Detailed review of xiaomi mi5. Xiaomi Mi5 review: the long-awaited flagship at a great price
Xiaomi Mi5s smartphone - review
Xiaomi smartphones are usually very popular - mainly because of the very high quality hardware. With firmware, things are much worse for them: often for some new model the official international firmware does not come out for a long time, so users are either satisfied Chinese firmware with English support, which they tweak with a file, or install all sorts of custom firmware, which are almost certainly fraught with various glitches. I reviewed the smartphone. That’s exactly how it was: good hardware and the crooked firmware. I jumped around a bit and eventually installed some custom MIUI in it, with which it lived quite well. New Xiaomi model Mi5, which was highly anticipated, never reached me, but now they sent me from Gearbest the newest model Xiaomi Mi5s, which just appeared. Moreover, on the store’s website it is separately noted that the International Edition MIUI 8 is installed here, that is, the official international MIUI firmware 8, which means that the smartphone should support the Russian interface without problems and there shouldn’t be any glitches there. Well, let’s figure out what this model and firmware are, especially since I’m Russian detailed reviews I haven’t seen this smartphone yet, there’s only previews based on the results of the presentations.
Display: 5.15", 1920×1080, FullHD, IPS, 2.5D, OGS, 427 PPI
CPU: Qualcom Snapdragon 821 Quad Core 2.15GHz
GPU: Adreno 530
RAM: 3 GB
Flash memory: 64 GB
Memory card: No
Fingerprint scanner: There is
IR port: No
Net: GSM+CDMA+WCDMA+TD-SCDMA+FDD-LTE+TD-LTE
Wireless connection: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC
Camera: 12 megapixels
Front-camera: 4 megapixels
Ports: USB-C (OTG), audio jack
Navigation: GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS/Beidou/OTA
SIM card: nanoSIM1 and nanoSIM2
Battery: 3100 mAh, non-removable, supports Quick Charge 3.0
Dimensions: 145.7 x 70.3 x 8.3 mm
Weight: 147 g
Additionally: accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity and light sensors, Hall sensor
Case colors: white, black, golden, pink
Price: on Gearbest $319 (about 20 thousand rubles) Well, the characteristics are advanced, there is no trace of memory card support traditionally for the Mi series, we’ll see how it all works. Contents of delivery A dazzling white box in the style of “We also want to be like Apple”, on which two letters are pressed - Mi.
Inside everything is very simple, but neat. 
The kit is in the style of “Only cheap smartphones come with all sorts of accessories,” so here is a power adapter with a Chinese plug and a USB-microUSB cable. They didn’t even include an adapter for a European socket, although the supply was like European. A trifle, but unpleasant. Smartphones costing $100-150 always include these. And an OTG cable. And a little case. And protective film. Well, because they’re cheap, what can you take from them! 
The adapter supports three charging options. 
The body is made of aluminum alloy, the left and right ends are noticeably rounded. 
What does all this remind me of? And here's what - . Just like twins. Only OnePlus 3 is bigger. Look - OnePlus 3 on the right. 
Similar? Very similar! The bottom end has a USB-C output, holes under which the speaker is hidden, two decorative screws. 
Here's OnePlus 3. 
The left side is a slot for two nanoSIMs. 
The top end is the audio output. 
The right side is the volume rocker, power button. Their pressure is quite distinct. 
Well, here is this smartphone next to Honor 8 and Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. 
The materials and workmanship are excellent, the smartphone makes a good impression. But the similarity to OnePlus 3 is confusing - I’m really interested in who is who and who has whom. The touch buttons “Return” and “Running applications” are not marked, they have a backlight in the form of a dot that lights up for 4 seconds during use. (This is configurable.) The “Home” button is touch sensitive; when touched, it responds with a vibration response, simulating a press. Display
Display on an IPS matrix, made using OGS technology. Covered with protective tempered glass with rounded edges. It has an anti-glare filter and an oleophobic coating. The image quality is very good: the colors are bright and saturated, the contrast is at a good level. The brightness margin is quite sufficient. In direct sunlight, the image is clearly visible. Good viewing angles; with strong deviations, the contrast drops slightly. Device operation
As I already said, Gearbest claims that the official international firmware MIUI 8 is installed here, which is even stated in the title of the page of this phone on the store’s website. And indeed, at first glance, the firmware looks like this: everything Google services in place, the Russian interface is practically without jambs. However, if you go to the official website of the MIUI developer, it is easy to see that the Global Stable firmware for Mi5s does not yet exist in nature. Only China Stable, that is, Chinese firmware. 
So what kind of firmware is installed here? Some kind of custom: either from multirom, or from xiaomi.eu, which make firmware based on MIUI. And the unpleasant thing is that this firmware persistently works under MIUI Global Stable 8.0 (as it is written in the MIUI version of the smartphone), but such firmware does not yet exist in nature, as the developer himself claims. However, in the abbreviation MAGCNDH in brackets next to the version number, the letters CN just mean “China”, that is, this is Chinese stable firmware, modified by craftsmen.
