Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus - Full Review
Today we propose our review of Mi 5s Plus, the successor (in XL format) of the lucky and excellent Xiaomi Mi 5 top range. We tested the 4Gb version of RAM memory and 64Gb ROM memory. We thank HonorBuy.it for making the phone available.
PACKAGING (7.3)
The packaging, as is customary, is quite skinny. We have the 5V-2.5A / 9V-2A / 12V-1.5A power supply with Chinese / American socket (it will need an adapter), the USB Type C USB cable, the paper clip to open the 2 sim (double nano) and a hard plastic cover that covers the sides of the phone and leaves the upper and lower areas.
CONSTRUCTION AND APPEARANCE (9.2)
The phone is flawlessly constructed with premium materials that immediately make this feel to the touch. We are talking about a smooth metal unibody body but brushed effect, enriched by slightly rounded back edges that end up elegantly beveled on the 2.5D curved XNUMXD glass. There are always the same material and color inserts near the top and bottom antennas.
In the lower front we have the 3 backlit touch keys, and in the upper one there is the RGB notification LED, the headset cap, the proximity / brightness sensor and the selfie camera.
At the top we find the audio jack from 3.5mm, the background noise suppression microphone and the IR sensor.
On the sx side there is the sim box, while on the dx there is the volume bar and just below the power-on / off / lock-release button.
Below you will find the microphone (sx grid), the speaker (dx grid), and the Type-C USB connector.
Behind we find the dual 13Mpx dual camera with dual Flash Led dual tone and the biometric sensor for fingerprint release.
The dimensions are of 15.46 x 7.77 x 0.80 cm for a weight of 168Gr. All in all very good as we are talking about a 5.7 ”Phablet. It should also be said that the ergonomics, despite the size, remain more than decent. Many 5.5 "turned out to be more" pan "and cumbersome. Forget of course the one-handed use (but if you want there is the option to reduce the screen to 3.5 "/ 4" /4.5 ").
PROCESSOR, OPERATING SYSTEM, AUTONOMY
Processor (9.7)
The CPU of the Mi 5s Plus is the very powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 quad core, with frequency from 2.35 Ghz, 64 or 128Gb of ROM memory (the very fast UFS 2.0) and 3 or 4Gb of LpDDR4 RAM memory (3Gb on the 64Gb of ROM and 4Gb model on the 128Gb model). The GPU is the Adreno 530. Present the NFC module. Excellent combined CPU / GPU work that guarantees us perfect results with the heaviest games, such as Real Racing 3. But above all, the management of consumption is excellent. Compared to the 820 a really nice step forward. Below are the average values obtained on Antutu and Geekbench.
Operating System (9.0)
The operating system is Android 6 Marshmallow customized by Xiaomi's proprietary UI, the famous MIUI, now in version 8. The model we tested mounts the Xiaomi.Eu 6.11.10 ROM. 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 Play Store and Google services or the Rom Global. Alternatively, after unlocking the bootloader, it will also be possible to install the Xiaomi.eu (always at the top as general performances).
In our case, I noticed some small but annoying bugs on everything that when the phone enters the pre-blocking screen (to say when the screen lowers the brightness, step that precedes the automatic shutdown of the screen), the Touch keys do not work anymore, even if they are still lit. This could, like the others, have been solved or even not present in the official Rom.
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 one will give us the possibility to create a sort of partition that can be used exactly like another phone, then another google 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.
The system browser is still among the best in the Android market. For those who use Chrome and its ecosystem might be a problem, but in my opinion the automatic resizing of the text you will find on the Xiaomi browser is a really unmatched feature. If you get used to it you can not help it.
Autonomy (9.8)
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 which in itself is already incredible.
In fact, the battery is 3800 mAh and will guarantee you truly exceptional performance. In my tests, carried out with H3G operator in LTE-WCDMA mode, it covered on average the 16 hours of standby with an average 7h of display on (mixed data / Wi-Fi). If we consider the size of the display I can say that it is the best autonomy I have ever found on a phablet. Good charging times which are about 120 minutes.
