[Review] Xiaomi Mi 5s 3 / 64Gb and photo comparison with Mi 5
Today we propose our review of Mi 5s, the successor to the lucky and excellent Xiaomi Mi 5 top range. We have the 3Gb version of RAM and 64Gb memory ROMs. thank SmartyLife.net for making the phone available to us.
![[Review] Xiaomi Mi 5s 3 / 64Gb and photo comparison with Mi 5](http://www.smartylife.net/media/welldone/default/xlogo_smartylife_little.png.pagespeed.ic.aBhLNMmmqo.webp)
Packing (7)
The packaging, as is customary, is quite skinny. In fact, we only have the 2A 5V power supply with a Chinese / American socket (it will need an adapter), the USB Type C - USB cable and the clip to open the 2 sim (dual nano) housing, no headphones earphones.
Production and aesthetic quality (9)
As soon as we remove the phone from the box, we immediately notice the extreme care with which the smartphone was made, though Xiaomi has become accustomed to a very high level. We are talking about a smooth metal unibody body enriched by rounded back edges that end up elegantly beveled on the 2.5D XNUMXD curved glass, a rear finishing in the antenna areas (very "iPhone style").
At the front we have the touch screen key that incorporates the biometric fingerprint sensor with new ultrasonic technology (not yet perfect in fingerprint recognition), RGB notification LED, headset cap, proximity / brightness sensor and selfie camera .
At the top we find the audio jack from 3.5mm.
On the sx side there is the cart for the sim housing while on the dx there is the volume bar and immediately below the power-on / off / lock-release button
Below we find the microphone (sx grid), the speaker (dx grid)
Behind we find the second background noise suppressor microphone and the brand new 12 Mpx camera with dual dual tone LED flash.
The dimensions are 14.57 x 7.03 x 0.83 cm for a weight of 145Gr. Compared to the Mi 5, the device weighs 15 Gr more and the glass back has been replaced by metal. Of course it is a mere matter of taste as to which to drop our preference.
Processor, Operating System, Autonomy
Processor (9.5)
The CPU of the Mi 5s is the very powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 quad core, with frequency from 2.15 Ghz, 64 or 128Gb of ROM memory (the very fast UFS 2.0) and 3 or 4Gb of lpDDR4 RAM memory (3 on the 64Gb of ROM model and 4 on the 128Gb model). The GPU is the Adreno 530. Present the NFC module. The combined CPU and GPU work is excellent, which guarantees perfect results with the heaviest games, such as Real Racing 3. Below are the average values obtained on Antutu and Geekbench.
Operating System (9)
The operating system is Android 6 Marshmallow customized by Xiaomi's proprietary UI, the very famous MIUI, now in version 8. The model we tested mounts the ROM China Stable 8.0.10. Since the phone will arrive with Rom China, therefore only with Chinese / English languages and without google services, it will be necessary to immediately install the Google Playstore and via "local more" the country Italy to have the applications in Italian. The procedure is very simple, it does not require any particular IT skills.
This being the first stable firmware it denotes some bugs such as the not excellent functioning of the fingerprint sensor which is practically perfect on the Mi 5; often the fingerprint is not recognized at the first shot and beyond this it is necessary to exert a higher pressure than the same one used to use the “home” functions. We remind you that among the improvements of this new technology there is that of being able to use the sensor even with wet / dirty hands. We postpone further tests with new firmware. Another thing to refine is definitely the sw camera which we will talk about later.
For the rest the general fluidity is always at the highest levels with the usual goodies of the UI Xiaomi as the ability to set automatic on / off time, to change the theme or just parts of a theme (icons only, wallpapers only, dialer only, etc.), insert a "quick ball" assistant with various shortcuts to favorite features in the foreground. Among the infinite settings of the MIUI8 I always want to mention the "Dual apps" and the "second space". The first will allow us to have a copy of all applications that require setting up an account (Facebook, Messenger, Whatsapp, Telegram, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) so you can use different 2 accounts simultaneously (HERE the focus on this feature). The second will give us the possibility to create a sort of partition that can be used exactly like another phone, then another account / applications / etcetera.
Android 6 and MIUI8 allow you to manage the permissions of each installed application, it is therefore important to be careful to give those that are needed above all to google services (given all the required permissions) otherwise you risk blocks and malfunctions. It is also important to authorize the messaging applications in the “autostart” section (otherwise they will not start automatically after a restart of the device).
The use of the system browser, despite having interesting features, is difficult to configure, as it is full of links to applications to Chinese sites. But if we wanted to spend ten minutes fixing the settings, removing the "chinoiserie", we will have a really fast browser with the automatic resize of the text that works flawlessly. I can say this is the best auto-text resize I have ever tried.
There is a lot of bloatware but do not worry because everything can be uninstalled.
