Not so long ago I became the owner of Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite as an additional device. And now I am ready to share my opinion on how cheap smartphones Xiaomi can be inferior to more expensive solutions of popular brands. In simple words, I will try to explain why a consumer pays a large sum when buying a device Apple or Samsung. And the reasons for that, in fact, are not so few. And now you will see for yourself.
Disadvantages of phones Xiaomi
We have already written about why you should not buy Redmi K30, now it's time to focus on other devices of the company. I'll start from the very beginning. I bought the device for 14 thousand rubles, and, to tell the truth, you don't expect to see such a good screen for this money. My first phone with a AMOLED screen was a Razr i, but the picture here is, of course, very cool. Samsung's main competitor is the Galaxy S8. In the secondary market, the flagship Samsung can be bought for about 13-15 thousand rubles, so I decided to compare them. If you want a new device, take a look at this list of cheap Samsung Galaxy phones.
The first thing that immediately catches your eye is that the picture on Samsung is clearer. Still, 2K-resolution with a small screen diagonal make themselves felt. Also, the white color on Samsung seemed to me a little more pleasant. And now about the most important thing – how the device feels in the hands. And this is where the main difference in the past between the flagship and the budget phone comes in. Galaxy S8 has a premium feel with its rounded edges. In the hands, it seems very dense and monolithic, while Mi 9 Lite, in direct comparison, is a bit awkward and less monolithic. Body materials are another story.
On the Internet, everyone will prove to you that the device uses glass and metal, but probably these people have never held iPhone X in their hands, which looks quite similar to the Mi 9 Lite due to the allegedly polished metal on ends and supposedly glass back cover. So, this glass feels like plastic, and the same goes for the ends – it's definitely not metal. Perhaps Xiaomi uses the thinnest layer of aluminum, which cools the hand a little, which creates the illusion that the frame here is made of metal, but this is not so. When you pick up iPhone, you will feel real coldness, you will feel real premium materials, and in Xiaomi you will feel some kind of cheap semblance of premium. At least the Chinese are good at creating the illusion of expensive materials.
Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite
This is often done by laptop manufacturers. For example, Asus Vivo Book is supposedly made of metal (at least during the first use, a slight chill will create such an illusion), but in reality it feels like plastic covered with a thin layer metal, which feels not much different from ordinary plastic.
On the Russian market, Mi 9 Lite costs more than 20 thousand rubles, for this money you can already count on something cooler than ordinary plastic. Plus, I don't really like the build quality. The device cuts the hand at the points where the ends meet the back cover. In addition, on the front panel between the glass and the ends there is a plastic strip along the perimeter, which also noticeably spoils the sensations.
Now let's move on to the vibration motor. He's just awful here. And it's just as awful on the more expensive Mi 9T. After Haptic Feedback in iPhone 7, you will not be able to use the vibration motor on smartphones Xiaomi. Even in the devices of the Chinese for 20-30 thousand on the Russian market, the vibration here is just as terrible as on the cheap Redmi for 8 thousand. Therefore, immediately after the purchase, I simply turned off the vibration feedback function. It really is a shame to use such a horrible vibration in 2020 even in cheap phones. Technology advances, so why not think about a tactile smartphone experience, which is very important. As bad as the old iPhone 7 is today, it feels really cool due to its vibration motor. Let's discuss this in Telegram.
In addition, the Mi 9 Lite has a terrible speaker sound. Even my old iPhone 6 has a better speaker. One gets the impression that the phone was put in a plastic bag. The sound here is muffled and bucketful. In addition, the volume is also lame. The same applies to the quality of the microphone recording. My old iPhone from 2014 has a very high-quality microphone, but the Mi 9 Lite just shamefully took and built in probably the cheapest microphone you can find.
Xiaomi Mi 9T
On the one hand, the device has a good camera, but when you start recording video and hear this sound from the microphone, your impression of the phone simply drops by 30-40%. And I understand if it was Redmi 8a costing 5-6 thousand, but, excuse me, a phone in Russia costs 20 thousand rubles. Is the cost price of even an average microphone so high? Unclear. I would love even the microphone iPhone 6 that was released in 2014.
Video stabilization is also a separate topic. Even in the absence of any optical stabilization Xiaomi, they can use software, but it seems that they do not do this on purpose so that people buy their more expensive devices. In my opinion, if you need a phone to record videos, Xiaomi don't even consider. Better to buy a used Galaxy S8.
On this, perhaps, all the points that I do not like in mid-budget devices Xiaomi. And, as it seems to me, fixing them is not very difficult and expensive. I wonder what our readers think. Share your opinion in the comments to this publication.
By the way, Xiaomi under the guise of a flagship wants to sell a budget device. You might also be interested to know why I don't like MIUI.