Camera setup xiaomi mi 6. Xiaomi Mi6 review: powerful fit with dual camera. Chipset and memory

Xiaomi Mi 6 is one of the main hits of the Russian mobile market in 2017. If you want a premium smartphone three times cheaper than the flagships of Apple, Samsung and LG, then the Mi 6 is at least worth considering.

Design and ergonomics

Xiaomi Mi 6 was the development of the concept of two models of last year at once - Xiaomi Mi 5 and Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus. The "six" received a design from Mi 5, and a dual camera from Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus. Although there is an undoubted external similarity with the Samsung Galaxy S7. However, there is nothing wrong with that - the design of the S7 was one of the best in its time, and thanks to the dual camera, Mi 6 also looks modern.

A curved back panel made of Gorilla Glass, a steel frame - and at the same time, the smartphone is not too heavy - only 168 g with a screen diagonal of 5.15 inches. The Xiaomi engineers apparently decided to use the steel frame precisely because of its small size - a steel smartphone with six-inch screens would be too heavy. The dimensions of the Mi 6 are quite compact: 145.2 × 70.5 × 7.5, so it can be called a unisex smartphone.

The Mi 6 comes in three colors: black, blue and white. Black is the classic, blue is the most spectacular, and the white body is the least noticeable of fingerprints. As for the dual cameras, both lenses are completely recessed into the body and look very neat. In general, for the design of Xiaomi Mi 6, you can put a five with a minus. Minus - for some secondary.

Camera

The main dual camera has two 12-megapixel sensors with different focal lengths (27 mm and 52 mm) and different apertures (ƒ / 1.8 ƒ / 2.6). The long focus lens provides 2x lossless zoom and portrait mode shooting.

The wide-angle is needed for landscape and night photography, and the combined work of the two modules gives different optical effects, for example, bokeh.

Daytime shooting

Macro and blur background

On the whole, the work of the camera seemed to me satisfactory - in the school sense of the word. That is, three plus. Probably most of the users will be satisfied with it, but it is the camera that shows the technological lag of Xiaomi Mi 6 in the field of photo and video shooting compared to the flagships of Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, Huawei. There are no complaints about daytime and portrait photography with the Mi 6. Everything is good here. But night shooting or shooting in a poorly lit room, even with a wide-angle camera, is clearly not the strongest point of the Mi 6.

To begin with, the Mi 6 telephoto lens has a small aperture and no optical stabilization. That is, its use in poor lighting conditions guarantees strong noise and blurry frames (at night, the camera's automation uses a slow shutter speed). But even when shooting with a wide angle, night shots are far from ideal. Algorithms for processing photos and videos - what every smartphone manufacturer keeps in the strictest confidence and what affects the image quality even more than optics and a matrix - looks more interesting for top mobile vendors.

The situation is saved by shooting in manual mode on a tripod. True, such entertainment is for a narrow circle of fans of mobile photography, for which Xiaomi Mi 6 is clearly not designed.

The front-facing 8-megapixel camera doesn't really stand out. The quality of the pictures is not bad, but it does not have such premium features as autofocus, stabilization and porter illumination.

Display

Xiaomi Mi 6 received a classic IPS 5.15-inch display with an aspect ratio of 16: 9 and Full HD resolution. The resolution for such a diagonal is more than enough, the pixel density is 428 dpi, which, for example, is higher than that of the iPhone 8 (326 PPI). The display is high-quality, bright (600 nits) and contrasting (1305: 1). Minimum brightness is 1.2 nits. These are excellent characteristics for an IPS matrix.

Yes, the "best of the best" equip their flagships with trendy OLED displays with Quad HD + resolution (2960 × 1440) and an aspect ratio of 18.5: 9, but such a display would seriously affect the price of a smartphone. Nevertheless, we emphasize once again that the screen of the Xiaomi Mi 6 is very good.

Battery and battery life

The Xiaomi Mi 6 has a 3350 mAh non-removable battery, which, combined with the energy efficiency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor (10 nm process technology) and the Full HD display, gives a very good result. The battery life is enough for one day, and if you use Xiaomi Mi 6 carefully, the battery can be "stretched" for two days. In terms of battery life, Xiaomi Mi 6 is not inferior to any of the flagships, except, perhaps, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro with its energy-efficient SuperAMOLED screen and a huge 4000 mAh battery.

