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Full review of xiaomi 5 plus. New camera: not Leica, but cool

Another hit coming. Review of Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus

Xiaomi cannot be stopped - the Chinese company is baking more and more smartphones, like grandma pies with jam under New Year. At the very end of 2017 Asian manufacturer announced inexpensive models Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus, which will certainly displace the current leader in the person of Redmi 4X from the budget Olympus.

Frankly speaking, it doesn’t matter whether they photograph the devices. At the slightest hint of twilight, you don’t even have to take out your phone at all. The results are blurry and dark pictures - a complete surrender to the evening and night.

The situation is better with conditionally daytime photos, but it’s still far from ideal. Lots of noise, poor clarity

The worst situation is with focusing. A more or less clear photograph of this large New Year's ball was obtained only on the eighth attempt. The rest of the time, the smartphone was a bastard. The problem is most likely of a software nature, and perhaps the shooting quality will be improved in future firmware. But so far the photographic capabilities of the new products are more disappointing than pleasing.

This is what the first seven attempts looked like:

Attempt No. 8 was finally crowned with relative success

You're so ordinary

And here is the second, after the display, serious, at first glance, difference between Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus. Why at first glance? Because in reality it turned out to be not that important.

We're talking about hardware. Junior model processor based Qualcomm Snapdragon 450, while the older one received a slightly more advanced Snapdragon 625. The graphics chip in both cases is the same - Adreno 506. The amount of RAM and internal memory, as is the case with Xiaomi, can be completely different. For example, we visited Redmi 5 with 3 GB of RAM and a 32 GB drive. At the same time, Redmi 5 Plus received 4 GB and 64 GB, respectively.

Despite the significant differences, both smartphones behave identically in everyday use. Probably affects more a high resolution display on Redmi 5 Plus, which absorbs additional resources compared to the regular Redmi 5.

Performance of Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus in benchmarks

Even the results in benchmarks are not much different. In games, Redmi 5 even seemed a little more agile. In general, you can play normally without freezes and brakes on one or another device. But there is no basis for the near future. Modern top projects lack a bit of smoothness, and the graphics at high settings are not always smooth.

The situation with the battery is similar to what we observed with performance. The younger smartphone has a battery capacity of 3300 mAh, the older one has 4000 mAh, but the actual duration battery life it has virtually no effect. Both devices remain stable for a day and a few more hours on the second day. In general, you need to recharge daily.

Among the surprising oddities, we note that the Redmi 5 does not have a 5 GHz Wi-Fi band, while the Redmi 5 Plus has it.

You are so competitive!

We don’t yet know how much new products from Xiaomi will cost in Belarusian retail, so the question about competitors is not so easy to answer. But let's imagine. It is known that in China, Redmi 5 with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory costs about $140, and Redmi 5 Plus with 4 GB and 64 GB, respectively, costs $200. Well, we think that in domestic realities these prices can be safely multiplied by 1.5.

If you can buy Redmi 5 from us for $210-220 in equivalent, then we see only one model as a competitor - a Chinese clone of the Galaxy S8 called

Another hit coming. Review of Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus

Xiaomi cannot be stopped - the Chinese company is baking more and more smartphones, like grandma pies with jam for the New Year. At the very end of 2017, the Asian manufacturer announced inexpensive models Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus, which will certainly displace the current leader in the form of Redmi 4X from the budget Olympus.

The situation is better with conditionally daytime photos, but it’s still far from ideal. Lots of noise, poor clarity

This is what the first seven attempts looked like:

Attempt No. 8 was finally crowned with relative success

You're so ordinary

And here is the second, after the display, serious, at first glance, difference between Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus. Why at first glance? Because in reality it turned out to be not that important.

We're talking about hardware. The younger model is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, while the older one received a slightly more advanced Snapdragon 625. The graphics chip in both cases is the same - Adreno 506. The amount of RAM and internal memory, as is the case with Xiaomi, can be completely different. For example, we visited Redmi 5 with 3 GB of RAM and a 32 GB drive. At the same time, Redmi 5 Plus received 4 GB and 64 GB, respectively.

Despite the significant differences, both smartphones behave identically in everyday use. This is probably due to the higher display resolution of the Redmi 5 Plus, which absorbs additional resources compared to the regular Redmi 5.

Performance of Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus in benchmarks

The situation with the battery is similar to what we observed with performance. The younger smartphone has a battery capacity of 3300 mAh, the older one has 4000 mAh, but this has virtually no effect on the actual battery life. Both devices remain stable for a day and a few more hours on the second day. In general, you need to recharge daily.

Among the surprising oddities, we note that the Redmi 5 does not have a 5 GHz Wi-Fi band, while the Redmi 5 Plus has it.

You are so competitive!

If you can buy Redmi 5 from us for $210-220 in equivalent, then we see only one model as a competitor - a Chinese clone of the Galaxy S8 called

At the end of 2017, Xiaomi introduced a line of new Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus phones. They have everything you need to be popular in the budget segment - good specifications for their price, a decent battery and a screen with an unusual aspect ratio. It not only makes the phone more convenient, but also has a positive effect on its design. The front side now looks much more modern. During the review of Xiaomi Redmi 5, we will try to comprehensively consider it and compare it with the older version Plus, so that you understand whether it is worth overpaying for it.

Specifications:

Qualcomn Snapdragon 450 - 8 cores at 1.8GHz
Adreno 506 video accelerator
Memory: 2GB+16GB or 3GB+32GB
Screen: 5.7 Screen diagonal, 18:9 Aspect ratio, 1440 × 720 HD+ resolution, 1000：1 contrast ratio, 450 nit, 282 PPI
Battery: 3300mAh
Dimensions: Height：151.8 mm, Width：72.8 mm, Depth：7.7 mm, Weight：157 g

The configuration of budget Xiaomi devices does not change from year to year. The smartphone comes in a stylish red cardboard box, inside which you can find Charger with parameters 5V / 2A (Qualcomm QC 2.0 fast charging standard is supported), a MicroUSB cable, documentation, a paper clip and a silicone bumper, which is quite suitable for the first time. It is better to put on the cover from the first minutes, then you will be sure that your new gadget will not be damaged during use.

