Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Impressions

Got a Mix 2 a few days back to replace my S7 Edge. Really nice phone, thought I'd add some Impressions...

- Design of the device is gorgeous (I have the all-ceramic version). It's not as "bezel-less" as my S8 (that I use for work), but the screen definitely the only thing you notice. The ceramic finish does pick up prints, but probably the nicest looking phone I've used. As a general impression, it seems a bit like an Xperia if Sony got their act together honing the design and used more premium materials.

-Screen is very nice and gets super bright. I really see no difference btwn it's FHD+ and other UHD screens I've used. Colors don't pop as much as an AMOLED, look more natural, but IPS has it's own advantages.

-Camera works well but nothing special. The placement of the front camera on the bottom bezel is odd, but certainly workable. Focus, HDR, face recognition all work well: I'd say on par with my S7. Again, software treatment is extremely similar to Huawei.

-MIUI is exceedingly similar to Huawei's Emotion UI, I honestly see no major difference (I'm using MIUI 9). There's no app tray which I prefer. It's simple to use and logical. There are some Mi bloat apps, but those can be easily hidden. I have the Chinese version, but had no issue setting up in English with Google Play. No issues with app compatibility and my Gear S3 pairs well (although had to turn off MIUI acceleration for the Gear app sync).

-Battery life is excellent, a bit better than my wife's Oneplus 5, and noticably better than my S8, night and day better than my S7.

All in all a terrific device. I'd say it edges out Oneplus5 mostly due to the beautiful design if I was choosing again, and it competes well with other flagships. I'd say if it had a dual camera and UHD screen (although this would certainly reduce battery life) it would be the best device out there no contest. As it stands, it's definitely the best current flagship under $600 IMO and trades blows with the more expensive models.

I have the original mix which I love. The ceramic frame and back give it great feel but fingerprint magnet. It's too bad the mix 2 went with a smaller battery. The original has a 4400 mAh and the new one has a 3400 mAh? Step in the wrong direction.

But overall I think these are great devices. It has a very luxury feel to it. Mine's ceramic with the 18k gold accents on the fingerprint reader and camera. Interesting technology (cantilever piezoelectric ceramic acoustic). Be wary the ceramic makes it slippery and you'll definitely want a case on it.

Meh no patches no buy for me. I don't care how good the hardware is

Where exactly did you guys purchase it? IS it available in USA?

My wife went to Sing for business last week and picked one up for me. You can get them on Ebay I believe in US and UK, but currently ship from China. I'd expect local vendors to have them in stock over next week's.

One more word on MIUI: one other thing I'm liking is the settings where you can set up quick gestures for a number of functions. Always hated on Samsungs that you were stuck with a handful of badly placed quick gestures. Also, another MIUI patch (9.7.10.12) just came in so the weekly updates do seem to be coming in.

Also failed to mention I've had no problem getting it to work on my LTE networks with dual SIM (T-Mobile in US, Three in UK)

You can get them off eBay, gearbest, geekbuying, though the mi Mix 2 is suppose to be more mainstream so it’ll pop up in more places. But I do have to say they’re slow to update my original mi Mix. But I plan on jumping on custom roms. Bootloader is unlockable.

Yup, bootloader unlocked. Currently on Resurrection Remix Rom on Android 7.1.2. It has Android security patch from October 5, 2017. Fun Stuff.

Like clockwork, got a weekly MIUI update last night. Love that the updates stream down weekly instead of waiting months.

I noticed that the new miui 9 was recently released for this phone. I haven't had a chance to test it out as I am on a custom rom. But for those on stock it would bump those on marshmallow to nougat. Some new neat features and vulkan API support.