Xiaomi MI Mix 3

I just picked up the regular non-5G version a week ago. Sweet phone. I love the full screen display. As I almost never use the front camera, it is perfect for me to have it hidden away. It finally replaced by Nexus 5X. Paid $345 for it.

The reason I picked up the non-5G model is that it has some LTE bands that are not present in the 5G version. I think it was Band 17 iirc. It was definitely something that was important to me based on the coverage maps.

 

I never had or owned a Xiaomi device but lately, I've been seeing a lot of positive reviews about their gadgets.

 

At $345, it was a no-brainer. Even the newer 5G version is only $375 or so. It would have cost me at least $600 or so for a OnePlus flagship. Forget about Apple or Samsung, etc. They were at least 2X what I paid.

Phone has wireless charging, NFC, pretty much every band I need, plus a full 6.4" screen with no cutouts, teardrops, bezels, etc.etc. The Mi UI was fine for me without too much annoying bloatware. There are a bunch of Mi apps that came on the phone but I stuck them all into a folder. They are not intrusive or nagging and some of them, like the scanner and the quick notes app are actually pretty good.

Is the phone as good as an Apple or Samsung flagship? No, but at the price point, I don't see any competition whatsoever.

 

Look at some features of this phone:

This phone runs on Android v8.1 Oreo operating system
It has 6 GB RAM
It has 128 GB ROM, which is Non Expandable
The phone has 6.39 inches (16.23 cm)1080x2340 px, 403 PPI AMOLED wide display
It has Octa core (2.8 GHz, Quad Core + 1.8 GHz, Quad core) Snapdragon 845 processor
The headset comes with 12 MP + 12 MP Dual Primary Cameras Dual-color LED Flash 24 MP + 2 MP Dual Secondary Cameras
This phone has 3200 mAh battery and quick charging 4.0
It loaded with a fingerprint sensor
It has Wireless Charging facility and many more features

 

It seems like Chinese mobile manufacturer is stepping up their game. And it is way affordable than other smartphones.

 

1 month review:

Phone is great! Very fast, great display. I was a bit skeptical about the MIUI but I have no problems. There isn't any significant bloatware and in general, some of the apps are actually decent.

I am not a big front camera user, so the slider actually works fine for me. It's an extra step when you have incoming Skype or Whatsapp video calls, and I have missed a few when I am fumbling to get it going and have to call them back, but other than that, it's not a problem.

All in all, I'm really happy with it. I would recommend that to anyone interested in flagship performance at a discount price.

 

And just to add, online reviews were complaining about it only having a 3800mAh battery. It has worked fine for me. With moderate use all day, I rarely dip below 40% at the end of the day. And the wireless charging is great.

Also, quiescent current draw seems to be negligible. I have left the phone unused for half a day and the battery percentage has dropped by no more than 1 or 2%. This seems to be quite a bit better than other Android phones I have used (don't know how this compares to iPhone), but maybe Qualcomm has really tweaked the 845 chipset to have very low standby current draw and Xiaomi has done a good job of optimizing their UI's power management.

The only issue so far has been that I picked up a Fitbit versa 2 smartwatch but could not get it to display incoming messages. The problem is with the Fitbit and I ended up returning it, but one problem may be that third party testing may not be comprehensive enough for these "unusual" brands and could have some weird results occasionally, although Xiaomi is a huge brand in China and India and Fitbit really has no good excuse.

 

Another nice feature that I have been enjoying (and this may be available on other phones too since I am coming from a rather old Nexus 5X), is the dedicated screenshot radio button. When you swipe down from the top to get the setup quick menu to turn wifi on/off, put phone into airplane mode, etc., you also have a button to take a screenshot. Makes it much more convenient than pressing home and volume down simultaneously while muttering incantations and spinning around on your left foot, or whatever else the older phones made us do.

 

I think Android 10 added that into the power menu as well. Hold the power button and one of the options you'll see is a screenshot.