Autumn smartphone: Chinese "Galaxy Note 7" and other news from Xiaomi

The company Xiaomi produces a lot of smartphones. You could even say a lot. However, unlike devices from other Chinese manufacturers, each of its products still deserves separate attention. This year, Xiaomi cleared up and just in the fall held several presentations, where she showed many smartphones - from her own Galaxy Note 7 to the upgraded Mi5.

At the end of September, the Xiaomi Mi5 smartphone received its portion of updates. Not to say that they were long-awaited, as the Mi5 itself was only introduced in February of this year. Apparently, the company decided not to wait for the annual update cycle, and judging by the appearance and characteristics of the new Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus - for good reason.

Mi 5s - the one we were waiting for

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In general, Xiaomi rarely manages to surprise at their presentations, because the details about its new devices, as a rule, surface in the Web in a few days, if not in a week. Numerous leaks indicated that outwardly the Mi 5s would be almost indistinguishable from the Mi5, but here the company still kept the intrigue.

Firstly, the materials of which the body is made have undergone changes. Unlike the Mi5, which is completely glass on both sides, the Mi 5s has an all-metal case with plastic inserts for antennas. Do you know the description? Yes, these were the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Sometimes it proves that everything new is well forgotten old.





The branded curved shape of the back cover has not gone away, the camera with a flash is located in the usual upper left corner, right above the antennas. Xiaomi, by the way, was the first to install a completely new Sony IMX378 camera sensor in the Mi 5s, which has an f / 2.0 aperture and a 1.55 micron pixel.

The camera is equipped with a four-axis optical image stabilization system, six lenses, phase autofocus, support for slow-motion at 120 frames per second and, of course, can record video in 4K format! At its presentation, Xiaomi compared the images with the Mi 5s with photos taken on the iPhone 6s Plus and Galaxy S7.



Real tests show that this is true: we offer a look at how Mi 5s shoots in life.







They did not forget about the technical characteristics of the company, having made Mi 5s one of the most powerful smartphones running Android. That only costs the new quad-core Snapdragon 821, 3 GB or 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM and built-in high-frequency UFS 2.0 memory of 64 GB or 128 GB.

Features Xiaomi Mi 5s

CPU	Snapdragon 821 Quad
Graphic accelerator	Adreno 530 624 MHz
RAM	3 GB or 4 GB LPDDR4
Internal memory	64 or 128 GB UFS 2.0
Display	Full HD 5.15 inches pressure recognition
Rear camera	12 MP, Sony IMX378
Front camera	4 MP, f / 2.0
Battery	3,200 mAh, Quick Charge 3.0
operating system	MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow
SIM card slot	Two
The fingerprint scanner	Yes, Snapdragon Sense ID
Interface	USB-Type C
Dimensions	145.6 x 70.3 x 8.25 mm
Weight	145 g

Yes, the diagonal of the display remained the same (5.15 inches, resolution 1920 x 1080), but it became noticeably better than in the Mi5. The maximum brightness increased to 600 nits, the coverage of the NTSC color gamut is 94.4%, and the contrast ratio is 1500: 1. The most important thing is the presence of sensitivity to the force of pressing, just like 3D Touch. It works, however, so far only with standard applications.

A nice bonus to the rear camera was the two-color LED flash. And with a front four megapixel camera with 2 microns pixels and an aperture of f / 2.0, the selfie will be even better. For fingerprint scanning in this smartphone meets the ultrasound scanner from Qualcomm. The main thing is its location: right behind the touch home button below the screen. Yes, the button is no longer mechanical, and the scanner itself assures that Qualcomm can work correctly even with dirty and wet fingers.



Battery Mi 5s is not big, but not small - 3 200 mAh, and is able to quickly charge with the help of technology Quick Charge 3.0. As for the interfaces, everything is as we used to: Wi-Fi 802.11ac (MU-MIMO), Bluetooth version 4.2, support for GPS / GLONASS / Beidou, NFC and USB Type-C port for charging a smartphone.

Well, Mi 5s turned out decent work on the errors Xiaomi Mi5. But what about the Mi 5s Plus?

Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus - for those who love more

Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus primarily differs from the Mi 5s display with a diagonal of 5.7 inches, a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a contrast of 1300: 1 and a brightness of 550 nit. Displays 94% of the NTSC color gamut and provides an incredibly bright and juicy picture compared to the same Mi5.



The chipset here is the same Snapdragon 821, but already with a higher core clock frequency (2x2.35 GHz Kryo + 2x1.6 GHz Kryo). RAM also threw - now you can choose between 4 GB and 6 GB of LPDDR4 memory. UFS 2.0 internal memory is still available in two versions: 64 GB and 128 GB. The battery also pleases - 3800 mAh instead of 3200 mAh in Mi 5s.

Features Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus

CPU	Snapdragon 821, Eight-core
Graphic accelerator	Adreno 530 624 MHz
RAM	4 GB / 6 GB LPDDR4
Internal memory	64 or 128 GB UFS 2.0
Display	Full HD 5.7 inches, recognition of force pressing
Rear camera	Dual 13 MP, pixel 1.55 microns, f / 2.0
Front camera	4 MP, pixel 2 microns, f / 2.0
Battery	3,900 mAh, Quick Charge 3.0
operating system	MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow
SIM card slot	Two
The fingerprint scanner	there is
Interface	USB-Type C
Dimensions	154.6 x 77.7 x 8 mm
Weight	168 g

In the case of the Mi 5s Plus, the prefix "plus" is clearly used not only to indicate the size of the screen. Yes, the materials of the case are the same metal and glass, but Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus look completely different. What only is the back cover, where this time there are already two cameras. Xiaomi sees the trend and plays on it, though someone sees the similarity with the design of smartphones from HTC. To the camera, we will return.



