Xiaomi Mi Max is the new sensational Tablet size smartphone in the market at present. This is priced as a mid-level smartphone but has an impressive specification sheet. Xiaomi is always well known for their Less Price marketing strategy to beat any competition. Xiaomi Mi Max is also priced very low, and hence there is no single phablet in the market in this price with comparable aspects.
Another important thing is the availability of different RAM and Storage variants. Xiaomi Mi Max offers us with 3GB and 4GB RAM variants. Here we took the 3GB RAM and 32GB Internal Storage option for review.
Xiaomi Mi Max Review: Design and Build
Xiaomi Mi Max is a big phablet in size. It measures 88.3mm width and 173.1mm height. This is a massive size. For most of the operations, users may need to use both hands. But, some basic operations can be done with the single hand. At the same time, the thickness is only 7.5mm.
The back side is rounded at the edges and has a subtle texture to avoid accidental slips. The fingerprint scanner is located on the back side, around one inch from the top. Below the screen in the front, three capacitive buttons were given, orderly, for – App Switcher, Home Button and Back.
The Power key and the volume rocker is on the right side, and the left side has the SIM tray. At the bottom, there are microUSB 2.0 port and Speaker grilles. At the top, there are 3.5mm audio jack, Infrared blaster, and secondary mic.
We find this design is good for this price. Because of the size of this Phablet, the users may need to use both hands. Other than that, remaining things are good.
Display
Xiaomi Mi Max has a 6.44 inches screen. This screen size is very rare. There are many 5.5 inches and 6.0 inches out there. But 6.44 inches lift the scale of Phablets to next level. The screen resolution is very satisfactory with 1080 x 1920 pixels. The pixel density is 342ppi. The resolution and pixel density both are good and assures clarity in the display.
The display is made of IPS LCD. It has no issues with this big size screen. The viewing angles of Xiaomi Mi Max are good. The screen is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It protects the screen from damages. Around the front screen, there is a black frame which is undesirable by many. But, it does not affect the quality of the screen or display. The capacitive buttons are also not on screen. They are located below the screen. This gives more space to the screen.
Hardware Performance
The 3GB RAM variant, the one we are reviewing has Snapdragon 650 Hexa-core processor chipset in the CPU section. This Snapdragon 650 is well known and well performing mid-level processor. It contains one Cortex A72 Dual-core processor and one Cortex A53 Quad-core processor. The graphical processor-bounded with this CPU is Adreno 510. It is also good for mid-level devices. This GPU is capable of power gaming even in 1080 pixel resolution.
Coming to the Memory Division of Xiaomi Mi Max, there is 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The external storage is capable up to 128GB. The SIM slot 1 is also the microSD card holder for external storage purpose.
The performance tests conducted on Xiaomi Mi Max went well. Even with the 3GB of RAM, the heavy processing operations such as multi-tasking, playing 3D games, watching videos at 1080p resolution, etc. are nicely handled. There is no lagging or other complaints in hardware performance.
Software Performance
Xiaomi Mi Max runs on MIUI 7, the OS skin of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. MIUI is one of the best skin OS in Android and has a considerable amount of fan following. In Mi Max, both the fingerprint scanner and power button can unlock the screen from sleep. Performance wise, there is no complaint in Mi Max which running on MIUI 7. Soon the MIUI 8 will be released and will be available for Mi Max users.
Camera
The rear camera in Xiaomi Mi Max is a 16MP camera with a lot of features such as phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash and aperture f/2.0 lens. The front side has 5MP camera for selfies with aperture f/2.0 lens.
The rear camera is the impressive and front camera is disappointing. The camera app has all the necessary settings which can be tweaked for various situations. The flashlight does its job with the rear camera. The pictures are sharp with proper settings. The video recording can be done up to the 2160 pixel resolution.
Connectivity and Battery
Xiaomi Mi Max has hybrid SIM tray which has two slots. One for nano SIM and one micro SIM, which also used for microSD card. WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, IR blaster, microUSB 2.0 and USB OTG are the main connectivity features.
The battery of Xiaomi Mi Max is a 4850mAh Lithium Ion made. It is nonremovable. The major thing about this battery is the capacity. This is one of the massive battery which can power the device for days. Even at the maximum heavy use, this battery crossed a day. For casual use, we can expect this to cross two or three days easily.
Verdict
After all the aspects we have seen, the final thing is the price. The price is $249.99 in many online stores. The price is very low considering the hardware, camera, battery and memory storage it has. The Snapdragon 650 CPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB ROM, 4850mAh battery and 16MP rear camera are a real treat for this price.
Next to it, the phablet size smartphones are not many in the market. This phablet cuts out many odds in this range. The front camera is one small issue we face. Overall, this is a great smartphone – phablet available right now in the market. You can check out the current price and availability of Xiaomi Mi Max here.