Mi MAX 3 Review: The Next BIG Thing!
by mitch002
Rumors has been swirling around since the release of the Mi 8 during the 8th anniversary of Xiaomi. Leaks and more photos has the internet covered on the next big release in the Mi MAX 3 and rumored specs said that it will then sport the Snapdragon 710 which first appeared on the Mi 8 SE. Finally, the air is clear, the final specs is out and just recently announced on July 19th in China that the Mi MAX 3 is really larger than life, honestly on my first touch of this device, I can say it was really build to impress. You want to know what I'm talking about? Read everything that I have to tell you right in this article.
Mi MAX 3 Specs Sheet
Official Trailer
Whats in the Box
The white box with the etched gold font looks very attractive for first time buyers.
The specs of the Mi Max 3 at the back of the Box
First glance at the Mi Max 3
6.9 inch screen
The back looks just like a hulked up Redmi Note 5
Mi Max 3, Manual, QC 3 Charger, USB C Cable, Sim Ejector Pin to round up whats inside the box
Funny that Xiaomi forgot to include a protective case this time around
QC 3.0 Charger
Video Unboxing:
Design
The Mi MAX 3 has improved itself in so many ways as compared to its sibling the Mi Max 2. This time around, we have the same weight, but we have a bigger screen size, a bigger battery size, a dual camera and a better display compared to the previous generation. That means, everything has been beefed up. We have seen the overly used SD 625 being deployed on units of Xiaomi up until this very day, and it was a tough break that this one is not a receipient of the SD 625 which is similar to the Mi Max 2. The design of this unit is mostly patterned after the great Redmi Note 5, we can simply say that this is somewhat a hulked up Redmi Note 5 before our very eyes.
Stereo Speakers, USB C Port at the bottom
Hybrid Sim Slot, Sim 1 + Sim 2 / SD Card
LED and Camera on top of the front screen
Sim ejector tray
Volume rocker and power button
Very similar to the Redmi Note 5
Infrared, 3.5mm audio jack, noise cancellation mic
Front view
Rear view
Dual Camera
Mi Logo
Connectivity
The Mi MAX 3 supports 14 different LTE bands, it's easy to switch to LTE network inside the settings, this unit also supports dual 4G. You can freely choose which sim you want to use your LTE data, since this is a Dual LTE, Dual standby smartphone. We have experienced no problem surfing using LTE or 3G in our home country in the Philippines as well as dual standby mode is working seamlessly. 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 and working pretty good. We also have a smooth navigation using Google Maps while cruisin in the city using the Mi MAX 3 during our weeklong review.
Display and Audio
Supports H.265/HEVC (Main profile), H.264 (Baseline/Main/High profile), MPEG4 (Simple profile/ASP), and VC-1 (Simple/Main/Advanced profile) video formats, and supports PCM and AAC /AAC+/eAAC+, MP3, AMR - NB and WB, FLAC, WAV and other audio formats
We did watch some good movies on this unit and some anime and we were impressed with the display ratio that it has to offer, it was really huge like watching on our Mi Pad 4. The screen resolution was pretty good as we tried to render some 4K movies on this unit. Sounds was also good on loudspeaker and its pretty excellent watching good moview with many action sounds. We used a Mi Pistons Dual Driver headset to watch the movie and we missed the audio jack port as we always need to carry the converter for mostly Xiaomi units released without the audio port. Listening to music via streaming app was also seamless, no lag was experienced.
Snapdragon 636
The second Xiaomi device to deploy the SD 636, I was able to fully test the power of the Mi Max 3 to the extent, running games and multitask, in my opinion this unit did a very good job in multitasking, as well as playing some decent games, we even did play NBA2k18 and PUBG. the graphics rendered was quite good on a big screen display phone. I was able to finish 2 full games playing nothing but basketball and the unit responded well, it wasnt laggy after playing for quite sometime.
Surfing, Chatting, Calls and Navigating were all done at the same time and it was quite stable not seeing the unit clamp down due to too many task being done at the same time. The Redmi Note 5 Pro was awarded as the best of MWC 2018 and we believe this unit should keep up its hype using this awesome SD 636 SoC.
The AnTuTu score of this unit out of the box using the 4/64GB Variant is 120196, its not really that great as compared to that if the Redmi Note 5 Pro which scored roughly 134k point on our previous review of that unit.
Google Play Installation Guide
[Device Team] Mi Max 3 Google Play Installation Guide
en.miui.com/thread-3320023-1-1.html
(Source: Xiaomi MIUI Official Forum)
More Photos of the Awesome BIG!
If We Got the Black Variant, We also got the Gold Variant!
The white bezel shines on the Mi Max 3.
Camera
On a normal basis, there is rarely a phone that has everything you can ask for in it, there will always be a shortcoming, be it on the processor, battery or even the camera. But having mentioned all the good stuffs in this phone, we kind of expect that the camera will be an average one since all 3 camera sensors on this phone is a Samsung Sensor and not a Sony IMX sensor. But I guess I have misjudged this BIG as the performance of the camera is above my expectation, normally on a big phone or a tablet, the main focus will be on the screen and other components, the camera is the least of the priority. But Xiaomi has made sure to tackle every single nity grity details to make sure to deliver the best to its consumers, and behold the camera samples that you all been waiting for.
