Xiaomi Mi 8 Review

• Overview
• Design and Build Quality
• Display
• Performance
• Software and User Interface
• Camera
• Battery Life
• Connectivity and Networking
• Additional Features
• Comparison with Other Related Phones
• Pros and Cons
• Conclusion

Overview

The Xiaomi Mi 8 is a stunning flagship smartphone that offers a premium experience without breaking the bank. With its sleek design and impressive display, this device is sure to catch your eye. The Super AMOLED screen boasts vibrant colors and HDR10 support, making every image and video come to life. Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset and upgradable to Android 10, the Mi 8 delivers smooth and snappy performance. The dual 12MP rear cameras produce stunning photos, while the 20MP front camera ensures your selfies are on point. With a variety of storage options and an affordable price tag, the Mi 8 is a fantastic choice for gadget enthusiasts looking for a high-end device without the hefty price tag.

Design and Build Quality

The Xiaomi Mi 8 boasts a sleek design and a premium look and feel. With its glass front and back, Gorilla Glass 5 protection, and aluminum frame, the device exudes a sense of elegance and sophistication. The phone's dimensions of 154.9 x 74.8 x 7.6 mm and weight of 175 g make it comfortable to hold and use. The bezels are minimal, which enhances the overall aesthetics and provides an immersive viewing experience on the 6.21-inch Super AMOLED display. The construction of the Mi 8 is solid, ensuring durability and robustness. The phone's form factor and ergonomic design contribute to its one-handed usability. The placement of buttons and controls is intuitive and easily accessible. The back panel has a smooth texture, adding to the device's grip and preventing slips. The finishing touches on the Mi 8 are well-refined, giving it a polished and high-end appearance. Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 8 showcases excellent build quality, with its combination of premium materials, sleek design, and attention to detail.

Display

The Xiaomi Mi 8 boasts a stunning display that is sure to captivate users. With a generous screen size of 6.21 inches and a high screen-to-body ratio of approximately 83.8%, this device provides an immersive viewing experience. The Super AMOLED display technology ensures vibrant colors, deep blacks, and excellent contrast levels. The display resolution of 1080 x 2248 pixels offers a sharp pixel density of around 402 ppi, resulting in crisp and detailed visuals.

One notable feature of the Xiaomi Mi 8's display is its support for HDR10, allowing for a wider dynamic range and enhanced color reproduction. This feature is particularly impressive when viewing HDR content, as it brings out the finer details and adds depth to the visuals. Additionally, the display offers a wide color gamut, ensuring that colors are rich and vibrant.

Outdoor visibility is also commendable on the Xiaomi Mi 8, thanks to its high brightness levels. This feature allows for easy readability even under direct sunlight. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, which provides durability and resistance against scratches.

The Xiaomi Mi 8's display offers wide viewing angles, ensuring that colors and contrast remain consistent even when viewed from different angles. Additionally, the display features an anti-reflective coating that reduces glare and reflections, further enhancing the overall viewing experience.

Other notable features of the display include an adaptive brightness setting that adjusts the screen brightness based on ambient lighting conditions, a blue light filter for reduced eye strain, and the option for an always-on display, which provides quick access to notifications and essential information without fully waking up the device.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 8's display is a standout feature, offering a combination of excellent visuals, vibrant colors, and impressive outdoor visibility. Whether it's watching videos, playing games, or browsing content, users can expect a visually pleasing and immersive experience.

Performance

The Xiaomi Mi 8 boasts impressive performance capabilities thanks to its powerful chipset and optimized system. Equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, the Mi 8 delivers excellent CPU and GPU performance. Synthetic benchmarks reveal its prowess, with impressive scores in both CPU and GPU tests. This chipset, coupled with the Adreno 630 GPU, ensures smooth graphics rendering and a lag-free gaming experience.

In gaming benchmarks, the Mi 8 consistently scores high, demonstrating its ability to handle graphics-intensive games with ease. The GPU benchmarks highlight its strong graphics performance, enabling users to enjoy visually stunning games without any hiccups or frame rate drops. The device's gaming capabilities are further enhanced by its 6GB or 8GB RAM options, allowing for seamless multitasking and app loading speeds.

