Taking a break from the Atom X5 Z8300 tablets (I’m not reviewing anymore until the new Z8X50’s Cherry Trail revisions are released) I’ve ordered a few flagship Chinese mobiles to review the Le Pro 3 from LeEco, Xiaomi Mi 5S and the Mi 5S Plus. Yesterday my Xiaomi Mi5S arrived. Here’s the unboxing video, including an audio test and video test.
The Xiaomi Mi 5S’s build quality is very good, it feels stronger than the Mi 5 at least the non-ceramic one now without glass on the rear. With the alloy rear housing it feels good in hand, metal buttons but some plastic around the glass which has 2.5D edges. It also feels super slippery when your hands are cold and dry.But it’disappointing to see the large 12MP sensor meant the loss of optical image stabilization. All we have is digital image stabilization on 1080p and not 4k.
See my Galaxy S6 Edge+ vs Mi 5S camera comparison below:
Disappointing to see the large 12MP sensor meant the loss of optical image stabilization. All we have is digital image stabilization on 1080p and not 4k. So as a result 4k clips on the new 12MP larger sensor are shaky, almost useable for the most part unless you have super steady hands or a tripod. We also lost the IR transmitter the Mi5 has and no more MI logo on the front of the device. But we gained NFC support (finally) and slightly larger battery (Only 200mAh more)
The new ultrasonic fingerprint reader works flawless for me, i’ll have to test it out with wet fingers and even oil were it apparently will still work whereas the standard fingerprint readers would fail to read it.
So far my findings:
- Same 1080p screen as the Mi 5, that’s not a bad thing unless you plan to use VR (for VR we really need 4k)
- 3GB/64GB version of mine has 55GB free on first boot.
- An OTA straight away brings an update to the fingerprint reader
- The build is great, but still not quite as solid as the Galaxy S7 or iPhone 6/7 in terms of build quality. But for the price it’s still very decent.
- The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 absolutely flies, this thing with UFS 2.0 storage is very, very quick.
- MIUI 8 out of the box (finally, the Redmi Pro and Redmi Note 4 still had MIUI 7)
- The UFS 2.0 storage is very quick, a crazy 400 mb/s reads and 180.mbs writes. That’s almost sata3 SSD speeds!
- PCmark battery life test finished last night with a result better than my Mi 5 of 8 hours 55 minutes. The Mi5S got 9 hours and 59 minutes with an on-screen time of around 8 hours and 30 minutes. I feel that is a very decent score considering it;s 5.15 inches and has a 3200mAh battery and a beast of a chipset the SD 821.
- Front camera tends to overexpose and the rear camera as expected takes better phones but the lack of OIS is a real shame. Bit rate of clips and the audio bitrate should be higher. Xiaomi still has a lot of work to do optimizing the cameras. 4k has focus hunting, breathing issues and artifacts from post processing with recording single colors like the blue sky or a white fence.
I’ll have more on this mobile and others soon as I take a break from the “ground hog day” Atom Z8300 tablets, which are now basically all the same.
If you’re wondering how I got the phone so fast, I got it from Goldway from Aliexpress here. One of about 5 sellers I truly trust that deliver as promised among the fake sellers and liers giving out fake tracking info. And if you want to use PayPal I recommend using Gearbest, Mi5S listing. And the Mi5S Plus listing on GB.
JUAN C
Chris, great reviews (and trust me, I have seen a lot of them :). Thank you so much for them.
Two questions:
1. Is the GPS on the Mi5s better than in the Mi5? I have heard (and you have mentioned it in your review) that Mi5 had some issues. I want accuracy for Endomondo, Runkeeper and similar apps (now I have a Mi4c that has a very poor GPS fix, even with all the possible tweaks, including rooting and so on).
2. Also, I understand from your reviews than pictures and stabilization are a tad better in the Mi5s, right? (assuming 1080p).
3. Finally, if I look for good camera and video and a contained budget (less than 400€), what Android phones would you recommend? I care about performance and multitasking with documents and webpages, but I never play games.
Thank you so much.
Chris G
Hi Juan, yes GPS is much better on this one over the Mi5. This good at photos and 1080p video. But 4k with shaky without stabilization. If you really want the best photos and video I recommend the Samsung Galaxy S7, I got mine for 499 euros from Amazon. It’s worth it. None of the Chinese ones have good cameras or what I think is good. S7/S7 Edge and iPhone 7 etc are 10 times better.
