I Got A Close Look at The Mi Mix Alpha and it’s an Eye-Candy Like None Other
Jan. 16, 2020I’m not gonna lie, I was slightly enamored with the wraparound idea when I first saw the livestream but seeing the Mi Mix Alpha in person earlier this week reassured me that it’s definitely an eye-candy.
Futuristic Wraparound Display
One look at the Mi Mix Alpha is enough to captivate you. While most phone makers are attempting to perfect the foldable form factor, this concept device breaks the mold and offers you something equally futuristic. Mi Mix Alpha boasts a truly bezel-less design, thanks to the crazy wraparound design, no selfie camera, a piezoelectric earpiece, and sensors baked under the display.
Mi Mix Alphafeatures a 7.92-inch pOLED panel(same as the Galaxy Fold), which Xiaomi refers to as 4D Surround display. It boasts a 2088 × 2250-pixel resolution and an unbelievable 180.6 percent screen-to-body ratio. I couldn’t get too touchy-feely with this new concept phone but in my brief time, I realized that it should have agreat in-hand feel but is more fragile than it looks.
I mean, it’s a concept and it can have its own shortcomings but the wraparound display technology is not quite there yet. We have already seen thedisplay on the Galaxy Folds breakingeven before launch. You have to be super careful with the Mix Alpha.
I know, one of the biggest queries with Mi Mix Alpha is – what would the wraparound display on the rear be used for? I bet you have already figured out that one of the most obvious use-cases is clicking high-res selfies and vlogging. You can see below that Mi Mix Alpha asks you to flip over on switching to the selfie mode.
In addition, Xiaomi told us that the software has been adapted to the concept. It will use real-time AI scenario detection to display you relevant information when you flip over the device. It usually shows you the guide page with your calendar events, step tracking, and more. But, you can continue scrolling Instagram or Twitter on the main screen and find the cab details when you book an Uber, flight details while heading to the Airport, and more on the rear screen.
There are no selfie cameras aboard the Mi Mix Alpha and that’s pretty evident. The deviceonly includes a triple cameramoduleon the rear and it’s used for selfies too – as seen above. The camera lenses are protected by sapphire glass on-top to safeguard this fragile concept against scratches.
The camera system sits flush with the ceramic strip andpacks a primary 108MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor. It’s coupled with a 20MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide-cum-macro lens with 117-degree field-of-view (FOV) and a 12MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom support. There’s also a laser auto-focus and LED flash sitting on the rear.
Finally, let me give you a quick brief about the internals. Mi Mix Alpha isbacked by the Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset, coupled with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.0 onboard storage. This is enough firepower for the crazy wraparound display thatruns a custom build of MIUI.
The Mi Mix Alpha demo units that I went hands-on with were running a global beta build, which was still a work in progress. It wasn’t any different from the MIUI build I’ve been using on my Redmi K20, except for the customizations to support the rear display, edge notifications, and mis-touch detection. Xiaomi is using a multi-sensor array and AI algorithms to avoid ghost touches and in my brief encounter with the device, it seemed pretty decent.
Mi Mix Alpha is one of the most futuristic concept smartphones that I have had the chance to experience in person. It’s still unbelievable how Xiaomi has taken a flexible display and wrapped it around the entire body, sort of putting an end to the screen-to-body ratio war.
Now, Mi Mix Alpha may be a concept phone but Xiaomi is selling it for 19,999 yuan, which is around Rs. 2 lakhs in China. We did inquire the company about its plans to bring Mi Mix Alpha to India and well, the answer is a no-brainer. Mi Mix Alpha is not launching in India. For a closer look at the Mi Mix Alpha, check out our hands-on YouTube video:
Now, if you want a look at the Mi Mix Alpha, Xiaomi told us that it’s planning to polish the software and will soon start showcasing its futuristic concept device at its Mi Home stores across India. The devices will sit inside a glass enclosure (you won’t get a hands-on with Mix Alpha) but it will still give you a glimpse at what the future beholds.
