Review: Xiaomi Mi3 – Incredible Performance at Lesser Cost

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.