Xiaomi has recently introduced its latest pioneer phone Xiaomi Mi 9 with great specs and an affordable price starting at only $510, while the latest smartphones from Samsung or Huawei come at twice that price.
Xiaomi Mi 9 is powered by the latest and fastest Qualcomm processor Snapdragon 855. This phone offers a 45{1b09b8fb2584dfb3e4aa9a8c3ead58281d36c8ce346588358e0d991cf39b6a1c} higher performance than its predecessor and is the first smartphone that supports 20W wireless charging. Therefore, this phone combines higher performance and an affordable price, making it one of the most exciting phones in 2019.
Performance:
The Xiaomi Mi 9 is known for its fast performance. It is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor at a frequency of 2.84 GHz and was designed using the 7nm technology. It delivers a 45{1b09b8fb2584dfb3e4aa9a8c3ead58281d36c8ce346588358e0d991cf39b6a1c} higher performance compared to its predecessor the Snapdragon 845. Furthermore, the GPU was improved by 20{1b09b8fb2584dfb3e4aa9a8c3ead58281d36c8ce346588358e0d991cf39b6a1c}, the AI capacity has increased three times, and it has better power efficiency.
The first thing that will arouse your attention when using this phone is the speed at which applications open. You will not notice any slowness and you will be able to scroll smoothly. And if there is any stopping or interruption you will get a clear impression that it is a network problem, not a device one.
This Xiaomi phone has the new Adreno 640 GPU, which for the first time supports Vulkan 1.1, HDR display during gameplay, and offers a new custom vision processor that can now handle depth mapping at 60fps, significantly improving augmented reality apps. This new image processor will also allow you to shoot 4K videos at 60 fps, all with a 25{1b09b8fb2584dfb3e4aa9a8c3ead58281d36c8ce346588358e0d991cf39b6a1c} less power consumption.
What about performance tests?
According to the AnTuTu 3DBench test, Xiaomi has scored 361,283 points and outperformed rivals using Android systems including Samsung Galaxy S10 and the latest Google Pixel 3.
According to the GeekBench test on the CPU for single-core performance, the new Kryo (Cortex-A76) with a speed of 2.84 GHz has outperformed the cores of the Huawei Kirin 980 with a speed of 2.6 GHz, which is the processor running the Huawei Mate 20 series.
After testing the performance of all the new Kyro cores together, the Xiaomi Mi 9 with a Snapdragon 855 processor was able to outperform all Android devices in the market. The result of the performance was close to the performance of the A12 processor from Apple, and more importantly, the CPU Snapdragon 855 was faster by 45{1b09b8fb2584dfb3e4aa9a8c3ead58281d36c8ce346588358e0d991cf39b6a1c} than the previous Snapdragon 845.
The Xiaomi Mi 9 comes with two RAM options of either 6 or 8GB, and two storage options with a capacity of either 64 or 128GB with no support for external memory cards. Moreover, a new version of the phone called “Xiaomi Mi 9 Explorer Edition” will be released and it comes with a transparent rear side, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. However, this version is expected to be available only in China.
Design and Screen:
The Xiaomi Mi 9 comes with an elegant, seamlessly curved from rear glass design that matches the metal frame. It has a Gorilla Glass 5 on the back and a Gorilla Glass 6 on the front to protect the phone from scratches and shocks.
On the back of the phone, you will find that Xiaomi has used a reflective coating display with gradient colors and a triple vertical camera.
On the front side of the phone, we can notice that the screen occupies 90.7{1b09b8fb2584dfb3e4aa9a8c3ead58281d36c8ce346588358e0d991cf39b6a1c} of the phone, with a small circular notch that contains the front camera and a small edge just below the screen.
The phone comes with a 6.4-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels, a density of 403 PPI, and a built-in fingerprint optical sensor.
There is also a side button for quick access to Google Assistant. The phone does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack and uses a USB-C port for charging and connecting headphones.
Camera:
For the first time, Xiaomi uses a triple-lens camera. The main lens comes with Sony’s new IMX586 sensor with 48MP and an aperture of f/1.75. The second lens has a precision of 12MP and an aperture f/2.2 lens for x2 optical zoom. And the third lens has a precision of 16MP, an aperture f/2.2 lens, and a 117-degree viewing angle.
The camera application on the Xiaomi Mi 9 comes with many artificial intelligence features, such as the beautification technology, the portrait mode, the night mode, and the detection of more details in low light conditions without compromising the quality or the details or changing the image significantly like the Night Sight mode found in Pixel 3.
The bokeh mode is another great addition that adds depth to images without compromising realism. It is also flexible in getting a wide-angle lens, zooming in and out, and providing powerful AI settings.
This camera upgrade has improved modes and added a new mode called Moon Mode that was specifically designed to take pictures in the moonlight. This mode is activated through the standard image mode using AI. And concerning the front camera, it comes with a 20MP one lens that supports HDR.
Battery and Charging:
The Xiaomi Mi 9 has a 3300 mAh battery. “Our Mi 9 is TÜV Rheinland certified for fast charging, has the fastest wireless charging yet, and its charging speed is not found in any other smartphone”, says Xiaomi. The phone uses a special technology that was built into the 20W wireless charger for fast charging, but to benefit from this feature, you will need to use the special Xiaomi wireless charger only.
Moreover, the battery supports 27W fast wired charging using a special charger from Xiaomi.
You might focus on the relatively small battery capacity and think that you will need to fast charge quite often, but this won’t be the case thanks to the energy-efficient Snapdragon 855 processor and the Xiaomi MIUI that manages it effectively.
Operating System:
The Xiaomi Mi 9 runs on Android 9.0 Pi with the Xiaomi MIUI interface featured here in its new version MIUI 10.2. It also includes some new enhancements and features such as the well-designed icons and menus, and quick navigation through gestures.
The phone has the Mi Turbo technology that relies on AI to improve performance and accelerate the speed of opening applications. It also has the Game Turbo technology that automatically improves the performance when playing games for a better user experience.
Moreover, the phone contains some customized features to improve the user’s interaction such as 4D Touch, which provides vibration feedback when you tap the screen to improve the game performance and respond more quickly to touches.
Price and Availability:
The Xiaomi Mi 9 can be found in Europe and China. The price in Europe starts at $510 for the 6GB RAM version with 64GB in storage and $570 for the 6GB RAM version with 128GB in storage. The phone will also be made available through the online Xiaomi store and its retail partners very soon.
AndroidWaves
