Can the fast and somewhat brutal Xiaomi 5 still make users get to the climax?

After 19 months of polishing, Xiaomi Mi 5 was finally unveiled on February 24, 2016. In the current situation of fierce competition and serious homogeneity in the mobile phone industry, the launch of Xiaomi Mi 5 did not give people a very "amazing" feeling. Instead, the flagship phone of Xiaomi, which focuses on "speed" and "black technology", is less impetuous and more down-to-earth.

"Explore boldly and be happy" is the tone that Lei Jun set for Xiaomi in the new year. Can the Xiaomi 5 made with this mindset still bring screams from Mi fans like a climax?

Counting the high-tech features of Xiaomi Mi 5

The flagship Xiaomi Mi 5 released this time has three versions. The Premium Xiaomi Mi 5 is equipped with 4GB RAM + 128GB flash memory, priced at 2,699 yuan; the High-end Xiaomi Mi 5 is equipped with 3GB RAM + 64GB flash memory, priced at 2,299 yuan; the Standard Xiaomi Mi 5 is equipped with 3GB RAM + 32GB flash memory, priced at 1,999 yuan.

Snapdragon 820: Xiaomi Mi 5 is equipped with the highly anticipated Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, equipped with LPDDR4 memory and the new generation UFS2.0 high-speed flash memory. It is said that the CPU is 100% faster than the Snapdragon 810, the GPU is 40% faster than the Snapdragon 810, the memory is 100% faster than the LPDDR3, and the flash memory is 87% faster than the eMMC5.0. The new Kryo CPU core of this processor has doubled the performance of the previous generation Snapdragon 810, but reduced power consumption by 50%.

Full-function NFC: With Apple Pay officially launched in China, NFC has become the most popular application in the smartphone market. The Xiaomi Mi 5 is equipped with full-function NFC, which has card reading mode, card writing mode, card simulation mode, and P2P mode. In the card writing mode, users can directly stick the bus card to the sensing area on the back of the phone and use the NFC function to recharge the bus card; while the P2P mode can realize data transmission between mobile phones.

3D ceramics : After Xiaomi Note adopted a 3D glass body, Xiaomi 5 explored other materials on this basis. The Premium Edition used a 3D ceramic body with a Mohs hardness of 8 for the first time. Its hardness is second only to sapphire, but its toughness is twice that of sapphire. Its thickness is 0.35mm. According to Lei Jun, its cost is 75% higher than that of glass, and it is strong, wear-resistant and feels warm.

Four-axis image stabilization: Xiaomi Mi 5 camera has built-in four-axis optical image stabilization, horizontal image stabilization + vertical image stabilization, to correct displacement jitter in close-up, forward image stabilization + side image stabilization, to correct sway jitter in distant view. In terms of hardware, the four-axis optical image stabilization camera uses sapphire glass to protect the lens, has a 6P lens group, and supports PDAF phase focus. It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi Mi 5's camera is also the first to launch Sony's new generation IMX298 optical sensor, using a 16-megapixel high-quality photosensitive element, and realizing DTI pixel isolation and anti-crosstalk technology.

16 LED lights: Lei Jun admitted at the press conference that there is no real "borderless" mobile phone. Any mobile phone screen must have LCD wiring area and ink area outside the display area, and the outermost is the body frame, so there are only mobile phones with narrow borders. In addition to making the borders as narrow as possible, the screen of Xiaomi 5 uses ultra-low power LED lights. While increasing the brightness of the LED lights, the number of lights is increased to 16, which exceeds the 12-14 lights commonly arranged on 5 to 5.2-inch screens, but it saves 17% more power than ordinary screens.

In addition to the above innovations, Xiaomi 5 also has other technical features such as Quick Charge 3.0, one-click phone change, front fingerprint recognition, video call beauty, full network access, 4G+, etc. However, it is believed that these "little tricks" cannot be regarded as black technologies in the mobile phone industry.

You're going a little too fast. Where's the climax you promised me?

Previously, I have attended dozens of Xiaomi press conferences of all sizes for three consecutive years. Judging from the reactions of Mi fans at the Mi 5 press conference, Mi 5 did not bring many surprises to Mi fans. Perhaps it was because the new phone had been brewing for too long or it had been exposed too much, but whenever Lei Jun announced a configuration or function of Mi 5 on stage, the audience always took it for granted.

Indeed, it is very difficult to make an Android phone outstanding. If you go to all the press conferences of various mobile phone manufacturers, you will find that although they invite different stars, they all talk about the same configuration, appearance, and functions. It is no longer as exciting as attending a mobile phone press conference a few years ago. This is why the founders earnestly tell users how great their mobile phones are, but they are better off lowering their mentality and telling a few crosstalks to win more applause.

"No more scalpers" may be the biggest highlight of today's press conference. I don't know whether it is the improvement of security measures or the traditional festival, but unlike the grand occasion of scalpers gathering before Xiaomi press conferences in the past, no one chased you to ask "Are you selling tickets?", "Do you want tickets?", "Are you selling mobile phones?", "F code is required." Although it is more peaceful, it also adds a bit of loneliness.

On the way back, I heard two Mi fans who came to the scene from Tianjin chatting. One asked, "Did you fall asleep?", and the other replied, "I was sleeping during the middle of the talk.", "I slept for a while too..." When all the foreplay was as expected, it was too difficult to make a fan reach a climax in a short 2-hour press conference.

Some people say, "If there were no Android, there wouldn't be so many mobile phone launch conferences in China every year." Indeed, the arrival of Android phones has supported a large number of mobile phone manufacturers, media, and scalpers, and has also conditioned users to believe that "Android must be low-priced." The climax of the Xiaomi 5 launch conference was when Lei Jun announced the price of 1,999 yuan, and the Mi fans in the audience began to cheer. At present, our Android phones have shortened the technological gap with foreign brands, and some have even surpassed foreign brands, but the problem of vicious price competition still exists.
If domestic mobile phones want to develop, it is not feasible to rely solely on cost-effectiveness to win the hearts of users. Developing towards high-end and building brand value is the inevitable choice for manufacturers. It is unreliable to rely on emotions and it is impossible to rely on hardware stacking. Perhaps what Lei Jun said about "exploring black technology" is a sign that Xiaomi is starting to practice its internal skills.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.