Xiaomi has announced its new flagship phone, and it looks to be the company's best so far. Also, it has an iPhone X-style notch.
Xiaomi is known for affordable phones, and the Mi 8 is no exception: It will retail for around $421 in China (but there's no word on the price in other markets, including the U.S.) yet. If the price stays the same, it'll be significantly cheaper than the Mi Mix 2S, which is available for over $500 from many vendors, but slightly more expensive than its predecessor, the Mi Mix 2. What are you getting for your money?
The Mi 8 has a 6.21-inch OLED screen from Samsung. That's pretty large. The company's recent flagship, the Mi Mix 2S, has a 5.99-inch LCD display. If you hate bezels, this phone is for you -- 88.5 percent of the phone's body is screen (the iPhone X, by contrast, has only an 82.9 percent body-to-screen ratio).
That notch occupies most of the top of that screen, but it isn't just for show. It houses a 20-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture. That's an upgrade from the Mi Mix 2S, which sports just a 5-megapixel front camera.
There's also a 12-megapixel dual camera setup on the back, with iPhone X-style AI-powered portrait mode and "Studio Lighting" effects.
Inside, the Mi 8 is powered by a Snapdragon's 845 processor, the same chip you'll find in most other Android flagships including the LG G7 and Samsung Galaxy S9. The Mi Mix 2S features this chip as well. The standard edition comes with 6GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage.
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The Mi 8 is also Xiaomi's first phone to feature dual-frequency GPS, which uses a combination of two satellite frequencies instead of one to compute its position. In other words, Google Maps will be much more accurate. Most flagship phones, including the Pixel 2 and iPhone X, are equipped with this technology, so it's good that Xiaomi's getting up to speed.
Xiaomi is also launching two other iterations of its new flagship: the Mi 8 Explorer Edition and the Mi 8 SE.
The Explorer Edition features a number of experimental new features, including a see-through glass back, a pressure-sensitive fingerprint scanner built into the display and an iPhone X-esque face unlock using infrared light. It will also feature (unsurprisingly) a version of Animoji.
The SE will be, similar to Apple's iPhone SE, a smaller and cheaper version of the Mi 8. It'll feature a 5.88-inch display and the mid-range Snapdragon 710 feature. Xiaomi claims this chip, released in March, will consume 30 percent less battery than its predecessor, the Snapdragon 660.
The Mi 8 and Mi 8 SE will go on sale in China June 5 and June 8 respectively. The Explorer Edition will retail for $577, the SE for $281. No word on international prices yet, but they're usually higher outside of China.
We're planning a full review, and a more in-depth comparisons to competing flagship phones, once we get our hands on this device.
Credits: Xiaomi
