Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S , Xiaomi's Mi Mix 2S is a more powerful and beautiful phone phone , II Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S Hands-On: Xiaomi Finally Gets Photography Right

Smartphone designs can be incredibly repetitive and predictable, but every once in a blue moon, a device comes along that truly innovates and changes the industry. In my opinion, there have been maybe five or six such devices in the decade or so of this smartphone era: the original iPhone; the glass sandwich iPhone 4; the slim-bezelled, no-front-buttons LG G3; the curvy Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge; the ultra sleek Samsung Galaxy S8; and the Xiaomi Mi Mix.

The latter wasn't the absolute first "bezel-less phone," but it was the first one that packed flagship specs and was truly usable as a daily driver. The phone was so visually stunning at the time that I named it my favorite smartphone of 2016, despite it running on a Chinese ROM that couldn't run Google apps without bugs and a mediocre camera.
In fact, the cameras on Xiaomi devices have never really impressed me. They were never terrible, just not on the level of Huawei or Samsung devices I test constantly. Xiaomi's newest device, the Mi Mix 2S, finally seems to have change that.

 

The Mi Mix 2S, as the name suggests, is an iterative upgrade on last fall's Mi Mix 2, and while the phone was just announced in Shanghai a couple hours ago, I've had the pleasure of testing it for four days already in New York.

Subtle hardware changes
Let's address the hardware changes first, because there isn't a lot: The Mi Mix 2S has a new dual-camera system (the original Mi Mix 2 only had a single camera on the back), consisting of two 12-megapixel sensors -- one telephoto, one standard. It's the same set-up as the dual-lens Mi 6, but the camera sensors is a newer IMX 363, with a larger 1.4μm pixels size.
RAM has been bumped up to 8GB, and the chipset powering things is now Snapdragon 845 instead of 835. The 845+8GB RAM combo is an absolute beast of a combination, and the phone scored a whopping 8,000+ on PC Mark's work benchmark score, the highest such numbers I've seen on an Android device yet.

The phone is thin, but with a slight camera bump.

That's it for the hardware changes. Everything about the Mi Mix 2S is almost identical to the original device -- same ceramic build, same 6-inch LCD panel with 18:9 aspect ratio and 1080p resolution, and same fingerprint sensor placement on the back. It's still a nice looking phone, but in 2018, the Mi Mix 2S' "bezel-less" design with a noticeable chin does not appear as impressive as a year or two ago. It doesn't help that my test unit is in white color, which makes the bezels more noticeable.
It's what's on the inside that counts...
But that's not all that's new on the Mi Mix 2S. The phone has a new software boosted by -- you guessed it -- artificial intelligence. Yes, I know, every phonemaker in the world claims they have some new magic A.I. system on their phones now, but Xiaomi's offering seems to be more legit than, say, Vivo's A.I. claims with the V9 or Asus' much-mocked "everything is A.I." software.
A Xiaomi rep told me that the Mi Mix 2S sees major camera improvements not just because of the new hardware -- which now uses dual photodiode to take in more light with less noise -- but because Xiaomi's engineers have implemented machine learning into the software. The camera, the Xiaomi rep says, can now tell the difference between different face shapes, or further differentiate between object and background, so the phone's cameras can pump out a better lighted, better bokeh'ed, better "beautified" image.
With the exception of that very last claim -- the Mi Mix 2S' beauty mode is supposed to be very impressive, according to Xiaomi -- I can say my testing seems to confirm Xiaomi's claims. The Mi Mix 2S can take impressive bokeh shots that can blur around a person with exact precision. Check out the sample below:

A bokeh shot captured with the Mi Mix 2S.

This is an exceptionally impressive bokeh shot, on the level of something the iPhone X or Google Pixel 2 XL can produce. This gentleman's hair is particularly hard for a phone to identify and apply the blurring affects around in just a second, but the Mi Mix 2S did it. Samsung's less-than-stellar version of bokeh (which it calls "Live Focus") or Xiaomi's older phones definitely wouldn't have been able to produce something like this. Look at it again at 100% crop.

The software managed to apply the depth-of-field effect around each strand of hair, missing only a few.

Here's another bokeh shot:

Bokeh with the Mi Mix 2S.

Dynamic range on photos captured by the Mi Mix 2S looks good too, and comparable to an iPhone X.

Mi Mix 2S.

iPhone X.

That a Xiaomi camera can hold its own against the newest Apple phone is a win in itself, because previous Xiaomi phone cameras definitely wasn't in the same league as iPhone's consistently good camera. In low light, the Mi Mix 2S even beats the iPhone X.