Performance

The most powerful Qualcomm processor and a whopping 6 GB of RAM guarantee the highest performance and a place in the top ten smartphones of 2017: in the synthetic AnTuTu test, the Xiaomi Mi 6 scores 177,000 points - higher than the Samsung S8, Sony Xperia XZ Premium, HTC U11 and other flagship devices.

Interface

The MIUI graphical interface (current version 9.0) is well known to all Xiaomi fans. The interface is good, flexible in settings, fairly easy to use and well optimized with hardware. It works quickly, smoothly and I did not have any questions about the Xiaomi launcher. As they say in such cases: "Everything is according to the mind."

miscellanea

What technologies should a modern top-end smartphone support? Fast LTE - support for Cat9 (450/50 Mbps) - yes; dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5 GHz) 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac - yes; Bluetooth 5.0 - yes; NFC - yes; fingerprint scanner - yes. Quick Charge 3.0 - included. It can charge the device from 0% to 55% in 30 minutes.

But what is missing in the Xiaomi Mi 6. The smartphone does not support the "long-range" and well-passing through walls Band 20. This is not very relevant for megacities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, they do not use Band 20, but is important for rural areas and areas with a low density of base stations. Alas, there is no full-fledged moisture and dust protection such as IP67 or IP68. There is only a simple splash guard. No wireless charging, which is generally inexplicable for a flagship smartphone with a glass back cover (any smartphone with a non-metallic body can support wireless charging. There is no audio jack, which is unlikely to please owners of good wired headphones. No memory card slot - for those who like to take pictures, listen to music and shoot and watching a video is unlikely to be pleasant. Yes, 68 and 128 GB of internal memory is a lot, but photos, music and videos will fill such a drive very quickly.

The Xiaomi Mi6 delivers decent daytime shots in good light. The gloomy and austere skyscrapers of Moscow City turned out to be well-detailed, without noise and artifacts. This applies to both "wide" and telephoto lenses.

Switching between cameras is quick, without too much thought. Autofocus also picks up a subject in a split second, which is very important for mobile photography. After all, if you go from one camera to another for a long time, the cool moment will be missed.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F1.8, 1/50 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 100, F1.8, 1/1110 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F1.8, 1/50 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

We were mostly satisfied with telephoto shots. Unambiguously, the detail is better than if you take a crop of a picture taken with the main camera. And the optimal focal length gives less distortion and distortion.

Xiaomi has not forgotten about the HDR (high dynamic range) mode. Usually, using this mode, you can take pictures without overexposure and too dark places, but in Xiaomi Mi6 it is more of a special effect. However, this function still performs its main task: the sky becomes more textured, and dark places - a little lighter.

Indoors, under artificial lighting, the Mi6 does not perform so well. Automation intervenes more aggressively to set the optimal ISO, shutter speed and suppress shake. Photos taken with the main camera are quite dark, with noticeable noise, but there is no "soap".

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 125, F1.8, 1/50 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 320, F1.8, 1/33 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 400, F1.8, 1/33 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

For this special thanks must be said to optical stabilization, which works here at once along four axes. It helps a lot, especially in low light conditions. It is a pity that it is not in the second module.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 800, F1.8, 1/17 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

A photo with an optical zoom, as expected, shows itself worse due to the weak aperture of the optics. Detail and color rendition suffers, artifacts appear in photographs. You will not be able to make a beautiful portrait of a girl by candlelight, put up with it. However, the situation can be slightly corrected by manual mode. After digging for about five minutes in the settings, you will most likely get a really good frame. But there is not always the time and opportunity to do this.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 400, F1.8, 1/50 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 500, F1.8, 1/25 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

With the smartphone Xiaomi Mi6, you can also shoot a panorama, a special mode is dedicated for this. It works very controversially: the image quality is average, but the gluing is almost invisible. The littered horizon and irregular geometry are very striking. The latter is fixable if you very carefully and slowly hold your smartphone from side to side.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F1.8, 1/50 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

With night shots outdoors, the situation is about the same. The main camera does a lot better thanks to the more light-sensitive optics and stabilizer. In details, of course, the picture is not so clear, but overall the result is commendable.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 400, F1.8, 1/33 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

At 2x magnification, the picture becomes noisy, and the smartphone must be held very firmly so as not to “make soap”. Still, the F2.6 aperture is objectively small for high-quality evening photography.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 320, F1.8, 1/50 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 1000, F1.8, 1/17 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 500, F1.8, 1/100 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

When it comes to portraits, the result is not always predictable. Artificial blur works well only under favorable conditions. Otherwise, objects are cut out inaccurately, hair and clothing details are "eaten". In low light, the portrait turns out to be noisy and faded.