It will appear, of course, because it exists for Mi5, but now it is not there. The question arises: why worry about the fact that this is custom and not the official international one, if everything is in order with the firmware and everything works stably with it? So the problem is that there are some minor problems with stability, and I will write about this in detail below. Main desktop.
Second desktop.
Applications in the Tools folder.
Lock window.
It also comes with an audio playback widget.
Quick switches scroll only horizontally - this is not very convenient. However, this is installed by default, and in the notification settings you can separate the notification window and quick toggles - then the quick toggles will be in a separate window.
Talk mode.
Quality telephone communication- good, noise reduction works quite effectively. Wi-Fi transmission speed is close to maximum.
Mobile Internet reception is even better than expected for these conditions. Transmission is normal speed.
Sennheiser CX 2.00G in-ear headphones are good: the sound is clear, detailed, good highs and even some bass.
Over-ear headphones Audio-Technica ATH-M50x - very good: surround sound, clear, detailed, deep bass, clear highs. Determining coordinates It starts very quickly (a couple of seconds), detects GPS and GLONASS satellites. It holds the road well, there were no problems with the navigation programs.
Tanks - almost all the time 59-60 FPS, that is, the maximum. 
Epic Citadel performance test - also FPS at maximum. 
Settings There are many interesting possibilities in the settings. 
You can adjust the font size, turn on reading mode, turn on the screen double click(which, by the way, did not always work the first time).
Themes. By the way, there are a great variety of free themes available - for every taste.
You can create a separate data space for a second user.
Of the 64 GB, almost 58 GB are free for the user.
Child mode is a useful feature for some users.
Setting up the indicator.
There is an equalizer adjustment for Various types headphones, but I would not say that this leads to a good effect: for me, the sound is better without an equalizer.
This is what I really like - customizing the location of the navigation keys and various actions when pressed and long pressed.
Adjusting the backlight of the keys.
One-handed operation, and you can “tailor” it to three display sizes.
Enable dual mode for selected applications. This is when two copies of an application are stored with different settings. For example, if you need to work with Facebook with two different accounts, you can enable this here.
You can password protect individual applications.
Setting up a fingerprint.
Shooting modes. On the second window - night mode.
Camera settings called up using the "Menu" button.
Examples of photos. (All are clickable and open in full size.) Daylighting in the room. 
Street on a sunny day. 
Example text. 
Evening, at sunset. 500 ISO. 
In the dark, it resolutely sets ISO 6400 and at the same time blurs out the noise. But the result is not that much pornography. 
Here's a 1:1 crop. 
And if you turn off the noise reduction mode (there is such a thing in the settings), then it turns out something like this. 
Example video.
What can I say about the camera? The camera is decent for the price of the smartphone. Detail and dynamic range are good, white balance is determined more or less accurately and hardly fluctuates, exposure is determined normally, autofocus, although far from being as “tenacious” as competitors’ flagships, there are few defects there. Focusing does not work well under difficult lighting conditions (it happens that it simply cannot focus even on a dimly lit object), the quality of the images is bad conditions lighting - well below average, but not terrible. It shoots video well, and when shooting video, the stabilizer clearly works and improves the quality of the video. The camera is noticeably better, but it still costs one and a half times more. So, in general, the camera is normal for a smartphone of this price, in my opinion. System data and performance CPU-Z data.
Performance rating according to AnTuTu. Top ten fastest smartphones. Moreover, it even seems to overtake OnePlus 3, which did not hold the championship of the fastest for long. However, it is clear that now smartphones from the top twenty AnTuTu are all very fast.
Indexes according to Geekbench 3.
Well, the overall score according to PCMark. But OnePlus 3 has 7003!
Regarding heating, because the platform is powerful - even when running heavy 3D games, almost no heating was observed. Literally once I noticed a slight heating in a situation where I was loading a bunch of programs and data for them in a row. Slight heating was also noticeable when playing high-resolution videos. The fingerprint scanner worked correctly and crashes were rare. By the way, interestingly, the scanner also worked fine on wet fingers. He fooled around with the dirty ones, but worked with the wet ones. Later I read that here new type scanner and water is not a hindrance to it, which is valuable. Using the Home touch button, which signals when pressed by vibration, turned out to be quite convenient. You get used to it quickly, and then when you return to the physical button, like, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S7, it seems that physical button less convenient. What is the result? In terms of hardware and characteristics, the smartphone is excellent. The only pity is that there is no official international firmware for it yet, but it will probably appear soon. The existing custom firmware that is installed in Gearbest is very decent (and sometimes they are just wild), but it has some glitches, which, however, normal operation they don’t interfere. Well, I think that with the official firmware the smartphone will be one of the best in its class. It's very similar, only that one costs $470 on Gearbest, and this one costs $319.
Today we will get acquainted with Xiaomi Mi 5. The 2016 flagship was presented at MWC 2016 and fans have been waiting for this event for a very long time, because more than a year and a half has passed since the announcement of the previous one, and everything that the company showed during this time was perceived as intermediate solutions. We can immediately say that the smartphone turned out to be good - as always, there are attractive characteristics, and the price, taking into account the equipment, can be considered justified. Therefore, we will not delay the introduction and will immediately move on to introductions.
