Mi Mix 2: Xiaomi's elegantly designed smartphone gives flagships a real scare

The world has never seen anything like it. Stunning is an understatement. Superb doesn't cut it. Bold doesn't do justice. Breathtaking, maybe not. Astounding and noteworthy is what I shall go with. You're probably wondering what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Xiaomi's 2017 flagship phone Mi Mix 2.

Last year, Xiaomi was in a league of its own with the bezel-less Mi Mix and was out to 'wow' each and every person that passed a cursory glance upon the smartphone. The successor, making good on the Mi Mix's flaw, wants to be the device that makes it a more pleasant experience for a wider audience.

It's easy to take one look at these bezel-less smartphones and declare it to be the smartphone you would want to purchase next. Then again, beauty without brains, isn't much worth it right? The various pieces of hardware under the hood must match up to the exterior for this to be the one.

With the Mi Mix being the first all-screen smartphone in the market, its flaws could be forgiven, to an extent. The Mi Mix 2 had a whole year to sort out the negatives - one-handed usage, global LTE bands - and hence, the weaknesses cannot be forgotten.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let's just answer a few questions. One, is the smartphone beauty with brains or without? Simply put, it is a beauty with more than capable brains. Second, can beauty alone help it compete with other flagships? Probably not. Luckily for us fans of Xiaomi, this smartphone has been worth the long one-year wait and comes with very few downsides. Give me an Android One version of the Mi Mix 2, and I'd be that much more convinced of the capabilities of this device.

Can the Mi Mix 2, at just Rs 35,999, stand up to the likes of OnePlus, LG, Google, Samsung and Apple? Read on to find out.

Design & Display

Gorgeous. Spellbinding. Astonishing. Yes, the all-screen front and ceramic construction is the standout USP of the Mi Mix 2 and doesn't disappoint for even a second. It's a display that is delicious for multimedia consumption and won't hurt your eyes when reading for hours on end. It has thin-bezels on three sides, which is a first for smartphones out there. The Mi Mix 2 comes in at a very reasonable 5.99 inches, far more comfortable for one-hand usage than the 6.44-inch display of its predecessor.

That premium design means that Xiaomi had to compromise on the display if it was to stick to its super value-for-money price point. I was hoping that there would be an AMOLED display on the Mi Mix 2, especially if provided by Samsung. At the moment, the 1080p display gives you 403 PPI pixel density and 18:9 aspect ratio, that just lets you down a tad bit.

The signature 18-carat gold accent around the camera sensor stays along with the "Mix designed by Xiaomi" tagline.

Again, what stands out in the design is that unlike the notch phones - Essential Phone and the iPhone X - and unlike the infinity display's of the Samsung Galaxy phones, the Mi Mix 2 has zero bezels at the top. What Xiaomi has done is to move the front camera to the bottom right, which makes it awkward to use, but once you're used to it, it'll be just fine. The only issue is that it doesn't change the orientation in apps other than the built-in camera.

The ceramic material on the back means that the phone is almost impossible to scratch and any and all fingerprints are easy to wipe away. The problem here is that one single drop and boom, your phone is broken.

There is a single speaker at the bottom of the phone and a USB-C (YES) charging point right next to it. What you won't find is an IR sensor and more importantly, a 3.5mm jack! Well, Xiaomi is only following the lead of Apple and Google and I'm a big believer of wireless over wired. So good job XIaomi.

Performance & Software

The Mi Mix 2 has Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 835 processor and 6GB of RAM on the side. Similar to a OnePlus 5, it is no slouch. If only MIUI 8 (I haven't had the chance to try out MIUI 9 yet) wasn't so bloated. The day-to-day tasks were blazingly fast and games loaded without any glitches. Even multitasking was a pure pleasure.

MIUI 8, running on Android Nougat 7.1.1, has also been a weakness for me. Xiaomi's custom skin MIUI feels bloated and slow. It doesn't have an app drawer and can't expand notifications. Just some of the basic features I'd expect on my Android phone. Maybe Xiaomi has fixed some of these issues and more in MIUI 9, but the global build is only launching on 2 November and hence, I haven't had a chance to test it yet.

Another problem with the Mi Mix 2, and frankly a lot of other bezel-less devices, is when watching videos. It's not as fun as on a Samsung Galaxy device. As you know, 18:9 is not a standard, as of now, and hence you'll see some black boxes every time you want to watch a video, even if it is 1080p/2160p. Samsung has solved this issue by introducing a 'stretch-to-fit' feature on their flagship devices that fill the entire screen when watching videos.

Battery life

The Snapdragon 835 processor helps in optimising the battery life and it works like a charm on the Mi Mix 2. I comfortably got one day of battery life, unless I watched more than a couple of hours, of videos. The smartphone comes with a 3,400 mAh battery and in my two weeks of usage, I got a good 4-5 hours of screen on time and enough battery left over till the morning.

Idle usage on the smartphone produces almost zero loss in the battery life. Regular usage is on par with other flagships I've used (OnePlus 5) and better than some (Note 8!). With a moderate usage, the phone will comfortably last 12-14 hours and you'll be mightly impressed.

Camera

Whilst the front camera disappoints with its mediocre quality and its awkward positioning, the rear camera is on point, despite the lack of a portrait mode. Portrait mode is all the rage these days but Xiaomi decided to stick with a single shooter for the Mi Mix 2.

The rear 12-megapixel shooter is the same as what has been seen on the Mi 6 and with the 4-axis OIS, this camera produces some really good shots, especially in those good daylight conditions. Despite what others may say, I have bee pleasantly surprised by what the smartphone camera produces in low-light scenarios. While it may lose some detail, and add some noise, the photo is still clearer to the naked eye, from a distance, than a lot of other smartphone shooters out there.

Just take a look at these side-by-side photos and decide for yourself.

The camera may not be better than a lot of other flagship smartphones and even those in the similar price range but it has far improved from any other Xiaomi phone out there. One downside is the amount of time it takes to process an HDR photo. I found the lag a little annoying to use on a day-to-day basis.

But let me just say that using HDR mode on the Mi Mix 2 has been a treat. Try it for yourself and you'll notice a big difference in photo quality, especially in low-light situations.

Still, I wouldn't recommend this smartphone for its front or rear camera and I'd suggest you take a look at some of the competition - Nokia 8, OnePlus 5, Honor 8 Pro - instead.

Bottom line

Xiaomi's flagship high-end smartphone is a worthy part of the "which phone shall I buy" discussion. It's earned its credentials with that amazingly delicious design and top-of-the-line specifications. The device is a joy to use on a day-to-day basis and is very comfortable in the palm of your hand.

It also has global LTE bands that make travelling with it a real bonus. Unfortunately, though for Xiaomi, the phone doesn't come without its fair share of downsides. There is the rear fingerprint scanner, the mediocre and awkwardly placed front camera and the MIUI skin.

Should you buy it?

Xiaomi, at least in India, isn't known as a brand that goes all out. All of their phones on offer are insanely good value for money devices. With the Mi Mix 2, the company is taking a gamble in a budget-conscious market. Will it be able to move a lot of units? Probably not.

The Rs 35,999 price is competitive, but the mindsets of the Indian consumer is steeped in the budget bracket. As I said before, If I got an Android One Mi Mix 2, I might have been singing its praises a lot more. Maybe once it comes under 30k will it ship a lot of units in the country.

Let me just say this. Xiaomi's Mi Mix 2 is the Amazon Kindle of smartphones. Buy it if all you do is browse the web and want a device to show off to all your friends. Keep it as a collector's item but don't make it the sole mobile phone you have with you.