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  • dreamslacker - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    "and today the company is finally ready to release the predecessor in the form of the Mi 5"

    Successor?
  • dzprod - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Update: It now says "sucessor". So close!
  • zeeBomb - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Xiaomi definitely came through...wasn't there that one US company that is getting Xiaomi phones to sell like a carrier? We may see some light for NA compatibility.

    BTW, doesn't the standard Mi 5 have an underclocked snapdragon and slower memory?
  • londedoganet - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    That company (some two-bit MVNO riding on T-Mobile's network) was planning on importing gray-market Xiaomis from Hong Kong and selling them without any support from Xiaomi whatsoever, and set world records in backpedaling after Xiaomi explicitly denied working with them and T-Mobile threatened to terminate their MVNO agreement for selling non-approved devices for use with T-Mobile infrastructure.

    So no, I wouldn't hold my breath for NA compatibility.
  • Daniel Egger - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    This is one smexy device. I'd have preferred an AMOLED display but if they manage to get deliver good battery lifetimes with IPS I'd be totally sold.
  • tipoo - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    That is rather handsome, and the price definitely looks good for the specs. I was interested in the Mi4, but navigating shipping it here and carrier compatibility was a pain, so I'm glad they're planning on direct to NA sales with this one.
  • darklay - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Agreed, if they can keep the price close to the estimations in this article, I could totally see getting the 128GB version. I won't ever need that much storage but the ceramic back would be really cool. However, I ran the Yuan price (2699) for the 128GB through google's currency converter and it came out to about $412 instead of the ~$350 in this article. Not sure where that discrepancy is coming from because it isn't like there has been a large currency flux in the past day.
  • extide - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Apparently the difference is because of taxes. The RMB price includes taxes that we wouldn't have to pay, so when AT did the conversion, they subtracted the tax first.
  • teldar - Saturday, February 27, 2016 - link

    They're not planning ANY direct to North America sales. No offense, man, but did you read the article? They are not compatible with NA carriers and won't be shipping here, or at least there are NO PLANS of shipping them here as of now.
  • shadarlo - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    I really wish all of Xiaomi's stuff would be more available here in the US. They make some really nice stuff for penny's on the dollar compared to the "big names" here.

    The MiBand is an amazing feat of engineering for the price. I laugh when people brag about getting their various fitbits for $80-$120 when I spent $13 on a MiBand that does all the same stuff.
  • smorebuds - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Have you tried their P3 earbuds? For 20 bucks you get a set of buds that rival $100+ ones.
  • ESC2000 - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Wow a $352 128 GB premium phone. ...hard to find much reason to choose a 128 GB Samsung phone or iPhone would cost $1000 while this comes in at a third or a half the price except maybe the difficulty of getting one in the US (or esp if not available through carriers - not that I care about that but a lot of Americans have no idea that you don't have to buy a phone from your carrier or they think they're getting a deal with their "$200" iPhone despite that they're getting ripped off in the contract). Another reason is people's hesitation (reasonable or not) about buying Chinese gasgets after the huawei incidents....

    I might seriously consider one of these though esp when I found out the S7 and the G5 aren't supporting adoptable storage.
  • londedoganet - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Huawei incidents?
  • jjj - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    The prices are misleading . They don't convert the China price, they deduct the tax but they don't really end up selling these device bellow China prices .
    Anyway, you'll see better prices from others,or better specs for the price, easily.
  • Maxibus - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Let me guess... RealJJJ right?
    Only you could say such a bullshit.
    Which other companies?
    Xiaolojiayu pepper?
    You're getting ridiculous dude. Seriously
  • jjj - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    How about you just wait for more devices before getting all excited about the first cheap device with SD820. Not to mention that you don't even know how SD820 performs and not all signs are great.
    Anyone that knows what's out there can name a few brands that might do better. From LeTV to OnePlus, from Meizu to Shallots or Zuk and Coolpad and so on . It's not quite that dry out there when it comes to possible alternatives at great prices.
    Hell, at first i was calling this a retro-Samsung clone but the front looks just a LeTv,except with much much bigger upper and lower bezels and the ugly and impractical Samsung home button.
    The back is great in shape but has a few problems, glass can break, attracts fingerprints and there is a lot of empty space above the logo.
    Anyway, good luck in your close sentimental relationship with a corporation.
  • marcolorenzo - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Can you name one previous example from any of the manufacturers you mentioned that had better specs for the same price or cheaper with the same specs than the Xiaomi counterpart and also offered a smooth user experience and reliable update schedule? Personally, I can't think of any. The first OnePlus sure as hell didn't. They only beat Xiaomi in terms of international availability, that's all. Meizu only recently started to release devices that are truly competitive with Xiaomi. In the past, they had good designs but Flyme was just not polished enough and they often had poor battery life. As for the others, you're just kidding yourself.
  • s.yu - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link

