The tapered back of my Xiaomi Mi 9 review unit was a shiny gunmetal grey (though it’s officially called black). Xiaomi is also offering a host of other, more interesting colors with a funky sheen (called holographic spectrum) in blue or purple. There’s also a transparent version available, which looks awesome just like that old transparent Gameboy. The Xiaomi Mi 9 feels so great in the hand that it makes you want to use it. But I like my grey-black version. The Xiaomi Mi 9 feels so great in the hand and looks so striking that it makes you want to use it. That’s something I haven’t felt about a piece of tech since the early days of the Surface Pro or maybe the Nokia 8 Sirocco, which was weird but very nice to hold. Of course, opinions vary here — this device just happens to appeal to my own sensibilities — but the Mi 9 feels premium and slick. This is why you might buy the Xiaomi Mi 9 over the inevitable Pocophone F2, when one will launch later this year. Read more: Pocophone F1 review I’m just going to come out and say it: I actually prefer how this looks and feels to the Samsung Galaxy S10. By quite a margin in fact! Features This slim design doesn’t come without its compromises. The Xiaomi Mi 9 unfortunately does not sport a headphone jack or a microSD card slot — though it does have dual SIM. That’s a shame because the version I tested is only sporting 64GB of internal storage — some of which is already taken up by the OS. There’s a 128GB version available too but, either way, you’ll need to be careful about running out of storage. There’s no water resistance and what’s also a little lacking is the battery, which is only 3,300mAh. It’s lacking on paper at least — during actual use I found it to be adequate. I was able to use the Mi 9 a fair amount throughout the day, including video playback and gaming, and only needed to top up come evening. A bigger battery would of course be nice in a 2019 flagship, but it’s not as much of a kick in the crotch as you might think — which I think is likely down to the Snapdragon 855 at least in part. The Xiaomi Mi 9 unfortunately does not sport a headphone jack or an SD card slot The good news of course is that you get some impressive 20W wireless charging here. Xiaomi also sells a wireless charger to take full advantage of this, and it excels at quickly and conveniently charging your device. This isn’t included in the box as is the case with the Mi Mix 3 however. I did try using another wireless charger I had lying around and strangely it wouldn’t work. This might have been due to the slight camera bump preventing it from sitting in the sweet spot. Another interesting feature that we’re seeing more of these days is the in-display fingerprint sensor. This of course lets you unlock your device by pressing a thumb on the bottom of the screen, with a little image guiding you to the right spot. It has a nice animation, and you can even long-press the sensor to access useful app shortcuts. This works really well, though it’s not quite as quick as an old fashioned fingerprint sensor — especially seeing as you’ll need to adjust your finger positioning sometimes. Still, it’s actually quite fun and that almost makes up for the slight lack of speed. Whether you’ll feel that way in a year is less certain. You can use other methods though of course — including facial recognition — but it’s not the ultra-secure 3D facial recognition seen on the Mi 8. Another handy shortcut is the dedicated assistant button up on the top left which will trigger Google Assistant — no annoying Bixby here! If you want to, then you can also map this to a bunch of other things like the flashlight, or your previous app. Disappointingly though, you can’t map it to an app of your choosing. You can get around this limitation with Tasker and a little ingenuity — but it’s definitely a missed opportunity. Software MIUI 10 Android 9 Pie While we’re on the subject of software, let’s dive a little deeper into what you’re getting here. Of course, the Xiaomi Mi 9 is packing the latest version of MIUI (which is version 10.2), on top of Android Pie. The result is actually pretty good. Xiaomi began life as a custom ROM maker, so they should know what they’re doing in theory. I’ve never been particularly fond of the look of MIUI myself — which takes a few too many cues from iOS — but the Apple-inspired look as been toned down a lot lately and now has a pleasantly minimalist aesthetic. Everything is quick and snappy and while I have seen one or two bugs (related to launching the camera and switching orientation), they were rare and minor. It also brings a bunch of genuinely useful features, like additional security when installing new apps, and gesture navigation. Gestures can be used in the place of the software keys down the bottom, but also for a bunch of other actions like taking screenshots. It takes some muscle memory to get used to, but once you do it’s another handy feature. Dark mode is a must-have for me as well. Read: How to take a screenshot on the Xiaomi Mi 9 I love that you can actually uninstall the pre-packaged software too. MIUI still has a thriving community that is constantly contributing to its evolution. I love that you can actually uninstall the pre-packaged software too. That is such a refreshing change. The file manager is actually good too — it’s nice not having to install ES File Explorer for a change. Performance Performance though is where it is at when it comes to the Xiaomi Mi 9. That’s because this is one of the very first devices to sport the Snapdragon 855 chipset, which means it is more than capable of annihilating whatever you throw at it in