Xiaomi mi 9 review in Spanish (full analysis)

After a month of use, we bring you the analysis of the Xiaomi Mi 9 in its version of 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory. A high-end smartphone that, unlike its competition, has not inflated its price and comes to fight the OnePlus 6T.

Will it live up to the expectations created? Is your camera really 48 MP or is there a trick? All this and much more in our analysis.

Note that Xiaomi has not sent us the terminal and has been purchased from our pocket. Since we wanted to offer you our analysis, which as you know are always 100% objective.

Xiaomi Mi 9 c

Unboxing of the new flagship

Xiaomi has again decided to make a very minimalist presentation. A small glossy gray box, where we find a 9 on the front, which already indicates that we are facing the new flagship of the company.

In the back area some of the main specifications of this model are described: 48 mpx camera, processor, 20W fast charge and screen fingerprint reader.

When sliding the upper half of the lid, we find inside:

• Xiaomi Mi 9 Power Adapter MicroUSB Type C Charging Cable SIM Tray Extractor Gel Case Quick User Guide USB Type C to Minijack Adapter

Sober and elegant design of the Xiaomi Mi 9

The design of the Xiaomi Mi 9 is very well achieved, and it is that, we are in front of a terminal that does not clash with the range of: Samsung Galaxy, iPhone or Huawei of the Mate or P series. The aluminum construction of the side edges It is already an old acquaintance that continues to work, both for its appearance with the rounded corners, and for the additional robustness it brings to the phone.

While the back made of Corning Gorilla Glass 6 with a black / gray color which is great to look at. We can also find it in blue (very difficult to get in Spain) and the already impossible purple gradient. The sensations when taking the phone are very good, but not at all to those of a high range. Plastic has its benefits, but also its cons, although many users will use it with a cover and this detail will not matter.

The most remarkable thing about this part is the vertical position of its 3 cameras. We have a main 48 Mpx camera (we will talk about this a little later), the wide-angle camera and a Zoom camera. Everything managed by your software, which will give us many joys. We also see a small LED flash that will allow us to improve our photos or use it in flashlight mode.

On the upper edge we can find both the microphone for noise cancellation and the infrared sensor, which will allow us to operate the television without using our conventional remote control.

On the right edge we have the volume up and down button and the power button while, on the left edge, we have the tray for the SIM / SIM, since we can install two cards without any problem and a button that we can use for google assistant.

Ultimately, at the bottom edge we miss the 3.5mm Jack headphone port, although it brings us an adapter to install it in the USB Type C connection, the microphone for calls and the multimedia speaker.

In short, we find a fairly minimalist terminal that does not stand out in its black color, but is solid and does not creak when picked up. Its dimensions are 74.7 mm x 157.5 mm x 7.6 mm and it has a weight of 173 grams. A very panoramic terminal that has a very good grip.

6.4-inch screen and Full HD + resolution for the Xiaomi Mi 9

It is time to speak to you in greater depth on your screen. It has dimensions of 6.4 inches. It should be noted that it has an AMOLED panel. Also keep in mind that it has a FullHD + resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels, which gives a density of 403 pixels per inch.

Although the screen looks very good, it is not at the level of other terminals with QHD resolution, but of course, it is the price to pay for a product that is not in the elite. The quality of the colors is really good, as the company has accustomed us, with saturated ones and blacks that are not mistreated like other panels.

When we go out we don't have any vision problems. The screen calibrates very well depending on the situation.

Most of the front of the Xiaomi Mi 9 is formed by its 6.4-inch 2.5D rounded glass infinity screen that occupies 86% of the surface and includes a drop-style notch.

The viewing angles are kept at a good level and we did not notice the screen changing color. Brightness is one of the best sections, which can automatically reach 600 nits, more than enough to read comfortably in full sun.

Clear sound and

One of the most interesting attractions of this terminal is the incorporation of a high-end processor, such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 with four cores at 2.84 + 2.4 Ghz and another four at 1.8 GHz, accompanied by the Adreno 640 GPU that will make us enjoy of the best games on the market. This SoC complies with what he expected, to move the system without any difficulty and in turn be able to enjoy with maximum productivity.

