Xiaomi is one of the biggest smartphone manufactures in the world. Their new Mi5 smart phone is one of their current flagships. There are 2 versions. A regular version, and a pro version. The main differences being memory, and the pro version has a ceramic back. My twitter followers said I should just test the regular Mi 5 since I have it, so here we are... about to start my twenty second high end smart phone bend test. Twenty smart phones that I tested have survived so far, and only 2 so far have catastrophically failed... Lets see what happens to the Xiaomi Mi 5 Lets start with the scratch test.
The Mi 5 has Gorilla Glass 4, which we have tested before on other smart phones. The Mohs Scale of Hardness picks that I have reveal that the screen starts to scratch at a level 6, and the deeper groove with the level 7 pick. This is on par with other high end phones, so no surprises here. The back of the phone also has Gorilla Glass 4.
The logo is on the under side of the glass so, you wont have any issues with it chipping or rubbing off. Lucky for us, the camera lens is also made of glass. It wont get scratched easy like the Sony Z5 or the Blackberry Priv plastic camera lenses. The home button is also glass, so it will not scratch easy either. The sides of the phone are made of metal, you can see that the scratches are on the surface, and there is no thick primer or paint covering or hiding anything, just like on the Galaxy S7. The metal is on the outside. The phone is very light weight at ounces.
Now the burn test. It took about 4 seconds for the flame to have any effect on the screen. The pixels turned black, but then fully recovered once the heat had dissipated. You can see that the phone is cool to the touch within seconds of the flame being removed. Keep in mind there are a million factors that you take into consideration when buying a smart phone. Not just durability. BUT durability IS a factor.
And that's where I come in. Now... onto the bend test. [The sound of millions of Xiaomi phones crying out in terror.] This phone broke faster than a soggy graham cracker... so lets watch it one more time in slow motion [Snap. Crackle. Pop.] Not every aluminum alloy is the same. Apple learned this the hard way with the iPhone 6, and upgraded their newer phone the 6s to 7000 series aluminum.
Xiaomi is offering top of the line flagship components, in a sub par, brittle, aluminum body. It has basically the same components of the Samsung Galaxy S7, but costs $200 dollars less. And now we see why. So lets jump into this wreckage an analyze, so I don't have to buy another phone to prove any points.
I want to point out Xiaomi's tamper evident stickers inside the phone as well. Looks like it broke right at the battery line, where the phone is weakest. Similar to the Huawei 6P. Also a lot of phones will have two frames. Like LG, and Motorola phones, and even the iPhone will have a separate frame that attaches to the screen of the device and another frame that houses all the internal components. These two frames whether, plastic or metal, will add rigidity to the device.
And the Mi 5 only has 1 lower quality aluminum frame for everything. Having only one frame saves a ton on manufacturing costs, but also sacrifices when it comes to durability. I've had 20 other phones pass the bend test with flying colors. So not every smart phone will bend. I would recommend that Mi 5 users buy a case.
Well, I am going to set this on the Shelf of Shame next to my Nexus 6p's and my HTC M9. If you want to watch the 2 other catastrophic durability failures. Go ahead and click on these videos. Or if you want something on a happier less destructive note... check out my golden Star Wars Lego video, Its rather entertaining. Thanks a ton for watching, hope to see you around..
No comments:
Post a Comment