Smartphone provided by the storeXiaomi. ua
Equipment
The smartphone comes in a small cardboard box. A standard set awaits us inside: device, charger, cable, clip for removing the SIM card tray and documentation. Depending on the place of purchase, the box may also contain a store warranty card, as well as an adapter for European sockets so that you can use the included charger.
Design and usability
Xiaomi Mi 5 is made of glass and metal, and a top-end version with a ceramic cover will also be available. Despite the fact that similar case materials are ubiquitous not only in flagships, but also in mid-range devices price segment The Mi 5 looks great. The official images or photos do little to convey the charm of the smartphone. Before us is a device that is worth holding in your hands, then a lot becomes clearer.
The designers managed to choose the right curves of the case, the glass smoothly transitions into a relatively wide metal frame, there is no “border” between the two materials, the device fits perfectly in the hand. At the same time, Mi 5 feels very compact and slightly elongated in height. Surprisingly, 99% of people to whom I gave the smartphone to look at it noted the compactness and ergonomics of the body - usually opinions vary much more.
The choice of body colors is standard: white, black and gold. Traditionally for Xiaomi, smartphones are most often found at the start of sales white, blacks are in short supply (and therefore more expensive than whites), but gold ones are not. The older version will receive 4/128 GB of memory, a ceramic “back” and will probably be available only in black.
Let us immediately remind you of the obvious nuances: the glass back cover is covered with fingerprints, they will be especially noticeable on black smartphones, while fingerprints can also be seen on white ones. Another nuance is the frame around the screen. When turned off, it seems that the display takes up space from edge to edge, but after turning it on, a black screen frame appears - it is noticeable on white Mi 5s, and on black ones it merges with the front panel. This happens on many smartphones, but in the same Galaxy S7/S7 Edge the frames are noticeably narrower. However, in general their width is acceptable for a modern flagship.
Another design element is protective glass. Here it is flat, and not protruding, as on many modern flagships. This may seem like a disadvantage, but it seems to me that similar solution fits well with the design of the smartphone. Metal volume and power keys are located on the right side. They have minimal play, but they are comfortable to use - the buttons protrude optimally, and a pleasant, quiet click is felt when pressed.
Three more keys are located under the display. The central one is mechanical, it contains a fingerprint scanner. The key recognizes both pressing and touching. Both actions return you to the home screen, and touch response can be turned off, although this control works well with the two touch keys on the sides.
The touch buttons have a backlight (dots), which can be turned off - this makes the smartphone look better. In general, the controls look well thought out - the display can be turned on both with the power key and the button under the display (as well as the volume keys), using a smartphone you can only touch the keys under the display, and due to the slightly protruding central “Home” you will not get confused and miss the the desired control element.
Above the display there is a speaker, camera, sensors and a color indicator light. In the inactive state, it is not visible; in the settings, you can select the color of the indicator depending on the type of missed event.
Connector USB Type-C is located at the bottom, behind two symmetrical grilles the speaker (right) and microphone (left) are hidden. On the right side there is a tray for two NanoSIMs. The top edge is occupied by a headphone jack, a second microphone and an infrared port window for controlling household appliances.
Naturally, there are no complaints about the assembly - everything is adjusted as precisely as possible, the structure is rigid. After almost a month of use, a couple of scratches appeared on the back, which can be considered normal.
Display
The smartphone has a 5.15 inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. It is covered with protective glass (presumably Corning Gorilla Glass 4) with high-quality oleophobic coating.
Color reproduction is natural, but the colors are somewhat oversaturated - the image looks a little more beautiful than it actually is. This should be considered an advantage, not a disadvantage; the displays of all flagships behave in a similar way. There are no special features here, for example, the ability to turn on a double tap or control mode with gloves, there are only possibilities software settings Images.
Adjustable color temperature, contrast and reading mode. The latter makes the image yellower, reducing the amount of the “harmful” blue color component. You can activate the mode both globally and for individual applications. It can be useful when reading from the screen for a long time - this way your eyes should tire less, although the display is comfortable even without activating the reading mode.
"Automatic Contrast" analyzes the ambient light and detects when you are outside in bright sunshine. In this case, the image is noticeably distorted, black becomes gray, many shades turn white, due to this, excellent readability is maintained in bright sunlight.
Display calibration - Standard and High Contrast modes
Depending on the selected contrast mode, the maximum brightness level can be 533 or 612 cd/m², and the measured contrast is 1:1284 or 1:800, respectively. In Auto Contrast mode, the maximum brightness is lower and the measured contrast is higher; in Standard and High Contrast modes, the opposite is true. Minimum brightness in all modes – 1 cd/m².
Display calibration - Auto Contrast mode
In general, the smartphone screen leaves an extremely positive impression - excellent brightness adjustment range, natural color rendering, good oleophobic coating and sensor responsiveness, fairly accurate operation of the auto-brightness sensor, and so on.
