Before the evolutionary MIX 4 launch later this month, let us review the MIX 3 to fill the void first. To a better and full-screen experience, Android smartphone manufacturers made lots of effort to make it happen.
Xiaomi did make MIX 3 the Best Slider Phone in 2018 given the design and the practicality. I love the sliding experience which brought me back to my childhood to see my parents slide their phones either type in or make phone calls.
It’s so retro and nostalgic. LOVE!
Let’s follow Blablaphones for a better dive! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Product: Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
Display: 6.39″ AMOLED (1080 x 2340 pixels) 19.5:9 ratio (403 PPI density)
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845(10 nm)
RAM: 6-10 GB
Storage: 128/256 GB storage, no card slot
Camera: 12.0 MP(wide & OIS) + 12.0 MP(telephoto)
Front Camera: 24.0 MP + 2.0 MP(depth sensor)
Battery: 3,200 mAh and Fast battery charging 18W / wireless fast charging 10W
Colors: Jade Green, Sapphire Blue, Onyx Black, Forbidden City Blue (10 GB only)
Other Features: Corning Gorilla Glass 5 / Fingerprint (rear-mounted)
Released Date: November 2018
Product: Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G
Display: 6.39″ AMOLED (1080 x 2340 pixels) 19.5:9 ratio (403 PPI density)
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855(7 nm)
RAM: 6 GB
Storage: 64 GB storage, no card slot
Camera: 12.0 MP(wide & OIS) + 12.0 MP(telephoto)
Front Camera: 24.0 MP + 2.0 MP(depth sensor)
Battery: 3,800 mAh and Fast battery charging 18W / wireless fast charging 10W
Colors: Sapphire Blue
Other Features: Corning Gorilla Glass 5 / Fingerprint (rear-mounted)
Released Date: May 2019
(Xiaomi MIX 3 comes as a slider which leaves more room for a full-screen experience!)
Design & Display
The first time I saw Xiaomi MIX 3, I cannot ignore the almost bezel-less around the entire phone. I stared at the phone for a long while, and fall in love with a full-screen look.
With the slider design, screen-to-body ratio reached 93.4%. It’s made by colored ceramics with three colors for Xiaomi MIX 3: sapphire blue, jade green, and onyx black. The 5G version only gets sapphire blue.
A whole new Sliding Experience
When you slide it, you will love the sliding feeling and it’s impossible to resist not to slide more! Xiaomi uses innovative magnetic materials to connect the slider and the main phone body.
It’s giving a tech sound when you slide it and it’s so addictive, the best part about Xiaomi MIX 3 is you could customize many setting to fit your need.
The default setting for the slider is the selfie camera, but you could make some arrangements for other shortcuts too.
For example, the next option is to “Open Tools” or quick tools. You could open calculator, weather, or timer which is designed in MIUI for the Mi Mix 3.
The third option is to “Open App”, and you are free to choose the app you use the most based on your daily behaviors.
The last one is “None” means nothing for the slider, and this is for those who use video calls a lot like my mother who always checks my schedule when I am outside. If you choose other options, the slider makes cut you out of a video call and open other apps as you assign.
(There are four options in the setting menu for Xiaomi MIX3, and you may choose the one suits you the best!)
Camera
Almost all the camera features we could see on Xiaomi’s camera menu where I don’t see anything more breakthrough than other competitors.
iPhone has the world-famous “Portrait Mode”, Google pixel has “Night Sight”, Huawei & Honor have “Macro Mode”, and Samsung has “Live Focus”. It seems Xiaomi has all the features, but none of them is the best in this industry.
Let’s see more for the all-in-one camera features of Xiaomi MIX 3:
Nightscape Capture
Since Google introduced its night sight camera feature, other competitors are developing their own night sight feature for the same run. Xiaomi is doing great with its own version when you think of the price, right?
(Xiaomi MIX 3 could help you with the amazing “nightscape capture mode” = Google’s “night sight”. Photo Credit:stevensenshan, I love Paris!)
Background Blur
Samsung is famous for its live focus mode to blur out the background and make the subject stands out from the photo, and it becomes a MUST-HAVE camera feature since then.
In Xiaomi MIX 3, you can either use the background blur for the rear & front camera to adjust as little or as much as you want. I don’t always use this feature often since sometimes the edges will blur out some parts of the subjects like my cloth or the edges of my hair then I need to swipe right or left for the best balance.
That’s the reason why people tease the social-media generation that it takes you 1 second for your shot but 1 hour for editing the photo, right?
