Review of Xiaomi Mi3: smartphone-compromise. Xiaomi Mi3 smartphone review. The new flagship of the Chinese manufacturer xiaomi mi3 mobile phone

In the mobile device market, the Chinese company Xiaomi is not a newcomer today and is known all over the world for its high-quality reliable products, especially for the budget line of smartphones. But 5 years ago, when it was only strengthening its positions, it was impossible to make mistakes. It was at that time that the new Xiaomi Mi 3 smartphone was introduced, featuring a metal case, a large screen and good performance.

Equipment

Xiaomi made the first packaging for its products from recycled materials, demonstrating to consumers the strength of a cardboard box that can support the weight of several people. This suggests that the mobile device in such a container can withstand transportation perfectly. This smartphone model is packed in a standard unpainted branded box, on the cover of which there is a company logo in the upper right corner.

In addition to the phone, it contains a user manual, a warranty card, a device for recharging the device (without an adapter), a USB cable and a paper clip that helps to remove the SIM card from the slot.

Design

The Xiaomi Mi 3 smartphone (as network users call the products of this brand) weighs only 143 grams with dimensions: 144x74x8.1 mm. For the manufacture of the main body, the manufacturer used plastic, painted in silver. The appearance of the phone is stylish, made in a classic version. The front panel is covered with tempered glass Gorilla Glass, which reliably protects the device from scratches. According to the tests carried out for a month of using the device, not a single scratch was found on the glass, which pleasantly surprises and pleases smartphone owners. The glass is framed by a black plastic insert, on which the company logo in silver color is applied in the left right corner. Proximity and light sensors are located a little to the right of it, in the center there is a small slot for a speaker, followed by a front camera and a multi-color LED.

Under the screen, as in all models of Xiaomi smartphones, there are touch control buttons with automatically turned on backlight.

The metal keys for locking the phone and volume control are installed on the side edge of the case.

In an unusual place for Xiaomi devices, there is a SIM card slot. In this model, it is located on the upper end of the case. On the sides of it is an additional microphone and headphone jack.

At the bottom, you can see a grill, under which there is a place for the main microphone and an external speaker. In the left corner there is a connector for a USB cable.

The main camera unit and dual LED flash are located on the back of the phone - in the upper left corner.

Smartphone Xiaomi Mi 3 makes a good impression. Despite the fact that the case is made of plastic, the material is of high quality, the assembly is done on a level, there are no creaks or wobbles.

Xiaomi Mi3 phone display

The phone of this model has a 5-inch Full HD screen (resolution 1920x1080 pixels). Thanks to this, the picture on the screen has high accuracy and excellent detail. The display can simultaneously support 10 touches. It has a special function that simplifies the work of the user wearing gloves. The screen matrix is ​​made using IPS technology, which indicates good viewing angles of the device even with large deviations from the vertical and horizontal.

The glass has a mirror-gloss surface and is equipped with an anti-reflective filter, which is quite effective. There is no air gap between the screen and the surface of the liquid crystal matrix. Therefore, doubling of the reflected objects is practically not observed. The glass is coated with an oleophobic coating that repels grease, dirt and dust. Display brightness can be adjusted both automatically and manually.

Performance

The Xiaomi Mi 3 smartphone has a Snapdragon 800 chipset running on 4 cores with a frequency of up to 2.3 GHz. Paired with it is the Adreno 330 GPU. The device operates in three modes:

• balanced;
• energy saving;
• productive.

With everyday tasks, the Xiaomi Mi3 phone copes well, even pulling games without any problems. On the reverse side, for half an hour of games, it heats up quite a lot. In this case, interrupting the game is difficult, not to mention leaning the device to your ear for conversations.

Specifications Xiaomi Mi3

Xiaomi Mi3 software review. The smartphone is controlled by the Android 4.2 operating system with a proprietary shell MIUI version 5.0. The phone supports cellular communication 2 and 3 G, there are no comments on Internet access and voice communication. RAM is 2 GB, internal - 16 GB. The navigation box supports GLANASS and GPS. The accuracy and speed with which the smartphone determines the coordinates at a high level. The built-in FM radio also perfectly receives signals of strong stations without headphones, the phone has an automatic search for them and a storage list. Built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules work correctly, flawlessly, allowing the phone owner to transfer the necessary files .

Camera

The quality of the photos taken using the main 13 megapixel camera, which is equipped with the Xiaomi Mi 3 smartphone, cannot be called outstanding. When shooting from one point, one frame out of four will definitely be blurry, but good pictures are also obtained. There are more than enough settings in the device. Using the front 5-megapixel camera for selfies will not please the owner of a mobile device. But for video calls, it is quite suitable.

Battery and Charging

The smartphone is equipped with a 3050 mAh non-removable battery. Without additional charging, the phone can work all day. At the same time, Wi-Fi is turned on, 1-2 hours are spent on reading, from 3 to 5 hours - on listening to music, 40-60 minutes are allotted for calls. These are good indicators of autonomy. But if you load the device with strong toys and watching videos, it will last about 4-5 hours.

Xiaomi Mi3 prices

Results

The Xiaomi Mi 3 smartphone is suitable for people who do not load the device much. It is enough for them to use it as a phone, browsing the Internet, communicating with loved ones.

pros

We can highlight the following advantages of the device:

• good performance;
• big screen;
• decent autonomy;
• high build quality;
• good sound.

Minuses

• a large percentage of body heating;
• non-removable battery;
• no support for UMTS networks.