Hardware platform
Xiaomi traditionally uses top platforms from Qualcomm in its flagships. This time the choice fell on the Snapdragon 820 (MSM8996) – a quad-core SoC with proprietary Kryo cores and Adreno 530 GPU, made using a 14 nm process technology.
Mi 5 is available in several modifications, differing in the volume of operational and permanent memory, as well as SoC frequencies. Basic version, which visited us, is equipped with 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of ROM, frequency formula Snapdragon 820: 2 x 1.36 GHz + 2 x 1.8 GHz. The “medium” version is equipped with 3/64 GB of memory, processor frequencies are increased to 1.6 and 2.15 GHz, respectively. The processor of the “older” version operates at similar frequencies, but the memory capacity is expanded to 4 and 128 GB, respectively. Naturally, there is a dual-band Wi-Fi module with support for the 802.11 ac standard, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS/Glonass/Beidu for navigation, an infrared port for controlling household appliances and NFC module. Used for charging and data transfer USB port Type-C (USB 2.0 standard).
During testing I had no complaints about Wi-Fi work, GPS. The overall speed of the smartphone corresponds to the title of flagship, although slowdowns due to damp software sometimes occur. One of unpleasant features devices on the Snapdragon 810 experienced heating of the processor and, accordingly, the case. Judging by the Mi 5, the Snapdragon 820 turned out to be cooler. At normal use The smartphone remains cold or barely warm. Under load, the heating is slightly felt, but it is much less than that of the previous generation SoC, the platform does not reduce clock speeds under load (no throttling). After four launches of Antutu, the result remains the same – about 110 thousand points. If you then shoot another 6 minutes of 4K video, the processor will warm up to 40 degrees (this good result, devices on Snapdragon 810 heated up to 50 degrees and above). There is no need to talk about performance in games - Qualcomm flagships have good optimization, games run without stuttering at the highest graphics settings (57-60 fps in WoT).
The smartphone has a fingerprint scanner integrated into the mechanical Home key. It works well (relatively quickly and accurately), but the small sensor area still has an impact: you have to scan fingerprints more carefully, apply your finger more variably at the time of registration and more evenly during use. The scanner does not recognize wet, swollen fingertips. In general, the fingerprint sensor works in about 85% of cases - not bad, but there are better implementations.
Calls, multimedia
Xiaomi Mi 5 supports simultaneous operation of two SIM Nano formats based on one radio module. Both SIM cards can work in 3G/4G networks, and you can set your own ringtone for each. Some special settings SIM operation, there is no difference between this smartphone and the bulk. Out of the box it is possible to record telephone conversations from the line.
The smartphone receives the network normally, the speaker sounds natural, and there is a good volume reserve. The vibration alert is average, you can feel it in your trouser pockets. The sound of the ringing speaker can be described as good. It will be inferior to high-quality stereo speakers, but as a single speaker it plays nicely: good volume, can be heard from pockets, and a bit of low frequencies can be heard.
The quality of music playback is normal, comparable to other smartphones. The sound is clear, detailed, there is a volume reserve, but there are no special hardware solutions in the Mi 5.
Working hours
The smartphone is powered by a built-in 3000 mAh battery, support is declared fast charging Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. The included charger operates in 5V/2.5A, 9V/2A and 12V/1.5A modes.
Overall, the battery life of Mi 5 is similar to other flagships. I used the smartphone in its standard mode: two SIMs, constant synchronization of two Google accounts, minimal conversations, reading, a little music, watching YouTube, chatting on Viber and Facebook Messenger. In this mode, it works for a day, showing 4 hours of active screen. Depending on the set of applications used, the operating time may vary either longer or shorter. The smartphone charges from 0 to 100% in about 1:20, while in the first half hour you can get about 50% of the charge, in an hour - 80-90%. Taking into account the characteristics of the charger and the declared support for Quick Charge 3.0, the charging speed is not maximum, but Xiaomi always “cuts” this parameter.
Energy saving settings include three profiles: disabled (lack of any optimizations), standard (restricting application access to GPS and the Internet in sleep mode, except for allowed programs) and increased. The latter may be relevant, for example, for a vacation, when you do not need constant notifications or you are in roaming and do not actually use the connection - you can take a lot of photographs and use navigation, and the charge will last for a day.
Cameras
The main camera of the smartphone has a resolution of 16 megapixels, is equipped with a four-axis optical stabilization system, a two-tone flash, a lens of six lenses with f/2.0 aperture and is covered with sapphire crystal. An ISP from Qualcomm is used for image processing, there is phase detection autofocus, algorithms for improving photographs taken in poor lighting conditions. Video shooting: 4K/30fps, 1080p/30fps, 720p/30fps.
The front camera with a resolution of 4 megapixels has an increased pixel size (2 microns), a wide-angle (80 degrees) lens with an aperture of f/2.0. Video shooting: 1080p/30fps.
