Xiaomi Mi 9 - snapdragon 855 - 449 amazon

haven't seen any mention of this phone here.

anybody going to pick up one?

available straight off the bat for 449 on amazon Spain

https://www.amazon.es/Xiaomi-Mi-Smartphone-Qualcomm-espa%C3%B1ola/dp/B07NRK942P/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1552131726&sr=1-1&keywords=mi+9

amazing specs for the money

- 6.4 inch amoled 2280x1080 screen

- 3 rear cameras
48mp main
wide angle camera for landscape shots
optical zoom camera
4k 60fps video

- latest 855 cpu and 6gb ram

blows something like the one plus 6t out of the water really for far less money.

probably the last Xiaomi budget flagship phone. Xiaomi have said that they will be changing their pricing.
Camera is up with the most expensive phones available (see dxomark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3fAQTGurDw

dxomark ratings - not the be-all-and-end-all but a reasonable indicator.

https://www.dxomark.com/


109
Huawei Mate 20 Pro

109
Huawei P20 Pro

109
Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus

107
Xiaomi Mi 9

105
Apple iPhone XS Max

Sync

Has anyone pulled the trigger on this? Very tempted at the price, currently using a Xiaomi Mi A2 - and it's fine... but I'd like a better camera/processor.

opus

A friend of mine as the Mi 8 & she loves it, particulary the camera. Based on her recommendation I'd be tempted but doesn't look like it has an sd card slot so would want the 128Gb version I think.

Actually there's the 128Gb version for €458 from an Irish website although is shows as out of stock. Anyone had an dealings with Phones Online as hadn't come across them before.

biebiebie

Battery seems a little underwhelming at 3300mah.
Although the Snapdragon 855 chip is said to be energy efficient, so that should help.

Also some dislike miui, although I'm in the other boat.
If you prefer stock Android then this isn't for you.

As said above 128GB version might be preferable since no SD Card slot.

No 3.5mm headphone jack.

Otherwise a very nice proposition with that Amoled screen , decent camera,
and 855 Snapdragon chip.
Oh and also has NFC if that matters to you.

Sync

biebiebie wrote: »

Battery seems a little underwhelming at 3300mah.
Although the Snapdragon 855 chip is said to be energy efficient, so that should help.

Also some dislike miui, although I'm in the other boat.
If you prefer stock Android then this isn't for you.

As said above 128GB version might be preferable since no SD Card slot.

No 3.5mm headphone jack.

Otherwise a very nice proposition with that Amoled screen , decent camera,
and 855 Snapdragon chip.
Oh and also has NFC if that matters to you.

I've watched a few videos on the battery - one shows that it's not too far off the S10+, seemingly Xiaomi have great optimisation of the SD chip.

I have a tablet running MIUI and it seems ok, will take a bit of getting used to compared to stock Android, but the specs are really tempting me.
(Doesn't seem to be available on amazon.es now)

Edit again - it was telling me it couldn't ship to US, work VPN...

CSSE09

I have one a few days now, I put nova on it though as I wasn't a fan of the miui skin. Battery has been very good, it was 100% last night and down to 90% now, the charge speed is amazing though so I wouldn't be to put out if I did have to charge it for 10-15 mins anyway. Would have liked a headphone jack but it comes with an adapter if you really need it.

rizzee

Looks like the 8/256 transparent but not explorer edition is going on sale for 480 soon

Sync

rizzee wrote: »

Looks like the 8/256 transparent but not explorer edition is going on sale for 480 soon

Is that on Amazon? I pulled the trigger on the 64gb version but it still cost me 460, All my last phones have been 64gb and I never come close to filling them as I use google photos over phone memory so hopefully that will do me!

GBX

CSSE09 wrote: »

I have one a few days now, I put nova on it though as I wasn't a fan of the miui skin. Battery has been very good, it was 100% last night and down to 90% now, the charge speed is amazing though so I wouldn't be to put out if I did have to charge it for 10-15 mins anyway. Would have liked a headphone jack but it comes with an adapter if you really need it.