Characteristics

Appearance

CPU

GPU

Battery

rear camera

Number of camera megapixels (MP)	13
Photo resolution (Pixel)	1920x1080
Format	Yes
photo flash	441ppi
flash type	Dual LED
Photo settings	Yes
Autofocus	Yes
Face detector	Yes
Viewfinder	Yes
exposition	Yes
Face detection	Yes
preview	Yes
Video filming	Yes
Movie Recording Resolution (Pixel)	1920x1080
Video shooting speed (Frame per second)	30 fps
Movie settings	ISO setting, White balance, Color effects, Exposure, Scene selection mode
Electronic stabilization	Yes
white balance	Yes
slowdown
Video quality

Front-camera

SIM card, communication, calls

SIM cards	1
Multi-SIM mode	alternating
SIM card type	Micro-SIM (3FF, 15 x 12 x 0.76 mm)
MP3 ringtones	Yes
Polyphonic Ringtones	Yes
vibration mode	Yes
Speakerphone	Yes
conference call	Yes
speed dial	Yes
video calls	Yes
Muting the microphone during a call	Yes
Extended phone book	Yes
Contacts in the phone book	Unlimited
Data exchange between SIM card and internal memory	Yes
Cellular Generation	3.5G
GSM support	Yes
GSM frequencies (MHz)	Yes
UMTS support	Yes
UMTS frequencies	UMTS 850 MHz, UMTS 900 MHz, UMTS 1900 MHz, UMTS 2100 MHz

Built-in WiFi	Yes

Navigation and positioning

Connectors and interfaces

Installed video player	Yes
Supported video formats	MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14, .mp4, .m4a, .m4p, .m4b, .m4r, .m4v) MPEG-4 (MPEG-4 Part 14, .mp4, .m4a, .m4p, .m4b, .m4r, .m4v) MKV (Matroska Multimedia Container, .mkv .mk3d . mka .mks) AVI (Audio Video Interleaved, .avi) 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project, .3gp) 3GPP (.3gp) Xvid H.263 H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10) WMV (Windows Media Video, .wmv)
Video resolution formats	Full HD (1920 x 1080) HD (1280 x 720)
streaming video	Yes
geo tags	Yes

Controls

Documents and office

Connect and sync

Receiving and sending short messages

Additional functions

Equipment

Video

An interesting situation has developed in the Chinese mobile phone market. For a long time, only ultra-cheap, almost falling apart models were associated with China. But just a few years ago, in the Celestial Empire, as if out of nowhere, several startups with powerful smartphones appeared in every sense.

Xiaomi, Meizu and Oppo have managed to create a reputation for beautiful, functional and, most importantly, reliable devices without caring too much about marketing. Getting a top-level smartphone cheaper than world brands is an attractive offer for any user.

It is not surprising that information about the fantastically high demand for the models of the above-mentioned “three tigers” of the Asian segment of “smart phones” appears on the network every now and then. Many believe that virtually obscure companies have managed to wipe the nose of venerable vendors like Samsung or Sony.

Package

This time we decided to talk separately about the packaging, it is very remarkable. Xiaomi has definitely decided not to spend a single extra cent on anything that is not directly related to the smartphone. The MI3 box is made of cardboard so thick it looks like wood.

The set is an example of conciseness. Something similar in form and content can be seen in Amazon products. In addition to the smartphone, the box contains only a USB cable and a paperclip for the SIM card tray. No headphones, no charger, much less other "useless things".

Appearance

You can talk long and tedious about the software merits of a smartphone, but if its plastic essence does not change over the years, and the design remains round-blurred, no “eye control” will make the heart of a potential buyer tremble. MI3 models are lucky. This machine has charisma. The wonderful appearance of the phone seems to demonstrate to the user - here I am in all its glory, the best, ideal smartphone.

Of course, it all comes down to individual tastes and preferences, but we think that everyone will like MI3. And it seems that there is nothing in it that we have not seen before (there is something in the Chinese smartphone from different Nokia Lumia models, you can draw parallels with Panasonic Eluga and the flagship representatives of Sony Xperia). However, we are by no means talking about plagiarism - MI3 is an absolutely independent product with a carefully thought-out, stylistically verified design that has its own "face".

From an aesthetic point of view, the model could be called the cutest of the presented smartphones, if not for the unfortunate "deception". Xiaomi tried very hard to make the MI3 cover look like metal, but in fact it is made of plastic. Until you take the device in your hand, you will never guess that the back panel is not made of aluminum. This, at least, applies to the gray sample that we tested.

The quality of the plastic seemed to be high. Xiaomi claims that the body of the smartphone is made of polycarbonate, like the flagship models of Nokia and Samsung. Some of the people we gave the MI3 to hold, on the other hand, pointed to the "cheap plastic" and suspected the silver finish would peel off quickly. Here is another example of different flavors for you.

Both buttons - volume and power - metal. They are located on the right side of the device. It is a pleasure to use the keys, tactilely they are easily distinguishable on the rounded edge, the moment of pressing is felt clearly.

Xiaomi Mi3 and Nexus 5

Three touch control buttons are located under the display. Above the screen are a loudspeaker, a front camera, light and distance sensors, a multi-colored LED indicator, and the company logo. In the off state, the display is not completely black, as, for example, in the same iPhone 5 or Nexus 5, but with a slight lilac tint. This slightly spoils the appearance of the device, since the matrix does not merge with the edging.

Unlike the rounded right and left sidewalls, the bottom and top edges are flat. At the bottom is a wide external speaker, to the left of it is a microUSB port. On top, in addition to the standard audio jack, there is a SIM card tray. Interestingly, in the era of micro- and nanoSIM, MI3 developers preferred the outdated standard of the usual SIM card.