The younger version looks advantageous due to its more compact size, making it convenient to operate the phone with one hand. The screen, although only 0.2 inches smaller, is not perceived as large. It has HD+ resolution and minimal frames, which is a huge plus for the design. A sufficient amount of space was left under the screen, where one could easily place the navigation keys and a fingerprint scanner between them. But no, the place is simply empty, and they offer to use navigation keys to control the smartphone.

The body is made of polycarbonate plastic, and the back is made of metal, which makes the body more attractive and practical to use. The design is reminiscent of the Xiaomi Redmi 4X in many ways, which received rave reviews from users.

Xiaomi Redmi 5 Note review showed that it received a 5 megapixel front camera, which, along with a standard set of sensors and a speaker, is located above the screen.

The top edge is occupied by an infrared port, a microphone included in the noise reduction system and a 3.5 mm audio jack for a headset.

At the bottom there is a microphone, speaker and microUSB 2.0 port.

On the back side there is a main camera, a single-section flash and a fingerprint scanner.

The power button and adjustment rocker are located on the right.

A hybrid tray for SIM cards was placed on the left side.

Xiaomi Redmi 5 pro review showed that in comparison with previous models in the series, the smartphone has become a little larger, which is due to an increase in the diagonal of its display up to 5.7 inches. At the same time, the frames have become noticeably smaller; you hardly notice them during use. Not everyone will positively appreciate such changes, because finding a truly compact gadget these days is becoming almost impossible. Smartphones are turning into real phablets, but not everything is so bad, thanks to the thin frames, it feels like a 5.5-inch device.

A review of the Xiaomi Redmi 5 smartphone showed that the body fits well in the hand and don’t be fooled by the large display diagonal. Rounded corners and thin frames make it very comfortable to use.

The screen has become one of the main changes in the new Redmi line. Xiaomi Redmi 5 uses 5.7 inch display with HD+ resolution (1440x720 pixels), which gives 282 pixels per inch. If you want something bigger, then you should pay attention to the Plus version, which has FullHD+ resolution and a diagonal of 5.99 inches. When you look at the numbers, the difference doesn’t seem to be much, but when you take both devices in your hand, you immediately understand that Redmi 5 is more convenient to use. The big disadvantage was the use of a lower resolution, individual grains can be seen at close range, the picture lacks clarity. But in general, the situation is far from a disaster; it is no worse than most models with a similar price. There is also positive side- low resolution improves autonomy and performance.

Review Xiaomi phone Redmi 5 showed that the screen has a significant brightness reserve. It produces rich colors that look decent from any viewing angle. Up to 10 simultaneous touches are supported. Display is covered protective glass with rounded edges, on top of which a good oleophobic coating is applied. There is no air gap, so the image literally lies on the surface. Rounded edges add elegance to the design. Even despite its resolution, the screen looks decent compared to its competitors. Although in terms of clarity it is inferior to the Honor 7X, which uses a larger display and higher FullHD+ resolution. The smartphone's frames are very thin, although it is too early to talk about complete framelessness.

Performance of the Xiaomi Redmi 5 smartphone

The updated screen and design are far from the only advantages of the new model; almost everything about it is good. Xiaomi Redmi 5 technical specifications are based on the new Snapdragon 450 processor, which is a simplified modification of the Snapdragon 625 - a chip that is considered one of the best in the budget segment. For this money more powerful processor not worth the wait. It received 8 cores with a frequency of around 1.8 GHz and was designed using a 14 Nm process technology, so you can count on impressive battery life results. Adreno 506, which is often used in conjunction with Snapdragon 625, is responsible for graphics processing.

Xiaomi Redmi 5's characteristics fully reveal themselves thanks to the low screen resolution, and this is the advantage of this approach. It will be easier for the processor to process information, which will improve performance. The smartphone can handle all the top games. For example, we managed to play Tanks on maximum graphics, and the game never crashed.

Synthetics

A full review of Xiaomi Redmi 5 informs you that there are two modifications of the device - 2 GB RAM + 16 GB built-in or 3 GB + 32 GB. In any case, you can increase the volume with a flash drive up to 128 GB, but in terms of multitasking, the second version will be much better; 2 GB will not be enough for MIUI.

Wireless communications

In Redmi 5 you can install two nano SIM cards at the same time. To expand the memory capacity you will have to sacrifice one of them. This is one of the disadvantages of the phone, because devices that have a separate slot for microSD look much more advantageous.

Everything is fine with the connection, the device supports all modern communication frequencies, including LTE. The review of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 smartphone showed that, among other interfaces, everything is familiar - Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. There is an infrared port, typical of almost all Xiaomi smartphones, which opens up the possibility remote control technology. NFC is in no hurry to move into the budget segment, which is certainly disappointing. All navigation systems are supported, so you can easily get directions to your destination.

Sound

Xiaomi Redmi 5 3 32gb review pleasantly surprised by the sound quality. This applies not only to conversational, but also to multimedia speakers. This is largely due to the new processor that supports Qualcomm Acoustic technology. Thanks to this, the sound is even better than in the Plus version. We get loud, clear and rich sound. It will be the best in its price category.

Autonomy

Xiaomi Redmi 5 review in Russian turns to its battery, which has a capacity of 3300 mAh. In this regard, it is inferior to the Plus version, in which its capacity reaches 4000 mAh, but it is worth considering that the display resolution is lower here. Equally important is the use of an energy-efficient processor. Thanks to these features, Redmi 5 is practically not inferior to Redmi 4X in terms of autonomy, despite the fact that the latter has a display diagonal of only 5 inches and a battery capacity of 4100 mAh.

