Xiaomi Mi Note 3 Price

Introduction:

Xiaomi wanted to put out a larger version of the Mi 6 without majorly affecting the sales of its flagship. They took all the good things such as the premium build quality, dual camera lens setup etc. and provided them in a larger body with a bigger screen. If you love the Mi 6, then you are going to love the Mi Note 3 because technically they are almost the same phone except for some differences. 

Display and Design:

From the curved edges to the premium all-glass build, everything resembles the Mi 6. To be honest, we are not complaining either. The Mi 6 is a well-built, beautiful phone, and so is the Mi Note 3. Mi Note 3 is, however, larger and wider than its more powerful sibling. Larger and wider because it packs a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS LCD display instead of the 5.15-inch screen. 

Even though it is larger than the Mi 6, it is lighter due to better weight distribution, thanks to its footprint. The buttons on this phone are tactile and the phone feels premium in the hand. The glass back is a little slippery and is a fingerprint magnet, but this is something you would expect from a glass phone. The fingerprint sensor sits on the bottom of the screen.

The LCD panel has a 401 ppi density with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The color reproduction and viewing angles have been excellent. Moreover, the display is sharp and bright. 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protects the display on the front. 

Performance:

It differs from the Mi 6 when it comes to SoC. It comes with a Snapdragon 660 and 6GB of RAM. While the 660 is a budget SoC and is less powerful than the 835 on the Mi 6, performance has been very smooth. We encountered no lag or stutter during daily use. The gaming performance was top notch. The phone never skipped a beat even while playing graphically intensive games. 

The 6GB RAM coupled with amazing RAM management allows for split-screen multitasking. Moreover, the apps in the background are not killed because of the huge RAM. The 7.1 Nougat combined with MIUI provides a great user experience as well. 

The fingerprint sensor on the front is responsive and accurate. Sadly, this phone does not have the headphone jack. Call and audio quality from the earpiece have been great. The Type-C headphones had great audio feedback as well. The stereo speakers were clear, crisp and loud.

Camera:

It inherits the dual camera setup from the Mi 6. The specifications of the primary rear sensor are 12 MP, f/1.8, 27mm, 1/2.9", 1.25µm, 4-axis OIS, and PDAF. The secondary sensor provides 2X optical zoom and is of 12 MP, f/2.6, 52mm, 1µm, and AF. 

Regular shots taken were amazing. The pictures had a ton of detail and the dynamic range was excellent with the HDR on. The HDR setting needs to be toggled on as it is not always on. The color reproduction is excellent as well. In low-light, the pictures are moderately sharp and bright. The pictures can be made better by tweaking the settings in the manual mode.

The secondary sensor helps with edge detection and gives great looking portrait pictures which have good background blur. 

The 4-axis OIS helps with video footage which can be recorded up to 2K. The footage quality is commendable and pleasing to the eye. 

It has a 16MP snapper on the front which takes sharp selfies with good skin tone levels. The dynamic range is average, but pictures are of good quality. You can record up to 1080 at 30 FPS from the front camera.

Battery:

The 3500mAh cell is slightly larger than the Mi 6. During tests, the battery backup was found to be good. Moreover, the Quick Charge 3.0 charges the phone speedily. The Type C connector makes for easier connectivity as well.