Welcome to the 100th edition of the MItch Product Review, and this edition is pretty special as we finally hit 100 editions of nothing but pure Xiaomi reviews. Lets take on the latest release by Xiaomi, toward the end of March 2018, the company announced on the arrival of the reincarnation of the Mi MIX 2, this time on the same shell but with different specs, behold the Mi MIX 2S.



Pretty much a lucky guy I am, I was able to snag one of this flagship phones designed by French designer Philippe Starck on the second flash sale. One clear notice for sure is that the screen to phone ratio was higher on this one at 81.9% as opposed to its predecessor and of course the latest Snapdragon SoC is inside this awesome phone that we are about to review. Join me as I venture the wonders of the Mi MIX 2S.



Tech Specs of Mi MIX 2S:

• · Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 Octa-core processor (4x2.8GHz Kryo 385 Gold and 4x1.8GHz Kryo 385 Silver)
  
• · Adreno 630 GPU
  
• · 6GB / 8GB of RAM LPDDR4
  
• · 5.99-inch IPS LCD display ultra bright, energy saving display, (~81.9% screen-to-body ratio)
  
• · 1080 x 2160 pixels FHD+ (~403 ppi pixel density), 1500:1 contrast ratio, 18:9 Ratio
  
• · DCI-P3 color gamut, high color saturation
  
• · Black Ceramic Finish, White and Black
  
• · 64GB / 128GB / 256GB of storage
  
• · 12 MP, wide angle lens, 4 Axis OIS, f/1.8, 1.4µm Dark Light Enhancement, Phase Detection Autofocus, Dual-LED (dual tone)
  
• 12 MP, telephoto lens, portrait lens, f/2.4, 1.0µm, AI
  
  

• · 5 MP front camera, f/2.0, 1.4µm, autofocus, Mirror Function, Portrait Mode
  
• · Finger print scanner
  
• · Dual SIM (nano sim size)
  
• · 3G, LTE, 4G+ Carrier Aggregation, VoLTE Calls
  
• · Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, A-GPS, NFC
  
• · 3400mAh battery, Quick Charge 3.0 Supported 9V / 3A
  
• Supports Wireless Charging 7.5W
  
  

• · 4 x 4 MIMO Technology to support MU-MIMO
  
• · Sensors: Ultrasonic distance sensor, Ambient Light sensor, Gyro, Vibration Motor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Electronic
  
• Compass, Hall Sensor
  
• · Android Oreo 8.0, MIUI 9
  
• · USB-C port, UFS 2.1
  
• · 150.86 mm x 74.9 mm x 8.1 mm
  
• · 189 Grams
  
  

Official Trailer:


Video Unboxing:


Mi MIX 2S Design

The Mi MIX 2S has a design like no other in the market, it has inherited the bezel-less design of the original Mi MIX, well with the similarity from the Mi MIX 2. But this item its curvier on the corners and they trimmed it down a bit on screen size as compared to the original MIX. The screen size went down from 6.4" to 5.99" which is pretty much a good move for Xiaomi to cut down on its weight. The downsize of battery from 4400mAh to 3400mAh is probably not a good move because the big screen tends to each much more energy than normal sized phones. The embossed dual camera at the back is quite a copy from the Iphone X and pretty similar to the Redmi Note 5. Im not too much of a fan of the embossed camera at the back as it will be the first one to receive scratches once it hit the desk. One improvement on this one from the MIX 2 is that the screen to phone ratio went up a bit and this is probably one of the main reason thats holding back users to buy the MIX 2 due to its screen to phone ratio.




What's in the Box:

Typical Black Box which comes with every MIX series phones.


6GB 64GB Variant

A message from CEO Lei Jun.

A different presentation this time around, prints on front peel off film in front.



Manual, QC 3 Charger, USB C Cable, Back Cover, MIX 2, USB C to Audio Port Adaptor, Sim Ejector Pin


Following the footsteps of Xiaomi flagships, the Mi MIX 2S came out with a ceramic back as well, it also sports white color but this time it comes on a plastic back cover. The ceramic is definitely a fingerprint magnet while the plastic can resist fingerprints. Xiaomi included a back case on each purchase of the Mi MIX 2S, but only the Ceramic Edition gets to include a wireless charger made by Xiaomi.

The front pack a 5.99 Inch screen with the 5MP selfie camera down there



The back includes two 12MP Cameras as well as the finger print scanner.