    "also offered a smooth user experience "? No, Xiaomi is often criticized domestically for inconsistent user experience.
  • Daniel Egger - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Well, here you can actually (pre-)order it for 440€, the next phone with 128GB (Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe) is available for 500€ and from there it gets steeper...
  • beginner99 - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    exactly. The will sell for far more. I like the phone but my hopes are low it will actually be worth it where I live. The Mi4 is available for $530... At that price you can just as well go Samsung, LG, etc. and not bother with potential issues and carrier compatibility. EDIT: Just checked local store and the have added it. No price but Google Shopping says $450 for 64 gb version.
  • bernstein - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    there seems to be something wrong with your currency conversion. according to google:
    2699 rmb in usd = $413
    2299 rmb in usd = $352
    1999 rmb in usd = $306
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    The Chinese prices include 17% tax.
  • darklay - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    So, will that tax not be charged to US buyers?
  • DarthNemesis - Friday, March 25, 2016 - link

    Chinese taxes are imposed in China. Why would they apply taxes applicable to china in other markets?
  • Sttm - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    I wonder if they can get carrier support though. If you can get it from the carrier for $12.50 a month as opposed to the $25-30 for a Samsung or Apple device, that makes good sense.

    But if you are going to pay $350 out of pocket, then it becomes an argument over how long you keep the device if its actually saving you money. As you can get the top of the line Samsung or Apple phone for about $30 a month, or $360 a year. Meaning to save money with Mi 5 you would have to not replace it next year.

    Also for a lot of people the $400 (with Tax...) up front is a problem, where as with the carrier support that same person can walk out with an iPhone or Galaxy for 0 down and only need to manage a $25-30 payment each month.
  • Death666Angel - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Owning my LG G2 for 2 years this May (330€). Looking to replace this year, mostly because I need my gadget fix. I'm still not envious of my friends with Samsung S6's or iPhone 6's. (Hardly an LG, HTC or Sony to be found.) Photos are pretty much the same, performance is pretty much the same, form factor is pretty much the same.
  • beginner99 - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Common if you can't pay $300-$400 upfront you should also not get an iPhone via contract. There are also different countries with different carriers. Where I live you are mostly better of nowadays to buy the phone yourself. You get more options (eg not just Apple, Samsung) and it's usually a bit cheaper over the long run (if you keep it 2years+).
  • jjj - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    This device deserves a great bashing ( a flagship , no matter at what price needs be exciting and , you know, not a clone. this one next to a true flagship,looks like a child) but that aside, the LTE is crippled on the cheaper version too, any chance you have full details how crippled? They only seem to mention that it's just 2xCA.
    The power numbers, at least you can fully load almost 2 cores and the 1.8GHz should be able to load all or close to that.
    The GPU , on 1080p is more than plenty anyway but lets hope it doesn't throttle too much with 1440p devices.
  • jjj - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Also notable, Kryo vs A72 efficiency numbers, A72 seems to win by a lot, especially since we might see better implementations than the first one on 16ff+ as the process matures.
    Would love to see a well managed 2xA72 at 2.5-2.8GHz (the range listed in the specs not hidden from the customer) plus 4xA72 at 1.8GHz and ofc some little cores.
  • Kepe - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Of course the Kryo draws more power, since it has "bigger" cores. One Kryo core is more powerful than one A72 core. Those power draw tests don't take into consideration the amount of computing the cores are actually doing. There are single threaded results on the net, a single Kryo core only loses to the Hurricane cores on Apple's A9.