Did you get yours through Amazon? Is it the global version?

rizzee

Sync wrote: »

Is that on Amazon? I pulled the trigger on the 64gb version but it still cost me 460, All my last phones have been 64gb and I never come close to filling them as I use google photos over phone memory so hopefully that will do me!

Sorry, it's out in approx 3 weeks time, was reading on Gsmarena yesterday I'll try find the link

CSSE09

GBX wrote: »

Did you get yours through Amazon? Is it the global version?

Yup global version from Amazon Spain, only thing extra you'll need to get is a European plug adapter.

Sync

CSSE09 wrote: »

Yup global version from Amazon Spain, only thing extra you'll need to get is a European plug adapter.

Did shipping take long? Mine says it will be here Tuesday... Does it come with a case or any of that? I may look into a decent wireless charger too

CSSE09

Sync wrote: »

Did shipping take long? Mine says it will be here Tuesday... Does it come with a case or any of that? I may look into a decent wireless charger too

The estimated time amazon gave when ordering was spot on, can't remember how many actual days it was though. It went through a number of amazon hubs, France then to two UK locations before being handed over to an post. It comes with one of those slim silicon type cases, does the job for me I don't think I'll bother swapping it out for now.

Sync

Sounds good, that will do until I see a Spigen one or something on Amazon. I'm gonna order the Anker 27W charger too, and possibly pick up the xiaomi 20w wireless pad off aliexpress

cmac2009

glasso wrote: »

probably the last Xiaomi budget flagship phone. Xiaomi have said that they will be changing their pricing.
Camera is up with the most expensive phones available (see dxomark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3fAQTGurDw

What pricing changes have they flagged up? Hope they don't go the way of Samsung/Apple

cmac2009

cmac2009 wrote: »

What pricing changes have they flagged up? Hope they don't go the way of Samsung/Apple

https://wccftech.com/xiaomi-ceo-mulls-smartphone-price-increase/

basically they have sold phones with next to no margin heretofore.

Bacchus

Anyone else pull the trigger the Mi 9? What's the verdict? I've been on the hunt for my next phone a while now and I think I'm down to the Mi 9 and the OnePlus 6T. The Huawei P20 Pro is also on my watchlist but it's much pricier.

That Amazon deal still the best price going around for the Mi 9? I spotted it cheaper on eGlobal but I'm unsure of buying from there.

biebiebie

What's the price difference between Amazon and Eglobal then?

Bacchus

biebiebie wrote: »

What's the price difference between Amazon and Eglobal then?

Doh, went to check it for you there... I realized it was the SE version that was cheaper. So Amazon Spain still looks to be the best deal.

biebiebie

And Amazon would be the preferable seller imo.
So I'd have no hesitation from buying it from them, once you're happy with the phone itself.

Sono

I’m trying to buy this from amazon Spain, coming in at €464 delivered to ireland, would it be cheaper to use Parcel Motel?

Edit: I see it works out about €10 cheaper using PM.

Sono

Ordered this anyway form Amazon Spain, thanks OP for the heads up.

Sync

Bacchus wrote: »

Anyone else pull the trigger the Mi 9? What's the verdict? I've been on the hunt for my next phone a while now and I think I'm down to the Mi 9 and the OnePlus 6T. The Huawei P20 Pro is also on my watchlist but it's much pricier.

That Amazon deal still the best price going around for the Mi 9? I spotted it cheaper on eGlobal but I'm unsure of buying from there.

I went for the Mi9 - previous phones being OnePlus3 and Xiaomi Mi A2.

Miui took a few days of getting used to, even now I still swipe up at times trying to find my apps.
I turned off the buttons and use gestures to get the most out of the big screen, it's really slick after getting used to that.

Phone is super fast, blows the Mi A2 away (which is a budget phone to be fair) - but it feels the same way the OP3 did when it was new. The camera is phenomenal, in good lighting especially it's just fantastic... hard to believe its <€500 for the quality it outputs.

