After it debuted on May 16, we did not break a sweat getting this new item compared to Mi5. Xiaomi made a survey a couple of months back to ask Mi Fans what name do they want for their next unit and Mi Max emerged as the runaway winner. Finally the new unit really was named Mi Max and this unit sure is BIG!

WHATS IN THE BOX






Xiaomi Mi Max Specs
· Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 / 652 quad-core processor / Adreno 510
· 3GB of RAM for 32 / 64GB, 4GB of RAM for 128GB
· 6.44-inch full HD IPS display, Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection
· Black / White / Gold
· 32GB/64GB/128GB of storage
· 16-megapixel rear camera, OIS, Phase Detection AF
· 5-megapixel front camera
· Dual SIM (Sim 2 Micro sim size, Sim 1 nano sim or micro sd card ** expandable up to 200GB)
· 3G, LTE, VoLTE, EVDO
· Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, A-GPS, Fingerprint Scanner
· 4850mAh battery
· Android Marshmallow, MIUI 7
· Micro USB port

UNBOXING VIDEO


DESIGN

The Mi Max sports a bigger screen size than Mi Note Pro and is the resident largest screen for a smartphone in Xiaomi's roster at 6.44 inches. The Mi Max somewhat is similar to the color pattern of Iphone 6s Plus, wherein Gold at the back and White for the display panel. Unlike its predecessors Mi5 and Redmi Note 3 Pro which sports all Gold, this unit shys away a bit from the typical color that Xiaomi has been releasing for a while, giving the customers a refreshing new choice. The display panel is protected with the Corning Gorilla Glass 4 which has a good scratch resistivity againt key scratches and other unwanted friction against the screen. The back case is non removeable like its predecessors but the finger print sensor is more similar to the Redmi Note 3 Pro which is at the back rather than placing it in the front home button like the Mi5.



Above the frame we have the Infrared port together with the 3.5mm jack and the noise cancellation mic.



On the right side we have the volume rocker and the power button.



On the left side we have the sim tray which supports 2 sim cards wherein Sim 1 is Micro Sim and Sim 2 could either be a sd card which supports up to 200 GB or a nano sim card. There are those enthusiast who were able to fuse the Nano sim to the body of the Micro SD card and made sim 2 and expansion storage work at the same time, but there is a risk of stuck up upon ejecting the sim tray.



Below the frame we have the Micro USB port which is surprising since most Xiaomi released smartphones under Mi Flagship are using USB-C as charging port. This makes us wonder if this should be under Redmi Series or Mi Series. There are 8 holes at the left and right of the USB port where lies the loudspeaker.





In the front we have the 3 capacitive buttons which lights up when pressed, there also we can find the 5MP Selfie Cam and we have the fingerprint sensor at the back of the phone together with the 16-MP Camera.



DISPLAY

The Mi Max comes with a full HD display similar to the Mi5, 6.44-inch display coupled with a 2.5D curved glass and brushed aluminum unibody. One of the top reason why Mi Max did not have a QHD (2K) display similar to the Mi Note Pro is because it drains the battery too fast as witnessed by those who have the later unit described. Plus having a 2K display on a mobile is a bit practically useless as everyone gears towards better battery performance for the phone and not much importance on the rendered display. Imagine Mi Max with 2k display, your battery will be gone pretty soon because it eats up battery furiously.


Putting Mi Note Pro side by side with Mi5 Pro and played some movies and streamed some videos, we noticed that the bigger display was a plus since you dont really need to stare on the subtitles that much because the screen size is ample enough for movie viewing. Using a bigger screen in watching movies and tv series gives less strain to the eyes especially when you are watching those smootching scenes that makes you want to zoom zoom zoom the screen.

We also took notice the sunlight dislay technology, as we tried to take some photos under the rolling heat of the sun, we did not have a hard time staring at the screen, instead our eyes had a hard time as sweat drips down our eyes with the temperature soaring at 36 Celcius this time of the year.


Snapdragon 650

After the highly successful launch of Mi5 during the Mobile World Congress 2016, Xiaomi immediately kicked in the Mi Max a few months after, capturing those who want a bigger phablet than the existing Mi Note. The Snapdragon 650 is present in Redmi Note 3 Pro as we have previously reviewed it, we gave it a thumbs up for its price range. This processor combined with Adreno 510, makes it on of the more formidable phablet in the market. We ran some games like NBA2k16 and we were blown away by the large display and we did not noticed any lags during gameplay. Graphics is good and multitasking was such a breeze.


