Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Did Xiaomi just make the best Foldable Phone yet?”.
This is the biggest ever change to foldable smartphones for the last four years. If you’ve wanted a foldable, you pretty much had no option apart from just to buy a Samsung, but this seems like something special people are calling it the Samsung killer. So what we need to find out is is this enough to finally turn the tides of the foldable Market? It’S called The Mix, fold 2 and right out of the gate. It’S packaging blows Samsung away like if you compare it to the z-fold 4, which literally comes with the cable and the phone.
This has a more premium folding box, with a xiaomi VIP service card. On top, what happens if we actually dial this number into this number is restricted on this phone right. Okay disregard that, but to be fair, even without this supposed VIP service, you still have not just the phone but a hard case, which is is such a god-tier inclusion, because it’s not just protection.
It’S also a really solid kickstand to prop the device up. A 67 watt fast charger and then the charging cable, Sim ejector tool and also a headphone jack adapter. This is where it gets interesting, though literally the moment that I took that plastic wrapper off this phone.
I was hit with my second realization that this is how a foldable phone should feel, and I’m not even referring to how it’s one of the thinnest smartphones in the world when unfolded as impressive as that is what’s even more notable, is how, when it’s folded up They’Ve actually managed to make it feel like a normal phone. The combination of its slightly wider ratio versus Samsung, with the tighter hinge that protrudes less the improved screen to body ratio on the front and just the Slimmer overall body of the phone all makes Samsung’s current folded phone look at least two generations old, and it’s not Just an aesthetic thing: it actually makes the front screen more usable. It means you can watch Netflix without it feeling cramped and cut off.
I finally get a full-size keyboard, but I can use my two enormous thumbs to type on, not to mention a form factor that doesn’t make it feel like. I have a third leg in my pocket. Just to give you an idea, while Samsung’s most recent z-fold 4 is around 15.8 millimeters thick. This sits at 11.2, which is a vast difference and not really much more than a normal phone, which would be around 9 millimeters and to top the whole thing off. It does all of that, whilst also just looking neater thanks to a new type of hinge, allowing it to fold completely flat instead of at an angle, screen bezels that actually match the natural curvature of the phone and a centralized camera module on the back, which reduces The amount of table wobbling it’s not hard to see why this phone is being called a Samsung killer and then, as I noticed the next thing, the two can also Edge out the Samsung in performance and I’m not just talking benchmark scores. I also noticed it with Wi-Fi download speeds, and, while I’m not talking generational leaps here by any stretch, the simple fact that this can even be on par with this is in itself a feat when you factor in that a Samsung has a thicker phone with more Space inside of it B, the Samsung is more expensive, like even if you pay the extra to import the xiaomi, it’s still going to cost you 10 less and then C is just that.
The z44 is already incredibly fast with this new top end Snapdragon 8 plus gen 1 chip and 12 gigs of RAM, which the xiaomi also shares. I can’t understand how cool it feels to be able to play games that look as good as this on a screen with this much real estate on a phone this thin. It does get a bit hotter than Samsung when you really strain it. But if you actually look at what’s happening to the performance numbers after pushing it persistently, it’s Samsung’s output that actually falls way faster and, to be really honest, I was expecting to tell you that whoa spiked my butt. I was expecting to tell you that the software is the thing that ruins it. It has been for most other foldables up until this point, but that’s not really the case either.
There’S no other way to put it. Apart from the fact that xiaomi has stepped up creating their very own software skin, just for foldables called MIUI fold, you tap the power button, which is also scanning your fingerprint, while you’re doing it and you’re straight away on a home screen that is taking full advantage Of the extra screen space, you now get an extra three icons on your dog which allow you to quickly juggle the last few apps that have been open and the floating window. Tab on the other side is really useful. You can even play games in that floating window, not to mention the vast and ever-growing Suite of MIUI customization.
Now I will say, I still don’t think it’s quite up to Snuff, with Samsung, who really had time to think about the minutiae of how to optimize every single interaction like how with the xiaomi, you can only split apps, vertically, not horizontally, which means that, if you’re Trying to watch a video while doing something else that video is going to be a tiny little window in the middle, but to be fair for the two weeks that I’ve had this I’ve still always felt like. I had enough extra tools that justified having a foldable over a normal Flagship. The only other thing that was a little odd was that this phone really does not want you to use. Google apps, like Chrome, just wouldn’t, install and it treats gboard like a security risk to the point where you have to go to a separate menu just to enable the option to potentially switch to it.
