Xiaomi Mi Note 3 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 Note 3 is a sleek and powerful smartphone that effortlessly blends style and performance. With a stunning 5.5-inch IPS LCD display and a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, every image and video comes to life with vibrant colors and sharp details. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset and 6GB of RAM, this device delivers smooth multitasking and seamless performance. The dual 12MP rear camera setup with 4-axis OIS and 2x optical zoom ensures stunning photography, while the 16MP front camera captures perfect selfies. Other notable features include NFC support, USB Type-C, and a non-removable 3500mAh battery with fast charging. Available in black and blue, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 is an impressive device that offers exceptional value for its price, making it a top choice for gadget enthusiasts.

Design and Build Quality

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 boasts a sleek and premium design, making it visually appealing to users. With its glass front and back, and aluminum frame, it exudes a premium look and feel. The device has a slim form factor, measuring 152.6 x 74 x 7.6 mm (6.01 x 2.91 x 0.30 in), and weighing 163 g (5.75 oz), making it comfortable to hold and use with one hand. The Gorilla Glass 4 protection on the front adds durability and protects the display from scratches.

The construction of the Mi Note 3 is robust and sturdy, ensuring longevity. The device features a well-finished back panel that adds to its aesthetics. The placement of buttons and controls is ergonomic, allowing for easy access and smooth operation. The bezels surrounding the 5.5-inch IPS LCD display are minimal, providing an immersive viewing experience.

In terms of portability, the Mi Note 3 is relatively lightweight, making it convenient to carry around. The device also offers a good grip, reducing the chances of accidental slips. The choice of materials used in its construction contributes to its overall premium feel.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 showcases excellent fit and finish, with attention to detail in its design elements. Its sleek and premium design, combined with its robust build quality, ensures that it stands out in the market as an aesthetically pleasing and durable smartphone option.

Display

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 features a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and an aspect ratio of 16:9. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4, offering durability against scratches and accidental drops. With a pixel density of approximately 401 ppi, the Mi Note 3 delivers crisp and sharp visuals.

In terms of color accuracy and vibrancy, the display provides accurate and vibrant colors, enhancing the overall viewing experience. The brightness levels are commendable, ensuring good visibility even in outdoor conditions. Additionally, the display offers wide viewing angles, allowing for comfortable viewing from different positions.

The Mi Note 3 does not feature OLED technology but instead utilizes an IPS LCD panel. This means that while it may not offer the deep blacks and infinite contrast of OLED displays, it still provides good color reproduction and clarity.

The device supports various display features, including an anti-reflective coating to reduce glare and improve visibility in bright environments. It also offers adaptive brightness, which automatically adjusts the screen brightness based on ambient lighting conditions. Users can also take advantage of the blue light filter to reduce eye strain during night-time usage.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 boasts a vibrant and sharp display with good color accuracy, commendable brightness levels, and wide viewing angles. The presence of Corning Gorilla Glass 4 ensures durability, making it a reliable choice for everyday use.

Performance

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 offers impressive performance capabilities thanks to its powerful chipset and optimized software. Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset, which features an octa-core CPU and Adreno 512 GPU, this device delivers excellent performance across various tasks and applications.

In terms of CPU benchmarks, the Snapdragon 660 chipset performs admirably, providing smooth multitasking and app loading speeds. The processor's efficiency ensures a lag-free experience, even when handling resource-intensive tasks. The Mi Note 3's system optimization further enhances its performance, ensuring that users can enjoy a fast and responsive device.

When it comes to gaming, the Mi Note 3 is more than capable of providing an enjoyable gaming experience. The Adreno 512 GPU delivers strong graphics performance, allowing for smooth gameplay and immersive visuals. Gaming benchmarks and synthetic benchmarks consistently showcase the device's ability to handle demanding games with ease.

Thermal management is another area where the Mi Note 3 excels. The device effectively manages heat during extended gaming sessions, ensuring that it remains cool and comfortable to hold. This not only enhances the overall gaming experience but also contributes to the device's longevity.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 offers exceptional performance metrics. Its powerful chipset, efficient CPU, and GPU, coupled with optimized software, result in a smooth and lag-free user experience. Whether it's multitasking, gaming, or running demanding applications, the Mi Note 3 proves to be a capable and reliable device. Its performance analysis, as showcased in various benchmark tests, demonstrates its ability to deliver high-quality performance across all fronts, making it an excellent choice for tech enthusiasts and gamers alike.

Software and User Interface

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 runs on the Android 7.1 Nougat operating system, which can be upgraded to Android 9 with the MIUI 12 skin. This provides users with a familiar and user-friendly interface. The MIUI 12 skin offers a highly customizable experience, allowing users to personalize their device to suit their preferences. Users can easily change the look and feel of their device by applying different themes, icons, and wallpapers. Additionally, the MIUI 12 skin comes with a range of pre-installed apps that are useful and practical, without overwhelming the user with unnecessary bloatware. The operating system provides a smooth and responsive performance, thanks to the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset and Octa-core processor. This ensures that users can navigate through apps, multitask, and run demanding tasks without any lag or slowdown. The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 also supports NFC, allowing users to conveniently make mobile payments and connect with other NFC-enabled devices. Overall, the software on the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 offers a user-friendly and customizable experience, making it a great choice for those who value a seamless and personalized smartphone interface.

Camera

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 boasts a dual-camera setup on the rear, featuring a 12-megapixel wide lens with an aperture of f/1.8 and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens with an aperture of f/2.6. With a focal length of 27mm for the wide lens and 52mm for the telephoto lens, this camera setup offers versatility for capturing different perspectives. The camera also benefits from a 4-axis optical image stabilization (OIS) system, ensuring steady shots and reducing blur caused by camera shake.