However, if the subject is not very complex and well lit, the result will please. The dynamic range and detail are excellent.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 1250, F2.6, 1/33 s, 52.0 mm equiv.

Selfies on Mi6 are just good. To do them, again, it is better with high-quality lighting, otherwise, besides your face, you will find a lot of noise.

MI 6 SETTINGS: ISO 148, F2.2, 1/50 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

Unfortunately, Xiaomi did not provide for its flagship with faster optics for the front camera, but in vain. Everyone takes a selfie. And whoever says he doesn't do it, he takes them off twice as often. Therefore, focusing only on the main camera is a big mistake.

We decided to check the results of the camera not only on the smartphone display and on the computer monitor, but also using the Canon PIXMA TS8040 photo printer. This printer has 6 separate ink tanks - this greatly improves color rendering for photo printing.

To get started, we armed ourselves with 10 x 15 cm Photo Paper Glossy and printed a few test shots. The result was quite good, however, the colors on the display were still slightly brighter than on prints.

To be honest, the portrait of the girl on closer inspection, even in the 10x15 cm format, was quite noisy: the weak aperture of the Mi6 portrait optics affected. Therefore, when printing images, we expected little. But the pictures, even in the twilight conditions, nevertheless made us happy. If you engage in literalism and peer into the details, then you can notice the software processing and gruel, but in general the quality of shooting and printing is high. It's not a shame to hang such photos on the wall; Canon PIXMA TS8040 photo printer does its job perfectly. In addition, printing from a smartphone is convenient with the Canon Print Inkjet / SELPHY app via wireless printing (Wi-Fi + NFC).

New products from Xiaomi attract the attention of not only enthusiasts, but also ordinary users who are looking for a quality product at an adequate price. Xiaomi Mi6 is the flagship model in the line of the first half of 2017. Did the company manage to create an interesting device for both geeks and ordinary users? Let's figure it out!

Specifications

• Screen: 5.15 inches, IPS OGS, 1920x1080 428ppi, oleophobic coating, polarizing filter, 2.5D.
• Operating system: Xiaomi MIUI 8 (Android 7.1.1).
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835.
• CPU: 8x Qualcomm Kryo 280 (4x 2.45 GHz + 4x 1.9 GHz).
• GPU: Adreno 540.
• RAM: 6GB LPDDR4x 1855MHz 64-bit.
• Built-in memory: 64 GB or 128 GB non-expandable.
• Cameras: dual main: 12 MP (optical stabilization, phase detection autofocus, 27 mm, f / 1.8) + 12 MP (52 mm, f / 2.6); frontal: 8 MP.
• Battery: 3350 mAh, non-removable.
• Dimensions: 70.49 x 145.17 x 7.45 mm.
• Weight: 168 g (182 g for ceramic version).
• SIM slots: 2 nano-SIM.
• Communication: FDD-LTE: B1 / B3 / B5 / B7 / B8; TD-LTE: B38 / D39 / B40 / B41, Bluetooth: 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n / ac (Dual-Band), GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS, BeiDou, FM radio, IrDA , NFC, USB OTG.
• Sensors: light, proximity, accelerometer, gyroscope, Hall sensor, fingerprint, compass, step detector.
• Available colors: black, white, blue.

Equipment

The smartphone comes in a cardboard box. In addition to the smartphone, the kit includes a charger (Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0), a USB Type-C cable, an adapter for connecting wired headphones and headsets (USB Type C → 3.5 mm Jack), a case, a "clip" for removing SIM cards and a small amount pieces of paper. It's nice that the company puts a high-quality soft silicone case into the box for the flagship smartphones! Otherwise, only the necessary accessories.

