The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s is finally official and it’s hard not to feel at least a little bit relieved that this particular hype train is finally at station. The Mi Mix 2s has been frequenting the rumor mill for months now, flaunting, what we know know was an overly-ambitions nearly bezel-free front panel and innovative selfie camera placement.
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s at a glance:
Body: Four-side curved ceramic body and metal frame, Corning Gorilla Glass 4, 150.9 x 74.9 x 8.1 mm, 191 grams
Display: 5.99-inch IPS LCD, 1080x2160px (18:9), 403 ppi, 2.5D glass
OS: Android Oreo with MIUI 9.5 on top
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, 4×2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 385 Silver, octa-core CPU, Adreno 630 GPU, 6/8GB RAM
Storage: 64GB, 128GB or 256GB internal
Rear Camera: Dual 12 megapixels, f/1.8, Sony IMX363, plus 12 megapixels, f/2.4, Samsung S5K3M3, 2x optical zoom telephoto Dual Pixel, 4-axis OIS, two-tone LED, 4K video
Front Camera: 5 megapixels, f2.0, 1080p video
Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, Dual SIM, Bluetooth 5.0, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, A-GPS/GLONASS, BDS, NFC, USB 2.0 Type-C port
Battery: 3,400mAh non-removable, Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging support, Qi wireless charging support
The Mix 2s is the perfect embodiment of what an “S” release normally is – an incremental update. A refresh and chance to improve a worthwhile product, already successful and popular enough to merit the extra effort. The new Snapdragon 845 chipset promises a notable performance boost over its 835 predecessor, without harming battery life. Plus, it helps Xiaomi stay relevant to the current flagship crowd.
the Mi Mix 2s body is almost identical to Mi Mix 2 – only coming a millimeter shorter and narrower. That almost surreal bezel-free look, with the selfie camera in the top right corner, all the leaks were taunting, didn’t become reality. Or rather, not yet. Xiaomi’s ongoing vision for the Mi Mix line is to eventually achieve a true all-screen experience. One where the hardware seamlessly disappears and gives way to the UX.
It’s a truly difficult balance to achieve. From the front, the Mi Mix 2s is a real eye-catcher, thanks to the familiar 5.99-inch, 1080p, 18:9 display, complete with rounded corners. It is still an LCD panel – a pretty vibrant and bright one, upon initial inspection, but no jump to OLED quite yet. Still, this is the kind of sensible decision making that keeps costs down.
The build on the Mix 2s might not be water-tight, but it is really premium. The device feels really sturdy in the hand and understandably so, since it features a metal frame, sandwiched between a Gorilla Glass on the front and a ceramic back. Ceramic is not only tough, but quite scratch-resistant as well. On the flip side, however, it is on the heavier side and is a real fingerprint magnet.
The only major design change in the Mi Mix 2s is in the camera module around back. The single 12MP snapper on the regular Mi Mix 2 has been swapped for a dual 12MP setup and that was moved to the top left corner. The primary module uses a IMX363 sensor and the large sensor inside seems to take quite a bit more space, since the camera hump is a lot more noticeable this time around.
Mi Mix 2s shared most of its internals with the regular Mi Mix 2, there are a few notable changes. First up, the Snapdragon 845 – Qualcomm’s new beastly, top of the line chipset. We haven’t really seen many SD 845 devices at the office thus far, but our initial impressions from flagships like the Sony Xperia XZ2 are incredibly positive.
Not only does the new silicon deliver a tangible performance boost over its Snapdragon 835 predecessor, but it also does so without harming battery life. And the upgrade goes beyond CPU and GPU benchmark scores as well, thanks to things like an improved DSP and a faster X20 LTE modem. Xiaomi prides itself on dual SIM support for all its phones, as well as a long list of supported international and global bands. The Mi Mix 2s makes no exception.
As far as memory configurations go, the Mi Mix 2s has a total of three at launch: 6GB RAM, plus 64GB storage, 6GB RAM, plus 128GB storage and the top-tier 8GB RAM and 256GB storage variant. If the ordinary Mi Mix 2 is anything to go by, the latter could be limited in availability and feature a unibody ceramic build. Although, all the units we saw had the metal skeleton design, we described earlier. Also, just like its sibling, the Mix 2s lacks an SD card slot, so choosing an adequate storage tier is essential.
Speaking of battery life, Xiaomi has kept the 3,400 mAh pack from the regular Mi Mix 2, with the promise of similar or better battery endurance numbers. Or, to put it simple, the Chinese manufacturer claims most people, should be able to get at least a day’s use out of the phone. We can’t wait to test that claim once the Mix 2s comes in for review.
