In this analysis of the Xiaomi Mi 5 we dissected the operation of one of the best mobiles of 2016, the top of the Chinese manufacturer’s top for this year.
A smartphone with high expectations
When choosing a high-end smartphone, several factors come into effect. Yet there is one that stands out above the others: performance. If you’re willing to spend a considerable amount on a mobile, you want it to work as smoothly as possible. The Xiaomi Mi 5 was presented offering the best performance and even more. In this analysis we will check if the promise is fulfilled.
In addition to performance, another of the points to consider when purchasing a mobile phone of the best on the market is the relationship between the quality offered and the price. It’s one thing that you want a powerful smartphone, with a good screen and a lot of battery, and another thing that you’re willing to give your money to the manufacturer. In this field, the Xiaomi Mi 5 was also offered as one of the best mobiles in value for money.
Xiaomi is characterized by bringing to market good terminals, stable and aesthetically very attractive, but above all economical. With mobiles like the Redmi 3, the Chinese company has burst the mid-range segment, and now wants to do so with the Xiaomi Mi5, its top of the range, which has ceded the online store Igogo to examine it thoroughly.
With so many expectations created around the launch of its flagship, it has been interesting to check first hand in this analysis of the Xiaomi Mi 5 its operation, to see if it can really make the competition to Samsung and Apple.
A continuous design with previous models
At first glance, the appearance of the Xiaomi Mi5 is not too different from the terminals that have previously been the company flag. Its front design is practically identical to that of the Mi4. The Home, Volume, and Power buttons are again located in the same place, as well as the tray in which the two Nano SIMms are inserted.
The touch feel of its buttons is metallic, except for Home’s, but they do not convey the desired strength on a high-end smartphone. In fact, the assembly of them is very improved. Both the Power button and the volume button move considerably when manipulated.
The completely metallic finish of the edges contrasts markedly with the rear surface, quite slippery glass and with sensations that are very reminiscent of conventional plastic. In high-temperature weather conditions, the rear of the Mi5 can play a bad pass combined by sweat.
In addition, being highly sliding, vibration makes the phone move easily. If you want to leave the Xiaomi Mi5 on a table, make sure before doing it quite far from the edge of it, or you can test the resistance of your screen.
By size, the Mi 5 does not stand out for being too large and heavy, although it is also not too compact. It has a standard size, in the betting line of most manufacturers: 5.15 inches of screen and dimensions of 156.8 x 77.6 x 8 millimeters. It is quite thin, feeling accentuated by the slight curvature incorporated in the rear sides.
With 129 grams of weight, Xiaomi must have made an effort to compress all that power. It is noticeably lighter than its direct competition, the latest iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. Includes USB Type-C, the new feature that is imposed on the market.
The Mi5 can be held with one hand without problems and without discomfort, slightly noticeping the difference in weight compared to other terminals. It’s really nice and aesthetic, a mobile that won’t bother you teaching at all.
Perfect outdoor visibility
The screen of the Xiaomi Mi 5 is composed of a 5.15 inch LCD IPS panel, a perfect size for those who do not want it to be too small but also do not want to buy a phablet of considerable size. It occupies 73.1% of the front surface of the phone, percentage more than respectable, which gives an idea of how far Xiaomi wanted to take advantage of the space available to the Mi 5.
It is common for Asian manufacturers to include more or less pronounced black frames around the screen, giving a misleading feeling when it is off. However, with the Mi 5 this strategy is not abused, and although you do notice the frame, it is not exaggerated and barely shaves the look of the phone.
The screen resolution of the Xiaomi Mi 5 is Full HD 1080p, practically the best that can be found today on the market. There are already some terminals that start incorporating 2K screens, but 1920 x 1080 resolution still reigns among high-end smartphones.
When analyzing a screen, there are two features that are really important: color quality and outdoor visibility, assuming that a panel of this quality has an excellent touch response.
The visibility in high light conditions of the Xiaomi Mi5’s display meets outstanding. With the maximum brightness you will not have to worry about the visualization of your mobile, because even in the middle of the midday sun you can see perfectly.
Natural light doesn’t even produce noticeable reflections on the screen, a relief for those who like to check their mobile as they walk down the street.
As for the color, it is sufficient to check that the tones are not turned off or any noteworthy failures occur. It’s all you’d expect from an IPD LCD display like this high-end smartphone.
He can do it all until he gets hot
The Xiaomi Mi 5 aspires to be a real performance monster. You can practically load all kinds of content, as it is a fairly advanced range cap in terms of specifications. Its processor is a Snapdragon 820 with quad-core running at 1.8GHz. It is the one that other high-end smartphones like the LG G5 are equipped right now, although not with the same architecture.
In the RAM section, it is 3GB that illuminates the performance of the Xiaomi Mi5. It is a considerable amount, because although smartphones with 4 and up to 6GB of RAM are already beginning to be seen, much of the usefulness of this depends on the optimization of the software and the operating system. In this case, Xiaomi has MIUI, one of the best mobile OS based on Android.
The Mi5 GPU is also a world’s leading. It is the Adreno 530, with the ability to manage the full power of this mobile phone in the most efficient way.
The Xiaomi Mi5 is available in two versions: one with 32GB of internal storage and one with 64. It is not possible to expand its capacity through a Micro SD, although currently the importance of storage is diminishing as there is a wide range of cloud services.
To know and quantify the performance of the Xiaomi Mi5 for this analysis we have resorted to AnTuTu Benchmark. At the out of the way, it was expected to be located among the best smartphones in the world, and it has been, placing it way up in the ranking that this Benchmark app elaborates based on the analysis of different aspects of each mobile.
For example, it surpasses the Meizu Pro 6, another acclaimed high-end Chinese smartphone. However, it stays behind the flag terminals of other firms that want to drink mobile sales in the coming years, such as LG, Samsung or Apple. Even the Pro variant of the Mi5 is, of course, in a better position.
In the ranking it outperforms some mobiles that remain very competitive, such as the iPhone 6 or all versions of the Samsung Galaxy S6. However it is overwhelmed by some Chinese smartphones that have surprised in 2016, such as the LeEco Le Max 2.
The performance of the Xiaomi Mi5 can be given for very good. Of course you won’t miss power if you want to use it for normal use, social networks, photos, video and instant messaging. But being a high-end mobile, users of Xiaomi’s top-of-the-range terminal want to see something else.