The AnTuTu application has given us a result of 364, 460. And once again Xiaomi shows that it does not go with half measures, and the performance of the processor is excellent. To complement a good processor we must have a good amount of RAM and this Mi 9 equips a total of 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM. Almost nothing!

About internal storage, we can choose between 64 or 128 GB UFS 2.1, which is more than enough for most users today. We recommend buying for the price difference, about 40 euros, the version with the largest size. Oddly enough, reaching 64 GB by installing various games is already a reality.

On-screen fingerprint sensor and facial recognition

The fingerprint recognition is integrated into the screen, it is precise and it usually recognizes our fingerprint well. The footprint configuration is simple and fast but many times it does not recognize it well. This occurs especially when the screen is somewhat dirty… It is not at the level of other companies like Huawei. Hopefully Xiaomi improves this sensor, since it has a little left to be up to the rest of the manufacturers. Of course, when you get used to it… you don't change it for anything.

We have a second sensor to unlock the Xiaomi Mi 9: the facial recognition one. Here you can see that Xiaomi has done her homework very well and it is amazing. It does not matter the position, if it is getting dark, if you are shaved or not, or if you are wearing glasses… The truth is that it recognizes you very well.

MIUI 10 Operating System

The MIUI customization layer at first goes a little, but little by little you will fall in love. It is not the first Xiaomi device that we tested and we know its pros and cons. As expected, it has the latest version Android 9.0 Pie with a good facelift. We do not like its dark theme, it seems to us little achieved and its box system helps us to quickly organize all our applications.

In short, we are facing a very minimalist interface, less cumbersome and intrusive than other layers on the market: Samsung, Huawei or LG. The system in general works smoothly, although it must be recognized that it only hung once.

We have also found points to improve. The damn notifications disappear after a few minutes, and this is a huge mistake for MIUI 10.2. We do not understand why this problem has not been fixed yet. Although there is a solution with an external APP, it is not the most appropriate, since it is necessary to calculate very well the position in which we want the notification to appear.

Xiaomi does not currently have any assistant that competes with Apple's Siri or Google Assistant. Therefore, we recommend you install the Google Assistant and enjoy some of the most interesting it offers us. ?

Battery, autonomy and connectivity

Another problem is the excessive consumption of the battery consumed by the radio. This is because with some MIUI companies it does not read the network well and consumes more battery due to loss of coverage. Even so, we achieved a autonomy of 1 and a half days and about 5 hours of screen on average.

If we combine this problem with the scarce 3300 mAh of battery, we get quite fair averages. It could be worse, since thanks to the latest generation processor the consumption is quite good. Does it cost so much to mount a 4000 mAh battery? Xiaomi… what a failure.

Fast charging, on the other hand, continues to do its job. It has a power of 27 W via cable and 20W via wireless. And it is that the first buyers were given a 20W Qi charger. What luck!

In less than an hour and a quarter we have the terminal at 100% which manages to charge half the battery in the first 20 - 30 minutes. This is great for us when we travel and we are low on battery. It is small, but it loads very fast. Finally, we highlight the connectivity that this device equips. It has Bluetooth 5.0 LE, A-GPS,, GPS, Galileo, Glonass and infrared. Although we miss the FM RADIO…

48 Mpx camera? Real?

We come to one of the most key points when choosing a medium and high-end terminal: its cameras. Where there is a lot of competition and that only a few can position themselves among the best, Xiaomi tries… but it still has way to be in the TOP 3.

The main camera is CMOS BSI (Sony IM586) type and consists of 48 megapixels with an f / 1.75 aperture, the secondary one has only 12 megapixels, 2.2 aperture and uses a Samsung S5K3M5 sensor that is used as a telephoto lens (to make ZOOM) and a third camera that is wide-angle: 16 Mpx, f.2.2 and a Sony IMX 481 sensor.

