With front-facing cameras that slide behind a huge screen and looks to die for, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is a real contender
If 2018 was the year of the notched, full-screen smartphone, 2019 is set to be the year the notch dies. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 will be right in the vanguard of this new wave of devices and is set to be released in the UK early next year.
Instead of using the pinhole method thought to be arriving with the Samsung Galaxy S10, however, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 circumvents the notch in a different way: by using a slider design just like the Honor Magic 2. Pull the screen down with your thumb and the front camera array pops up at the top; slide the display up and the cameras disappear with a satisfying snap, leaving the phone’s massive 6.39in display completely unfettered and uninterrupted.
Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 review: Specifications and release date
- 6.39in Super AMOLED, 1,080 x 2,340 (403ppi), 19.5:9 display
- Octa-core 2.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor
- 6/8GB RAM
- 128/256GB storage (UFS 2.1)
- Dual rear cameras: 12MP f/1.8; 12MP f/2.4 (2x telephoto); OIS; slow-motion 1080p video at up to 960fps
- Dual front cameras: 24MP; 2MP (depth of field only)
- 3,200mAh battery; 10W wireless charging (charger included)
- Android 9 Pie
- Colours: Onyx black, Sapphire blue
- Price: Not announced
- Release date: Early 2019
Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 review: Design and key features
The lack of a notch means the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3’s display occupies almost all of the front of the phone. In fact, it has an impressive 94% screen to body ratio and all the bezels are as slim as I’ve seen on any phone. The bottom bezel is slightly thicker than the others but not distractingly so.
Indeed, in conjunction with the phone’s glossy ceramic body and muted, yet attractive colours (the “sapphire” blue model is a particularly handsome example of the smartphone genre) the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is a striking thing to both touch and look at.
And superficially at least, the workings of the sliding mechanism have had little impact on the overall design and function of the phone. The Mi Mix 3 is, perhaps, slightly thicker than your average flagship phone, but not significantly so. It’s quite heavy, at 218g, but with a screen this big you’re always going to expect a little heft.
Otherwise, it looks and behaves just like any regular Android smartphone. Volume and power buttons reside on the right-hand edge of the phone, there’s a shortcut “AI” button on the left for launching Google Assistant and on the bottom edge are a pair of speaker grilles and a USB charging port.
The rear plays host to a small, circular fingerprint reader and it’s also worth noting that the phone supports wireless fast charging at 10W. That’s not as beefy as the Huawei Mate 20 Pro’s 15W wireless charging but Xiaomi does include a charger in the box.
So far it’s all good stuff, but there are some potential stumbling blocks here. First, there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack, which is fine if you always use Bluetooth but not so much if your favourite headphones are wired. Second, the battery at 3,200mAh in capacity is on the small side for a phone this big. For context, it’s 1,000mAh smaller than the battery inside the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, which is a worry, although that’s not necessarily a guarantee of poor battery life.
Finally, although the phone comes with Android 9 Pie out of the box, this is running with Xiaomi’s Mi OS on top, which isn’t our favourite of Android overlays. Still, it did seem to be quite responsive and nippy when I used it at the unveiling.
Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 review: Performance and cameras
Inside, the Mi Mix 3 is powered by a 2.8GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with 6GB or 8GB of RAM and a decent dollop of UFS 2.1 storage – either 128GB or 256GB depending on the model you go for. In other words, it’ll be as quick as any other smartphone on the market, aside from Apple’s most recent iPhones; the XR, Xs and Xs Max.
It’ll likely be superseded fairly quickly, though, as smartphones begin to appear with the newer Snapdragon 855 chipset on board from late February 2019 and beyond.
The phone’s camera setup looks good, though. On the rear, the Mi Mix 3 has a pair of 12-megapixel snappers set up for telephoto photography. One of these has an aperture of f/1.8 while the other offers a 2x zoom and has an aperture of f/2.4.
At the front, there’s also a dual camera array, although it works in a slightly different way. The primary camera delivers 24-megapixel images but the secondary 2-megapixel camera is used only for depth of field mapping – in other words, for creating blurred background fake bokeh portrait images.
This is the same hardware as in the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro but with improved software and video stabilisation to bump up the quality. And if the DxO findings are to be believed, it’s seriously good. Indeed, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 scored 108 in the still photography part of its tests, which makes the Mi Mix 3 the third best smartphone for capturing photographs in the world behind the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and the Apple iPhone Xs Max.
Xiaomi Mi Mix 3: Early verdict
The UK price of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is yet to be revealed but in my estimation, it’ll probably sit somewhere between the price of the Mi 8 Pro (£499) and the Google Pixel 3 XL (£769).
That makes it a tempting alternative to the OnePlus 6T and other rivals as the first truly full-screen Snapdragon 845 phone on the market. Its problem may be that, with Snapdragon 855 phones on the horizon, the Mi Mix 3 may soon look a little out of date.
Be sure to check back soon for the full review when I’ll be updating this article with full benchmarks, camera, display and performance testing. In the meantime, feast your eyes on that fabulous ceramic body.
Source: expertreviews.co.uk