On average, you should expect 1.5-2 days of use, but if you are an active user, then by the evening the phone will need to be charged. In games, autonomy lasts for almost 5 hours, in video playback mode - about 7.5 hours. The results are impressive, although if the manufacturer had left a 4100 mAh battery, as was the case in the 4th generation, they would have been even better.

Formally, there is no fast charging, but the Xiaomi Redmi 5 smartphone gets along just fine without it. In 30 minutes, about 30% of the charge accumulates, and a full charge takes 2 hours 20 minutes.

Xiaomi Redmi 5 camera review

Xiaomi Redmi 5 camera review revealed many positive changes. The manufacturer did not install dual camera in a budget model, understanding that it is better to focus on a single module, but get the most out of it, than to chase trends, but get nothing. It uses the OmniVision OV12A10 sensor with f/2.2 aperture, which showed itself successfully in the autumn Mi A1. Compared to the 4th generation, you can get much better quality footage with the main camera.

The improvement in image detail is immediately noticeable. This is especially noticeable when you photograph under good artificial or daylight. As shown by Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 review, noise appears only on night frames. The colors look as close to reality as possible, the camera does its job perfectly, of course, if you don’t go too far beyond the price category. The camera received phase focusing, electronic stabilization, digital zoom, HDR and other bells and whistles.

Xiaomi Redmi 5 18 9 review showed that it can shoot video in 1080p at 30 FPS. The quality is improved by electronic stabilization, which compensates for hand shaking. It will be hardly possible to find something better in its price category.

The 5 MP front camera is also built on a module from OmniVision. It's not as good as the main camera, so there's not much to praise it for. For its price it takes good photographs, there is nothing more to say here. The flash complements the capabilities of the front camera; it illuminates the face with soft light, helping to take a picture in a darkened environment. The video is saved in FullHD format at 30 FPS.

Let’s be honest, we didn’t expect such photographic capabilities from a budget device; in terms of camera, it’s simply the best. If the manufacturer had installed a dual module, we would not have gotten anywhere near the same result; in the budget segment it is used mostly to attract attention.

Conclusion

Our review of the Xiaomi Redmi 5 smartphone has come to an end, and what can we say in the end? They are offering us a truly successful device, the development of which took into account all the mistakes of the past. This available phone, which, due to its numerous advantages, should occupy the top sales. The screen diagonal has increased significantly compared to the previous generation, but thanks to the reduction in frames, it is convenient to use. What surprised me most was the camera, it's too good for budget segment. Build quality, screen performance, everything is good here, except for the lack of an NFC chip and the use of an outdated microUSB port.

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Thin and light beauty on the most powerful of Qualcomm platforms

Surely many have heard and know that the Svyaznoy electronics store chain has once again made an attempt to officially introduce products to the Russian market Chinese Xiaomi. But not all of it, but, as before, only part of it, and this time - using the example of the company’s top and latest smartphone, the Xiaomi Mi 5 model. this moment This seller activity is widely supported by advertising in several media channels at once. This, of course, does not mean that Xiaomi is now officially represented on our market. It’s just that Svyaznoy, realizing how strong the brand recognition is all over the world, is trying to arrange successful sales of this equipment here too. But so far this is not working out very well, since prices “here” and prices “there” differ by almost one and a half times, and users of online stores, which are the majority of fans of the Xiaomi brand, are very good at calculating benefits, preferring to order goods from abroad. In China itself, this high-end device is priced at only 1,999 yuan, and in online stores it can be ordered at a price of $345, or just over 23 thousand rubles. Inexperienced Russian users are less familiar with the popular Chinese brand, and the price of 33 thousand rubles, which is exactly how much a smartphone costs in Svyaznoy stores, is naturally not so happy. But here the buyer purchases a smartphone already certified for sale in the territory Russian Federation, with localized firmware, fully Russified and equipped with the usual charger plug.

Anyway this review designed to thoroughly study everything technical capabilities new smartphone, and we’ll leave the discussion of pricing policies to analysts. Last Xiaomi flagship really very interesting in many respects, so it’s time to move on to review technical characteristics new items

Main characteristics of Xiaomi Mi 5

SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (MSM8996), 2x1.8 GHz, 2x1.36 GHz, 4 Kryo cores (ARMv8)
GPU Adreno 530
operating room Android system 6.0
Touch display IPS 5.15″, 1920×1080, 428 ppi
Random access memory (RAM) 3/4 GB, inner memory 32/64/128 GB
SIM cards: Nano-SIM (2 pcs.)
Map support microSD memory absent
GSM networks 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz networks
LTE networks FDD Band 1/3/5/7, TDD Band 38—41
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth 4.2, NFC
USB 2.0 Type C, OTG
GPS/A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
Direction, proximity, lighting sensors, accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, magnetic compass, infrared transmitter, fingerprint scanner
Camera 16 MP, f/2.0, autofocus, LED flash
Front-camera 4 MP, f/2.0
Battery 3000 mAh
Fast charging Quick Charge 3.0
Dimensions 145×69×7.3 mm
Weight 132 g

Appearance and ease of use

The design and ergonomics of Xiaomi Mi 5 can only be praised: the smartphone is surprisingly small and light, it fits more comfortably in the hand than most modern ones top smartphones other manufacturers. The glass and metal body, attractive in appearance and very pleasant to the touch, turned out to be not slippery, not thick, not wide, and not heavy. This is practically the same “golden mean”, unattainable and desirable.

Even compared to its direct competitor, Meizu Pro 6, the hero of the review lies more comfortably in the palm of your hand due to a more sloping back wall, a slightly less rounded and therefore less slippery side frame, and also due to its very light weight, which is simply surprising considering the large battery (3000 mAh) of this graceful handsome man.

