Xiaomi has dropped a couple of big announcements today. Not long after introducing the Xiaomi Mi Note 2, the company unveiled yet another – arguably more interesting – flagship device: the Xiaomi Mi Mix. Even though the company calls it a concept smartphone, the Mi Mix is actually a consumer-ready device.
As usual, an updated spec sheet is in order. Let’s see how Xiaomi’s latest offerings stack up to other 2016 flagship smartphones.
Looking back, the Mi Note 2 is definitely packing superior hardware – for the most part – over its predecessors. After all, the Xiaomi Mi Note and the Pro variant were introduced back in January 2015. However, it’s worth noting that the Mi Note Pro has a sharper 1440p display over the Mi Note 2’s 1080p display, although the latter has a dual-curved OLED display instead.
Interestingly, the overall dimension of the Mi Mix is actually pretty similar to the Mi Note 2 despite packing a much bigger 6.4-inch display; this is mostly thanks to the nearly bezel-less display and impressive 91.3% screen-to-body ratio of the Mi Mix. It’s also worth mentioning that both the Mi Note 2 and Mi Mix have NFC functionality, unlike the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro.
Not surprisingly, the Mi Mix and Mi Note 2 can hold their own against other flagship smartphones released this year; they’re also shipping with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 821 processor, so processing power won’t be an issue with these smartphones. On top of that, they’re unique displays – the Mi Mix’s almost bezel-less display and the Mi Note 2’s dual-curved display – make them that much more compelling.
However, there are still a couple of hardware aspects that the Mi Mix and Mi Note 2 can’t quite match against their competition. For one, there’s the dual-curved display of the Mi Note 2: although it looks a lot like the ones found on Samsung’s Galaxy S7 edge and the ill-fated Note 7, the Mi Note 2’s 1080p resolution isn’t as sharp as the latter two’s higher resolution 1440p panels. The same goes for the Mi Mix as well with its 2040 x 1080 display, although the almost bezel-less nature of the display is certainly eye-catching.
Then there’s the camera performance of the Mi Mix and Mi Note 2, which is largely unknown for the time being. As far as camera specifications go, the lack of optical image stabilisation on both of these devices is quite worrisome; it’s almost a standard feature for flagship smartphones today. Then again, some high-end devices such as Google’s Pixel smartphones and the Huawei P9 do not have OIS as well.
The Xiaomi Mi Note 2 doesn’t exactly offer anything new: dual-curved displays – as impressive as they are – are not new. The Xiaomi Mi Mix, on the other hand, is really the star of the show: it’s the first consumer-ready smartphone with an almost bezel-less display. However, it still remains to be seen if the Mi Mix will be readily available to consumers, not to mention if it will ever be released in Malaysia alongside Xiaomi’s other recent products.
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