theory. In AnTuTu, the Xiaomi Mi 9 managed to beat 99 percent of other users. Anyone who has watched a few of my reviews by now will know what my own personal benchmark for performance is: the Dolphin GameCube and Wii emulator. I was impressed by the Nubia Red Magic Mars, because it was able to run Metroid Prime at a playable framerate on the Snapdragon 845 through a combination of cooling, overclocking, and bags of RAM. But this is a whole generational upgrade and boy does it show. Now, pretty much any Gamecube game will run at a silky smooth framerate, and you can even tackle Wii emulation. This improvement could also be down to the emulator itself rather than the Xiaomi Mi 9 only, but it’s still pretty impressive to see. I thought I’d give PlayStation Portable emulator PPSSPP a go too, and once again I came away extremely impressed. It doesn’t even get hot! You may or may not have an interest in doing this kind of thing, but the point is that if it can handle those demanding tasks, it should be able to trounce anything from the Play Store with ease. Right now, the Xiaomi Mi 9 will outperform any current “gaming phone“, which seems crazy in a device so slim. It goes without saying that navigating the UI and browsing the web were super quick and responsive affairs too. Of course, we will see more devices introduced over time that can outperform the Mi 9 and in that regard some people might prefer to “wait and see.” But to be honest, I can’t see you needing more power than this for a while. Camera The last piece of the puzzle is that camera, which should be pretty impressive — clocking in with its combination of huge 48MP f/1.75 primary lens, 12MP f/2.2 telephoto, and 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens.<doc-sep>At this point, you don't need me to tell you that Xiaomi makes products that offer great value for money. The Chinese manufacturer showed time and again over the last five years that it can absolutely dominate in this regard, and even though we've seen other brands try to emulate Xiaomi's strategy, none have been as successful. With the Mi 9, Xiaomi is offering several key upgrades that make it a great affordable flagship while still maintaining a low price. We've seen devices in this category inch past the $550 mark, and the Mi 9 is set to be available shortly in Western markets for €449 ($500), effectively undercutting OnePlus and Honor. The Mi 9 has a lot of new features to offer. It is the first Xiaomi phone with three rear cameras, and there's 20W wireless charging. It is also the first Xiaomi device to run on Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 855 chipset. The fact that you get the same hardware as the Galaxy S10+ at half the cost makes the Mi 9 an exciting proposition for those looking to save some cash while getting the latest specs. Xiaomi Mi 9 The fastest $500 phone in 2019 If you're looking to get the latest features without spending a lot of money, the Mi 9 is the phone to get. It is powered by the beastly new Snapdragon 855, and there's a 48MP camera at the back that takes fantastic photos. Couple that with 20W wireless charging, an in-display fingerprint sensor, and a sleek design with interesting color options, and you get one of the best affordable flagships of 2019. $415 at Amazon The Good Excellent value Gorgeous design 20W wireless charging Great 48MP camera The Bad No 3.5mm jack MIUI bogged down with ads No IP rating Xiaomi Mi 9 Hardware Xiaomi switched to a metal-and-glass design for the Mi series back in 2016, and the Mi 9 is an evolution of that design language. There are smooth flowing curves and rounded corners, and the phone feels great to hold in-hand. The back curves to meet the mid-frame, and while the design itself isn't all that new, Xiaomi is betting on new color options to differentiate the Mi 9. Xiaomi is offering interesting gradient patterns with the Mi 9. The Ocean Blue and Lavender Violet color options have a gradient effect that switches between various hues based on light reflecting off the glass, but if you're not into that, there's the standard Piano Black model. Like the Mi 8 Pro last year, Xiaomi is selling a variant of the Mi 9 with a transparent back that shows off a PCB. It doesn't show the actual layout of the components, but is instead a plate that's inserted underneath the see-through glass. Nevertheless, it is still a very cool effect. Regardless of the color option you pick up, you'll get a camera sensor with a multi-colored accent ring around it. The camera array itself is interesting as the Mi 9 is the first Xiaomi phone to feature three sensors at the back. The downside of this is that the camera protrudes significantly from the chassis, leading to a wobble whenever you use the phone on a flat surface. The Mi 9 is also the first of many devices to launch this year with a dedicated Google Assistant button, located on the left side. The power and volume buttons are to the left, and all the buttons have decent tactile feedback. There's a single speaker at the bottom (with the second grille purely for aesthetics) and an IR blaster at the top. Overall, the Mi 9 feels every bit as premium as recent Samsung phones, and the build quality is right up there with $1,000 flagships. The gradient patterns give the device an added flourish, and the curves at the back make it easier to hold and use. The one downside of the glass back is that it picks up smudges quite easily, so if you want your phone looking pristine, you're better off using it with the clear case that's bundled in the box. The Mi 9 feels every bit as premium as $1,000 flagships while costing half as much. A