The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is an impressive smartphone that delivers a high-end experience at a budget price. It combines a beautiful ceramic body with an excellent display, a fast processor, and big RAM.
However, it has its limitations. The camera is positioned oddly, struggles in low light, and the battery is thin.
Display
The display on the Mi Mix 2 is one of the critical defining features of this phone. It’s a 5.9-inch panel with a 1080p resolution and an 18:9 aspect ratio.
The display is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. This means the show will resist scratches and other damage from everyday use.
The IPS LCD is delightful and responds well, even under the brightest conditions. It has a classic striped sub-pixel arrangement that supports a static contrast ratio of 1500:1.
Camera
The 12-megapixel rear camera on the Mi Mix 2 features phase-detection autofocus and four-axis optical image stabilization. Its impressive performance matches some of the more top-end smartphones we’ve tested.
Xiaomi’s camera app is similar to that found on other phones running the company’s MIUI software and offers options for panorama, manual, beauty, square, group-selfie, and timer modes. It also has a feature called Hand-Held Twilight (HHT) that improves low-light photography by stitching together multiple shots.
The telephoto lens on the second camera is also a big plus point, offering up to 46mm-equivalent optical zoom. Results are generally excellent, outperforming high-end devices such as the iPhone X for resolution and maintaining good texture preservation in outdoor images.
Performance
The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is a very impressive smartphone. It looks fantastic, has a great display, and comes with an octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor.
The device is built like a premium flagship but comes at a very reasonable price. Its unique design uses exotic materials such as ceramic to differentiate itself from the competition.
The Mi Mix 2 has the fastest processor, and 6GB of RAM makes it one of the most capable phones. It can run apps quickly and smoothly and can handle intense 3D games with no issues.
Battery
The Mi Mix 2’s 3,400mAh battery isn’t the largest on the market, but it’s a respectable number nonetheless. With the phone’s clever battery-saving features enabled, we got almost a day out of it with reasonable use.
The phone also has a USB Type-C port that supports Quick Charge 3.0, which helps get the device from dead to fully charged in under an hour. It’s not the most efficient charging method, but it’s still better than the proprietary adapter that came with the original Mi Mix.
Design
The original Mi Mix made a big statement a year ago with its bezel-less design. Now it’s time for a sequel from Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, a much more refined implementation of that full-screen vision.
The screen sits at the top and bottom of the device with an aluminum frame slapping on the sides. The phone’s front and rear frames are curved to make it look more elegant.
The ceramic back is not something we’ve seen on many phones, but it looks fantastic and can’t be scratched easily. It also picks up fingerprints with alarming regularity, so you must invest in a case for the Mi Mix 2.
