The wait is finally (almost) over. Xiaomi Malaysia, on June 14th, 2016, announced that it will finally be selling its Mi 5 flagship smartphone on June 18th. However, on the same Facebook post, it has later amended the date to be June 25th. That means in about a week’s time, you can finally purchase an official Mi 5 unit in Malaysia. Before you bounce off the walls though, I should point out that unfortunately we’ll only be getting the “lowest-end” Mi 5, though that’s not completely unexpected. Know that there are at least three Mi 5 variants — the 3 GB memory models come in either 32 GB or 64 GB storage, while the highest-end model has a 4 GB RAM and 128 GB storage. They’re priced at RMB1,999 (~RM1,244.86), RMB2,299 (~RM1,431.68), and RMB2,699 (~RM1,680.77) respectively. And guess how much Xiaomi will be selling the lowest-end Mi 5 here in Malaysia? It’ll be RM1,549, around RM300 more expensive than in China. But hey, you can always pick up the Redmi Note 3 for half the price.
Another major caveat is that Xiaomi Malaysia is pulling a Mi 4 to only offer the Mi 5 through an official distributor named Thorus Technology Sdn. Bhd. If anything, it does seem like we’re getting Mi 5 leftovers from China. You see, the whole modus operandi of Xiaomi is to only sell its devices online, therefore saving the costs that would otherwise be spent on marketing, advertising, store rental, middleman prices, et cetera. Thorus being the middleman here is one of the reasons why we’re paying RM300 more. Also, don’t ask me about Thorus’ partner outlets; it doesn’t even seem to have an official site. But you could email or message them on Facebook for inquiries on where to get one.
Also weird, is that the Xiaomi Mi Note, launched in Malaysia almost a year ago, is still priced at RM1,549, the same as our local Mi 5. For those who were waiting for the higher-end Mi Note — did it ever officially arrive here? The answer is ‘no’, and knowing Xiaomi Malaysia, the higher-end Mi 5 models may never officially make their way here too. I certainly hope that I’m wrong, but until proven otherwise, it’s best you wait for the Mi 5 to be sold by gray importers like DirectD. Speaking of which, DirectD is now selling the same Mi 5 as sold by Thorus, for RM1,399, which is about RM150 more than in China, but still RM150 cheaper than from Thorus. DirectD’s 64GB Mi 5 is at RM1,699, around RM270 pricier than in China. Just keep in mind that gray importers have their own warranties that may not be as good as the official Xiaomi one.
But I’m being too harsh here. After all, the only major difference between the three Mi 5 variants are their memory and storage capacities (and the Pro edition’s ceramic back). Everything else is almost identical. Mi 5 is running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, and at RM1,549, it’s still one of, if not, the cheapest Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 smartphone that you can get here in Malaysia.
It is also Xiaomi’s first device to offer a physical home button with an integrated fingerprint scanner. I personally prefer a front-facing fingerprint sensor as most of the time my phone is just sitting on the desk and I just want to wake it up to check for notifications, but don’t necessarily want to pick it up for a reach-around.
The main camera here is also top notch; it uses a 16-megapixel Sony IMX298 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture that’s also shared by vivo Xplay5 and Huawei Mate 8. Not only does it do phase detection autofocus (PDAF), it also has a four-axis optical image stabilization (OIS) for some latitudinal and longitudinal image stabilization goodness. The camera uses the ‘Deep Trench Isolation’ (DTI) technology for “crosstalk suppression” (or in English — to prevent light intended for one pixel to leak to another), thus creating photos with less noise, especially those taken in dark environments. The 4-megapixel front camera leaves much to be desired, but don’t forget that it has a 2µm pixel size, the same as the rear UltraPixel cameras used in HTC’s One M7 and M8.
Covering all bases, Mi 5 has dual-band 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, dual-nano-SIM support, 4G LTE, USB-C with Quick Charge 3.0 support, and even NFC; the last of which is always omitted by Chinese manufacturers for some reason. Not only that, Mi 5 also has an infrared blaster, a hardware feature that is very rare, even on flagships. The only downside of the Mi 5 is its lack of a microSD card slot. Oh yeah, it comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow with healthy toppings of MIUI 7. Love MIUI or hate it, Xiaomi’s hardware is one of the more modifiable ones out there, with a healthy development community.
For more information about the Xiaomi Mi 5 for the Malaysian market, visit http://www.mi.com/my/mi5/, or read our earlier coverage for the full feature rundown: http://www.techattack.my/xiaomi-mi-5/. Here are the rest of the specifications:
Xiaomi Mi 5 specifications
- Dimensions and weight: 144.6 x 69.2 x 7.3 mm and 129 grams
- Color options: Black, Gold, and Silver; Pro edition only comes in Black
- Display: 5.15” IPS LCD, ~73.1% screen-to-body ratio, 1080 x 1920 pixels, ~428ppi
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996
- CPU and GPU:
- Standard edition: 1.8GHz dual-core Kryo & 1.6GHz dual-core Kryo, Adreno 530 510MHz
- Other editions: 2.15GHz dual-core Kryo & 1.6GHz dual-core Kryo, Adreno 530 624MHz
- Memory and storage:
- Standard edition: 3GB LPDDR4 1333MHz, 32GB UFS 2.0 storage
- Premium edition: 3GB LPDDR4 1866MHz, 64GB UFS 2.0 storage
- Pro edition: 4GB LPDDR4 1866MHz, 128GB UFS 2.0 storage
- Card slot(s): Dual nano-SIM slots, no microSD slot
- Cellular: GSM/CDMA/HSPA/LTE (also CDMA/EVDO for China)
- WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 & 5 GHz dual-band, DLNA, WiFi Direct, WiFi hotspot
- Other connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2 LE, IR blaster, NFC, A-GPS, BDS, GLONASS, USB-C
- Sensors: Fingerprint; accelerometer, barometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, proximity
- Main camera: 16MP, f/2.0, 1/2.8” sensor size, 1.12µm pixel size, PDAF, 4-axis OIS, DTI, dual-LED flash
- Video recording: 720p at 120fps, 1080p at 30fps, 2160p at 30fps
- Front camera: 4MP, f/2.0, 1/3“ sensor size, 2µm pixel size, 1080p videos at 30fps
- Battery: 3000mAh lithium-ion polymer, Quick Charge 3.0
- Operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI 7
- Link: http://www.mi.com/mi5/
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