Xiaomi Mi 5 review: Extraordinary value Android phone rivals Galaxy S7

Price When Reviewed

£263.75 (plus import duty)

Xiaomi’s phones are rare sightings in the UK, but the company’s market dominance in China and increasingly India (where this Mi 5 goes on open sale tomorrow – 1 June) means many more people are starting to hear of Xiaomi. Not officially sold here, the only way you’ll get your hands on one is through unofficial channels. GearBest supplied our Xiaomi Mi 5 for review. Also see: Best phones.

The Mi 5 sits at the top of Xiaomi’s line-up, and is a worthy competitor to the iPhone 6s, LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7, but at half the price. It lacks some features of those phones, such as an always-on display, modular design, removable battery, microSD support and waterproofing, but in all other respects this is a true next-generation smartphone with performance to match.

Three versions of the Mi 5 exist. A version with 3GB of RAM comes with either 32- or 64GB of RAM (we’ve reviewed the 32GB version here). There’s also a Pro edition with a ceramic body, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which has been shown to score in excess of 140K points in AnTuTu – that’s faster than any phone we’ve tested. Also read our full Xiaomi Mi6 review

The entry option reviewed here is still crazy-fast, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor nestled under its gorgeous, brilliantly bright and virtually edge-to-edge 5.15in IPS screen. The Mi 5 is gorgeous, a mix of glass and metal with a design somewhere between the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s.

A 16Mp Sony IMX298 camera sits flush to the phone’s rear, and with four-axis optical image stabilisation and phase-detection autofocus the Xiaomi can take some fantastic photos and video.

Connectivity options are strong with dual-SIM 4G support, alongside an IR blaster, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C and a new fingerprint scanner hidden inside a physical Home button. A 3000mAh battery, which is good for a day’s use, is insanely fast to charge with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. Also see: Best dual-SIM phones and dual-SIM buying advice.

Setup for UK users is easier with this Mi 5 than any Xiaomi phone we’ve tested previously. Although it runs MIUI 7, a customised version of Android Marshmallow, it takes literally moments to install the Google Play store from the preinstalled Mi app store and start using the phone as you would any other Android – albeit with no sign of the familiar Android app tray.

Let’s take a closer look at the Xiaomi Mi 5. See all smartphone reviews.

Xiaomi Mi 5 review: Price and UK availability – how much is the Xiaomi Mi 5?

Our Xiaomi Mi 5 came from GearBest, which stocks all three versions of the Mi 5 in white, black and gold. We tested the white Mi 5 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is currently available for £263.75 (note that prices will fluctuate daily at grey-market sites). Shipping to the UK is free, but note that you should pay import duty on anything you buy from China, and you will be billed for this if your parcel is stopped at Customs. We were charged an additional £40.73, which includes 20 percent of the phone’s value on the paperwork plus a £10 disbursement charge.

(In our experience with DHL it will send you the parcel before you receive the duty bill. Don’t be fooled into thinking this means you’ve got away with it.)

Even with the import duty on top, the Xiaomi Mi 5 offers excellent value for a flagship smartphone – especially given that its rivals cost in excess of £500. The difference with this phone is you won’t get it on contract in the UK, but while you might pay more up front you’ll save huge amounts of cash if you also switch your contract to a SIM-only deal.

And, on that subject, O2 customers and those of piggyback networks such as GiffGaff should note that they will not receive 4G on this phone. With no support for band 20 (800MHz), which is O2’s only 4G band, the most you’ll get is 3G. Customers of other mobile operators needn’t worry, since 4G LTE bands 3 and 7 are supported. Also see: Best Android phones 2016.

Xiaomi Mi 5 review: Design & build, screen

Xiaomi’s Mi 5 feels awesome in the hand. In common with the Samsung Galaxy S7 it has a Gorilla Glass 4 front and rear, with the left and right rear edges tapered to give a comfortable fit in the hand. This phone is thinner and lighter, though, just 7.25mm and 129g.

Although this rear panel can apparently be replaced should you crack it, the insides are not user-accessible. The SIM (two Nano-SIMs if you like) is loaded via a slot tray at the phones top left edge, while the 3000mAh built-in battery may be non-removable but it’s incredibly fast to charge.

Unlike the Galaxy S7 there’s no camera bump at the rear, nor curved glass at the front: the Mi 5 is flat as a pancake, save for the ever so slightly raised Home button. This is the first time we’ve seen a fingerprint scanner built into a physical Home button on a Xiaomi phone, and it works very well – fast to recognise your touch and unlock the device.

Either side sit back and recent buttons. These aren’t labelled, and you can switch them around to suit how you want to use the phone.