The Mi 8's processor efficiency and system optimization contribute to its smooth user experience. It excels in thermal management, ensuring that the device doesn't overheat even during prolonged gaming sessions. This feature is particularly important for maintaining consistent performance and preventing throttling.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 8 offers a top-notch performance that can satisfy even the most demanding users. Its chipset performance, GPU benchmarks, and gaming capabilities make it a strong contender in the market. Whether it's multitasking, gaming, or everyday app usage, the Mi 8 delivers a smooth and lag-free performance. With its impressive performance metrics and smooth user experience, the Mi 8 is a reliable choice for those seeking a high-performing smartphone.

Software and User Interface

The Xiaomi Mi 8 runs on the Android 8.1 Oreo operating system, which can be upgraded to Android 10 with MIUI 12. The combination of Android and MIUI brings a user-friendly interface with a lot of customization options. MIUI is known for its smooth and intuitive user experience, offering a clean and minimalistic design. The software provides a seamless user interface, allowing users to navigate through the phone effortlessly.

One of the highlights of the software is the absence of bloatware. Xiaomi has taken measures to reduce pre-installed apps, ensuring a clutter-free experience. This allows users to have more control over their device and choose the apps they want to install. The software also includes useful features like dual apps, which allows users to run two instances of the same app, and second space, which creates a separate user profile for privacy.

MIUI offers a variety of customization options, enabling users to personalize their device according to their preferences. Users can change themes, customize app icons, and even modify the system font. The software also includes a built-in security app that provides features like app lock, virus scanning, and permission management, enhancing the overall security of the device.

Overall, the software on the Xiaomi Mi 8 is well-optimized and user-friendly, offering a seamless and customizable experience. The combination of Android and MIUI provides a smooth and intuitive interface, while the absence of bloatware ensures a clutter-free experience. With regular updates and a range of customization options, the software enhances the overall usability and functionality of the device.

Camera

The Xiaomi Mi 8 is equipped with a dual-camera setup that boasts impressive specifications and features. The main camera consists of a 12-megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/1.8 and a 1/2.55" sensor size, accompanied by a secondary 12-megapixel telephoto lens with an aperture of f/2.4 and a focal length of 56mm. This combination allows for sharp and detailed images, even in challenging lighting conditions. The camera also features 4-axis optical image stabilization, which helps to reduce blurriness and improve image quality, especially during handheld shots or while recording videos.

In terms of daylight photography, the Xiaomi Mi 8 performs exceptionally well, capturing vibrant and natural colors with good sharpness and detail. The camera's dynamic range is commendable, as it effectively retains details in both highlights and shadows. When it comes to indoor photography, the Mi 8 maintains its image quality, producing clear and noise-free shots in well-lit environments.

For low-light photography and night shots, the Mi 8's camera excels with its low-light sensitivity, utilizing advanced noise reduction techniques to minimize grain and produce cleaner images. The device also offers a dedicated night mode, which further enhances low-light performance by capturing multiple exposures and merging them into a single well-exposed image. This results in improved clarity and reduced noise in dimly lit scenes.

The Xiaomi Mi 8 supports various camera features, including portrait mode, HDR, panorama mode, and pro mode, offering users a range of creative options. Video recording capabilities are also impressive, with the ability to capture 4K videos at 30 or 60 frames per second. The camera's video stabilization ensures smooth and steady footage, while slow-motion video and time-lapse modes add further versatility. Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 8's camera delivers a high level of performance and versatility, making it a compelling choice for photography enthusiasts.

Battery Life

The Xiaomi Mi 8 is equipped with a non-removable Li-Po 3400mAh battery, which provides a decent battery life for everyday use. Users can expect a good standby time and screen-on time from this device. The battery performance is optimized with efficient power management features that help in prolonging battery life. The phone supports fast charging technology with an 18W wired charger, allowing users to quickly charge their device. However, it does not support wireless charging options. The battery capacity and efficiency of the Mi 8 are commendable, providing users with a reliable battery backup. The device also offers battery optimization features, ensuring that the battery usage is optimized and unnecessary battery drain is minimized. Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 8 offers satisfactory battery performance and management, making it a suitable choice for users who prioritize battery endurance.

