Gadget

The Chinese company Xiaomi keeps pace with the times. For the past two years, she has been producing very successful smartphones at very attractive prices. It’s no joke — the flagship six months ago in Russia can already be taken for less than 20 thousand rubles! This year, the company continued the trend of releasing flagships every six months, and just recently a smartphone was released that was created to squeeze out its competitors from the A-segment. Meet — Mi6 in person!

Traditionally, we will briefly go through the characteristics of the smartphone, after which we will delve into the details. So:

width=»50%»>

Display	IPS, 16 million colors
Display Diagonal	5.15 inches
Display resolution	1920×1080
Operating system	MIUI 8 (Android 7.1.1)
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
video accelerator	Adreno 540
RAM	6 GB
ROM size	64/128 GB
Memory card slot	Not
Main camera	Dual 12MP (27mm f/1.8 with 4-axis OIS and 52mm f/2.6), dual flash, phase detection autofocus
Front-camera	8 MP
Video filming	Main 2160p@30fps, Front 1080p@30fps
Number of SIM cards	2 nano
Interfaces	Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac (dual band), GPS (A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS), Bluetooth 5.0 (A2DP, LE), USB Type-C 1.0,
The fingerprint scanner	Yes, frontal
fast charging	Quick Charge 3.0
Battery	3350 mAh
The weight	168 g (regular version), 182 g (ceramic)
Dimensions	145 x 71 x 7.5mm
Colors	Black ceramic, black, blue, white

Mi6 got a dual camera, but not like on Mi5s Plus, where the second camera complemented the first one. In this smartphone, the two main cameras exist independently. Judging by their characteristics, the first is useful for shooting long shots and landscapes, the second is more suitable for shooting portraits. The screen diagonal has not changed compared to Mi5s and is still 5.15 inches. Also worth noting is 6 GB of RAM even in the basic version and the latest processor from Qualcomm.

Box and accessories

The device comes in a traditional white glossy cardboard box. In addition to the power supply, a USB cable, an adapter from USB Type-C to a 3.5 mm audio jack, instructions and a SIM card extractor, Xiaomi also put a dark silicone case in the box. Of course, for such an expensive smartphone (at the time of writing the review, the version with 128 GB of memory cost 37 thousand rubles), I would like to see headphones in the package, but we will be content with that.

Frame

The body of the smartphone is different from previous models. The back cover is made of glass, the side edges are aluminum and strongly rounded. On the one hand, the glass collects fingerprints and can break when dropped, on the other hand, we really like the design: the same aluminum cases in the Mi and Redmi series are already pretty fed up. The smartphone lies well in the hand, and with a silicone case it fits into the hand like a glove. The thickness of the case is only 7.5 mm.

Screen

The display matrix has not changed much. The smartphone still has the same 5.15-inch display with a resolution of 1920×1080. Also, the frames around the display have not disappeared, which, however, are not so noticeable on the black version of Mi6. The night reading mode has been improved, which now gives off less yellow. The display brightness now varies from 1 to 600 candela per square meter. The minimum brightness value is useful, again, for reading in the dark.

Operating system and software

The operating system in Mi6 is the proprietary shell MIUI 8, which is based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Finally, a smartphone from Xiaomi received Android N out of the box. However, no special innovations were noticed. There may have been a little more animation, but we didn’t notice any significant changes. Perhaps the “nougat” buns will already be in the ninth version of MIUI, which is still on its way. In general, the operating system works stably, there are no lags.

Processor and Memory

Mi6 is equipped with the most powerful mobile processor at the moment (not counting the Apple A10) — Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. RAM — an impressive 6 GB even on the younger model (and there are only two of them, with 64 GB and with 128 GB of permanent memory).

The results of the device in the tests are impressive. It outperforms the just-released Samsung Galaxy S8, which is also based on the Snapdragon 835 or Samsung Exynos 8895. It is also marginally ahead of the Galaxy S8+ and slightly behind the iPhone 7 Plus.

The fingerprint scanner

The fingerprint scanner is still combined with the Home button, but it has been seriously improved in Mi6. He now reacts instantly, a very quick touch is enough. It is almost always unlocked: in our experience, although the scanner is positioned as recognizing fingerprints with any finger orientation, with 100% probability this only happens if it is applied from below.