The body of the smartphone is monolithic, so the battery cannot be replaced. There is no slot for a memory card, so it is also impossible to expand the available volume.

The panel with a matrix and a protective display slightly protrudes above the body, so you need to be careful when placing the phone face down - despite the Gorilla Glass, there is a chance of scratching the screen.

The smartphone turned out to be larger than the “classmates”. It is 5 mm longer than the Meizu MX3 and almost a centimeter longer than the Samsung Galaxy S4. Both competitors are narrower than the hero of today's review by almost 2 and 4 mm, respectively. But in terms of thickness, MI3 is only slightly inferior to the Korean device - 8.1 versus 7.9 mm. All three devices weigh about the same, about 140 g.

Display

After getting acquainted with the top Chinese smartphones, there was a feeling that the highest quality matrices are obtained by these models, created by companies that were recently unknown to anyone.

The MI3 has a 5-inch IPS-matrix with a resolution of 1080 × 1920 pixels (441 ppi). The display quality is excellent and resembles the screen of the recently tested Meizu MX3.

In the settings, you can choose one of three color temperature options and bright or standard saturation. The range of settings is not God knows how wide, but allows you to adjust the image to your preferences.

Separately, it is worth noting a very responsive touch layer - the screen instantly responds to the slightest, almost airy touches. In addition, you can activate the "Gloves" mode, which works no worse than in the top representatives of the Nokia Lumia line.

The display and design of MI3 are the two main advantages of the smartphone from Xiaomi. It is gratifying that Chinese developers have paid attention to those things that many manufacturers forget about or on which they are trying to save money.

Sound

We rarely pay special attention to the audio capabilities of smartphones. Most often, the sound they give out through headphones can be called “sterile”, and there is no need to talk about external speakers at all - everyone is already used to loud, but creaky and rattling tweeters. Only occasionally there are exceptions in the form of HTC One.

Judging by the settings menu, Xiaomi has seriously worked on the musical component of MI3. In addition to the equalizer, it has a function to improve the sound quality of MiSound. We have already seen something similar in some smartphones, including from the Taiwanese HTC.

After activating MiSound, the generally nondescript sound in the headphones acquires richness and depth. There are also settings for headphones, with three out of four related to the Xiaomi headset, none of which we unfortunately had. You can still activate profiles, but the quality of playing tracks is clearly deteriorating. By the way, the control buttons in the headset from the iPhone do not work in MI3.

The smartphone can be used as a music player - you just need to buy not the cheapest headphones, activate MiSound, turn on the “Normal” profile and, if you wish, “conjure” with the equalizer.

Camera

Both in terms of megapixels and in terms of photo quality, the MI3 model outperforms its competitor in the face of Meizu MX3. At the same time, the pictures taken by the 13-megapixel camera cannot be called flawless. During the day, the shots are excellent, in the rooms there are sometimes problems with color reproduction - the colors shift to the blue spectrum.

In low light, some shots look like they are hazy. This is probably how noise canceling works. Strong granularity, by the way, is really not observed.

The device received a very good photomodule, the capabilities of which are sufficient for a mobile device. Nevertheless, there are smartphones on the market that can take better pictures - take, for example, Nokia Lumia 1520 or Samsung Galaxy S4.

Functionality

Those users of Android smartphones who like to try third-party launchers know that Xiaomi's MIUI actually makes a completely different device from the familiar Google device. The fact that MI3 is running Android 4.3 does not mean much - anyway, Xiaomi will change the OS in the new firmware beyond recognition.

Note that Chinese developers release weekly updates to their launcher, “pulling themselves up” to the current versions of the OS and adding functionality. When the smartphone first appeared with us, it was based on Android 4.2. At the first connection to the network, the device offered to install MIUI with Android 4.3, and at the end of testing, another assembly appeared with minor improvements.

The organizational logic of MIUI is reminiscent of iOS. There is also no separate menu with applications - all shortcuts and folders appear immediately on the desktop. However, unlike the "apple" platform, the brainchild of Xiaomi boasts huge opportunities for customization. Here you have a lot of pre-installed wallpapers, and the ability to download them in a special catalog, and different themes, and a dozen transition effects, as well as the widest possibilities for setting notifications and key actions (for example, you can take photos with the "Back" button on the lock screen).

The bottom panel of the UI can contain up to five application shortcuts and even folders. Initially, the user has three desktops available, and the leftmost one is reserved for the search bar - just like in iOS 6. In this case, however, program icons can be placed in the “search” window. In total, you can create as many desktops as you like - we stopped counting already in our forties.

The lock screen allows you to perform one of four actions: unlock your smartphone, open the dialer, messages, phone book, or launch the camera. It all depends on which way to pull the round slider. If a music player is playing in the background, buttons appear around the ring to control it.

The MIUI notification panel consists of two tabs. The first one displays information about recent actions and traffic, the second - the so-called "switches", that is, quick settings (turn on / off the Airplane mode, lock / unlock auto-rotate, adjust backlight levels, etc.).

Already back in 2013, Xiaomi was only trying to gain a foothold in the smartphone market, and therefore had no right to make a mistake. Therefore, Xiaomi Mi 3 was introduced - a phone with an aluminum-magnesium body and a 5-inch Full HD screen covered with Gorilla Glass 3.

Equipment

A few years ago, Xiaomi produced all its products in packaging made from recycled materials. There was even a demonstration of how strong a cardboard box turned out to be, supporting the weight of several people. However, inside everything is modest - in addition to the smartphone, we get a charger, a microUSB cable, some paper instructions and a paper clip to remove the SIM card tray.

