Xiaomi’s latest flagship mobile phone the Mi5 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 with Adreno 530 graphics (Same chipset used in the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5). I’ve had mine now for almost a week and here’s the full Mi5 video review.
The Mi5 has a premium build, great audio quality. A bright and sharp 1080p screen and the Snapdragon 820 is a beast that can play all the latest games at super-fast fluid frame rates. What I wasn’t particularly impressed with was the 4k video quality, the OIS seemed average for a 4 axis one and there is a lot of artifacts in the video from quick movements or recording the sky and sea. The GPS accuracy wasn’t as good as I would have expected for a flagship. The GPS accuracy was way off compared to my Galaxy S7 Edge as placing them side by side my Mi5 would see 15 satellites, lot on to only 9 and the Galaxy S7 Edge saw 20 and locked onto all 20 of them.
It just didn’t seem to want to lock onto the GLONASS satellites whereas the S7 Edge would lock on to all visible satellites GLONASS and GPS.
The Pros and Cons of the new Mi5
Pros:
Snapdragon 820 offers top performance
Premium build quality
Great audio quality
Fast UFS 2.0 storage
Bright and sharp 1080p screen (One of the best)
Cons:
4k video has artifacts. Not flagship quality
4 Axis OIS is a marketing gimmick, no better than 3 Axis
GPS not as accurate as expected
Very slippery design (Case or skin is a must)
MIUI isn’t for everyone
Sample photos (Rear 16MP camera):
Benchmarks (Including battery life stats):
Video samples (4k)
Xiaomi Mi5 16MP Camera Vs the Galaxy S7 Edge 12MP camera. OIS test.
If you’re interested in getting a Xiaomi Mi5, I recommend using Banggood.com as unlike Aliexpress where I ordered mine, they are cheaper and offer the protection of using PayPal.
Johnson Charles
Thanks for reviewing this great phone. Can you tell me the release date of the Xiaomi Mi 6? http://mi6splus.com/xiaomi-mi-6-features/
Prashant Bhatt
Buy it at a discounted price $380 world wide free shipping http://goo.gl/dcGIe0
Jazmac
Hi Chris. I just watched a couple of your 4k comparison sample vids and even thought the Mi5 could be a tad more steady its not so unsteady that I would be worried. I think I like the colors in the Mi5 better than the Samsung. But by a lot but to me they are more pleasing to the eye.
Radu Alexandru
Can you please put all the tests that you make in pcmark (performance and battery life) in a single post? Phones and tablets, and especially galaxy s7, xiaomi mi5 , xiaomi note 3 pro and chinese tablets….pleaseeeee . Thanks