Xiaomi Mi5 unboxing video


Thanks to the super fast folks at shop.gizchina.com I have already received my Xiaomi Mi5, so here is our Xiaomi Mi5 unboxing video.

At this moment in time only the standard version of the Xiaomi Mi5 is available. That means this version of the phone has 3GB RAM, 32GB memory, a curved glass rear and an underclocked 1.8Ghz Snapdragon 820. All that’s fine for me as the phone still as the new display with added LED’s, it also has the 4 axis OIS 16 megapixel rear camera, dual led flash, all new body and new front fingerprint scanner.

It would have been nice if I could have gotten the black version, but again only the white model of the Xiaomi Mi5 is on sale at this time.

xiaomi mi5 unboxing

In the unboxing video I mention that installing Google Services on the Xiaomi Mi5 should be easy and it is. I just used the usual Xiaomi Google installer and I now have Google Play running, plus all my Google apps with the exception of Gmail which does not want to sync.

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xiaomi mi5 unboxing

I’ve also found that you do need to physically press the physical home button to first wake the phone before the fingerprint scanner can read your print. As for the physical button itself it is rather ugly.

Xiaomi Mi5 hands on photos

Plenty of people have already asked me to run a few benchmarks on this version of the Xiaomi Mi5 which is what I plan to do next and publish tomorrow so watch this space.

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Previous Cubot Note S unboxing and hands on
Next OPPO R9, R9 Plus coming 17th March; Pricing leaks

72 Comments

  1. Giulio Dainese
    March 7, 2016

    waiting for battery test

  2. balcobomber25
    March 7, 2016

    That black border just ruins it for me, would much rather have a larger bezel than that.

    • Marco Lancaster
      March 7, 2016

      The two at bottom and top are what bothers me more, I could live with the side ones though.

      • balcobomber25
        March 7, 2016

        The side ones are what bothers me most lol

        • BotondKisKovacs
          March 7, 2016

          They bother me all around but at least they are the same width on the sides as on top/bottom. If the width was different it would make it look much cheaper, like they weren’t even able to “trim” that thing right.

    • MaxPower
      March 7, 2016

      That’s why I hated my old white phone.
      In the black version is less noticeable

      • balcobomber25
        March 7, 2016

        Yea the black should be better but I don’t know this phone just doesn’t excite me the way the Mi3 and Mi4 did.

        • MaxPower
          March 7, 2016

          It’s not bad, I just can’t think going below 5.5″ or below 3600 mha battery anymore.
          A 5.7″ MI Note with a bigger battery would catch my attention

          • Mi-fan
            March 7, 2016

            thats why I decided to wait for Mi note 2. Just cant live without my 5.7″

          • balcobomber25
            March 7, 2016

            I am not a fan of the overall design which is from the original Mi Note. Looks like another Meizu or Gionee for me unless the Huawei P9 or OnePlus 3 impresses me.

          • Nico
            March 7, 2016

            Just waiting for coupons for Redmi Note 3 Pro to get it. Best phone of the year IMO.

            • MaxPower
              March 7, 2016

              We are still in March :-p
              Lot of good stuff will come out.

            • Nico
              March 7, 2016

              Note sure if things will come out at the price of the Note 3 Pro.

              Look budget phones, I think Redmi 3 is still the best phone for the budget phone category. No one has been able to beat it.

    • Assefa Hanson
      March 7, 2016

      buy an elephone s3 😛

      • Chico Migraña
        March 9, 2016

        But Elephone is crap

        • Assefa Hanson
          March 9, 2016

          true hence why the “:P” face, but between you and me balco secretly has a love/fetish for elephone products he said and i quote “elephone is #1 and the faulty reviews by people are just a sham”

    • Nico
      March 7, 2016

      I agree with you, that black border just ruins it a lot. What a really bad design. Only black color is interesting. Everyone is excited by MI5 but I think MI4S has a much better design.

  3. xi7
    March 7, 2016

    no 60FPS . consider expensive….

    • MaxPower
      March 7, 2016

      Lol

  4. Ds
    March 7, 2016

    What about the ROM is it a international one or the Chinese one which probably has qwite a few Chinese apps

    • March 7, 2016

      There isn’t an international rom at this time, only the Chinese one. Most of those Chinese apps can be removed as you saw in the video.