Design

Before Xiaomi Mi3, all other smartphones can be safely called nondescript, as Xiaomi tried to produce the most inexpensive models. A side effect was that few people could notice them in the market. Finally, the situation has changed and Mi-3 has shown what a state employee can be.

Now the smartphone has received not only interesting characteristics, but also a fairly recognizable design, as well as better case materials.

Basically, here we see polycarbonate, which is still used in large quantities by most manufacturers. The advantage of this material is that the case does not collect fingerprints, and scratches will be almost invisible. The material is durable, but it is better not to hold the smartphone with wet hands - it can slip out.

Xiaomi designers decided not to reinvent the wheel and Xiaomi Mi 3 received a neat body without unnecessary details. Outwardly, it quite strongly resembles Lumia phones or even Nokia devices.

Although the device turned out to be reliable and simple, its dimensions are far from compact. With a 5-inch screen, the phone has become one of the largest. It has almost the same dimensions as the Galaxy S5, but unlike our device, the Samsung smartphone has smooth lines and curved corners, and the shape of the Mi3 body visually makes it larger.

Above the display are the front camera, earpiece mesh, proximity and light sensors, and a diode for notifications.

Under the 5-inch screen is a row of touch buttons - Back, Home and Menu. A long press on any of them opens the manager of recently launched applications. In the settings, you can change the "long press" options a bit.

The keys have adjustable backlighting.

On the right side are the power button and volume rocker. You can easily find them to the touch, they are pressed easily.

On the top side, there is a tray for a SIM card, a 3.5 AUX headset jack and a perforated microphone grille.

A microUSB connector and the main speaker, which is hidden under the perforation, were installed at the bottom of the case.

Display

Screen Xiaomi Mi3 received a 5-inch IPS matrix with Full HD resolution. The pixel density is 441ppi. Depending on the assembly factory, Mi3 may have a display from Sharp or LG. You can still argue about protective glass - it's either Gorilla Glass 3 or Dragontail. The main thing is that the glass performs its function and reliably protects the display. The sensor is of high quality, responds to touch even when wearing gloves, recognizes up to 10 touches at the same time.

The image on the screen is displayed qualitatively. Viewing angles are close to ideal for an IPS matrix. The detail is high, the fonts are smooth. In the settings, you can set one of several options for color temperature and saturation.

In bright sunlight, the picture remains readable and bright. Automatic screen brightness adjustment does not always work perfectly, so it is better to set a comfortable level manually.

Performance

At the time of release, Xiaomi Mi3 received one of the fastest processors - Snapdragon 800, which has already appeared in other top smartphones more than once. Therefore, even LG G2 has become a competitor for Xiaomi Mi-3. As for the performance of our smartphone, we are interested to see the results of work in different modes. So in the Mi3 settings there is a choice of work - productive, balanced or energy efficient.

In the maximum mode, the processor starts to operate at a frequency of up to 2.3 GHz, at the minimum, to save charge, the frequency is cut to 1 GHz. If the system is in standby mode, then the minimum frequency will be around 0.3 GHz.

Xiaomi Mi3 results in benchmarks:

• AnTuTu v4.x - 34317;
• GeekBench v3 - 966/2976;
• Mobile XPRT 2013 - 238/70.

As a result, we see that according to the test results, Mi3 outperforms competitors and perfectly reveals its potential in real conditions. In graphics tests, the smartphone is also not bad, but it is far from the flagships. The main thing is that the power of the platform is enough for most modern tasks.

Note that under heavy load, the smartphone will get very hot, and not only the back panel. Because of this, you will have to turn on the balanced mode of operation as often as possible.

Specifications Xiaomi Mi3

Manufacturer	Xiaomi
Model	Xiaomi Mi 3
Announcement date	2013, September
Network support	GSM/HSPA
- 2G	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
- 3G	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
Bluetooth	v4.0, A2DP
WiFi	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Dimensions	144 x 73.6 x 8.1 mm (5.67 x 2.90 x 0.32 inches)
Weight	145 g (5.11 oz)
Accumulator battery	Fixed, Li-Ion 3050 mAh
Display	(~65.0% of smartphone surface)
- permission	1080 x 1920 pixels (~441 ppi)
CPU	Qualcomm MSM8274AB Snapdragon 800
- CPU frequency	Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400
- graphic arts	Adreno 330
Memory	16/64 GB, 2 GB RAM
USB	microUSB v2.0, USB Host
Camera	Photo / Video
- main	13 MP, f/2.2, 28mm, autofocus, dual LED flash
- frontal	2 MP, f/2.2, [email protected]
operating system	Android OS, v4.3 (Jelly Bean), upgraded to v4.4.2 (KitKat), planned upgrade to v6.0 (Marshmallow)

Camera

Xiaomi Mi3 received a main 13-megapixel CMOS camera with f / 2.2 aperture and dual LED flash. You can set the desired level of brightness, resolution, ISO value, image clarity, shutter speed in the settings. All this is configured in a couple of taps. Also in manual mode, you can choose one of three focus options, white balance and effects.

As for the quality of shooting, the daytime photos are of high quality. Macro photos are also pleasing. But under bad conditions, the camera produces poor results.

The sharpness of the photos is good, you can also photograph the text. Noise reduction works well, shadows do not have artifacts and noise. Detailing begins to suffer only in low light. You can safely use the HDR shooting mode, in which the Xiaomi Mi3 camera reveals its qualities - the sharpness is excellent, the color reproduction and saturation are good.

The front camera has a resolution of 2 megapixels and it will fit only for simple selfies.

