Xiaomi Mi 6: Stepping Up the Game!
by mitch002 (follow me on Twitter @MI_mitch002 for my latest unboxing and tutorials)
by mitch002 (follow me on Twitter @MI_mitch002 for my latest unboxing and tutorials)
Before we go any further, let me recap some of the main problems that Mi 5 users has encountered since Im a resident Mi 5 Moderator for the past year and until now:
1. Battery Drain
2. Lost of Signal on 1 Sim or even both Sim (factory defect)
3. Lost of GPS
4. Camera Software not as good as other brands with the same Sony IMX278 Sensor (OnePlus 3)
5. Three Carrier Aggreggation integration not perfect (Philippines Globe Users suffered a lot)
6. Heating Issue
Now those are just some of the common user problems that I have heard in the Mi 5 subforum during my moderation, but hey Im happy with my Mi 5 Ceramic Edition ya know. I became an instant celebrity when I visited Mi Store Shanghai and spotted holding the Mi 5 Ceramic Edition. It was so rare that time and I was one of the first to have it on first release.
Now we hope Xiaomi has took away those problems like they took away the 3.5mm audiojack, we cant deny the fact that they are doing it the Apple way.
Xiaomi Mi 6 Specs
· Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 MSM8998 Octa-core processor (4x2.5 GHz Kyro & 4x1.9 GHz Kyro)
· Adreno 540
· 6GB of RAM
· 5.15-inch IPS display, 94.4% NTSC Color Gamut High Color Saturation, 600 Nit High Brightness
· 64GB / 128GB of storage
· 12-megapixel dual rear camera, F/1.8 lens / F/2.6 Telephoto Lens, OIS, Phase Detection AF, 4-Axis OIS
· 8-megapixel front camera with 1080p recording
· Dual SIM (nano sim size)
· 3G, LTE, VoLTE
· Dual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Front Mounted Fingerprint Scanner
· Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0
· 3350mAh battery
· Android Nougat 7.1, MIUI 8
· USB-C port
· Black, Silver, Blue, Ceramic Black
· Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 MSM8998 Octa-core processor (4x2.5 GHz Kyro & 4x1.9 GHz Kyro)
· Adreno 540
· 6GB of RAM
· 5.15-inch IPS display, 94.4% NTSC Color Gamut High Color Saturation, 600 Nit High Brightness
· 64GB / 128GB of storage
· 12-megapixel dual rear camera, F/1.8 lens / F/2.6 Telephoto Lens, OIS, Phase Detection AF, 4-Axis OIS
· 8-megapixel front camera with 1080p recording
· Dual SIM (nano sim size)
· 3G, LTE, VoLTE
· Dual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Front Mounted Fingerprint Scanner
· Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0
· 3350mAh battery
· Android Nougat 7.1, MIUI 8
· USB-C port
· Black, Silver, Blue, Ceramic Black
We can see here the USB C to 3.5mm audio jack connector in action, well the sound is still good, there is no compromise during the conversion of the music from the USB port, my only comment is that when you loose this in transit, its pretty hard to find one yet in the market, as well as its hard to charge while using the headset, maybe Xiaomi can come up with a USB C to 3.5 mm and USB C Hub to accomodate charging together with headset usage.
Hands down to the latest flagship SoC of Qualcomm, this processor simply is the beast. What more can I say? I made so much multitasking at the same time like opening youtube, facebook, antutu, playing music, adobe reader, wps office and a few more. I did not feel the lag on the phone, that is a pretty awesome feat for the processor and its to be expected from the latest SoC of Qualcomm of course. One vast improvement is that Mi 6 boots a hell lot faster compared to Mi 5, no doubts about that.
Now on the gaming side, I played my favorite game NBA2k17 and it simply blew me away with the graphics, it was so smooth and I simply enjoyed playing the game, no questions asked. As compared to my Mi 5, the rendering of the graphic was simply better here in Mi 6 as well as the display.
Connectivity
Wifi connectivity was simply excellent, I connected to both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz on my Mi Router HD and it was seamless. I was able to obtain 4G+ signal on my phone and speed was okay (this is network based, not phone based). VoLTE is still not available in my country so I cannot test it. I didnt seem to experience problem on the 4G+ 3CA feature, as this was one of the main problem of the Mi 5. Bluetooth, Mi Drop and Hotspot are all tested and working perfectly on this unit.
Network Support:
3xCA, and supports high-order modulation
All Netcom 4.0:
dual Nano-SIM card slot, any card slot can be set to support the main card mobile:All Netcom 4.0:
China Unicom, telecommunications 4G + / 4G / 3G / 2G
FDD-LTE (bands Bl, B3, B5, B7, B8)
the TD-the LTE (band B38, B39, B40, B41 of) FDD-LTE (bands Bl, B3, B5, B7, B8)
the TD-SCDMA (band B34, B39)
the WCDMA (bands B1, B2, B5, B8)
GSM (band B2, B3, B5, B8)
CDMA1X / EVDO (band BC0)
MIUI 8 on Android Nougat
Everthing else seems to be fine, well except the Nougat intergration on MIUI 8, yes its Nougat problem again. I have experienced several crashes and reboot on my phone and its a bit annoying. Hope this gets fixed on the next update.
