Overview Xiaomi Mi 9 - the flagship 48-megapixel camera and a powerful processor

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Equipment
• Design
• Screen
• Sound
• Camera
• Performance
• Software
• unlocking
• autonomy
• results

Specifications

Equipment

In the gray matte box: smartphone, black silicone case, clip, adapter with USB Type-C on the mini-jack, USB cable - USB Type-C, adapter and documentation.

Design

Mi 9 is available in three colors: black, lavender and blue. There is also a version of the Explorer Edition with enhanced camera, the large size of RAM and ROM - it has a translucent cover with decorative elements. We got a classic black smartphone.

Mi 9 looks and feels in your hand as a serious and expensive device. He is very similar to the sensations recent model Xiaomi, having been in the hands of Layfhakera - Mi 8 Pro.

The cutout for the camera is a teardrop-shaped, it is strictly in the middle. Personally, I this moment seems completely uncritical: I feel comfortable and "bang" the iPhone, and with the "hole" Galaxy S10 +. But in terms of saving space and logical choice location for the cut version with a small peephole in the center seems to me the best.

Housing terribly Brand: stains on the fingers appear at first touch and more is not going away. If you have a fad about this, then you will bring Mi 9: greasy fingerprints collected even silicone case out of the box.

But the case is extremely pleasant. He does not attract any attention either visually or by touch - at some point the feeling that it generally is not.

On the left side is a slot for two nano-SIM and call button «Google Assistant". Top - infrared control system smart house. Right - coupled volume button and power button. The first is not very conveniently located: the finger and tries to get somewhere in the space between the buttons. Bottom hole arranged dynamics and input Type-C. No headphone jack.

Housing seemed too wide, and the side edges in contact with the palm - a little sharp. The second cover is easily corrected; first likely a matter of habit. The main shortcomings which I noticed refers to features of the firmware - between the bottom edge of the parapet and the keyboard there is no distance. Press the space bar to change the language of typing thumb uncomfortable.

At Mi 9 Unknown dust and moisture protection level - a strange decision for a leader. It seems they do not exist, and the smartphone is better protected from water splashing in the case.

Mi 9 is difficult to name some special in terms of design. It seems that it is at least a stylish, ergonomic, expensive, but still the flagship of the most common in the world. Convenience is, emotion - no.

Screen

At Mi 9 great screen - detailed, with good calibration of the box and a set of options for demanding users. With a maximum brightness of the image to read even in the sun, but its auto-sensing little hiccup - the corresponding slider and then rolled down somewhere.

And again about the cut: it is optimally located, and there are no additional sensors - only the front camera. Mi 9, despite the slightly thickened lower edge of the parapet, bezramochnika deserves the title - it is perceived in the same way as a slider Mi Mix 3, Which generally have no cut.

Mi 9 supports the playback of the video format HDR10 and Always On Display Mode, where even on the lock screen always shows the time and date. Judging by the results of a brief test of the smartphone, the battery consumption of this affects slightly.

Sound

In the dynamics of Mi 9 good stock volume - and this is the only advantage that it wanted to note. More cons: complete no headphones, and the sound lacks depth and though any bass. And the worst part is that there is only one speaker.

It is not clear why make great smartphones with filling the entire space of the screens and spoil the viewing experience of the video by the presence of the speaker on one side only.

Camera

The module consists of three chambers: a 48 megapixel main 12 megapixel optical doubling wide and with a resolution of 16 Mn.

In normal mode, the camera fully live up to expectations: making excellent staff with good lighting and a little worse - in low, giving the whole a perfectly acceptable result.

Optical zoom is in good light, at weak - main camera is activated, and the increase is achieved by conventional block truncation.

Wide chamber containing the space of the picture more objects, making good pictures even in low light. And yet it is suitable for macro photography.

To take pictures in low light conditions, a mode "Night" - according to the properties of the image file when you use the camera slightly rises ISO.

Here is a series of frames, which show how the different lenses and Mi 9 camera modes. We recommend to click on the pictures to see them better.

One of the killer features, the smartphone - camera with a resolution of 48 megapixels. It's a beautiful line in the specifications, but the reality is a bit more complicated. Firstly, shooting in high definition takes place in a special mode, which is activated by pressing a button in the menu. And it, in turn, falls by clicking on the "burger" in the upper right of the screen.