Video can run up to UHD 4k, quite impressive, and EIS is present
Shutter speed 32s and ISO 3200 on manual mode.
Actual Photos
Everyone's favorite part, the sample photos of this phone. Now we like to introduce our supermodel for this Mi MAX 3 edition, Ms. Joan Apolinar, despite her super busy schedule, she took time to be our guest model to test out this awesome camera.
Selfie Camera
Video Sample at 4K
Battery Performance
We were able to achieve an unbelieveable battery performance on this unit, well Snapdragons are really known for its battery efficiency but this one really is insane. We were able to get a 18 hour and 29 minutes SOT result from the PC Mark Battery Stress Test. We did try to use it for a couple of days on normal usage, and surprisingly we did not even charged it up the whole day. We charged the unit at 19% battery to 100% using the QC 3 charger and the supplied cable, we were able to achieve it in 1 hours and 50 minutes. Which is impressive to charge up a 5500 mAh battery of its size.
Other Important Benchmarks
Verdict
After playing with this unit for a while, I honestly cant find any down side on this phone other that I cannot do any function on it on a single hand like I always do with my Mi 6. The screen size is big without adding up to the size of the Mi Max 2, the battery is awesome, the camera is above average for me. Overall its a good investment if you find the Redmi Note 5 a little small for you, the performance of this unit is pretty much impressive I should say and I recommend this one for people who like a larger screen than the usual 5.7 Inch offering in the market.
4/64 GB retails for 1699 RMB
Mi Max 3
by mitch002
Rumors has been swirling around since the release of the Mi 8 during the 8th anniversary of Xiaomi. Leaks and more photos has the internet covered on the next big release in the Mi MAX 3 and rumored specs said that it will then sport the Snapdragon 710 which first appeared on the Mi 8 SE. Finally, the air is clear, the final specs is out and just recently announced on July 19th in China that the Mi MAX 3 is really larger than life, honestly on my first touch of this device, I can say it was really build to impress. You want to know what I'm talking about? Read everything that I have to tell you right in this article.
Mi MAX 3 Specs Sheet
- 6.9-inch Full HD+ display @ 2160 x 1080 pixels, 403ppi, 77.4% screen to body ratio, 18:9 Ratio, 520NIT, 84% NTSC Color Gamut
- 1.8GHz Snapdragon 636 Octa-core CPU Qualcomm SDM636 Kryo 260
- Adreno 509 GPU
- 4GB / 6GB RAM
- 64GB/128GB Internal storage (No Expansion Slot)
- 12MP 1.4μm Rear Camera, f/1.9 Aperture, Dual PDAF, dual LED flash, face recognition, HDR, AI, Samsung s5k217 Sensor
- 5MP secondary lens, Samsung s5k5e8Sensor
- 8MP front-facing camera, 1.12μm, f/2.0 Aperture with soft flash, 1080p, Portrait, AI Beauty, Samsung s5k4h7 Sensor
- Dual-SIM (Nano + Nano/SD Card) SD Card supports up to 256GB
- 4G LTE, 4G+, Dual LTE Mode
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, 2.4G 5G Wifi, WiDi
- Bluetooth 5.0,
- GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- Fingerprint scanner
- USB C Port
- 5500 mAh battery, Supports QC 3.0
- Android 8.1 on MIUI 9.6
- 176.15mm x 87.4mm x 7.99mm
- 221 grams
- Available in Black, Gold, Lake Blue
Official Trailer
Whats in the Box
The white box with the etched gold font looks very attractive for first time buyers.
The specs of the Mi Max 3 at the back of the Box
First glance at the Mi Max 3
6.9 inch screen
The back looks just like a hulked up Redmi Note 5
Mi Max 3, Manual, QC 3 Charger, USB C Cable, Sim Ejector Pin to round up whats inside the box
Funny that Xiaomi forgot to include a protective case this time around
QC 3.0 Charger
Video Unboxing:
Design
The Mi MAX 3 has improved itself in so many ways as compared to its sibling the Mi Max 2. This time around, we have the same weight, but we have a bigger screen size, a bigger battery size, a dual camera and a better display compared to the previous generation. That means, everything has been beefed up. We have seen the overly used SD 625 being deployed on units of Xiaomi up until this very day, and it was a tough break that this one is not a receipient of the SD 625 which is similar to the Mi Max 2. The design of this unit is mostly patterned after the great Redmi Note 5, we can simply say that this is somewhat a hulked up Redmi Note 5 before our very eyes.
