Mi 5X Comprehensive Hands On Review: Premium & Pocket Friendly
by mitch002
Hello again for another issue of Mi Product Review, we are already on Volume 13 at the moment and this time we will shift our attention to the newly unveiled phone by Xiaomi dubbed as the Mi 5X. This phone was unveiled together with MIUI 9 which was the highlight and spotlight of the event that night, but nevertheless Mi 5X did create some noise and now we get our hands on it, lets begin!
Xiaomi Mi 5X Specs
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 MSM8953 Octa-core processor 2.0 Ghz Cortex-A53
- Adreno 506, 650 Mhz
- 4GB of RAM LPDDR3
- 5.5-inch LTPS FHD display, 403 PPI, 450 Nit Brightness
- 64GB of storage
- 12-megapixel dual rear camera, F/2.2 lens 5-chip lens Wide Angle Camera, F/2.6 5-piece lens PDAF support Telephoto Lens
- 5-megapixel front camera with 1080p recording
- Dual SIM (nano sim size), Micro SD sim 2 slot capability supports up to 128GB
- 3G, LTE, 4G +, VoLTE
- Dual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Rear Finger Print Sensor
- Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0, Bluetooth 4.2
- 3080mAh battery
- Nougat Android 7.1, MIUI 8
- USB-C port
- Black, Gold, Rose Gold
Official Video:
Whats in the Box:
You can find in the box are the following: Mi 5X, Quick Charge 2.0 Charger, USB C Cable, Manual, Sim Ejector Pin. There are no headset nor protective case inside this unit.
All Three Colors Present!
Not every person is lucky enough to buy all three colors on the first day of release, here I am, holding all three and Im deeply honored to present it to you MI Fans all over the world. Behold, Black, Gold, and Rose Gold.
Black
Gold
Rose Gold
Unboxing Video:
Design:
Okay, let me be as frank as possible, first impression I had on this unit is simply it looks just like Iphone 7 Plus, the color, the camera as well as the finishing of the phone. Now, with all the units that they have been releasing, sometimes its pretty hard to think of any new design, its either you copy me or I copy you in the smartphone industry. Let me exempt Mi MIX from this discussion, as it was really design to be unique on its own.
If im correct, the Mi 5X is a design of its own among the Mi series phones, and this is the first time that Xiaomi has used the letter X in the Mi Series, let us go thru the description of the phone itself.
The bottom of the Mi 5X sports the USB C charger, the 3.5mm audio jack, the single hole on the left is the mic, the 4 holes on the right is for the loudspeaker. There are also 2 screws for you to take off the back case, should there be a need in the future. There are so many questions before why does the sound only comes from the right holes and not from the left, simple, its because the left is dedicated to be used as mic in. Now this design will avoid those confusion / expectation from customers who are not really so technically inclined.
On the left of the phone sports the Sim Tray, it can accomodate 2 nano sim used simultaneously, or 1 nano sim and 1 micro sd card (up to 128GB) for that additional storage. But there is always a way to use them both together, you just need to buy a Sim + Micro SD adaptor to be able to use 2 sim and 1 micro sd all together. But as usual, do it at your own risk.
On the right sports the usual power button and the volume rockr, always remember to access fastboot rom, press power and volume down together. To access recovery just press power and volume up together.
On the top of the phone there lies the infrared as well as the noise cancellation mic.
The back sports the embossed dual camera with dual led flash as well as the fingerprint scanner.
Snapdragon 625
Xiaomi has choose to use the older Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 as opposed to the later version in the 660 and 630 series. This is probably due to its proven performance under multitasking jobs as well as battery handling capability.
Now on the gaming side, I played my favorite game NBA2k17 and graphics is pretty ample and there were no obvious lags during game play. I was able to enjoy one full game with the Adreno 506 GPU inside the Mi 5X, therefore it can handle simple games with ease.
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. There is no problem achieving 4G+ on this unit and speed is pretty good and it is also network dependent. Bluetooth, Mi Drop and Hotspot are all tested and working perfectly on this unit.
Network Support:
2G: 2/3/5/8 GSM
2G: BC0 CDMA
3G: EVDO CDMA BC0
3G: WCDMA 1/2/5/8
3G: TDS- CDMA 34/39
4G: TD-34 LTE / 38/39/40 / 41
4G: LTE FDD-1/3/5/7/8
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. Im glad they did not take off the 3.5mm audio jack on this unit, as many of us has their own respective favorite headsets that they cherish. The loudspeaker seems to be clearer compared to Redmi Note 4X and its louder in terms of decibels.
Display is good under the sunlight as I was able to read under the roaring sunlight. I was able to finish one whole movie on this unit and the display is pretty much above average, but of course dont expect the display to be as nice as the Mi 6 since its on a different price point.
Camera
Now for my favorite part of the review, the camera. Photos, photos and more sample photos, thats how I determine if the camera is good or not. Now based on specs sheet, the camera is pretty decent, 12mp wide angle lens and a 12mp telephoto lens combined to give you that extra clear shot. especially good for taking bokeh shots. Now I am so accustomed to my Mi 6 camera and I have been taking good shots here and there. Lets see how this dual camera fare against the Mi 6.
Before I proceed and show you all those awesome shots, the Mi 5X sports the chinese brand OV Lens at the back as well as Sumsung lens up front. You can also use manual mode to take your photos on this camera with exposure time setting of 1/15s and ISO of 3200. You can switch between wide angle lens or telephoto lens inside the manual mode.
Camera Manual Modes:
- White Balance
- Focus
- Exposure Time: Max 1/15s (pretty disappointed in this one, Mi 5s has exposure time up to 32s)
- ISO up to 3200
- Lens: Wide or Tele
Actual Photos:
selfie Camera
The camera has taken good pictures on bright and well lit objects, but under dim light, its a little behind as opposed to the Mi 6 and Mi Max 2 based on my keen obsevations. The front camera I have no problem taking good selfies like I have just posted above. I was able to capture good video using the rear camera, take a look at this:
Battery, Benchmarks
This topic is one of the most sensitive and most talked about for a phone, taking a look at the 3080 mAh battery performance, it can withstand up to 9 hours of Screen-on-time for it screen size is pretty not bad. This is something that Im looking forward in a 5.5 inch phone, the one that can at least last me almost a whole day without hitting my power bank, this is based on standard usage, of course when you are 24/7 on mobile data, that's another different story all together.
The Mi 5x was able to achieve a score of 62,948 points out of the box in AnTuTu benchmark test. Now I dont really expect more than that since it came with the Snapdragon 625, whats important is that it gets the job done, if you want a higher score, you need to purchase the Mi 6.
Here are other benchmark data that you might want to take a look at as well.
Mi 5X, Premium Made Affordable!
After playing back and forth for several days using the Mi 5X as my daily driver, I'm pretty impressed with the capability this phone has to offer. The price point at 1499 RMB is something too hard to pass up for a spinoff of the Mi 5 series. I have been a big fan of the Mi 5 and till now still am. The Mi 5X is pretty distinct in its own ways especially the design, tho its almost copied from the Iphone 7 Plus, at the end of the day I can say that it looks and feels premium at that price. If you have that spare 200 RMB I strongly suggest you take this unit instead of the Redmi Note 4X priced at 1299 RMB for the same internal memory, ram and processor.
I do recommend this unit over the Mi 5s Plus which the dual camera I didnt find pretty much good to use. But if you are looking for a better camera sensor, I would suggest you upgrade to Mi Max 2 or Mi 6.
Mi 5X 4GB + 64GB = 1499 RMB
my 5X