    How much does Samsung/Apple pay you to spew out your garbage on the internet?
  • jjj - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    What i said was efficiency not power, efficiency factors in perf so, if you pay attention, you can safely assume that i have factored in perf.
    Your claim that a Kryo core is more powerful than A72 is based on what? Because you have nothing at all to support that claim and all existing evidence supports my claim,that in perf and power A72 is a lot better. If you take the Kirin 950 in Geekbench ( just because we actually have numbers in this benchmark) in integer and FP single core , it delivers 16% lower perf on average (lower diff in integer ,more in FP) with A72 at 2.3GHz while Kryo needs 50% more power at 2.15GHz- by looking at power for the 2 SoCs with 2 cores - just 2 cores because core 3 and 4 are lower clocks for Kryo. Kirin 950 is an early implementation , not the latest core revision, an older interconnect,likely not an ideal memory controller on an immature process. We will see better implementation and maybe even a slightly better Kirin soon.So i firmly stand by my claim that A72, based on these power numbers for Kryo , is a lot more efficient.
    Additionally, the CPU related benchmarks on this page, place the Kirin ahead of Kryo, even with A72 at just 2.3GHz plus slower RAM and NAND - in all fairness Kryo might be crippled in this benchmark by Xiaomi's ROM.
    As for your insults , after you learn how to read, maybe you can also learn how to have a conversation.
  • jjj - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Ofc this math includes the all else power and if all else power would be equal (risky to assume that), it would get much worse for Kryo.
  • lilmoe - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    For me, I'll reserve any judgement until a deep dive is done for all the major new cores; Kryo, M1, and A72.

    Adreno always benches better than Mali, but Mali always seems to perform better in real life (IE: more efficient).
  • jjj - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    In GPU it is a bit more complicated. The math includes the CPU so less efficient CPUs will harm the GPU perf too. Another very important matter is die size and that always gets left aside. IF Qualcomm was pushing clocks to save on die size, they could change that, go bigger , lower clocks and gain efficiency. Sadly i have no clue how big the GPU was in SD810. In any case, the GPU should be fine for 1440p even if it throttles a lot. At 1080p some could see it as overkill.
    As for M1, we'll see how hard they pushed it, would be nice if it stays cooler than others.
    But Kryo vs A72 is surprising. Another way to look at these numbers is core 3+4 for both. Kryo at 1405mW clocked at just 1.6GHz but here there is an extra complication because Kryo seems to have a 512KB L2 cache for the 2 lower clock cores (vs 1MB L2 for the other 2) and that's why core 3 adds so much more than core 4. Both excluding that L2 or including it seem unfair, but it is less than the other 2 cores, less total than Kirin and some cache would be needed so we leave it in. For Kirin there is this graph http://images.anandtech.com/doci/9878/power-big_57... . There you can kinda guess core 3+4 power at 2GHz, it's not very precise but seems at about 1050mW. Went with 2GHz because in Geekbench Integer+FP average Kryo at 1.6Ghz would be at best a couple of % faster. So A72 delivers similar perf in Geekbench in this early implementation at much lower power when doing the math this other way that better isolates the core and clocks are not pushed too far. Even here the memory speed is different so perf and thermals will vary a bit and how memory heavy an app is would matter. The budget version of this device does have the same memory speed as the Kirin so would be more interesting to compare that one with the Mate 8.
    Ofc all this is based on the limited available data, but that's all we got so far. Ignoring the little cores is not fair either because they are more efficient and they do offload some work, that is a plus in perf+power and a minus in cost.
  • lilmoe - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Yes, CPU power draw plays a big role in GPU efficiency, not question there.

    Both Kryo and M1 are at their early stages. Their "maturity" is comprable to A57 and Swift/Cyclone rather than A72 and Twister at this point (again, "maturity" not "performance"). I was a little surprised at first when Qualcomm added "little cores" to their design. But it's understandable; they either need more work on the dynamic scaling (lower voltage at low/medium clocks), or it's a decision dictated by how Android scheduling works based on evidence and recent articles. Either way, they still have lots of space for improvement, and we might see a quad core, all big, configuration with better voltage tuning in next iterations. But I wont hold my breath; they might need 10nm or less for an all big/wide configuration to be feasible on Android, and no less than Quad core, with only 1 or 2 cores configured for turbo.

    Samsung, among other, "privileged", ARM partners has pretty early access to ARM designs. If the A72 was better than their M1 (same goes for the CCI), I'm sure they'd have went with that. Unless other design (and cost saving) decisions are at play, I'd voucher for the M1 over the A72. Heck, the M1 might even be a slightly modified A72.

