At the Xiaomi Mi5 launch, the company made a big song and dance about the 4 axis OIS, 16 mega-pixel rear camera. So how does the camera perform in the real world?
Before we start, there are only a few low light photos. More will be included in the final review (or perhaps another article like this). The following photos were taken yesterday, and I think they give a good indication of just how fast this camera is.
Before the launch of the Xiaomi Mi5, Lei Jun released some photo samples taken with the phone at a beach. The images were good, but what was most impressive was that the camera managed to capture a bird in flight without motion blur. That was impressive, but would the same be possible in the real world?
My kids and I attend BMX training 3 times a week. Some of the better riders often try the larger jumps on the spur of the moment, so its good to have a camera that is fast, and boy is the Xiaomi Mi5 a fast camera!
Gizchina News of the week
With the fingerprint scanner enabled I am able to unlock the phone, select the camera and snap a couple of photos is a blink of an eye. In fact the Xiaomi Mi5 takes photos and saves them away faster than a blink of an eye, its so fast you don’t even register the camera has caught the image at first. The speed is partly due to the Snapdragon 820, optimised MIUI 7, but largely due to the new faster memory that Xiaomi chose for the Mi5, it makes a huge difference.
Xiaomi Mi5 Photo Samples
Xiaomi Mi5 Camera speed video
Xiaomi Mi5 photo sample taken during the video
I’ll have more photo sample and full details about the Xiaomi Mi5 in our review coming soon, but so far what do you think of the Xiaomi Mi5 and its camera?
do you think they will release a global version for mi5? for redmi note 3 mediatek edition, still no global rom
They will launch in India, and I saw that Malaysia will get it. But this won’t be a truly global rom, and with the locked boot loader it is going to be harder than ever.
I thought it was unlockable ?
In theory it is, but I’m not sure many people have managed to unlock it
I’ve decided its either this or Huawei P9, roll on April 6th.
Andi pls. Advice some good camera phone fine in low light condition..
Gah… I had halfway talked myself out of the Mi5, because the Mi4S ticked plenty of boxes for me, and the modest bump on battery capacity… I just thought it would do me fine. But the performance in those outdoor shots are steering me back, Though I *am* a little concerned by how visibly grainy and noisy those two low-light images seem to be. Though I guess I’ll have to wait for the full review, or further camera performance posts. The battery life will be another big factor. That and the flash sales basically being a narrative of me sitting and constantly having mi.com apologize that the server is under strain.
It is very weird that they wouldn’t launch this in some European country considering the excellent product they’ve made. It is beyond me why companies like these never fully grasp the market value they gain from establishing sales in bigger markets. Europe is basically the number 3 biggest market in the world after US and China and they still insist on launching it in India instead.
Oh well…hopefully their boardmembers takes this leap since the CEO doesn’t seem to want to.
India Is The World’s Fastest Growing Smartphone Market: Gartner
From here: http://www.medianama.com/2014/02/223-india-smartphone-market//
The source of which is http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2665715, quoting below:
“Mature markets face limited growth potential as the markets are saturated with smartphone sales, leaving little room for growth with declining feature phone market and a longer replacement cycle,”
“This increasing contribution of smartphones was led by growth in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Asia/Pacific and Eastern Europe, where smartphone sales grew by more than 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013. With a 166.8 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2013, India exhibited the highest smartphone sales growth among the countries tracked by Gartner, and Latin America saw the strongest growth among all regions (96.1 percent) in the fourth quarter. China also contributed significantly to worldwide smartphone sales as sales grew 86.3 percent in 2013.”
I think that should clear out your confusion.
Kinda weird that they’d go for Strong Growth rather than actual size. But hey…too bad for them. They miss out on an economy of the biggest proportions. But I’d assume that they aim for emerging markets due to them being young and that Xiaomi wants to establish themselves as leading in those countries. Afraid of competition it seems.