Volume Rocker and Power Button on the right

Noise Cancellation Mic on top

Sim Card Tray on the left which supports 2 Nano Sims

Mic, USB C Port and Loudspeaker at the bottom

Closer look at the front camera

More Photos on the Mi MIX 2S


The headpiece being perfected by Xiaomi without the awkward notch on other phones







Display and Audio


We were expecting a lot from the display side as we were impressed by the Mi MIX, this time the Mi MIX 2S seems to have outdid its older sibling. The Full HD display in the Mi MIX 2S is already good in redering photos and videos, Im glad they didnt switched to AMOLED. We did watch Avengers: Civil War and it was superb based on our experience, the display was big and clear. Compared to the Mi Max 2, we can clearly conclude the display was simply better, but comparing to Mi MIX running the same movie side by side, we can hardly differentiate the differences well except the display size of course. The sound was excellent, we have no problem kicking the sound to the max inside a small room of roughly 8 square meters and it can fill the room with sound. We also used our Xiaomi Bluetooth Sports Headset and the sounds rendered is quite good while listening to music while running the treadmill.




We also tried to play PUBG and man it was hell of a experience, the display was pretty good, most user are pretty much using a smaller display in playing this graphics intense game, but on the MIX 2S, it was simply a walk in the park in terms of rendering its requirements. I wonder how it will perform in the Black Shark which will be my next review, stay tunned for it.


Here are the supported audio and video file format by the Mi MIX 2S

• MP4
  
• M4V
  
• MKV
  
• XVID
  
• WAV
  
• AAC
  
• MP3
  
• AMR
  
• FLAC
  
• APE
  
  
  

Support H.265/HEVC (Main profile), H.264 (Baseline/Main/High profile), MPEG4 (Simple profile/ASP) and other video formats, Support PCM, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, MP3, AMR-NB and WB , FLAC, APE, WAV and other audio formats
Support HDR10 when playing HDR10 video content


Snapdragon 845

One of the few devices that sports the latest chipset from Qualcomm is Mi MIX 2S, the Snapdragon 845 SoC has 8 cores and can run up to 2.8Ghz of computing speed. Now of course powered together with the powerful Adreno 630, and of course a generous serving of 8GB RAM, it will give you the best experience in gaming up to date. Not mentioning that it can run even the most graphics hungry games like PUBG and NBA 2K18. This latest flagship by Qualcomm first appeared in MI MIX 2S for Xiaomi, then followed by Black Shark and probably Mi 7 soon. We ran several stress test on this unit and we did not see any lags nor any slowdown on the opening of any apps in the Mi MIX 2S, multitasking was a breeze. This SoC is supports the 64-bit architecture which means it can compute at a very fast phase. So good graphics, good multitasking plus fast processing makes Snapdragon 845 probably one of the most premium SoC after the 835 that was present in last year's flagship.




Xiaomi has also deployed the AI Voice in Xiao Ai, you can now talk to her and ask for whatever you wanna know, like weather, direction or even sing a song. One downside, its just only supporting Chinese language at the moment.

Connectivity




The Mi MIX 2S supports 24 different LTE bands for Premium Edition and only 15 Bands for the Standard Edition, unlike the Global Edition of the Mi Note 2 which supports 37 different LTE Bands ready for Global consumption, the Mi MIX 2S markets itself within China at the moment and probably the Asia Pacific region (hopefully to the Western Countries soon). It's pretty easy to switch to LTE network inside the settings, and it also supports Dual 4G mode as well. You can freely choose which sim you want to use your LTE data, since this is a Dual LTE, Dual standby smartphone. This unit also has the 4G+ equipped, and also supports multiple carrier aggregation technology (should your network provider have this feature), you can take advantage of it. 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 5.0,GPS, and GLONASS are all present, NFC (Near Field Communication) is also present to support Mi Pay, Android Pay and it enables you to send data to a fellow NFC user with just tapping your phones together. Transfering data from older phones using Mi Mover was also a breeze as well.



Global frequency band
Enjoy the best network of 226 countries and regions in the world
Premium Edition
GSM B2 / B3 / B5 / B8
CDMA1X / EVDO BC0 / BC1 / BC6 / BC10
WCDMA B1 / B2 / B3 / B4 / B5 / B6 / B8 / B9 / B19
TD-SCDMA B34 / B39
TD-LTE B34 / B38 / B39 / B40 / B41
FDD-LTE B1 / B2 / B3 / B4 / B5 / B7 / B8 / B12 /
B13 / B17 / B18 / B19 / B20 / B25 / B26 /
B27/B28/B29/B30

B41 support 2496-2690 MHz full-bandwidth
LTE B41 4 antenna technology supporting 4x4 MIMO

Standard EditionGSM B2 / B3 / B5 / B8
CDMA1X / EVDO BC0
WCDMA B1 / B2 / B4 / B5 / B8
TD-SCDMA B34 / B39
TD-LTE B34 / B38 / B39 / B40 / B41
FDD-LTE B1 / B2 / B3 / B4 / B5 / B7 /
B8 / B12 / B17 / B20

B41 supports 2496-2690 MHz full-bandwidth
LTE B41 4 antenna technology supporting 4x4 MIMO


