Review | Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 full review: elegant smartphone with a lot of good features including brand’s best camera yet, and great value

The first Mi Mix was jaw-dropping, but there’s less of a wow factor about its successor now other makers have bezel-less handsets out; still, it has a lot going for it, few downsides, and it’s half the price of an iPhone X

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Xiaomi Mi Mix 2’s ceramic back gives it an elegant look and feel. Photo: Ben Sin

Published: 7:15am, 25 Sep 2017Updated: 9:25am, 25 Sep 2017

When Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi introduced the Mi Mix last year, jaws dropped at the sight of its bezel-less design. Its successor faces stiff competition, however, with companies ranging from obscure Shenzhen manufacturers to big bad Apple all coming out with their own take on the all-screen phone. Can the Mi Mix 2 keep the Xiaomi buzz going?

Design and hardware

From the 18-carat gold trim around the camera lens to the smooth ceramic back that curves softly at the sides, to the fingerprint reader that looks more seamless and subtle than the clicky scanners on the current iPhones, the Mi Mix 2 is meant to evoke the feel of a refined piece of jewellery. In this Xiaomi has succeeded: the Mi Mix 2 is a refined and elegant piece of hardware that feels great in the hand.

The 18-carat gold trim around the Mi Mix 2’s camera. Photo: Ben Sin

Power on the display and you’re greeted with a front that’s almost entirely screen except for a small chin at the bottom, which houses a 5-megapixel, front-facing camera (you’ll have to flip the phone upside down for selfies).

The 1080 x 2160 resolution LCD display is very good, though it doesn’t get as punchy or bright as Samsung or LG’s OLED panels. It does, however, get very dim – as low as 1 nit of brightness – which makes it much less distracting to use in dark settings than other phones.

Software and features

The Mi Mix 2 ships with Android 7.1.1 with Xiaomi’s own MIUI software on top. Now in its 9th generation, MIUI is a clean, bright, slightly cartoony skin that offers a breadth of customisation features. You can, for example, assign specific actions to each navigation button when long-pressed, and MIUI offers situational notification rules for each app. It also allows the user to run two versions of the same app on one device. These are all things that stock Android devices cannot do.