time with the device. Here is the first look, as we go hands on with the Xiaomi Mi 5!

Xiaomi-Mi-5-5

There are few versions of the Mi 5 that are going to be available, but all of them will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820. The base models will come with 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage, along with 3 GB of RAM, and there is also a Pro version, featuring 128 GB of internal storage and 4 GB of RAM. The version you opt for also dictates the design language you get, with the base models coming with a metal and glass unibody construction, while the Pro iteration features a ceramic backing.

Xiaomi-Mi-5-3

All versions of the Mi 5 come with a large 3,000 mAh battery, that should provide for decent battery life, and with a USB Type-C port and Snapdragon processor, the device will be able to take advantage of Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 3.0 fast charging capabilities.

Xiaomi-Mi-5-4

As far as the design language is concerned, it remains familiar to previous Xiaomi devices, with glass on the front and back, and metal that wraps around the sides. The back features Xiaomi’s “3D Glass,” which is essentially a fancy name for the glass backing that tapers down on the sides, similar to what was seen with the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and the newly-announced Galaxy S7. As is the case with most devices with a similar build, the glass backing proves to be a big fingerprint magnet. However, the overall build of the phone feels solid, and the handling experience is really good, courtesy of its smaller 5.15-inch display, and thin bezels along the sides of the screen.

Xiaomi-Mi-5-1

The Xiaomi Mi 5 comes with a 5.15-inch IPS LCD display with a 1080p resolution. The resolution may not be Quad HD, as is now the expectation from current generation flagships, but in the short time we got to spend with the device, the viewing experience seems to be quite good. The colors are vibrant and saturated, viewing angles are nice, and the display seems to get pretty bright. Below the display is where you will notice a physical home button, which isn’t a typical addition with Xiaomi smartphones. This home button, however, is the way for Xiaomi to introduce a fingerprint scanner into the mix.

Xiaomi-Mi-5-7

The Mi 5 comes with a 16 MP rear camera with phase detection auto focus, an f/2.0 aperture, and optical image stabilization. Of course, we’ll have to test the camera a lot more to see what kind of performance and image quality it provides, but the camera application itself looks to be simple enough, and the shutter speed was actually surprisingly fast.

Xiaomi-Mi-5-9

On the software side of things, you get the latest iteration of Xiaomi’s MIUI OS, based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The user interface remains quite similar to what is seen from a lot of other Chinese OEMs, with colorful squared icons, and the lack of an app drawer. You do get Xiaomi’s services and features built in, including an integrated Theme store that lets you change the look and feel of the interface.

So there you have it for quick look at the Xiaomi Mi 5! The Mi 5 will be available in China from March 1, and will make its way over to other markets like India shortly after. The device is priced at $260 for the base model, going up to $350 for the ceramic Pro version. With such as affordable price tag, coupled with top of the line specifications and a solid design, the Xiaomi Mi-5 is going to be quite the contender, and here’s to hoping that the device will somehow see an official release in the US.

Stay tuned with Android Authority as we continue to bring you more great coverage from MWC 2016!

Posted In
News
Tags
MWC 2016, Xiaomi Mi 5, Xiaomi Mi 5 Pro
, ,
  • vasek

    Does anybody know which FDD LTE frequencies are in fact inside?????

    • MaxPower

      1/3/7

      • Kasim Raza

        are you sure about that? where is it stated? if that true its gonna be my next phone!

  • marrecar

    “The resolution may not be Quad HD, as is now the expectation from current generation flagships…”
    What is this nonsense?! I don’t think anyone expects a flagship to have QHD screen, 1080p is still the thing, and hopefully will stay that way, at least for phones up to 5.5″. It’s a good resolution and you literally don’t need QHD on such small space.

    • KeyserSoze

      If you use your phone with VR headsets you definitely need QuadHD.

      • marrecar

        VR headsets aren’t spread that much at this point, so there is no need for QHD. And average users really don’t care about VR. Lije, only real tech geeks would go for it, and honestly, they’d buy real VR, the one that don’t need phone as “screen”.

        • KeyserSoze

          Now that Samsung offers a free VR headset with S7/S7 Edge purchase, it could become much more popular than before.

          • TheMysteryMan

            Only on preorders. I am not so sold on VR platform. Anything that needs gear to be word by the user has failed.
            Wearables are prime examples of this. 3 years back, the wearables were going to be the next big thing. It didnt happen. Lot of people I know who bought the wearables dont use it regularly or at all any more.
            Then there were 3D TVs with 3G googles. Failed for home use.

            VR is nice and all, I have 3 VR headsets with me. I rarely use them. The content is even today, very limited. Even though it is growing, there are some real hurdles in its path. The biggest being the split screen VR using mobile handsets is not good enough. The field of view on those types of VR is very limited. And yes, I have used galaxy VR.

            Then there is LG approach which needs different head unit with its own built in screen rendering phone resolution pointless.

