XiaoMi Mi A2

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The XiaoMi Mi A2 was released on July 2018 at S$369 for 4GB RAM and 64GB Storage in Singapore. It comes in Gold, Lake Blue, and Black.

The Mi A2 has a 5.99-inch 18:9 (2160 x 1080 pixels) LCD FHD+ display, weights 168g.

The Mi A2 has a rear AI dual camera setup, a 12MP SONY IMX486 sensor (large f/1.75 aperture), and a 20MP SONY IMX376 sensor (large f/1.75 aperture) which can take clear day and night pictures, plus a front-facing camera setup which features a 20MP SONY IMX376 (larger f/2.2 aperture).

It has a 3010 mAh battery, powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE, running on Android One 8.1 instead of MIUI.

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The Mi A2 has lost the headphone jack and also the microSD slot, therefore you will be stuck with the storage that you chose. The design of the Mi A2 does not look original. The battery life has only 3010 mAh battery which looks bad.

The Mi A2 runs on stock Android which is good, you can get faster updates, faster speed, no bloatware to eat up your storage, and has a clean design. You can take pleasing selfies using this AI-powered beauty 4.0 on the front camera, shoot a video at 4K 30fps and also a slow motion video at 720p 120fps.

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The XiaoMi A2 overall looks fine, but the design and battery need to be improved on. If you are looking for a phone with good performance, faster updates and a camera which can take crispy photo, you might want to choose this XiaoMi Mi A2.

Mi 8 Pro

photo credits to: https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Screen-Fingerprint-Cameras-Unlocked/dp/B07K64PTLP

Are you looking for a phone with beautiful design, amazing cameras and performs excellently? Well, I bet that the Mi 8 Pro is the right device for you. The Mi 8 Pro is currently performing well on the MIUI 10, the newest software update for Xiaomi. The back of the phone does display a circuitry system, even though it is a fake circuitry display, you have to admit that it does look pretty cool. The battery on the other hand, is real so make sure to take proper care of this phone when you go out to prevent any damages. There is also a notch at the top of the phone just like the IPhone X to maintain the style of it.

Sadly, wireless charging is not offered as it would ruin the aesthetic of the phone. Xiaomi introduced it as transparent titanium and that brings in a unique sense of design. The display is a 6.21-inch 2248 x 1080 AMOLED panel which also supports DCI-P3 wide color gamut. The fingerprint sensor is not at the top or bottom of the phone but an in-display sensor. Bad news is, it is not as effective as using a regular fingerprint scanner as it depends on the pressure exerted.

The good thing is, they also added in face unlock just in case the fingerprint sensor does not work. What Xiaomi did was extremely brilliant as they used the phone’s IR camera, which means that the phone can still scan you whilst being in a pitch dark room. The speakers are bad as you would need to turn it up to maximum volume just to be able to hear it so that is a disadvantage.

Photo credits to: https://www.ebuyer.com/868428-xiaomi-mi-8-pro-6-21-amoled-8gb-128gb-ai-dual-camera-smartphone-mzb6999en

 

It runs on the Snapdragon 845 with RAM of 8GB and storage space of 128GB. The rear cameras are both 12 MP while the front camera is 20MP. The Mi 8 Pro’s battery life is at 3000mAh which is pretty weird to reduce the battery life for any ‘Pro’ version.

Overall, this is a decent phone that I would recommend anyone to buy. It has an amazing performance but the poor speakers and battery life might be not that appealing to most. The phone might also be too expensive for some people and there are other phones out in the market which are better than the Mi 8 Pro.

XiaoMi Mi Band 3

Mi Band 3
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The new XiaoMi Mi Band 3 was released on 31 May 2018 and is being sold at S$55, with larger display and improved features such as heart rate, activity monitoring features. It is available in graphite black, electric orange, and deep sky blue.

The Mi Band 3 has a larger OLED screen than the old Mi Band 2, with a display resolution of 128 x 80, 0.78 inches, and is water resistance up to 50 meters.

It has a 48 characters display, displays incoming message notifications from your phone, and can track your steps plus your sleep.

XiaoMi has also added a bigger 110mAh battery, which will last around 20 days.

The straps are soft, made from skin-friendly material and it feels comfortable and easy to wear when you wear it.

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This Mi Band is very cheap and affordable, good design, and new features such as weather, stopwatch, silent, find your device, and change how your screen looks like.

The Weather feature shows you the 3-days forecast. You can silent your phone through Mi band and can also find your device as long as you are connected to your phone with Bluetooth.

The bad things about this Mi Band 3 is not having a GPS, and when you are outside under the sun, it is very hard to see the screen clearly.

When you want to charge your Mi band, sometimes it might be hard to take it out from the strap because it has a secure design that would not let your band drop out easily. But after using for a long time, it won’t be hard to take out.

You can also set event reminders, example: Meeting at afternoon, buy groceries. And unlock your Android phone with it.

Image Source: buyxiaomi.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/1247946338-1.jpg

If you are looking for cheap band with basic features and a big display that can show you the notifications from your phone, you might want to buy this.

Xiaomi Mi Max 3

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The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 is a full screen display phone without a notch. People would wonder, how about the phone’s camera? Well, the front camera is revealed when you slide down the display, that moves along a magnetic slider and it makes a satisfying click when locking itself into place.