Stereo Speakers, USB C Port at the bottom
Hybrid Sim Slot, Sim 1 + Sim 2 / SD Card
LED and Camera on top of the front screen
Sim ejector tray
Volume rocker and power button
Very similar to the Redmi Note 5
Infrared, 3.5mm audio jack, noise cancellation mic
Front view
Rear view
Dual Camera
Mi Logo
Connectivity
The Mi MAX 3 supports 14 different LTE bands, it's easy to switch to LTE network inside the settings, this unit also supports dual 4G. You can freely choose which sim you want to use your LTE data, since this is a Dual LTE, Dual standby smartphone. We have experienced no problem surfing using LTE or 3G in our home country in the Philippines as well as dual standby mode is working seamlessly. 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 and working pretty good. We also have a smooth navigation using Google Maps while cruisin in the city using the Mi MAX 3 during our weeklong review.
Display and Audio
- MP4
- M4V
- MKV
- XVID
- WAV
- AAC
- MP3
- AMR
- FLAC
Supports H.265/HEVC (Main profile), H.264 (Baseline/Main/High profile), MPEG4 (Simple profile/ASP), and VC-1 (Simple/Main/Advanced profile) video formats, and supports PCM and AAC /AAC+/eAAC+, MP3, AMR - NB and WB, FLAC, WAV and other audio formats
We did watch some good movies on this unit and some anime and we were impressed with the display ratio that it has to offer, it was really huge like watching on our Mi Pad 4. The screen resolution was pretty good as we tried to render some 4K movies on this unit. Sounds was also good on loudspeaker and its pretty excellent watching good moview with many action sounds. We used a Mi Pistons Dual Driver headset to watch the movie and we missed the audio jack port as we always need to carry the converter for mostly Xiaomi units released without the audio port. Listening to music via streaming app was also seamless, no lag was experienced.
Snapdragon 636
The second Xiaomi device to deploy the SD 636, I was able to fully test the power of the Mi Max 3 to the extent, running games and multitask, in my opinion this unit did a very good job in multitasking, as well as playing some decent games, we even did play NBA2k18 and PUBG. the graphics rendered was quite good on a big screen display phone. I was able to finish 2 full games playing nothing but basketball and the unit responded well, it wasnt laggy after playing for quite sometime.
Surfing, Chatting, Calls and Navigating were all done at the same time and it was quite stable not seeing the unit clamp down due to too many task being done at the same time. The Redmi Note 5 Pro was awarded as the best of MWC 2018 and we believe this unit should keep up its hype using this awesome SD 636 SoC.
The AnTuTu score of this unit out of the box using the 4/64GB Variant is 120196, its not really that great as compared to that if the Redmi Note 5 Pro which scored roughly 134k point on our previous review of that unit.
Google Play Installation Guide
[Device Team] Mi Max 3 Google Play Installation Guide
en.miui.com/thread-3320023-1-1.html
(Source: Xiaomi MIUI Official Forum)
More Photos of the Awesome BIG!
If We Got the Black Variant, We also got the Gold Variant!
The white bezel shines on the Mi Max 3.
Camera
On a normal basis, there is rarely a phone that has everything you can ask for in it, there will always be a shortcoming, be it on the processor, battery or even the camera. But having mentioned all the good stuffs in this phone, we kind of expect that the camera will be an average one since all 3 camera sensors on this phone is a Samsung Sensor and not a Sony IMX sensor. But I guess I have misjudged this BIG as the performance of the camera is above my expectation, normally on a big phone or a tablet, the main focus will be on the screen and other components, the camera is the least of the priority. But Xiaomi has made sure to tackle every single nity grity details to make sure to deliver the best to its consumers, and behold the camera samples that you all been waiting for.
Video can run up to UHD 4k, quite impressive, and EIS is present
Shutter speed 32s and ISO 3200 on manual mode.
Actual Photos
Everyone's favorite part, the sample photos of this phone. Now we like to introduce our supermodel for this Mi MAX 3 edition, Ms. Joan Apolinar, despite her super busy schedule, she took time to be our guest model to test out this awesome camera.
Selfie Camera
Video Sample at 4K
Battery Performance
We were able to achieve an unbelieveable battery performance on this unit, well Snapdragons are really known for its battery efficiency but this one really is insane. We were able to get a 18 hour and 29 minutes SOT result from the PC Mark Battery Stress Test. We did try to use it for a couple of days on normal usage, and surprisingly we did not even charged it up the whole day. We charged the unit at 19% battery to 100% using the QC 3 charger and the supplied cable, we were able to achieve it in 1 hours and 50 minutes. Which is impressive to charge up a 5500 mAh battery of its size.
Other Important Benchmarks
Verdict
After playing with this unit for a while, I honestly cant find any down side on this phone other that I cannot do any function on it on a single hand like I always do with my Mi 6. The screen size is big without adding up to the size of the Mi Max 2, the battery is awesome, the camera is above average for me. Overall its a good investment if you find the Redmi Note 5 a little small for you, the performance of this unit is pretty much impressive I should say and I recommend this one for people who like a larger screen than the usual 5.7 Inch offering in the market.
4/64 GB retails for 1699 RMB
Mi Max 3
