Xiaomi Mi 9
Xiaomi is not very well known for the market outside of China. – For example, the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro was the first of the brand in the UK and was launched in 2018. The Xiaomi Mi 9 is the brand’s latest flagship.
The Mi 9 is not an expensive device considering its features. It has a powerful processor, an impressive camera system and a charge of up to 20 W. Of course there is no shortage of Xiaomi M9, these were clear, as it is available for such a low price. Since it came out, competitors have appeared for the Xiaomi Mi 9, especially the Huawei P30. This power pack with three cameras, which has an elegant design and an impressive chipset, is available for almost the same price as the Mi 9. But overall, the Mi 9 is an impressive mid-range smartphone with features that, despite their relatively low price, bring surprisingly good performance.
Xiaomi Mi 9 Design and display
The Xiaomi Mi 9 has a slightly curved glass back, which gives it an unmistakable appearance and a comfortable fit. According to Xiaomi manufacturer, this design creates a holographic effect; especially with the colors Ocean Blue or Lavender Violet. The Mi 9 has a fairly large 6.39-inch AMOLED display which brings a Full HD + resolution of 2340 x 1080 to the table. Watching films is a pleasure with this flagship, vivid colors with a large brightness range ensure this. This screen is interrupted by a small top bezel. This is not annoying, besides the front camera had to be accommodated. The Xiaomi Mi 9 is therefore a medium-sized device but a fairly heavy one with its 173 g on the scale. It still doesn’t outperform Moto G7 Power. There is a USB-C port on the bottom of the device, but Xiamo has adapted to its competitors by omitting the headphone jack. The volume rocker and the power switch are on the right side of the Mi9 and on the left is the Google assistant button.
It is annoying, however, that these buttons are quite pronounced, which means that you can always accidentally get to them and trigger unwanted responses from the smartphone. The three-lens camera is on the back and protrudes so much that we scratched our fingers in our hands when moving the device.
In addition to the excellent camera, it is a comfortable device to hold. the side buttons and the fingerprint sensor are low enough on the screen to be easy to reach. The Xiaomi comes with a plastic cover that fits exactly on the handset and covers the temperature of the device if it gets too hot. The protective cover makes the Mi 9 look even bigger than it already is.
Battery life of the Xiaomi Mi 9
The Xiaomi Mi 9 does not have the worst battery in the world, but with 3,300 mAh it is a bit too small for a powerful smartphone. In practice, too, we found it a little disappointing.
The battery level drops quite quickly even with normal use, which did not surprise us too much in view of the 3,300 mAh battery. So the day does not go through without a charge.
In games and films, the power consumption of a smartphone is usually higher than in normal use. However, this was not the case with the MI 9. The battery operation remains the same. We found that the Xiaomi Mi 9 charged incredibly quickly, with the charger included with the manufacturer it only took 45 minutes. With the Mi 9, you won’t have to wait hours to reach 90%.
If you liked that, take good care, now the best comes. The wireless charging has charged the Mi 9 80% in just 30 minutes in a test with a 10 W charger, which is amazing. It actually supports chargers up to 20 W. Although it would be better to build a larger battery, this was not a problem.
Xiaomi Mi 9 Camera functions
The camera is one of the most important strongest functions of the Xiaomi Mi 9 with which it can shine.
On the back, Mi 9 has a 48MP wide-angle, 16MP ultra-wide-angle and 12MP telephoto camera. Using them together creates fantastic pictures. Which are complemented by a number of AI functions to help you take pictures. There is a 20 MP selfie camera on the front, which is housed in the small recess.
The images in poor lighting conditions and lack of natural light suffer from poor quality. Night camera mode has improved this a bit, but still the pictures still don’t look good enough. A conservative camera function is the ultra-wide-angle mode, with which a field of view of 117 ° degrees can be captured panoramic images. Unfortunately, some pictures look too squeezed, but it doesn’t matter for the long shot.
Perhaps the most powerful feature of the Mi 9 camera is the depth measurement function, thanks to the 12-megapixel telephoto lens. In our tests, it quickly made it possible to concentrate on subjects and precisely determine the depth in order to apply the right sharp one to the background. You don’t have to resort to bokeh or beauty mode, which the smartphone also packs.
It also includes a manual focus mode, with which you only need to tap your screen to focus on any object.
The rear view camera also supports video recordings up to 4K, but it will take time to find them in the settings. The video produced was of high quality and was supported with image stabilization functions. In the test, we recorded a little longer film to see what would happen in the case, the result was hot. Literally, the fact that the Mi 9 overheated during this time. Therefore we do not recommend taking long video recordings.
A really remarkable part of the Xiaomi Mi 9 is its user interface. the Xiaomi manufacturer company calls it MIUI, it works through the Android 9 Pie user interface.
MIUI app symbols are not in the usual shape, they are squares with pointed corners and pale colors. In our opinion, first-party apps should not be so unobtrusive. This gives the impression that it is not a flagship smartphone, but a simple device.
There is no app page here either, which will be a shock to those accustomed to seeing a list of all the apps installed, apart from that, Google search takes a lot of getting used to, because strangely enough you have to swipe up to access it. Some navigation changes have also been redesigned as part of MIUI, but work the same way.
Movies, music and games with the Xiaomi Mi 9
With its Snapdragon 855 chipset, the manufacturer Xiaomi has designed the Mi 9 into a gaming powerhouse. This means that even the highest graphics settings for high-end games are no longer a big deal, they work smoothly and the generous screen size made gaming an experience. One thing we noticed, however, was that the Mi 9 warmed up while playing like when recording long videos. For example, a round of games like PUBG Mobile or Fortnite generates heat that makes the edges of the device become noticeably hot.
We haven’t noticed any negative effects on performance from this overheating. You should definitely be aware of this. The built-in speakers of the new Mi 9 are of very low quality, which makes music sound pretty thin over them. The audio quality is frustrating for films and games, but it is not a sufficient reason to dismiss the Mi 9.