Xiaomi Mix Flip and Mix Fold 4 hands-on review

Xiaomi Mix Flip hands-on review

We start with the Mix Flip since it marks the start of a whole new series for Xiaomi. While the company is already at its fourth book-style foldable, it's only now delivering its first clamshell.

Here's what was inside our Mix Flip box - the phone itself, a decent hard plastic case and a 67W Xiaomi charger with an accompanying USB cable.

Once you take it out of the box you realize the phone feels very light and comfy to hold. It has a mostly flat frame but no sharp corners to dig into your palms.

All the while, it houses a 4,780 mAh battery, which is joint largest in the flip form factor.

Xiaomi Mix Flip

The back glass has a nice, velvety feel ot it. It is very pleasant to the touch, but unfortunately, it scratches quite easily. Our unit managed to pick up a scratch almost instantly and it wasn't really mishandled in any way. It doesn't pick up too many fingerprints and smudges, though.

You can buy the Mix Flip in Black, White, Purple or a Nylon fiber edition.

Colors

The hinge feels pretty solid and offers smooth linear adjustment that allows the phone to stay open at every angle. It also has a very satisfying "snap" at 180 degrees. The only spot where we noticed a bit of wobble was just before the 90-degree point.

Hinge

Other than that, the hinge is very impressive in its design. It leaves absolutely no gap between the two halves of the phone when closed.

Fully closed without a gap

As for the crease on the main display, it is definitely still visible. In fact, you can both see it and feel it. You obviously get used to it and stop noticing it after a few days, but you'll be very aware of its presence the first time you take the Mix Flip out of the box.

Display crease

The main display itself looks very crisp and sharp in person. Its polariser is installed at a right angle, instead of diagonally though, so it's hard to see with polarised sunglasses. It offers 3,000 nits of peak brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. It also has UTG protection.

You can use the Mix Flip for calls while it is closed, thanks to an additional mic positioned on the outside of the hinge. However opening the phone to pick up a call is a very satisfying feeling on a clamshell foldable so we doubt many will chose the altenarive road.

The Mix Flip has another joint class-leading feature - the 4-inch cover display with 1240p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and 3,000 nits peak brightness. It is not only technically impressive, but the way Xiaomi has implemented it also makes it quite usable.

Cover display

Unlike many other flip-style devices, the cover screen can open most apps in their full versions not just specific widgets and UI elements. Xiaomi still has a dedicated widget space of sorts in the area right underneath the two cameras. So, you end up with a 3.5-inch 16:9 fully usable display areaand some additional widget space above the cameras. However, the on-screen keyboard can also stretch to make use of the additional space to the side as well. A very smart solution.

The results vary from app to app, but overall we feel this is the better approach than what Motorola is doing with Razr, which allows you to technically use the whole display for third-party apps, but the cameras end up blocking some UI elements.

Cameras

Speaking of cameras, it is a bit weird that there is no ultrawide unit and Xiaomi decided to go with a telephoto instead. Per its research, more users prefer a telephoto over an ultrawide, but that can normally be achieved with digital zoom from a high-res sensor, while there's no way to simulate an ultrawide unit.

The Mix Flip has a pretty powerful pair of cameras on the rear. The main one is a 50MP Leica camera with a Light Fusion 800 sensor. It is a 1/1.55" sensor with 1.0 µm individual pixels and a 13.5EV high dynamic range. It is also equipped with OIS and sits behind a bright f/1.7 lens.

The telephoto is also a Leica unit and also has a 50MP resolution. It uses a 3P + 3P floating telephoto lens with a 46mm focal length for a 2x zoom factor. Besides telephoto shots, it is also good for close-up photography, focusing from as little as 9cm. The telephoto has an f/2.0 lens.

Camera samples

We managed to grab a few quick samples with the Mix Flip. Let's start with the main camera first.

Xiaomi Mix Flip: main camera samples

We will be reserving any quality assessment and comments for the full review. Here are some samples from the telephoto camera at different zoom levels.

Xiaomi Mix Flip: telephoto camera samples

Xiaomi Mix Flip: telephoto camera samples

Here are some selfies with all of the cameras on the Mix Flip, including the selfie camera on the main display.

Xiaomi Mix Flip: selfie • main • telephoto • selfie • main

We also took some low-light photos for you.

Xiaomi Mix Flip: main camera low-light samples

Xiaomi Mix Flip: telephoto camera low-light samples

Capping things off, we have a couple of video samples for you as well. Both were taken with the main camera of the Mix Flip in 4K resolution - one during the day and one in low light.