Appearance

There are three color variations: black, white and blue. The first two are traditional colors. And the combination of blue and gold, on the other hand, is the first to be found in Xiaomi. The new solution looks fresh and stands out from the background of other devices, it is difficult to remain indifferent.

At the disposal of the editors was Xiaomi Mi6 in a conservative black color, this is the version that is officially presented to Russian users. The color looks strict, at the same time not boring. In fact, it is a universal choice that is equally suitable for men and women.

Externally, Xiaomi Mi6 is a rethinking of the ideas laid down in last year's Mi5, taking into account the latest trends. The first thing that catches your eye is the absence of sharp edges and an abundance of glossy elements! The rounded stainless steel side bezel blends seamlessly with the rounded rear glass, which houses the dual camera and dual-tone LED flash. Not a single protruding element!

The display is covered with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5, with a barely noticeable rim between it and the side frame. An important difference from its predecessors is the absence of additional dark frames around the screen, only a thin strip in the color of the case, even in white and blue cases.

Above the screen was placed a front camera, proximity and light sensors, as well as an earpiece and an LED indicator.

Below the display is a home button with a built-in fingerprint sensor. The scanner is fast, no lagging, even with careless swiping. As in Mi5s - the key is touch-sensitive, there is no mechanical movement. To the left and right of the scanner - two touch buttons - dots with backlight.

At the bottom, the only connector is USB Type-C 1.0, which is used for charging, transferring files and connecting headphones. to the right of the port is the multimedia speaker, and to the left is the microphone. Also at the bottom there are symmetrical antenna dividers.

Above is a second microphone that is used for noise cancellation and stereo sound recording. Unlike competitors, Xiaomi does not abandon the IrDA to control equipment, the transmitter is located next to the microphone.

The volume rocker and the power button are on the right. The keys are easy to feel and have a predictable stroke.

On the left is a tray for two nanoSIM cards, there is no support for microSD memory cards. An attentive eye immediately notices a gasket on the tray - one of the elements of tightness. The manufacturer claims protection against splashing in the rain. Full immersion in water looks impressive, but it is not recommended to do this, there is no exact information about the protection standard.

Beveled edges, lack of sharp corners, as well as thin bezels around the display made it possible to fit the 5.15-inch display into the relatively compact body of the Xiaomi Mi6. The smartphone fits perfectly in the hand! Unfortunately, the device is not ideal in terms of ergonomics. The first complaint is related to the weight, Xiaomi Mi6 is noticeably heavier compared to last year's Mi5: 168 grams versus 129, which makes the novelty seem too weighty.

The glass device with a glossy side bezel looks impressive! At the same time, the body turned out to be slippery, constantly striving to slip out of hands. A complete cover is designed to rectify the situation, which hides all the beauty and provides a tenacious grip.

Display

The Xiaomi Mi6 uses an IPS-matrix with a diagonal of 5.15 inches and a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels or just FullHD. The display is protected by a rounded 2.5D Gorilla Glass 5 with a good oleophobic coating: the finger glides easily, prints are rubbed off.

The screen has exemplary indicators of color rendering, contrast and saturation for IPS-matrices. The only controversial point is the level of maximum brightness, on a clear day the display looks dull. At the same time, thanks to the use of a polarizing filter, information is read even in direct sunlight, no glare.

Additional parameters include auto brightness, adjusting contrast and color temperature, as well as reading mode. The touch panel supports 10 simultaneous touches.

Iron

Xiaomi Mi6, like other flagships of the company, uses the most productive solution from the Qualcomm line - Snapdragon 835... The single-chip system contains 8 Kryo 280 cores operating at different frequencies - 4 cores up to 2.45 GHz and the remaining 4 up to 1.9 GHz. Graphics - Adreno 540. Served by a chipset of 6 GB of RAM and a high-speed UFS 2.0 flash drive with a capacity of 64 GB or 128 GB.

Today, this combination provides the highest possible performance in the world of android devices. No gaming issues, let alone day-to-day operations. The smartphone easily copes with any task, the performance reserve will last for more than one year!

The weak point of modern mobile systems is the level of heating and energy efficiency. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 platform is built on a new 10nm process technology to reduce heat and power consumption. In the case of Xiaomi Mi6, these are not empty words, the device is extremely difficult to warm up to critical temperatures, the case always remains barely warm.

