Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus Review – Bigger Isn’t Better

Chris G 18 Comments featured, Mobile phones, Xiaomi
Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus Review – Bigger Isn’t Better

The second Mi 5S is the Mi 5S Plus version, it has a larger 5.7″ screen, larger 3800mAh battery and a dual Sony 13MP rear camera set up. The rest of the specs remain the same, Qualcomm snapdragon 821, 4GB of RAM (up to 6GB) and 64GB to 128GB of UFS 2.0 storage. Still no MicroSD card slot on this one. Below is my detailed Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus Review video covering the most important aspects of the Mi 5S Plus.

The spec sheet is great, but overall I find the Mi 5S Plus disappointing, a step down from the Xiaomi Mi 5S I reviewed a 2 weeks back. The build quality isn’t as good, the dual cameras when used look just like HDR was turned on and doesn’t really do much for photo quality, only giving a brighter HDR-like photo with more unnatural color reproduction with about double the file size.

And my unit suffers from some quality control and build issues. 3 fixed, stuck/dead pixels on my display only after 2 weeks of use and my power button has a very shallow feel to it, almost no travel, I doubt it will last long. It feels more like a budget Redmi or Redmi Note mobile rather than a flagship mobile.

Apart from those negatives, the speed of the Mi 5S Plus is very good. It’s quick, snappy and a very capable gaming mobile with it’s slightly faster clocked Adreno 530 GPU. Battery life is also very good that’s to the large 3800mAh battery. Unless you really must have a larger display I would recommend skipping this model and looking at the Mi5S with it’s better Sony IMX 378 camera, and better build quality with a stronger feeling full metal rear unibody. There is also the LeEco Le Pro 3, which has a better build, larger battery, however a 16MP camera that’s not as good as the Mi5S’s camera.

Chris G
Video tech reviewer and tech blogger. I have a huge interest in the latest tech, tablets, laptops, mobiles, drones, and even e-scooters. Active in the tech community since 2008 days of the Omnia i900 Windows phone. Samsungi8910omnia.com, Samsunggalaxysforums.com founder from way back.

18 Comments

  1. i want to buy xiaomi mi5s plus. isn’t it better?? i just want to get someting big.
    which one is better?? mi5s or mi5s plus??

    • I would get the Mi 5S instead or the LeEco Le Pro 3. Skip the Mi 5S Plus, I didn’t like it so much.

      • why you don’t like mi5s plus??
        please explain that

        • The camera setup is really no better, poorer build compared to the Mi 5S. I think Xiaomi should have skipped it just released the Note 2 instead.

  2. Now MI would be launching the next version the MI 6 next month. It would have a Qualcomm snapdragon 835 processor, the screen length would be 5.5inches and would be having the Nougat update right out of the box.

    • Yes, I’m looking forward to reviewing it. If Xiaomi can focus on the camera in it, they could have a real winner on their hands to compete with the G6, S8 and iPhone 8 even.

  3. I really don’t understand why Xiaomi would release a Xiaomi Mi5s Plus and then released the Mi Note 2. They’re really similar in specs – doesn’t make too much sense.

    • I agree, they should have skipped this one can gone straight to the Mi Note 2. Btw, I’ll have it next week.

  4. btw Chris, you have tested a lot of the latest serie LeEco phones, and most of these have moved away from jack to TypeC, and give the possiblelity for taking the digital signal to the headphones and having an quality DAC (digital to analog converter) in the headhpnes and in theory take more advantage of good headphones.
    and LeECo have also there own socalled looseless standard CDLA (have you tested that)?
    Was thinking to optain the LeEco CDLA earplugs with CDLA loseless, but doubtfull how much socalled good sound they can deliver, and if they ewen got an seperate dac of meaningfull standard, when you have in mund you can get them around 16.50U shipped.?

    Have you tested CDLA from LeEco?

    • I have some CDLA LeEco ones coming, but they didn’t make it in time for my review. Just testing out the type-c to 3.5mm I was impressed with the quality. Those CDLA headphones look a bit cheap, but I’ll find out when mine arrive. LeEco should have included some in the box.

  5. Sounds like you’ve had a fake Chris! Lol

    • More like one that slipped through the QC checks. Stil the build of it isn’t a patch on the Mi5S, no way near as solid feeling and feels like mid-range mobile of theirs. Looking forward to the Mi Mix and Mi Note 2. They should be much better.

  6. UMi plus…. Seems to have same specs as umi super but thinner
    Except camera umi super is a great deal
    Widgets bug…. Only Gmail doesn’t…. Agenda does
    Battery is amazing

    • I’ve ordered a UMI Plus to review. should be here soon.

      • please Chris consider getting the Xiaomi Mi MIX or the Xiaomi Mi Note 2, although they are not really ‘Chinese’ when coming to cost….

        • I have them ordered.

          • Thats nice, you must be getting rich lol. I hope Xiaomi considers releasing them outside of china…………

        • Rich? No 🙁 The other way buying all this tech isn’t cheap.

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