If you’re looking for a phone with Qualcomm’s new flagship Snapdragon 820 CPU, there’s a less than obvious choice – the Mi 5
We’ve covered a number of Xiaomi devices within the pages of Android Magazine and waxed lyrical about how they deliver over and above consumers’ expectations for their mid-range price point. The 5.5-inch Redmi Note 3 and five-inch Redmi 3 have both impressed us recently, with Qualcomm chipsets, great battery life and decent cameras. It’s been nearly two years however since Xiaomi’s last foray into the high-end segment of the market with the Mi 4 – a device that gained a large following and has been well supported, even receiving a Windows Mobile 10 ROM recently.
The timing of the Mi 5 announcement and release has been largely dictated by the availability of the processor that sits at its heart: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. Successor to the much-maligned 810, the CPU is slowly starting to appear in phones – including the US version of the Samsung Galaxy S7 – and seems to have rectified the heat and power consumption issues of its predecessor. The wait for Qualcomm’s latest should have allowed Xiaomi to get the rest of the device absolutely right. But has it?
A flagship phone needs a flagship spec sheet and the Mi 5 delivers. A number of slightly different variants of the device are available, but even if you go for the entry-level 32GB version, you get the CPU clocked to 1.8GHz and 3GB of ultra-fast memory. Buy the 128GB flagship and the processor speed is cranked up and RAM is boosted to 4GB. Throw in a full complement of connectivity, including – unusually for a Chinese device – NFC, USB Type-C, cutting edge Wi-Fi and even an IR blaster and you won’t be left wanting for anything.
The Mi 5 looks and feels stunning. It’s light, well-made and has a metal frame that curves on the back, flowing perfectly into the rear panel. The look of the device is ultra minimalist and it’s interesting to see the camera and dual-tone fl ash in the top corner of the device rather than in the middle, which is more common on Android phones. There’s no camera bump at all, either.
The front of the device has Xiaomi’s usual capacitive buttons for recants, this time marked by illuminated dots which look very neat, and a physical home button containing the fingerprint reader. The power and volume buttons have a well-defined click and everything feels suitably premium, even on the glass-backed model.
At the device’s launch, Xiaomi made quite a fanfare about the device’s camera. Despite being so neatly mounted in the device, it uses an impressive Sony IMX298 16-megapixel sensor, an f/2.0 aperture, four-axis Optical Image Stabilisation and is protected by sapphire glass. On the software side Xiaomi’s usual camera app is present, but we finally see Auto HDR included – a notable omission from previous devices. 4K video recording is supported, as is slow motion, and the quality of captured images is excellent. Photos do lose a little sharpness compared to the best of the best phone cameras, but you will not be disappointed with pictures you take on the Mi 5 in all kinds of conditions.
The Mi 5 runs Android Marshmallow out of the box with, of course, Xiaomi’s custom MIUI software layer on board, now up to version 7.2. The software becomes more refined with each release but doesn’t get any closer to pure stock Android, so it’s an altogether different experience. If you give it a chance, we have a feeling you might be pleasantly surprised. Everything runs with incredible fluidity; there is no lag of any sort.
So the Mi 5 is a deeply impressive phone, but are there any drawbacks? Aside from the fact you need to import it yourself and UK LTE bands are only partially supported, it’s hard to find any. The phone is incredible value for money and refreshingly compact in a world of huge phones, without any real compromise. Please, please Xiaomi, let us buy it officially in Europe soon!
Verdict
Xiaomi has taken its time bringing the Mi 5 to market, but the wait has been worthwhile. It’s yet another excellent Mi phone.