03 May Xiaomi Mi 6: Another Budget-Friendly Flagship has Finally Arrived
Xiaomi is known for building flagship-spec phones that are sold at low prices. Every year, they shock the market with great looking phones that run really well. Now that the Mi 6 has finally been unveiled, we can say with certainty that the company is going to continue making cheaper phones that come with a premium set of features.
Let’s take a look at what these smartphones bring to the table for the price tag of $360.
The design
The Mi 6 is beautiful, however, one might say that the design resembles the smartphones released during 2016, primarily Samsung phones. But, the quality of the materials used in production is going to offer that premium feel to its owners. Even though the glassy finish is a fingerprint magnet, it makes it look better. On the sides of the phone, there is a stainless steel frame, to protect the phone and provide a better grip to the user.
The side bezels are super thin, whereas the top and bottom ones are a bit taller, resembling iPhone’s design. The front mounted under-glass fingerprint sensor is placed in the right position. We can say that Xiaomi has learned from its competition and is now offering their phones in a broader selection of colors, which is something that people are going to appreciate.
The overall look of the device is great, which is very important in 2017, as the competition is pretty much focused on the design aspect. It might not look like the LG G6, or the Samsung Galaxy S8, but for the price you are paying, the premium feel is there, and the design is completely symmetrical, which is quite pleasant to the eye.
The phone is not waterproof, but it is splash proof. I would recommend avoiding any contact with liquids.
What is under the hood?
The things that make this phone special are the specs it carries for its price tag. The core processing power is given to the latest Snapdragon 835 and the Adreno 540 GPU. Mi 6 comes with 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM memory, ensuring top notch performance. Also, the base version includes 64GB of storage, while people can also choose the 128GB variant.
The IPS LCD screen is 5.15 inches, and sports a 1080p resolution. The screen can go as high as 600 nits, making the phone easily usable during sunny days. A display of this size is quite battery-friendly. Amazingly though, Xiaomi managed to cramp a 3350 mAh battery into this phone, which is actually the highest battery to screen ratio in comparison to all smartphone makers. Therefore, people can easily expect their phone to last an entire day. With the support of the Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4.0, customers can expect to get 5 hours of use from a 5 minute charge, which is quite impressive.
This phone uses two cameras, and with its setup, it directly rivals Apple’s camera approach. Both of the sensors have a 12mpix resolution, however, one is wide angle, whereas the other is telephoto, specialized for those awesome portraits. Switching between sensors will provide you with 2x lossless zoom. OIS is present, and unlike the usual 3-axis, this one sports a 4-axis, the same as the Mi 5 last year. The phone also comes with vertical dual flash. It actually performs quite well for a camera in a $360 smartphone.
At the bottom of the device, there is a USB type-C port and no audio jack. Those who are planning to purchase this phone should get themselves and adapter or USB type-C headphones. Also, the phone is equipped with Bluetooth 5.0, which makes it possible to work with two separate bluetooth devices simultaneously.
Mi 6 is going to ship with Android Nougat. Xiaomi has included MIUI 8.0 on this phone, which comes with an abundance of software features. The MIUI was well-received by the general audience, as it is extremely user-friendly.
There is no SD card slot in this smartphone, but with that massive storage, do you really need it at all? Also, the device can hold two SIM cards. The card enclosure is protected from water; a nice move from Xiaomi.
Some final thoughts
Xiaomi keeps surprising people around the world, and this year is no different. The Mi 6 was announced individually, without the big Mi 6 Plus brother, therefore, we can expect a larger screen phone to be released in the coming months. Maybe the breathtaking Mi Mix is going to get a successor? We will have to wait for that one.
The Mi 6 is launching in China in first, and is expected to be available in Europe in a month.
The release of this smartphone is just what the market needed, as it comes with a very competitive price, sporting all of the features that premium models have. One can safely say that this phone is the perfect mixture of Galaxy S8’s performance, iPhone’s Camera, and Galaxy S7’s design, and that is a great combination if you ask me!