Mi MIX 2S Camera

The Mi MIX 2S is one of the best camera that Xiaomi has released by far, getting the nod by DXOMark, this puts MIX 2S together with the elites like the Samsung Galaxy S9+. While Xiaomi has already unlocked another achievement so far, we can say that this camera performed very well under good lighting, and not really bad and there was a good improvement on darker places. The rear camera are both 12 Megapixels, one being the Sony IMX 363 Sensor and the other being the Samsung S5k3m3. They also incorporated the 4-AXIS OIS in this one so expect good shots in motion photos. The front snapper is a regular Omnivision OV5675 5MP camera well it took good shots of myself, and it also sported the bokeh portrait mode which was first spotted on the Redmi Note 5. The manual mode has an exposure time of 1/2S and ISO of 1600. Face Unlocking is also present as well.



Full Camera Specs


AI Powered


CIT Engineering Mode




Camera Settings


Manual Mode
Actual Photos









































































































































































































Front Camera:









Mi MIX 2S Battery and Benchmark

Putting a 3400mAh inside a slim unibody is not in anyway easy to do, but its still a disappointment coming from a 4400mAh inside the Mi MIX, the Mi MIX 2S still has a pretty good battery life for a Phablet sized smartphone. The Mi MIX 2S supports the Qualcomm Quick charge 3.0 and it takes in 5V 3.2 Amperes based on our testing using the supplied charger and cable, there was a moment it kicks to 12V 0.5A as well. Im glad that they supplied a Quick Charge 3.0 charger this time around as it has been the trend with other manufacturers as well. We charged the phone from 19% to 100% in 1 hour and 25 minutes as I was able to closely monitored it. We recorded a 10 hour 28 minutes endurance test Mi MIX 2S 64GB version under the PC Mark battery stress test. If these statistics are true on a normal daily use, then it's really a good sign for the said smartphone, but still down from the average of 12 hours from the Mi MIX.



The benchmark of the Mi MIX 2S 6GB RAM 64GB ROM rated from AnTuTu benchmark yielded a result of 252,274 Points, which was a huge jump from Mi MIX 2's 158,296 points on the 6GB 128GB version we reviewed a few months back.




I love the new theme.


Wireless Charging, the first in any Xiaomi Phones.





More Benchmarks:







Mi MIX 2S vs MI6 Camera Showdown!

Take note that the top is from Mi6 and the bottom is from Mi MIX 2S

















I always felt that Mi 6 was the best camera till today from Xiaomi, not even the Redmi Note 5 Pro has an edge over it. Now with Mi MIX 2S in the house, I am honestly quite torn between the two flagship camera, with DXOMark giving Mi MIX 2S a big nod in its hall of fame, pitting it against the likes of Galaxy S9+, its just a few ticks away from being at par with the Samsung flagship. However, I honestly dont really feel the same about it. Yes, the shots are really great, now let me explain why, taking a look at the photos that I have shared above, taking it side by side with Mi 6, the Mi MIX 2S did show some flashes of brilliance, but most of the time, the shots are warmer and yellowish as opposed to the Mi 6 camera. Both are Sony IMX Lens, but most photos from the Mi 6 color are much more closer to the real naked eye that I saw, of course I was the one holding the camera. But I nevertheless respect the prestige that DXOMark gave the Mix 2S, however I will still stick to Mi 6 in terms of camera performance.



For full evaluation of the Mi MIX 2S by DXOMark, check the article here.

Video Samples


With OIS On


With OIS Off


4K 60FPS using Open Camera App


Mi MIX 2S, Powerful Inside and Stunning Outside!

Now that Xiaomi has shocked the world with its concept phone being released during the Mi MIX and now the powerful Mi MIX 2S, everyone is jumping into the bandwagon to get their hands on the latest smartphone by the Chinese smartphone manufacturer giant. Problem now is that there are many other companies trying to get a piece of the bezeless display, but most of them having the notch up there which is quite pretty awkward. We the MIX series also has a awkward feature where you need to turn your phone upside down to take a selfie. The Mi MIX 2S in my opinion is better looking than the Iphone X, probably outperforming it as well.

Overall, the Mi MIX 2S is pretty good to use, Xiaomi did listen to fans and improved on the new design of this new concept phone. This time around putting a slightly bigger screen to phone ratio than the Mi MIX 2. The round edges and the lighter weight (205 grams to 189 grams) was a plus point, as well as the Sony IMX 363 Camera Sensor with a dual camera. I'm still amazed by the partnership between Xiaomi and Philippe Starck, hopefully they can come up with more awesome phones in the future. This is one ultimate phone that is worthy for redemption, expect this one to blow everyone away.

The 64GB variant retails for 3299 RMB, 128GB retails for 3599RMB and the 256GB Ceramic variant retails at 3999 RMB.
Mi MIX 2S