      • Ds
        March 7, 2016

        Thanks andi

  5. Björn Krebs
    March 7, 2016

    Hey Andi, can you check the following solution if you can get Gmail sync to work?http://en.miui.com/thread-86460-1-1.html

  6. Chico Migraña
    March 7, 2016

    So.. When will be available the black version? 2017?

    • balcobomber25
      March 7, 2016

      Based on Xiaomi’s history about 6 months from now.

      • Nico
        March 7, 2016

        6 Months, you are optimistic! I think it will be available in 1 year. The white color is so ugly, with the black border around the screen. Only black looks much much better.

        • Chico Migraña
          March 9, 2016

          Damn, just like mi4, don’t understand why they choose white models to sell first. 🙁

          • trapchan
            March 10, 2016

            except the mi4 doesn’t have those ugly thick black border around the screen.

    • Cahaya S.
      March 8, 2016

      It’s on sale now at mi.com but for 64GB only

  7. Assefa Hanson
    March 7, 2016

    i want some of andi’s money 🙂 so i can review it

  8. Assefa Hanson
    March 7, 2016

    Andi, question would you say the cubot note s is brighter than this? it looked that way to me from the hands on video, i know it shouldnt though but it just seems so

  9. Giulio Dainese
    March 7, 2016

    waiting for battery test

  10. March 7, 2016

    Just received my review unit as well. So far I’ve been impressed by the design and build!

    • VMortens
      March 8, 2016

      I’d be interested to compare your and Andi’s reviews. That’ll give me pretty much the image of the phone I want. I assume you got the standard one too.

  11. balcobomber25
    March 7, 2016

    That black border just ruins it for me, would much rather have a larger bezel than that.

    • Marco Lancaster
      March 7, 2016

      The two at bottom and top are what bothers me more, I could live with the side ones though.

    • MaxPower
      March 7, 2016

      That’s why I hated my old white phone.
      In the black version is less noticeable

    • balcobomber25
      March 7, 2016

      Yea the black should be better but I don’t know this phone just doesn’t excite me the way the Mi3 and Mi4 did.

    • MaxPower
      March 7, 2016

      It’s not bad, I just can’t think going below 5.5″ or below 3600 mha battery anymore.
      A 5.7″ MI Note with a bigger battery would catch my attention

    • balcobomber25
      March 7, 2016

      The side ones are what bothers me most lol

    • Beloved Chairman Lei Jun
      March 7, 2016

      thats why I decided to wait for Mi note 2. Just cant live without my 5.7″

    • balcobomber25
      March 7, 2016

      I am not a fan of the overall design which is from the original Mi Note. Looks like another Meizu or Gionee for me unless the Huawei P9 or OnePlus 3 impresses me.

    • BotondKisKovacs
      March 7, 2016

      They bother me all around but at least they are the same width on the sides as on top/bottom. If the width was different it would make it look much cheaper, like they weren’t even able to “trim” that thing right.

    • Assefa Hanson
      March 7, 2016

      buy an elephone s3 😛

    • Guest
      March 7, 2016

      I agree with you, that black border just ruins it a lot. What a really bad design. Only black color is interesting. Everyone is excited by MI5 but I think MI4S has a much better design.

    • Guest
      March 7, 2016

      Just waiting for coupons for Redmi Note 3 Pro to get it. Best phone of the year IMO.

    • MaxPower
      March 7, 2016

      We are still in March :-p
      Lot of good stuff will come out.

    • Guest
      March 8, 2016

      Note sure if things will come out at the price of the Note 3 Pro.

      Look budget phones, I think Redmi 3 is still the best phone for the budget phone category. No one has been able to beat it.

    • Ricardo A.
      March 9, 2016

      But Elephone is crap

    • Assefa Hanson
      March 10, 2016

      true hence why the “:P” face, but between you and me balco secretly has a love/fetish for elephone products he said and i quote “elephone is #1 and the faulty reviews by people are just a sham”

  12. xi7
    March 7, 2016

    no 60FPS . consider expensive….