Audio, Video
Well audio was pretty good as we were able to play some good music on my bluetooth sports headset as well as my pistons headset using the pistons in ear pro thru the USB C to 3.5mm audio jack adaptor. The loudspeaker seems to be clearer compared to Mi 5 and Mi MIX, it seems to stream music clearer than its predecessors, thats based on my own observations.
Display is the main difference in this unit. I have placed side by side by side my Mi 5, Mi 5s and Mi 6 and played the same video, as well as display the same wallpaper. The Mi 6 simply displayed it better, and redered it better, all are based on highest brightness setting on the phones.
Camera
Presenting the first Dual Camera on a flagship Xiaomi phone. Mi 6 deployed a Sony IMX386 Sensor together with a zoom lens using Samsung s5k3m3 sensor. Whats suprising was the Sony IMX268 being used in the front camera. The feature of the dual cam is the ability to take good portrait shot, or what we camera expert call "bokeh effect" shot, wherein the object is focused and the background is blurred out. normally this can only be done on a DSLR, now who needs a DSLR now? Another special feature is the optical 2x lossless zoom, wherein the photo will not blur out or pixelate when it zoomed within 2X of its range. This is sizing up to be a good camera phone in my opinion, now lets take a good look at the photos that I have taken with the Mi 6. Seat back and enjoy the show.
Camera Manual Modes:
- White Balance
- Focus
- Exposure Time: Max 1/4s (pretty disappointed in this one, Mi 5s has exposure time up to 32s)
- ISO up to 3200
- Lens: Wide or Tele
Photo Gallery
Good Lighting
Dim Light
Bokeh Shot
Lossless 2X Optical Zoom
Sample Video Outdoors
Mi 6 vs Mi 5 Camera Showdown
We can clearly see that the Mi 6 camera has improved a lot over the Mi 5, giving it more crisp and clarity on every shot. The color resolution is better and much more nearer to the real object, thus making the place looks more relaxing, making the food looks yummier. During dim shots, the Mi 6 performs better as well, making the surrounding clearer on its own.
You can download the original files, I have attached it for your reference.
Battery, Temperature, Benchmarks
This topic is one of the most sensitive and most talked about for a phone, taking a look at the 3350 mAh battery performance, it can withstand up to 11 hours of Screen-on-time! This is something that Im looking forward in a flagship phone, the one that can last me a day without hitting the charging port, this is based on standard usage, of course when you are 24/7 on mobile data, thats another different story.
Lets tackle the charging time, for the first time in history, Xiaomi shipped a flagship phone with a Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 compatible charger (just when Qualcomm just released the Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0). I have fully tested it and it can charge the phone up to 3.17 Ampere, I also tried the charger of the Mi Notebook Air which gave me an input of 3.23 Ampere, it took me 63 minutes to charge from 14% to 100%. The phone did heat up during charging due to the speed of charging and it went around 39 Celcius based on the warning of AnTuTu.
Antutu score was 163,629 Points. This was a far cry from the advertised 180,000 points during the launch of the Mi 6. Like what I always say, its just a benchmark, whats important is always the experience using the phone, the score is just for bragging rights of the company against its competitors. Nothing more in it.
Other Benchmarks:
Mi 6, Flagship Worthy!
After playing back and forth for a week using this device as my daily driver, Im pretty impressed with the capability this phone has to offer. I have been using Xiaomi phones for 3 years already and this is pretty much an upgrade from Mi 5. From bootup speed, to gaming performance, to multitasking, to camera performance, there is nothing more I can say. But I sitll love the form factor of the Mi 5 being an original Xiaomi design, the Mi 6 has gotten to much of an Apple design including the removal of the 3.5 mm audio jack. The metal finish gave it a more premium feel but the Mi 5 glass finish makes it lighter on the hands. One thing that needs improvement is the Nougat integration on MIUI 8 or MIUI 9, the phone has crashed several times during my usage, and its not good especially when you are using it in the middle and suddenly reboots.
Overall, its a good phone to have. Im just too used to my Mi MIX compact and big screen size, had a hard time coming back to use a 5.15 inch screen phone.
Mi 6 6GB + 64GB = 2499 RMB
Mi 6 6GB + 128 GB = 2899 RMB
Mi 6 6GB + 128GB Ceramic = 2999 RMB
Mi 6
Disclaimer: Please don't send me any PM regarding any type of Sales related inquiries. I'm a Xiaomi enthusiast but not a seller of Mi Products. I'm just a hardcore Xiaomi Fan, one notch higher than many of you here. Also I'm a Tech Blogger in the Philippines and all my review devices are either bought by myself from Xiaomi or borrowed from someone for a short period of time.