Autonomy (9)
The same discourse for energy saving authorizations (HERE the in-depth analysis for MIUI8 devices), which if set correctly will allow you to increase the autonomy of the phone.
In fact, the battery is 3200 mAh, against the 3000 of the Mi 5, and will guarantee you a really very good autonomy. In my tests, carried out with Vodafone / H3G operators in LTE-WCDMA mode, it covered on average the 16 hours of standby with an average 5h of display on (mixed data / Wi-Fi). Good charging times which are about 90 minutes.
Display (8.7)
The display is a good IPS with 5.15 "diagonal and FullHD resolution (1920 x 1080) 2.5D 428 ppi, The slight curvature that we find on the sides makes the use of the whole display really perfect, even at the edges where with a normal glass “Flat” we would find it difficult to use. I was really blown away by this 2.5D warp. The brightness is good as is the visibility under the sun. Good sensor that calibrates well in a reactive way. The color tone can be set in 3 modes: automatic, standard and increased. In automatic mode we then have 3 other setting modes, namely standard / hot / cold. So let's say that everyone will have the opportunity to find a favorite mode. Good colors reproduced, good enough deep blacks (always considering that we are talking about an ips lcd) not perfect whites which tend, in my opinion, slightly to yellowish (always using the Mi 5 as a term of comparison).
All in all a really enjoyable display to use.
Network (8.5)
As far as the radio part is concerned, we find a LTE category of 6 (up to 300mbps in download and 100mbps in upload) but does not support 20 (800 Mhz) bandwidth, so there will be problems for Wind users in 4G. Obviously there are also WCDMA / GSM, Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi a / b / g / n / ac (2.4 / 5Ghz) connections.
From comparisons made with my Mi 5 I noticed a greater reception in Wi-Fi, no problem detected with Bluetooth links with all of my "park" devices (car, headphones, speaker)
Very good the superior telephone signal, tested in areas where I 5 roaming with 5s often manages to keep the signal and in the call there are no disturbances even in case of very poor reception.
Audio Quality (8.5)
Perhaps this is the sector that struck me the least, in fact, despite the quality in call is always perfect, the volume of the earpiece and speaker are slightly lower than those of the Mi 5. This will not affect the use of speakerphone or mp3 listening, but surely you could do a little better. Perhaps with future updates the situation will improve.
Camera (8.8)
Here unfortunately it must be said that, to date, the first-rate hw installed on this Mi 5s does not perform for its actual potential. We are talking about a Sony IMX 378 sensor from 12 Mpx in 4/3 with focal aperture f / 2.0 and the size of 1 / 2.3 inches, the same used on compact cameras. The size of the Pixels has also been increased, now they are 1.55 microns that can capture more light than those of, for example, Iphone 6s (1.22). I step back from the Mi 5 as regards stabilization as there is no optical stabilization.
Theoretically this Mi 5s would have all the credentials to take excellent photos in all lighting conditions, unfortunately this is not the case. Sometimes the shots are blurry or too contrasted, as if the sw could not manage the sensor well. It must be said that it also takes great photos, but everything is too variable. The thing that struck me positively is the automatic HDR that manages to evaluate very well when to enable (which does not work for example on the Mi 5). The amount of light captured is also truly remarkable. So I'm sure we will soon have one of the best cameraphone around. There are many filters and different MIUI8-style shooting modes, so there is also the manual one that will allow us to change all the main shooting parameters: aperture time, focus, iso and white balance.
To give you an idea I took several pictures in different conditions with my Mi 5 and Mi 5s so I can evaluate the differences (first click Mi 5 second click Mi 5s)
The video quality is good despite the absence of the optical image stabilizer (present instead on the Mi 5) and the recording modes reach 4k at 30fps but are also selectable FullHD / HD / SD. We could capture time lapse (in 4k) and slow motion (HD) videos. Below 2 demos shot in slow motion to make you appreciate the difference between Mi 5 and Mi 5s.
Final considerations
Said that as every Xiaomi product, swing optimization always comes after 2 / 3 release firmware stable, today the Mi 5s is a good terminal, if compared to the sales price I would say great. Surely with better fingerprint and camera sensor management, this could become a best buy.
Hardware as always at the top and guaranteed development of the Xiaomi team will guarantee at least 2 years of use without any sort of trouble and constant updates.
![[Review] Xiaomi Mi 5s 3 / 64Gb and photo comparison with Mi 5](https://www.xiaomitoday.it/wp-content/uploads/thumbs_dir/cover-2-qme2s8650rvbguyfm18twbthm48d3r87ed18k5g1fg.jpg)
![[Review] Xiaomi Mi 5s 3 / 64Gb and photo comparison with Mi 5](https://www.xiaomitoday.it/wp-content/uploads/thumbs_dir/Xiaomi-3D-Printer-4-qme2s8650rvbguyfm18twbthm48d3r87ed18k5g1fg.jpg)
