Xiaomi Mi Note 2 review: Filling in

Filling in

GSMArena team, 9 December 2016.

Synthetic benchmarks

The Snapdragon 821 is the flagship chipset of choice this season and the Mi Note 2 packs one. Qualcomm's top-end offering, as the number hints, is an updated version of the S820 from the spring, and we've witnessed what both chips are capable of in a number of devices. Let's check out the Mi Note 2's scores.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 review

Starting off with some good ol' Geekbench, we can see the Mi Note 2 scoring on par with its S821 peers - two more from camp Xiaomi and the OnePlus 3T. The regular S820 bunch are a notch down. The Huawei Mate 9 rules the multi-core test with its unmatched quartet of Cortex-A73s, while the iPhone 7 Plus' Fusion cores are in a league of their own in single-core.

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

  • Huawei Mate 9
    6112
  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus
    5664
  • OnePlus 3T
    4364
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    4333
  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    4288
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    4278
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    4128
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    3868
  • LG V20
    3824
  • HTC 10
    3621

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus
    3473
  • Huawei Mate 9
    1898
  • OnePlus 3T
    1890
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    1824
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    1815
  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    1815
  • HTC 10
    1708
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    1696
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    1578
  • LG V20
    1576

From dedicated CPU benchmarks to the compound Basemark OS II 2.0 and we see the OnePlus 3T pulling ahead with its S821, just barely edging the Huawei Mate 9. The Xiaomi Snapdragons stick tightly together, with only the 5s Plus marginally ahead, but the S7 edge matches them despite packing the older Qualcomm chip. The Exynos powered variant doesn't fare as good, and neither do the LG V20 and Xperia XZ.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus
    3796
  • OnePlus 3T
    2678
  • Huawei Mate 9
    2637
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    2434
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    2381
  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    2364
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    2352
  • LG V20
    2159
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    2151
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
    2050
  • HTC 10
    1839

Antutu doesn't seem to like the Mi Note 2 (or the other way around), and the Xiaomi phablet scores about 140K. That's the first run though, subsequent tests yield progressively lower results, all the way down to 110K which seems to be the minimum with the SoC already thermally throttled down. It's not the only device that does this though, we experienced the same behavior on the LG V20, for example.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus
    173110
  • OnePlus 3T
    165097
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    155185
  • HTC 10
    154031
  • LG V20
    141945
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    140324
  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    133242
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    132849
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
    129229
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    124266
  • Huawei Mate 9
    122826

With the latest Antutu heavily leaning towards graphics tests, we can find explanation for the diminishing test scores there in GFXBench. First runs of Manhattan yield a reasonable 40fps, but that tends to drop down with subsequent testing, all the way to 32fps, both onscreen and off. Also, Xiaomi's own Mi 5s Plus is consistently an odd frame or two ahead of its more premium brother. And with the OnePlus 3T the gap is even wider.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus
    60
  • OnePlus 3T
    49
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    49
  • HTC 10
    47
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    44
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
    40
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    40
  • LG V20
    40
  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    38
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    37
  • Huawei Mate 9
    30

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus
    56
  • OnePlus 3T
    48
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    47
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    41
  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    41
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    37
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    29
  • Huawei Mate 9
    28
  • HTC 10
    28
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
    27
  • LG V20
    25

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus
    39
  • OnePlus 3T
    33
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    32
  • HTC 10
    31
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    31
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    30
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    30
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
    29
  • LG V20
    29
  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    28
  • Huawei Mate 9
    22

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus
    42
  • OnePlus 3T
    33
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    32
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    32
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    30
  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    27
  • Huawei Mate 9
    23
  • LG V20
    17
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    16
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
    15
  • HTC 10
    15

Then again, Basemark X produces more consistent results between runs, which is the behavior we're normally used to with graphics benchmarks. Here, it is the Mi Mix that does the best job of all Xiaomis, but also among the current crop of Android flagships. We observe a very pronounced gap in this test between the Spring Snapdragon and the one from the Fall, with the Kirin 960 rubbing shoulders with the better one.

Basemark X

Higher is better

  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    37346
  • OnePlus 3T
    36958
  • Huawei Mate 9
    36519
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    36506
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    36062
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    32160
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    29548
  • LG V20
    29385
  • HTC 10
    28882
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
    28480

In Basemark ES 3.1 the Mate 9 is the highest ranked droid, but more importantly to the Mi Note 2, the OnePlus 3T has a meaningful advantage here. It also goes to show that the Snapdragon 820 can outperform the 821 - compare the Galaxy S7 edge to the Xiaomi bunch.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus
    1517
  • Huawei Mate 9
    794
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
    733
  • OnePlus 3T
    641
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
    624
  • Sony Xperia XZ
    577
  • Xiaomi Mi Mix
    558
  • Xiaomi Mi Note 2
    556
  • Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
    538
  • LG V20
    526

Overall, nothing surprising in the Xiaomi Mi Note 2's performance - the Snapdragon 821 is a true powerhouse across the board. Even if the Mi Note 2 doesn't top any charts it's still a top-class performer. We're not thrilled about its inability to deliver sustained performance over prolonged work loads, but that's become all too common and is by no means exclusive to the Xiaomi phablet.

Reader comments

  • Petwr
  • 05 Jul 2022
  • rra

Mi phone note 2 replying

"FullHD resolution may be stretched a bit too thin over this diagonal" ahhhhh the good old days of 1440p flagships being normal

  • Alfas
  • 11 Jul 2020
  • P%U

Does not remember wifi password. I tried everything that I can find on internet, nothing helped.