[Review] Xiaomi Mi 5 – Time for a High Five!

Battery Life & Conclusion
The Mi 5 comes with a non-removable 3,000mAh battery that is charged by a USB Type-C port. Battery life on paper is rated to about three or so days of standby time and in use we managed just over a day’s worth of moderately heavy usage with data constantly on, web browsing, heavy social media use, several calls and moderate usage of the camera and flash along with some light gaming. By sundown, it retained about 10% or so which was just enough for the return leg of the usual daily work commute.
Fortunately, the phone has a host of additional battery saving options though they’re somewhat obscurely nestled within the UI and you’ll need to putter about a bit before you find them. On top of the usual power usage profiles, you can also set the times that these profiles activate as well as tweak which apps are draining the battery more than others and disable them accordingly. You can eke out a bit more endurance with all this tinkering though this is something of a chore. Once you get back to the mains, you can get a more than half a charge in under an hour on account of Quick Charge 3.0 tech; gratifying if you’re on the move.

If you’re someone on a budget looking for a flagship experience at the sub RM1600 mark and can live with the lack of expandable memory, you’ll find Xiaomi’s offering a very capable choice.

WHAT WE LIKED Decent performance, good display, nice build quality
WHAT WE DIDN’T No microSD card slot, inordinately slippery finish, middling speaker
WE SAY If you can live with the lack of expandable memory and have the patience to delve into Xiaomi’s MIUI user interface, the Mi 5 is a very capable phone for what you pay for.


Specifications

* Review unit courtesy of Xiaomi