Xiaomi is going after emerging markets now instead of the established markets. Their focus is India, Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam etc) and soon South America (starting with Brazil this year). Europe and the US are huge markets but they are also mature markets with not much room for growth. Xiaomi will make a lot more money entering India and Brazil than they would in the US/Europe.
Hi,
I love your post and i know that you know so much about phones. Can you tell me please is worth selling my Meizu MX5 for Xiaomi Mi5? Thebmain target what i want is Camera.
I would wait to see some reviews of the Mi5 camera. The MX5 camera is very good though, it’s the phone I use everyday.
One more qustion my firend.
I have the Meizu MX5 with 32gb. But last week I woke up and I see the display have isus, various colors and later the full display go black.I had to pay repair 115EUR. Why did this happen? whether it happens again? I saw on the forums that many people have this problem. The display was black but touch screen waa working.
What to do if again I have the same problem? 🙁
I have never experienced this on any phone I had so I really can’t tell you. Who did you buy the phone from?
I buy phone from Aliexpresa, and the phone is 100% original. I registe on Flyme, Flyme forum and etc… The phone is working very well but the display is is not working.
I read on other forum Flyme China and Meizu forum that 10 people have the same problem.
I’m afraid that this does not happen again :(((((
Every phone no matter the brand will have some failure rate, it’s just what happens with electronics. A small percentage will have defects. It happens with Samsung, Apple. LG, Xiaomi every brand. Some brands are better than others.
Chinese cameras never learn. check car ugly noise. and you tell about the cockroach ?
Chinese cameras never learn. check car ugly noise. and you tell about the cockroach ? …
Chinese cameras never learn. check car ugly noise. and you tell about the ugy cockroach low light ?
That cockroach was a terrible picture lol.
its easy to find westerners posting comments on how Xiaomi are just another China cheap plastics… unless Xiaomi can change that perception then I don’t think they would bother trying there…
Well that is their conceited thoughts on Chinese products(talking about westerners). A person who is open minded and at the same time interested in gadgets should always want something and it shouldn’t matter where it comes from. So those who are narrow-minded can buzz off. I’d gladly pay 400+ dollars for a Chinese OEM as long as they deliver. I don’t give a shit about commercials to be fair. It’s all in the product for me. So if they made it in Antarctica or China doesn’t matter.
EXIF data does not show ISO?
Didn’t check to be honest. It might be getting taken out whey I upload the images. I’ll make a zip and upload them later.
I see: aperture (f/2), shutter speed (1/1334s), focal length (4.3mm), as well as GPS data and timestamp data. This was for IMG_20160308_175419_BURST7.jpg
I guess ISO isnt captured, which is very odd. Maybe ViewNX2 software I’m using is buggy, I dont know.
Lowlight shots look bad. But cam is fast for sure.
yeah you saw the noise?
Yes, and detail n clarity is bad too.
From the begining i did not understand why the downgrade the aperture, Mi4 had f1.8. There is a minor increase in sensor size and the megapixel count, they should have atleast kept the f1.8 in Mi5. F2.0 is a downgrade and low light shots are showing it.
They are using 4 Axis OIS, So i think they should give a different mode for low light and should have longer shutter speed than normal while keeping the ISO (noise level) down. I have seen good phones with OIS go for 1/2 Sec to 1/5 sec in low light scene (Handheld ofcourse). This is going for 1/15 – 1/25 sec shutter speed while taking ISO above 1k-2k. Why note put the 4 Axis OIS to use (unless its just a gimmick).
But the daylight shots are insanely fast i think. I like that.
Lets wait for more low light images, and maybe a comparison from some reliable source, for a clear idea of how good the cam is.
true
do you think they will release a global version for mi5? for redmi note 3 mediatek edition, still no global rom
They will launch in India, and I saw that Malaysia will get it. But this won’t be a truly global rom, and with the locked boot loader it is going to be harder than ever.
I thought it was unlockable ?
In theory it is, but I’m not sure many people have managed to unlock it
I’ve decided its either this or Huawei P9, roll on April 6th.
