Xiaomi Mi 5 costs Rs 24,999 in India and will go on sale from April 6. We will have a daily review of the smartphone. Xiaomi Mi 5, the flagship device from the Chinese tech start-up, is now officially available in India at a starting price of Rs 24,999. Mi 5's USP is that it offers premium specs like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 seen in high-end devices like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5 as well as a great camera, but at a more affordable price.
India is getting only the 3GB+32GB version of the Xiaomi Mi 5 — sorry no Mi 5 Pro (4GB + 128GB storage) for now. The sale for the smartphone starts on April 6 from the company's official Mi.com platform and it will be exclusive to the site for a first month or so after which it will go to other platforms.
Watch our first look video the Xiaomi Mi 5
At the India launch event, Xiaomi's global VP Hugo Barra revealed that they spent two years working on the smartphone. For Xiaomi, there's a lot riding on this 'flagship' smartphone, after all this is the first time that the company is entering the Rs 20,000-plus category in India.
From today we will chronicle how it is living with the phone for a week, and will post regular updates here. Read on to know what we think about the phone.
Xiaomi Mi 5 has a 5.15-inch display with full HD resolution. Day 1: A hot and cold beauty
A day after the launch, Hugo Barra held a special tear-down of the Xiaomi Mi 5 with select members of the Indian media. We got to see the smartphone inside out; the processor, the antennas, even parts of the display peeled off. It makes for an interesting visual to see a flagship like that, and Xiaomi is known for flooding the Indian fans with a host of technical details about its phone. The Redmi Note 3 was also subjected to a full tear-down.
Regular users are more bothered about how a smartphone performs on the outside and how it feels and looks. When I took the Mi 5 out of the box, my first impression was: my goodness this phone is incredibly light, and that's good when you consider that this has a 3000 mAh battery. The metal-frame and the curved edges, plus the 3D glass back cover make the Mi 5 look beautiful too.
You can see that the company has put in a lot of effort designing this phone. Xiaomi Mi 5 comes with a 5.1-inch display, a ceramic home button with the fingerprint scanner inside it. The camera unit doesn't jut out at all on the back like it does with my iPhone 6s. For now, I can't get over how thin, and light this phone is.
However, I did face one big issue when I switched on the Mi 5. The phone became really hot, on the display and along the sides. It was as if the phone was on fire and given the lovely weather we are having in Delhi these days, I was afraid to hold it for too long. When I restarted the phone, it appeared to cool down. I also noticed that some MIUI update had appeared. Post that update, the phone has not heated up. But am yet to put this one through its paces, so hopefully the issue won't re-appear.
Xiaomi has indicated that this MIUI 7 on Android 6 build is still in beta phase, so we're expecting more updates during our review period.
Xiaomi Mi 5 has a 16 megapixel rear camera with 4-axis OIS. However the heating issue re-appeared when I set it down for charging, while I took a nap. After it had reached 70 per cent charge I just unplugged the phone because it was once again super-hot, especially on the sides.
With the Mi 5, Xiaomi is also talking about the innovation it has done on the camera front, giving its 16 megapixel rear camera a 4-axis OIS and also the superior low-light performance. The low-light performance is actually quite good, considering the price and I did get some nice shots from this one while I was out for dinner with a friend. Sure the focus takes some time, and the selfie camera thinks I am 21 years old, but so far it does the job.
Sample shot from the Xiaomi Mi 5. (Image resized for the web) We'll have more on the camera and general performance tomorrow.
Also read: Xiaomi Mi 5 has a very competitive price point and an aggressive market plan
Must read: Xiaomi announces Mi Ecosystem sub-brand
Don't miss: Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 review & video: A stellar comeback indeed
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Source: Xiaomi Mi 5 Live blog review: Incredibly light flagship that looks premium
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