Mi Mix 3

Xiaomi’s flagship Mi Mix 3 stands tall in the flagship market. Priced at 34,800, Mi Mix 3 not only has the excellent slider mechanism, but has some potent hardware designed to give stern competition to its non-slider competitors.

Mi Mix 3 comes with a powerful processor and excellent battery. While it does set itself apart from other mainstream sets with its slider, the phone could have done better with its battery. The low-light pictures captured by the camera are not always well-defined. However, if you happen to be a Xiaomi fan, then this flagship is just for you.

One of the most eyesight-grabbing features of the Mi Mix 3 is the sliding screen. It is easy to slide up, and a bit of push downwards will make the magnetic mechanism start working, clicking it in its proper place. It has an all screen display, and the magnets work well so that there are no accidental slides. However, the attraction feels too strong. The phone is quite slippery and heavy also, thus, you have to exert yourself to slide the phone open. The sliding mechanism is not as smooth as the BlackBerry Priv. The slider is used if you want to click a selfie or to answer calls, though the on-screen swipe is much more comfortable for the latter. It makes the slider mechanism to accept calls look gimmicky.

The fingerprint scanner present on the rear is easy to reach making it suitable for one-handed use. However, there are certain drawbacks. Since the phone is weighty at 218g and thick at 8.5mm, it becomes unwieldy and difficult to type with one hand. Even the uncovered section of the slider turns out to be a dust magnet. The phone, according to Xiaomi, is not water and dust resistant. Plus, the phone, following the modern tradition, does not come with the 3.5mm headphone jack. It does have a USB Type-C port as well as a Google Assistant button at the left side.

The phone arrives with a 6.39 inch display and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. It has no notch or punch-hole and so, you get a fantastic large screen with enough space to work with. The phone has an AMOLED display and comes with Full HD+ resolution along with 2340 x 1080 pixels. The images look natural, and the blacks are intense. But the screen is not as punchy as the AMOLED screens offered by OnePlus handsets or Samsung Galaxy sets. The colours appear a bit muted.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 arrives with a Snapdragon 845 chipset, and it gets the job done. When running multiple apps or switching between various apps, you will find that the phone does not struggle a little bit. It can even run high-end games like PUBG without faltering, offering a fantastic and smooth gameplay. The phone gets a multi-core score of 9,028 on Geekbench which beats OnePlus 6T’s 8,461 points but fails to touch Honor View 20’s 9,709 points.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 comes with two cameras – a 12MP rear camera with different focal lengths so that you can click portrait mode photos as well as get a 2x zoom without losing quality. In outdoor daylight conditions, detailed shots can be clicked. The HDR mode is generally kept on and can improve your images only by a small margin by brightening up the darker areas. AI mode gives a more significant difference as you get to change the blurring effect using a slider.

While the blur effect is good, it does tend to go into the subjects making the distinction unclear. In night mode, the pictures have a high definition if the subject is not in motion. Moving objects will result in blurry shots.

The selfie camera is excellent with for Instagram shots. The colours are accurate, and the beautification does not create any artificial texture.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 has a small 3,200 mAh battery. It will be able to keep the phone chugging through the day with light to moderate use, but you will be experiencing low battery when you reach around 11 pm. Mi Mix 3 lost about 13% of its battery when running a 90-minute HD video in full brightness and Wi-Fi syncing on, which is quite impressive. The phone also supports fast charging and gets a decent charge within half an hour. It also supports Qi Wireless charging, though the charging is slow.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 accomplishes what it advertises – it has excellent performance, a reliable battery, and fresh design. While the sliding design is not perfect, it is capable enough and does its work if pushed with some force. The camera may not be award-winning, but it gives a fair fight against its competitors. As a cheap handset, the Mi Mix 3 is a capable flagship delivering premium hardware at an affordable range. However, if you are not into the innovation that the phone comes with, you can always go for standard phones like OnePlus 6T and Honor View 20.