Display (9.1)
The display is an IPS LCD with 5.7 ”diagonal and FullHD resolution (1920 x 1080) 2.5D 386 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 "flat" glass we would find it difficult to use. I was really blown away by this 2.5D warp. The brightness is excellent (perhaps the best ever seen on an IPS) as is the visibility in the sun. Well the brightness sensor that calibrates reactively. The color temperature can be set in 3 modes: warm, cold and natural. While the contrast can be set to automatic, normal or emphasized. The options are not lacking, so everyone will be able to find a preferential setting to fully enjoy this large display. The whites are good and the depth of the blacks is also very good.
Network (8.3)
As far as the radio part is concerned, we find a LTE category of 12 (up to 600mbps 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 such a reception in Wi-Fi, no problem detected with Bluetooth links with all of my "park" devices (car, headphones, speaker).
Good telephone signal but slightly lower than Mi5, tested in limited areas where I could keep the signal, with the 5s plus roaming step. However, no disturbance problems are detected during the call, even if there is very little field.
Audio Quality (8.5)
In this sector it does not excel, in fact despite the quality in call is always perfect, the volume of the ear capsule and the speaker are slightly lower than those of the Mi 5 which I always keep as a good reference. This will not affect the use of hands-free or mp3 listening, but surely it could have been done a little better. Perhaps with future updates the situation will improve. I seem to be able to equate it to the younger brother, the Mi 5s.
Camera (8.1)
The present hardware is of a high standard. We are talking about a Sony 13 Mpx double sensor in 4 / 3 with f / 2.0 focal opening and a double ISP. The black and white sensor should capture up to 3 times more light than the color, exploiting Qualcomm's "clear sight" technology. In this way, the final shot should contain less digital noise, more detail and brightness. So in low light conditions, the picture should look much better. I did not find any difference, but by enabling the "stereo" feature that should enable this technology I noticed a small loss of detail. Maybe it should be better implemented via software.
As already seen on the Redmi Pro, the dual camera does not work in any way, even by setting the classic filters in the Miu8 camera. Often the preview shows the photo with the applied filter, but clicking we find it "flat". They are definitely bugs that will be eliminated by road ..
For the rest, the shots are more than good, but in my opinion inferior to those of my 5 / 5s. Unfortunately, Xiaomi has always highlighted a non-perfect software implementation of his photographic section. As for the options, we have the classic Xiaomi with the addition of the "raw" and "mono" mode (black and white).
The "B&W" mode is perhaps the one that Xiaomi has focused on, taking Huawei as a reference with its P9 / P9 Plus. In the demo gallery you will find many color and black and white shots so that you can make your evaluations on this shooting mode .
As for indoor photos with artificial light / low light, the step backwards compared to the 5s seems evident to me. We are certainly not talking about bad shots, but the definition and the presence of noise leaves something to be desired.
Videos can be recorded up to 4K resolution at 30 fps and at this very high definition even in “time lapse” and “slow motion” mode. I was pleasantly impressed with the video quality, a little less for the audio one. But I must say that I finally no longer found that ugly jerky effect of the autofocus that I instead found on the Mi 5 and Mi 5s.
Below are some shots and a demo video.
Gallery
Video demo:
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The Mi 5s plus is definitely a phablet suitable for those who have no problems with size. Its diagonal from 5.7 ”, although well optimized, really remains to be taken into consideration before purchasing. From the qualitative point of view there are few flaws and many pluses. And if we combine this with a price of around 400 euros then the doubts could be swept away.
The Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus, as well as all Xiaomi models, are available on HonorBuy.it which offers excellent service: 2 years of warranty, repair and shipping from Italy without customs charges. Use our discount code XT5OFF to save money.
It is 4 and 6 gb not 3 or 4 gb.