The camera app has simple interface– on the main screen there is a shutter key and a button to switch to video shooting mode. By touching, you can specify the object on which you want to focus, and then by rotating the ring that appears, you can adjust the exposure. There is no touch shooting, but if you focus on an object and press the ring that appears again, the smartphone will take a photo. By swiping up/down and right/left you can access color filters and other shooting modes (panorama, tilt-shift, fisheye).
Fully available manual mode shooting. It allows you to adjust ISO (100-3200), shutter speed (1/1000 - 32 sec.), focal length and white balance (auto/day/warm/cool/cloudy). For manual focusing, the focus peaking function is available, as in mirrorless cameras - sharp edges of objects are highlighted in red.
In difficult shooting conditions or when shooting macro, the smartphone does not always “catch focus” correctly or quickly, but with manual focusing you will certainly be able to get a sharp photo.
ExamplesHDRphotos
Quite expectedly, Mi 5 takes excellent shots during the day - in ideal conditions, shooting with A-brand flagships can compete not only Chinese flagships, but even average ones with good cameras. In such conditions, the smartphone takes pictures as quickly as possible, the automation correctly determines the white balance, and the pictures turn out successful.
When shooting in poor conditions, everything is a little worse - focusing time increases, it is important to hold the phone well in your hands. Despite the appearance of noise and a drop in detail, it is still possible to get a good shot, it’s just better to take a couple extra photos. In such cases, the difference between the Galaxy S7 and LG G4 will be noticeable. Considering the price, both smartphone cameras take good pictures.
Examples of photos of the front camera
Operating system and shell
Mi 5 runs proprietary MIUI 7.2 based on Android 6.0. Subjectively, the functionality of MIUI has not changed much since versions 5 and 6 of the shell. The organization of the workspace is standard for many manufacturers: programs are placed on desktops and placed in folders; there is no dedicated application menu. The interface allows you to quickly arrange icons into folders and move them between desktops (to do this, go to the desktop settings and select “Sorting”).
Themes are supported. They change the appearance of icons, the design of built-in applications (phone, calendar, notification panel, settings), wallpaper, and system fonts. You can use both themes from the branded application store and those downloaded from third-party sources. The presence of a larger catalog of themes can be attributed to the advantages of MIUI, because despite the relatively variegated appearance“out of the box”, in a couple of clicks you can get a design similar to stock Android, for example.
The lock screen allows you to quickly launch the camera and displays application notifications. By swiping down on the desktop, the notification curtain is called up, to the right of it, on separate screen there are switches for modules, modes, etc. (the order is customizable).
The settings menu is also very much redesigned compared to standard Android. Many new items and sublevels have been added to it. Eat fine tuning notifications. You can choose whether application notification icons will be displayed in the status bar, which notifications will appear on the lock screen, which ones will “pop-up” (in the form of a card at the top of the screen), configure the selection of default applications (for example, always use a third-party player/browser /gallery instead of system ones), key behavior, indicator light, do not disturb mode, programs running in background and so on. Huge scope for those who like to “dig.”
Some functions overlap with standard Android, but in MIUI they are implemented independently, some appear earlier, some later. For example, fine-tuning notifications and program permissions appeared in MIUI earlier, but there are no Doze energy saving modes from pure Android. All at least somewhat current Xiaomi devices run MIUI 7.2 or 7.1, while the functionality of the system does not depend on Android versions on which it is based.
You just don't know how to cook it...
Due to the fact that MIUI is a “thing in itself”, some users may have questions and even irritation. For example, by default the system is configured so that you cannot install applications from Google Play over 3G – to enable this feature you need to look at the settings of the “Downloads” application. Due to power saving settings, Push notifications and so on may not arrive - MIUI newcomers who want to figure out what's what will most likely have to look at
Technical Xiaomi specifications Mi5 are beyond praise and no worse than the parameters flagship smartphones this year from “famous” brands like Apple, Lenovo, Samsung or Sony. The new product has been successfully tested in various benchmarks like AnTuTu and showed excellent performance capabilities.
And with such characteristics, Xiaomi Mi5 remains a device with a very affordable and attractive price (about $300). At the moment when the new product first appeared on the shelves, a line lined up behind it, perhaps as long as the Great Wall of China itself.
Considering the technical characteristics of Xiaomi Mi5, of course, you need to start with the processor. Here we are greeted by the modern powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, which has 4 high-performance Kryo computing cores and graphics core new generation Adreno 530.
To be very precise regarding the characteristics of the Xiaomi Mi5 processor, 2 cores operate at a higher frequency and are designed for high performance mode, and the other 2 are for the main one with reduced power consumption.
The “junior” Xiaomi Mi5 has a slightly lower processor frequency compared to the main version: 2 x 1.8 GHz Kryo and 2 x 1.6 GHz Kryo versus 2 x 2.15 GHz Kryo and 2 x 1.6 GHz Kryo. It will be interesting to see experiments on overclocking the Mi5 processor.
