Mi Mix 2 launched in India – First impressions

Xiaomi is known for their mid-range budget mobiles in India. But it is also known for its elegant flagship devices elsewhere on this planet. Unfortunately, Xiaomi did not bring most of their flagship mobiles to India. But this year Xiaomi decided to bring the Mi Mix 2 to India. Mi Fans in India have been craving for a flagship from Xiaomi for a while and the  Mi Max 2 is the answer to their prayers. The first generation Mi Mix was a great concept that set the bezel-less mobiles trend on fire. LG G6, Samsung Galaxy flagships and now the iPhone X, have all yielded to this concept. There are dozens of bezel-less mobile in the economy segment as well. A quick scan on any Chinese e-commerce portal will show you a bunch of mobiles that are falling in line with this trend. Mi Mix is such a powerful trendsetter. With Mi Mix 2, it just gets better. I have spent some quality time with this mobile and here are my first impressions of the Mi Mix 2.

Design

Mi Mix 2 has a unique design identity. It is made of ceramic at the back and has an anodized aluminum rim. When you hold the Mi Mix 2, you would see and feel nothing but the display and the smooth ceramic back. Mi Mix 2 is a where art meets technology. You would see the USB C port and speaker grills at the bottom. The top has an IR port. On one side you would find the volume and power buttons while on the other side is the SIM tray. The back has a 12 MP camera with flash. The camera mount has a 18k gold plated rim. Below the fingerprint sensor, there is a branding which says “Mix designed by Xiaomi”. The front has over 80% of the body covered by the display. Above the 5.99 inch display is a concealed earpiece and under the display is an ultrasonic proximity sensor. Below the display you have a concealed notification LED and front camera. Yes, the front camera at the bottom of the display and it is one of the most awkward locations to have a camera. Maybe we will get used to it, but I will have to use it for a while to comment on that. On my first impressions, I feel that the Mi Mix 2 is an aesthetically designed piece of technology.

Display

The key highlight of the mobile is the display. Mi Mix 2 has an IPS LCD display and it is one of the brightest displays I have ever used. In spite of being an LCD display, it shows superior brightness, color reproduction accuracy, and contrast levels. I will have to test it under different light conditions to come to conclusion. The display covers 80.8% of the body. It has a resolution of 1080 x 2160 and it is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

Hardware

Mi Mix 2 is powered by Snapdragon 835 with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. It has Adreno 540 for GPU. The hardware is promising and it has to be blazingly fast. Again, I will have to test it to come to a conclusion. It does not have 3.5 mm audio jack and audio playback is by USB-C port or Bluetooth. It does have Bluetooth 5.0 and it also comes with USB-C to 3.5mm jack adapter in the box. It has NFC. It does not have FM radio. Xiaomi does not say out loud that it has splash resistance, but it is clear that it does not have certified ingress protection. It has 3400 mAh battery. The specifications are flawless for a flagship device and I can’t wait to take it for a test ride.

Full specifications

Camera

Mi Mix 2 has a 12 MP sensor with f/2.0 lens. The rear camera has 4 axis optical image stabilization. It is assisted by dual tone LED flash. It can record videos up to 4k. However, the front camera is just a 5 MP camera. I am happy to see that Xiaomi is not playing its customers with the MP game like the other reputed brands like Samsung, iPhone, LG etc. Xiaomi has taken the route of user experience rather than pixel count, which is quite promising. Check out some of the sample images shot with the Mi Mix 2.

Pricing and Availability

Mi Mix 2 is priced at Rs 35999 in India. In India we get the 6 GB RAM and 128 GB variant. It will be available for sale on Oct 17 as a preview sale for a limited time. Actual sales would start on Nov 1st on Flipkart, Mi.com, Mi Homes and Mi authorised retailers. Xiaomi has nailed the pricing of the Mi Mix 2 and we have a worthy flagship device from Xiaomi to compete among the top players in India.

Stay tuned for a detailed review of the Mi Mix 2 in GadgetDetail.