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Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s Review: The New Flagship Killer?

John Nieves

We review Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2s!

with Xiaomi’s official return to the Philippines, Pinoys finally get access to the Chinese company’s wide product portfolio. That includes several high-end flagship models priced at the roughly the same SRP as they’re sold in China. The newest (and best so far) is the Mi Mix 2s, a refinement of the bezel-less flagship concept that the company pioneered a few years ago. With a Snapdragon 845 processor, dual camera, a display that doesn’t have a notch plus a price that makes it the most affordable in its class, the Mi Mix 2s is poised to become the next flagship killer, especially considering the expected higher price of the OnePlus’ new flagship this year.

Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S specs

Build and design that’s not too different from other Mix phones that came before it

The Mi Mix 2s is fairly similar to the members of Xiaomi’s near bezel-less product line. Specifically, it uses a ceramic body with an aluminum frame, giving the device a bit of heft. It’s reassuringly solid, reflecting Xiaomi’s commitment to releasing near flawlessly put together products at a very competitive price.

The dual camera module is arranged vertically on the rear of the phone, on the upper left side – the only design nod to Apple’s iPhone X. The fingerprint scanner is located near the center. The black variant of the phone sports gold trim around the camera module and fingerprint scanner, and is made from 18K gold. Fancy.

The power and volume rocker is on the right side of the phone, while the USB Type-C port and speaker grille is on the bottom. Unfortunately there’s no 3.5mm audio jack – you’ll have to contend with an audio adapter if you want to use headphones with this thing.

So. Much. Fingerprints

While we like the overall design, take note that it’s a smudge magnet. The included case helps by giving you a matte surface to hold on but obviously it hides the gorgeous ceramic finish when you put it on.

Bezel-less design is great, and there’s no notch to contend with

While near bezel-less smartphones are fast becoming the norm in the industry, Xiaomi was one of the first companies to release a phone that had a generous screen to body ratio. The Mi Mix 2s continues this grand tradition, possessing a 5.99-inch full HD+ IPS display which accounts for most of the phone’s front.

There’s still bezels on the phone of course, but they’re ridiculously slim. There’s also no notch on the top which is a plus for some people, though the design does come with a few compromises. First, the company used a hidden earpiece, which funnels sound near the top of the screen, and a proximity sensor that worked through the display.

The company also put the selfie camera on the bottom bezel, which means you’ll have to rotate the phone to take selfies properly which presents its own problems that we’ll go into later on.

As for the quality of the display, it’s good, but not great. We’ve been spoiled by the displays of high-end flagships that had extremely punchy and vibrant displays, and while the one on the Mi Mix 2s isn’t bad, it’s nothing special either. Also worth noting is the fact that the display is just full HD+, but since most of the other budget flagships offered in the same price range sport the resolution, it’s not that big of an issue.

Snapdragon 845 can handle almost anything you can throw at it

The Mi Mix 2s has flagship guts that’s equivalent to devices that are twice its price. Specifically, it’s running a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor, paired with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. There’s an even pricier version of the Mi Mix 2s that has 128GB of storage that retails for Php 29,990.

Since the Mi Mix 2s has the fastest Snapdragon processor currently available on a smartphone, it’s not surprising that it demolishes all apps that come before it. Whatever your Android gaming addiction is, the phone can handle it without breaking a sweat. The Mi Mix 2s did get a little warm after a while, but that’s not really unexpected. The only thing that really gave it pause was Gameloft’s Asphalt 9: Legends, but we gather that’s more because of the app’s beta status than the shortcomings of the Snapdragon 845 itself.

Of course, Xiaomi’s compromises for the Mi Mix 2s come back to bite it when you’re actually using it. That oddly positioned selfie camera means you’ll have to flip the phone upside down to take a selfie, a motion that may knock the phone out of your hand because the body is a bit slippery.

Sound quality coming from the bottom mounted speakers aren’t that great, sounding tinny and distorted. Normally we’d suggest you switch to your wired headphones to listen to music properly, but since the Mi Mix 2s doesn’t have a headphone jack, you’d be better off with a wireless pair of cans. The USB Type-C adapter is an option too, but obviously you lose the ability to charge and listen to music at the same time, plus it’s an accessory that’s liable to get lost because of its size.

You’ll either love or hate MIUI

Just like other phones from Chinese firms, Xiaomi implemented their own UI overlay on top of Android Oreo dubbed MIUI. Now on its 8th iteration, MIUI gives you additional features and removes the app drawer. Swiping all the way to the left reveals a homescreen called the Guide, which gives you access to app shortcuts and information that’s important to you at one glance.

We’re not fans of UI overlays on phones, and we’re more biased towards devices that have pure Android on them. Despite that MIUI doesn’t really get in the way too much. The ability to download and install Android P ahead of everyone else is also a great compromise if you don’t like MIUI, though obviously that route has its own pitfalls.

Rear cameras take great photos, front camera is hit and miss

Xiaomi hasn’t had a lot of success in creating phones with great cameras, but it’s looking to turn things around with the Mi Mix 2s. With a high DxOMark score of 101 for photography, the Mi Mix 2s certainly has a lot of things going for it, at least on paper.

The two rear cameras uses 12-megapixel sensors, with the main shooter sporting a pixel size of 1.4um, 21mm wide-angle f/1.8 aperture lens with 4-axis OIS. The secondary camera is a telephoto deal, with a pixel size of just 1.0um, 26mm f/2.4 aperture lens with 2x optical zoom. Both lenses have dual pixel PDAF.

The camera of the Mi Mix 2s takes excellent photos in both bright and low light, aided by the wider than average aperture. Colors are good, though the phone does have a bit of trouble with dynamic range, even with HDR on.

Xiaomi boasts that the Mi Mix 2s has AI functionality baked in. In truth, that functionality only extends to scene recognition, wherein the camera detects what you’re trying to shoot and adjusts the settings accordingly. There isn’t AIS (AI stabilization) tech or anything fancy like that on board, unfortunately.

While the two cameras on the rear are perfectly ok, that akwardly placed, front facing camera really needs a bit of work. Images aren’t as clear as the ones taken by the rear camera. They’re not bad per se, but considering the performance of the rear cams we were a little disappointed by the result.

Battery is good enough for a day, plus Wireless charging is <3

Keeping the lights on is a 3400mAh battery that’s more than enough for a day’s worth of use. PCMark’s battery benchmark gave the phone a score of 10 hours and 31 minutes on a single charge. Once you run down the phone’s battery, fast charging gets you up and running in less than an hour, and the phone has wireless charging capabilities as well and works with Qi wireless charging standard.

Verdict: Another slam dunk by Xiaomi

With improved cameras, a large, notch-less display, Snapdragon 845 processor and great cameras (on the rear at least) the Mi Mix 2s is probably the most compelling budget flagship you can buy today under 30K. We have a feeling that we’ll be eating our words when the OnePlus 6 officially gets priced in the Philippines by Digital Walker in a few days but for now, the Mi Mix 2s is the best value for money flagship you can get if you’re cash strapped and need a powerful machine for less.

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