As for other characteristics, the Xiaomi Mi5 processor supports 64-bit computing, and 3/4 Gb random access memory, connected to it, is enough to run the most demanding applications in almost unlimited quantities. In addition, the Snapdragon 820 includes several other important modules, for example, the updated digital signal processor Hexagon 680 DSP, an LTE modem with support for the latest standards mobile communications, even those that have yet to be implemented in the near future, a hardware fingerprint recognition module and more.
The screen installed on a smartphone looks, at first glance, quite modest - only FullHD 1080 x 1920 versus QHD 1440 x 2560 in most “top” competitors, not to mention Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, which received a luxurious matrix with 4K resolution. However, in reality, even QHD with a diagonal of 5.15 inches (like Xiaomi Mi5) does not justify itself: the human eye is practically unable to notice the difference from FullHD. And a lower resolution has a very positive effect on the speed of the smartphone and battery consumption.
Built-in volume Xiaomi memory Mi5 is 32/64/128 Gb depending on the version. Unfortunately, the list of characteristics of the new product does not include a card slot MicroSD memory, which for some reason has been extremely rare among flagship devices lately.
Thanks to the new modem built into the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, Xiaomi Mi5 supports the latest 4G LTE Cat networks. 12/LTE Cat. 13 and LTE-U! Data transfer speeds can reach 600 Mbit/s for incoming traffic and 150 Mbit/s for outgoing traffic. Previously, such high-speed characteristics for smartphones were only possible when connected to modern IEEE 802.11n WiFi networks.
In addition, Xiaomi Mi5 has two slots for SIM cards, each of which can work in LTE networks. Interesting feature is the ability to combine the capabilities of two SIM cards for data transfer.
An important feature of Xiaomi Mi5, which fits very well into its characteristics, will be fundamentally new scanner fingerprint, which will use ultrasound. This allows scanning through thick layers of dirt and even gloves. And a special hardware recognition module builds a 3D fingerprint model unnoticed by the user, without consuming CPU resources.
Readers regularly asked us about this device and complained that the review had not been published for a very long time. The reason for this is quite simple: we wanted to test the normal PCT version of the model, and not order it from China. Why? The point, of course, is the firmware, since when we test versions of the Mi 5s with Chinese firmware and find that there is something wrong with it, we often run into negativity from readers who claim that we need to manually install global, fixes, etc. .d.
Characteristics
| Specifications | |
| Class | Flagship |
| Form factor | Monoblock |
| Housing materials | Aluminum |
| operating system | Android 6.0 + MIUI 8.0 |
| Net | 2G/3G/LTE (800/1800/2600), two SIM cards |
| Platform | Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 |
| CPU | Quad-core |
| Video accelerator | Adreno 530 |
| Inner memory | 32 GB |
| RAM | 4 GB |
| Memory card slot | No |
| WiFi | Yes, a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band |
| Bluetooth | Yes, 4.2 LE, A2DP |
| NFC | Eat |
| Screen diagonal | 5.15 inches |
| Screen resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Matrix type | IPS |
| Protective covering | Glass |
| Oleophobic coating | Eat |
| Main camera | 12 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, 4k video shooting |
| Front-camera | 4 MP, f/2.0 |
| Navigation | GPS, A-GPS, Glonass |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor |
| Battery | Non-removable, 3200 mAh |
| Dimensions | 145.6 x 70.3 x 8.3 mm |
| Weight | 145 grams |
| Price | From $280 / 31,000 rubles |
Equipment
- Smartphone
- Charger
- PC cable (also part of the charger)
Appearance, materials, control elements, assembly
When you look at Mi 5s, you immediately understand that the company was inspired when creating it Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE, the back of the case has the same beautiful curve, only, unlike the EDGE, it is made of aluminum rather than glass.
But the glass on the front panel has only a slight bend, and this is actually great. Owners of the same S7 EDGE regularly complain that the edges of their smartphone dig into their hands and because of this it is not very convenient to use. The Mi 5s does not have this problem; thanks to the curve at the back, the device feels thinner and lighter, and the absence of a strong curvature of the screen allows you to hold it with greater comfort.
The smartphone is sold in four colors: silver, dark gray, gold and pink; we tested the first option.
Above the display are located front-camera, earpiece mesh, light and proximity sensors, as well as an indicator light.
Below the screen there are three touch buttons: “ Latest apps", "Home" and "Back". The central button is inscribed in ultrasound scanner fingerprints. I like that the scanner was mounted on the front, but its performance was disappointing. Unfortunately, it only successfully unlocks your smartphone half the time. At first I thought that this was an isolated problem, but readers complained that it was also unstable for them. Just for fun, I read the 4PDA thread on the device, they suggest either installing some special version firmware, either hammer in the same finger four times, or very carefully add all areas of the finger. In any case, the problem exists, keep it in mind before purchasing.
There is a mini-jack at the top end, and a Type C port, an external speaker grille and the main microphone at the bottom. Keep in mind that the speaker here is not stereo, two meshes are made just for beauty, and a microphone is hidden in the left one.
On the right there is a volume rocker and a power button, and on the left there is a tray for two SIM cards; alas, there is no slot for a memory card.