Software

The reviewed smartphone runs MIUI 8 based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. The firmware is the latest global version at the time of the review. There are a minimum of preinstalled applications, no Chinese rubbish!

The look and feel of the shell is heavily distanced from anything other manufacturers do! Once you understand the abundance of functions and chips presented, you will hardly want to return to a clean system.

Of the interesting features, the ability to clone applications deserves special attention. This allows you to use two accounts in applications that do not initially support multi-account. For example: WhatsApp, Viber, VKontakte and other messengers.

App lock by fingerprint or password will protect confidential data from prying eyes! The function works correctly, it is possible to customize the behavior.

The built-in startup and permission manager will help you track the behavior of third-party applications.

Unfortunately, some useful features of the bare system bypass MIUI. So, in Android Nougat, the ability to scale the interface was added, but in MIUI 8 based on Android 7.1.1, this feature is still not available. Also, we could not find a dual-window mode, which is supported by competing shells. In addition, some applications do not work correctly, for example, in Instagram, the status bar becomes unreadable, and in the Google keyboard, old-style switches are displayed. The only hope for the imminent release of MIUI 9.

The system pleased us with its responsiveness, during testing it was not possible to provoke the shell to freeze! However, a controversial point is the degree of localization, in some places there is not translated text, which is strange for a firmware with a huge number of Russian-speaking fans!

Connection

Xiaomi Mi6 supports a complete list of modern wireless interfaces. In addition, special technologies are used, for example, special Wi-Fi 2x2 MU-MIMO antennas, which, in combination with a compatible router, give a serious increase in signal speed and stability. A great reason to upgrade your home router! NFC supports all available protocols, is compatible with Android Pay and the Troika card.

There are no complaints about the quality of cellular communication, the smartphone is confidently holding the network. Two SIM cards work on one radio module, that is, while using one of them, the second becomes inaccessible. The only gripe is the lack of LTE Band 20, which is rapidly developing in Russia.

Sound

For audio processing in Xiaomi Mi6, the DSP built into the Qualcomm Hexagon 682 chipset is responsible, there is no separate amplifier and digital-to-analog converter. Stereo sound support is declared for the loudspeaker, the effect is achieved by using the spoken speaker to help the main speaker. In fact, the sound is surround, it turns out to highlight the left and right channels - the desired effect is achieved! The sound in the headphones is also detailed, averaged over the nature of the sound, there is no frequency skew.

A simple equalizer is built into the firmware, as well as sound presets for Xiaomi headphones. Improvers help to slightly change the character of the sound to taste, there are no phenomenal transformations.

A controversial decision remains the rejection of a separate port for connecting headphones. Compatibility with old accessories is achieved with a complete adapter from Type-C to 3.5 mm Jack, and the company has also released a line of wired Type-C headphones. In practice, there are no problems with using the adapter, you quickly get used to the new connection scheme, no rejection. The only difficulty arose in the car, due to the impossibility of simultaneously connecting the charging and the AUX cable. Still, the future belongs to wireless technologies, Xiaomi is pushing users to buy all kinds of Bluetooth accessories, and the abandonment of the analog port is an attempt to speed up the process.

Camera

No flagship in 2017 is complete without a dual camera! The approach to using the two modules varies: B / W for better detail, a wide-angle lens, or the opposite - a telephoto lens. For Xiaomi Mi6, the last option was chosen!

The smartphone is equipped with two 12 MP modules. The main one is Sony IMX386 with a focal length of 27 mm and an aperture of f / 1.8. Optional Samsung S5K3M3 with 52mm focal length and f / 2.6 aperture. It should be noted that the main module is equipped with four-axis optical stabilization and phase detection autofocus.

This combination provides an honest 2x magnification with one caveat. The second module is activated only in conditions of sufficient illumination, I think that this is due to the less fast telephoto lens optics. In other situations, a software enlargement of the image from the main module is used, which can be seen from the data in EXIF, pay attention to the information on the aperture and focal length.

In fact, there are no questions about the quality of magnification, the frames are equally good. It is safe to say that there is a use for optical zoom, it all depends on the imagination of the photographer!