    There's also the difference in process nodes. I'm happy we now have a better apples to apples comparison between SD820 and Exynos 8890 since they're both on Samsung 14nm LPP. But until we see an A72 on Samsung's process vs TSMC, it'll still be hard to tell, even with more data.

    I honestly don't believe these resent GPUs are overkill for 1080p, even for 720p. I envy how Apple can get away with a 720p screen on a ~5" device till this day, run by such a beefy GPU. I believe it has more to do with cost savings than optimal configuration (since their brand image allows it, and they'd sell either way). It's really sad that general perception dictates that Android OEMs need to have MUCH higher specs than Apple's to be considered as "good" alternatives till this day. I wish Samsung would enable the users to scale down the resolution (just like they can in the Game Tuner app) on the OS level. That 1440p pentile screen will sill look good scaled down to 720p since each pixel will have 5+ sub-pixels. Heck, color reproduction might even improve that way.

    Optimizing for Android on the hardware level is proving to be extremely difficult. A royal pain in the behind. Google seems to be more interested on optimizing their software for more cores at this point. There's still WAY too much overhead in their rendering pipeline.
  • jjj - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    To add something i've omitted, the slower Kryo are supposed to be optimized for power so that might have helped Kryo in this core 3+4 math.
    Don't see the point in Qualcomm going back to 4 instead of 2+2 since the single threaded perf gain this config allows, helps marketing. There were some rumors about MSM8996 Pro or SD823 but from China and China rumors are 90% fake.
    In the end "overheating" in itself is not the problem, the lack of disclosure is. If the specs would disclose sufficient details so the consumer can be well enough informed, all would be ok. "Turbo" or"boost"or w/e marketing term one wants to use, is a good thing, as long as the consumer goes in knowing what he gets. Synthetic benchmarks don't help either in showing the real world behavior of a thermally managed SoC, things need to change there.
    The M1 in Geekbench seems to match Kryo in memory , a very high score. . Why Samsung is using it, hard to say, they could have aimed higher, missed targets and got stuck with it, or maybe it is even better than A72 and not pushed too far. For M1 we really don't have much info yet, or at least i haven't seen much. On the interconnect side, Kirin uses CCI-400, that's why i've mentioned it as a possible area where things can get better. On the process, Qualcomm chose to go with Samsung not TSMC, sure the deal might have been about more than just the process since Samsung needs foundry clients and Qualcomm needs the S7 win. But doubt Qualcomm would have went with Samsung if the process was far worse than what TSMC has.
    On the GPU side, as far as i can tell in actual games i do deem the perf as enough for current games but i don't see the need for 60FPS, some might. Sure mobile games could be much better and , no matter what, GPUs won't really be enough at any point soon.
    The convo about quality, res, FPS and what matters most is tricky. I do agree that users should be able to adjust res. A smart device could adjust all 3 on the fly in trying too offer the best experience possible - that's not easy but could be done at some point. ARM announced recently the Mali DP650 that supports variable refresh rates , can't wait to see that in phones.
    More cores can be a plus for gaming, if developers would try to use the small cores as much as possible and gain some GPU TDP. We might see even more than 10 cores and forcing games on more efficient cores could be a big plus. Consoles using 8 rather small cores could make console ports interesting.

    Just spotted a fresh article, Digitimes is saying that Samsung is using SD820 only in the US (others are saying US and China) and that only the SD820 model uses the heatpipe.
    Remains to be seen how true this is, Digitimes is not always reliable.
  • jjj - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    The single core Kryo number is odd, Compare 1 and 2 cores with Exynos and ... maybe it's the way power was measured or maybe Xiaomi forgot a faucet running and it could end up being a bit better overall. Adjusting the core 1 number wouldn't change the core 3+4 math though.
  • aegisofrime - Monday, February 29, 2016 - link

    I found it odd as well. One possibility that I thought of is what if the Huawei had a full charged battery while the Xiaomi was on low charge. The Xiaomi would then be drawing full current since the measurement methodology was measuring input charge power. Conversely the Huawei would then be trickle charging thus pulling lesser power. I do consider this highly unlikely since its Andrei doing the testing here.
  • Dovahkiin - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link

    I wouldn't be surprised, that given it's likely a development firmware, it likely has flags toggled that keep portions of the SOC at full power for debug purposes.
  • Dovahkiin - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link