            I have now used 4 QHD phones, and all of them were very limited by battery life. Yes, I can see the difference between 1080P and QHD. So those saying it does not matter are just plain wrong. But the cost of battery life is just too high.

            Then came the Xiaomi’s 1080P screen phone with Snapdragon 650 and its Cortex A72 cores. It is fast, really fast. It has big battery 4000mah. It sticks to 1080P screen, but the flipside? Look at that massive battery life. Every phone should be like this today. I can practically forget about managing my battery life over 1 day. I can hammer it the way i want, play games, use gps, use mobile data whole day long knowing I dont have to worry about battery life.

            This was only possible by using 1080P screen. And I am fine with that because of the battery life I get.

            As much as I love my iPhone 6s Plus or Note 5. I have switched to this so called midbudget phone for the battery life.

            Now Mi5 has smaller 5 inch screen and more powerful SoC, but the one thing they do know is how to optimise their MIUI for battery life. Mi4 offered fantastic battery life in this same form factor. And I fully support their decision of sticking to FHD screens this year. I will mostly be getting Mi 5 when it launches here soon (already announced for my country)

            VR can wait or simply go away. I would rather have LG like solution than doubling up phone screen as VR headset.

          • KeyserSoze

            I like Samsung’s nice strategy of introducing VR to mainstream consumers or non-geeks. It provides a nice gateway to more sophisticated higher-end VR systems down the road, drives costs down eventually… more quickly even.

        • Roby

          HTC, Facebook, Google, LG, Samsung, Microsoft… All of them are investing in VR.
          How the hell are they going to drive VR forward if not even their flagships are capable of properly displaying VR content?

          • marrecar

            Uhm, how about investing in a VR that doesn’t need your phone? But that’s not how market works and all those companies don’t want that simply because now you have to spend more money to buy a phone with such resolution plus the headset itself. And HTC Vive doesn’t need a phone.

          • Roby

            Your brain is malfunctioning.
            The HTC vive costs $799, while an HTC flagship still costs you $600-700. With an S7 preorder you get BOTH a phone and VR kit for the price of the Vive. Samsung is simply way more affordable than certain competitors, not everyone wants to pay a fortune for VR. Besides, this is an excellent way of spreading VR to people who otherwise might not have considered it. If you can’t uderstand that you really should check your brain.
            Anyway, goodbye, I explained everything there is to explain.

          • marrecar

            Get your facts straight. You literally can’t compare HTC Vive, a fully capable headset, with a headset that is given away for free. And as far as I understand, it’s a limited offer, for example here only first 50 purchases of S7 get the headset. But put that aside. HTC Vive can do much more and has much more potential, like Oculus Rift, it has much more capability than Samsung’s VR, which is basically a piece of plastic with lenses. You can’t compare those two in any way. That’s my whole point, flagships that have screen size up to 5.5″ needn’t QHD resolution.

        • Hans Pedersen

          Google said last month that over 5 millions were using Google Cardboard. It’s a bit more than jsut the hardcore geeks who are into VR these days.

          • marrecar

            Cardboard? Really? People bought that out of curiosity because it’s cheap as f. I bet they don’t have any data on how much users use it on daily basis, or even a month. It sure won’t be a huge number.

          • Hans Pedersen

            And I bet over 20 billion people, in Luxemburg alone, are super into VR.
            I’m probably as right with that claim as you are with yours.

    • Andy

      Every flagship (Android) has a QHD screen and that is the route that most OEMs are taking. It was odd at first to hear them announce QHD screens but when I hear that it has an 1080p screen, I’m kind of surprised. 1080p screens help save on cost/battery so I’m on board with this decision.

  • xiao ming

    Im waiting for XiaoMi next flagship with 5.5″ or larger (preferable 6.0″)

  • KeyserSoze

    Mi 5 seems pretty decent but that ugly cheap-looking black border around the screen has got to go, makes it look like a crappy Vivo phone.

    • Pau Lauri

      buy a “ceramic mi5 pro and maybe it will not be on your eyes.

      • Stefan

        Or maybe ordinary black version? Do they calculate it into size of the screen?

        Despite that it is a great phone, but they shouldn’t say no bezel, when there is bezel.

  • Goran Jeremic

    I really want this phone!

  • maxi

    this makes iphone look like some ridiculous joke.

  • Angelscry

    This phone looks boring already. Just like iphone ;)

  • vmxr

    Nice phone looks like s7 twins from another mother though :)

  • kalpavix

    my advice never buy from china because if you receive a broken phone you have nothing to do like what happend to me i received a xiaomi redmi note 3 with a camera not working and after 2 mounth i didn’t found any help from them

  • KeyserSoze

    China is USA’s frienemy for the moment, but they might soon be at war with us and become our actual enemy. I wouldn’t contribute to their wealth if there’s a way to do so. It might actually be a good thing to be at war with China, maybe then the manufacturing jobs will come back to the States.

  • saksham

    if xiaomi and google make a nexus then it will make me beleive its good company