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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maximumGPU - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
This is getting blown out of proportion! all he asked for is an indication as to whether this is available in the US. It's 1 line from AnandTech, is useful to know, and could save some readers from reading a review they're not interested in.BMNify - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Such lines should be better placed in Verision only etc Droids which the International readers which make up the majority of this website have to endure, not to forget the totally illogical pricing like 199, 299 etc. Loads of 'Muricans hurt here to see something they can't get in the gimme gimme culture. Learn to Deal with it just like the International readers do for most USA only products and pricing.tim851 - Saturday, September 12, 2015 - link
Dude, you should really see a shrink about your issues!Yaru - Sunday, October 4, 2015 - link
Exactly, not everything is US based especially on the Internet which is border less by nature.Notmyusualid - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Like it!menting - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
You're not the only one, but you're the only one that's anal about it. Most people read it for knowledge and info, then if they're interested, go find out if it works for them, WHICH IS DIFFERENT FOR EACH COUNTRY AND EACH NETWORK.Geez, do you have to be spoon fed?
sonny73n - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
@DigitalFreakEver heard of international models? Some might not support LTE in the U.S. but most support HSPA which is plenty fast to me. As for availability, check Newegg. I'm sure they have it. Also BH Photo where I usually got my electronic devices and camera stuff. BH has the best customer service in the country, competitive price and no tax :-)
I read all AT articles/reviews doesn't mean I might purchase the product written about. Reading about other products I will never buy give me better comparisons/perspectives on the ones I want to buy. Reading is entertaining and knowledgable, not waste of time like you said.
Thanks Anandtech for this review.
LeonMoreno - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Kinda sad that Americans always try to seize every English written webpage as their own. But also speaks volume of their ignorance. Well, You didn't invented the language, You're not the only country that speaks it. Get on with it, yankee. Those Chinese phones are actually starting to appear in Europe, outperform Western competition for half the price. New Nexus 5 may endup as a failure. A day will come when You will have only Apple to choose from in Rednecktown, TX, USA.Vorl - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
It's not that we claim every page as our own, but this is an American based site. How many other phones have you seen reviewed that weren't based around the US? Have you seen many reviews quoting other currencies? Have you seen any other tech that has been reviewed that is only for other countries?Here's a hint, the answer's: 0, no, no.
A lot of the tech details from articles are correct no matter where you live, which is cool, but if the reviews and recommendations are based on USD, who do you think the reviews are for?
The real question is why is AT changing what they review, and who their audience is for.
Maybe now that they are owned by a different company their marketing department is branching out and trying for revenue from other countries now.
BMNify - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
It is kind of logical for Anandtech to support and review International products when the USA audience for this website is at 40% which is less than half of the total readership, I know it is tough for the redneck 'Muricans to swallow this but facts are facts.