Until the launch of the OnePlus 3, the Xiaomi Mi 5 was considered the best handset in its price range. The OnePlus 3 stole the glory from the Xiaomi Mi5 and snatched its tag of the best inexpensive flagship.
However, Xiaomi has now unleashed the Mi 5s, which aims to rectify this and steal the crown back from the OnePlus 3.
How does the Mi 5s compare with its predecessor? is it a substantial update? Let’s find out!
Design
The Xiaomi Mi 5 looks very premium and has a seamless design with chamfered edges and a chrome boundary running around the edges of the display. The phone looks a lot like an affordable version of the Galaxy S7 and fits really easily in the hand.
The button placement is very ergonomic, and the device can be used quite easily with one hand despite having a large 5.15-inch display.
The Mi 5s takes things up a notch, with a brushed metal unibody design. What sets it apart from most other smartphones is the new under-glass ultrasonic fingerprint sensing technology, which negates the need of a physical button for the fingerprint sensor.
Additionally, Xiaomi has traded in the glass back of the Mi5 for a metal back in Mi 5s, which will definitely increase the smartphone’s appeal.
Display
The Xiaomi Mi 5 features a 5.15-inch, 1080p LCD IPS display. The display offers good colour reproduction and contrast ratio and is bright enough to offer a comfortable viewing experience in outdoor conditions.
While the screen size and resolution remain the same, Xiaomi has added an Apple 3D touch-esque pressure sensitive display on the top variant of the Mi 5s.
Hardware/Performance
The Xiaomi Mi 5 is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC, with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of non-expandable internal storage.
The Xiaomi Mi 5s sees a slew of noteworthy internal upgrades. The Xiaomi Mi 5s comes with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 821 processor, 3GB/4GB of DDR4 RAM and 64GB/128GB of UFS 2.0 internal storage.
Also read : Xiaomi Mi 5s vs OnePlus 3; Can the Mi 5s challenge the budget flagship king?
Battery
The Mi 5 has a 3,000 mAh battery unit, which in our tests managed to survive for 17-18 hours on a day of moderate mixed use.
Xiaomi has upgraded the battery to a 3200mAh unit on the Mi 5s, which will definitely lead to a noticeable increase in battery life.
Camera
The Xiaomi Mi 5 has a 16MP rear camera with a Sony IMX298 imaging sensor and a 4 Ultrapixel front camera. The rear camera has sapphire glass for protection and features 4 axis optical image stabilisation and phase detection autofocus. The camera produces amazing shots in well-lit situations, though low light images lack detailing and clarity.
In the Xiaomi Mi 5s, Xiaomi has upped the imaging game with a new 12MP rear camera using Sony’s IMX378 sensor (also used in the Nexus 6P and HTC 10) and a 4MP front-facing camera.
Software/Connectivity
On the connectivity front, both smartphones support 4G LTE, 3G, dual-SIM, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and GPS. Like the Mi 5, the Mi 5s also has USB Type-C for charging and data transfer, dual SIM capabilities, and Quick Charge 3.0 on board.
The Mi 5s runs on Xiaomi’s MIUI8 running atop Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box which comes with a major design overhaul as well as several small but significant features aimed at simplifying a user's life. You can read more about MIUI8 in our detailed feature breakdown here.
Pricing and availability
The Xiaomi Mi 5 is available at a price of Rs 22,999 on mi.com as well as all leading e-commerce platforms.
The Mi 5s has been announced in China and will go on sale on September 29.
Mi5s Pricing:
3GB RAM/64GB storage: 1999 Yuan (Approximately Rs 20,000)
4GB RAM/128 GB storage: 2299 Yuan (Approximately Rs 23,000)
