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.
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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 >
3 Comments
Excellent review, to the point and precise.. In your opinion, how does the redmi note camera compare to the mi3 camera, both being 13 mp?.. Reason i ask is, i plan to buy the redmi note as it fits my budget but if the mi3 13mp camera is SIGNIFICANTLY better then i will buy the mi3.. Whats your opinion on this?..Thanks..
Hard to compare on this one because both the Redmi Note and the Mi3 uses a similar or same type of camera. Both shoots well and both got the colours correct. So, you can go for the cheaper Redmi Note if you’re on a tight budget.
Thanks for your reply, actually i was just reading up on the miui forums and a lot of people are of the opinion that the redmi 1s has a better camera than the redmi note, even though it is only 8mp?.. Have you used the redmi 1s?.. Lastly, as you may have guessed having a good camera is one of my priorities so would the redmi note/1s fulfill this on a budget? or should i rather checkout budget phones from another maufacturer like maybe the soon to be released nokia x2 or something?? Thanks..