Also see: Xiaomi Mi 5 in pictures

The screen bezels are virtually non-existent, resulting in an extremely premium-looking design. There’s not a single rough edge on the chamfered metal chassis, and save for its non-waterproof body we are seriously struggling to find fault with the design. The white model we tested even battles fingerprints incredibly successfully.

The screen is a standout feature. While some of Xiaomi’s rivals are fitting Quad-HD panels with always-on tech, Xiaomi’s display is merely full-HD (1920×1080, 428ppi). You wouldn’t know it. It’s pin-sharp, brilliantly bright (600cd/m2), bursting with colours and has very good contrast. Pixel-level adaptive contrast and Sunlight Display makle it easily visible in all scenarios. 

Either side of the bottom-mounted USB-C charging- and data-transfer port are speaker grilles, though there is just the one speaker on this phone. It’s usefully loud, though, and we found it to be of acceptable quality for a phone speaker.

And at the other end: an IR blaster. Such an under-rated feature and, intriguingly, removed from Samsung’s latest Galaxy S-series flagship.

Xiaomi Mi 5 review: Core hardware & performance – how fast is the Xiaomi Mi 5?

As we mentioned in the introduction to this review, the top-end Mi 5 is capable of faster performance than we’ve ever seen from a smartphone. But this is not the top-end Mi 5. With a slightly lower-clocked Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor running at 1.85GHz and a smaller complement of RAM (3GB versus 4GB in the Mi 5 Pro), this Xiaomi Mi 5 might not be as fast as the Pro, but it’s still devilishly fast. (Compare the Xiaomi Mi 5’s performance to all the phones we’ve recently tested in our article What’s the fastest phone 2016?)

The only thing that will stop you in your tracks when using this phone is the odd Chinese-language notification that might pop up from the Mi App Store, or the again Chinese-language buttons that might appear on the keyboard (we recommend installing the Google keyboard rather than trying to use the preinstalled one). It certainly won’t be any issues with lag or an underpowered processor. Everything, and we mean everything, is accomplished in a split second on the Xiaomi Mi 5.

We did notice the Mi 5 became rather warm under test, but this is not at all unusual for a metal-bodied flagship – and it didn’t appear to affect performance.

We’ll start with our graphics tests, since they’re the most impressive when compared to the competition. Even against phones that have the same Adreno 530 GPU, such as the LG G5, the Xiaomi scored higher. That’s most likely because we run the onscreen versions of GFXBench T-Rex and Manhattan, and the Xiaomi Mi 5 has a lower-resolution screen than the G5. It scored a very high 59fps in T-Rex and 37fps in Manhattan; the LG G5 recorded 53fps and 29fps respectively, while the Samsung Galaxy S7 (also Quad-HD) scored 53fps and 27fps, and the iPhone 6s (a lower screen resolution than the Mi 5) scored 60fps and 52fps.

We use Geekbench 3 and AnTuTu to measure general processing performance, and in these tests the Xiaomi Mi 5 turned in 4777 and 108,355 points respectively. That’s a little faster than the iPhone 6s (which scored 4400 in Geekbench), but behind the LG G5 and Galaxy S7 (which scored 6466 and 5404 in Geekbench).

Geekbench 3 also has a battery life test. You won’t get more than a day’s life from the Xiaomi Mi 5 in our experience, but we run this test for the very fact that your usage will likely differ and therefore the experience may well be different to ours. The results were very good, with a battery life score of 5353 points and time of 8 hours 55 minutes. That’s behind the Galaxy S7 (9 hrs 15 mins, 5553 points), but ahead of the LG G5 (6 hrs 51 mins, 4111 points).

More importantly, in our opinion, is that when the battery runs down the Xiaomi Mi 5 is insanely quick to charge. In common with the LG G5 it supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3, which can charge phones up to four times faster than a traditional charger (and that more than makes up for its lack of wireless charging and removable battery in our book). A QC3 charger is supplied in the box, but it’s a two-pin model. If GearBest doesn’t send you a UK adaptor, you’ll find more examples of the best QC3 chargers in our article What is Quick Charge 3.0?

Our final test is JetStream, which looks at JavaScript performance in web browsing. To ensure a fair test we always run this test in Google Chrome, which we first downloaded from Google Play (having downloaded the Play Store from the Mi App Store – more on that later). The Mi 5 recorded 46.9, which is a little way behind the Galaxy S7 (61.0) and LG G5 (53.6), but a long way ahead of many of the cheap and cheeful Chinese phones we review. Also see: Best Chinese phones available to buy in the UK 2016.

Xiaomi Mi 5 review: Connectivity & extras

We touched on the Mi 5’s connectivity options earlier in this review, and they really are strong. We’d like to see the addition of microSD support, but there are more generous storage versions available without too much of a jump in price. (Plus it’s easy to add storage to Android.)

