Xiaomi MI2 unboxing and first impressions

Source: Daily Mobile - December 7th, 2012

This week I received the Xiaomi MI2, the new flagship device from the Chinese company Xiaomi.

This is their first quad core device with some really amazing specifications and I am really excited to review this phone. I have run the MIUI ROM on my HTC Sensation XE since I always liked the look of it and also the extra built in features which will be mentioned in the full review. So here is what was in the box:

• Phone
• Battery
• Charger (unfortunately Chinese but any charger with USB connector will do)
• USB to Micro USB data cable
• Warranty card
• User manual (in Chinese)

      

No headphones are included but people mostly buy their own anyway and if you like some Xiaomi ones then you can find the online for a reasonable price.

Specifications of this device are really impressive:

• 4.3” Screen, resolution of 1280x720
• 2GB LPDDR2 RAM
• 1.5GHz Snapdragon APQ8064 Quad Core CPU
• Retina IPS Display @ 342 PPI compared to (iPhone Retina Screen @ 326 PPI)
• Dolby® Audio System
• 2000 (3100 available separately) mAh battery
• 3.5mm headphone jack (top left of MI-2)
• Adreno 320 graphics core
• 8MP Rear Camera and 2MP Front Facing Camera
• Android 4.1 (MIUI Jelly Bean)
• 16/32GB EMMC Storage (NO MICRO SD SUPPORT)
• GPS, GLONASS AGPS, Bluetooth HID, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi Direct
• USB 2.0 / USB 2.0 OTG, MHL
• FM Radio
• 1080P & 720P quality recording
• GSM Bands (850/900/1800/1900) Mhz, WCDMA (850/1900/2100) Mhz
• WAPI / WLAN (Wi-Fi) 802.11b/g/n
• DC HSDPA+ / HSPDA / 3G / EDGE / GPRS / WCDMA / GSM
• LED Notifications
• USB Charging port
• Standard SIM Card connector

One thing that I noticed on using the phone in the dark the first time was that the capacitive buttons are NOT backlit. After some goggling I found that this is by design and really is a bit of a shame but no deal breaker in my opinion.

Other then that I am really pleased with the phone. It looks great, feels great in the hand and the screen is amazing. The speed so far is great and I am currently testing battery life. Will be back with a full review in a week or two.