Unbiased Exhaustive Review of Xiaomi Mi5

At a glance

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Price : 24999 INR (32GB , 3GB Ram Variant)

Specifications 

• CPU : Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Quad-core Kyro 1.8Ghz(max)
• Display : 5.15 inch  , 1920*1080 Full HD IPS Display
• Camera : 16MP rear camera with OIS ( 4 axis optical image stabilisation ) , 4MP front camera with micron pixels . Dual-LED(Dual tone)flash 
• Battery : 3000mAh Lithium-ion polymer battery (non-user removable)
• OS : Android marshmallow( MIUI 7.2.3.0 out of the box )
• RAM : 3GB    
• ROM : 32GB  ( ~ 24.9GB user accessible )

What’s Hot !! (Pros)	What’s NOT (Cons)
Great Design Weighs just 129 grams Curved Design makes it’s easy to hold Corning Gorilla glass 4 back panel	USB Type C : Due to the lack of devices using type C connectors , you have carry your charger everywhere . Not backwards compatible with regular micro USB.
Sensors IR Blaster : can operate TV / AC/ any other remote based device Fingerprint Sensor : Works amazingly fast !! and it works in any orientation. Bluetooth 4.2, Bluebooth HID Full-feature NFC, supports reads/writes, card emulation and P2P	Fingerprint Sensor: Though it is fast , i would personally like to have the sensor at the back like redmi Note 3 or Nexus 6P.   To unlock the screen you have to touch the sensor as well as press it (not so cool !)
Camera Rear camera : Amazingly fast shutter speed , captures true tones and details very well. Good bokeh effect for Macro shots. Dual-LED flash makes night photography capture real colours. Front camera : BEST !! Large 2 micron pixel size reproduces excellent selfie. Video Recordings : 4 axis OIS in rear camera , stabilizes the jerkiness in videos. There are options for 4k Video (at 30fps) and Slow motion capture (720p at 120fps)	Camera: The rear camera does not perform upto expectation in low light (without flash)> Though the pictures are good , but compared to the price paid , the images could have come out better. In low light , good amount of noise can be easily spotted in the images. Xiaomi has confirmed that this would be fixed with the future software updates.
Battery Though the on paper specs is only 3000mAh , but this battery simply outperforms any other phone in this segment. It lasts around 30 hours with moderate to heavy usage. (battery test pictures below) Quick Charge 3.0 Overall / UI A big thumbs up for this minimalistic and colourful UI. MIUI has a themes store , where you can heavily customise the way your phone looks. MIUI has regular updates	Speakers: Though there are 2 visible side firing speakers , only one of them is for the audio output . The second one is just there for symmetry. This is really not cool . At this price point , a dual speakers could have been used. However the sound from the single speaker is pretty loud , and the quality is very nice.

Overall Value for Money : 7.5 / 10

Final Comments

This device is a clear winner in case of performance at it uses the latest flagship Snapdragon 820 Kyro processor and the rear camera with 4 axis OIS is the USP. Gaming experience is awesome, due to the 3GB RAM and Adreno 530 GPU. Though these extra elite features are a bang for its price , i believe this device would be a huge success if it was priced around the 18-20k segment , as there are other players who are entering this segment with similar features.
If you are looking for a superior camera and great overall experience , go for this device. 

Battery Performance

Rear Camera Samples

    Subject : Laughing Buddha clay statue

    Conditions of clicking : 

•     Shot at night in low lighting conditions , no flash 
•     Aperture : f/2.0
•     Exposure time : 1/25
•     ISO : 573

    Comment : Try zooming the picture to see the details 

    Subject : Mi Band 

    Conditions of clicking : Shot at night in low lighting conditions , no flash 

    Comment : Try zooming the picture to see the details 

    Subject : Retro night bulb holder 

    Conditions of clicking : Shot at 6:30 AM in the morning 

    Comment : Try zooming the picture to see the details

    Subject : Rusted knobs of water pipes  

    Conditions of clicking : Shot at 6:30 AM in the morning 

    Comment : Try zooming the picture to see the details on the turning knobs 

    Subject : Morning view from the terrace

    Conditions of clicking : Shot at 6:30 AM in the morning 

   

Front Camera Sample

    Subject : Morning Selfie

    Conditions of clicking : 

•     Shot at 6:30 AM in the morning 
•     Focal Length : 4.6mm
•     Aperture : f/2.0
•     Exposure Time : 1/434
•     ISO : 100

Design

Gaming Test ( Asphalt Nitro )

Screen Recording at 480p

Antutu Benchmark