    POTENTIALLY, QC 3.0 may be a factor too.
  • extide - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Dude, I don't think you can use the clone argument anymore, I mean pretty much ALL the phones coming out now look the same, and it's because they have all converged on similar designs because that design works well. I mean I don't think there is any point to having a phone look different JUST to look different. A phone is a tool, and it's form factor should be the best form factor for it's purpose, and thus all of the manufacturers have sort of settled on similar designs. It's not that they are lazy or ripping each other off, it's just that is where all of the designs have evolved to.
  • s.yu - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link

    Note 5(the original) looked nothing like a Sony, nor anything like an Apple, nor an LG, hell it looked very different from Note 4, so you're wrong. There's always room for improvement and change in the design. Last gen's Xiaomi (and a few gens before) was a really generic design and frankly looked like nobody, because of the lack of any distictive design features. It didn't look good but the fact that this gen took a great step away from last gen's design, but ended up looking like the newest Samsung, could mean nothing BUT cloning, intentionally.
  • Dovahkiin - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link

    You mean it looked like the Mi Note? Which was released in Jan 2015, and the Note 5 in Aug 2015?
  • venturizhou - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Are the LTE bands confirmed? I couldn't find confirmation anywhere else, just speculation on what the bands would be.
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    We're still waiting on final confirmation.
  • jjj - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    confirm for the cheapest model too, in case that one is missing some.
  • shabby - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    I wouldn't get my hopes up, there's a reason they're not selling it outside china. Only 3g will work in north america.
  • talinkio - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    I have the mi 4c and had the initial mi 4 previously. Both work on T-Mobile and I get LTE in MN. Bought them on honorbuy. The first one I had to bring into the store and they changed some settings. The second one worked out of the box.
  • adityarjun - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    When you test the SD 820 phones, please do include the thermal throttling tests similar to the ones you guys had in your nexus 6p review.
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/9820/the-google-nexu...

    I am really curious to see how the 820 fares again the Exynos and Apple's A9.
  • Pissedoffyouth - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    How did battery life and charging seem?
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    I've had the device only for 24h so can't comment on battery life. Charging seems fast although again that will need some logging for exact numbers.
  • Slap_and_Tickle - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    @Andrei,

    Can you expand on your power test procedure? Is this a mW per MIPS test? mW per MHz? mW measured at max per core load?

    It seems this would only be a valid measurement if you have a constant load. i.e., a load that sleeps once it has finished X number of iterations, and those X iterations run to completion per core for each test (then allow the processor to sleep for the time remaining in that test run).
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    It's power measured during a constant Infinite load. It doesn't measure efficiency nor work done, that is something we'll do in a separate article.
  • b0g - Thursday, March 10, 2016 - link

    hy, andrei,
    when you publish the review for this phone?
  • Death666Angel - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Ever since trying the 5.5" Cubot H1 I bought for my brother, my next phone will be 5.5" at least. So I'm looking forward to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Pro), or whatever it's gonna be called. :D
  • b0g - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    hy,
    @Andrei,
    can tell us if this phone has: "Notification LED", support usb OTG and how is the reception/ signal strength; thank you
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    It has a multicolour notification LED. OTG should work. I haven't yet tested cellular connectivity yet.
  • adriangb - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    So it looks like the Kirin 950 is going to be a leader in both CPU performance and efficiency, correct?
  • dottie - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    @Andrei,

    Could you find out for us what DAC is used please?
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    It's a Qualcomm WCD9335.
  • QhyQhy - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    I'm really anxious to know about the connectivity. Is the USB Type C is 3.0 speed or 2.0? and what about the LTE band? :D it's complete mess on MIUI forum! even the beta tester and moderator are confused
  • reedjohnson - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Well, somewhere in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZQP0wEdrRk&li... Hugo Barra has stated that it has USB 3.0 speeds; however, he has also stated or at least suggested that the SD820 from the 32GB variant and 64GB+ variant are exactly the same hardware, which strictly speaking and according to the analysis of this article is not the case as there is such a thing as the Snapdragon 820 Lite. I would therefore love to hear from Anandtech how this chip fares.

    Also, seeing that this is a Xiaomi I expect/hope a lot of improvements to happen over the coming months in MIUI I therefore hope that the reviewer is willing to revisit this device in a couple of month. Maybe, that is even interesting for another article; a review of what optimizations, if any, OEMs perform on their devices after its initial release.

