L
ike Huawei, OnePlus and Oppo,
Xiaomi has decided to reprise
one of its pre-5G phones to
make its debut in the 5G space.
Rather than its latest flagship
phone, however, it has picked the
slightly older Xiaomi Mi Mix 3.
The Mi Mix 3 5G includes a
battery boost compared to the
original, though that has come at
the cost of wireless charging. The
rest of the specs read almost
identically, and just like a flagship,
with an all-screen display, dual front
and rear cameras, a Snapdragon
855 chipset and an ample
3,800mAh capacity battery.
You’ll have a hard time finding
the Mi Mix 3 5G off-contract in the
UK. The phone is available through
Vodafone, and that’s where you’ll
have to buy it from rather than
Xiaomi’s Mi store, which is where
you can find the rest of its line-up.
Starting at £56 per month with a
£29 upfront cost, the base package
offered with the Mi Mix 3 5Gdoesn’t include 5G data speeds, so
don’t go for it. Instead, stump up an
extra £7 per month for the
Unlimited Max package. When you
consider the 4G options you could
pick up for that kind of money – the
excellent Huawei P30 Pro is
available for significantly less on the
same package – it becomes clear,
5G is a pricey added extra.
O2 has confirmed it’ll also be
bringing the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G
into its range soon. The Xiaomi Mi
Mix 3 5G isn’t currently available at
all in the US.Design and screen
Like the original, the Xiaomi Mi Mix
3 5G is a hefty bit of kit; clocking in
at 225g, it’s almost as heavy as the
significantly larger Huawei Mate 20
X. Despite its weight, the phone fits
comfortably in the hand and
pocket, given the fact it’s heavy, not
huge. The weight also adds a
premium feel to the mix.
The phone’s 6.39-inch screenslides down while the back slides
up to reveal the dual front
cameras at the top of the unit.
This feature means the Mi Mix 3
5G has an all-screen front, and a
93.4% screen-to-body ratio, making
it look sufficiently futuristic.
The phone sports a polished
7000-series aluminum frame and a
curved ceramic back, as well as a
Gorilla Glass 5 front. The 5G edition
is only available in one color in the
UK, Onyx Black, and while it looks
great, boy does it love fingerprints.
There’s a Google Assistant button
on the left side of the Mi Mix 3 5G,
while the standard power and
volume buttons are on the right. At
the base there’s a mono-speaker
and a USB-C port, and as with most
of its 5G playmates, there’s no
headphone jack.
There’s also no under-display
fingerprint scanner on the Mi Mix 3,
nor is there a triple camera, with a
dual-snapper around the back.
Practically speaking, we didn’t mindXiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G
From £56/month http://www.mi.com/uk
Get 5G speeds the most affordable way
Images : Xiaomi82 |^ |^ November 2019