As for the appearance of the new product, there can be no two opinions: Xiaomi Mi 5 almost exactly copies the design Samsung Galaxy 6/7. It has the same unusually shaped metal side frame, tapering at the sides and widening towards the ends, glass panels Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides in the front and back, and, of course, an elongated oval mechanical button inscribed in the middle under the screen, exactly like modern Korean smartphones.

There are no complaints about the materials and assembly: the metal of the side frame has a noble matte finish, and both glass panels have an excellent grease-repellent coating, making the smartphone not only non-slippery, but also completely non-stainable. On the sides, fingerprints are not visible at all, but on the glass they appear with great difficulty and are easily erased. The mass of the device is such that it Any will do pocket: Xiaomi Mi 5 is only 10 g heavier than the small four-inch iPhone SE and weighs 30 g less than its classmate Meizu Pro 6.

The body of the older model of the Xiaomi family, as usual, is non-separable, the battery is not removable, and the cards are inserted into the side slot. This connector is not hybrid, that is, you cannot replace one of the SIM cards with a memory card, and there is also no separate slot for microSD. Nano-SIM cards are stacked one after another in a single metal slide and are hot-swappable.

The mechanical side keys are located on the right side in the usual manner. The buttons are quite large, protrude noticeably beyond the body, and have a rigidity slightly above average, but this does not cause much discomfort when manipulating them.

The back wall, made of Gorilla Glass 4, has noticeable curves on its sides, making the smartphone fit comfortably in the palm of your hand, like a boat. The camera module does not protrude beyond the surface at all, so it is quite convenient to control the device lying on the table; it does not wobble.

In addition to the large eye of the main camera, there is also a two-color, fairly bright flash consisting of two LEDs on the back side. It is possible to use the flash as a flashlight.

It is interesting that, unlike most modern smartphones, whose designers strive to meet fashion trends, here the front glass is completely flat and does not have curved edges, like 2.5D panels. But all necessary set sensors are fully present, as well as led indicator events located above the display among the sensors. The user can independently change the color and operating modes of the indicator in the settings.

At the bottom of the front panel there is an oval mechanical key with a fingerprint sensor pad inscribed in it. The sensor instantly and almost accurately recognizes the owner’s fingerprints, but, contrary to rumors about the use of Qualcomm 3D Ultrasonic technology, it is not capable of scanning through gloves. Two adjacent control buttons are marked with dots and have their own white backlight.

The main speaker is located at the bottom end; here, as elsewhere, you can see two arrays of holes in the body, but the sound comes out only through one of them, the second is a prop. In the middle there is a USB type C connector that supports connecting third-party flash drives to USB mode OTG.

On top end in addition to the usual hole for a headphone minijack and a second auxiliary microphone, you can find a small dark eye for an infrared transmitter to emulate a remote control. True, in our version of the firmware it was not found special program for its use.

There are no plugs on the connectors, and there are no strap mounts on the case either. The device did not receive protection from moisture and dust. As for the colors of the case, here the manufacturer has followed a familiar path, offering the usual modifications of its device in three color options: black, white and gold. But the premium version, which, apparently, has not yet appeared on open sale even in China itself, will have a ceramic case and will be available only in black.

Screen

The smartphone is equipped touch screen IPS with flat protective glass Gorilla Glass 4. The physical dimensions of the display are 64x114 mm, diagonal - 5.15 inches. The screen resolution is standard 1920×1080, the pixel density is 428 ppi. The frame around the screen is very thin, about 2 mm on the sides, but in a head-to-head comparison even it turns out to be a little wider than the new product Sony Xperia XA, which will be discussed in one of next reviews. Xiaomi Mi 5 cannot rightfully be classified as “frameless”, but the sides are really very thin. The width of the frame at the top and bottom is 14-15 mm.

The display brightness is automatically adjusted based on the light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to process 10 simultaneous touches.

Detailed examination using measuring instruments conducted by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Xiaomi Mi 5, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Xiaomi Mi 5 is noticeably darker (brightness according to photographs is 100 versus 113 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Xiaomi Mi 5 screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (better in efficiency than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed more easily and appear at a slower rate than with regular glass.

At manual control brightness and when displaying a white field in full screen maximum value brightness was about 650 cd/m², the minimum was 1 cd/m². The maximum brightness is very high, which means, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a good level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. In stock automatic adjustment brightness by the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 175 cd/m² (too much), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets it to 460 cd/m² (it could have been lower), in very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more), the brightness increases to 650 cd/m² (to the maximum - this is what you need); if the adjustment is approximately 50%, then the values are as follows: 10, 170 and 650 cd/m² (ideal combination), the regulator at 0% is 1, 140-230 and 630 cd/m² (the first value is too low, the other two are normal). It turns out that the auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately and, to some extent, allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. Only at a very low brightness level does significant backlight modulation appear, but its frequency is high, about 2.4 kHz, so there is no visible flicker of the screen (but perhaps it can be detected in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect; however, we did not succeed) .

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Xiaomi Mi 5 and Nexus 7, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K. There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

The field darkens slightly towards the bottom edge (pictured on the right), but overall the uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field is good. And a test picture:

The colors on the Xiaomi Mi 5's screen are oversaturated (note the tomatoes and bananas) and the color balance is slightly off. Recall that photography can not serve as a reliable source of information about color rendering quality and are provided for illustrative purposes only. In this case, apparently due to the peculiarities of the screen’s emission spectrum, the color balance in the photographs is somewhat different from what is visible to the eye and determined by a spectrophotometer. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Xiaomi Mi 5 the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong highlighting of black. And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens has decreased (at least 4 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but the Xiaomi Mi 5 has a lighter screen (brightness according to photographs is 242 versus 223 for the Nexus 7). When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a reddish tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1100:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 27 ms (15 ms on + 12 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 43 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.09, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power-law dependence:

In this case, we did not find any dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.

