ISSUE 44 • ANDROID ADVISOR 55REVIEWSome of the cheaper copycats have snuck in
a speaker and sensors right at the very top of the
screen. Mi Mix 2 does this too, which is a departure
from its predecessor, but seriously – blink and you’d
miss it. Mi Mix uses special technology to do away
with other unsightly blemishes at the top of the
handset, using a hidden ultrasonic proximity sensor
and a tweaked sound-guided speaker. It’s a setup
that works as well as any other standard phone and
call quality is good.
This does mean there’s no room for the selfie
camera, and this remains one of our gripes. As before,
you’ll find this at the bottom right corner of the Mi Mix
2, and in order to take a selfie you’ll want to turn the
phone upside down. Not too much of a hardship, you
might think, but in our experience that doesn’t work
great with apps such as Snapchat.
Another notable omission is a 3.5mm headphone
jack. This is the first Xiaomi phone we’ve seen not
to include this port, and may well be a sign of things
to come for the company. It’s a trend started in late
2016 with the iPhone 7, causing users to resort to the
USB-C port or a pair of wireless earphones for audio.
There’s the phone’s built-in speaker, too, of course.
But we weren’t overly impressed with this. It’s not
especially loud, and quality is a bit inconsistent.
Xiaomi does not provide any USB-C headphones
in the box, but you do get a USB-C to 3.5mm audio
adaptor – and a case, which is handy as cases for
Chinese phones are often difficult to get hold of
in the UK, or you’ll be waiting so long for delivery
you’ve already cracked the screen.