Xiaomi Mi 8 Review

Xiaomi’s flagship has always been the best-selling devices due to the price to performance ratio. If you are thinking that the last flagship was the Xiaomi Mi 6 then what about the Mi 7? Then the company made it clear that they are having the 8^th anniversary this year, and hence they are coming out with the Xiaomi Mi 8 in order to celebrate the anniversary.

If you remember with Mi 6 they launched a really dull looking device where they gave the best of gizmos in its Mi Mix and the Mi Note series devices, this time they have made the Mi 8 a true masterpiece in the true sense, let us have a look at the device with the review and see if Xiaomi Mi 8 stands to the wit and makes the company proud about their device, also do note that the device will for sure be a good performer, but we will also have a brief look at how well it competes with the galaxies and the premium apples.

Design & Build

Mi 8 is not a mix and match of the Mi Mix and the Mi Note series devices, this time the device is coming with the latest in the trend 19:9 ratio screen which does have a notch which almost all the flagships which came in late 2017 and in 2018 features.

Xiaomi doesn’t come with a 3D face mapping feature which comes with the Explorer edition device, and even the in screen scanner which is also a part of the explorer edition device, for the normal edition we have a fingerprint scanner which is mounted on the back of the device. Like the trend of 2018, we have the dual camera set up at the back which is the same unit as we found on the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s about which we will talk more in the camera section.

Talking about the construction materials we have a 7000 – series aluminum frame which is tough as well as quite good to hold in hand. While on the front and back we have the Gorilla Glass 5 protection as both are fragile glass units. Talking about the in-hand feel of the device, it sure feels good in the hand and at the same time you are going to find the device extremely comfortable. In one’s hand you can surely make out that he/she is holding a really premium device, hence it is quite clear that Xiaomi has perfectly nailed the device in terms of looks and premium design.

Display

The Xiaomi Mi 8 being the flagship rocks the best of the display that you can get from the brand, this includes a 6.21 – inches screen which happens to have a ratio of 18.7:9 which is unique, but is increased in order to accommodate the extra notch so that it doesn’t interfere with the normal working of the device. Talking about the resolution of the screen it is a 2248 x 1080 px resolution one which happens to have a PPI of 402, all these numbers translate that the device is coming with a really great display unit. The surprising factor is the HDR 10 and DCI – P3 compatibility of the device.

The display is an AMOLED one which makes the screen of the phone the best due to the merits of AMOLED and the kind of progress it has done over the years. The screen is visible in all the different situations ranging from the daily life indoor conditions containing dark places of the house to places where the phone will reflect the most. The display is reflective to a whole new level still the brightness of the panel shins out even in the bright sunlight which makes the display legible in the daytime. Coming to the night time when it is going to be pitch dark you will find the screen to hurt your eyes a bit due to the brightness of the display unit.

Performance

As the Xiaomi Mi 8 is a flagship unit we can clearly say that the unit is going to be the best from Xiaomi in each and every term, and it is quite true in all sense. When it comes to the performance we are going to see the Octa-Core CPU from Qualcomm which is the Snapdragon 845, the top of the line performance chip from Qualcomm of the 2018 year. Most of the flagships expect from Huawei, Samsung, & Apple used the product from Qualcomm.  The processor is coupled with an Adreno 630 GPU which is the most powerful GPU for a mobile phone.

Talking about the RAM it is having 6GB of RAM and 64GB of Internal Storage although there are variants which even have 256GB of storage. Xiaomi made it clear that the Mi 8 is the best of their device, and there are only the specs which are useful to the core. There are devices which consist of 8GB RAM which is ridiculously extra out of no reason, but on the Xiaomi Mi 8 we cannot find any such issue and the setup is well defined in each and every terms. Although they have come with an explorer edition which will have the 8GB RAM setup, as far as Mi 8 is concerned there is no such model coming in the upcoming months.

Talking about the performance in the real world, there will be no issue whatsoever especially in terms of performance, and each and every app and game is going to glide over the phone. The phone has its performance just like any other mobile phone would have the same specs, but due to the Xiaomi’s MIUI 10 UI the phone lacks a bit due to the bloaty UI and we can find that as compared to other phones this phone has issues in driving some of the apps, and the apps tends to get slow on the Xiaomi Mi 8.

Camera

Xiaomi have included the same setup as we have seen on the Mi Mix 2s, the setup comes with a 12MP primary camera which is having a ½.55” sensor while the pixel size is 1.4um, and the aperture is f/1.8, there are even features included such as the dual – pixel phase detect autofocus system, and Optical Image Stabilization. Talking about the secondary camera the company have included a sensor of the same pixel size i.e 12 MP but here the sensor size is different at 1/3.4 while the aperture happens to be f/2.4, the major difference here is the 2X zoom which can be found on the secondary lens.

The front camera of the phone comes with a 20MP sensor which is not like the Mi Mix 2s, hence just the rear camera is carried forward from the same. The front camera happens to have an aperture of f/2.0 which is quite normal and supports video recording of up to 1080p at 30fps, this is quite normal. The front camera of the phone also accounts for the iris detection and face unlocking, as the phone supports both the different types of unlocking mechanisms.

Talking about the real world performance of the device, we can say that both the sensors are quite good and you will get a great amount of picture quality from the device. The phone comes with a good amount of saturation to put on the images captured from either of the sensors. There are a host of features available for the user to put on the pictures while using the camera unit. Also when you are capturing the photo do note that the end result will differ a bit, that is due to the extra color pop magic which the camera puts by itself to the images, this makes the colors of the phone to pop up and hence you will have a nice time with pictures to post on different social media accounts.

Battery

The Xiaomi Mi 8 comes with a sealed unit of 3400 mAh capacity, the device also supports Quick Charge 4.0+ which will be charging your device at a rapid speed, and will surely ensure that the device is always 100% charged for you wherever you are going. The handset is a powerful chipset which will surely suck out power at a nice rate when you have games or intensive task going on, and hence when you are using the phone for some intensive task then you will have a maximum of 3 & ½ hour of screen on time, but rest assured that you will be having a good time with the games as they will be running lag free.

But the screen on time for the phone is quite good when you use the phone just for normal calls and social media. You will fully rest assured as you can even use the phone for 1 & ½ day without any issue, this does means that you can charge the phone and use it in a mixed environment and charge the phone at the end of the day.

Verdict

Talking about the Xiaomi Mi 8, we can say that the device is the best masterpiece that is being made by Xiaomi till now, do note that the device will be the best whenever it launches in India. Currently, with its launch in China, it is selling like hotcakes and it deserves the position. Mi 8’s fortune in India will be just against the pricing, we are not going to see a high pricing, but an aggressive one is surely guaranteed, at what price tag do you think the Xiaomi Mi 8 will come for? Do let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.