new smartphone with a flexible screen MIX Fold 2, Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro headphones and Watch S1 Pro watch

Xiaomi in China held a presentation of a new smartphone with a flexible screen Xiaomi MIX Fold 2. Since the presentation was designed only for the home market, there were not even subtitles with translation. Too bad, because the presentation was interesting. On the stage, they argued for a long time how the Internet began, where Xiaomi is moving. My mother told me as a child: “Learn Chinese!”. And I didn’t listen. Well, let’s get straight to the iron! Read the captions for the pictures.

Table of Contents

Xiaomi Mix Fold 2

Here is such a premium handsome man. Prices start from 90 thousand rubles translated from yuan.

Xiaomi began the presentation of the new smartphone with an offer to remember what is already on the market. Pay attention to the example of Chinese logic: new models are at the bottom.

As you can imagine, in terms of thickness, the ideal for a foldable smartphone to strive for is the iPhone. In general, I absolutely agree, since today a folding smartphone has a thickness of 1.5-2 cm. My laptop is thinner when closed (and there is an RTX 3070 video card). Will Xiaomi be able to give people the smartphone they deserve, knock off the fat solutions of Samsung and Co. from the pedestal? (find out on the next slide!)

Xiaomi MIX Fold 2 should outdo all competitors. The thickness of the smartphone in the unfolded state is only 5.4 mm.

To better imagine the thickness, we were shown how the Type-C connector fits into the case. The thickness of the connector is 3.74 mm, and the thickness of the case is 5.4 mm. For comparison, the thickness of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 when unfolded is 6.3 mm. Cut a whole millimeter! Considering that in the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm) smartphone, I would like, of course, on the contrary, the case is thicker, you need to somehow cool the chipset.

When folded, the thickness of the smartphone is 11.2 mm.

And, of course, not without comparison with the iPhone. At the top is just the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the thickness of the iPhone in the case is 10.83 mm, and the thickness of the Xiaomi MIX Fold 2 when folded is only 11.2 mm. Well, if you remove the smartphone in a case, then the thickness will already be 13.2 mm. Still thinner than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 (15.8mm).

If you are interested in what another 0.4 mm went to (following all, if the thickness of the smartphone is 5.4 mm in the unfolded state, then it should not be 11.2, but 10.8 mm when folded), then a small margin was needed to properly bend the screen and hide the gap between the halves . Xiaomi said that it has redesigned the folding mechanism. His weight dropped by 13 grams (to 24.5 g). Plus, since a new generation of the screen is used, it was possible to fold it even more.

But if Xiaomi MIX Fold 2 is inferior to Apple products in terms of thickness, then it wins in terms of weight in the case! 275 grams for Xiaomi versus 285 grams for Apple.

The internal screen of the smartphone is 8.02 inches in size (Samsung has a 7.6-inch screen). The maximum brightness is 1000 nits. Resolution – 2160 by 1914 pixels. The screen has a dynamic refresh rate of 1-120Hz.

I didn’t quite understand this moment, but the screen has become more environmentally friendly. Xiaomi got rid of some kind of intermediate layer that was difficult to recycle. Above only UTG. This is short for ultra-thin glass (ultra-thin glass only 30 microns thick). As far as I remember, this is a Samsung product.

Harman/kardon sound. This is another division of Samsung.

On the external screen, too, they did not save. In fact, exactly the same characteristics as the internal screen (except for the size, of course).

The battery is 100 mAh more than the Galaxy Z Fold 4. I wonder how it is with battery life.

The smartphone runs on the top chipset from Qualcomm – Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. They showed the temperature in performance tests. As if it looks very decent. What do you think?

In order to reduce the thickness of the smartphone, the camera module had to be sacrificed. He piles up like a mountain. That is, when opened, the smartphone will lie crookedly on the table.

Xiaomi followed in the footsteps of Samsung. Optical stabilization is only in the main module.

On one of the promotional videos, a fold was noticeable (but only at a certain angle).

Just earlier this week, I was wondering why Samsung can’t hide the camera under a flexible screen so that it’s not noticeable. Apparently there are some limitations. So, Xiaomi, for example, generally abandoned the internal camera (but here, apparently, they fought for the thickness of the smartphone). For video conferencing, this is the solution. Well, not the most convenient solution. On the internal screen, you can give one half for video communication, and work on the other.

Folding smartphone – a special version of the shell, optimized for such screens.

Desktop example.

The new version of the shell is better optimized for windows. At the same time, pairs of applications can be saved in the settings. For example, a book + notes.

Examples of use cases.

