Review: Xiaomi Mi3 - Incredible Performance at Lesser Cost

What do you expect to get from a low priced flagship (should I call it flagship?) Android smartphone? Surprisingly...a very reliable high spec Android phone. No kidding.

We all heard about the news when it went on sale and went sold out less than half an hour later. And the latest online sale (from what I heard), 7000 units went on sale and sold out within 39 seconds! Crazy. I should be because the Xiaomi Mi3 is going for RM769 but having a flagship specifications that are similar to LG G2, Nexus 5, Galaxy S5, Xperia Z1 and many other mainstream flagship phones at less than half the price. So cheap, no wonder this phone went sold out within such a short time.

I had the luxury of trying out this phone for a week, on loan by a very nice Xiaomi hardcore user and also the team leader for MIUI Malaysia team, En. ImranZ. Thank you for the one week loan bro.

Now back to my review.

Here's the full specification for the Xiaomi Mi3:

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 2.3GHz Krait 400 Quad Core
• GPU: Adreno 330
• Memory: 16GB & 62GB storage variant, 2GB of RAM
• Imaging: 13-megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash
• Display: 5-inch 1080 x 1920 IPS LCD touchscreen at 441 DPI
• OS: Android Jelly Bean 4.3 optimized by MIUI V5
• Totally full spec here.

At first look, I felt that the phone is very light. As what I said in my preview, I feel that the phone is too light for its size. Well it's good right? Definitely good lah. I like the box it came in. Looks like a recyclable box but it feels solid and nice.

After opening the box, you can see that the phone fits snugly in the middle. Everything else in the box are kept really well in its place. It's like the saying goes, "A place for everything and everything in its place". Truly an OCDs best friend.

See? Even the cable and plug has its own compartment. Plus, the little pin for you to take out the SIM slot also has a place on its own. Cool eh? Who says that items made in China are low quality? Not all of them are bad.

Having to use the pin to open the SIM card slot is very iPhone-ish. But considering that it has a built-in battery and also with its slim design, having this type of SIM slot would be a better option.

The volume rocker and the power button is placed comfortably on the right side. It feels right that way. But the buttons are slightly loose. I don't know if they are intended to be that way, or if it's a design flaw. That's not really an issue for me as long as it's working.

Left: The view from the top. We can see the earphone jack and the SIM slot next to it. At one glance, I almost did not see the SIM slot because it is somewhat well camouflage with the surroundings but after a while it became obvious to me.

Right: Bottom of the phone. Can see the large area for the speaker and a mini USB slot. The sound quality from the speaker is clear. If I put the volume to the max, it can be really loud. Good thing it is not place at the back of the phone because if I place the phone on something soft like my bed, the sound will be muffled and I can't hear if it rings. So, good speaker placement for me.

At the back of the phone we have the camera and the dual LED flash placed on the top left. If you wish, you can peel off the sticker and place the sticker elsewhere like on the box or something. Because this is a review unit, I wouldn't want to remove it. If it's mine, stickers be gone! And it looks better without it.

The photo quality that comes out from this camera is superb. I will go further into it later on.

And this is how it looks like when I hold it in my hand. The size is just nice for me. I don't like it being too big like the Galaxy Mega 6.3 and even the Note 3 is too big for my liking. A 5 inch screen is just right and this one has a slim feature with rounded sides. Nice to hold.

The material of this phone feels really solid. It is made of magnesium alloy, so that's why it feels light and sturdy. I really like the feel of the body. I know it won't slip off my hand when I'm handling it while walking. There's no heat that radiates from the phone as well. Everything is cool, even while charging.

Oh...one more thing that I want to add. The surface of the glass on this one is so smooth that if it has smudges on it, you simply put the phone in your pocket, walk about and when you take it out, voila...it's all cleaned smudge free. Must be the material that they are using I guess. Smudges are very easy to remove on this one. I can't be sure on the glass material though. Some says it's using Corning Gorilla Glass, others are saying that it's not. The official website doesn't state that it uses the Gorilla Glass. But it certainly feels like it is. Need to dig further on this.

