Hands On: Xiaomi Mi 5, a Gorgeous Phone You Can't Buy

BARCELONA—The Xiaomi Mi five was announced at Mobile World Congress here this morning, and it's a dazzler.

MWC Bug Art Along with the Samsung Milky way S7 Border and the LG G5, the Mi 5 ranks as ane of the best-looking phones I've seen during the show—which is why during my entire hands on with the device, I was sorry. The keen tragedy is that the Mi 5 will probably never exist sold in the U.Southward.

The visitor sternly smacked downwardly the little-known MVNO U.S. Mobile when it attempted to sell the Mi iii stateside, and all current indications are that the only Xiaomi products sold in the U.S. will exist accessories, bombardment packs, and bands through the online Mi store.

Design:
The Mi 5 is gorgeous. Its design inspiration comes from the Mi 4 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, and it's like shooting fish in a barrel to see elements of other phones like the S7 Edge and the Apple iPhone 6s. That doesn't mean the blueprint is derivative; it actually feels very distinctive in your hands. The dorsum is made of high-quality 3D glass or premium ceramic (for the Pro edition), coming in blackness, white, and gold. It's contoured on the back and curved on the sides, making it practically bezel-less. At that place's a metallic frame, bounding the v.i-inch display. It has modest dimensions of 5.69 by 2.72 by 0.29 inches, which won't bust your pocket. It'due south as well very calorie-free, weighing in at 4.ix ounces.

Xiaomi Mi 5

This is 1 of the rare modernistic flagship phones that aren't in the phablet category, which is overnice for people who aren't a fan of the trend toward bigger devices (though that does seem to have dimished this yr with the v.3-inch G5 and 5.1-inch S7).

Brandish
The Mi five'south display has a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 which might sound subpar in the historic period of Quad HD, but it's more than sufficient give its screen size. A 428ppi makes everything precipitous; the phone has rich colors and the display gets very brilliant, with a special sunlight display that boosts the brightness in straight sunlight. It'll look bang-up for gaming, video, and simply near anything else you desire to exercise.

Processor
I didn't get time to run full benchmarks or actually do much more than swipe through and launch apps, but everything felt very smooth. In that location wasn't whatever lag or latency to be found. Apps launched quickly, the phone handily managed loading multiple apps, and overall it was a snappy feel.

All of this should be a given, since the Mi five rocks a Snapdragon 820 clocked at 1.8GHz (for the standard edition) or ii.15GHz (for the Pro edition) with 3GB or 4GB RAM options. The standard edition will get 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, while the Pro comes with 128GB. There's a 3000mAH battery with Quick Charge 3.0, which should be capable of charging up to 83 percent in 30 minutes.

Camera
The Camera seems to be a place where the Mi 5 does well. I was just able to have a few quick snaps and some video in a well-lit room, so I'll take to reserve judgment, merely its photographic camera quality seems very promising. The device has a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera with optical image stabilization, 4K video recording at 30 fps, and 1080p recording at 30 fps. Sensor quality was peachy with adept detail capture and no blurriness or noise. Video recording in 4K was smooth and stable. Once again, the room was well-lit, but if Xiaomi'due south sample shots shown during the presentation are anything to go by, the sensor is probable to be on par with the S7 Edge and G5. In that location's a 4-megapixel selfie photographic camera as well, which handles well enough.

Xiaomi Mi 5

Features
In other regard, the Mi 5 has everything y'all'd expect from a flagship, including dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth four.ii, NFC, an IR blaster to control your Television set, and a Type-C USB connectedness. It also has dual-SIM capabilities, merely does not come with a microSD card slot or removable battery, which are the only features missing compared with S7 Edge and G5. It will come running the company's custom MIUI 7, with Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The MI 5 also has a home button that doubles every bit a fingerprint scanner set in between a pair of capacitive buttons. It unlocks the telephone in the glimmer of an eye, making it one of the swiftest I've seen.

Release Date, Cost, and Availability
The Mi 5 will launch in Prc on March 1, with India and other global markets to follow. Its price points are remarkably affordable for both standard and Pro versions:

• Mi v Pro will cost RMB 2699, which is nearly $413

• Mi 5 Standard at 64GB volition cost RMB 2299, which is around $352

• Mi 5 Standard at 32GB will cost RMB 1999, which is a modest $300

These are pretty remarkable prices, especially since the S7 Edge and G5 are likely to toll virtually double most of these models. It's no surprise that Xiaomi is the No. one smartphone manufacturer in China and very well regarded for offer high-quality hardware and defended software support an affordable cost. The company'due south pop Mi 3, Mi four, and Redmi Note ii are all top-tier devices and the hiring of Hugo Barra, a onetime Google executive, every bit VP of International for Xiaomi raised the company's international contour.

All of this makes the fact that U.S. consumers will never see the Mi five a tragedy. Of form, we can always hope that Xiaomi will surprise u.s.a., but I wouldn't put coin on it.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.