(Xiaomi MIX 3 allows you to adjust the background blur by both front and rear camera shots.)
AI Assistant for the Camera
AI enhancement is something we see quite often this year, especially for Huawei since they make AI with Kirin chipset which outputs a chipset with AI! Very cool.
Xiaomi, on the other hand, has many options for AI. We are familiar with the below provided by Xiaomi’s AI features and I found there is nothing too cool to cope with your MIX 3.
(There are at least 6 AI features for Xiaomi MIX 3’s camera which helps you with some powerful enhancements.)
Dxomark
Xiaomi MIX 3 did a very good job on the photo part of Dxomark smartphone competition. It really rocks with the cheaper price but almost the same performance with the other flagships in the smartphone market right now.
It gets 108 scorings for the still photo shoot, and 93 scorings for video recording. Since the price is quite cheaper, I could accept the video recording is not that premium.
(Xiaomi MIX 3 is currently the #13 on Dxomark smartphone competition which is still amazing for the lower price compared to other flagships on the same list, you got me!)
Shortcut to Dxomark on Xiaomi MIX 3:
-Photo-
- Pros: accurate white balance and vivid colors
- Cons: inconsistent bokeh in Portrait Mode
-Video-
- Pros: accurate autofocus and good dynamic range
- Cons: visible noise in low-light environment
Let’s watch this video to fall in love with Xiaomi MIX 3’s camera:
Performance & Battery
It’s amazing that Xiaomi MIX 3 comes with Snapdragon 845 which is the King processor in 2018 for Android smartphones, and the speed is making you shuttle through different apps in one second.
For the 5G version of MIX 3, it comes with the Snapdragon 855 which is the Queen processor since we saw Snapdragon 855+ on some devices in the 2nd half of 2019. Cannot wait to experience the way Xiaomi integrate MIX 3 5G with the 5G connectivity provided by telecom operators in my region.
The battery is the biggest downside of Xiaomi MIX 3 as my personal opinion: normal MIX 3 gets 3,200 mAh and 5G version of MIX 3 only has 3,800 mAh which seems smaller than other phones. For me as a normal user, the larger battery the better!
5G From Xiaomi
Xiaomi is one of the first companies to put a 5G smartphone into our hands, of course, they need to compete with Huawei, OPPO, and vivo.
If Xiaomi doesn’t provide a 5G phone in the beginning, they would definitely lose the market share in China and couldn’t come back in a short time!
As one of 5G pioneers, Xiaomi listed out three main things that will be influenced by 5G:
- Ultra-fast downloading: yeah, you could download a 1080p movie in less than 1 min!
- VR/AR Gaming: a better gaming experience for VR/AR
- Live video call: very stable live video call or a conference
(Want to see more 5G applications by smartphones other than the above three main points listed by Xiaomi at the moment!)
Downsides
Top#01 A Smaller Battery
In the era of flagships with a 4,000 mAh battery, Xiaomi MIX 3 looks stingy on the battery. For the 5G version, the battery is still 3,800 mAh which is a bit impossible to me.
Since we don’t know yet the battery comsuming speed for the 5G connectivity, I think it’s better to have a larger battery on any phones in 2019.
Top#02 No On-Screen Fingerprint Scanner
Since we all know Chinese smartphone manufacturers are competing so hard domestically and internationally, Xiaomi MIX 3 didn’t have this on-screen fingerprint scanner seems inferior to other competitors in the market.
Although it has a faster rear fingerprint scanner on the back – the traditional one, people expected more from Xiaomi MIX 3, right?
Top#03 It’s Heavy
For its size, 218g is very heavy in the smartphone industry. Let’s see the below other flagships, Xiaomi MIX 3 tops all of them. I care much for my wrist, if you care too, please take this into considerations.
Weights of iPhones:
–iPhone Xs MAX: 208 grams
-Samsung Galaxy Note 10+: 198 grams
-Huawei P30 Pro: 192 grams
Top#04 No Waterproof
Since it’s a slider phone connects the front and the back with magnets, it’s reasonable that there is no waterproof on Xiaomi MIX 3. It’s like ASUS Zenfone 6 and OPPO RENO with a motorized pop-up camera, so they don’t have waterproof features too.
So, please keep this in mind if you are always dropping your phone into the toilet, you would need to consider other phones.
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Conclusion
I like the slider phone so much since childhood! Xiaomi MIX 3 brings me back to it and gives a cool & tech sound every time I slide the phone for a selfie. It’s the Best Slider Phone in 2018.