The second use of the dual camera is to take pictures with a blurred background. A smartphone is given, among other things, objects with a complex contour. After a little training, mistakes are practically eliminated. Even in low light conditions, the device shows a decent result.

Display and sound

The screen has not changed compared to what was in the Mi5 - the same LCD with an IPS matrix with a diagonal of 5.15 inches and a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels. Full HD on a flagship in 2017? At first glance, the move seems damn wrong from a marketing point of view and very reasonable from a human one - the figure is not impressive, but such a display in theory eats less battery, and you won't notice the difference without a magnifying glass. And if this is the case with detail for a screen of such a diagonal (428 ppi is more than enough), then this decision does not affect energy efficiency. We will talk about this, however, below, in the corresponding section.

The display is equipped with a touch-sensitive coating that responds to 10 simultaneous touches, all necessary gestures are supported, but Force Touch or any analogue of vibration response to touches is not here. Viewing angles are free - the contrast drops slightly with a strong deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular, but the color rendition remains in order.

The brightness is very decent - 569 cd / m2. This is lower than that of Mi5 and Mi5s Plus, but still a sufficient value not only not to worry about the readability of information when working with a smartphone on a sunny day, but also to see a juicy, full-color picture. Add to this a quality polarizing layer. There is an ambient light sensor that allows the smartphone to determine the brightness of the screen itself. He does it quite confidently, without sharp jumps - there is a slight tendency for the picture to be underexposed, but not too serious.

The contrast level is normal - 1213: 1. But again, there is a loss for both Mi5 and Mi5s Plus. Why the display of the new flagship loses most of the indicators to the flagships of last year is inexplicable. In the settings, you can turn off not only the automatic setting of brightness depending on external lighting, but also its adjustment depending on the displayed picture - as a rule, it is "sewn" into smartphones without the possibility of turning it off, but Xiaomi made a pleasant exception.

The screen is set up very well - here Xiaomi holds up to the level and shows some A-brands (hello Sony!) How to handle the displays of flagship devices. The average gamma is 2.24, while the graph is relatively flat regardless of the tone.

The temperature is colder than we would like, but by today's standards, not too much - it fluctuates around 7500 K. Shades can be changed in the settings, again, setting if desired warmer, close to the optimal sRGB standards.

The average DeltaE deviation for the extended Color Checker palette (grayscale plus a wide range of color shades) is 4.27, with the maximum allowable rate of 3. With an expanded color gamut (seen in the picture above), such accuracy is almost a feat. The screen displays colors very close to the truth, with a slight bias towards cold tones.

The Xiaomi Mi6 does not have a mini-jack, but it comes with a USB Type-C to 3.5 mm adapter. The desire to be like Apple sometimes brings not only to the good - such attempts to stand at the forefront of technological progress, but at the same time leave crutches for those who lag behind, look so-so. Xiaomi does not offer any special advantages from the absence of an analog connector - the most common filling and the usual smooth smartphone sound.

The device has a built-in lone monophonic speaker hidden behind the right of the two grilles on the lower edge - quite loud, the call can be heard from the next room. When you grip the device horizontally, it does not overlap with your finger.

⇡ "Hardware" and performance

Xiaomi Mi6 cannot boast the title of the world's first smartphone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, as Sony Xperia XZ Premium managed to take over this title. Nevertheless, it is Xiaomi that is the first smartphone with the main mobile platform in 2017 to reach us. , now it's time to try the system-on-a-chip in real work.

Let me remind you of the main parameters of the platform. It received eight Kryo 280 cores based on the ARM Cortex architecture, but modified by Qualcomm itself: four with a clock speed of up to 2.45 GHz, with 2 MB of L2 cache, and four more with a clock speed of up to 1.9 GHz, with 1 MB cache. Responsible for the graphics is the new Adreno 540 module with a clock frequency of 710 MHz. The SoC is made using a 10nm process technology.

It would be quite logical to expect that the new platform will vividly update all records in standard synthetic tests - and this is the case when, for the most part, expectations are met. Where the results do not depend on software optimization, everything is in perfect order: the performance in the 3DMark graphics benchmark is especially impressive - an increase in comparison with the Snapdragon 820 by almost one and a half times. In another graphics test, GFXBench, the Xiaomi Mi6 scored almost as many points as the hitherto unattainable iPhone 7.