Next: User Interface >

User Interface

After looking at all the external bells and whistles, now it's time to look at what's on the inside. The Mi3 is using MIUI V5 operating system based on Android Jelly Bean 4.3. As you may know by now, MIUI (which stands for Mobile Internet User Interface) has a very clean look and feel. It is mainly focused on simplicity and yet having an attractive eye candy. MIUI is similar to CyanogenMod, which is a group of people or company that creates a robust Android OS that looks and feels different.

Yes. I saved time by taking that sentence from my previous post because it's the same thing. You can read my description about MIUI in my last review on the Redmi Note. :-)

One thing I can say about MIUI...it's beautiful. But I still don't like it not having the app drawer. I don't know why but I don't like my desktop being too cluttered.

The lock screen is beautiful. Everything is laid out clearly. The display quality of the Mi3 is superb, thanks to its high resolution display with 441ppi. Anyway, did any of you found the Easter Egg on this phone yet? If you haven't, you will like it. Find out what it is.

Meanwhile...I'll show you the interface first.

Again, I have to use the same phrase from my previous post. The responsiveness of MIUI is really good. Much faster than some of the standard UIs that we’ve seen out there. Keep in mind that Samsung’s TouchWiz, HTC’s Sense, Lenovo’s Le Phone and other “launchers” are in a different category altogether. MIUI is not just a launcher, it is also an OS based on Android. A launcher is an additional app installed in the phone to standardize the look and feel across the same brand of devices.

On the Mi3, the animations and transitions are more fluid. I did not see any lag or jitter while using this phone. And I don't mind opening and running multiple apps because everything is running smoothly without any obvious lag. Also, images are obviously sharper thanks to the higher pixel-per-inch resolution. At 441ppi, it is even higher than the Galaxy Note 3 which is at 386ppi only. And imagine watching any HD movies on this device. I bet the colours pops out and we get to see crystal clear video quality.

Performance

The RAM inside the Mi3 is 2GB. Although it is now considered "low" for a high-end device, it still performs above par. Running apps can be killed off by long-pressing the menu button. Even before I kill off any apps, I have apps like Facebook, Google+, Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter running in the background. I don't actually need to kill off any of my main apps to save RAM usage. With those apps running, I still have about 55% of free RAM left. That's more than half, which is good. So memory management on the Mi3 is good.

Ok. RAM aside. Now we see how it performs with the Antutu Benchmark.

I find that the statement by Antutu is a little bit weird. "Your device is incomparable, this is your world!". Anyone else get that? But the score is indeed very high. Many other mainstream flagship devices got burned by the Mi3. Others like LG G2, Xperia Z1, Nexus 5 and many others. How do I know? With this:

Other than the two newer flagship devices, the Mi3 I was using scores higher than the rest, as what you see in the graph above. The rest of the devices there (except Redmi Note) cost twice as much as the Mi3, even more perhaps. All because of the mainstream branding. True? But what's inside the device is basically the same thing...Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM, Adreno 320...the common ingredient for the current flasgships. Only recenty we get to see the Snapdragon 801 coming in the picture and also 3GB of RAM. But that's a different story.

Game lovers would love this phone too. Graphics are awesome and you guys will enjoy playing on this phone. But being a slim design phone, your hand that is holding the phone will feel numb around your fingers after a while. I don't know about you guys but my fingers were numb after 30 minutes of Subway Surfer.

After a full charge in the morning, the battery can last the whole day up until midnight on normal usage. If you're on games all the time then you may need to plug in the charger by around 7pm or 8pm, which isn't too bad.

Next: Camera >

Camera

For selfie lovers, this is your phone. First thing you will notice when you switch on the front camera is the green focus box tracking your movement. Secondly, the phone will then "guess" your gender and age. Don't throw the phone against a wall when it guessed your age wrong, or worse, your gender. At least it got both of them correct when it made a guess on me.

Photo quality from the 2-megapixel front camera is not bad. At least the image it produced isn't fuzzy like some other cheap phones out there. In fact, the photo quality from the front camera is good. I don't have a sample of it but as a photographer, I can tell you that it's good. Just good.

Now we go to the main shooter. The 13-megapixel back camera is superb. ISO and noise control is very good. That is the one thing that I love about the Mi3 camera. If I were to take a photo using my Sony Xperia SP in low light, the picture will turn out to be very "grainy" or another term known as "noise". But not with the Mi3. I'll show you the sample later.