The main camera works well in well-lit environments with great detail photos even when enlarging the image. It has realistic colors and maintains good contrast.

As expected, it falters in night situations. There are only a couple of smartphones that defend themselves in this environment, and this is obvious, since we are facing a terminal that oscillates "only" between 500 and 600 euros.

The bokeh or blur effect is very well achieved and here you can see that Xiaomi has worked hard on both hardware and software. It really does a good job with people, and can even change the degree of blur.

The selfie camera has a 20-megapixel Sony IMX576 Exmor RS sensor and 2.0 focal length. The results obtained can be described as remarkable (even with a bokeh effect), although we believe that we will soon see many terminals that reuse the rear camera as a front camera, thanks to a Samsung Galaxy A80-style change of mechanism. Maybe in this 2019 we will see some Xiaomi model that uses it.

The camera allows us to record videos in 4K at 60 FPS. The image has very good stabilization in Full HD, since the Xiaomi guys have decided to use an optical stabilizer. The videos made in 4K have a fairly good level of detail, although its stabilization is considerably worse in this resolution, so we recommend the purchase of a gimbal to get the most out of the camera.

In short, we are not facing the best camera on the market . Its 48 Megapixels are too much for such a small sensor and although it sounds good at first, it does not measure up to terminals like the Google Pixel 3, Pixel 3XL, Pixel 3a (normal and XL), P30 PRO, OnePlus 7 PRO or the series Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus. If you are not super demanding, this camera will more than meet your needs.

Conclusion and final words about the Xiaomi Mi 9

It is time to value one of the most purchased phones in 2019: the Xiaomi Mi 9. It is a device with very powerful hardware: Snapdragon 855, 6 GB of RAM, 64/128 GB of internal memory, a camera that defends itself well in many situations and has a very fast fast charge.

Few complaints we can get out of this device, but there are a couple to keep in mind… It seems a huge mistake that all notifications disappear within a few minutes. This is a problem, because you have to go application by application looking for notifications. Although Xiaomi is already in it (at least in the BETA they have integrated it), you cannot launch the Redmi Note 7 and this Mi 9 with this slip.

Another possible improvement is the battery. We find its 3, 300 mAh somewhat fair, and more when there is the 4G signal loss bug with certain companies (For example, Lowi) and that for the moment they have not solved. We have to do tricks to try to solve it. We get about 5 hours of screen on average… perfectly endures the day, it is not super serious, but Xiaomi has been on the market for a while so as not to make these mistakes.

We recommend you read the best high-end smartphones

We have a 48 Mpx camera signed by a Sony IMX586 Exmor RS sensor and an f / 1.75 focal aperture. We also have a second camera with a 12 Mpx sensor signed by Samsung and focal f / 2.2. How do you take the photos? By day they are very good and have little to envy other models from last year. At night it suffers a little, but with some light we can get good catches. Without a doubt, if you take your time, you can really enjoy this terminal.

One of its great attractions is the price. Given the tendency to find terminals with a price of 1000 or 1200 euros (which seems crazy to us), we ran into the Xiaomi MI 9 in its internal 64 GB version for 449 euros and for 499 euros the 128 GB version. It is available in black, blue and turquoise (this has not yet arrived in Spain). We believe that it is one of its great advantages compared to the competition, the PRICE and the good community that exists.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ SOBER DESIGN AND WITHOUT ALARDS	- RIGHT BATTERY FOR THE DAY
+ VERY GOOD PERFORMANCE WITH SUPER POWERFUL HARDWARE: SNAPDRAGON 855, RAM MEMORY AND GOOD STORAGE.	- MANY MPX IN THE CAMERA FOR A SMALL SENSOR
+ PELEON CAMERA AND MIUI OPERATING SYSTEM	- FAILURE OF NOTIFICATIONS

The Professional Review team awards him the gold medal.

Xiaomi Mi 9

DESIGN - 82%

PERFORMANCE - 88%

CAMERA - 85%

AUTONOMY - 75%

PRICE - 85%

83%