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Xiaomi Mi Max 3 Review — A Notch-less Monster That Packs A Punch
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Xiaomi Mi Max 3 Review — A Notch-less Monster That Packs A Punch

by December 17, 2018
Positives

+ No notch!
+ Massive 5,500mAh battery
+ Display size is perfect for video binge-ing
+ Comes with a fast charger
+ Decent main camera performance
+ Fast fingerprint scanner

Negatives

- Not for those with small hands
- Could be tough to bring around if you have a small pocket
- Occasionally stutters
- Front camera performance could be better

Pokde Scoreboard
Pokde Rating
Appearance
6.0
Features
8.0
Materials
8.0
Performance
8.0
Portability
7.0
Value
9.0
Bottom Line

Large display, large battery, and no notch. Perfect for those who want these perks.

7.7
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Introduction

Coming off as a successor to the Mi Max 3, the new Mi Max 3 presents itself as a phone / tablet or simply, a phablet. Thanks to its big size, it offers huge battery and display. Want to know if it is the device for you? Well, take a look at what we have to say.

Unboxing

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So here’s what you get with the Xiaomi Mi Max 3. There’s the usual user guide of the device, a Type-C cable, power brick, as well as the SIM ejector tool. It would’ve been nice if they’ve included a protective case for the phone here though.

Appearance

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The Mi Max 3 doesn’t come with a notch, which is always a plus for me. Other than that, it’s pretty much straightforward on the front. No branding whatsoever on the front, with only the front camera and the IR scanner visible here.

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Here you have the volume buttons as well as the power button located on the right hand side.

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Switching over to the left side, there’s a microSD / SIM tray available.

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You’ve got two grilles for the speakers (left) and the microphone (right). There’s also the Type-C port down below accompanying them.

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Another plus for this phone is that it does indeed offer a port for your 3.5mm headphones at the top. There’s also the infrared sensor and the secondary microphone hole accompanying it.

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At the back , you’ve got the dual camera setup that comes with an LED flash. There’s the fingerprint scanner positioned at the center and finally, the Mi logo down below.

Specifications

CPU/Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 Octa-core 1.8 GHz Kryo 260 14nm FinFET
GPU: Adreno 509
RAM: 4GB / 6GB
Display: 6.9″ (1080p) IPS LCD display, 18:9 ratio
Storage: 64GB/128GB (up to 256GB via microSD)
Camera: Main Camera(s)
Primary: 12MP f/1.9, Dual Pixel PDAF, 1/2.55″, 1.4μm pixel pitch
Secondary: 5MP f/2.0, 1/5″, 1.12µm, depth sensor
LED flash, AI HDR, portrait mode, AI scene recognition, AI Beauty, filters, Pro mode
Front Camera
8MP, f/2.0 1/4″, 1.12µm
Beauty mode, screen flash, HDR
OS: MIUI 9.5 based on Android 8.1 Oreo
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz),
Bluetooth 5.0
SIM: Hybrid Dual SIM
Battery: Li-ion 5500 mAh (non-removable)
Dimensions: 176.2 x 87.4 x 8 mm
Weight: 221 g

Performance

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We’ve pitted the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 with the other two Snapdragon 636 that we’ve reviewed recently, and the signs are bright here. It offers a huge improvement in terms of scores from the Nokia 6.1 Plus and Redmi Note 5 respectively in Antutu.

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Its performance in Geekbench is very much in line of what is expected from a Snapdragon 636 SoC.

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Again, the device shows scores that manages to beat the other two that uses the same chipset in graphical performance in 3DMark.

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The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 lost to the Mi 2 by a small margin. In this case however, it is the Snapdragon 636 going against the Snapdragon 660 SoC. In this sense, the performance exhibited by the Mi Max 3 is indeed commendable.

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Despite the Mi Max 3 packing a 5500mAh battery under the hood compared to the ZenFone Max Pro M2’s 5000mAh size, it failed in beating the latter when it comes to the battery life. The screen size of the Mi Max 3 could be the factor as a bigger display would normally drain more battery. Still, the score is still impressive for Xiaomi.

As for personal battery usage with the phone, I can safely say that it was a beast in terms of endurance. I started the day with 96% of battery at 9AM and ended up with 69% left at 9PM. Usage includes the some social media browsing, grinding on Asphalt 9 until I had no fuel left, two rounds of PUBG Mobile, as well as couple of videos both on Youtube and Netflix. I am not kidding when I say that the Mi Max 3 is a beast when it comes to battery life.

As I don’t usually game on my smartphone, it’s worth noting how the battery life would be without it. Exclude the gaming usage, the phone lasted me for almost 2 1/2 days without ever the need of charging.

User Experience

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The moment I took the phone out of the box, I was in disbelief of how big it is. As for the looks, I would say that it looks just like simply looks like other standard Xiaomi smartphones. Despite it being big, the phone is actually thin. Gaming on it was a comfortable experience as it just fits perfectly.

As for charging the phone, I found out that with a 30-minute period of charging the device, I managed to gain 21% of battery life, which is not bad to say the least as the battery is an enormous 5500mAh after all.

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While you won’t be getting the stock Android experience, it’s worth mentioning that MIUI 10 offers an appealing and smooth interface. The phone does come with some bloatware, but it isn’t really that much. There’s been some stuttering in certain occasions where I’ve opened too many apps, but it was still manageable.

On the back of the phone, it offers a dual rear-camera setup that’s quite similar to the one that they’ve opted for the Redmi Note 5.

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Again, the Mi Max 3 took example of the Redmi Note 5’s camera user interface and put it to the device. It’s not complicated and you will have no troubles in playing around with it to take your shots.

Images turned out pretty decent from the main camera with it being more than capable for your social media uploads. I do have to say that I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of its front camera though. It only offers a 8MP sensor on the front, so if you are a person who loves to take selfies a lot, you might be disappointed.

Conclusion

The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 is nearly everything that you could ever ask for. It offers great battery life, huge display, and an efficient chipset. I pretty much like what it brought to the table, being priced at RM1,099 for the 4GB variant. If I had the choice, I would opt for the bigger 6GB version but sadly Xiaomi doesn’t offer that at their official store here in Malaysia.

The only true downside that I can see from the Mi Max 3 is that it didn’t come with a soft case out of the box and its aesthetics (I don’t take selfies). If you are looking for a device that looks nice on the eyes, this might not excite you much. But looks aside, this phone offers a big bargain for what you’re paying for.

It’s price range may be close to that of the POCO F1, but the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 is aimed at a different segment of the market. It’s for those who wants a large display, stable performance and lasting battery. The Mi Max 3 does the job perfectly, hence we are giving it our Silver Pokdeward.

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We would like to give a big shot out to Mi Malaysia for providing the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 that was used in this review. To support us, check out the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 on Lazada through the following link:

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About The Author
Raja Idris
The name's King, Kingky King. Likes to keep it simple and straightforward. A person who games regardless of what platform. Need value for money performance? Get AMD.
2 Comments
  • Bob Low
    December 17, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    Two of your ‘negatives’ are just characteristics of what makes this phone special! Obviously when going for massive screen sizes it would cause problems for people with small hands (especially if they want to operating it with one hand). Also, if it’s big. of course it will have difficulty in fitting into small pockets.

    • Raja Idris
      December 17, 2018 at 4:32 pm

      Indeed they are. We are simply letting our readers know exactly how the device is. We are not bashing the phone for that. At the end of the day, it’s still up to personal preference too, some might like it small and some like it big :)

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