Mi Mix 2 review: This Xiaomi phone has a lot to offer

This one's a flagship smartphone with no real competition, says Khalid Anzar.

Photograph: Courtesy mi.com

Last year, Xiaomi initiated an era of bezel-less smartphones with the launch of the Mi Mix, which was also the first device to break away from the traditional 16:9 aspect ratio screen in favour of 18:9.

While the phone wasn't introduced in India, its successor, the Mi Mix 2 has made its way here.

The phone is a delight to hold and use.

The lustrous ceramic back looks premium, but is also a fingerprint magnet.

The primary camera is placed at the centre, enclosed in an 18k gold-plated rim.

The 5.99-inch screen covers almost the whole front.

The IPS display unit is bright and throws punchy colours with deep blacks.

The software-based screen customisations allow further tweaking of screen colours and saturation.

The only downside is its resolution, set at 2160 x 1080 pixels, or FHD+.

The screen looks pixelated while watching videos or scrolling through the photo gallery.

Photograph: Courtesy mi.com

With top-of-the-line specifications, the smartphone runs MIUI 8.5, based on Android Nougat.

But the customised OS is not properly optimised for the 18:9 aspect ratio screen and a bottom-facing front camera.

The OS offers few value-added features to enable viewing the 16:9 content in the 18:9 aspect ratio.

The in-built video player allows it, but the feature is missing for online content via apps like YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The five-megapixel (MP) front camera is awkwardly placed and one has to turn the phone upside down to use it.

The performance of the 12MP primary camera is average, but worsens in low light.

On full charge, the device lasts a day with limited usage and for about 12 hours with heavy usage.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 has a lot to offer in terms of design, display, performance and storage.

Its disadvantages are mainly software-related and can be rectified with a future upgrade.

Priced at ₹35,999, the Mi Mix 2 is definitely a flagship smartphone with minimum competition.