Secondly, treatment this photo takes some time. Third, in the normal mode, the camera also makes good shots - only 48-megapixel lens produces photos with a resolution of 12 megapixel and an additional 36 are in progress when so choose smart algorithms.

Here are some examples of pictures taken in a single high-resolution mode:

For portrait mode with natural light and good no complaints - algorithms sometimes stumble, but it is not difficult to make a good photo. But in low light - almost unreal.

The front camera with a resolution of 20 megapixel makes great pictures in all lighting conditions, most importantly, do not forget to turn off byutifikatsiyu that here, as elsewhere, everything only spoils.

Video shooting - up to 2 160p with 60 FPS. Super Slow - 080p to 1 to 960 FPS. Optical stabilization is absent.

In a regular camera application works AI - system of algorithms responsible for the detection of shooting scenarios and automatically adjusts the exposure according to the scene. It works invisibly - to the test time for the purity of the experiment, I decided to turn it off, the more good pictures It can be done without this feature.

The camera Mi 9 is really a lot of opportunities, and the regular application interface does not help to understand them. He seems to be very congested, and it is one of the main disadvantages of shooting on this smartphone: constantly have to think, is it possible to make the frame a little better, by pressing a couple of buttons.

Performance

In set 9 Mi seminanometrovy Snapdragon 855 with eight cores at up to 2.84 GHz. Also, our sample 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of ROM. Mi 9 produces record results in synthetic tests, bypassing the flagship of the Samsung and Apple, and actually cope with any tasks that you can think of. But this barely noticeable lag in the operation of the device everywhere. Possibly, this is a problem shell.

And here are the results of synthetic tests of our model. Geekbench:

AND AnTuTu:

Software

The smartphone runs on Android 9.0 with a proprietary management shell MIUI 10. This is an understandable system that operates logically and friendly user meets animation screen when you unlock.

There is no separate application folder - all icons are on the desktop. It's great if you have too many unnecessary applications, you will constantly remember them. But at the same MIUI 10 did not borrow from the iOS the same shape program icons, therefore the on-screen icons are mixed, circles and squares, icons.

Predefined services and advertisements are traditionally a lot, most of them annoying. In addition to Google applications and various software from Xiaomi system prompts you to install, for example, "My Talking Tom" to buy something on the "Julia" and read the news that Andrey Gubin left Russia. From all this we can get rid of, but the impression of devaysa "out of the box" will inevitably deteriorate.

When installing applications, the system offers them "clone". That is, at Mi 9 can be, for example, to use two accounts at the same time Telegram.

It is possible to customize gestures like on the iPhone, so that, for example, turn off applications and move on to the dispatcher swipe from the bottom up.

You can also assign different actions to combinations of buttons, swipe, long and double pressing. In the long term, this can greatly simplify and speed up the work with smartphone.

Innovation MIUI 10 - dark mode, in which the main color of the interface changes from white to black. We did not have time to test how its use affects battery consumption, but the plan he should slow down.

unlocking

Fingerprint sensor is built into the screen. It is located in such a way that the finger he falls to the desired point on the display. For design is the main way to unlock. Claims against him there.

For unlocking the face answers only the front camera without additional sensors - the system immediately warns that this method is not secure authorization. But in any case he is working correctly and quickly, so if you have nothing to hide, then unlock the face may well be the main type of authentication.

autonomy

The Mi 9 The battery capacity of 3300 mAh - this is enough for a day of active use smartphone and a half with moderate.

Supported fast charge with 20-watt adapter - battery dials from 0 to about 100% charge in one hour. From a fork included - a bit slower. Supports wireless Qi-charging.

results

Mi 9 - typical flagship XiaomiWithout causing almost no emotion. I would like to write it on my profdeformatsiya, especially since the majority of smartphone features really great. The price for the version with 6 GB of RAM and 64GB of ROM - 34 990 rubles, for the version with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of ROM - 37 990 rubles. Usually smartphones with comparable specifications are sold much more expensive.

At Mi 9 can make great pictures, it felt as infinite screen and smartphone processing power enough for anything. However, these advantages are overlapped drawbacks: congestion staffing software system lags lungs, lack of stereo sound. How important is every advantage or minus device, everyone decides himself.

Preorder Mi 9 in Russian is available from 5 to 11 April.

The author expresses his gratitude to the company Xiaomi for providing the test device.