On the back cover you can see the main camera eye, dual LED flash, laser autofocus and plastic inserts for antennas.
The device is well assembled; after a month of use, I had no complaints about its assembly.
Dimensions
In the comments, readers often ask why I call five-inch devices compact. The fact is that smartphones with a smaller diagonal are practically no longer on sale, and most flagships are gradually moving from 5 to 5.5-inch displays. Therefore, even a smartphone with a 5.15-inch screen already looks and feels compact in the hand.
Compared to Apple iPhone 6
Mi 5s feels great in the hand, it is quite thin and light, and the narrowing at the edges of the body visually and tactilely makes it even thinner.
Screen
To be honest, before I looked at the table with the characteristics, I was sure that this device had an AMOLED matrix installed. The fact is that the contrast of the picture is very similar to AMOLED displays. Moreover, you can even notice red halos along the edges of the letters when scrolling! Surprisingly, for some reason I didn’t see any information about this in other reviews.
The problem with ghosting is solved by switching to the “default” mode. Initially enabled automatic setting, but I recommend turning it off.
It is problematic to check the behavior of the screen in the sun in the current weather, but on the street the picture is clearly visible at about 60-70% brightness and higher. It is also convenient to read from a smartphone, thanks to the wide range of brightness.
There is also a separate reading mode in the settings; when you turn it on, the entire color scheme turns yellow. There is also a slider that adjusts the intensity of such a transition. I didn’t like the reading mode; I feel like it makes my eyes even more tired. In general, there are a lot of color settings; I was particularly pleased with the ability to turn on the display with a double tap.
The oleophobic coating is excellent, in no way inferior to flagships from other major brands. The finger glides perfectly on the glass, and swiping is convenient.
To summarize: the screen in the model is excellent, using it is a pleasure.
operating system
The device operates under Android control 6.0 and MIUI 8.0. Once again I promise to tell you about the shell in more detail, I think that the time to do this has come. Below I will list the main features of MIUI, although, in a good way, it deserves a separate review.
Work tables. The launcher in MIUI has not changed much over time; it still uses the display of all applications at once on desktops and oval rims for the icons of some third party programs. Interestingly, the settings are called up here by pinching with two fingers; a long press does not work. I liked the application sorting mode; when you turn it on, you can add as many icons as you like to the bottom panel, and then scatter them across your desktops. Some kind of help in spring cleaning on the desktop.
Dialer. The dialer in MIUI has long become a standard for many users; I myself use the exDialer application, made on its basis. The program supports the Russian language, there is a search on T9, setting up actions for left-right swipes, a separate black list and call recording. Unfortunately, in Russian versions of Xiaomi smartphones, for some reason, the search for Russian contacts does not work, I don’t know what this is connected with.
SMS messages. The application is quite simple, but if you are logged into your Mi account, it automatically makes a backup copy of your correspondence.
Browser. I like that home page browser is presented with shortcuts to popular pages, from here it is easy to go to desired page. Of course, you can add your own links, change their places or delete them. But the separate reading mode does not work well; when it is turned on on our website, the pictures are automatically flattened.
Notification curtain. MIUI 8 abandoned the division of the curtain into two parts, and this is the right decision; when you lower it, you immediately see four shortcuts and a brightness adjustment slider. The transition to the next buttons is made using a horizontal swipe, as in TouchWiz. A long press of the button opens the settings of the corresponding interface, this is convenient.
Screenshots. Now, after taking a screenshot, it hangs in the upper right corner for about three seconds; if you click on it, the settings for editing and forwarding it will open. MIUI can also take long screenshots.
Second space. Possibility to create additional user on a smartphone. This is convenient if you want to use different accounts for the same applications at work and at home, for example.
Dual Applications. Well, if you just need to have two accounts in some WhatsApp, then for this you can use this function, which creates a copy of it within one account.
Permissions. MIUI has a very detailed application permissions panel, where you can fine-tune which interfaces and functions you will have access to. specific program, and to which ones it won’t.
One-handed control mode. To enter this mode, slide your finger from the center to the left touch button, and to exit, tap on the dark area of the screen. In the settings you can specify which diagonal emulation you want to use.
Keys. For the lower buttons, there is fine-tuning of actions for both short and long presses.
Headphones. MIUI can also customize actions for the buttons on the headset. This is convenient if you want to skip to the previous/next track instead of changing the volume.
In general, the entire MIUI is made in such a way that you can customize anything, and that’s why geeks love it.
Performance
I received several requests from our regular readers regarding testing the performance of devices, in particular, they asked to add results from GeekBench, measure the write speed of a card, and also check the performance of the device in WoT Blitz. I think the Mi 5s review is a great reason to start doing all this.
The smartphone runs on a top-end chipset from Qualcomm and has good speed internal memory, this is felt in all operating scenarios: desktops and the browser are scrolled through quickly, all games are launched at maximum settings. Now about WoT: Blitz, it also runs at maximum settings, there are no stutters or delays, the picture in the toy is simply amazing.
After 15 minutes of playing, the smartphone gets very hot, the body temperature rises to 45 degrees. Back cover It gets hot, it's noticeable.