Mi Mix 2S on the left, iPhone X on the right.

Here's one more sample in low light.

A night shot with the Mi Mix 2S.

The smartphone photography battlefield has become very, very competitive lately -- the Huawei P20 Pro, which I've already tested, has an amazing camera too -- so I can't quite say the Mi Mix 2S' cameras is going to take the "best smartphone camera throne," but it is a significant improvement over previous Xiaomi devices, and the Mi Mix 2S is at least in contention.
Elsewhere, the Mi Mix 2S still feels quite comfortable in the hand, and the phone now has stereo speakers and a new swipe-based gesture to navigate around Android. I'm a huge fan of Xiaomi's implementation of swipes, and the overall user experience is more refined on the Mi Mix 2S.

The Mi Mix 2S.

The unit I tested in New York is running software that Xiaomi stresses is not finished, so I can't continue on with a review until a new software is installed, which may be weeks from now. But so far, it's safe to say that the Mi Mix 2S is easily Xiaomi's best mobile shooter.

It was barely six months ago that Xiaomi updated its Mi Mix smartphone with a refined all-screen design, but the company has just announced the latest update: the Mi Mix 2S. Xiaomi is quick to cite all of the design awards and accolades it’s received for the Mi Mix 2, so it’s not too much of a surprise to see the company keep the design the same for the Mi Mix 2S. There are a handful of notable updates, however, including a new processor, wireless charging, and a new dual-camera system. The Mi Mix 2S will be available in China starting next week, with the rollout to Xiaomi’s other markets planned for shortly after that. It will not be coming to the US, however.

“We are comparing to iPhone X because people say it is the best phone. We just want to show we surpassed the best in many features,” exclaimed Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun in a crowded Shanghai auditorium at today’s reveal. The Mi Mix 2S is also half the price of Apple’s flagship, starting at 3,299 yuan (about $527).

From the front, the Mi Mix 2S is indistinguishable from the Mi Mix 2. It has a 5.99-inch, full HD plus LCD display, with trim bezels on the side and the top. Tucked in the lower right corner of the phone’s “chin” is the 5-megapixel front-facing camera, which is unchanged and just as awkward as the prior model. It avoids the need for a notch at the top of the phone, but it certainly doesn’t come without other compromises. The Mi Mix 2S will be available in a black version with gold trim or a white model with silver trim.

The phone is still made of aluminum and ceramic, though Xiaomi isn’t planning to produce a full-ceramic “special edition” as it did for the Mix 2.

All of the physical changes are found on the rear of the phone. Under the ceramic panel is a new wireless charging coil, which supports the Qi spec and will be accompanied by a new optional wireless charging pad from Xiaomi. The Mi Mix 2S is the first Xiaomi phone to support wireless charging. (It also supports Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 3 wired charging through its USB-C port.) Unfortunately, the Mix 2S doesn’t have any rated water resistance, unlike many of the other premium smartphones available now.

The new dual-camera system replaces the single module on the Mix 2 and has been moved to the top left corner of the rear panel, much like how it is on the iPhone X. The system is comprised of two 12-megapixel sensors, one behind a wide-angle lens, the other behind a telephoto lens, and it supports portrait mode effects. Xiaomi says the main, wide-angle camera is the “best camera it’s ever used,” and it features dual-pixel autofocus, four-axis optical stabilization, and larger pixels than the ones found on the sensor used in the Mi Mix 2. It’s set behind an f/1.8 lens; the telephoto camera uses an f/2.4 lens and has smaller pixels.

 

 

In addition to the new hardware, Xiaomi has developed an AI component to its camera software, which is said to improve features like the portrait mode and beautifying functions. Otherwise, the software on the Mi Mix 2 is Xiaomi’s MIUI 9.5, on top of Android 8.0 Oreo. Those who are used to Google’s version of Android will find MIUI rather unfamiliar, as it borrows many interface and design elements from iOS, including an optional gesture-based control system that replaces the standard Android on-screen buttons.

Inside, the Mix 2S has Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 845 processor, paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, depending on configuration. The battery is the same 3,400mAh cell used in the Mix 2, and the 2S will be available with either 64, 128, or 256GB of storage. Xiaomi says that the new Snapdragon 845 processor provides greater performance, while maintaining the battery life of last year’s 835.

Xiaomi has said that it plans to launch phones in the US in the next year or so, but that’s a promise that’s familiar to those who have been watching the company for some time. It’s not likely that the Mi Mix 2S will be included in that launch, despite the fact that it supports some of the LTE frequencies used in the US. (Xiaomi says this is specifically for Chinese customers who travel outside of the country.)