The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

Let's look at the spectra:

Such spectra (unfortunately) are found in top mobile devices ah Sony and other manufacturers. Apparently, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix filters, allows for a wide color gamut. Yes, and the red phosphor apparently uses so-called quantum dots. For a consumer device, a wide color gamut is not an advantage, but a significant disadvantage, since as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photo above.

This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the shade warmer or cooler (you can select only one of three values with the slider), as well as select one of three profiles.

The profile is of interest Standard, since only it attempts to correct the terrible colors by adjusting the color gamut:

The result is average, but the attempt counts. We hope that by the next smartphone, software developers will master the simplest operations of matrix algebra and they will get an sRGB triangle without kinks on the sides. For now we have the following result:

Everything is better. Yes, and one more drawback: when choosing a profile Standard Hue adjustment does not work, you must first move the slider and only then select a profile Standard. It looks like the software was written in a hurry.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is average, since the color temperature is below the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is above 10, which is considered a bad indicator even for a consumer device. However, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since there is no color balance of great importance, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

By going through the profiles and the position of the hue slider in the smartphone settings, you can change the balance, but we couldn’t achieve a fundamentally better result. Yes, and there is also a slider on the page Reading mode will help reduce the intensity of the blue component. However, the developers again “forgot” to proportionally reduce the intensity of the green component, so as a result the screen acquires a nasty greenish tint. This setting, of course, has exclusively marketing significance, since you still need to try very hard to illuminate your eyes with light from the screen in order to shift your circadian rhythm, and in any case it is better to reduce the brightness of the backlight, since the range of its adjustment is within this device just huge.

To summarize: the screen has a very high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. Also, the advantages of the screen include the presence of an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, high contrast, as well as not the worst color balance and approximation to the sRGB color gamut when choosing a profile Standard. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.

Sound

Xiaomi Mi 5, like its siblings, does not sound too impressive. In this regard, other “branded Chinese” will give it a head start, including top-end devices from Meizu and Huawei. The frequency spectrum is not wide, there is no bass at all, the volume reserve is not always enough, but maximum level sounds sometimes begin to merge into a “mush”. In general, everything is not so bad, but this is an average level, not a premium class. IN quality headphones the situation is better, here the sound is bright, and rich, and low frequencies not deprived, and there is enough volume reserve. As usual, there are no included headphones, but in the settings you can select specialized profiles with preset values, specifically designed for specific headphones. Also in regular music player The user has access to manual sound quality control settings in the form of preset equalizer values.

TO conversational dynamics and there are no special complaints about the microphone, extraneous noise practically not observed. True, the sound comes out somewhat bassy and rough, but you can always recognize a familiar interlocutor. It is possible to record telephone conversations from the line. There is no FM radio in the smartphone.

Camera

Xiaomi Mi 5 is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 16 and 4 megapixels. The front camera is equipped with a 4-megapixel sensor and a lens with an f/2.0 aperture without autofocus and its own flash. Manual settings no, there are only three degrees of decoration and the function of determining the gender and age of the subject - everything here is familiar, nothing new. The quality of the resulting images is nothing to particularly praise; the image turns out whitish, the detail is weak, although there are no special complaints about color rendition and sharpness.

The main camera is equipped with a 16-megapixel Sony IMX298 sensor with a four-axis system optical stabilization(OIS) and phase detection autofocus (PDAF). The outside of the camera lens is covered with sapphire glass. Autofocus is fast, does not make mistakes, the dual multi-colored flash is brighter than average, there is not a word about stabilization in the settings, that is, it cannot be turned on or off independently.

The camera control interface is exactly the same as that of all devices with the MIUI interface. The menu with additional modes is pulled out with a side gesture, the settings menu is called up by clicking on the icon with the image of a gear. Photography resolution, as usual, is not specified: you cannot directly set the size of the image, you can only choose between veiled definitions, such as “high, normal or low quality.” IN manual mode It is possible to influence white balance, shutter speed, ISO level (maximum sensitivity - ISO 3200), adjust contrast, saturation and clarity. There are also several additional modes, such as panoramic, night, fisheye and others. Third party applications control of these settings via the Camera2 API is not available, and there is no option to save images in RAW.

The camera can shoot video with a resolution of up to 3840x2160 (4K UHD), there is the possibility of slow-motion slo-mo recording in 720p resolution at 120 frames per second, but the image quality there is very poor. Nothing is said about stabilization for video shooting, and in any case, the camera does not cope very well with shooting at maximum resolution. As can be seen from the test videos, the video sequence turns out to be torn, the image is jerky, and in some places artifacts in the form of spots with disintegrating squares are clearly visible, and this is in excellent external lighting and bright colors. In this regard, the top-end Xiaomi device is clearly inferior to the flagship products of LG and Samsung. The sound is also recorded with average quality, the noise reduction system can barely cope with even slight wind noise, the sound itself is monophonic, high-pitched, the sound is simple, not bright and not rich.

Video No. 1 (88 MB, 3840×2160 @30 fps)
Video No. 2 (81 MB, 3840×2160 @30 fps)

	Good sharpness across the frame.
	Even in the shadows the detail is good.
	Good detail in medium shots.
	The text is well done.
	The camera does excellent macro photography.
	As the shot is removed, the sharpness drops very slowly. Even in distant shots the detail is good.
	There is a noticeable slight drop in sharpness in the corners of the frame.

