Hands-on with the Xiaomi Mi 9 Transparent Edition and the Violet variant

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MWC 2019 is chock full of brand new devices from many different companies, though not all of them have been announced here. The Xiaomi Mi 9 is one such device which actually launched last week ahead of the event, however, the company has been showing it off here in Barcelona. I managed to get some time with the transparent edition of the Xiaomi Mi 9, which features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, a 6.39-inch 1080p display, a 3,300mAh battery and a whopping 12GB of RAM.

Xiaomi Mi 9 XDA Forum

The Xiaomi Mi 9 Transparent Edition looks fantastic

Admittedly, the back of the Xiaomi Mi 9 Transparent Edition does not represent the device internals. Like the Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition, it’s actually an inert PCB for show. That doesn’t stop it from looking cool though, and you can see the Snapdragon logo and a small fan. The glass on the back is only 0.4mm thick, which helps to facilitate wireless charging. The Xiaomi Mi 9 can charge at 20W with a non-Qi proprietary charger or 10W with a Qi charger. The transparent edition of the Xiaomi Mi 9 is a great looking device, though I prefer the other variants. This one is more “hardcore” and features a pretty rugged look.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 Violet

The Xiaomi Mi 9 transparent edition that I got to use did not actually have any software on it, but I was given the violet Xiaomi Mi 9 to check out the software. It’s just MIUI 10.2, so pretty much everything you expect from Xiaomi at this stage. Sadly, the lighting actually makes it extremely difficult to see the violet’s unique colors, but it looks amazing in person regardless. It glimmers and shines in any colorful lighting and it’s extremely stylish. It’s the nicest looking Xiaomi smartphone yet, in my opinion, followed closely by the same device in Blue. I’m not hugely a fan of the transparent back, but that’s more a personal preference thing. I can appreciate it looks cool, I just prefer the more colorful options. The edges are aluminum and help the device’s design to feel even more premium.

First impressions on the Xiaomi Mi 9

MIUI on the Xiaomi Mi 9 is exactly how you’d expect it to be. It’s MIUI 10.2 and it doesn’t have any other tricks or gimmicks. You get all of the AI features that launched with MIUI 10.2, gesture controls, and you get Android Pie. There’s nothing new here, and you can check out what MIUI 10.2 brought to the table when it released earlier this month. The device I got to play with had the Chinese ROM, but it’s more or less the same as the global version in general usage. There are no Google applications, but for a quick hands-on it’s not a big deal. The display looks beautiful and sharp, the notch is largely unnoticeable, and the device itself is fast. I’ve always considered myself a MIUI fan in a lot of ways, so I don’t really have a problem with that.

Xiaomi Mi 9 Specifications