Battery life is good, I wouldn't say it's great - and I also wouldn't say its bad. Charges really fast though which is nice, and I haven't found myself ever needing to charge more than once per day. I normally get 1 1/2 day out of the battery. Fingerprint scanner is good, little finnicky at times so I re-added my prints multiple times and it's smooth since then.

The speakers are ok at best, not very loud - but not something that bothers me as I normally use my headphones (BT, so I haven't used the adapter yet - but BT hasn't dropped on me or given any issues)

One thing that annoyed me was on the spacewalk theme they didn't scrub all of the chinese writing, so on the lockscreen it shows chinese writing with apps, but I just switched themes and it's fine again.

Any other questions on it give me a shout I'll gladly answer.

My main reason for not going OP6T was price & camera reviews

biebiebie

Sync wrote: »

Miui took a few days of getting used to, even now I still swipe up at times trying to find my apps.

Have you tried the Poco launcher?
Your swipe up for apps will work then.
Better than the default miui launcher imho.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mi.android.globallauncher

rizzee

Sync wrote: »

I went for the Mi9 - previous phones being OnePlus3 and Xiaomi Mi A2.

Miui took a few days of getting used to, even now I still swipe up at times trying to find my apps.
I turned off the buttons and use gestures to get the most out of the big screen, it's really slick after getting used to that.

Phone is super fast, blows the Mi A2 away (which is a budget phone to be fair) - but it feels the same way the OP3 did when it was new. The camera is phenomenal, in good lighting especially it's just fantastic... hard to believe its <€500 for the quality it outputs.

Battery life is good, I wouldn't say it's great - and I also wouldn't say its bad. Charges really fast though which is nice, and I haven't found myself ever needing to charge more than once per day. I normally get 1 1/2 day out of the battery. Fingerprint scanner is good, little finnicky at times so I re-added my prints multiple times and it's smooth since then.

The speakers are ok at best, not very loud - but not something that bothers me as I normally use my headphones (BT, so I haven't used the adapter yet - but BT hasn't dropped on me or given any issues)

One thing that annoyed me was on the spacewalk theme they didn't scrub all of the chinese writing, so on the lockscreen it shows chinese writing with apps, but I just switched themes and it's fine again.

Any other questions on it give me a shout I'll gladly answer.

My main reason for not going OP6T was price & camera reviews

Can you use the in display FP Scanner with a glass protector?

Nforce

I picked up one of these last week. My first Chinese phone and my first with the MIUI operating system. It's plenty quick at running tasks. Camera is great from what I've seen so far (not tried any low light shots yet) but I've noticed that the images are still being given a HDR processing despite it being disabled in the settings. Tried the Super Slow Motion 960fps and have had mixed results. GCam can be sideloaded on the device but I'm waiting until it's more stable before I try it. Another annoyance is that custom notification sounds are not possible, at least as far as I have tried. Smart unlock doesn't seem to work either. The phone came with a smoke coloured case but I've picked up a Spigen case and a glass screen protector from Amazon in order to protect the phone a little better. Overall, I'm happy with the phone, 64gb storage is a bit small though and if it was available I'd have paid the extra for the 128gb version.

Edit:I forgot to mention that while the EU rom doesn't suffer from the infamous Xiaomi adverts as much as some of the other roms, I still carried out some house cleaning in order to prevent them by following this tutorial and by replacing the Xiaomi apps with their Google equivalents

Sync

rizzee wrote: »

Can you use the in display FP Scanner with a glass protector?

No idea sorry - not using one.

Sync

biebiebie wrote: »

Have you tried the Poco launcher?
Your swipe up for apps will work then.
Better than the default miui launcher imho.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mi.android.globallauncher

I haven't, I'm just about used to it as-is now so I'll stick with it. Absolutely loving the gestures too I must say.

Nforce

rizzee wrote: »

Can you use the in display FP Scanner with a glass protector?

Works fine with the AOLANDER Screen Protector that I picked up from Amazon.

Sono

Nforce wrote: »

Works fine with the AOLANDER Screen Protector that I picked up from Amazon.

Good to hear that’s what I bought!

biebiebie

Sync wrote: »

I haven't, I'm just about used to it as-is now so I'll stick with it. Absolutely loving the gestures too I must say.