Xiaomi Mi 5	Apple iPhone 6Plus

The camera turned out to be excellent, if not flagship. The good attention to detail throughout the entire field of the frame and on all plans immediately catches the eye. This is something you rarely see even in flagships. In addition, the program works well, carefully removing noise in the shadows. Sharping is barely noticeable, and then only in places. Even the iPhone 6 loses in many ways in comparison. As a result, the camera will cope well with both documentary and artistic photography.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone can operate as standard in most bands of 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and also has support for fourth-generation networks. LTE generation FDD and TDD. The Snapdragon 820 SoC used here has a built-in X12 LTE Cat.12/13 modem, which theoretically allows data reception at speeds of up to 600 Mbps. As before, the Xiaomi smartphone has support for only two of the three most common bands among domestic operators (B3 and B7), but the frequency of 800 MHz (B20), better than others, meets the requirements for communication indoors, as well as in sparsely populated areas, this device do not support. That is, for some residents of regions outside large populated areas, this may become a problem.

In practice, with a SIM card from the MTS operator in the Moscow region, the smartphone was confidently registered and worked in 4G networks, although maximum speeds It was never possible to get it out of him. The quality of signal reception does not cause any particular complaints; the device confidently maintains communication indoors and does not lose the signal in areas of poor reception. Full list The supported frequency ranges are as follows:

FDD-LTE: B1/B3/B5/B7
TD-LTE: B38/B39/B40/B41
TD-SCDMA: 1900 / 2000 MHz
WCDMA: 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz

The device also has support for Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, supports two Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz) MU-MIMO, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi channels or Bluetooth. Connector USB Type C supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode. From USB port 3.0 desktop PC, a 4 GB file is transferred to a smartphone via cable within 135 seconds (about 30 MB / s), which is more consistent with USB 2.0 specifications, but not USB 3.0. At this point, it is worth noting that Meizu Pro 6 in USB 3.0 mode performs the same transfer in just 53 seconds (about 75 MB/s).

The NFC module demonstrates compatibility with the Mifare Classic protocol, necessary for successful work applications "" with the Troika transport card.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing telephone number A search is also carried out immediately using the first letters in contacts. There is also support for continuous input such as Swype. It is possible to reduce the size of the working area virtual keyboard for easy control with the fingers of one hand.

The smartphone supports dual SIM cards. Typically for the MIUI shell, you can set a specific SIM card in the settings for data and voice calls, but to send SMS messages you must select the desired card each time.

A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G/4G networks, but only one of the cards can function in this mode at a time. To change the assignment of slots, cards do not need to be swapped - this can be done directly from the phone menu. Work with two SIM cards is organized according to the familiar Dual standard SIM Dual Standby, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

OS and software

As software platform Xiaomi Mi 5 uses OS Android versions 6.0 with the obligatory proprietary MIUI shell. The seventh version is used here user interface(MIUI Global 7.2.8.0), well known to most buyers of Chinese smartphones, since it was it that once became the basis for customized user shells.

Everything here is familiar, no innovations have been introduced; the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 we reviewed earlier already had all this. Among the features: there is no separate menu for installed applications, the navigation menu and quick settings; conveniently arranged menu of the latest open source software with indexing of the amount of memory released when closing.

The settings menu is very detailed, you can customize almost everything, down to long or short key presses and the color of the light indication, it is possible to reduce the working area of the screen to control the fingers of one hand, reduce the font, change themes, although the default one is very nice. There are child and guest modes, but there is practically no support for gestures in Xiaomi smartphones.

There are very few pre-installed programs, and those that exist are useful, and this is good because there is no clutter with unnecessary applications. Each user is free to download and install from the store Play Store exactly what he needs.

Performance

The Xiaomi Mi 5 hardware platform is based on the new and most powerful Qualcomm mobile platform currently on the market - the 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC. According to official Qualcomm data, the CPU and GPU of this platform are 100% and 40% faster than the Snapdragon CPU and GPU 810 respectively (you can read more about the new platform in our separate material). The Snapdragon 820 configuration includes four 64-bit Kryo (ARMv8) processor cores, which are Qualcomm's own design. The maximum frequency of processor cores in versions of Xiaomi Mi 5 with 4 GB of RAM is 2.2 GHz, but here it is reduced to 1.8 GHz. Graphics processing is handled by the new Adreno 530 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.1+. This model has 3 GB installed random access memory LPDDR4 (of which 1.9 GB is initially free) and 32 UFS flash memories, but Xiaomi Mi 5 variants with 4 GB of RAM and 64 or 128 GB of flash memory are also available. Installation microSD cards not provided at all. Connecting third-party flash drives in USB OTG mode is supported, but to do this you will have to purchase an OTG adapter for the USB Type C connector.

As expected, the testing results of the new platform turned out to be very impressive, at the level of other modern top solutions, close to the maximum. The new SoC demonstrates decent results in both complex and specialized browser tests. As for graphics, in this regard, the heroine of the review, along with Samsung Exynos The 8890 Octa installed in the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge simply has no equal. Top solutions from MediaTek (MT6797T) and Huawei (HiSilicon Kirin 955), as well as Snapdragon 810, are inferior to these two record holders in all graphics tests without exception. The results of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, summarized in tables, can be clearly assessed and compared with the results of alternative modern top platforms using real numbers obtained in the same test programs as an example.

Modern demanding games go to maximum settings. You can comfortably play World of Tanks at 60 fps; the frame rate simply does not drop below. The rest of the games also do not show even the slightest delay; playing games with high quality graphics on the Xiaomi Mi 5 is a real pleasure. The platform is new, extremely powerful, and clearly has significant performance headroom for future updates.

Testing in latest versions comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions benchmarks, so many worthy and current models- due to the fact that at one time they went through an “obstacle course” on previous versions test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface, obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program (closer to white - higher temperature):

It can be seen that the heating is more localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 38 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is not very much.