Xiaomi Mi3 shoots video at resolutions up to 1080p, there is software image stabilization. Video is recorded in mp4 format, aac codec, sound - aac lc, 96 Kbps, stereo.

operating system

As usual, MIUI firmware is installed on Xiaomi smartphones. This is one of the best alternatives for stock Android. Unfortunately, the standard version of the firmware on Mi3 does not support the Russian language. You will have to manually do Russification or even install a custom assembly. For the lazy, there is an option to install a third-party keyboard with a Russian layout.

MIUI does not come preinstalled with Google services. Everything is solved with the help of GoogleInstaller.

The MIUI shell is as simple and convenient as possible, we get unlimited interface customization options, a lot of useful features that are not available in stock Android.

In Xiaomi Mi3, the firmware is based on the MIUI shell, with corrected children's sores that were on previous smartphone models.

Battery

Despite the plastic case, the back cover of Xiaomi Mi3 is non-removable, which makes it difficult to access the battery. Its capacity is 3050 mAh, from standard charge to 100% charged in 2.5 hours.

Xiaomi Mi3 test results for battery life in different scenarios:

• 3G talk time - 25 hours;
• mobile Internet 3G - 21 hours;
• screen off and continuous music playback - 50 hours;
• standby mode - 500 hours;
• reading mode, balanced mode - 12 hours;
• reading mode, battery saving mode - 10 hours 50 minutes;
• video playback mode, balanced mode - 9 hours;
• video playback mode, battery saving - 9.5 hours;
• Epic game mode, balanced mode - 4.5 hours;
• game mode in Epic, battery saver - 5.5 hours.

As you can see, usually in energy-efficient mode, we get about an additional hour of work.

Video - Review of Xiaomi Mi3

Results

pros

• high performance;
• good battery life;
• high-quality screen;
• The camera shoots well in good lighting;
• quality assembly.

minuses

• slippery plastic case;
• far from the most compact;
• non-removable battery;
• heats up under load.

This smartphone is ideal for those who are looking for a phone for every day. It holds a charge well, performance is enough for any task. The only serious disadvantage is that Xiaomi Mi3 initially received not the most stable firmware, on which applications “flyed”. The only option is to immediately upgrade to the final version of MIUI or install a stable custom firmware.

The smartphone can compete with top-end smartphones in some comparisons. For quite little money, we get a quality phone with a 5-inch Full HD screen and one of the fast Snapdragon 800 processors. You can close your eyes to the design, since Xiaomi has redesigned in the direction of originality only in the following models.

In China, the Xiaomi brand is associated with high-quality technology, and all over the world it is known as a manufacturer capable of selling a couple of hundred thousand smartphones in a few minutes. At one time, models, Xiaomi Mi2a and Xiaomi Red Rice have already visited our editorial office. This time we will look at a new product based on the Nvidia Tegra 4 system-on-a-chip - Xiaomi Mi3. The smartphone received a 5-inch Full HD screen, a 3050 mAh battery and learned how to shoot in RAW format.

From the lock screen, you can go to messages, calls, camera, desktop or notifications panel. The desktop contains shortcuts to installed applications and widgets. There is no separate list. To view the latest running applications, you need to hold the home key, you can immediately lock applications so that they are not unloaded when clearing memory, or delete all current ones. To go to the menu with widgets, pinch gesture. Folders are created by dragging labels onto each other or from the widget row.

The notification panel allows you to customize the location of the elements, its appearance, and the ability to call from the lock screen. The settings menu consists of two tabs, one contains abbreviated settings, the second contains full ones.

Hardware platform

Xiaomi Mi3 is the first smartphone based on the Nvidia Tegra 4 chip that got to our editors. The system-on-a-chip includes four 1.8GHz Cortex-A15 cores, a companion core for light tasks, a 72-core graphics accelerator, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB or 64GB of permanent storage. You can expand the memory with Flash drives connected via a USB OTG adapter.

The performance of the new generation of Nvidia chips in some applications reaches a threefold increase compared to Nvidia Tegra 3. As benchmarks show, there are no impossible tasks for Tegra 4, although the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 falls slightly short of the level.

The video player pleases with support for all popular video and audio codecs. If the sound volume is not enough, it can be increased by clicking on the penultimate item with hieroglyphs. Even lower is a similar line with the familiar 3D designation - a controversial functionality, it is unlikely that anyone will want to watch 3D video from a five-inch screen, although when connecting a smartphone to a TV, it is not superfluous. The sound quality and volume when using headphones are at their best, there is nothing to complain about. This statement is also true for the music player. It is also endowed with good functionality, however, not all of its functions are easy to find. For example, to find an equalizer, you need to delve into the jungle of settings, and to get there, you need to click on a small icon, the appearance of which does not fit in with the sound settings.

Video file playback

Codec\Name	FinalDestination.mp4	Neudergimie.mkv	GranTurismo.mp4	Spartacus.mkv	ParallelUniverse.avi
Video	MPEG4 Video (H264) 1920×798 29.99fps	MPEG4 Video (H264) 1920×816 23.98fps	MPEG4 Video (H264) 1920×1080 60fps, 19.7Mbit/s	MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280×720 29.97fps	MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280×536 24.00fps 2726kbps
Audio	AAC 48000Hz stereo 96kbps	MPEG Audio Layer 3 44100Hz stereo	AAC 48000Hz stereo 48kbps	Dolby AC3 44100Hz stereo	MPEG Audio Layer 3 44100Hz stereo 256kbps

The speaker volume is above average. In a noisy environment, it will be back to back. There is the possibility of recording a conversation, with or without a warning sound. The volume of the multimedia speaker is below average, it does not differ in quality either.