    Furthermore, seeing that this device is quite similar in price (after additional import costs) to the Galaxy S6 which probably bests it in screen, camera and warranty. I hope that the reviewer also makes a comparison to this device as opposed to the S7 that is 2 times as expensive. For example, something like "the camera of the MI5 is better than the camera on the S6 (highly unplausible), but worse than the camera on the S7 (obviously)".
  • tuxRoller - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    The camera samples suggest the xiaomi has the better camera.
    I'm.... very, VERY surprised by that...
  • lilmoe - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    You got me interested so I also checked. The GS6 has more detail, better contrast, and considerably less noise and more detail in low-light shots...
  • tuxRoller - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    So, my methodology was to grab the full sized images of the two cameras, zoom in at various points (low light, high spatial frequency, strong defined edges, etc).
    While I can't judge white balance (obviously), imho, the mi5 performed as well in every scenario, and noticeably better when it comes to low light artifacts and high frequency detail-- in both of those cases I was looking that the pictures of the buildings at night and the tree next to the buildings, respectively).
    If you want I can be more specific about each scenario.
  • johowdy123 - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Help me out, with the bands listed, do they cover north American carriers? If so which ones? it looks like it includes most bands for all the US carriers.
  • johowdy123 - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    After looking at the bands listed, it looks like it includes support for the US carriers??
  • AgeOfPanic - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    I read on a different site that the 128 GB version is called the Pro version and has 4 GB internal memory and a ceramic back. The 32 and 64 GB versions have 3 GB internal memory and a glass back.
  • Kepe - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Almost all the sites get some of the specs wrong or leave something without mention.
    32 GB model = 3 GB of LPDDR4 @ 1333MHz, SD820 @ 1,8 Ghz
    64 GB model = 3 GB of LPDDR4 @ 1866MHz, SD820 @ 2,15 GHz
    128 GB model = 4 GB of LPDDR4 @1866MHz, SD820 @ 2,15 GHz + ceramic back.

    So basically you get two hardware upgrades every time when going up one tier. Compared to the base model, the 64 gig model has faster ram and cpu, and compared to the 64 gig model the Pro version has more ram and the ceramic back.
  • Kepe - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Well, three hardware upgrades since you also get more internal storage. D'oh.
    Edit button..?
  • gg555 - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    As always, what kind of noise cancellation do they use? Fluence, Audience (hopefully)? More than two mics? Call quality has been mediocre on smartphones for a while and gone backwards, with noise cancellation. The Nexus One and iPhone 4, with the Audience chip, strangely enough, were the pinnacle of noise cancellation. Everyone's been sliding backwards since then, as Fluence has come to dominate smartphone noise cancellation solutions.
  • tuxRoller - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    The call quality on the Nexus 6p has been ASTONISHING, if you make calls using hangouts.
    It was very eerie, actually.
  • buxe2quec - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    And with normal phone calls? Hangouts has a better call quality due to audio format used, it has not much to do with noise cancellation.
    My LG G2 has very poor call quality on cell netowrk compared to my iPhone 4S (same network).
  • tuxRoller - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    I realise that. My point was that the microphones and speakers on the device are excellent.
    If you're stuck with G.711 there's not a lot you can do, unless your speakers/microphone address just terrible. To test that, perform the call someone else through hangouts (who also uses hangouts).
  • buxe2quec - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Editors, please test this in the phones, as you did in the past for iPhone 4, 4S, maybe 5. It is important.
    Also, please test the maximum sound power the mic can withstand: if the mic saturates at 82 dB (many phones do that), noise cancellation won't work anymore. And 82 dB are not many, if you consider how close the mouth is and how loud people can talk/scream when at the phone.
  • caelaen - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Early rumours circulated that the Mi5 would be water resistant/proof. Considering nothing was mentioned about this, I'm guessing that isn't the case. IMO that's the one thing that makes it still worth considering the SG7 over this.
  • s.yu - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link

    Are you kidding me? There's the better screen(with new useful features like always on), better camera with much improved AF, MicroSD support, and of course water resistance, and, you're getting the real deal, not this rip-off. People will see you using the rip-off and say, "Hey, this guy's using a fake Samsung!"
  • Jihyo-Song - Thursday, February 25, 2016 - link

    Most people in Europe may does not heard of Xiaomi before, but it is the smartphone giant in Asia, which made No.1 smartphone sales in China.
    From my part, Xiaomi mi 5 is an rather incredible phone that'll entrance you the first time you pick it - with its insane spec list and Mega-low price.