When you slide it open, the screen will light up and a buzz-like chime would play too. If you are worried about sliding the phone too much, you can relax as sliding the phone will not break the screen. There is a limit to how many times you can slide the phone to prevent it from damaging the screen. According to Xiaomi, it is rated for 300,000 cycles, with sliding it up and down counting as one cycle.

photo credits tohttps://img.staticbg.com/thumb/large/oaupload/banggood/images/55/13/b26d4b89-0d3c-4495-bd59-b58004f7440c.jpg

The Mi Max 3 is a wonderful device with the best hardware possible. It has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip, a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED full HD+ display, 12-megapixel rear cameras with 2x optical zoom and wireless charging too. It also comes with a wireless charging pad in the package. The cheaper form of the Mi Max 3, containing 6GB RAM and 128GB onboard storage, sells for around S$490. Whereas the 10GB RAM and 256GB storage version, sells for about $845.

Despite not including secure 3D face unlocking and waterproofing, but the Mi 3 still looks great and here is why. It is lighter than the iPhone XS Max, the ceramic rears shimmers in the light and it also has the MIUI 10 software included, which is the latest software released by Xiaomi. By default, the Mix 3 uses on-screen buttons, and swiping up to exit an application, similar to the new IOS phones. One of the unique features, is the sliding mechanism, as it allows a customizable quick menu that lets you access apps such as the recorder, stopwatch or your notes. Or you could set it to take a picture the selfie camera at the front. Just like any other Xiaomi phone, a dedicated fingerprint sensor at the back.

In my personal opinion, I would get this elegant device as it is not only affordable but it also contains some of the best specifications on the market too. Given that there are companies selling phones with the same specs at prices over $1000, and compare that with a phone like the Xiaomi Mi Max 3. Which want would you rather get? I would get the Mi Max 3 for sure.

 

Pocophone F1

Photo courtesy: https://www.argomall.com/xiaomi-pocophone-f1-6gb-64gb-graphite-black.html

The Pocophone F1 is a new sub-brand created that is released by Xiaomi, a popular phone company around the world, especially in India. The Poco F1, is a phone which comes together with one of the strongest chipsets in the world, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. Not only is that great about the Poco F1, but it is also one of the cheapest phone in the market with the chipset.

Xiaomi surprised all of us with the Pocophone’s amazing specifications but there are setbacks with the design. The phone’s model is made out of poly-carbonate which does not give that premium look and feeling compared to other phones, like the OnePlus 6. There is also 3 different colors to choose from; Graphite Black, Steel Blue and Russo Red. Unfortunately, there is a rather big notch right on top of the phone, which may be disturbing for some people. They did include a selfie camera, 3.5mm earpiece jack and receiver for facial recognition. Similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, there is also a dual camera on the back with 20 megapixels and auto-brightening lenses. Whilst containing a humongous 4000mAh battery to help with powering up the phone.

Photo courtesy: https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_700k_pocophone_f1_3_months-news-34581.php

For the Pocophone F1 specifications, it has a 6.18″ IPS LCD. With a front camera of 20MP and a rear camera of 12MP.  It also contains an octa-core GPU inclusive with the powerful Qualcomn Snapdragon 845. For memory wise, you can choose between a 6 or 8GB of RAM and it also has 3 different storage sizes,which is 64, 128 or 256GB. Not only that, but it also has a hybrid microSD slot.

Since the Pocophone sub-brand will be functioning on its own, it is confirmed that it will release quicker updates. Xiaomi also stressed that the F1 would also have a customized version of the MIUI 10.

In my opinion, I would get the Pocophone F1 as it is a phone with incredible specifications and it is also the cheapest phone containing one of the strongest chipsets at the moment. Even though it may be quite expensive for some people, this is honestly still one of the best phones out there selling below $500.

The Mi Note

Not to be confused with the RedMi Note, this is the Mi Note by XiaoMi. It is a Android powered 5.7 inches phablet. Borrowing a few ideas from other phones, this phablet does seems like great value for money and some has even compared it to the Galaxy Note.However, there is obviously some major difference between the two devices.

It has a curved front glass and rear but has rounded edges. Its rear curve is a little similar to the Samsaung Galaxy Note Edge but without a display. It has quite an eye – catching design. The company has also proved in a series of tests that the glass would not crack easily. It runs on the Android 4.4 KitKat and Xiaomi’s latest custom skin, the Miui 6, which allows you to shrink the onscreen display simply by swiping.

The phablet has a 13 – megapixel rear camera and a front camera of 4 -megapixels. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 3000mAh battery, a 1,920 x 1,080 pixels display in full – HD, 16 or 64GB of internal storage and two 4G SIM slots. However, no microSD card slot will be available.

Alongside with the phone, XiaoMi will also be releasing a new pair of headphones known as the Mi Headphones. It will have 50 mm beryllium diaphragm speakers which can be used either on – ear over – ear.

Despite the phablet’s great quality and build, getting it out of China will most probably be quite a big challenge and might take awhile. It does though seem like a phone which would be really worth the money.

 

Photo Courtesy of : http://www.mi.com/sg/note/