But first, let's look at some of the photos produced by the excellent Mi3. (Click on the photos to enlarge)

Colours are vibrant. I did not make any sort of adjustments at all.

Some outdoor shots along Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL.

Moving indoors into Pavilion KL. Notice the sharpness of the image.

In a low light area but no signs of "noise" at all.

I had an event in Pavilion that day. Hence why I'm taking pictures near Tokyo Street, where my event was held. Even in low light, the photo quality is still good all thanks to the f/2.2 aperture in the camera.

This is an interesting shot. One of the display we had in Pavilion were some dead leaves. But the Mi3 managed to capture the full detail of it. Colour balance is correct. All looks really good. I'm impressed.

And of course, food lovers would love the Mi3 as well. The level of detail in the picture above is enough to entice you for a bowl of Dried Chili Pan Mee. Again, I was sitting near a low light area so that's why the picture is a little bit too dark but still without any obvious "noise". P/S: For those who are wondering whether I puasa or not, I took this photo before Ramadhan starts.

Now let me show you something magical. As I said before that the Mi3 camera has good ISO and noise control, here's a picture that I want to show you while taking outdoors at night under minimum light.

As you can see from the picture above, you'll notice a very minimum noise on the picture. Clarity is there. Brightness is there too. Colours are all correct. Mind you, I NEVER did any retouching on this photo. What you see above is how it was taken and processed by the Mi3 camera. I tried taking a similar picture with my own Sony Xperia SP phone last time and it was very grainy. So grainy that I can print the photo out and use it as sandpaper.

I'm not trying to sell the Xiaomi Mi3 here but, with the specifications similar to any of the current flagship devices and an awesome f/2.2 aperture camera that takes pretty pictures is totally worth the money. It's the cheapest flagship at the moment. Cool?

Conclusion

After testing the Xiaomi Redmi Note last month, I thought that it was already cheap and a good buy. But after testing on the Mi3, I'd rather get the Mi3 instead. I love the slim design and the weight of the Mi3. It's very light as compared to the others. The size is just right for me. Not too big and not too small. Screen resolution is wonderful. Camera is awesome. What else can you ask for?

Pros:

• Slim design, lightweight.
• Awesome camera.
• Beautiful MIUI OS.
• 2GB RAM, could be better with 3GB RAM.
• Lag-free, smooth and fluid animation/transition.
• Good memory management.
• Flagship specifications.
• Cheap!

Cons:

• No apps drawer.
• No LTE.
• ...ermm...that's about it.

I think the phone has a big potential to penetrate the local Malaysian market. I'm starting to see that some of the users are moving away from the mainstream brands because 1) it is too expensive already and 2) it didn't last as long as it should. So money wasted on something so expensive but can only be used for 2 years.

Xiaomi is making good progress in Malaysia. Others should start following them if they were to succeed. By selling a flagship smartphone at a mid-range price is a very good move. They managed to do that by eliminating the middle person. So we deal direct with Xiaomi to purchase our devices.

The Mi3 is an elegantly designed smartphone that will appeal to both genders and also suitable for wider age groups. It is designed to look good, feels good and has a strong body construction. It is truly an incredible performer at a much lesser cost that won't burn a hole in your pocket.

How to Buy?

So now if you're thinking of getting the Mi3 for yourself, it's going to be a little bit tricky. You may be able to buy it from some shops around KL but it's best to buy it from Xiaomi themselves via online purchase. Not only it's cheaper, it also eliminates the middle person and you can be sure that you're getting the authentic and original Mi3 phone. What you can do on the day before Xiaomi release the online sale, you keep yourself logged in to the website and that you've filled in all your payment details. Wait for the 12pm mark, then you start refresh/reload the page and once they put it up on sale, grab it quickly and hit the checkout button straight away. Do not wait. Well...good luck with that.

Special Thanks.

En. ImranZ, one of the moderator of Malay MIUI Forum is kind enough to me loan his Mi3 for this review. He is also the team leader for the MIUI Malay Translators, who've had more than 2 months of sleepless nights together with his team to translate a Malay version of MIUI OS for Malaysian market. So if you're a Xiaomi phone user and need some help with maintaining or upgrading your device(s), you may register at the MIUI forum here.