Playing video

To test omnivorousness when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, for example subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the testing results, the test subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network, in this case, audio files. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 sound format.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720, 24fps, AAC	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720, 24fps, AC3		The video plays fine, there is no sound
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24fps, AAC	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24fps, AC3	The video plays fine, there is no sound	The video plays fine, there is no sound

Further testing of video playback was performed Alexey Kudryavtsev.

Due to the lack of the necessary adapter, we could not check the hypothetical presence of the MHL interface, as well as Mobility DisplayPort, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) 720/24p

Great No

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to standard range 16-235 - in the shadows, only a couple of shades of gray do not differ in brightness from black, and in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed.

Battery life

Capacity non-removable battery, installed in Xiaomi Mi 5, is 3000 mAh. This is quite an impressive figure, considering the small, thin, and most importantly, very light body of the smartphone. It is difficult to say from the first acquaintance with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 platform whether it should be thanked for the highest level of autonomy demonstrated by the Xiaomi Mi 5, or something else. But the fact remains: the most powerful and productive smartphone, which heats up quite noticeably when performing demanding tasks, nevertheless demonstrates extremely high level autonomous work. This is not a record, of course, but even compared to the most modern flagships, the hero of the review looks more than worthy.

Testing, as usual, was carried out without using any energy-saving modes, although, of course, the device has them.

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme, with auto-scrolling) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted almost 19 hours until completely discharged. When continuously watching videos from Youtube in high quality(720p) with the same brightness level via home Wi-Fi network the device lasted 13 hours, which is extremely good result. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone operates reliably for 6.5 hours.

Xiaomi Mi 5 with its latest hardware platform is one of the first smartphones to support Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology. It comes with a network adapter with variable maximum output current and voltage (2.5/2/1.5 A; 5/9/12 V). From its own charger, the smartphone is fully charged within 1 hour 20 minutes with a current of 1.75 A at a voltage of 9 V.

Bottom line

As was already said at the very beginning of the article, prices for Xiaomi Mi 5 from official and uncertified supplies vary quite a lot. In the case of other smartphones, the spread is not so noticeable, but here it is very large. At a price of 22-23 thousand rubles when ordering from an online store, for example, this option can rightfully be called extremely interesting and even agree with the popular epithet about the best “anti-crisis flagship”. However, at a cost of 33 thousand rubles (as in Svyaznoy), our hero will already have many worthy rivals, and here it will be necessary to compare the characteristics and capabilities. However, in terms of characteristics, the hero of the review is a real flagship with a high-quality screen, the most powerful hardware platform, an excellent camera, wide communication capabilities and an outstanding level of autonomy. But in terms of sound and video shooting, the Chinese “handsome” is inferior to the top solutions of the same LG, Samsung, and maybe even Huawei. And yet, if you are not afraid to buy equipment from abroad without guarantees, then it is now difficult to imagine a more profitable alternative at the level of Xiaomi Mi 5.

You probably noticed that last year there was a real revolution in the design of mobile devices. The traditional format has been replaced by a cinematic 18:9 with narrow frames and spectacular roundings in the corners of the display.

Almost all large and small companies have already released smartphones designed according to new patterns. Xiaomi did not stand aside either. Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus came out a little later than their competitors, but this delay only benefited them. The models turned out to be so successful that they literally immediately became one of the most popular in their price segment.

In this review, we carefully examined the characteristics and properties of the Redmi 5 Plus smartphone to give you an answer to a simple question: is it really that good or is it just the magic of the brand?

Frame	Metal alloy, tempered glass
Display	5.99 inches, FHD (2160 × 1080), IPS
Platform	Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor
RAM	3 or 4 GB
Built-in memory	32 or 64 GB, ability to install memory cards up to 128 GB
Cameras	Main - 12 MP; front - 5 MP
Connection	Two slots: nanoSIM and nanoSIM + microSD; 2G (GSM): 850 / 900 / 1,800 / 1,900 MHz; 3G (WCDMA): 850 / 900 / 2100 MHz; 4G (FDD-LTE): 800 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 MHz (Band 1/3/7/8)
Wireless interfaces	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, A-GPS
Expansion slots	microUSB, microSD (up to 128 GB, instead of a second SIM card)
Sensors	Illumination, proximity, accelerometer, electronic compass, fingerprint sensor
operating system	Android 7.1 Nougat with MIUI 9 shell
Battery	4,000 mAh (non-removable), fast charging
Dimensions	158.5 × 75.4 × 8.05 mm
Weight	180 g

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 used in Redmi 5 Plus is one of the most popular and beloved chips by users. It contains a processor with eight Cortex-A53 cores that operate at maximum clock frequency up to 2 GHz, which is enough for most mobile tasks.

The chip is built on a 14nm process technology, which ensures excellent energy efficiency for devices using it. Considering this circumstance, as well as the fact that Redmi 5 Plus uses a 4,000 mAh battery, we can say that owners of this smartphone will not experience problems with autonomy.

There are no complaints about the memory subsystem either. Of course, 3 or 4 GB of RAM is difficult to surprise anyone today, but this is quite enough for most users. A new version MIUI has made a big step forward in terms of optimizing consumption system resources, so everything works smoothly and quickly.

Equipment and appearance

The phone comes in a small red box, standard for devices in this series. The packaging is simple, but looks bright and stylish.

The Redmi 5 Plus package includes a smartphone, a charger, a connection cable and a silicone protective case. Special thanks to the manufacturer for this - additional protection scratches never hurt. By the way, it is of good quality and fits the phone like a glove.

The back cover of the smartphone is made of metal alloy, with the exception of plastic inserts at the top and bottom. Their color is slightly different from the color of the main part of the back surface, which may not be to your liking. But this feature is often found in inexpensive smartphones, including those from Xiaomi, so you just have to put up with it.