But assuming that that’s just because this is a Chinese model. It’S almost hard to see where the problem is with this phone, even the battery and the cameras they very much keep up with its pricey arrival like to be this thin. Yes, the mix fold does skim upon wireless charging capabilities, but it more than makes up for it by being able to charge twice as fast as Samsung in 40 minutes as opposed to 1 hour 30 and then actually coming with the charger to do that with and Then, for the cameras, you’ve got a good quality, 50 megapixel main sensor, which shoots reliable, mostly natural photos in all different lighting conditions, plus that classic perk of being able to take selfies with that rear camera.
I mean tell me this: isn’t some of the crispiest selfie action you’ve ever seen, but this is where the problem comes in, see as much as I think that Samsung and xiaomi they are making the most of this foldable form factor as much as they’ve loaded. These phones, with multitasking elements and foldable features it doesn’t change the fact that this core style of phone this whole full screen on the front and then bigger inside screen concept. It’S fundamentally inefficient. The way it’s designed means that you need two completely separate screens and three sets of cameras, even though you can only ever use one at any one time which, aside from the completely unnecessary cost, also means that, when the phone is folded up, it’s not just so That it’s impractical but you’re not even getting the benefit from it being thick either like it’s not like right now. This phone is stacked inside with components that are making it run faster or take better photos. It’S just multiple layers of repeated metal body and unused display, and you might be thinking well xiaomi fix that right, they’ve made it feel like a normal phone when folded. Well, yes, but in order to get there, while still retaining all the inefficiencies that are foldable, design like this brings they’ve had to remove like half of what makes the Samsung compelling in the first place.
For example, the hinge the only reason that xiaomi’s managed to make a lower profile hinge than Samsung is by making it less sturdy you’ll notice. When you open this phone up, it just kind of Springs, all the way open instead of Samsung’s whole Flex mode feature that allows you 40 degrees of freedom in which the hinge can hold itself and the apps can adapt around it. Or I mean technically, this xiaomi has a Harman, Kardon tuned dual speaker system.
It’S not very good, though you can tune The Equalizer all you want, but the pure physics of trying to pump Punchy sound out of a five millimeter thick layer of phone. It just doesn’t add up, and the end result is that it just sounds tinny, but a sub to the channel would be harmonic, oh with the cameras. Yes, the main sensor usually takes good photos, but both the ultrawide and the zoom cameras have been massively nerfed to try and minimize the protrusion they’re, both solid in bright lighting conditions, but fall apart as the light starts to dip.
We’Ve just found some wild deer over here. Let’S see if we can use the zoom camera to actually take a decent photo – that’s not great! Oh dear, and also you know this selfie camera on the inside. That’S actually just an ambient light sensor.
There’S no camera here, which again is something that xiaomi kind of had to do to make the phone this slim, but it doesn’t work with a form factor like this. Yes, you can turn the phone around to take selfies with the rear camera, and you know that I’m normally all for that. But this is not a z-flip phone, unlike those phones and, unlike other flagships that have a second rear screen on the back with how wide this thing is.
That is a pretty awkward maneuver to pull off, plus what you do. If you want to have a video call with someone you couldn’t do it on the main screen and I’m not even going to delve into the still huge crease going down the middle. The lack of water, resistance rating or stylus compatibility how videos don’t fill the screen, how most apps don’t take advantage of the space? How the only real solution is to run them in the normal phone aspect ratio, but then what’s the point and then how? Even though it is great, the mix fold comes with a case included you’re, never going to be able to properly protect a phone like this all the way around, like you can so easily with a normal bathroom. This could just be a me thing, but even with the case on this, I’m constantly worried about dropping this phone because I feel like it wouldn’t fare too. Well, I’m not exactly saying that xiaomi’s made wrong decisions with this phone because, let’s be honest, Samsung’s is too thick for most people. So something had to go.
I’M just saying that I don’t think you can win with this format of phone kind of that you’re screwed. Either way, at least you are for a mainstream audience if you’re one of the specific enthusiasts who knows that these foldables are for you, then you’re, probably right, but for the majority of you who are looking at this Market from a distance and becoming tempted. This is your heads up that now’s, probably not the time for you to make the jump to see me unbox the Tesla, electrophone click here and I’ll see you there .