Searching for satellites with A-GPS enabled takes 10 seconds, which cannot be said about searching exclusively through GPS. The smartphone tries to determine the coordinates for minutes. There are no complaints about the speed of data exchange in the Wi-Fi network, the reception quality is also not satisfactory.

Autonomy and increased heating of Tegra smartphones have always been their weak point. With the transition to a more advanced manufacturing process and a 50% more capacious battery, one would expect these indicators to improve. In fact, there is no difference in autonomy between predecessor smartphones. In economy mode, when the processor frequency is reduced to 1020 MHz, and the number of working cores is reduced to two, the smartphone scored 589 points in Antutu Tester, having worked for three and a half hours - quite good, but in Balance mode, it is impossible to achieve such results. In everyday use, the difference between the "Economy" and "Balance" modes is half a day, where in the first case the smartphone lives for a day and a half, and in the second for a day.

Operating time indicators
Mode\Model	Xiaomi Mi3	Xiaomi Mi3 (Economy)	LG Nexus 5 (ART)	LG G2
Music	3%	1%	6%	4%
Reading	13%	13%	17%	11%
Navigation	24%	22%	23%	18%
Watching HD video	18%	17%	30%	15%
Watch HD video from Youtube	31%	30%	37%	27%
Antutu Tester (points)	—	589	386	419

In reading mode, all wireless communications are disabled, including data transmission in the mobile network, and the display brightness is set to 50%. When listening to music, automatic data synchronization and data transfer worked. Headphone volume at 12 out of 15 possible levels. All music files in MP3 format, bitrate 320 Kbps. Navigation includes route planning in the Google Navigation app. The brightness is set to 50%, all communication communication modules are disabled. When playing a video, data transmission is active in the mobile network, the display brightness is set to 50%, the sound volume in the headphones is at level 12 out of a possible 15. Video file format MKV, resolution 1024x432 pixels, frame rate 24. Playing videos from Youtube was accompanied not only by working on a Wi-Fi network, but also by active data transfer. The display brightness is set to 50%, the headphone volume is set to 12 out of 15 possible levels.

Display

The smartphone is equipped with a 5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a density of 441 PPI. The screen has wide viewing angles and the ability to adjust the image, ranging from the level of saturation and ending with the degree of color temperature. Using a colorimeter, we found that the optimal color temperature value is achieved when using the Standard, Natural, and Standard, Vivid modes. Brightness indicators range from 6 to 356 cd / m². The first value allows you to comfortably work with a smartphone in complete darkness, but the maximum brightness cannot be called high, although at this time of the year it is quite enough.

As for the factory calibration of the screen, everything is more or less good here. The color gamut is close to the sRGB value and practically does not depend on the selected settings. The same can be said about the gamma curve. In almost all cases, dark midtones are displayed darker, and light ones are brighter, although it is impossible to speak of this as a disadvantage, since in most cases the amplitude does not go beyond the permissible limits.

Modes "Standard", "Natural"

Modes "Standard", "Cold"

Modes "Bright", "Natural"

Modes "Bright", "Warm"

Modes "Bright", "Cold"

cameras

Xiaomi Mi3 is the first Android smartphone capable of shooting in RAW format. Ten-megapixel images (this resolution is used with a 16:9 aspect ratio) are 25.9 MB in size. In the settings, you can specify manual values ​​for ISO, shutter speed, white balance, focus mode. In addition, the camera can recognize QR codes.
The video capabilities of the main and front cameras are similar. The main disadvantage is focusing errors.

In general, the camera allows you to take good photos (especially when using manual settings) and record good video, though it is far from the level of the best Mi3 camera phones. Perhaps the developers will be able to improve the quality, which will make Xiaomi Mi3 not just a geeky smartphone, but also an excellent camera phone.

Sample photos taken by smartphone Xiaomi Mi3

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An example of a Full HD video taken with a Xiaomi Mi3 smartphone

Xiaomi Mi3 smartphone video review

Results

The cost of a smartphone for Ukraine, regardless of the color of the body, is 4500 UAH. For this money, the user gets one of the most sophisticated smartphones with an excellent 5-inch Full HD display, cameras with new features, performance at the level of the best solutions from other developers, a high-quality case with a metal frame, excellent sound in headphones, rich multimedia capabilities and one of the best shells for Android.

Liked
+ Build Quality
+ Headphone sound
+ Camera features
+ MIUI 5.0 shell
+ Performance
+ Autonomy
+ Screen

Type Smartphone Standard GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, TD-SCDMA High speed data transfer GPRS, TD-SCDMA SIM card type Micro SIM Number of supported SIM cards 1 operating system Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) + MIUI 5.0 Type of shell monoblock Keyboard type screen input Dimensions, mm 144×73.6×8.1 Weight, g 145 Protection against dust and moisture — Accumulator battery Li-Ion, 3050 mAh Operating time (manufacturer's data) no data Diagonal, inches 5 Permission 1920×1080 Matrix type IPS PPI 441 Brightness sensor + Touch screen (type) touch (capacitive) Other super sensitive touch screen CPU NVIDIA Tegra 4 + GPU GeForce ULP (72 core) Kernel type Cortex-A15 Number of Cores 4 Frequency, GHz 1,8 RAM, MB 2048 Built-in memory, GB 16/64 Expansion slot — Main camera, MP 13 autofocus + Video filming 1920x1280 pixels, 30 fps, HDR Flash LED Front camera, MP 2 WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0 (A2DP) GPS + IrDA — NFC + interface connector USB 2.0 (microUSB, MHL) MP3 player + FM radio + More media player, video telephony, a-GPS/GLONASS module, Google services, proximity and light sensors, gyroscope, electronic compass, social networks

Information about the make, model, and alternative names of a particular device, if any.