The layout of the controls is traditional: on the right side there is a power button and a volume rocker, on the opposite side there is a tray for two SIM cards, instead of one of which you can insert a memory card. On the bottom edge there is a connector for connecting a microUSB cable, and to the left and right of it are holes for a microphone and an external speaker.

But the most remarkable part of the Redmi 5 Plus is the screen. It measures 5.99 inches with a resolution of 2,160 x 1,080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 18:9. Although the display occupies most of the front surface of the smartphone, it is not edge-to-edge. There are also quite noticeable frames: on the sides they are about 3 mm, and at the top and bottom they are more than a centimeter thick. However, this not only does not spoil appearance device, but also makes it much more convenient to use, since it is impossible to accidentally press anything on the screen.

We can safely give the highest rating for the appearance of Redmi 5 Plus - the device looks great in any color. The new widescreen design looks fresh and attractive, and the build quality is also not satisfactory.

Screen and sound

Although Redmi 5 Plus is positioned as a fairly budget device, when looking at the screen, doubts arise about this. A bright, high-quality smartphone display with a resolution of 2,160 × 1,080 pixels would look quite at home in much more expensive devices.

The large diagonal did not affect ease of use in any way - thanks to the elongated shape, the phone fits perfectly in the hand. The screen displays the entire color scheme, the picture looks contrasting and rich. For those who like fine-tuning, you can change some image parameters in MIUI.

The screen brightness varies widely, but in the sun its maximum value seemed insufficient for comfortable work. But lovers of night reading can be completely calm about their eyes. The minimum brightness level in combination with a special reading mode allows you to flip through pages for several hours.

As for sound, Redmi 5 Plus is one of the few smartphones that you don’t want to scold about this. Yes, there are complaints about the quality of the external speaker, yes, audiophiles can curl their lips and talk about the depth of the bass and the clarity of the high frequencies, but compared to competitors in this price category, this gadget sounds good. It still doesn’t reach the level of real maestros, but it no longer causes irritation when listening.

Performance

Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus is built on the same platform as the one we recently visited, so the test results are almost identical. Interestingly, even the fact that one of the devices is running pure Android, and the other one had MIUI installed, did not affect the results too much.

It's safe to say that owners of this smartphone will not experience any performance problems. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor easily copes with tasks such as surfing the Internet, working with images, watching movies, and communicating in instant messengers. We find it difficult to imagine a situation in which the Redmi 5 Plus could stutter or slow down.

3 or 4 GB of RAM is enough for smooth operation operating system and quickly switch between previously running applications. The built-in video accelerator allows you to have fun not only with simple casual games or puzzles, but also with quite adult 3D projects. For example, everyone’s favorite “tanks” work without problems at medium settings.

IN Xiaomi smartphone Redmi 5 Plus has a 4,000 mAh battery. Someone might say that this is not so much, and pull out of their pocket their “Chinese” with a battery of five or even six thousand.

However, the problem is that it is not always Chinese smartphones The declared capacity corresponds to the actual one. Unless, of course, these are Xiaomi products, which do not stoop to such tricks. So a real 4,000 mAh is preferable to the figures shown by competitors.

In the PC Mark Battery test, which measures the battery life of a device while performing common user tasks, the Redmi 5 Plus lasted 12 hours and 40 minutes. This is a decent result, suggesting that in real life you will be recharging the device in about a day.

Before we talk about the camera's performance, we need to take another look at the name of the smartphone. That's right, Redmi is a line of budget devices that are designed for a wide range of users. Therefore, it is stupid to demand from smartphones the same photo quality that mid-budget or flagship models produce.

Nevertheless, we will not criticize the photos of Redmi 5 Plus. The main camera of the device does its job well during daylight hours. The quality of night images is somewhat worse, but not so much as to discourage experimentation. Sometimes, when the stars in the sky line up in the right combination, and the photographer's hand can rest on something solid, interesting photographs can turn out.

We should also not forget that Redmi 5 Plus, like most Xiaomi smartphones, instantly acquired an entire army of users who immediately began to look for ways to improve the gadget. Therefore, active work is already underway to attach the Camera2 API to the phone, porting third-party cameras and other improvements to the standard software. So there is hope that the quality of the images can be improved in the future.

Software

The Redmi 5 Plus smartphone runs on the latest MIUI versions 9, which is based on Android 7.1.2. Sent to us for review Chinese version device, which had only two languages (Chinese and English), as well as a large number of specific software intended exclusively for the local market.

However, after some time, a global version of the firmware was released, to which the phone was successfully flashed. It already contains other languages and a store Google Play, so you can easily install all your favorite applications and services.

Now Redmi 5 Plus should initially be sold with this firmware, so most of our readers will not encounter such problems. However, if you buy a smartphone from Chinese online stores, pay attention to this aspect.

As for MIUI, it latest version has become even more convenient and beautiful. The shell works quickly and smoothly, applications launch instantly, battery power is not consumed excessively - it’s a pleasure. Fans of MIUI will be pleased, and fans of regular Android will be able to install one of alternative firmware, which will probably appear soon.

Results

At the end of the review we usually list the strengths and weak sides device so that readers can make a final conclusion about the advisability of purchasing it. In the case of Redmi 5 Plus, this is easy to do - this model has no drawbacks.

Xiaomi's budget models are invariably very popular due to their excellent price-quality ratio. Buyers like that for relatively little money they get a reliable device with good performance and beautiful operating system, which has been supported for several years. All this fully applies to the new Redmi 5 Plus. In addition, he has big screen and impressive modern design.

It’s hard to even imagine more for this money, so we recommend Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus for purchase. The main question in this case is what color and how much memory? Let us recall that this smartphone is available in gold, rose gold, blue and black, and the price starts from 10,478 rubles for the younger version and reaches 12,807 rubles for the model with increased memory.

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