When it comes to image quality, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 excels in various scenarios. In daylight photography, the camera captures vibrant and natural colors, while maintaining good sharpness and detail. The dynamic range is impressive, allowing for well-exposed shots even in challenging lighting conditions. Indoors, the camera performs well, producing clear images with minimal noise.

In low-light situations, the Mi Note 3's camera still manages to deliver commendable results. The low-light sensitivity is enhanced, allowing for decent night photography with reduced noise levels. The camera also offers a night mode, which further improves image quality by utilizing advanced noise reduction techniques.

The camera features of the Mi Note 3 include portrait mode, which adds a depth-of-field effect to portraits, creating a pleasing background blur. HDR mode helps to balance exposure in high-contrast scenes, while panorama mode allows for capturing wide scenic vistas. Pro mode gives users manual control over settings like ISO and shutter speed. Additionally, the camera supports AI scene recognition, automatically optimizing settings for different subjects and scenes.

For video recording, the Mi Note 3 is capable of shooting 4K video, ensuring high-resolution capture. Video stabilization helps to minimize shakiness during handheld recording, while slow-motion and time-lapse modes provide creative options for capturing moments. The camera supports various video formats, offering flexibility for sharing and editing footage. Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3's camera impresses with its versatility, image quality, and range of useful features.

Battery Life

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 is equipped with a non-removable Li-Ion 3500 mAh battery, which provides a decent amount of power for daily usage. The battery life on this device is quite impressive, offering a good balance between performance and efficiency. With its 5.5-inch IPS LCD display and power-efficient Snapdragon 660 chipset, the Mi Note 3 can deliver a satisfactory screen-on time and standby time. Additionally, the device supports fast charging technology, allowing users to quickly charge their phones. However, it does not offer wireless charging options. The battery optimization features on the Mi Note 3 ensure efficient power management, maximizing the battery performance and longevity. Users can also take advantage of the battery saver mode to extend the battery backup when needed. Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 offers a reliable battery performance and efficient battery management.

Connectivity and Networking

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 offers a wide range of connectivity options to ensure a seamless user experience. This device supports various network technologies, including GSM, CDMA, HSPA, EVDO, and LTE, making it compatible with most carriers worldwide. With its dual SIM capability, users can conveniently switch between two different SIM cards for better network coverage or to separate personal and professional contacts. In terms of wireless connectivity, the Mi Note 3 features Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, allowing for high-speed internet access and compatibility with both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The device also supports Bluetooth 5.0, which offers faster data transfer and improved power efficiency compared to previous Bluetooth versions. NFC is included, enabling users to conveniently make contactless payments or transfer data with other NFC-enabled devices. The Mi Note 3 is equipped with a USB Type-C port, providing fast and reversible charging and data transfer. Additionally, GPS, GLONASS, and BDS are supported for accurate positioning and navigation. Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 offers a comprehensive range of connectivity features, ensuring users can stay connected and enjoy fast data speeds in various settings.

Additional Features

• The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 boasts several standout features that make it an impressive device in its price range.


• While it doesn't have official water or dust resistance ratings, it is built with a durable glass front (Gorilla Glass 4), glass back, and aluminum frame, providing some level of protection against everyday splashes and accidental spills.


• One of the notable features of the Mi Note 3 is its advanced sensor suite, which includes an accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, compass, and barometer. These sensors enhance the device's functionality and enable various motion and environmental sensing capabilities.


• Notably, the Mi Note 3 does not support wireless charging out of the box. However, it does feature a USB Type-C port for fast charging, allowing users to quickly recharge the device's 3500mAh non-removable battery.

Comparison with Other Related Phones

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 is a feature-packed smartphone that competes with other devices in the market. When comparing it to related gadgets, such as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, we can see some differences in terms of specifications and performance.

In terms of design, both the Mi Note 3 and Redmi Note 3 have a sleek and premium look with a glass front and aluminum frame. However, the Mi Note 3 stands out with its slightly slimmer profile and Gorilla Glass 4 protection, providing enhanced durability.

Moving to the display, both devices offer a 5.5-inch IPS LCD screen with a 1080p resolution. The Mi Note 3 has a slightly higher screen-to-body ratio, resulting in a more immersive viewing experience.

Under the hood, the Mi Note 3 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset, whereas the Redmi Note 3 packs a Snapdragon 650. The Mi Note 3's higher-performing processor ensures smoother multitasking and faster app loading times.

In terms of camera capabilities, the Mi Note 3 shines with its dual 12 MP rear cameras, featuring 4-axis OIS and 2x optical zoom. The Redmi Note 3, on the other hand, sports a single 16 MP rear camera. This difference allows the Mi Note 3 to capture more detailed and professional-looking photos.

Both devices offer a fingerprint sensor for enhanced security, but the Mi Note 3 takes it a step further with its front-mounted sensor, providing convenient and quick access.

When it comes to pricing, the Mi Note 3 is positioned as a slightly higher-end device compared to the Redmi Note 3. However, considering its advanced features and performance, it offers great value for money.

In the competitive landscape, the Mi Note 3 faces competition from other mid-range smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy A series, the Huawei Nova series, and the OnePlus 5. However, with its powerful processor, impressive camera setup, and attractive design, the Mi Note 3 has a competitive advantage in terms of its overall package.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 stands out among related gadgets in the market with its premium design, powerful performance, and advanced camera capabilities. It offers a compelling option for consumers looking for a feature-packed smartphone at a competitive price point.

Pros and Cons