Another new addition to the Mix, if you’d excuse the pun, is Qi wireless charging. While diplomatically avoiding any bold claims, Xiaomi thinks this might actually be the first time a company pulls off induction charging through ceramic. The phone can draw in up to 7.5W of power this way. If you still don’t own a Qi charger, Xiaomi will also be offering an inexpensive one of its own, priced at CNY 99, or about $16. The charger will even be included in the retail package of the top 8GB+256GB version.
If a faster top-up is more your thing, the Mi Mix 2s also support Quick Charge 3.0 through its Type-C USB port. That’s not exactly taking full potential of the CQ 4+ standard, the Snapdragon 845 is capable of, but we won’t hold it against Xiaomi, since most manufacturers typically take their time upgrading fast charging standards.
The Mi MIX 2s ships with MIUI 9.5 on top of Android 8.0.0 Oreo. It is one of the first few Xiaomi phones to ship with Oreo out of the box and also one of the first to have the new version of MIUI that brings some new changes, such as improved Gallery, notifications, Browser, and more. But by far the biggest feature that will be debuting on the Mi MIX 2s is the new UI gestures.
While gestures have been around on smartphones for a few years now, they really came into sharp focus after Apple dumped its physical Home button in favor of a new gesture-based UI for the iPhone X. As such, it’s not a surprise that it is now making its way to Android smartphones, with OnePlus and Vivo also adding it recently.
The implementation under MIUI is very similar to that on iOS. To go home, you swipe up from the bottom edge of the display. Swiping up and holding for a second brings up the app switcher. To go back a screen, you can swipe from either the left edge or the right.
the most noteworthy new addition to the Mi Mix 2s is its dual camera setup. Xiaomi actually likens it a bit to the one on the Mi 6 flagship. There are two 12MP snappers – a regular f/1.8 wide one and an f/2.4 telephoto. 4-axis OIS and dual pixel autofocus are also part of the package. Functionality, however, is about where the similarities between the two devices end.
The Mi Mix 2s camera experience is built around the Sony IMX363 sensor. It’s the first time Xiaomi is giving it a go and despite what the numbering system might suggest, it is actually a good deal better than the IMX386, powering the regular Mi Mix 2, as well as the Mi 6. It features bigger pixels at 1.40 µm, compared to 1.25 µm and also has the benefit of Dual Pixel autofocus. In theory, that should result in more light, less noise, as well as better focus in low-light conditions.
What we weren’t too keen on was the HDR mode. It made some of the brighter images slightly worse by dropping the contrast and flattening the image and in the low light scenarios it just made the image incredibly dark. We suspect it is one of those things that will need fixing in software.
XIAOMI MI MIX 2S FULL SPECIFICATIONS
NETWORK Technology GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE
LAUNCH Announced 2018, March Status Available. Released 2018, April
BODY Dimensions 150.9 x 74.9 x 8.1 mm (5.94 x 2.95 x 0.32 in) Weight 191 g (6.74 oz) SIM Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
DISPLAY Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 5.99 inches, 92.6 cm2 (~81.9% screen-to-body ratio) Resolution 1080 x 2160 pixels, 18:9 ratio (~403 ppi density) Multitouch Yes Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 4 – MIUI 9.5
PLATFORM OS Android 8.0 (Oreo) Chipset Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 CPU Octa-core (4×2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 385 Silver) GPU Adreno 630
MEMORY Card slot No Internal 256 GB, 8 GB RAM or 64/128 GB, 6 GB RAM
CAMERA Primary Dual: 12 MP (f/1.8, 1/2.55″, 1.4 µm) + 12 MP (f/2.4, 1/2.9″, 1.0 µm), 2x optical zoom, dual pixel phase detection autofocus, 4-axis OIS, dual-LED dual-tone flash Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps, 720p@120fps Secondary 5 MP, (f/2.0, 1.4 µm), 1080p
SOUND Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack No – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
– 3.5 mm to USB-C headphone adapter incl.
COMMS WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS NFC Yes Radio No USB 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector
FEATURES Sensors Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM Browser HTML5 – Fast battery charging 9V/2A (Quick Charge 3.0)
– Qi wireless charging
– XviD/MP4/H.265 player
– MP3/WAV/eAAC+/Flac player
– Photo/video editor
– Document viewer
BATTERY Non-removable Li-Ion 3400 mAh battery
Disclaimer. We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.
Xioami released Mi Mix 2s (Review and Full Specifications) The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s is finally official and it's hard not to feel at least a little bit relieved that this particular hype train is finally at station.
