Mi Max 2 Review

Mi Max 2 is a great flagship with a 6.44-inch screen and a Snapdragon 625 processor. It has been awaited by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. As soon as the smartphone hit the market in our country, we immediately rushed to test it. For the test, we picked up the gold 4/64GB model.

Packaging

The packaging of Mi Max 2 is just like what all other Mi smartphones have. In this aspect, the Chinese brand rarely surprises us with something new. Thus, we see the same white box with the orange company logo and the same set of accessories inside:

• USB Type-C;
• power cord;
• SIM-card tool;
• user manual in Chinese.

Design

From a design standpoint, the smartphone doesn’t feel too different from a predecessor: there are the same rounded corners, metal body with plastic antenna inserts and fingerprint sensor on the back. But still, things are very interesting. Mi Max 2 features 0.7mm display borders and shows off with 7.6mm thin body. The phone’s outside is covered with a matte finish, which looks fantastic and is, by the way, not inviting to your fingerprints. The smartphone is grippy and gives a pleasant tactile feeling.

Well, the smartphone’s design is exactly what we have wanted for many years. We wanted a bigger screen, but so that it would be tucked into a phone that would be still comfortable to hold — here you go. Congratulations, Xiaomi!

Specifications

Equipped with the Snapdragon 625 and 4GB of RAM, this smartphone can handle the apps of today and tomorrow.

Here are its detailed specifications:

• display: 6.44 inches;
• screen resolution: 1920×1080 pixels;
• processor: octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 with Adreno 506 graphics;
• memory: 4GB/64GB;
• main camera: 12MP, Sony IMX386 sensor, 1.25μm pixel size;
• front camera: 5MP;
• OS: MIUI 8 (based on Android Nougat);
• microSD memory card support up to 128GB (takes 1 SIM slot);
• Wi-Fi 802.11ac support, which allows Mi Max 2 to operate at a frequency of 5GHz;
• USB Type-C;
• fingerprint sensor.

For the smartphone that measures 174.1×88.7×7.6mm and weighs 211 grams there is a lot of tech squeezed inside, don’t you think? Besides, Mi Max 2 comes with a respectable battery capacity of 5300mAh — something you do not see on a regular basis even in a much costlier flagship. And it also supports QC 3.0 fast charging.

What it was like to use it

You cannot but respect the designers of Mi Max 2, when you see the smartphone in person. Everything about its design highlights the real star attraction — the 6.44-inch display, the quality of which we did not find an issue. In fact, Mi Max 2 has the biggest version of the display yet seen. A little bit more bezels off and you would feel that you are picking up not a phone, but a screen with the phone attached somewhere on the back. On the IPS screen your snaps, movies, and games will, always look sublime.

In order to understand what an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 and 4GB of RAM really are capable of, we decided to test the phablet by running a hard-core game, "Asphalt 8". Nothing to complain about. The smartphone did not slow down at the maximum game load and lost 11% of its charge one hour into the play. 

A truly industry-leading battery number, 5300mAh, did not cause any worry if we were using the smartphone for a long period of time. The battery pack feels way more than enough for the specs that the smartphone has.

Yes, the smartphone generated a little bit of heat during the game, but the temperature was within the norm.

Touching on the camera, we have made some examples below that show what the smartphone is capable of. Overall, its main 12MP camera can make great daylight photos.

Conclusion

In reality, we see people buying this smartphone for its 4GB of RAM paired with one of the latest processors, larger display, and slim stature. You are probably going to find a better phone with even thinner bezels (see Mi MIX, for example), but if you are not willing to invest a lot of money in your smartphone, then based on what Mi Max 2 has under the hood this smartphone is an easy recommendation.