If you’re looking for a phone with a unique design and some of the latest technology, then the Mi Mix 3 5g is worth considering. It offers a 6.39 AMOLED display, a dual-lens rear camera with Portrait Mode and studio lighting effects, and a 24MP front-facing camera that takes impressive portrait-style bokeh shots night or day.
It’s a slider
The Mi Mix 3 5g is the first smartphone with a slider mechanism that reveals the dual front cameras when the screen slides down. It is an exciting take on the slider form factor of yesteryear that works surprisingly well and makes the phone feel more substantial than it looks.
This slider – a magnetically activated spring-loaded mechanism – feels sturdy and satisfyingly clicks into place when opened or shut, with an impressive 300,000 cycles rating to boot. However, the front half of the slider has a little wiggle that can be attributed to some manufacturing tolerances and a slight gap between the slider and the phone’s screen when it’s open.
The MIUI software also leverages the slider mechanism to launch other functions when you slide the screen down, like accessing a note-taking app or timer or automatically launching WeChat. You can even customize the slider to launch specific apps or shortcuts.
It’s a 5G phone
The Mi Mix 3 5g is the world’s first smartphone to offer its users the full range of mobile connectivity capabilities. It boasts the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform with the X50 5G modem. It is designed to deliver ultra-fast downloading, stable live video conferencing, and VR/AR gaming up to 10x faster than current 4G networks.
It also supports multi-function NFC for mobile payments, Android Pay and Google Pay, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, 4×4 MIMO, and Qi Wireless Charging. It runs on Android 9 Pie overlaid with Xiaomi’s own MIUI skin.
Its design is a little different from some of its contemporaries, too, using magnets to hold the back and front of the phone together so that a slide-down action reveals both. It’s available in Onyx Black, Sapphire Blue, and Jade Green, though neither is UK-bound.
It’s a notch
The Mi Mix 3 is one of the most exciting phones to hit the market. It combines an almost bezel-less display with a slider mechanism that reveals the dual front cameras when you slide the screen down.
It’s a bit of an odd design but also very functional. The volume and power buttons are on the right, as is the pin-operated SIM tray, while the USB-C port is on the bottom.
The dual rear cameras are capable of fantastic night and day photography. However, the selfie camera struggles a bit under certain lighting conditions.
It’s a battery
The Mi Mix 3 5g has a fantastic battery, delivering a day’s worth of use with light to moderate usage. While it’s not as extensive as some of its rivals – the OnePlus 6T, Samsung Galaxy S10, and Huawei P30 Pro all have 5,000mAh cells – it performs well.
It’s also one of the fastest charging phones on the market – it takes less than an hour to reach full charge from 0%, and the quick and fast wireless chargers are included in the box.
On top of all that, the dual front and rear cameras are a joy to use in low-light conditions. There’s support for hand-held super night scene photography, and the camera even offers stabilization when recording video at 4K resolution and 60 fps.