    Great phone with amazing specs and a price you'll be hard to believe.
  • zeeBomb - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    50. I'll be fazed if there's a surprise release here in US, but then the nature of that happening is somewhat a mixed bag.
  • AnotherGuy - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Truly impressive specs... will be hard to pass up compared to Galaxy S7 pricing
  • AnotherGuy - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Also no impressions on the software side of things? Is it gonna be self intuitive for non Chinese people?
  • dbp - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Xiaomi had a BAD history of stealing your private data without your consent like the phone book. You should prepare for that if you wish to buy one.
  • tuxRoller - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Link?
  • realbabilu - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    While you are testing it? You got LTE? or no sim?
  • realbabilu - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Xiaomi mi5 Teardown http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/02/24/xiaomi-mi-5-t...
  • SydneyBlue120d - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Is unlimited HEVC 2160p60 recording with both IOS and HDR enabled ? Thanks.
  • lilmoe - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Would someone answer this guy already? He posted the same question in 5 articles.
  • SydneyBlue120d - Monday, February 29, 2016 - link

    Thanks for the support :)
  • beginner99 - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    32 and 64 Gb versions have 3 GB RAM! Only 128GB version (ceramic) has 4 GB.
  • darkich - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    All great, except for the oversized Adreno 530..while in the benchmarks it looks beaten by the Adreno, the Mali T880 MP 12 (Exynos 8890) should be able to achieve much better sustained performance and looks like a true mobile optimized GPU
  • xtess3ractx - Friday, February 26, 2016 - link

    Sony could learn a thing or two from these guys. Really sad about the z lines discontinuation. The X performance doesn't really shine anywhere sure exterior design is nice but other than that, its inferior to z5 in every way.
  • kamhagh - Sunday, February 28, 2016 - link

    Wow, If only it had a bigger screen i would be really tempted to buy one!!!!
    I'll wait for sustain gaming benchmark anyway, I care much about that, I play tons of games (At least used to) and wotb for example is super slow on my note 4 :S I can't only play it with min setting :S
  • maheshbalan - Sunday, February 28, 2016 - link

    Really awesome specs for Mi5,i am eager to buy this one when it is released in india
  • Asherlying - Sunday, February 28, 2016 - link

    the smartphone company got to do some right thing, stop hyping and do something to improve the user experience, now Xiaomi gadgets are everywhere, inculding some overseas warehouse. http://www.tinydeal.com/buy/xiaomi+smartphone.html...
  • anandunni - Monday, February 29, 2016 - link

    Please test GPS\GNSS signal. Your Mi note review on GPS\GNSS signal was very helpful :)
  • nirolf - Monday, February 29, 2016 - link

    Hm, so the new LTE bands are confirmed? That's a shame, the B20 missing is going to be a problem in Europe.
  • s.yu - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link

    This is as blatant a Xiaomi ripoff of Samsung as the P8 a Huawei ripoff of Sony, maybe even worse.
  • Dovahkiin - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link

    Have you seen the Mi Note?
  • stormXiaomi - Wednesday, March 2, 2016 - link

    @Andrei Frumusanu , could you show you SW version, and show your storage usage, Many thanks, we want to check why androbench is so slow on you side.Many many thanks.
  • stormXiaomi1 - Thursday, March 3, 2016 - link

    with androbench default buffer size 32768KB, we can get 430MB+, why you limit the buffer size to 256KB?
  • kamhagh - Sunday, March 13, 2016 - link

    Good, it will heat up and go to 15Fps after a minute of playing MW5 or nova or dead trigger or basically any game :)
  • jacksonjacksona - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link

    welcome to
    W_W_W_._a_j_k_o_b_e_s_h_o_e_s._C_O_M

    n i k e $38
    jjjj
  • moh.moh - Wednesday, April 20, 2016 - link

    Andrei, do you have any update on when we can see the final review for this device?
  • ricemanhk - Monday, June 20, 2016 - link

    Any news on when the final review will be out? Definitely want to compare the Mi5 to the Oneplus 3 review that just came out today.
  • DocRambone - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link

    Still waiting for the full review...!
  • zzzzznair - Monday, March 20, 2017 - link

    terribly overpriced mobile..there is nothing justified so high pricing...it is slow..browsing is pathetic

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