    • MaxPower
      March 7, 2016

      Lol

  13. Guest
    March 7, 2016

    What about the ROM is it a international one or the Chinese one which probably has qwite a few Chinese apps

    • Andi Sykes
      March 7, 2016

      There isn’t an international rom at this time, only the Chinese one. Most of those Chinese apps can be removed as you saw in the video.

    • Guest
      March 7, 2016

      Thanks andi

  14. Björn Krebs
    March 7, 2016

    Hey Andi, can you check the following solution if you can get Gmail sync to work?http://en.miui.com/thread-86460-1-1.html

    • Andi Sykes
      March 7, 2016

      thanks I will

  15. Ricardo A.
    March 7, 2016

    So.. When will be available the black version? 2017?

    • balcobomber25
      March 7, 2016

      Based on Xiaomi’s history about 6 months from now.

    • Guest
      March 7, 2016

      6 Months, you are optimistic! I think it will be available in 1 year. The white color is so ugly, with the black border around the screen. Only black looks much much better.

    • Cahaya S.
      March 8, 2016

      It’s on sale now at mi.com but for 64GB only

    • Ricardo A.
      March 9, 2016

      Damn, just like mi4, don’t understand why they choose white models to sell first. 🙁

    • trapchan
      March 10, 2016

      except the mi4 doesn’t have those ugly thick black border around the screen.

  16. Assefa Hanson
    March 7, 2016

    i want some of andi’s money 🙂 so i can review it, the oukitel 4000pro’s glass is harder then ceramic(8h) oukitel’s is 9h about as hard as saphire, why cant more manufacturers use potassium slat treated glass like them for their glass sandwich phones? i doubt its too expensive

  17. Assefa Hanson
    March 7, 2016

    Andi, question would you say the cubot note s is brighter than this? it looked that way to me from the hands on video, i know it shouldnt though but it just seems so

  18. Linus
    March 7, 2016

    Just received my review unit as well. So far I’ve been impressed by the design and build!

    • VMortens
      March 8, 2016

      I’d be interested to compare your and Andi’s reviews. That’ll give me pretty much the image of the phone I want. I assume you got the standard one too.

  19. Ic
    March 8, 2016

    Hi Andy, I have 4 requests…

    1: In the next review a link for a MIUI begginers tutorial that you find usefull… I’ve ordered the phone, it will be my first time with XIAOMI and maybe big part of XIAOMI MI5 buyers as well, so we would thank a lot.

    2. How to install Google Play Services. I know that is a lot of information on the internet, but the majority could be garbage…

    3. A video / image of a Panorama. I’m curious to find out if the camer’s software has a panorama Samsung/Apple type or a panorama like Google Camera that sticks the photos -_-‘. (the S/A type is essential in my opinion)

    4. A photo and a selfie in a low light environment. Example: in “romantic” light environment, which I take a lot of selfies.

    That’s all… I hope you consider these desires… and have fun!

    • Chico Migraña
      March 9, 2016

      You should go to MIUI forums, there’s a lot of tutorials to read there, using MIUI is easy as any Android phone.
      If you use a Xiaomi phone you have to be registered there, you will find a lot of things about themes, icons, tweaks, giveaways, etc.

  20. Guest
    March 8, 2016

    Hi Andy, I have 4 requests…

    1: In the next review a link for a MIUI begginers tutorial that you find usefull… I’ve ordered the phone, it will be my first time with XIAOMI and maybe big part of XIAOMI MI5 buyers as well, so we would thank a lot.

    2. How to install Google Play Services. I know that is a lot of information on the internet, but the majority could be garbage…

    3. A video / image of a Panorama. I’m curious to find out if the camer’s software has a panorama Samsung/Apple type or a panorama like Google Camera that sticks the photos -_-‘. (the S/A type is essential in my opinion)

    4. A photo and a selfie in a low light environment. Example: in “romantic” light environment, which I take a lot of selfies.

    That’s all… I hope you consider these desires… and have fun!

    • Ricardo A.
      March 9, 2016

      You should go to MIUI forums, there’s a lot of tutorials to read there, using MIUI is easy as any Android phone.
      If you use a Xiaomi phone you have to be registered there, you will find a lot of things about themes, icons, tweaks, giveaways, etc.