JUAN C
Thank you Chris. It helps to know the GPS is better. I agree with you about camera quality. I’ve been an iPhone user for a long time and I think they are still ahead. As for Samsung, I tried S6 and didn’t like it, it was slower than my iPhone 5!. Maybe when the S7 gets cheaper I will give it a try again… For the moment I will go for the Mi5s, if only to reward Xiaomi for shaking the market up a little 😉 I hope updates improve the image management, and about the focus ‘breathing’ issue I’ve read it improves if the video recording setting is changed to tap focus instead of continuous autofocus… Thanks again!
Kai
Which phone would you recommend Samsung Galaxy s6 or Xiaomi mi5s
for the price and evrything
thx mate
Chris G
Galaxy S6.
Kai
But why exactly because the xiaomi is faster and also has a sony cam and more battery life and a sanp 821 which is faster
what are the pro and contras
thx Chris for you help 🙂
Kai
or the one plus 3
Dean
Hey Chris, I was going to ask you to review phones as there is a void for the cheap Chinese ones.
what do you think of this http://ulefone.com/products/tiger/features.html
The price is amazing!
Chris G
Looks okay, my next Chinese phone will be the UMI Plus. I prefer the $200 range as you get a lot more spec wise it’s worth it over the $100 mobiles.
Dean
OK, thanks, good point
Diego Marzorati
Great Chris! Thank you very much. Not very excited with the news MI5s too different one from the other to have the same name. What interested me most is that the store sent you a sealed box. I contacted them but unfortunately they don’t ship to Argentina. What are your other trusted sellers in Aliexpress please?
Chris G
TopOne is another good seller http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/yvVvrBaim
Diego Marzorati
Thanks Chris.
Gorkii
Dear Chris,
I am sorry but I didn’t find the appropriate forum, so I write my ask for your recommendation here. 🙂
In term of video recording would you recommend either the Mi5 or the Mi5s? I would like to use the phone to record my hikes, travels, walks etc.. I use a budget Panasonic HD video camera (without OIS) now, but I would replace it to a mobile. Especially because I am used to use my phone to track my hikes, so it is always with me. Until now I was thinking about Mi5 but since the mi5s has appearad on the market, I am hesitating.
I know Mi5s doesn’t have OIS, but to be honest, Mi5’s OIS isn’t fully convinced me. Despite that your DIS sample seemed pretty good for me. I want to use only 1080 resolution, 4K recording is not an aspect for me, so MI5S’s DIS could be convenient me, If it can be up to MI5’s OIS.
Moreover autofocus quality of MI5 isn’t too attractive for me. I saw a lot of video samples, where the MI5’s CAF jumped continously and spoiled the overall video quality… Is it better in the Mi5S maybe?
Could you give me a recommendation if we are comparing only the 1080p video recording abilities of MI5 and MI5S? (And what about the FPS and bitrate what you emphasied in your MI5S video? Is MI5 better in this apsect?
Thank you for your answer in advance!
Chris G
Hi, the Mi5 has auto focus issues and so does the Mi5S. I find the video quality is sub-par compared to other Snapdragon 820/821 mobiles. Photo quality is definitely a bit better I feel on the Mi5S thanks to the larger new sensor, but in low light both are poor.
If you want good video quality, I would recommend going for the Samsung Galaxy S7. I just can’t recommend the Mi5S for its video quality, everything else about the mobile is great however.
Gorkii
Thanks for you answer Chris. Well, Samsung Galaxy S7 is extremely expensive and overpriced in my opinion. Of course I know it is a great phone, but I am unwilling to pay so much money for a phone. It is around 600-650 euro here in Hungary. More than avarage salary here. 🙂 This is ridiculous. Moreover I need a dual SIM mobile, so GS7 is not an option for me. I am thinking about the ZUK Z2 Pro, but design is pretty poor in my view and it’s more expesive than the Mi5s.
Just one more question. How do you feel, is MI5S’s DIS worse than MI5’s OIS in 1080p video recording or you didn’t experience considerable differencies?
Thank you Chris, and thank you for your great reviews as well! Keep it up! 🙂
Chris G
I would say the MI5S’s DIS is better and smoother than OIS on the MI5 by far. The Mi5’s 4 axis ois was hyped up so much and I found it a huge disappointment.
qarlos
im deciding between mi5 pro ceramic & mi5s
in your opinion…wich model has better camera?
Chris G
I think the Mi5S has the better camera so far. I can take some very decent looking stills. But no OIS is a real mistake. Or at least enable DIS on 4k if they could.
David Rodriguez
No camera picture samples?
Chris G
Not yet, they are coming in the review. I haven’t uploaded them as lately other websites have been stealing my images and claiming them as their own.