Xiaomi MI 8 review/experience

[LukeSavenije]

this will be my first review ever on this forum, and why not about the phone I've been using for about a month now? My beloved huawei p8 lite wasn't working properly anymore, so i needed a replacement, and i had some money for it. so i wanted something high end, and came out after a discussion here on the forum to get myself a xiaomi mi8 in white. I'll be listing my positive, neutral and negative feedback here, based on my own use, no reviews or anything, just my own experience.

 

Unboxing:

the unboxing starts with a couple items:

• Quickcharge 3 charger
• type c to 3.5 inch headphone jack
• the phone (duh)
• a case
• manual

 

Screen:

the screen is a beautiful OLED display, which I enjoyed really well because it's my first one, the blacks are black, the whites are whites and everything looks what I would like to see. The little problem with it is that it is a bit of a weird resolution. It's a 18,7:9 screen, which makes some content have black bars or not being fully visible, I know this is the case with any 18+:9 screen, but I wanted to adress it.

 

Sound:

the sound is nothing special. the speaker is loud, but only buttom firing and as on many phones low quality. They are loud enough to frustrate my little brother, but just of a quality I would rather get my headphones to watch a video... if I could at least. my dongle broke after a week of use because i bent it, so I have to borrow my mothers bluetooth headset.

 

Security:

the security of the phone is in android 9 really nice. You can use face unlock or fingerprint, and you don't really have to wait around for it to unlock, because there's no swiping or pressing required. The only problem with the fingerprint is that it can react when your hand is in your pocket, but that's about it

 

Android:

MIUI is something you either like or you don't, just like with EMUI. I personally love them both as I don't need the perfect stock experience, and they work around the same from my expierence. They have done a great work on it, but the only thing I would want to change is the bloatware that comes with it. You get mi cloud and some other Xiaomi apps that I won't be using any time soon, as I have my own solutions for it already, and if possible I would have deleted them. I had some small problems with updating to android 9, because I had to manually press update, which is as far as I know uncommon. One thing that did annoys me should be menioned, it sounds like a little thing, but it has been pretty frustrating. when I hold my phone in landscape and I want to paste something into chrome (a website for example) I get the paste button on the spot where the back button is. You can alternatively download the Poco launcher in the play store, it's a lot cleaner.

 

Design/ports:
The mi8 looks great with both a front and back glass panel, with my model being in white. It feels really nice, but I recommend using a case, as the camera module is sticking out a bit. The case that came with it is minimal for what it is, but it's fine for my own use. All the ports that can be found is a type C 2.0 for up to Qualcomm Quickcharge 4, and can be used for sound too of course.

 

Camera:

I see a big difference here. The pictures are or really good, or just straight up blurry in the wrong hands. The phone uses Ai to make the photo optimal for the usecase, and gets it mostly right there, but I've seen other people trying to make good pictures with it, but failing with it. But that also happened with my Nikon, so it might just be them... The double lenses on both sides make for a great experience for me, but it's still not up to the level of a good camera. 

 

Speed:

oh boy, let's get started here. Snapdragon 845 is one heck of a fast chip, it came out at 99th percentile in 3dmark slingshot extreme, and 39th of the world. my own performed better than most ones, and fully outperformed the Iphone X in opengl (benchmarks shown below), weirdly enough it seems to struggle in Vulcan, with a way lower score on it. The geekbench scores are a bit lower, but still pretty good.

 

Conclusion:

+ great screen

+ hella fast

+ great camera

+ facial recognition but still a fingerprint sensor

+ for me a great ui

+ everything in the box

+ quickcharge 4.0

- ui not for everyone

- some kind of weird aspect ratio

- no headphone jack

- single buttom firing speaker

- weak headphone dongle

 

benchmarks or other tests can be added on request

Edited January 10, 2019 by LukeSavenije

[LukeSavenije]

Benchmarks

Spoiler

 

Edited January 10, 2019 by LukeSavenije
benchmarks added

[LukeSavenije]

Photo's taken with it

Spoiler

 

Edited January 10, 2019 by LukeSavenije
Photo's taken with it added

[LukeSavenije]

Photo's from it

Spoiler

 

[LukeSavenije]

reserved for future purposes

Edited January 10, 2019 by LukeSavenije

[SupaKomputa]

I hate the iphone like ui on the miui, but i installed pocofone themes and its much better. I use note 5 pro btw.

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, SupaKomputa said:

I hate the iphone like ui on the miui, but i installed pocofone themes and its much better. I use note 5 pro btw.

well, as written miui is something you like or you don't. I absolutly hate the apple ui, but because it's simulair to EMUI i needed little time to get used to it

[SupaKomputa]

Beside the iphone like no app drawer, its a great ui, very clean, you should try the pocofone launcher.

[LukeSavenije]

2 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Beside the iphone like no app drawer, its a great ui, very clean, you should try the pocofone launcher.

I tried it already... My dad has one, it's looking great and I would have used it if I were on any other phone, and i might down the line, but for now the ui is fine. I'll add it to the review tho

[FloRolf]

59 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

type c to 3.5 inch headphone jack

I doubt that, my American friend

 

 

 

[LukeSavenije]

12 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

I doubt that, my American friend

American? I'm dutch

 

btw, that ain't no 3,5 inch headphone jack...

[Tech_Dreamer]

lol , all that time you were posting status images with photos taken from it lol? who knew.

[LukeSavenije]

7 hours ago, Tech_Dreamer said:

lol , all that time you were posting status images with photos taken from it lol? who knew.

yep, the dog, the food, everything