Interfaces

The smartphone is equipped with the necessary set of interfaces: it can work with dual-band Wi-Fi, and the antenna has been greatly improved — Mi6 continues to receive a signal where Mi5s loses it. There is GPS with GLONASS and BDS support, a new Bluetooth 5.0 chip, infrared, NFC and the already mentioned USB Type-C connector. It was decided to remove the audio jack, which may upset some users, especially music lovers. It’s good that there is an adapter in the kit.

Battery

The non-removable battery in the Mi6 is quite good, especially considering the thickness of the smartphone. Its capacity is 3350 mAh, which, according to the manufacturer, should be enough for 80 hours of standby time. We doubt such a strong autonomy. This result can be achieved only with disabled interfaces (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) and data transfer over mobile networks, and this is unlikely. On average, according to our calculations, a smartphone on a full charge should be enough for a day and a half of use by an average user. In any case, from morning to evening, the smartphone will pull out without problems.

Smartphone fast charging. The kit comes with a charger that supports voltages of 5, 9 and 12 V. The device will fully charge in just over an hour.

Communication and sound

The smartphone is equipped with two stereo speakers, although this can hardly be written as a big plus. The quality of the speakers is at the level, the sound is loud and does not wheeze. There are no complaints about the quality of the conversational dynamics either. There is no 3.5 mm jack, which may sadden music lovers. You will have to buy either wireless Bluetooth headphones or wired ones with a USB Type-C connector. There are not so many of the latter on the market now, and they are generally, of course, more expensive. However, in the kit there is an adapter from USB Type-C to a jack, it will last for a while.

The smartphone is designed for two SIM-cards. Of the three LTE bands generally accepted in the Russian Federation, the radio module supports two: 7 and 38. This is enough in the vast majority of cases.

Camera

And finally, the cherry on the cake. As already noted, the Mi6 has two main cameras: one with a lens with a focal length of 27 mm and f / 1.8 aperture; the second — with a lens focal length of 52 mm and f / 2.6 aperture. The lens of the first camera is quite good in terms of aperture, in addition, it is equipped with optical stabilization. Accompanying both cameras is a dual flash. The smartphone can shoot video with 4K resolution (3840×2160 pixels) at 30 frames per second. We think that the power of the on-board hardware would be enough for a high frame rate, but at the same time, the question would arise, how to cool such a thin smartphone.

Many settings and different modes are available.

The front camera received 8 megapixel resolution, which is twice as high as its predecessor on Mi5s.

You can see sample photos below.

bokeh

Landscape shooting, 27 mm

Landscape photography, 27mm, HDR

Landscape shooting, 52 mm

Landscape photography, 52mm, HDR

Selfie

Cat, 27 mm

Cat, 52 mm

Texture

Flash

mixed lighting

bokeh

Backlight, 27mm, HDR

bokeh

bokeh

As you can see, the picture quality of the Mi6 is quite decent. It falls slightly short of the results of the Samsung S8 and iPhone 7, but also slightly better than last year’s flagships Mi5s and Mi5s Plus. Portrait shooting stands apart — Xiaomi has finally learned how to make high-quality bokeh. Shooting with bokeh works clearly and quickly, the smartphone tells you if you need to move away or get closer to the object. You can finally feel a little like a photographer with a “SLR”.

Results

What do we have as a result? Mi6 is a very good smartphone. He can do everything or almost everything that a modern flagship should be able to do. Its performance is impressive as it is the second Snapdragon 835 based device in the world after the Samsung Galaxy S8. Although we must admit that such power has long been excessive for a smartphone. It is needed in fairly rare cases (for example, when shooting a panorama or editing 4K video). In addition, Mi6 is cured of Mi5s sores, like a fingerprint sensor and a noticeable frame. Two things about this smartphone can frustrate the user: it’s the bezel screen and the lack of an audio jack. If you have to put up with the first problem, then the second one, in fact, is no longer, since with the release of the iPhone 7, many manufacturers have already headed for the trend of getting rid of the 3.5 mm jack. We have to get used to the new realities of the market.