Something phone manufacturers still don’t get is that us Brits want dual-SIM phones just like the rest of the world. We’d like the opportunity to manage business- and personal numbers or home- and abroad plans on a single phone, too. The great news then is that Xiaomi’s Mi 5 is sold with dual-SIM (dual-standby – see what this means) compatibility as standard, and both Nano-SIM slots are capable of 4G (provided you’re not on O2 or GiffGaff as there’s no support for Band 20 LTE – see how to tell whether a phone is supported by your network).

Another ommision from a great many flagships but seen here in the Xiaomi Mi 5 is an IR blaster, while a NFC chip is also included that will let you take advantage of Android Pay ( which is just around the corner for UK users).

Other connectivity highlights include the aforementioned fingerprint scanner, which works as well as any we’ve seen, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS and GLONASS.

Xiaomi Mi 5 review: Cameras

The Xiaomi Mi 5 is fitted with a 16Mp Sony IMX298 camera, which is paired with a dual-LED flash. It supports 4K video, which is even better when you consider this phone has four-axis optical image stabilisation – given the right conditions, it’s capable of some tremendous video footage and stills.

The primary camera is protected with a sapphire glass lens, and also boasts of DTI tech (that’s the same used in the iPhone 6S camera), phase-detection autofocus and f/2.0 aperture. Again, in good light it takes a fantastic shot, with vibrant colours and lots of detail (click on the images below to see at 100 percent and you can make out individual bricks and road names); as the light goes down things go a little soft and grainy. But the Mi 5 is very quick to focus, and supports some useful camera modes (including Manual mode) and real-time filters (one of which is ‘Japanese’).

The app is a bit confusing to use until you realise you have to swipe in from the left to see the modes and options – the same as Google’s camera app used to be until it relented and put a hamburger icon at the top in the new version.

There are plenty of options to tweak, even a long-shutter mode up to 32 seconds. But you can’t shoot 1080p video at 60fps (it’s limited to 30 as it is in 4K mode) and slo-mo is shot at 120fps rather than 240 as you get on the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6S. But remember that this phone also costs around half the price of those flagships.

Aside from the occasional focus fail, the Mi 5 does a

At the front of the Mi 5 is a 4Mp selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture and large 2um pixels. It has that odd feature often found in Chinese phones that tries to guess your age, although we’re quite happy with it taking eight years off of ours.It flips the photo so it’s like looking into a mirror and does a decent enough job (the example below shows it’s soft on the left side, but sharp on the right). There’s also the usual beauty mode for smoothing out skin.

Overall, the Mi 5 holds its own against the big boys, and you can see this with your own eyes in our best phone camera comparison.

Xiaomi Mi 5 review: Software

Ordinarily we wouldn’t recommend a Xiaomi phone to anyone not familiar with Android and confident in tinkering because they take a fair amount of setup for UK use. Google Play isn’t preinstalled, and the keyboard and many of the apps are in Chinese.

Setup was much easier with the Mi 5: log into the Mi App Store and search for Google Play. Ignore the fact everything is in Chinese – just click on the top result to install it. It will prompt you to install Google Account Manager and Framework Services and so on, then bring up the usual Google login screen you would normally see when first turning on an Android phone. It took around half an hour for our Google account to activate, but we were then able to install apps from Google Play as usual. We recommend you start with the Chrome browser and Google Keyboard, and remember to change the phone’s automatic time zone setting from Chinese.

The first thing you’ll notice about MIUI 7, which is a heavily customised version of Android Marshmallow, is that there is no app tray – as with an iPhone, everything is placed on the home screen (you can tidy things up with folders by dragging apps on top of others). That includes quite a few Chinese apps that you won’t know what to do with: don’t worry, just drag their icon toward the top of the screen to uninstall them, then download familiar Google apps from Play.

We’ve tried MIUI 7 several times before, and once you get used to things it’s actually a very competent UI. As well as the software features we mentioned earlier, there’s quite a lot in the way of customisation. A huge number of themes is available from the dedicated Themes app on the home screen, and you can also tweak the notification LED colour, and the system font and size. If your issue is not with your eyesight but the size of the screen, you’ll appreciate the one-handed mode that shrinks the screen size down to 4.5-, 4- or 3.5in with a simple gesture.

The pull-down notification bar has also been tweaked. When you drag down from the top of the screen you’ll first see notifications, and must swipe in from the right to access quick settings (making them marginally less ‘quick’ although you can at least change which toggles are shown here) and a shortcut to the Settings menu.

A pinch on the home screen brings up options to move apps, add widgets and alter the wallpaper and effects (the transitions as you move between home screens).

We also like the Child mode, which lets you allow access only to certain apps installed on your phone before handing it over to the kids.

Read next: Best new phones coming in 2016.

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