Xiaomi Mi Note 3 Review

Overview

If you're eyeing Xiaomi Mi Note 3 as your potential future smartphone do not expect a device that follows from where the Mi Note 2 left. Despite the fact that the nomenclature name suggests it, this model has nothing in common with the Mi Note 2. It is more like a bigger, yet a bit downgraded version of Xiaomi Mi 6. Mi Note 3 has the same display, only bigger and the same two rear shooters as the Mi 6, a slower chipset and larger battery. However, there is one major difference and that's the face recognition feature provided by the front camera, which also employs an advanced AI beautification algorithm on which the guys from Xiaomi have worked for half a year. So follow us through our usual review routine to check whether the Mi Note 3 has other interesting features up its sleeve.

Specifications

Xiaomi Mi Note 3 sports a 5.5-inch in-cell IPS display from Sharp with an FHD resolution (1080 x 1920), 1500:1 static contrast ratio, 550 nits peak brightness, 94.4% coverage of the NTSC colour space. It is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The body combines a 7000-series aluminium alloy frame and a glass back. Performance-wise, this model relies on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 MSM8976 Plus system-on-chip with a custom Kryo CPU. It packs four 2.2GHz cores and four 1.84GHz cores. A 650MHz Qualcomm Adreno 512 GPU handles the graphics department. Ther onboard RAM measures 6GB. It is dual-channel, LPDDRX, clocked at 1866MHz. The eMMC 5.1 internal storage is available in two variants - 64GB and 128GB, and cannot be expanded. A 3500 mAh Li-Ion-Polymer battery from SCUD keeps the lights on. It supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 and arrives with a 5V/3A--9V/2A--12V/1.5A fast charger. Mi Note 3 has two rear cameras. The primary rear shooter is equipped with a 12-megapixel Sony IMX386 Exmor RS image sensor coupled with a 6-element lens, f/1.8 aperture, and 4-axis OIS. The auxiliary rear camera packs a 12MP Samsung S5K3M3 sensor with an f/2.6 telephoto lens, 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom, and 4-axis OIS. Both shooters are aided by phase detection AF and a dual-tone LED flash. The front-facing camera boasts a 16-megapixel Samsung S5K3P3 sensor with a large 2 micropixel size and offers a face recognition function for unlocking the device along with an advanced AI beautification feature. The model works with the following network bands: 2G GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), 2.5G CDMA 800 MHz, 3G TD-SCDMA (1880-1920, 2010-2025 MHz), 3G UMTS (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz), 4G LTE-FDD (850, 900, 1800, 2100, 2600 MHz), 4G LTE-TDD (1900, 2300, 2500, 2600 MHz). It supports dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with 2x2 Mu MiMO, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, Bluetooth 5, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, fully featured NFC, VoLTE. A USB Type-C 2.0 port with OTG support and an infrared port are on board as well. No 3.5 mm jack though. The device arrives with a Type-C headphones adapter instead. It runs on MIUI 8.5|Stable 8.5.11.0 (NCHCNED) based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Here's the full set of Xiaomi Mi Note 3 specifications.

What's in the box

Xiaomi Mi Note 3 is placed inside a standard rectangular black box with the MI logo and model name on the lid, imprinted with silver-coloured letters. The device is placed on the top level compartment and below it, the accessories are provided. The charger and USB cable have their own places, while the headset adapter, SIM tray pin, quick start guide and the protective case are in an envelope. The protective case looks like the one for the Mi 6 - a dark grey, transparent, soft silicone one. The full package includes:

• 5V/3A--9V/2A--12V/1.5A fast charger (US plug)
• USB Type-C cable
• Type-C headset adapter
• Protective case for the back
• SIM tray pin
• Quick start guide in a leaflet form