The Xiaomi Mi9 Review: Flagship Performance At a Mid-Range Price
by Andrei Frumusanu on September 13, 2019 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Xiaomi
- Snapdragon 855
- Xiaomi Mi9
GPU Performance
GPU performance of the Mi9 will be dictated by how Xiaomi was able to implement the SoC in the physical hardware shell of the phone, and how well it’s able to dissipate the heat throughout the body of the phone. Other factors on the software side such as thermal throttling limits can also greatly impact the results, and as we’ve seen in the S855 we can see very much a wide range of results amongst the many Snapdragon 855 devices.
On the 3DMark Physics test which is a CPU stress test within a GPU thermally constrained power scenario, we see the Mi9 perform very well in the sustained long-term results. It’s not quite as good as the OnePlus 7 Pro or the RedMagic 3, but it beats all other Snapdragon 855 devices.
In the graphics test, the positioning shifts a bit amongst the devices, with the Mi9 falling back to the middle of the pack. Still it’s a good performance given that the Mi9 has one of the lower body masses amongst the phones, and thus not quite as good thermal dissipation abilities.
In GFXBench, we’re seeing again some very good results for the GPU performance of the Mi9, however it stands a bit out that the delta is greater in workloads like T-Rex. Here the large framerates put more stress on the CPU as well as memory of the phone, likely creating more heat and in turn forcing the Mi9 to throttle more.
Overall, the Mi9’s gaming performance was very good and competitive. It’s not the best but it’s also far from the worst amongst Snapdragon 855 devices. The odd thing here is that the Mi9 performs significantly better than Xiaomi’s own Black Shark 2 gaming-oriented phone whose sustained performance just completely collapses in our stress tests. We’ll be reviewing the Black Shark 2 separately in the next few weeks, but things aren’t looking well for that phone.
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MrSpadge - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
It's the built-in camera app, called "Kamera" as far as I can tell. However, I had a quick look and can't find any sharpening settings now either, so maybe they've removed that with some update.In order to load this .eu rom I'd have to reinstall everything not saved in the google account, right? If so: thanks, I'll keep it in mind for now.
Redmyth79 - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
LOL, yeah I had it to until the update switched from 10.26 to 10.27 I believe it wasRedmyth79 - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
I used to have the option on EU ROM to sharpen, Saturation, and contrast but after the 10.26-27 update I lost that ability and truthfully I'm pissed about that. But I still am using stock ROM as I have yet to unlock my boot loader although I can at anytime as I've had it sense mayElFenix - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
52 mm lenses are not telephoto! it's just normal! quit calling it telephoto!Redmyth79 - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
It has a telephoto equal to S10+, as it's actually a Samsung telephoto lens.ElFenix - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
still not telephoto!Redmyth79 - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
What ever you say master! It's telephoto in cellphone world!It's only a 2x not 3 or 5x optical but 2x the factory wide angle.
s.yu - Saturday, September 14, 2019 - link
It's telephoto if1. It's longer than normal, which it is not.
2. Its physical length is shorter than its focal length, which we don't know of, but is likely true.
NXTwoThou - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
FYI, the wireless charging is 20W. So you can technically charge wirelessly faster than you can with the (global)included charger. China version came with the 27W charger and bought the 20W pad(and 20W car wireless auto grippy one) to go along with it.Awful - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
It's a shame it wasn't the Mi 9T/Pro - as it really is a newer iteration on the Mi 9 - pretty much everything's improved from what I can tell. I've had mine for a few months now and the value is through the roof for what you get.Also noteworthy is just how easy/good GCam is on these - you can just download the APK and go (camera2 API already enabled so no messing round). It's nightmode and HDR+ fill in a lot of the weaknesses of the Xiaomi's camera app nicely.