While 2018 was the year of notch displays, 2019 is the year where companies are experimenting how to stand out. Samsung with the ‘punch-hole’ camera, Oppo with the motorized camera, and the Vivo NEX with the pop-up camera. Xiaomi, decided to takes its phone down the nostalgic route, the good ol’ slide.
Unboxing and Design
The Mi Mix 3 is definitely given the flagship treatment. The phone is bundled with a case and a fast charger. There is also a 10W wireless charger included. All the contents are extremely sleek which do make them extremely portable.
The Mi Mix 3 is a beautiful phone, having no camera cutout or notch definitely pays off. I had a few friends who were intrigued with the fact as to how did a company decide on going ahead without a selfie camera, until I slid the screen down to reveal the dual camera.
The slider has been tested by Xiaomi rigorously, them claiming it worked like new after 300,000 cycles. Sliding the phone reveals the 24MP camera with the 2MP depth sensor and the LED flash. It was definitely fun to fidget around with, paired with some cool sounds, it took me back to the times when I used a Nokia N81.
The next stand-out feature of this phone is its ceramic back. While it attracts fingerprints, when clean, it is one of the most beautiful back pieces on a phone. Plain and simple with the Mix badge cleanly embossed at the back, gives the back a unique look. Having a ceramic back has its perks, you can place it on different surfaces without worrying about scratches. The phone is quite slippery by itself though and getting used to the finger-print sensor takes some time, since the sensor and the back feel like one smooth surface.
The software and other geeky stuff
The phone runs on the latest Android Pie underneath the custom Xiaomi MIUI 10.0. I tried giving it a shot thinking it would take me a couple of hours to get used to it, but honestly, felt that Nova Launcher was better suited for me. MIUI however feels way lighter than Samsung’s software which is a welcome. The phone is also not loaded with excessive bloatware. The UI supports iPhone like gestures and feels great on the device. The finger-print sensor is blazing fast.
The display is 6.39-inch 1080×2340 pixels OLED panel. The display resolution stands at 403 ppi which is not the highest in the market today, but it would be difficult to pick up the difference from the naked eye. Photos and videos look great on the screen with a wide 19.5:9 ratio.
There is a 3200mAh battery packed which may seem smaller compared to other phones with a similar footprint, but that should be manageable with a quick charge capability of charging 54% within 30 minutes.
The 108 DxOMark Camera
The camera on this phone is going to give many flagships a run for their money. The images captured can easily be confused with the Samsung S10, and that is big praise for the Mi Mix 3. The main image sensor on the rear camera is the 12MP SONY IMX363, with 1.4μm large pixels, f/1.8 large aperture, and dual pixel autofocus. The secondary image sensor is a 12MP Samsung S5K3M3+, 1.0μm pixels. The AI dual cameras do a great job at recognizing the surroundings and adjusting the settings to get the perfect shot.
Low light photos are also great, the AI mode helps get a brighter shot. The photos captured in night mode were relatively quicker than other phones supporting night mode. Noise levels on the night mode images are also not too much to completely distort the photo.
The 24MP Selfie camera shoots sharp selfies and has a front flash for those night shots. There is also a 2MP depth sensor for portrait modes.
Final Verdict
Xiaomi has nailed it on their caption on the phone ‘Art x Technology’. The ceramic back of the phone is gorgeous. Add the sliding camera, and I was contemplating picking up the phone and ditching my Huawei Mate 10 Pro. If you are not looking to spend too much on a flagship, while still have a phone which stands out from the usual set of phones and capture pictures which can easily be compared to the iPhone, the Samsung’s & the Mate 20’s, the Mi Mix 3 is the phone for you.