The first thing I look for any smartphone must be the camera performance, and Xiaomi MIX3 nails it. I think it’s really the best choice for someone who has a budget issue from their pocket. And, I think it’s a very good bargain to have it on our hands!
I hope you enjoyed this review and if you have any questions about Xiaomi MIX 3 series or want to leave your own personal review, leave a comment below.
(All Photos: Xiaomi)
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Xiaomi MIX 3
USD$373.99
Thank you so much for your in-depth review of the Xiaomi mix 3.
I think I love almost all the features about this phone ranging from its camera pixel to its processor and storage memory. I would have loved if the battery could be 4000MAH but I think 3800 Is still cool.
From the list of prices, I check I think it is budget-friendly compare to some other brands of phone. I will surely get one in the coming weeks and share my experience with it on here.
Hi Charles,
Thanks for the honest feedback, I hope you enjoy my post.
Yeah, Xiaomi is known for its unbeatable price for those who have a budget issue. I recommend my review of Xiaomi MI 9 for you, and you might compare them well before making the right decision for you! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I cannot just believe how far we have gone with the inclusion of android phones. These days, android are more of higher quality with specs than some laptops.
This xiami mix3 has 6-10GB ram. Even my gaming laptop is just 8GB ram. This is very outrageous how they could fit into all these mad specs on it. The camera too is way out of this world.
I just live everything about this phone. But then, the price is very costly for me to even think of. Great phone though!
Yes, the RAM game goes wilder in 2019 since there are 4 giant Chinese smartphone manufacturers compete with each other no matter domestically or internationally.
I love Xiaomi for its price, but they are pivoting to another direction for the high-end smartphone market. Anyway, their price is still lower than other flagships but at a lower price! Hope you find this review useful.
If the price is an issue for you, I would suggest you read my review for its brother brand called “Redmi”. Redmi is more budget-friendly for us, click HERE to know more!
This is simply summed up into one word to mean awesome. It has been long since I saw a sliding phone but they just came with a banger and I must say that xiaomi are closing the gap on Samsung and iPhones.
This xiaomi mix3 is the best slider phone I have ever seen in my life and with all these features it boasts of, I’m not sure we will see any phone that would beat it anytime soon.
The specs are just amazing most especially the selfie capability and the 5G feature too. I love the design of the phone too. Thumbs up to xiaomi for this
Hi Shelly, love to see you back! You are correct.
It’s hard to beat Xiaomi MIX 3 for the features and its price, and don’t forget its 5G connectivity!
All those made it the best slider phone, and I think we should focus on the following MIX 4 coming this month.
You could check HERE for the related for MIX 4. 🙂 🙂 🙂
When it comes to providing the Best Slider Phones, Xiaomi product is top-notch. I thought I had seen it all with the exceptional features of MIX2 until I saw MIX3. It is simply exceptional.
One experience that had not left me since my childhood is the memory of seeing my parents slide their phones to make calls. I grew up with an unusual love for slide phones.
I a getting my MIX3 immediately. Please kindly share the link I can use to make my purchase right away.
Hi Emmanuel,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your honest comment. For more Xiaomi MIX 3 feedback, please click HERE for more info.
I hope you enjoy it while you slide it no matter what shortcut you arrange, it would definitely suit you the best!
The MIX 3 sounds like a big, heavy phone that needs to be carried in a purse or bag and not put into a pocket. The small battery sounds like a deal-breaker if the battery needs to be charged often to play games.
Surprisingly little was said of the phone’s communications capability. I am a big WiFi user and prefer to connect using WiFi rather than my data plan. Also, Xiaomi is a brand I have never heard of before. I am curious as to their reputation and customer service.
Hi Glen,
Xiaomi doesn’t sell phones in the USA, so what you could do if the phone has some issues is going back to the store you buy it and request for replacement or repair.
Since they are not representing Xiaomi, I would assume the repair time might become longer. So, if it is an issue for you, please skip Xiaomi, and go for other brands like Apple or Samsung. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Indeed the big feature of the Xiaomi mix 3 is its sliding screen, which one has to tug with a little force to get the magnetic mechanism to move down and click into place.
I am impressed with the all-screen display but stumped when I was challenged to find the front-facing camera. When I did to reveal it, I had the same reaction as everyone.
Cool!!! Thanks for sharing this amazing quality!
Hi Seun Jeremiah,
Thanks for coming back for another post, glad you find my post is helping you for the front camera. Dxomark has given Xiaomi MIX 3 84 scorings for its front camera!
If you are interested, please have a further read HERE.