Xiaomi Mi 5 review

Xiaomi Mi 5 review: Extraordinary value Android phone rivals Galaxy S7

Xiaomi’s phones are rare sightings in the UK, but the company’s market dominance in China and increasingly India (where this Mi 5 goes on open sale tomorrow - 1 June) means many more people are starting to hear of Xiaomi. Not officially sold here, the only way you’ll get your hands on one is through unofficial channels. GearBest supplied our Xiaomi Mi 5 for review. Also see: Best phones 2016.
The Mi 5 sits at the top of Xiaomi’s line-up, and is a worthy competitor to the iPhone 6s, LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7, but at half the price. It lacks some features of those phones, such as an always-on display, modular design, removable battery, microSD support and waterproofing, but in all other respects this is a true next-generation smartphone with performance to match.
Three versions of the Mi 5 exist. A version with 3GB of RAM comes with either 32- or 64GB of RAM (we’ve reviewed the 32GB version here). There’s also a Pro edition with a ceramic body, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which has been shown to score in excess of 140K points in AnTuTu - that’s faster than any phone we’ve tested.
The entry option reviewed here is still crazy-fast, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor nestled under its gorgeous, brilliantly bright and virtually edge-to-edge 5.15in IPS screen. The Mi 5 is gorgeous, a mix of glass and metal with a design somewhere between the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s.
A 16Mp Sony IMX298 camera sits flush to the phone’s rear, and with four-axis optical image stabilisation and phase-detection autofocus the Xiaomi can take some fantastic photos and video.
Connectivity options are strong with dual-SIM 4G support, alongside an IR blaster, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C and a new fingerprint scanner hidden inside a physical Home button. A 3000mAh battery, which is good for a day’s use, is insanely fast to charge with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. Also see: Best dual-SIM phones and dual-SIM buying advice.
Setup for UK users is easier with this Mi 5 than any Xiaomi phone we’ve tested previously. Although it runs MIUI 7, a customised version of Android Marshmallow, it takes literally moments to install the Google Play store from the preinstalled Mi app store and start using the phone as you would any other Android - albeit with no sign of the familiar Android app tray.
Let’s take a closer look at the Xiaomi Mi 5