Mi Mix review: Revolutionary Xiaomi Mi Mix is breathtaking
It's been a long time since a new phone announcement got us as excited as has the Mi Mix. This revolutionary new phone gives a taster of what to expect from the smartphone market over the coming years. Read our Mi Mix review for more.
Previously a concept phone, Xiaomi has entered its Mi Mix into production. At its November unveiling this revolutionary new Android phone entirely overshadowed the amazing Mi Note 2, with a design quite unlike anything we've seen before. Also see: Mi Mix 2 rumours
Update 23 February 2017: Yesterday the Mi Mix was unveiled in India and North Africa in partnership with distribution partner TASK FZCO. Along with the Redmi Note 4 and Redmi 4A, the Mi Mix will be available in March across the UAE through e-commerce and retail outlets of Etisalat and Carrefour.
We've been reading rumours for months that the iPhone 8 and Galaxy S8 could come with a bezel-less display, and Xiaomi just beat both to the punch with the Mi Mix. Although the screen is huge at 6.4in, the loss of the top bezel means the phone itself isn't much larger than most 5.7- to 6in phablets. The Mi Mix has an incredibly high screen-to-body ratio of 91.3 percent.
Strictly speaking it's not entirely edgeless - there is still a bottom bezel, plus a thin black border around the screen as is common on Xiaomi phones - but the Mix is the first phone we've seen where the screen runs right to the edge on top, left and right sides. Also see: Best phones 2017
This has presented some logistical problems for Xiaomi, now needing to relocate the selfie camera, proximity sensor and earpiece from their usual homes. It's moved the selfie camera to the bottom right corner below the screen, which admittedly takes some getting used to, but getting around its poor shooting angle is a simple matter of turning the phone on its head.
For the proximity sensor and earpiece Xiaomi has been more intelligent in its workarounds. The Mi Mix uses an ultrasonic distance sensor that sits behind the display rather than a standard proximity sensor, and instead of an earpiece there is ‘cantilever piezoelectric ceramic acoustic technology’ to transmit sound. We have no idea what is cantilever piezoelectric ceramic acoustic technology, but we can tell you that mid-call the Mi Mix's audio is just as clear as any other phone we've tried.
The gorgeous design extends beyond the edgeless screen with a full ceramic body designed by Philippe Starck. Turn it over and on the rear you'll find 18K gold trims to the camera and fingerprint scanner surrounds - a fancy finishing touch for a very fancy phone.
Performance is staggering, with what is currently the best flagship smartphone processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 running at 2.35GHz (also see our piece on the forthcoming Snapdragon 835, which should make an appearance in the Galaxy S8). This is paired with a very generous 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM and a massive 256GB of UFS 2.0 storage. There's no microSD support but, honestly, do you really need it?
Battery life is also amazing, and even with heavy use the 4,400mAh cell inside the Mi Mix showed more than 50 percent capacity remaining when we went to bed at night. This phone would easily last us two days, and for some users potentially even longer. Quick Charge 3.0 support means it's also very fast to recharge when required.
A second version of the Mi Mix is identical save for smaller helpings of memory and storage, at 4GB and 128GB respectively, and the loss of the 18K gold detailing. Both phones come only in black - for now. At CES 2017 last night Xiaomi announced a new white version of the Mi Mix, but unfortunately it wasn't unveiled in a Global edition and is exclusive to China - see Mi CES 2017 recap.
The lack of a Global edition of the Mi Mix is a real shame. Up until the release of the Mi Note 2 (for which there are standard and Global editions), all Xiaomi phones lacked support for 4G FDD-LTE Band 20, aka 800MHz or the one band used by O2 and any virtual mobile operators that piggyback its network (GiffGaff and Sky Mobile, for example) for 4G connectivity in the UK.
This rules out customers of those networks being able to receive anything faster than 3G connectivity, but it may at times also present problems for users of other mobile networks - Vodafone and Three both use the 800MHz frequency alongside either 1800MHz or 2600MHz. Only EE uses all three. (For more see How to tell whether a phone is supported by your network.)
The Global Mi Note 2, by comparison, supports 37 bands including full UK 4G support.
However, while we'd like to see 800MHz 4G on the Mi Mix, I can tell you I haven't experienced any loss of connectivity on the Vodafone network, and have always been able to get online and make calls or texts. It does feel as though I haven't been connected to 4G as often as I would on my previous phone, although this is difficult to prove without having two Vodafone accounts and carrying both phones with me at all times.
MI MIX REVIEW: PRICE AND UK AVAILABILITY - HOW TO BUY THE MI MIX IN THE UK
Xiaomi is looking to enter the global market, and in 2017 we should see its phones begin to go on sale in the US. However, for now the UK is not on its list. Xiaomi phones are not officially sold here, which means you need to import them via Chinese grey-market sites such as GearBest, which supplied our Mi Mix for review.
This presents a number of issues, which means some UK consumers will choose to look elsewhere for their next mobile phone. The brave among you will be rewarded, though, provided nothing goes wrong and your device is delivered in full working order. And this has been the case for us with every Xiaomi phone (and other Chinese phones) we've reviewed.
Chief among the risks of buying from China is the fact you are not protected by the same consumer laws as you are when buying from the UK or Europe. That's not to say you won't be able to get a refund on a faulty product, but you should know that obtaining one may require you to jump through some hoops. GearBest recommends that people take advantage of the insurance option when buying from its site.
And while delivery to the UK may be free, there will likely be import duty to pay before you can receive the item. This is calculated using whatever pricing information is given on the shipping paperwork (20 percent), plus an admin fee of £11 (via DHL). You should factor this into the total purchase price. Check out our advice on buying grey-market tech.
All these phones, including the Mi Mix, are sold SIM-free, which has both its advantages and disadvantages. You can add whatever SIM you like and won't be tied down to a 24-month contract where you pay over the odds for the phone but in more manageable monthly payments (also see Best SIM deals). However, it also means you must pay for the phone in full up front. And that could be an issue here.
Chinese phones are well known for undercutting their western rivals, offering similar specifications at a much lower (sometimes half) the price. Don't get your hopes up just yet, though...
Consider that you would pay £919 for the iPhone 7 Plus with 256GB of storage. That phone comes with just 2GB of RAM, no edgeless display and no gold. The Xiaomi Mi Mix does undercut the 256GB iPhone 7 Plus, but not by as much as you might have hoped. The 6GB RAM, 256GB storage model we've reviewed here costs £799.91 ($887.78) from GearBest.
Until 31 May 2017 GearBest is offering 13 percent of the 6GB RAM/256GB storage Mi Mix with 18K gold, though unfortunately it is listed as out of stock at the moment. This takes the price down from, £799.91 to £695.92. Use the code GBMBP at checkout to claim.
With the Mi Mix out of stock at GearBest, here are some other places to try:
Where to buy Mi Mix with 4GB RAM/128GB storage
Where to buy Mi Mix with 6GB RAM/256GB storage
• £655.99/$799.99 at TomTop
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