key design change up front is the tiny dewdrop notch and the minimal bezels at the bottom. As a result, the Mi 9 is only marginally taller than the Mi 8 while offering a larger 6.39-inch display. The Super AMOLED screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 6, and the thin bezels give the device a 90% screen-to-body ratio. The panel itself is one of the best you'll find in this category, with excellent contrast and color accuracy. The FHD+ resolution is more than adequate, and while the panel isn't quite as vibrant or high-res as recent Galaxy devices, it is a fantastic offering in the $500 space. The screen gets bright enough to use outdoors under harsh sunlight, and you have the ability to tailor the color temperature. You can choose from default, warm, or cool, or select an Increased contrast mode that boosts the contrast of the panel. There's also a blue light filter — dubbed Reading mode — that bumps up the warmth to reduce eye strain at night. You get the option to double tap to wake the screen, and there's also a raise-to-wake toggle. With Xiaomi making the switch to AMOLED panels, you get an ambient display mode that shows time and notification icons on the lock screen when the display is off. You'll be able to select from various clock faces, and set a schedule for AOD so it is disabled at night. This is one of the best displays you'll find in the affordable flagship space. Xiaomi decided to get rid of the headphone jack from its Mi line two years ago, stating at the time that it did so to increase battery capacity. That particular device had a 3350mAh battery, and last year's Mi 8 came with a 3400mAh unit. You get a smaller 3300mAh battery on the Mi 9 even though the phone has the same 7.6mm thickness as the Mi 8. The speaker situation hasn't changed from last year. You still get a single speaker at the bottom of the phone, and while it is passable for listening to podcasts or streaming the occasional YouTube video, it doesn't come close to the stereo speakers on the Pixel 3 or the Galaxy S10. What's also annoying is the fact that the Mi 9 doesn't come with an IP rating, particularly when you consider that there's no headphone jack on the device. I still don't understand why most affordable flagships don't have the feature, but if you care about water resistance, you'll have to shell out the big bucks and get a "true" flagship. Another feature that's missing from the Mi 9 is face unlock. The Mi 8 relied on an IR sensor next to the front camera to offer secure face unlock, but with the Mi 9 featuring a waterdrop cutout, there's not enough room to accommodate two sensors. It's possible we'll see a software-based face unlock make its way to the device, but for now, you'll have to rely on the fingerprint sensor as the primary means of authentication. On the subject of biometrics, the Mi 9 has an optical in-display fingerprint sensor as standard. Xiaomi says it is faster than the one on last year's Mi 8 Pro, and while that claim was true, the sensor wasn't very reliable in day-to-day usage. It failed to recognize my fingerprints far too often, and while it wasn't the slowest optical in-display sensor I used, reliability is an area where it loses out. The Mi 9 is the first phone I've used that's powered by the Snapdragon 855 (Samsung sells the Exynos versions of the Galaxy S10 here), and the performance on offer is just as fluid as that of last year's Snapdragon 845. We don't often see huge year-on-year differences in the Snapdragon 8xx series, but Qualcomm has somehow eked out a huge 40% performance uptick for the CPU and a 20% uptick for the GPU.<doc-sep>BARCELONA —The Xiaomi Mi 9 wasn’t exclusively revealed at MWC 2019, given the CEO of Xiaomi outed the phone on his social channels some weeks before. But the big phone show marks the first time we’ve been able to get up close with the device. It’s also the first we’re hearing of the Mi 9’s price, and it turns out you get a whole load of phone for 449 Euros (around $500 / £390, and 499 Euros if you want the top spec). That’s because Xiaomi hasn’t scrimped on the specs. There’s a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 powering the thing, up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage. Saving the best till last, there’s a 48MP camera on the rear. It’s a lightweight 173g and thin, at 7.61mm. Design and Features: Great Curves, Brilliant Camera The Mi 9 has a really premium feel to it. Its curved body sits well in the hand and the iridescent violet handset we tried out looked superb when it caught the light. The AMOLED screen is stunning, offering a lovely amount of brightness and the waterdrop notch is small and subtle. The screen is a near edge to edge which makes it feel bigger than its 6.39 inches. Flip the phone over and there’s a serious amount of camera tech on show here. There’s the aforementioned 48-MP main sensor, which comes with a 27mm lens. Also on board is a 12MP shooter with 2X optical zoom and an ultra-wide 16-MP sensor. The front-facing camera is decent too, clocking in at 20-MP, with an f/2.0 lens. To make sure you know which one is the 48-MP sensor, there is a silver ring around the lens — it’s a nice design touch. This is the same sensor that can be found in the Honor View 20 which was superb in our tests. Xiaomi has decided not to go down the AI route with its shots, though. That should mean that images won’t be too over-processed but you may have to work harder for that perfect shot. There’s a decent Pro mode in the photo section, too, where you can manually control things like aperture and white balance. Performance: Speedy With Some Software Issues This