Xiaomi Mi3 test: Chinese excellence?

We managed to get our hands on one of the most emblematic phones of the Chinese brand Xiaomi: MI3, available since October 2013 in Asia only.It’s an impressive phone on many points.First by its technical sheet which, at the time, fulfilled all the criteria of a very high -end phone.By its simply incredible value for money especially.Sold less than 300 euros, it is twice as much as any phone with so much power sold in Europe.Here are our first impressions on the flagship of Xiaomi.

Xiaomi Mi3

Design: simplicity and sobriety

MI3 is an astonishing sobriety phone.In fact, this Chinese smartphone comes in the form of an imposing white block, without the slightest groove on the shell, surmounted by a screen.No fuss and no frills in the design of Mi3.Everything is united, forged in the same material, and it must be admitted that this big sobriety contrasts a lot with the standard bearers of Taiwanese and Korean manufacturers-which do not hesitate to use metal and daring design-thattested during this first half of the year.An obvious lack of character?Maybe.It is clearly not the most beautiful phone that we have been given to see this year.But this big sobriety has an advantage: it cannot be said about this phone that it is ugly or that its design disturbs.Its passout look will undoubtedly suit the greatest number.

Xiaomi Mi3

Xiaomi Mi3

Its dimensions are also extraordinary.With its 73.6 × 144 × 8.1 mm, it is practically as large and as wide as the LG G3.Its handling is not particularly easy.While we appreciated the rounded shell of the LG G3, here, the rectangular and elongated appearance of the device does not make the outfit comfortable.It is not so much a matter of materials (smooth plastic and pleasant to the touch) as a question of size and perhaps a certain lack of ergonomics.A few millimeters less on the sides or a lower bulge on both straight and left sides of the screen would certainly have provided additional additional handling.Should it be specified?Given the size of the machine, it is impossible to use the device with one hand.And yet the MI3 has "only" a 5 -inch screen ...

Xiaomi Mi3

Xiaomi Mi3

In detail, there is little to notice.A jack and the SIM card port at the top of the device, the volume adjustment buttons on the right side, a speaker and the USB port at the bottom.And that's all.Note that the shell is not removable, but that the phone contains a big battery of 3050 mAh below.There is also no hatch for a possible SD card, the MI3 has in its least expensive 16 GB version of internal memory and can go up to 64 GB for the most expensive versions.Which is more than enough for the majority of users.

Xiaomi Mi3

Xiaomi Mi3

Xiaomi Mi3

A superb screen

The screen, let's talk about it a bit, is one of the strengths of the Xiaomi device.It is a 5 -inch screen in Full HD (1920 × 1080, a nice resolution of 440 ppi) on an IPS LCD technology slab.The slab is also super-sensitive, it is possible to use the screen with gloves (an option is also available within Miui to activate it).And it's a very nice screen.The most notable thing about it comes from the printing of the screen.Unlike many smartphones, the MI3 screen gives the impression of being stuck directly to the slab, as if there was no glass plate above.Does this come from the management of the brightness of the screen?Of a particular treatment?In any case the effect is very successful and it is a happiness to use this daily display.The whole screen is of general quality.The angles of visions are excellent, the colors are faithful and its touch is very pleasant.With such high resolution, it is of course impossible to discern the slightest pixel.Great art.

Xiaomi Mi3

Performance that responds well present

Xiaomi was also not stingy on the components of his phone.The technical sheet is more than honorable for a phone released at the end of last year.Its SOC is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 in MSM8974AB version, the most upscale chip in this processor category.It is clocked at 2.27 GHz and is supported by an adreno 330 GPU.2 GB of RAM come to guarantee good performance.Very good performances overall with an antutu score of 28254 and a quadrant score of 16658.We very close what the Nexus 5 was asking for example.In general, over the few days I was able to try the phone, I never had a single slowdown or a single complaint to issue as to possible power limitations.I would have liked to be able to test more gourmet games to see the limits of the MI3, the Play Store was not installed on the basic Chinese Rom of the MI3 and I had to fight with the Chinese characters of Mimarket to find some tools ofbenchmark.

Right, when the MI3 recognizes a benchmark application, the phone asks if you want to modify the performance of the device.

MI3 is not 4G compatible.In fact, our international version (the Chinese version of the MI3 is based on an NVIDIA Tegra 4) is well compatible with all of our 3G frequency bands, but the phone has never been thought of for 4G.MI4 will certainly correct this defect.

The camera, of quality

In terms of photography, there is a 13 megapixel sensor on the back and 2 megapixels on the front.We did not have time to explore in depth all the capacities of the camera, but the few shots we were able.Net colors, well -detailed shots, very responsive autofocus, there is really little reproaches to make a priori.Just we put on the lack of options present in Miui.Impossible to precisely adjust the brightness, the ISO or the contrasts, you must be satisfied with waves indications ranging from normal to lower and higher.Selfie mode also includes some fun and typically Asian particularities.By default, the phone before the phone detects the photographer's face and displays his sex and age.And the worst part is that for having tested it on many members of the editorial staff, to one or two years, it works admirably well.

At three years old, it was just ...

We will not come back to the software part of Miui that we addressed in detail at this address.What to remember in short is that it is an interface again very sober and without google apps.There are no menu menu, the possibilities of customizations are numerous and this interface is full of good ideas.A French translation is also available on certain fans-site dedicated to the brand.

Conclusion

Thanks to Xiaomishop for the loan of this Xiaomi Mi3!

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