But in WEBXprt, which partially depends on the operation of the shell, the Xiaomi device, as usual, shows the result just below the ceiling of the platform. But in comparison with the same Mi5s Plus, the gain is still obvious - by a quarter.

Powered by the Snapdragon 835 in the Mi6, along with six gigabytes of RAM - given the Full HD display, such a generosity from the manufacturer seems even a little overkill. Extra memory wastes energy.

If we talk about personal impressions of the device, then the speed simply leaves nothing to be desired - the smartphone fits into today's elite in this parameter, along with the Google Pixel, Moto Z or Samsung Galaxy S8. I also did not notice any problems with overheating. The only problem with the Xiaomi Mi6 is stability. There is a suspicion that these are the sins of a pre-production instance, but the gadget hung up and crashed applications too often - I recorded several different errors a day. The company's specialists still need to work hard on the firmware - it is impossible to give a smartphone to the market in this form.

As for the amount of non-volatile memory, then there are two options - with 64 and 128 GB of flash on board. It is impossible to expand the capacity with a memory card, the flagship Xiaomi is traditionally devoid of a microSD slot.

⇡ Communication and wireless communications

The smartphone works with two nano-SIMs, but is traditionally equipped with one radio module. LTE is only available for one slot. The Mi6 has a few more features when it comes to the fourth generation networks. First, the X16 modem built into the Snapdragon 835 allows you to count on working with gigabit networks (4x4 MIMO). This is in theory - telecommunications companies do not yet provide such an opportunity. But in practice, Russian users may have problems even at normal speeds: not supported by the 20th range, which is actively used by telecom companies in Russia. In Moscow or St. Petersburg, you most likely will not notice this, but in other cities there may already be problems. It is better to clarify the work of certain ranges in your region in advance.

A full set of wireless modules is available: NFC (with virtual payment support), Bluetooth 5.0 LE, Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac (2.4 + 5 GHz), infrared. For those who have not encountered Bluetooth 5.0, compared to 4.0, it has become twice as fast and four times longer. But in order to feel all the delights of this upgrade, you need to find peripherals with Bluetooth 5.0.

The navigation module works with GPS (including A-GPS), GLONASS, BeiDou. It starts up and catches a signal quickly - with the first satellites, the smartphone gets in touch within five seconds after launch. But Mi6 will be able to provide accuracy up to three meters only in half a minute or a minute, depending on the building.

⇡ Camera

Mi6 is not the first Xiaomi device with two rear cameras. This could boast, in particular, Mi5s Plus. With one but key difference - the dual module was used in it for completely different purposes: in the manner of Huawei, there were RGB and monochrome sensors, which, when working in pairs, provided a wider dynamic range in daytime shooting and lower noise at night.

Here, the LG / Apple approach is used - two identical 12-megapixel sensors (1 / 2.9 ") with different lenses: one with an equivalent focal length of 27 mm and aperture ratio ƒ / 1.8, the second - 52 mm and ƒ / 2.6. As a result, by quickly switching between them, you can get almost 2x zoom - and optical effects typical for landscape and portrait photography.

There are a few subtle points that work in tandem: the weaker aperture of the portrait lens and the optical stabilizer available only with the landscape lens. As a consequence, using the zoom when shooting in low light is fraught with blur and severe noise.

Shooting in portrait mode Xiaomi Mi6 with software background blur

The lack of aperture makes the depth of field of portraits too low, but Xiaomi - again following Apple - offers a software solution in the form of artificial background blur. The Mi6 does it a little roughly, unnecessarily touching the contours of the object in the foreground, but not much worse than the iPhone. Post-processing is also activated - both the contrast of the image and the color are corrected, even the contours of the face change slightly, there are also smaller things. Fortunately, this can be changed in the settings - although the default is pretty good. The camera works in portrait mode quite quickly, by the way, it takes about a second for post-processing.

From the software bells and whistles, I will note a special mode of automatic horizon adjustment: the smartphone cuts the frame so that the horizon line is even, although it would be more logical to display the virtual horizon on the screen so that the user himself can build the frame without blockage. There is, of course, HDR stitching and a set of filters of varying degrees of weirdness.

