Xiaomi MI 5 Specifications, Review, Pros and Cons, Features

Xiaomi, the Chinese manufacturers, have undoubtedly revolutionised the budget smartphone market. Until now the with the release of Xiaomi MI4, Xiaomi Redimi series company was known to produce budget smartphones and was not considered in the race of premium smartphones.

However, breaking that image in 2016 the company has come up with its most expensive premium smartphone Xiaomi MI5. The phone which was launched in the month of February is a perfect mix of some latest features and technology. The phone has been equipped with numerous features such as fast fingerprint sensor and longer battery life and beautiful and contrasting display etc.

With its offering of top end specifications like those offered by S7 and that too at half the price, the phone is sure to ring a bell in the minds of premium purchasers. We dive a little deeper into the phone and see if the phone is worth its value.

Xiaomi Redmi Mi5

Xiaomi MI 5 Review and Specifications

Design and Look: While creating a premium smartphone what you need to keep in mind is the look. Xiaomi has never disappointed its customers as far as the look of their phone is concerned. Same is the case with its new revelation of MI5. The company has made sure that the device looks and feels great in hands while at the same time does not seem too bulky. The device which weighs around 130 grams gives a feel of holding something brilliant and immaculate.

Concerning design, you can see a striking similarity with Samsung A and S series. The top and bottom curves look somewhat similar to the Samsung A8 and so does the home button on the screen. The whole casing of the telephone is metal, broken just by plastic antenna lines at the top and base. The dull finish on the metal looks magnificent, and the sharp edges just add to the magnificence of this device. There’s additionally an extraordinary feeling of symmetry and uniformity all around the smartphone.

Touch and Display: The screen of the device impresses us even more with its 5.15 inch full HD display. The device has an exquisite pixel density of 428 pixels per inch and is protected by Gorilla Glass. It additionally has brilliant IPS screen, with the peak brightness level of 600nits and a base shine of 0.7nits,  which is very much more than what the other gadgets in this range can possess. This high standard of brightness is of excellent help in the dark and helps in reading with clarity.  The black levels of the phone aren’t up to the mark which is the only drawback of this device’s display.

Variants: The phone comes in three variants i.e. the 32 GB, 64GB and 128 GB model. While the first two alternatives differ regarding their processor, the third one has a RAM of 4 GB as compared to the other two possessing 3 GB of RAM. The device is available in three shades i.e. black white and ceramic. While the white one does not hold many scratches, the black one is like the fingerprint magnet.

Software: Unlike the other smartphones released by the company this device runs on Android Marshmallow and has the default MIUI 7 interface.  As expected from the company the Xiaomi customization has their root established real deep and hence the Google services are completely replaced.  The device comes equipped with one of the fastest fingerprint sensors, even quicker than the iPhone 6s. There is no app drawer present which means everything and anything that you install will appear on the home screen. There are numerous home screen effects available, and you have the choice of changing in the home screen wallpapers.

Other than this, the features available include Xiaomi’s cloud storage facility, Child mode accessibility, etc. much like the older phones released by the company.

Camera: The device is equipped with brand new 16 MP camera that has dual tone flash and supports 4-axis image stabilization. The image stabilization means that the picture stability will be increased on the other phones offered by the competitors. The camera has been fitted with the Sony IMX 298 sensor which has features such as face detection and autofocus and with the Snapdragon processor installed 4K video recording is also possible. In the front, a camera of 4 MP as used in MI note has been utilized. However, the image quality has been significantly improved in selfies, and the images come out to be exceedingly detailed and with high contrast.

Battery Life: The phone has the same battery life as that of its predecessor and has performed well in various tests conducted. It has been proved that the battery would last for around 92 hours if an hour each of video playing, calling and game playing is done. Adding a second SIM card into the device does not cut back much of the battery life, and hence, this device scores well as compared to its predecessors.

Some Tech Specs: The basic 32 GB version of the phone is equipped with 1.8 GHz. Dual-Core processors plus 1.36 GHz dual processor. The standard edition of the phone has 32 GB of the memory space and 3GB RAM while the pro edition sports 128 GB memory with 4 GB of RAM. The phone which was released in February is one of the lightest phones with only 129 g of weight.

Xiaomi MI 5

Phone Accessories: Like each of its previous smartphones, the device provides a USB cable plus charging adaptor along with user manual and warranty instructions. No earpieces are provided which might again disappoint the music lovers.

Price: As the Xiaomi has launched this phone as a premium smartphone, therefore, you cannot expect it to be very much economical. The standard edition of this phone i.e. the 32GB version is priced at Rs. 24,999. In case you are looking for performance as well as premium outline then this phone is surely the one that you can consider. However, in case you are looking for durability as well as dependability, then you may need to think twice as Xiaomi smartphones face a lot of issues in the long run.

Don’t Miss: Xiaomi MI 5 More Features

Honest Suggestions-

Based on the analysis of this phone I would say that this phone will totally satisfy the customers who are looking for performance as well as a premium outline. IN case you are willing to try something out of the box i.e. something other than HTC and Apple, then this phone is a thing to consider.

Although the company is not yet ready to offer features such as water-proofing unlike the Samsung S7 however, the sleek outline, as well as its light weight, make up for it. The Marshmallow Android and the improved MIUI 7 Launcher offer you a delightful experience.

There is no other smartphone available in this price range offering you a Snapdragon 820 and the device which offer the same are twice as expensive. This smartphone is available at nearly half the price of Galaxy S7 and offers good battery life, vibrant display as well as fast and well-performing camera features.

If some of the drawbacks of this phone are asked then, there are very few with the first one being a non-expandable memory and non-removable battery. Other than this no other significant problems have been found other than it does not possess an FM Radio.

Xiaomi Mi 5

Xiaomi MI 5 Specifications