Andi pls. Advice some good camera phone fine in low light condition..
Gah… I had halfway talked myself out of the Mi5, because the Mi4S ticked plenty of boxes for me, and the modest bump on battery capacity… I just thought it would do me fine. But the performance in those outdoor shots are steering me back, Though I *am* a little concerned by how visibly grainy and noisy those two low-light images seem to be. Though I guess I’ll have to wait for the full review, or further camera performance posts. The battery life will be another big factor. That and the flash sales basically being a narrative of me sitting and constantly having mi.com apologize that the server is under strain.
I would consider this phone once the markup goes away. There’s no difference between the mid tier and the high end model except the larger storage, right?
Storage, RAM, CPU speed, and ceramic rear are the differences
that sounds like the differences between the base model and the others. I thought at least the CPU speed was the same for the mid range (64GB storage) and the top model (128GB)
No. The mid range model have 3gb RAM and a glas back.
The mid model is kind of a blend of the two. It has the the same CPU speed as the PRO but the same RAM as the base.
Chinese cameras never learn. check car ugly noise. and you tell about the cockroach ?
It is very weird that they wouldn’t launch this in some European country considering the excellent product they’ve made. It is beyond me why companies like these never fully grasp the market value they gain from establishing sales in bigger markets. Europe is basically the number 3 biggest market in the world after US and China and they still insist on launching it in India instead.
Oh well…hopefully their boardmembers takes this leap since the CEO doesn’t seem to want to.
India Is The World’s Fastest Growing Smartphone Market: Gartner
From here: http://www.medianama.com/2014/02/223-india-smartphone-market//
The source of which is http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2665715, quoting below:
“Mature markets face limited growth potential as the markets are saturated with smartphone sales, leaving little room for growth with declining feature phone market and a longer replacement cycle,”
“This increasing contribution of smartphones was led by growth in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Asia/Pacific and Eastern Europe, where smartphone sales grew by more than 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013. With a 166.8 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2013, India exhibited the highest smartphone sales growth among the countries tracked by Gartner, and Latin America saw the strongest growth among all regions (96.1 percent) in the fourth quarter. China also contributed significantly to worldwide smartphone sales as sales grew 86.3 percent in 2013.”
I think that should clear out your confusion.
Xiaomi is going after emerging markets now instead of the established markets. Their focus is India, Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam etc) and soon South America (starting with Brazil this year). Europe and the US are huge markets but they are also mature markets with not much room for growth. Xiaomi will make a lot more money entering India and Brazil than they would in the US/Europe.
Kinda weird that they’d go for Strong Growth rather than actual size. But hey…too bad for them. They miss out on an economy of the biggest proportions. But I’d assume that they aim for emerging markets due to them being young and that Xiaomi wants to establish themselves as leading in those countries. Afraid of competition it seems.
Hi,
I love your post and i know that you know so much about phones. Can you tell me please is worth selling my Meizu MX5 for Xiaomi Mi5? Thebmain target what i want is Camera.
I would wait to see some reviews of the Mi5 camera. The MX5 camera is very good though, it’s the phone I use everyday.
One more qustion my firend.
I have the Meizu MX5 with 32gb. But last week I woke up and I see the display have isus, various colors and later the full display go black.I had to pay repair 115EUR. Why did this happen? whether it happens again? I saw on the forums that many people have this problem. The display was black but touch screen waa working.
What to do if again I have the same problem? 🙁
Chinese cameras never learn. check car ugly noise. and you tell about the ugy cockroach low light ?
That cockroach was a terrible picture lol.
I have never experienced this on any phone I had so I really can’t tell you. Who did you buy the phone from?
I buy phone from Aliexpresa, and the phone is 100% original. I registe on Flyme, Flyme forum and etc… The phone is working very well but the display is is not working.
I read on other forum Flyme China and Meizu forum that 10 people have the same problem.