Design

Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, presented in different units of measurement. Used materials, suggested colors, certificates.

Width Width information refers to the horizontal side of the device in its standard orientation during use.	73.6 mm (millimeters) 7.36 cm (centimeters) 0.24 ft 2.9in
Height Height information refers to the vertical side of the device in its standard orientation during use.	144 mm (millimeters) 14.4 cm (centimeters) 0.47ft 5.67in
Thickness Information about the thickness of the device in different units of measurement.	8.1 mm (millimeters) 0.81 cm (centimeters) 0.03 ft 0.32in
Weight Information about the weight of the device in different units of measurement.	145 g (grams) 0.32 lbs 5.11oz
Volume Approximate volume of the device, calculated from dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Refers to devices with the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped.	85.85 cm³ (cubic centimeters) 5.21 in³ (cubic inches)
Colors Information about the colors in which this device is offered for sale.	Grey Black White Yellow Pink Blue
Housing materials The materials used to make the body of the device.	Polycarbonate

SIM card

The SIM card is used in mobile devices to store data that certifies the authenticity of mobile service subscribers.

Mobile networks

A mobile network is a radio system that allows multiple mobile devices to communicate with each other.

Mobile technologies and data rates

Communication between devices in mobile networks is carried out through technologies that provide different data transfer rates.

Operating system

The operating system is the system software that manages and coordinates the operation of the hardware components in the device.

SoC (System on a Chip)

System on a chip (SoC) includes all the most important hardware components of a mobile device in one chip.

SoC (System on a Chip) A system on a chip (SoC) integrates various hardware components such as a processor, graphics processor, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as the software necessary for their operation.	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8274AB
Technological process Information about the technological process by which the chip is made. The value in nanometers measures half the distance between the elements in the processor.	28 nm (nanometers)
Processor (CPU) The main function of the processor (CPU) of a mobile device is the interpretation and execution of instructions contained in software applications.	Krait 400
Processor bit depth The bit depth (bits) of a processor is determined by the size (in bits) of registers, address buses, and data buses. 64-bit processors have higher performance than 32-bit processors, which, in turn, are more productive than 16-bit processors.	32 bit
Instruction Set Architecture Instructions are commands by which the software sets/controls the operation of the processor. Information about the instruction set (ISA) that the processor can execute.	ARMv7
Level 0 Cache (L0) Some processors have an L0 (level 0) cache that is faster to access than L1, L2, L3, etc. The advantage of having such a memory is not only higher performance, but also reduced power consumption.	4 kB + 4 kB (kilobytes)
First level cache (L1) Cache memory is used by the processor to reduce access time to more frequently accessed data and instructions. L1 (level 1) cache is small and much faster than both system memory and other cache levels. If the processor does not find the requested data in L1, it continues to look for them in the L2 cache. With some processors, this search is performed simultaneously in L1 and L2.	16 kB + 16 kB (kilobytes)
Second level cache (L2) L2 (level 2) cache is slower than L1, but in return it has a larger capacity, allowing more data to be cached. It, like L1, is much faster than system memory (RAM). If the processor does not find the requested data in L2, it continues to look for it in the L3 cache (if available) or RAM.	2048 KB (kilobytes) 2 MB (megabytes)
Number of processor cores The processor core executes program instructions. There are processors with one, two or more cores. Having more cores increases performance by allowing many instructions to be executed in parallel.	4
Processor clock speed The clock speed of a processor describes its speed in terms of cycles per second. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).	2300 MHz (megahertz)
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) The graphics processing unit (GPU) handles calculations for various 2D/3D graphics applications. In mobile devices, it is used most often by games, consumer interface, video applications, etc.	Qualcomm Adreno 330
Number of GPU cores Like the CPU, the GPU is made up of several working parts called cores. They handle the graphical calculations of different applications.	4
GPU clock speed Speed ​​is the clock speed of the GPU and is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).	450 MHz (megahertz)
The amount of random access memory (RAM) Random access memory (RAM) is used by the operating system and all installed applications. Data stored in RAM is lost when the device is turned off or restarted.	2 GB (gigabytes)
Type of random access memory (RAM) Information about the type of random access memory (RAM) used by the device.	LPDDR3
Number of RAM channels Information about the number of RAM channels that are integrated into the SoC. More channels means higher data rates.	dual channel
RAM frequency The frequency of RAM determines its speed, more specifically, the speed of reading / writing data.	800 MHz (megahertz)

Built-in memory

Each mobile device has a built-in (non-removable) memory with a fixed amount.

Screen

The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.

Type/technology One of the main characteristics of the screen is the technology by which it is made and on which the image quality of information directly depends.	IPS
Diagonal For mobile devices, the screen size is expressed in terms of its diagonal length, measured in inches.	5 in 127 mm (millimeters) 12.7 cm (centimeters)
Width Approximate Screen Width	2.45in 62.26 mm (millimeters) 6.23 cm (centimeters)
Height Approximate Screen Height	4.36in 110.69 mm (millimeters) 11.07 cm (centimeters)
Aspect Ratio The ratio of the dimensions of the long side of the screen to its short side	1.778:1 16:9
Permission Screen resolution indicates the number of pixels vertically and horizontally on the screen. Higher resolution means sharper image detail.	1080 x 1920 pixels
Pixel Density Information about the number of pixels per centimeter or inch of the screen. Higher density allows information to be shown on the screen in clearer detail.	441ppi (pixels per inch) 173ppm (pixels per centimeter)
Color depth Screen color depth reflects the total number of bits used for the color components in a single pixel. Information about the maximum number of colors the screen can display.	24 bit 16777216 flowers
Screen area Approximate percentage of screen space on the front of the device.	65.24% (percentage)
Other characteristics Information about other functions and features of the screen.	capacitive Multitouch Scratch resistance

Sensors

Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that are recognized by the mobile device.