Xiaomi Mi6, camera interface

The camera interface has not changed in comparison with what we have seen in other tested devices with MIUI 8.0 - a fairly logical set of icons on the main screen and the location of the submenus are accompanied by some imperfections: for example, you cannot change the shooting resolution. You can only change the picture format - 16: 9 or 4: 3 - and the JPEG compression quality (by default, by the way, it is medium, you must manually switch to high).

The overall shooting quality of the Xiaomi Mi6 is excellently characterized by the word "normal". If during the day on a smartphone camera you can get pictures with good colors, medium dynamic range and medium detail, but without raised contour sharpness or excessive contrast, then in the dark, I repeat, you should only shoot with a landscape camera - due to the combination of a stabilizer and a higher aperture ratio you will be able to get non-blurred frames. Detail, of course, suffers, but the Mi6 works well with white balance and does not suffer from chromatic noise. It is worth saying that phase detection autofocus works quite efficiently - tenaciously and quickly.

Xiaomi_Mi6

Xiaomi Mi6 can shoot 4K video.

The front camera is 8-megapixel, without autofocus and flash. The quality of the shooting is completely normal, by default a very powerful filter works, which changes the face beyond recognition. Fortunately, this "hug", excuse my Japanese accent, can be turned off. Above are examples of shooting with the front camera with the enhancement on and off.

⇡ Autonomous work

A smartphone with a 5.15-inch Full HD display, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 platform, the authors of which focus primarily on its energy efficiency, not power, and a battery with a capacity of 12.73 Wh (3350 mAh, 3.8 V ). Sounds like a great proposition - there shouldn't be any issues with autonomy.

But, as is often the case, empirical research in such matters is imperative. Just in terms of operating time from a single charge, the Xiaomi Mi6 does not shine at all, consuming a battery with an unexpected agility for its parameters. My charge ran out by the end of the working day (not a day) with an average load - the device showed the ability to quite noticeably drain the battery even in standby mode, despite the fact that the Always-On Display function, for example, is not here.

The problem lies in the distribution of loads and software leaks - with specific tasks like video playback Mi6 copes confidently, without unnecessary energy consumption. For example, in our traditional test with HD video playback at maximum brightness, with wireless modules turned on and active updates, the Mi6 lasted for ten hours. This is a very good indicator. And in the battery test PCMark Work 2.0 showed a not so impressive, but also acceptable result - 5 hours 56 minutes.

Xiaomi Mi6 supports fast charging - it did not come with its own charger, but a third-party one designed for Quick Charge 3.0 was enough to fully charge the battery in an hour. With the complete result, the result should be even better - in hardware, the smartphone already works with Quick Charge 4.0.

⇡ Conclusion

Xiaomi Mi6 was created according to all the familiar patterns of its ambitious developers: a powerful, thin, unnaturally cheap device for its characteristics with an obvious eye to the Apple smartphone - this year, curtsey to the Cupertines came to the fore again.

If this does not bother you, then Mi6 is expectedly good - it is a beautiful and productive smartphone with a well-tuned display, normal shell and a good camera with 2x optical zoom. In fact, he really offers more than you expect for the money that is asked for him - if you take Chinese prices.

However, this time it was not without quite striking flaws. The main thing is the battery life. “On paper” Xiaomi has done everything to ensure that no problems arise, but in fact, the battery is squeaky enough for a working day. The lack of an optical stabilizer for a portrait camera is frustrating - it is practically unsuitable for shooting in the dark. There is no mini-jack - such a tribute to fashion in this case is not compensated by any special degree of moisture protection; Mi6 should not be immersed in water. Finally, the device is not stable in operation, but numerous crashes and freezes can be attributed to the pre-production firmware, which hardly interacts with the new hardware platform.

The list turned out to be rather big for a flagship, to be honest, but you can close your eyes to all this if Mi6 can be bought for 20-25 thousand rubles. If the customs problems with the shipment of Xiaomi products continue, and the official distributor does not drop prices below 30 thousand rubles, serious questions will remain.

Dignity:

• powerful hardware platform;
• good camera with 2x optical zoom and working portrait mode;
• nice design;
• well-tuned and bright display;
• splash protection.

Flaws:

• no memory card slot;
• no mini-jack;
• stability problems;
• easily soiled case and display;
• no optical stabilizer for portrait cameras;
• short battery life.