Connectivity and Networking

The Xiaomi Mi 8 offers a wide range of connectivity options, making it a versatile device for staying connected on the go. It supports various network compatibility, including GSM, CDMA, HSPA, and LTE, ensuring that users can connect to their preferred mobile network provider. With its dual SIM capability, users can also use two SIM cards simultaneously, providing flexibility and convenience. In terms of wireless connectivity, the Mi 8 features Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, enabling users to connect to both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks. It also supports Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA for seamless file sharing and media streaming. Bluetooth 5.0 with A2DP, LE, and aptX HD support ensures fast and reliable wireless connections with other Bluetooth-enabled devices. NFC is also available, allowing for convenient contactless transactions and quick pairing with compatible devices. The Mi 8 utilizes a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer, offering a faster and more convenient connection. Additionally, the device supports GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, and QZSS for accurate positioning and navigation. Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 8 provides a wide range of connectivity options, ensuring users stay connected and have convenient access to various wireless technologies.

Additional Features

Additional Features of Xiaomi Mi 8:

• The Xiaomi Mi 8 boasts several standout features that enhance the overall user experience. Firstly, it offers an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, making it a durable choice for outdoor use. This means that the device is both waterproof and dustproof, providing peace of mind in various environments.


• The smartphone also supports wireless charging, making it convenient for users who prefer a cable-free charging experience. With Qi wireless charging compatibility, the Mi 8 can be charged on compatible charging pads or docks, eliminating the need for messy cables.


• In terms of sensors, the Mi 8 is equipped with an advanced sensor suite. It features an accelerometer and a gyroscope, allowing for precise motion detection and tracking. Additionally, the device includes various environmental sensors, enhancing its capability to measure and monitor environmental conditions.

Comparison with Other Related Phones

The Xiaomi Mi 8 stands as a strong contender in the market, offering a range of impressive features and specifications. When comparing it to related gadgets, it becomes evident that the Mi 8 holds its own in terms of performance and value for money.

In terms of market positioning, the Mi 8 competes with other smartphones in the mid-range segment, such as the Samsung Galaxy A50 and the Huawei P30 Lite. These devices offer similar specifications and features, but the Mi 8 stands out with its powerful Snapdragon 845 chipset and Super AMOLED display.

When it comes to specifications, the Mi 8 boasts a 6.21-inch Super AMOLED display with HDR10 support, providing vibrant colors and excellent contrast. Its dual-camera setup, consisting of a 12MP primary lens and a 12MP telephoto lens, captures detailed and crisp images. In comparison to its competitors, the Mi 8 excels with its 20MP front camera, which produces impressive selfies.

Performance-wise, the Mi 8's Snapdragon 845 chipset paired with 6GB or 8GB of RAM ensures smooth multitasking and lag-free performance. This places it ahead of its competitors in terms of benchmark scores, with the Mi 8 achieving high scores on platforms like AnTuTu and Geekbench.

When considering pricing, the Mi 8 offers great value for money. With a price of around 430 EUR, it competes favorably against other mid-range devices in terms of features and performance. The Xiaomi brand's cost-effectiveness and competitive pricing strategy have allowed the Mi 8 to gain a significant market share in the smartphone industry.

In terms of competitive advantage and product differentiation, the Mi 8 stands out with its inclusion of an infrared face ID and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. These features provide added security and convenience for users.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 8 holds its ground when compared to related gadgets in the market. Its impressive specifications, performance, and competitive pricing make it an attractive option for those seeking a mid-range smartphone. With its unique features and strong market position, the Mi 8 continues to be a popular choice among consumers.

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Xiaomi Mi 8 is a feature-packed smartphone that offers impressive performance and an appealing design. With its powerful Snapdragon 845 chipset, ample RAM options, and a vibrant Super AMOLED display, the Mi 8 delivers smooth multitasking and immersive media consumption. The dual-camera setup captures stunning photos with great detail and the selfie camera performs admirably as well. Although it lacks expandable storage and a headphone jack, the Mi 8 compensates with its ample internal storage options and USB Type-C connectivity. Overall, the Mi 8 is a reliable and affordable flagship device, making it a solid choice for tech enthusiasts seeking a high-performing smartphone without breaking the bank.