The Xiaomi Mi9 Review: Flagship Performance At a Mid-Range Price
by Andrei Frumusanu on September 13, 2019 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Xiaomi
- Snapdragon 855
- Xiaomi Mi9
Camera - Low Light Evaluation
The Mi9’s expectations for low-light photography shouldn’t be too high: The IMX586 wasn’t a fantastic performer in any phone until now, but on the Mi9 it’s exasperated by the fact that the phone lacks OIS, a critical missing component to be able to get sharper low-light shots. Here’s to hope that the Mi9 at least managed to do adequately compared to the competition:
[ Mi9 ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ Xperia 1 ] - [ P30 Pro ] - [ Reno 10x ]
[ G8 ] - [ BlackShark 2 ] - [ RedMagic 3 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
As expected, things aren’t off to be a very good start here. Comparing the Mi9 to the Reno 10x with the same hardware, we’re seeing relatively similar compositions between the two phones. The difference here is that the Reno is able to capture an exposure twice as long at half the ISO level of the Mi9, which has to go up to ISO7066 in this scene. The Reno still managed to end up with a vastly sharper image, all in likelihood thanks to the OIS it employs.
Thankfully, the Mi9 does have a computational photography night mode. The mode does help the phone a lot in terms of exposure, however it just can’t too much in terms of enhancing details and lacks behind the night modes of other phones.
The wide-angle doesn’t have the option to use the night mode, and thus ends up quite disappointing and uncompetitive.
[ Mi9 ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ Xperia 1 ] - [ P30 Pro ] - [ Reno 10x ]
[ G8 ] - [ BlackShark 2 ] - [ RedMagic 3 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
The next shot unfortunately ends with similar results. Without night mode, the Mi9’s capture is just disastrous and reminded us of devices 3+ years old, maybe even worse. Night mode makes things passable and useable, however if we compare the night mode of the Mi9 against the automatic night mode shot of the Reno 10x, the results are just incomparable.
[ Mi9 ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ Xperia 1 ] - [ P30 Pro ] - [ Reno 10x ]
[ G8 ] - [ BlackShark 2 ] - [ RedMagic 3 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
Same with the next shot, night mode makes the exposure passable, but it’s just lacking in any kind of detail.
[ Mi9 ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ Xperia 1 ] - [ P30 Pro ] - [ Reno 10x ]
[ G8 ] - [ BlackShark 2 ] - [ RedMagic 3 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
Extreme low-light becomes a blur.
[ Mi9 ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ Xperia 1 ] - [ P30 Pro ] - [ Reno 10x ]
[ G8 ] - [ BlackShark 2 ] - [ RedMagic 3 ] - [ Pixel 3 ]
Indoor dim lighting actually ends up better with Night Mode off for the Mi9 as at least it’s able to resolve some detail, with the mode on it becomes another unusable blur.
Low-light Conclusion - Terrible
Overall, Xiaomi’s choice of not employing OIS on the Mi9 is very costly in terms of the low-light photography results. The phone just isn’t competitive in any kind of scenario and the results are quite most terrible. Don’t expect to be able to do much at all after the sun sets.
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Redmyth79 - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
I'm going to call Bullshit on your scores because I have the Note 9, S9+ and the Xiaomi Mi 9 EU Global ROM and my scores including FPS and a lot of things you have posted here do not come close to the performance I'm getting.My Mi 9 best every phone you have up there in most every one of those test.
It lost to the ROG 2 and Black Shark 2pro in a couple area's but very limited. Matter fact though, what makes anybody with a ounce of common sense know that this testing is completely fabricated bullshit is the fact that the S10+ is up top or near the top in a lot of spots because the S10+ has the worst testing of just about any 855 chipped phone. Furthermore you have the S9+ rated higher in certain test that I personally ran and there are official results from those very testing sites saying your results are off by more then a 1000 points in some areas with the S9+ even.
I don't get the sham going on here but it just ruined any credibility this site ever had!
NXTwoThou - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
Are you still using the stock rom? I'm pretty sure AnandTech didn't bother getting the latest greatest(and probably hasn't had it long enough to get unlocked or xiaomi.eu). I know my phone had a huge performance difference after a few updates.Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
It's running the latest OTA on a commercial EU unit, build date July 9th. The phone's been out long enough that didn't go finishing for nonpublic firmwares.Redmyth79 - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
What update? What's the number 10. What?I currently have 10.2.30.0 and have not complaints except for the fact that around the 10.2.26 update I lost the ability to control saturation, sharpness and contrast.
Andrei Frumusanu - Saturday, September 14, 2019 - link
10.28Redmyth79 - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
So you understand what I'm calling bullshit on is the performance charts with GPU and CPU test with the many test. The one thing the Xiaomi Mi 9 truly excels at is CPU, GPU and overall speed and gaming experience always running at the top of any flagship out. The only one I've seen close is the OnePlus 7 pro.As far as your end review, I saw your camera info, you are wrong in a few areas here as well.
The Xiaomi Mi 9 does have a advanced EIS that is not like others but is actually a advanced form of OIS with a extra sensor that watches the movement of the OIS to give it more accurate and faster info to make proper adjustments to make the Mi 9 one of the most stable of all current smartphones in 4k@30 video.
Any YouTube reviews and also dxomark will show this without question up amongst all the rest.
If I can post the link to the Mi 9's EIS I will do it here for those to read up on it.
Last, I don't have a issue with low light pics and most reviews show the same bit it's not of the level of the Note 10+, P30 pro or Pixel without Gcam for night shots.
gizchina.com/2019/02/17/mi-9-closed-loop-motor-explained/
Of course you have to put in the http/www part on that link.
porcupineLTD - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
A new fanboy arrives.Redmyth79 - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
Fanboy of what I've always been a Galaxy fanboy sense I've owned all from S4-S9+ but the Mi 9 is truly a game changer to meNXTwoThou - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link
As a fyi, I've taken some rather craptackular shots with my Mi9. I've also taken some astoundingly good ones. Previously I was Lumia 950 and 920 before that. I'd been used to relatively good cameras on my phones. Lack of OIS is a big deal and the EIS doesn't make up for it. I have some health issues that cause trembles, my older phones it made zero difference, with the Mi9 it's very apparent when I'm having a bad day. Even when I'm not having a bad day I can still get bad shots where the same environment had previously been no issue for my previous phone.The Mi9 is an insanely good value. I love my phone. I just recognize the issues presented in the article are valid.
Jon Tseng - Sunday, September 15, 2019 - link
If you have good benchmarks and data post them rather than ranting.Talk is cheap if you're too afraid to back it up.
Anandtech has years of best in class work around mobile performance analysis. Forgive me if I give them the benefit of the doubt.