STORAGE

Mi Max has 24.61GB free out of 32GB ready storage out of the box.


CONNECTIVITY

The Xiaomi Mi Max supports 7 different LTE bands as well as VoLTE, its easy to switch to LTE network inside the settings but once your do the second sim will be running on GSM connectivity only. You can freely choose which sim you want to use your LTE data, since this is a Dual LTE, Dual standby smartphone. Wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac is also smooth and it also supports Wi-Fi Direct. Wireless screen mirroring is also available via the Miracast protocol, tethering data is also working perfectly. Bluetooth 4.2,GPS, and GLONASS are all present, and one thing that has debuted in this unit is the NFC (Near Field Communication) which enables you to send data to a fellow NFC user with just tapping your phones together. It also supports Mi Drop to transfer files between MIUI Based device.




Here are the supported bandwidth by the Mi Max:
FDD-LTE ( B1，B3，B7)
TD-LTE ( B38，B39，B40，B41)
TD-SCDMA ( B34，B39)
WCDMA ( B1，B2，B5，B8)
GSM ( B2，B3，B5，B8)
CDMA1X / EVDO ( BC0)


AUDIO and VIDEO

The Mi Max sports a pretty good speaker, loud and crisp. We have compared the output audio of Mi Max against the Mi5 Pro and we proved that the loudspeaker of the Mi Max sports the music a little less powerful than the Mi5 Flaghip. Mi Max supports a wide range of video format like MKV, MP4, M4V, AVI, XVID and more. We ran a blueray rip copy of Deadpool and we were impressed by the large display and clarity of the display.

CAMERA

The 16MP camera present in the Mi Max is somewhat similar to that of the Redmi Note 3 Pro and we were able to capture good shots. Under bright light the camera was excellent and took awesome shots. Under dim light the camera struggled a bit and became grainy a bit but still tolerable. With camera like this, bringing DSLR is no longer necessary during a long road trip already. This 16 MP camera is equipped with a high definition sensor, with PDAF (Phase Detection AutoFocus, commonly present in DSLR cameras).


UNEDITED PHOTOS


Good Lightings

Dim Light

Artificial Lighting

With Flash

Macro Shot


Battery, Temperature and Benchmark

While packing in 4850mAh inside a thin unibody is no easy task, the Mi Max has a pretty good battery life, it lasted for 15 hours and 35 minutes with our stress test using PC Mark Test. The Mi Max unfortunately supports only Qualcomm Quickcharge 2.0 and it takes in 1.72Amperes based on our testing.




While using the phone, standby mode gives us a temperature of 30.5 Celsius, while hitting a 35 Celsius on normal usage like browsing and using messengers and it recorded 39 Celsius when we put the pedal on the metal for the processor at full throttle. The unit did feel a bit hot upon reaching and hour playing NBA2k16 but we are no strangers to heat as Mi Note Pro reaches 45 Celcius upon reaching 1 hour playing the same game. The heat dissipation on this unit is pretty good since its not irrtitably hot on max performance.





Our rating with AnTuTu gave us a score of 74597 Points, a thousand point lower than that of Redmi Note 3 Pro at 75597 Points, it means that it performs as good as the Redmi Note 3 Pro.





Bootloader

Yes Yes we know your gonna ask that, the Mi Max is bootloader locked. Therefore you need to request unlock code from en.miui.com/unlock/ and you will receive the unlock code in a few days or so. Remember that only Developer Roms has the power to unlock the bootloader at the moment.


Here is our guide how to unlock bootloader of Mi Max which is similar to Mi5. How to UNLOCK Bootloader of Mi5 as well as how to install Google Play on Mi5/Pro How To Install Google Play on Mi5 / Mi5 PRO


Mi Max, Large Display and Pocket Friendly Price

The Mi Max sure is a performer in its league of extra big display, giving us a thumbs up in almost every category from multitasking, camera, music thru loudspeaker plus the battery life. There is only one problem we have with the Mi Max, due to the huge display, it comes with a problem, we dont feel at ease putting it inside our pockets neither inside our back pockets. This unit might take off for the ladies out there who have bags thats why if you noticed the theme for Mi Max is a pink flower portraying its meant to capture the female market. Well the guys can use this as long as you have a messenger bag or a sling bag that you carry everyday. The 32GB variant is sold at 1499 RMB and the 128GB variant will be sold at 1999RMB.


More Mi Max Photos



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.