Xiaomi Mi Max 2: a monster battery for a giant smartphone

A year after the Mi Max, Xiaomi is born the Mi Max 2. On the menu, always the same leitmotiv: a giant screen of 6.4 inches and a battery in the endorsement, here with a capacity of 5,300 mAh. Xiaomi returns to the niche of smartphones with very high capacity battery. The Mi Max succeeds the Mi Max with advances and a few steps of sides. The display is always handled by a 6.4-inch IPS Full HD LCD panel (diagonal 16.2 cm for a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels) and there is a change in the guts. The first Mi Max had 3 variations, one in Snapdragon 650 + 3 GB of RAM, the other two with a Snapdragon 652 and 4 GB of RAM (and respective 32, 64 and 128 GB storage).

For the Mi Max 2, Xiaomi switches to 2 variations, on the same Qualcomm platform, namely a Snapdragon 625 chip clocked at 2 GHz. A chip a little bit less fringing than the excellent (for the mid-range) Snapdragon 652, in short, but still sufficient to ensure the essentials. RAM is 4GB on both models, which ultimately differ only on the storage capacity of either 64GB or 128GB, each time expandable by adding a microSD card. For the battery, Xiaomi actually sees bigger on this successor with an accumulator with a capacity of 5,300 mAh, against 4,850 mAh last year. Compatible with QuickCharge 3.0, the battery is announced for a 68% load level reached in one hour.

The fingerprint reader is always on the side, stuck on the back of the product. On the photo side, we note a step back on the resolution, with a main sensor of 12 Mpx, when the Mi Max first proposed 16 Mpx. However, this could lead to a better overall picture quality if the software environment is well managed. However, it is also noted that the opening at a discount - f / 2.2 here against f / 2.0 on the previous model - will not make things easier. In front, one remains on 5, Mpx. The whole works with the Android OS 7.1.1 Nougat covered by the usual interface Xiaomi MIUI (here in version 8). Wireless connectivity is provided by Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi a / b / g / n / ac, GPS + GLONASS and NFC chip. For the 4G LTE, Xiaomi n '  Having not yet unveiled the tapes taken care of by the Mi Max 2, difficult to know if the device can ensure on all the French 4G frequency bands. So to follow.

The whole is enrobed in a metal shell, enhanced with a mini jack and a USB-C port. The Mi Max will be available for sale (import, Xiaomi oblige) on June 1, for prices in euros equivalent of 220 € for the 64 GB model and 260 € for the 128 GB version.