Xiaomi Mi 8, MIUI 10 & Mi Band 3 Launched – All You Need To Know

The much-awaited Xiaomi Mi 8 is finally here. The new Mi 8 has mixed features from top flagships like iPhone X and Huawei P20 Pro. The latest Xiaomi flagship has scored a photo score of 105 at the DxOMark ratings, higher than Apple’s bezel-less flagship iPhone X.

The new Xiaomi Mi 8 will come with IR Face Unlock feature, an improved 3D Face Unlocking feature. Interestingly, the Mi 8 will also be available in a top-specced Explorer Edition which will have transparent back and a fingerprint sensor under the display, just like recently-released Vivo X21.

Xiaomi Mi 8

With a four-way curved glass back and an aluminium frame around the edges, the Mi 8 will come with a Full HD+ Super AMOLED 6.21 inch OLED display with an 88.5% screen-to-body ratio and a screen aspect ratio of 18.7:9. The device packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

The Mi 8 will feature an AI-enabled dual rear camera – 12 MP + 12 MP with large 1.4-micron pixels, 4-axis OIS and dual-pixel autofocus technology. The rear camera will come loaded with AI-powered portrait mode and other AI scene detection modes.

The smartphone features a 20MP front camera, with a new face unlocking sensor that can unlock the device even in darkness. The device will run the latest MIUI 10 out of the box based on Android 8.0 Oreo with a 3400mAh battery.

The 6 GB RAM + 64 GB Storage variant of the Mi 8 is priced at CNY 2,699 (around Rs 28,000) and the 6 GB RAM + 128 GB Storage version costs CNY 2,999 (around Rs 31,000).

The top variant Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition will come with an under-display fingerprint sensor, 6 GB RAM and 256 GB of storage. It has been priced at CNY 3,299 (around Rs 38,000).

Mi Band 3

Xiaomi also announced its new Mi Band 3 fitness band. Compared to the Mi Band 2, the Mi Band 3 will come with a slightly bigger and higher resolution OLED screen. It will come with 20 days of battery life, NFC and an improved water resistance which has been upgraded to 50 meters.

The Mi Band 3 has been priced at 169 yuan (around Rs 1,800).

Mi 8 SE

The Mi 8 SE will come with a 5.8-inch AMOLED panel, dual rear camera setup of 12MP + 5MP, 20MP front shooter and a 3120mAh battery. The device will run the latest MIUI 10 out of the box based on Android 8.0 Oreo.

Mi 8SE is the first smartphone to use the newly launched Qualcomm mid-range Snapdragon 710 chipset.

MIUI 10

The newly-launched MIUI 10 has been specifically designed for full-screen smartphones, which will soon make its way to mid-range devices as well.

Full-Screen Support

The new MIUI 10 will get powered by AI so that full-screen smartphones can maximise the utility of on-screen space. The new Xiaomi custom UI will come with full-screen display gestures replacing the on-screen navigation buttons.

New App Gestures

The buttons like ‘back’, ‘home’ and ‘recent menu’ have been redesigned which now will work on swiping on different parts of the screen. The gestures will activate the respective functionalities like ‘swiping up to delete the tasks’ or ‘long press for more options’.

AI Portraits

The all-new MIUI 10 custom OS will come with AI portraits to add AI-based bokeh effect to shots. The new bokeh portraits will be available on both front and rear cameras. The feature will help to detect scenes and add blur accordingly.

AI Preloaded

MIUI 10 will be taking help of artificial intelligence to manage the mobile and apps. The app usage behaviour will be analysed. The UI will be able to predict which app may be used next and the OS will reduce the app load times.