Xiaomi has finally unleashed the Mi 5 in India and you will be able to buy the latest Mi flagship in the country on 6 April from Mi.com. The phone was first announced at the MWC 2016 and at the launch of Redmi Note 3 last month. Hugo Barra promised that the phone will reach us quickly, and so it did.
The phone borrows its design language from the Mi Note that was launched last year, but never made it to our shores. Xiaomi has basically handed Mi 5 the flagship mantle from the Mi 4i, also making it the first Snapdragon 820-powered phone to reach the Indian market.
The 5.1-inch dimension has been equally distributed which ends up making the Mi 5 lighter than you would think. The Chinese brand has also resorted to a first-facing fingerprint scanner built over the home button.
The curved-edge body reminds us of the Galaxy series from Samsung but it is said that Xiaomi actually owns the rights. Xiaomi has offered a full-HD resolution on the phone, which will help the 3000mAh battery last its course.
The back panel construction of the Mi 5 combines the blend of glass and metal. However, the glass back body may not suit people who prefer phones with a solid grip. It may not have a fingerprint scanner but it sure is a fingerprint magnet.
Xiaomi will only sell the 32GB storage variant in the country for now, and you cannot expand the space any further as it lacks a card slot. Other models, including the Mi 5 Pro with 4GB RAM may show up later this year.
The design aesthetics of Mi 5 can be slightly deceiving, it may not look as good as it does in the pictures. On the power side of things, the Mi 5 gets 3GB RAM which directly interests gamers and users with heavy phone usage.
The 16-megapixel rear camera is another doubtful part of the phone. From the looks of it, the camera might just flatter to deceive many of you. (More on that later)
The phone is powered by MiUi 7 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. There are noticeable differences in the newer MiUi 7 firmware but we’ll take a closer look at that in the coming weeks.
All in all, Xiaomi Mi 5 has many things going in its favour, but also its fair share of question marks. At Rs 24,999 for the 32GB variant, and no sign of the other models yet, it’s hard to say if Xiaomi has hit the right or wrong price spot just yet.
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