Yeah gestures will work with other launchers too.
The Poco launcher is almost the same. But just a little more user friendly imho. Plus it gets updated regularly on the play store.

Sync

biebiebie wrote: »

Yeah gestures will work with other launchers too.
The Poco launcher is almost the same. But just a little more user friendly imho. Plus it gets updated regularly on the play store.

I'll give this a try over the weekend, thank you

enryb12

How is everyone getting on with this that made the purchase? It's currently 448.99 on Amazon Spain and very tempted to pull the trigger.

I was looking at S10 and p30 pro like alot of people but just can't justify the price of them.

My main concern would the software and how smooth it runs. Coming from OP3t.

Cheers folks!!

Nforce

No regrets here, very happy with the phone.

biebiebie

Looking for some opinions from Mi 9 owners please

What's the battery like in reality on your phone?

To me it's one of the cons of the phone, on paper at least. And that would put me off getting this phone.

I mean 3,300mAh sounds a little meagre by today's standards (4000mAh Xiaomi standards).

I presume for more light daily usage (browsing, WhatsApp, YouTube etc) it lasts a day?

In particular I'd be keen to hear from any gamers about the battery.
Does anyone go hard in their phone during a day's usage and have to recharge before the days is up?
E.g. playing games like PUBG

I've had phones before where battery was similar on paper i.e. underwhelming.
With light usage it would last a day. But push it hard and it would show it's shortcoming.

Does anyone use the wireless charging?

BTW I do realise this isn't pitched as a gaming phone. But that Snapdragon 855 is perfect for it!
And otherwise I really like the look of the Mi 9.

Some other shortcoming I'd like to hear opinions on please.
* No headphone jack... For music lovers is this a pain?
* "Only" 64GB on the €449 model and no SD slot to expand (I would have preferred 128GB base model)

Don't get me wrong, no phone is perfect. But I do like to hear about the reality of the cons from real life every day owners, and not just 24 hour reviewers.

Sync

I've had the phone just over a month now, so I'll try to answer some of the below...

biebiebie wrote: »

Looking for some opinions from Mi 9 owners please

What's the battery like in reality on your phone?
It's pretty good, lasts the full day easily. I play a few games in the evening on it, and no issues. Generally I seem to get ~5 hours of screen on time

To me it's one of the cons of the phone, on paper at least. And that would put me off getting this phone.
It charges pretty fast also when needed, I do plan to eventually get the 27w wired charger... but the one that comes with it does me fine.

I mean 3,300mAh sounds a little meagre by today's standards (4000mAh Xiaomi standards).
I don't know enough to really break this down, but seemingly the management applied by Xiaomi is excellent.

I presume for more light daily usage (browsing, WhatsApp, YouTube etc) it lasts a day?
Easily, and longer... if I wasn't gaming I would easily get 1 1/2 days out of it.

In particular I'd be keen to hear from any gamers about the battery.
Does anyone go hard in their phone during a day's usage and have to recharge before the days is up?
E.g. playing games like PUBG
Don't play PUBG so I'm useless on this one for you.

I've had phones before where battery was similar on paper i.e. underwhelming.
With light usage it would last a day. But push it hard and it would show it's shortcoming.

Does anyone use the wireless charging?
I have the wireless charger, it's pretty cool - but I use the wired one more

BTW I do realise this isn't pitched as a gaming phone. But that Snapdragon 855 is perfect for it!
And otherwise I really like the look of the Mi 9.

Some other shortcoming I'd like to hear opinions on please.
* No headphone jack... For music lovers is this a pain?
I have a set of BT bose, so wasn't an issue for me.
* "Only" 64GB on the €449 model and no SD slot to expand (I would have preferred 128GB base model)
I use google one for all my photos so they don't take up storage on me
Don't get me wrong, no phone is perfect. But I do like to hear about the reality of the cons from real life every day owners, and not just 24 hour reviewers.

