Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Review: Perfect mobile entertainment companion

The first generation Mi Max was one of the best in the phablet class; its massive 6.44-inch display almost blurred with boundaries between a tablet and a phone. But, unlike the rivals, Xiaomi's device was compact enough to easily slip in to the pocket and when needed, it could be easily taken out and the user be able to fully grasp the phone and operate it single-handedly. Under-the-hood, it had all the right hardware to make the phone work buttery smooth and the Mi Max was aptly priced, which literally left no rival to challenge it.

Buoyed by the 2016-series success, Xiaomi launched Mi Max 2 with several upgrades both in terms of the design and the internal hardware.

We had an opportunity to review the new Mi Max 2 and during the tests, it was able to showed promising results in almost aspects.

Here's our final verdict on the Xiaomi's new device.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2: Design and display review (4.5/5)

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 is a really big phone, but its Redmi Note 4-inspired simplistic design language is very pleasing to the eyes. As far as the build quality is concerned, we can feel premium metallic cover when held in hand. We received matte black colour for the review and it's beautiful. It flaunts smooth high-grade metal alloy cover on the back, but it's not slippery at all and also comes with special coating that repels sweaty finger smudges and users never need to carry a cloth clean the phone. Curved contour around the edges and slim body (just 7.6mm thickness), offers good grip to hold. Even a person with small hands can wrap around it and the phone's MIUI interface too comes with handy tools such a Quick Ball and screen-size adjustment feature that allows users do many things single-handedly.

The ergonomically designed Mi Max 2 houses fingerprint sensor on the back just above the center of the back-panel for easy access and the camera is aptly placed at the top-left corner with LED flash support.

On the top, it houses 3.5mm audio jack to the corner with mic and an IR (Infrared) blaster beside it, which will allow the owners to use the phone as a remote controller for smart TVs.

At the bottom, Mi Max 2 features two single-grille speakers on the bottom edge with Type-C USB port charger port.

On the left edge, Mi Max 2 features Hybrid SIM tray slot, but its tucked right in to the phone leaving no ugly physical protrusion.

As far as the display is concerned, Mi Max 2's full HD (1920x1080p) LCD screen is of top-notch quality and viewing high definition videos on the big 6.44-inch display is a delightful experience. With night mode on, users can also read e-books in the low-light conditions without any strain to the eyes. It is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 shield and also features 2.5D curved glass cover, which adds value in terms of the visual appeal.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2: Performance review (4/5)

Xiaomi Mi Max houses a Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor, which is one best mid-range Qualcomm chipsets to date. It is supported by sumptuous 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage.

It scored 872 and 4207 points on single-core and multi-core tests, respectively on Geekbench. And, it managed to get a respectable total of 62,829 on the popular AnTuTu benchmarking application.

During the tests, Mi Max 2 was quick in response in terms of app loading, switching between multiple apps and while playing Asphalt 8 game, it didn't show any lag.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2: Camera review (4/5)

As far as the camera hardware is concerned, the Mi Max 2 houses a 12MP snapper with Sony IMX386 sensor, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus), 1.25µm pixel size, dual-tone LED flash.

During the review period, it took really crisp and sharp snaps and the auto-focus was also appreciably fast, but only in the bright light conditions. It is one of the very few in its class to boast 4K video recording.

On the front, it's 5MP camera (with f/2.0 aperture) with 85-degree FOV (Field-Of-View) takes group selfies with decent clarity.

All in all, the Mi Max 2's camera equipment is pretty good for a phablet, but not spectacular like the Moto G5 Plus.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2: Battery review (5/5)

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 has one of the biggest battery in its class and doesn't disappoint at all. Kudos to the Xiaomi engineers for managing to bump up the battery capacity, and yet kept the dimensions of the Mi Max 2 almost same as the first generation. 

The new Mi Max 2 houses a massive 5,300mAh cell, 10 percent more battery capacity than the first generation (4,850mAh). During our tests, it was be able to run for two full days under mixed usage.

The company claims that the Mi Max 2 battery has enough juice to play close to 18 hours of video playback, 57 hours of talktime and remain active for than 31 days on standby mode.

We tried to binge watch an entire season of Game of Thrones (Season 6), and it still had enough battery life even after watching a movie (90 minutes), in a single charge. We also tested the Mi Max 2 on AnTuTu Battery tool app, it managed to score 22,300 points.

Key improvement over the predecessor, is that the Mi Max 2 comes with fast charging technology (0 to 68 percent in just 1 hour), which is a must-have feature for a big battery phone.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2: Verdict (4.5/5)

With huge full HD display and battery, the Mi Max 2 succeeds in delivering its main objective of being a good entertainment companion. Add to that, network carriers such as Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone, in their bid to outdo each other are doling out lucrative data tariffs in India. Mi Max 2 owners can lap it up and enjoy as long as it lasts.

Even the camera quality and processor's capability too has seen marked improvement in the successor.

Pros:

• Exceptionally long battery life
• Good display quality
• Visually appealing design language
• Decent camera
• Cost-effective price (best configuration in its class)

Cons:

• Some might call the Mi Max 2 is too big, but this phone is targeted for particular phone users to who utilise mobile more for entertainment purpose and it does not disappoint at all.

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