• The slider phone is 2019’s answer to the notch - does it make sense?

Our quick take

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 - 4.0 / 5

What is a ‘slider phone’?

  • Front-facing cameras hidden, exposed by sliding entire phone screen downwards Magnetic system holds design in place, it’s not motorised like Oppo Find X Sounds can be assigned to sliding motion, including custom ones Apps can be assigned to sliding motion too, not just the camera

Design and display

  • Colours: Onyx Black, Sapphire Blue, Jade Green (in ceramic, as pictured) 6.39-inch AMOLED screen, 2340 x 1080 resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio Rear positioned fingerprint scanner 93.4% screen-to-body ratio

Spec and performance

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 platform, 6GB RAM 10GB RAM in Forbidden City special edition MIUI 10 software (over Android Pie 9.0) 3200mAh battery capacity 10W wireless charging

Mi Mix 3 5G review: How does it perform?

  • 5G model exclusive to Vodafone in the UK at launch £29 up front and from £56/month 100-200Mbps average on 5G Up to 1Gbps maximum

  • What’s 5G on Vodafone like? Connectivity speeds and performance tested

Cameras

  • Rear: Dual 12-megapixel cameras Main sensor: 1.4µm pixels and f/1.8 aperture Second sensor: 1.0µm pixels and f/2.4 aperture Front cameras: 24MP (1.8µm, f/2.2) and 2MP depth sensor

To recap

This phone is different; it’s interesting, powerful and offers a distinctive, nearly bezel-free design with great screen quality. You get a lot of phone for your money, although it’s hard to recommend above and beyond some more conventional rivals, as its slider mechanism doesn’t really add that much and the selfie camera quality is poor.