You didn't mention the camera, so maybe you don't mind... but that was what drew me (along with the 449 price tag) - and it really is an amazing piece of kit for the money.

biebiebie

Cheers Sync.
I believe that SD 855 is very power efficient so that should help matters. For example the 855 Samsung S10 is supposed to be superior to Exynos.

Yes the camera does matter. It seems to be well reviewed. So photos are of good quality then?

enryb12

You didn't mention the camera, so maybe you don't mind... but that was what drew me (along with the 449 price tag) - and it really is an amazing piece of kit for the money.

Is the Wide Angle Camera good? I was unsure of some samples I seen and if it looked "stretched".

Also, where did you order from? Just wondering about the charger being an EU plug and having to get a converter. Thanks!

biebiebie

I presume if ordered from Amazon Spain it'll be 2 pin?
I bought a converter from Argos for my "German" Moto. Use it with my Redmi too. Absolutely no problems other than being slightly more bulky. Perfect when on holidays in Europe though!

Sync

Wide angle camera is pretty good, but the closer you are to the object the more stretched it is - and I'm not a huge fan of using it. The other cameras are just excellent though, getting some really great results with it. I ordered from Amazon spain. MI Uk are selling it now too, but it's £499... vs €449 on amazon.

It's 2 pin yes, but worth getting an adapter and using the one that comes with it - as it's a quick charger.

you can get an adapter in one of the discount shops like dealz for 1.50

Sync

One more thing has come to mind, the speaker on the phone is just about ok. My old OP3 had a better sound imo, doesn't bother me as I generally use my headphones but that definitely feels like a weak area.

biebiebie

€455 for 128GB. Tempting!

https://www.eglobalcentral.eu/xiaomi-mi-9-6gb-128gb-dual-sim-sim-free-unlocked-piano-black.html

64GB with Amazon aftersales.
Or 128GB from Eglobal Central.

Thoughts?

basill

Honorbuy EU would be worth checking out. Better reviews than eglobal.

biebiebie

biebiebie wrote: »

€455 for 128GB. Tempting!

https://www.eglobalcentral.eu/xiaomi-mi-9-6gb-128gb-dual-sim-sim-free-unlocked-piano-black.html

64GB with Amazon aftersales.
Or 128GB from Eglobal Central.

Thoughts?

I've ordered a few things from eglobal - no issues. some people have experienced a delay if no stock. but the mi 9 has been out a bit now so stock should be ok I imagine.

given no sd card the 128gb is a good deal if you think that you'd need it.

but yes for quicker delivery honorbuy (few days delivery) have 128gb for just over 450 delivered at the moment

https://www.honorbuy.com/1622-xiaomi-mi-9-6gb-128gb-smartphone-english-and-chinese-version-blue.html?search_query=mi+9+128gb&results=757

NATLOR

Blue 64gb version on Amazon Spain €390 plus €8 delivery

purple €5 extra its fulfilled by Amazon ES so no worries with refunds etc

https://www.amazon.es/eiAmz-Smartphone-Pantalla-Completa-Angular/dp/B07RKMSYXV?f_new=true&tag=kimovil0a-21

Mickeroo

That's very tempting. Was considering a pixel 3a as my oneplus 2 is getting slow as hell but that blows the pixel out of the water spec and feature wise. Surely this would be a no brainer over the pixel?

Do the xiaomis run stock Android?

biebiebie

No they don't run stock, they use MiUi which is a good deal different to stock.
If you like plenty of options and being able to configure these then you may well like it, otherwise you may not.

The alternative is to unlock it and install a different ROM. Like AOSP
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-mi-9-custom-aosp-gsi-in-display-fingerprint-scanner/amp/[/url

biebiebie

biebiebie wrote: »

No they don't run stock(*), they use MiUi which is a good deal different to stock.
If you like plenty of options and being able to configure these then you may well like it, otherwise you may not.

The alternative is to unlock it and install a different ROM. Like AOSP
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-mi-9-custom-aosp-gsi-in-display-fingerprint-scanner/amp/[/url

* Unless you buy the Xiaomi A2 Android One phone (or older A1). A3 won't be too far off either