Xiaomi MI Max review

This is my short review of the Xiaomi MI Max, having used the phone for a week. 

Coming from an (already large) Huawei Mate 8, I was looking for something a bit different, and something that was dual SIM. This phone ticks both those boxes and many others. 

Here is the summary (full review to follow):

Pros:

1 - the screen, at 6.44 inches, is massive. You will struggle to find a mainstream mobile with a screen as large as this one. 

2 - the screen resolution is also nice and crisp. Decent but not great sunlight viewability. 

3 - the battery is massive. 4850mah (most Samsungs come in around 3000mah). Lasts a full day of heavy use or multiple days of medium / light use between charges 

4 - the price. Got mine for R4399 from Takealot. Next day delivery. Less than 25% of the price of a Samsung S8. Madness 

5 - it's dual SIM. So you can use your current SIM and then add an additional one for cheap data, or add a memory card if the 32GB on board memory is not enough (it is for me)

6 - camera is adequate. Fast and responsive. Takes decent pics. Better than the one on the Mate 8 as far as I am concerned. 

7 - notification LED! Bucking the trend of modern phones to either have no notification LED or a tiny one that is pointless (I'm looking at you, Huawei) this phone has a proper sized notification LED at the top which is nice and bright and which you can actually see. Turn it off if you don't like it. Simples. 

8 - fingerprint reader. Fast and accurate and placed well in the centre of the back of the device towards the top. Where fingerprint readers should be (I'm looking at you, all the Samsungs I've ever owned) 

9 - build quality. Surprisingly good for the price. It also doesn't split in half if you bend it (like those Apples, and the Xiaomi Mi5 apparently) 

10 - its different. Definitely sets you apart from the Samsung / Apple / Huawei crowd 

Cons

1 - it is massive. Housing the 6.44 inch screen clearly required a bigger than 6.44 inch body. The result is a phone which looks like what happens when a tablet has a baby with a normal cellphone. You'll struggle to get it into hipster skinny jeans, that's for sure. 

2 - accessories. There are not many available locally. You can try the Mi Africa website for screen protectors (no cases available though). The screen protectors available at Takealot are rubbish. They are 150 bucks and don't cover the whole screen (and they are plastic and not glass) 

3 - colour range. It seems to only be available locally in gold or silver. But the silver version only has a silver back. The front is white. There is no black. 

Conclusion 

Those are the only cons I've found so far. 

 Here is the GSMarena review:http://m.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_max-review-1448.php

If I could design a phone for myself, I would design this one. (I'd probably try to make the top and bottom bezels a bit smaller so that the whole device was a bit shorter, and I'd make it such that you can have 2 SIMs and also an SD card at the same time.) Otherwise, I wouldn't change a thing. 

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (out of 5 stars)