The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S Review: Fantastic Overall Value
by Andrei Frumusanu on June 29, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Xiaomi
- MI MIX 2S
Battery Life
The Mi MIX 2S comes with a 3400mAh battery – a relatively average size given that now we’re starting to see competitor devices with similar form-factors employ 4000mAh units, such as the Huawei P20 Pro. The larger concern for me was how the increased performance characteristics of the Snapdragon 845 as well as the JDI panel will fare in terms of overall device efficiency.
In the web browsing battery life test, the Mi MIX 2S lands with an average 9.86h runtime. This is slightly lower than the Galaxy S9+ - although the MIX 2S also shows slightly better performance. It’s interesting to see that although the MIS 2S only has a 1080p screen, it actually doesn’t really pull in any advantage in efficiency. I’m wondering if it’s in part due to the fact that this is a video-mode screen, or as I’ve simply strongly suspected over the last couple of years – the difference in screen resolution makes for very little difference in battery life, especially if you’re comparing it to a higher resolution OLED screen which doesn’t suffer from decreased light transmissivity at higher resolutions like LCDs do.
In the PCMark battery test we see a more interactive workload with varying picture levels and workload types. Here the MIX 2S also lands square in the middle of current devices; beating the Galaxy S9+ by a few minutes.
Overall the MIX 2S has very good battery life. It doesn’t quite compete with Huawei’s recent devices which are in a league of their own right now, but it more than matches anything else in the market. The only negative thing I’d say is that it’s a pity that it doesn’t really seem to distance itself from the Galaxy S9+ ; both devices have similar form-factors, the same SoC, and almost equal battery capacities. Yet the Mi MIX 2S’s has a lower resolution LCD screen, but that doesn’t really help it in terms of battery life. I’m sure that Xiaomi could have optimised the battery life through a better selection of display panel, as it seems that it’s one of the MIX 2S’s weak points.
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Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, June 29, 2018 - link
722MB/s R 243 MB/s W on 8 threads. The issue with NAND performance tests is that they're generally broken and aren't properly representative of real file system performance.Pallmei - Friday, June 29, 2018 - link
Ok, did a few AndroBench 8 threads test: average 750MB/s read 200MB/s write on Mi Mix 2. Can not quite reach 250MB/s write, but otherwise very much the same.** A - R ** - Friday, June 29, 2018 - link
Then, how do Samsung & Toshiba advertise their Read/Write Speeds for UFS NAND ?Are they not Real ?
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, June 29, 2018 - link
They're real but the question is if those numbers are representative of the file system. The hardware can be fast but if the software doesn't manage it correctly it's not meaningful. Currently that's a lot more complex question.Glock24 - Friday, June 29, 2018 - link
I had a Redmi Note 3 SE that didn't resist the 10,001nth drop. The RN5 Pro for Taiwan was the only viable replacement due to network support, but was not yet available. I prefer to have SD sopport on the phone, but I finally settled for the Mi Mix2 64GB for $365. It'll arrive in about a week.serendip - Sunday, July 1, 2018 - link
A Mi Max 2 would have had the right network support and still get you MicroSD support.arashi - Sunday, July 1, 2018 - link
Mi Max series are ginomous.Glock24 - Sunday, July 1, 2018 - link
None of the Mi Max series have LTE B2/B4 that I need. Besides, those are like having a Kindle Fire as a phone, just ridiculously bug.Glock24 - Sunday, July 1, 2018 - link
*bigeastcoast_pete - Friday, June 29, 2018 - link
Hi Andrei, any comments/conclusions regarding the availability of OS and security updates from Xiaomi? I never owned one of their phones, but a manufacturer's committment to keeping their phones current for the next 2-3 years is key for any purchase for me. For example, I had a bad experience with Huawei (no updates at all despite official promises) and that put me off their phones for the foreseeable future.