You can buy a case-stand for your smartphone.

official set

And finally, prices. For simplicity, you can simply multiply by 10.

Here is such a target approach made by Xiaomi. Let’s take a look at the specifications of the smartphone.

Specifications

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 нм)
• Operating system: Android 12, with MIUI FOLD 13 shell version
• Memory: 12 GB / 256/512 GB / 1 TB storage
• Screen external: 6.56 inches, AMOLED, 2520×1080 pixels, 21:9 aspect ratio, 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
• Screen internal: 8.02 inches, AMOLED, 2160 x 1914 dots, 360 ppi, 120 Hz dynamic refresh rate, 1000 nits auto brightness, 1300 nits peak brightness, Dolby Vision support, HDR10+,
• Battery: 4500 mAh, fast charge 67 W, 100% in 40 minutes
• Front camera: 20 MP, 27mm (wide), 1/3.4″, 0.8µm
• Main camera:
  • 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm (wide angle), 1.0µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS
  • 10 MP, f/2.4, 67mm (tele), 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
  • 13 MP, f/2.2, 123˚, 12mm (ultra wide), 1.12µm
  • 8K video recording with Dolby Vision support
• SIM card: 2 Nano-SIM
• Network and data transfer: 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, ИК-порт, USB Type-C
• Navigation: A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, NavIC
• Sensors: fingerprint scanner (under the screen, optical), accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, compass, color spectrum sensor, barometer.
• Other: harman/kardon sound, no 3.5mm jack, no memory card support, no water resistance, no FM radio
• materials: glass and metal
• Dimensions: open – 161.1 x 144.7 x 5.4 mm, closed – 161.1 x 73.9 x 11.2 mm.
• The weight: 262
• Price: 12/256 GB – 8,999 yuan, 12/512 GB – 9,999 yuan, 12 GB + 1 TB – 11,999 yuan (for simplicity, prices in yuan can be multiplied by 10 to get rubles).

Finally – a few photos of the smartphone.

Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro

It is clear that a naked smartphone does not play. Must be a set. In golden color. The Chinese love gold. Xiaomi also offers to buy new headphones with a watch.

Pay attention to how unusual the headphones sit in the case. This is great!

A little regarding the characteristics. The headphones have 11mm drivers. We are traditionally promised chic bass, crystal clear sound. Hi-Res sound and LHDC 4.0. Latest codec (Low Latency High-Definition Audio Codec). In fact, it is a competitor to Qualcomm’s aptX-HD/aptX Adaptive. This is the development of the Taiwanese company Savitech. Probably used as part of import substitution.

The headphones will have top-end noise reduction – 48 dB. Usually, “droplets” have a noise reduction of 39-42 dB. I honestly don’t understand how to rate this noise cancellation. For example, what is the noise reduction of Sony’s top-end on-ear headphones?

And finally, we were shown all the characteristics. 9 hours on a single charge + 29 hours in a case (total 38 hours of operation). Some parameter was designated as 32.4 km / h. Apparently, this is the rate at which enthusiastic fans will run to buy headphones. But, as I understand it, this is wind noise that headphones can drown out.

The price of headphones is only 999 yuan, that is, 10,000 rubles. Eldar at the Samsung presentation liked the headphones the most. And I was most interested in the ears of Xiaomi. It is a pity, of course, that no innovations such as a built-in thermometer were made.

Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro

Let me remind you that Xiaomi in the next couple of years is going to become number one in premium technology in China. The clock seems to work for this purpose. They look very nice and premium.

Dial 46 mm, screen size 1.47 inches. Pay attention to the metal head. Non-standard position, but Xiaomi says it will be comfortable.

Talking regarding watches, Xiaomi focused on style. Well, according to the characteristics, this is MI Band 7 Pro with GPS. The price is 1,599 yuan, that is, 15 thousand rubles. Well, this is … What do you say?

Conclusion: other

Xiaomi showed a few more gadgets. But there is nothing particularly interesting there. For example, the Pro version of the Xiaomi Pad tablet on Snapdragon 870 with a screen diagonal of 12.4 inches. Apart from the screen size, there are practically no differences from the model that we had on the test.

Hmm, to be honest, I expected more from Samsung and Xiaomi. In fact, new smartphones are a light update of last year’s generation. Xiaomi, of course, did a great job on the dimensions of the smartphone. And, perhaps, even curbed the hot temper of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. But somehow my soul was missing something.

Well, it’s time to get used to the fact that Xiaomi is no longer cheap. Headphones from 10 thousand rubles, watches for 15 thousand. It’s certainly still cheaper than Samsung or Apple, but it’s still a nasty amount. What do you think?