The fingerprint scanner is not on the front panel, but on the back cover, right under the cameras. Apparently, Xiaomi believes that with such a diagonal of the display it is inconvenient to reach the “home” button on the front side. And in general, they are right. On the front of the traditional touch buttons with white backlight.



In general, there is no point in retelling again the characteristics of Mi 5s, so we’ll dwell on the main thing - the camera. It is located in the middle of the upper part of the rear panel and consists of two separate modules, placed together in one oval cutout. A small (but double and LED) flash can be found on the right.



The camera is provided with two 13 megapixel modules and support for Qualcomm Clear Sight technology: one module at the same time captures a color image, while the other receives a monochrome image. Clear Sight works with two identical image sensors with the same focal length. The monochrome sensor gives increased detail and reduces noise, and then in the final image the resolution is increased and the Clear Sight algorithms themselves work on noise. The technology works with the help of an integrated ISP-processor Qualcomm Spectra.



According to Qualcomm, this is the first commercial device with the support of this technology, and the latter works really well. Here, take a look at a couple of shots.







What about prices? Sales Xiaomi Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus started on September 29, and both smartphones right now you can buy from us in the store. The cost of Mi 5s with 3 GB of RAM and 4 GB of RAM is 20 thousand rubles and 22 thousand rubles, respectively, and Mi 5s Plus - 22 thousand rubles for the version with 4 GB of RAM and 25 thousand rubles for the version with 6 GB of RAM. Mi 5s can snatch for just $ 322 for the GBMI1 promo code! Hurry, at this price there are only 30 pieces available.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 - no, does not explode

"The best product in the history of Xiaomi", according to the company representatives themselves, we specifically left for dessert. In this case, many leaks were confirmed, including the presence of a large 5.7-inch OLED display bent on both sides. This screen occupies more than 77% of the front panel of the smartphone, due to which the dimensions of the device are comparable with 5.5-inch gadgets of competitors.

It turned out that on the front side, the Mi Note 2, presented a few days ago, is frankly similar to the Galaxy Note 7 - yes, the very one, which Samsung had to stop production due to numerous instances of smartphone ignition.





The back panel is also made of curved 3D glass, which also found a 23-megapixel camera and LED flash.

Under the hood, the Mi Note 2 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor with a clock frequency of 2.35 GHz, 4 or 6 GB of LPDDR4 RAM to choose from and 64 GB / 128 GB of internal memory.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Specifications

CPU	Snapdragon 821 Quad
Graphic accelerator	Adreno 530 653 MHz
RAM	4 GB / 6 GB LPDDR4
Internal memory	64 or 128 GB UFS 2.0
Display	Full HD 5.7 inches OLED, flexible, curved
Rear camera	23 MP, Sony IMX318, f / 2.0
Front camera	8 MP, f / 2.0, autofocus
Battery	4,070 mAh, Quick Charge 3.0
operating system	MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow
SIM card slot	Two
The fingerprint scanner	there is
Interface	USB-Type C
Dimensions	156.2 x 77.3 mm x 7.6 mm
Weight	166 g

It is curious that Mi Note 2 surpasses even Mi 5s Plus in weight and some dimensions: take the same thickness, which is somewhat smaller, again due to the flexible display. Xiaomi decided not to chase 4K resolution (perhaps this is the right decision) and left the usual Full HD. There are doubts that next year this chip will not roll.



The main (rear) camera of the Mi Note 2 is not just a 23-megapixel camera, it has an electronic stabilization system and a dual LED flash - you can not worry about a photo in poor light. Autofocus is not phase, as we are used to, but hybrid, which is especially good when shooting moving objects. Sony IMX318 is used as a sensor, support for video recording in 4K has not disappeared anywhere. The front camera here with a Sony IMX268 eight-megapixel sensor has five lenses and autofocus - a rather unusual solution even for modern flagships. With additional software from Xiaomi and Photoshop after selfie will not be needed.





The smartphone works using the same MIUI 8 based on Android Marshmallow, supports Quick Charge 3.0 from Qualcomm, and its battery capacity exceeds 4000 mAh. Worldwide LTE support and NFC module included.

Separately, Xiaomi noted the musical abilities of the device, equipping it with an AQSTIC 192k / 24bit chip. You can unlock the smartphone using a fingerprint scanner: however, they built it into the Home button, and did not bring out a separate space for it on the rear panel.



Mi Note 2 obviously borrowed some details from Samsung, and taking into account the recent scandal with the South Korean giant, this will be a plus for Xiaomi. Samsung design fans will definitely appreciate an alternative solution, and at an adequate price. By the way, about the cost - from 26 thousand rubles to 45 thousand rubles, depending on the version. The smartphone is available in black (Piano Black) and silver (Gracier Silver) colors. Pre-order for the top version with 6 GB of RAM is already open on Gearbest! In the meantime, Mi Note 2 is not on sale, you can look towards Xiaomi Mi Max - $ 190 for the XiaomiRMAX promo code (80 pieces) or Redmi Note 4 - $ 190 for the RedmiRE promo code (100 pieces).