In everyday use there are no such problems; the body of the smartphone is only a little warm.
Autonomous operation
I also changed the battery life section a little. Now, instead of testing the operating time when watching HD video and reading mode, I will measure the operating time when watching an FHD YouTube video and while playing WoT. And, of course, my daily use regimen has not gone away either.
When using Mi 5s, you can safely count on one day of work, there are no super impressive results here.
The smartphone supports Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 technology; in half an hour the device is charged by 41%, in an hour by 83%, the total charging time is approximately 100 minutes. Unfortunately, you will need a separate charger to use this mode.
Camera
I asked Roman Belykh to evaluate the shooting quality of the Mi 5s, below is his detailed comment:
The camera takes excellent pictures during the day, there are practically no complaints, the only thing I would like is a little higher detail. Focus is instant and precise.
The Xiaomi brand still remains one of the fastest growing companies in the smartphone market. It is not surprising that this name is on the pages of our website not only in the news, but also in the laboratory.
Let's remember, for example, the company's bestseller Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, the rational compact Xiaomi Redmi 2 Pro and a very interesting tablet based on Nvidia hardware Xiaomi MiPad. It must be said that this brand produces some of the most attractive models in terms of price/performance ratio. And the build quality only improves over time.
Considering the above, it is not surprising that the new top-segment Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip, which enthusiasts and simply lovers of lightning-fast smartphones have been waiting for so long, was one of the first to be installed in devices of this brand. This situation is especially aggravated by far from the most successful predecessors in the form of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and the “six-core” Snapdragon 808.
Thanks to our partner, the online store Cheap-mobile, we have to find out whether the new SoC is as good as Qualcomm itself assures us, whether there is any point in switching to new models from previous generations and, most importantly, how much faster they are than competitors.
Technical characteristics of Xiaomi Mi5
| Model | Xiaomi Mi5 | Xiaomi Mi5 "Standard Edition" | Xiaomi Mi5 Pro |
| Device type | Smartphone | Smartphone | Smartphone |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 820L, 2 x 1800 MHz + 2 x 1360(?) MHz, Kryo | Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 2 x 2150 MHz + 2 x 1590 MHz, Kryo |
| Video processor | Adreno 530 @ 624 MHz | Adreno 530 @ 510 MHz | Adreno 530 @ 624 MHz |
| operating system | Android 6.0 | Android 6.0 | Android 6.0 |
| RAM, GB | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Internal memory, GB | 32/64 | 32/64 | 128 |
| Screen | IPS, 5.15", Full HD (1920 x 1080) | IPS, 5.15", Full HD (1920 x 1080) | IPS, 5.15", Full HD (1920 x 1080) |
| Cameras, Mpix | 16.0 + 4.0 | 16.0 + 4.0 | 16.0 + 4.0 |
| Net | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 |
| Number of SIM cards, pcs. | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| MicroSD support | No | No | No |
| Data transfer | Wi-Fi, WAP, GPRS, EDGE, NFC, HSDPA, 3G, LTE | Wi-Fi, WAP, GPRS, EDGE, NFC, HSDPA, 3G, LTE | |
| aGPS/GPS/GLONASS/Beidou | Is/Is/Is/Is | Is/Is/Is/Is | Is/Is/Is/Is |
| Battery, mAh | 3 000 | 3 000 | 3 000 |
| Dimensions, mm | 145.0 x 69.0 x 7.0 | 145.0 x 69.0 x 7.0 | 145.0 x 69.0 x 7.0 |
| Weight, g | 129 | 129 | 129 |
| price, rub. | ~32 000 / ~36 500 | ~32 000 / ~36 500 | n/a |
It’s difficult to talk about the balance of the device, since we still know little about the power consumption of the new chip - will it have enough battery capacity? It’s a little strange to see that in the case of the most widespread modifications of the device, “only” 3 GB of RAM, while even inexpensive smartphones of the past are already ready to offer 4 GB, and at the beginning of 2016 there was an “upstart” Vivo Xplay5 Elite, equipped with as much as 6 GB of RAM.
As for everything else, the weight and size characteristics are quite typical for 2016 flagships, the thickness of the device is small, the weight is more than comfortable, and the price is pleasantly pleasing compared to the flagships of famous brands.
Packaging and equipment Xiaomi Mi5
Xiaomi Mi5 comes in a regular cardboard box with a nice design that we have long been accustomed to.
WITH reverse side Brief technical specifications and legal information are provided. The most important thing here is to find the operating frequency of the single-chip system if you want a “full-fledged” version of the Snapdragon 820.
The following delivery package awaits us inside:
- Charger;
- USB Type-C cable;
- Documentation.
No "goodies" in the form protective film Unfortunately, there is no display or cover. And the gadget itself does without a protective film on its screen.
The charger is of medium size and weight. It’s convenient to use if you have an adapter, of course.
Xiaomi Mi5 supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging technology, so the charger is capable of delivering current with a voltage of up to 12 V and a power of 1.5 A.