I’m afraid that this does not happen again :(((((
Every phone no matter the brand will have some failure rate, it’s just what happens with electronics. A small percentage will have defects. It happens with Samsung, Apple. LG, Xiaomi every brand. Some brands are better than others.
its easy to find westerners posting comments on how Xiaomi are just another China cheap plastics… unless Xiaomi can change that perception then I don’t think they would bother trying there…
Well that is their conceited thoughts on Chinese products(talking about westerners). A person who is open minded and at the same time interested in gadgets should always want something and it shouldn’t matter where it comes from. So those who are narrow-minded can buzz off. I’d gladly pay 400+ dollars for a Chinese OEM as long as they deliver. I don’t give a shit about commercials to be fair. It’s all in the product for me. So if they made it in Antarctica or China doesn’t matter.
EXIF data does not show ISO?
Didn’t check to be honest. It might be getting taken out whey I upload the images. I’ll make a zip and upload them later.
I see: aperture (f/2), shutter speed (1/1334s), focal length (4.3mm), as well as GPS data and timestamp data. This was for IMG_20160308_175419_BURST7.jpg
I guess ISO isnt captured, which is very odd. Maybe ViewNX2 software I’m using is buggy, I dont know.
Lowlight shots look bad. But cam is fast for sure.
yeah you saw the noise?
Yes, and detail n clarity is bad too.
From the begining i did not understand why the downgrade the aperture, Mi4 had f1.8. There is a minor increase in sensor size and the megapixel count, they should have atleast kept the f1.8 in Mi5. F2.0 is a downgrade and low light shots are showing it.
They are using 4 Axis OIS, So i think they should give a different mode for low light and should have longer shutter speed than normal while keeping the ISO (noise level) down. I have seen good phones with OIS go for 1/2 Sec to 1/5 sec in low light scene (Handheld ofcourse). This is going for 1/15 – 1/25 sec shutter speed while taking ISO above 1k-2k. Why note put the 4 Axis OIS to use (unless its just a gimmick).
But the daylight shots are insanely fast i think. I like that.
Lets wait for more low light images, and maybe a comparison from some reliable source, for a clear idea of how good the cam is.
true
to be honest,not impressed by the pics..i was eagerly awaiting for mi5 to have rocking camera..guess i would have to look elsewhere..Mi5 is super is places where i dont really need..eg: 820 processor
I would consider this phone once the markup goes away. There’s no difference between the mid tier and the high end model except the larger storage, right?
Storage, RAM, CPU speed, and ceramic rear are the differences
that sounds like the differences between the base model and the others. I thought at least the CPU speed was the same for the mid range (64GB storage) and the top model (128GB)
edit: in fact, this is the details as reported at androidPit (emphasis mine): . The most affordable model costs 1,999 CNY (about US$305) and brings 32 GB of internal storage and a 3D glass rear panel, but has a lower clock speed than the other two models, 1.8 GHz instead of 2.15 GHz.
The middle model has 64 GB of internal storage and a 3D glass rear panel, and will be priced at 2,299 CNY (US$352).
Finally, there’s the Pro version, which will haul along 4 GB of RAM, compared with the 3GB at the disposal of the other two versions, and a 3D ceramic back, all for a price of 2,699 CNY (US$413).
No. The mid range model have 3gb RAM and a glas back.
The mid model is kind of a blend of the two. It has the the same CPU speed as the PRO but the same RAM as the base.
to be honest,not impressed by the pics..i was eagerly awaiting for mi5 to have rocking camera..guess i would have to look elsewhere..Mi5 is super is places where i dont really need..eg: 820 processor
it will be great andy if you compair with nexus 6P which its better ..camera and everything.. ..
it will be great andy if you compair with nexus 6P which its better ..camera and everything.. ..
Пошли в продажу уже по 400$ на aliexpress. Цена немножко кусается, но он того стоит
http://mygip.ru/xiaomi-mi5/
Nice, thx for photos.
Nice, thx for photos.