phone is speedy. That Snapdragon 855 certainly made the phone feel zippy as I was wading through various apps and home screens. There was some lag on Google Assistant, but I’m putting this down to software that’s still in its testing phase. I wasn’t that enamored with Xiaomi’s UI that it has slapped on top of Android 9.0 but it’s no less irritating than, say, the Huawei EMUI one. Given I only had a short amount of time with the Xiaomi Mi 9 I couldn’t test its speed or the camera all that much, but the tests that have been reported on the phone are decent, and unprecedented for a phone at this price point. In a Master Lu benchmark, the Chinese equivalent of Geekbench, it broke records (although I’m sure that the Galaxy S10 Plus will surpass this) and the camera is currently ranked above the Pixel 3 and iPhone XS Max, according to DXOMark. Price and Availability All of this makes the news that this phone will probably never hit the U.S. all the more painful. If you are in Europe, though, you can pre-order now for 449 Euro (6GB/64GB) or 499 Euro (8GB/128GB). Outlook The Xiaomi Mi 9 is aggressively priced and packed with innovation. We are starting to see more 48-MP lenses on the back of phones. Having one at this price point is impressive, however. The Mi 9 is the type of phone that should have the premium crowd looking over their shoulder. But the company’s lack of U.S. presence means that this may be one to admire from afar. Credit: Tom's Guide<doc-sep>
(Pocket-lint) - If you're looking for value for money when buying a smartphone, it's the newer-to-the-UK companies that will offer it. Samsung has a great phone in the Galaxy S10+, but stacking it against the Xiaomi Mi 9 will leave you scratching your head at how the former is just so much more expensive. For all of the refinement that you get in top-tier flagship phones, when you're getting that performance from a device that's nearly half the price, as the Mi 9 is, where does the smart money go? And as Xiaomi has since updated this model with the interim Mi 9T Pro, the Mi 9 is now even more of a bargain than it was at launch. squirrel_widget_148633 157.5 x 74.67 x 7.61mm, 173g Glass back with holographic finishes Under-glass fingerprint scanner If you've seen a Mi phone before then the Mi 9 won't surprise you. It's a little curvier but not hugely different in appearance to the earlier Mi 8, apart from moving the fingerprint scanner off the rear of the phone and under the display. That was the same move made by the Mi 8 Pro, with its geeky transparent rear, meaning a sleeker look to the back, perfect for those glorious colours Xiaomi offers. Unless you're planning on putting the Mi 9 in a case, buy one of the coloured versions of this phone, because the holographic effect on the rear provides a great shimmer and depth. There's also a transparent version, but it's more expensive. The review version here is the Piano Black, which is a bit safe, but will probably be the biggest seller. The combination of glass and metal doesn't differ wildly from other models out there, as it now seems to be the flagship formula. Xiaomi doesn't do waterproofing, so there's no IP rating, which is one of the things that stands it apart from more expensive rivals like Samsung. Turning to the fingerprint scanner under the display, it's of the optical variety, meaning it uses light to scan your finger and will be confused by wet hands or dirty fingers. It's more prone to failure than ultrasonic scanners - as you'll find in the Galaxy S10 - and that plays out in the experience. 6.39-inch AMOLED, 2340 x 1080 pixels, 403ppi 600 nit brightness HDR support The display on the Mi 9 is pretty good. Firstly the design: it's a flat display, so no curves here, which gives you a big usable space, and there's a tear-drop notch at the top. This sees the intrusion cut down to little more than a pimple, and while it's not quite as exciting as punch-hole cameras appearing on phones like the Honor 20, there's little to complain about. One of the things that lets Xiaomi minimise the notch is that it has a single front camera and that the speaker is pushed off the display to the top edge against the frame. Like many Chinese companies, Xiaomi is pushing the fact it's using AMOLED - a Samsung-sourced display - as a badge of quality. It is a good display, and while it won't push those higher resolutions that more expensive phones offer, it performs well. Xiaomi seems happy to stick with its guns here, too, as even the 9T Pro version has the very same screen. This is also a bright display with 600 nits, which you'll see when you step into bright conditions. Like Samsung, the brightness will ramp up to cut away reflections so you can still see everything, although this does also increase the vibrancy of some colours so they look a little unrealistic. It also supports HDR, although it's not on Netflix's list of supported devices, so you're unlikely to find any HDR source content - not that that's a hugely important factor. Watching Star Trek: Discovery on Netflix resulted in vibrant and glorious colours, great handling of those darker scenes, playing to the strengths of OLED. Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, 6GB RAM, 64/128GB storage 3300mAh battery, 20W wireless / 27W wired charging One of the exciting things that first excited us about the Mi 9 is that it was one of the first devices to appear using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 hardware. That's paired with 6GB RAM for an experience that's as powerful as you'd expect. Everything happens with speed and this phone has no problem tackling busy tasks without hesitation.