The Xiaomi Mi Note Pro and Mi Note Review
by Joshua Ho on September 11, 2015 9:00 AM ESTWiFi Performance
Even though smartphones are usually considered to be necessary for their mobile data capabilities, smartphones and tablets tend to spend a lot of time on WiFi networks instead. As a result, it’s important to have a smartphone with good WiFi connectivity as otherwise there’s potential for poor bandwidth, connection reliability, and frequent drop-outs from a router. Anyone that has tried a smartphone with poor WiFi will probably understand just how frustrating all of these things can be. In order to try and approach testing a complex radio subsystem, we’ve settled for a relatively simple bandwidth test using iPerf to see what the maximum UDP download rate is on the device under test. In the case of the Xiaomi Mi Note, we see a Qualcomm Atheros WCN3680 WiFi chipset, and the Mi Note Pro appears to use a QCA6174 despite only enabling a single spatial stream.
Interestingly, the Mi Note Pro ends up with a higher peak bandwidth result than the Mi Note even though both are using a single spatial stream. I’m not sure what’s causing this, as performance between the two should be relatively as the main performance improvement from QCA6174 should be dual spatial stream 802.11ac. Either way, neither should have significant problems in everyday use of WiFi given dual band support and support for the latest standards.
GNSS
Location services are surprisingly important in a smartphone. Without highly accurate, reliable, and fast location fixes a number of applications in a smartphone would be difficult if not impossible to implement. Turn by turn navigation is easily one of the most common and critical location-based applications a phone will run, and poor GNSS performance is a good way to make sure it never gets used. In order to test this, we run a standard GPS information application and attempt to accurately track just how fast it takes for a phone to acquire a lock without any GPS assistance (airplane mode) and no pre-existing assistance data. In the case of the Xiaomi Mi Note phones, the GNSS solution is likely to be integrated into Qualcomm’s modem, which means that with any kind of mobile data connection time to first lock is on the order of 5 seconds.
Running the test previously described, the Mi Note line appears to achieve first lock in roughly 40 seconds, and almost immediately after first lock is acquired accuracy is at 10 feet. It’s actually quite rare for a phone to achieve this, as most phones usually take at least an extra 10-30 seconds to get down to usable accuracy levels once first lock is achieved. Received signal strength is quite strong with most satellites strongly in the 30 dB SNR range.
Misc
While we don't really have the necessary equipment to do audio right, I noticed a number of things on the Mi Note series that seems to set the Mi Note line apart from other phones I've tested recently in audio performance. The first thing worth noting is that the speaker gets painfully loud, to the point where I usually keep volume under half of the maximum. I normally keep something like the One M8 closer to 75-100% volume, so it's pretty safe to say that these phones can pretty much reach unsafe levels of volume if you want them to. There's also a Saber ES9018 DAC connected to the phone over i2c which is probably used for 3.5mm output, and the speaker's amplifier is driven by Texas Instruments' TAS2552 which can reach a maximum of 4 watts. The touch screen on both appears to be Synaptics' in-cell touch solution if you go by system files, but for some reason the ITO grid is still visible.
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hans_ober - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Still no update on the MotoG 2015 charge time using a powerful charger... seriously?wliles3 - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Please Review The Note 5 And Edge Plus.AussieinUS - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Thanks for a detailed review. I have the Note for 6 months now and use it on Tmobile in the US (no LTE) and Vodafone in Italy. It works very well. The review mirrors my experience down to the slippery and now cracked glass back. The advice on a cover came too late. My biggest challenge has not been the battery, the good camera, the video playback, or the google play services. It has been trying to get the change to the Mi Account for the auto sign in. It wants to use my now defunct Italian number and not the new number. It constantly tries to sign in. I have changed the browser based credentials for Mi Account but it cannot be accessed from the mobile. Claims by Xiaomi that they will get back to me within 3 days based on a "lost password" on the device results in nothing. It still works but is constantly trying to signin. This speaks to tech support away from the mothership. Thanks for this review and the constructive comments.eriri-el - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
I have a slight beef here regarding fast charge support. I own the Mi Note (non-Pro) and its charging time is more or less in line with what is shown in this review. But as for it not supporting fast charging, my Mi Note came bundled with the MDY-03-EB charger which is rated for 5V/2A as well as 9V/1.2A. According to the Qualcomm website on Quick Charge, both the charger and the Mi Note is certified for Quick Charge 2.0. given that it "just" supports 9V/1.2A, I think it doesn't charge that fast, but that doesn't mean it doesn't support QC, unless of course Qualcomm is lying to us.eriri-el - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Reference: https://www.qualcomm.com/documents/quick-charge-de...Xiaomi is at the bottom of the list in the pdf file
extide - Saturday, September 12, 2015 - link
It seems the hardware is definitely there for the support, but they may have disabled it as a way to differentiate between it and the Pro. Kind of an odd thing to do, but oh well.Peichen - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
The best selling Android phones have always been those that look and feels like an iPhone except cheaper and with dual-SIM and SD card. It is no wonder the Biggest and 2nd biggest Android OEMs releases phones that's basically iPhone 6.5As for Mi Note. I like it but feel $470 is getting too expensive for a phone that's not spectacular. $400 for the Pro model would be more app.
babadivad - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
How do you guys get the close ups of the screens like that? I want to try that with my phone. I've always thought that was so cool. It was one of the reasons I stayed around with you guys since the launch of the Note 2. I like the thorough way you do the phone reviews and the close up on screens to check for changes to sub-pixel placement and changes from year to year of the same line. So cool.edwpang - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
This review leaved out a very important area: call quality and data support. I am not keen on LTE. I am fine as long as I can use 3G on my Rogers network.melgross - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Another Chinese government supported company. It would be nice if web sites reviewing these devices from Chinese companies did a bit of research as why their prices are where they are