Main camera

The main camera of a mobile device is usually located on the back of the case and is used for taking photos and videos.

Sensor model Information about the manufacturer and model of the photo sensor used in the device's camera.	Sony IMX135 Exmor RS
Sensor type
Sensor size Information about the size of the photosensor used in the device. Typically, cameras with a larger sensor and lower pixel density offer better image quality despite lower resolution.	4.69 x 3.52 mm (millimeters) 0.23in
Pixel size The smaller pixel size of the photosensor allows more pixels to be used per unit area, thus increasing resolution. On the other hand, a smaller pixel size can have a negative impact on image quality at high light sensitivity (ISO) levels.	1.115 µm (micrometers) 0.001115 mm (millimeters)
crop factor The crop factor is the ratio between the size of a full-frame sensor (36 x 24mm, equivalent to a frame of standard 35mm film) and the size of the device's photosensor. The number shown is the ratio of the diagonals of the full frame sensor (43.3 mm) and the photo sensor of the specific device.	7.38
Diaphragm Aperture (f-number) is the size of the aperture opening that controls the amount of light reaching the photosensor. A lower f-number means the aperture is larger.	f/2.2
Excerpt The shutter speed (exposure time) indicates the amount of time the camera shutter is open during the shooting process. The longer it is open, the more light reaches the photosensor. Shutter speed is measured in seconds (eg 5, 2, 1) or fractions of a second (eg 1/2, 1/8, 1/8000).	2 - 1/5000
Focal length Focal length is the distance in millimeters from the photosensor to the optical center of the lens. There is also an equivalent focal length that provides the same field of view with a full frame camera.	3.79 mm (millimeters) 27.99 mm (millimeters) *(35 mm / full frame)
Flash type The most common types of flashes in mobile devices cameras are LED and xenon flashes. LED flashes give a softer light and, unlike brighter xenon flashes, are also used for video shooting.	Double LED
Image resolution One of the main characteristics of mobile device cameras is their resolution, which indicates the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical direction of an image.	4208 x 2368 pixels 9.96 MP (megapixels)
Video resolution Information about the maximum supported resolution for video recording by the device.	1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels)
Information about the maximum number of frames per second (fps) supported by the device when shooting video at the maximum resolution. Some of the main standard shooting and video playback speeds are 24p, 25p, 30p, 60p.	30 fps (frames per second)
Characteristics Information about other software and hardware features related to the main camera and improving its functionality.	autofocus Digital Image Stabilization geo tags panoramic shooting HDR shooting Touch focus Face recognition Adjusting the white balance ISO setting Macro mode
	5-element lens

Additional camera

Additional cameras are usually mounted above the screen of the device and are mainly used for video calls, gesture recognition, etc.

Sensor type Digital cameras use photo sensors to take pictures. The sensor, as well as the optics, is one of the main factors in the quality of a camera in a mobile device.	CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor)
Image resolution Information about the maximum resolution of the secondary camera when shooting. In most cases, the resolution of the secondary camera is lower than that of the main camera.	1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels)
Video resolution Information about the maximum resolution supported when shooting video with the optional camera.	1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels)
Video - frame rate/frames per second. Information about the maximum number of frames per second (fps) supported by the optional camera when shooting video at the maximum resolution.	30 fps (frames per second)

Audio

Information about the type of speakers and audio technologies supported by the device.

Radio

The radio of the mobile device is a built-in FM receiver.

Location determination

Information about navigation and location technologies supported by the device.

WiFi

Wi-Fi is a technology that provides wireless communication for short distance data transmission between different devices.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a standard for secure wireless data transfer between different types of devices over short distances.

USB

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard that allows different electronic devices to communicate.

Headphone jack

This is an audio connector, which is also called an audio jack. The most widely used standard in mobile devices is the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Connecting devices

Information about other important connection technologies supported by the device.

Browser

A web browser is a software application for accessing and viewing information on the Internet.

Video file formats/codecs

Mobile devices support various video file formats and codecs, which store and encode/decode digital video data, respectively.

Battery

Mobile device batteries differ from each other in their capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge they need to function.

Capacity The capacity of a battery indicates the maximum charge it can store, measured in milliamp-hours.	3050 mAh (milliamp-hours)
Type The type of battery is determined by its structure and, more specifically, by the chemicals used. There are different types of batteries, with lithium-ion and lithium-ion polymer batteries being the most commonly used in mobile devices.	Li-Ion (Li-Ion)
Talk time 2G Talk time in 2G is the period of time during which the battery is completely discharged during a continuous conversation in a 2G network.	25 h (hours) 1500 min (minutes) 1 days
2G standby time The 2G standby time is the amount of time it takes for the battery to fully discharge when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 2G network.	500 h (hours) 30000 min (minutes) 20.8 days
3G talk time Talk time in 3G is the period of time during which the battery is completely discharged during a continuous conversation in a 3G network.	25 h (hours) 1500 min (minutes) 1 days
3G standby time The 3G standby time is the amount of time it takes for the battery to fully discharge when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 3G network.	500 h (hours) 30000 min (minutes) 20.8 days
Characteristics Information about some additional features of the device's battery.	Fixed