Xiaomi Mi 5 v Mi 4: What's changed in new flagship phone?

Xiaomi unveiled Feb. 24 the new flagship smartphone Mi 5 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016, Barcelona.

It has to be noted that Xiaomi Mi 5 is almost a year late. Its predecessor Mi 4 was unveiled in July 2014. The company has taken an unusually long time to make Mi 5, and going by the features announced Wednesday, it is a device to reckon with.

The Mi 5 is huge upgrade over its previous-generation phone in terms of design language and internal hardware.

To get a better perspective on these Xiaomi Mi siblings, we have briefly described the key features of Xiaomi Mi 5 and Mi 4.

Design and Display:

Xiaomi Mi 4 boasts polished stainless-steel lining all around its contours, giving a true-premium feel. And the glossy plastic cover on the rear is visually appealing and also sturdy enough to withstand minor accidental drops.

On the front, it sports a 5.0-inch full HD (1920x1080p) screen with Sharp / JDI OGS (One Glass Solution) full lamination with pixel density of 441 ppi (pixels per inch), protected by Gorilla Glass 3.

On the other hand, Xiaomi Mi 5 is a visual treat. The company has to be appreciated for coming up with an original concept rather than imitating others. It boasts a slim and sleek unibody design language that blends metal and glass (Ceramic for Mi 5 Pro) to perfection.

The Mi 5 sports a 5.15-inch full-HD (1920x1080p) screen with curved 3D glass having low reflectivity. It boasts "Sunlight and "Night Display" technology which enables the device to automatically adjust the screen's brightness level depending on surrounding light conditions.

Processor, RAM and storage capacity:

Xiaomi Mi 4 houses a 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 series quad-core CPU and is backed by sumptuous 3GB LPDDR 3 RAM. Mi 4 also comes with 16 GB/64GB in-built memory with no slot for microSD card.

The new Xiaomi Mi 5 series comes in three variants with different storage and CPU configurations. The top-end model is called Mi 5 Pro, which comes with a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB RAM and 128GB inbuilt memory. The other variants ship with a 2.15GHz Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB RAM and 32GB; and a 1.8GHz Snapdragon processor, 3GB RAM and 64GB storage.

Camera specifications:

Xiaomi Mi4 also boasts a 13MP Sony IMX214 camera with six-element lens, f1.8 aperture, real-time HDR, CMOS sensor, 0.3-second auto-focus feature and is capable of recording 4K video as well. On the front, it has a feature-rich 8-megapixel Sony (IMX219) 80-degree wide-angle camera with five-element lens and f1.8 aperture.

The Xiaomi Mi 5, comes with a 16MP Sony IMX298 camera. It has PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus), DTI (Deep Trench Isolation) technology, four-axis OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation), dual-tone LED flash, Qualcomm Spectra image processor (comes with Snapdragon 820), Sapphire glass lens and 4K video recording

And on the front, Mi 5 houses a 2µm (micro-meter) pixel-based 4MP camera which is said to be much superior to the Mi 4's 8MP snapper in terms of image processing.

Battery:

The Mi 5 ships with a 3,000mAh, 80mAh less than its predecessor. But, that not a big deal considering the fact the new phone features a more power-efficient display compared to Mi 4.

Additionally, the Mi 5 boasts of Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology. With just a few minutes of charging, the phone can offer several hours of talk-time.

Also read: Xiaomi Mi 4S price and release details

Value-added features of Xiaomi Mi 5:

Fingerprint sensor: With this feature, the Mi 5 now has a second layer of security to protect data in the smartphone.

VoLTE (Voice-over-LTE): This feature lets users enjoy crisp and high-quality voice conversation. It is said to be many times superior to normal voice call.

Read more: Complete details on Xiaomi Mi 5 price and release details

Key specifications of Xiaomi Mi 5 and Mi 4: