Xiaomi is very clear about the Mi Max, a 6.44-inch phablet that towers over every other phablet in the market right now by its sheer size and ambition. Xiaomi considers it an extremely niche product, a product that can make you cringe as well as make you fall in love with it at the same time. It's all a matter of perspective. You'd either like it, or absolutely hate it. There's no middle ground with the Mi Max.

It isn't a laboratory experiment for the company in question, though. Even though, it seemingly borders on extreme, there's a definite method to Xiaomi's madness. The company feels there's a market for something as humongous as a 6.44-inch phablet - however small it might be - just that there aren't many good super-sized phablets out there. The ones that are there, are just bad - uninspiring slabs of cumbersome plastic - and don't necessarily serve any real-world purpose. The Mi Max on the other hand has an all-metal body, a sharp full-HD display, good hardware, dualSIM support, 4G LTE connectivity, and more importantly, a sensible price tag.

The Mi Max dares to go where no other phablet - at its price point - has gone before. It's commendable. But, seriously, size does matter beyond a certain point. The journey of the Mi Max interestingly starts beyond that point.

Design and build quality

Hulk is the alter ego of Bruce Banner. Likewise, the Mi Max is the alter ego of the Redmi Note 3. That's one -- and only -- way to put it. Take the Redmi Note 3, and size it up, nay, super-size it up, and what you get is the Mi Max.

Xiaomi has surprisingly been able to Hulk up the Redmi Note 3 , and yet, managed to somehow keep its internal proportions - girth and weight - in check. It weighs just, if you can say just here, 203 grams and measures just 7.5 mm. Mind you, it also has a massive 4,850mAh battery inside. It's a giant that's surprisingly super light on its feet.

The Mi Max, with its large screen size and crisp audio, could well be an excellent Android tablet alternative, that is also relatively affordable

Just like the original Redmi Note 3, the Mi Max boasts of a full metal unibody, with top and bottom ends having a brushed metal finish, a rear-mounted circular fingerprint scanner and curved 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the front with backlit capacitive keys. And just like the Redmi Note 3, the Mi Max has an impressive screen-to-body ratio giving you ample real estate, literally as well as figuratively.

But, it's still a 6.44-inch phablet and it's supposed to be big. Taming the giant won't be easy for a lot of people. I for one tried - made this one my primary device for a week - and failed. It just wasn't right for me. One of the reasons could be my preference for 5-inch or 5.2-inch phones. But, during this brief time with the Mi Max, I also realised that you're better off approaching a new device with an "open mind". Makes you appreciate the better things that it has to offer.

The Mi Max sure has a thing or two (and more) that works in its favour. I for one have watched a lot of Netflix on my review unit. I have also read a lot of comics - I like DC - on my review unit. I did not play many games, but, when I did, I liked the fact that everything was so big - on screen -- and yet so light, to hold and manoeuvre. I couldn't get it comfortably in my pocket, but, seriously, you're doing it all wrong if you hope to put a 6.44-inch phablet in your pants.

The Mi Max could be a little slippery, but its chamfered edges do a better job at holding on to your palm than the Redmi Note 3. The power button and the volume rocker on the right take some time getting used to, because of, well, the size. Also, the placement of the rear fingerprint scanner is a little awkward. It would have been better, because of the phone's size, if Xiaomi had put it on the front, like it did in the Mi 5. That fingerprint scanner will be extremely hard to reach for many users. I, for instance, turned it off altogether after I found that it is more of an annoyance because it's out of reach when you are holding the phone comfortably. It is quite responsive though, but there's some room for improvement.

Display

Xiaomi has used a FullHD (1080 x 1920 pixels and 342 ppi pixel density) IPS panel in the Mi Max. Now, a 6.44-inch screen and a 1080p resolution may not add up. Or at least that is what you will think. But then you use it and realise that your apprehensions were misplaced. No, the Mi Max doesn't have a breathtaking display. Rather, it's barely adequate in front of the razor sharp display of the Mi 5 (and the Mi 4 before it). But, the colours, oh the colours are so spot on! The Mi Max handles - and reproduces -- colours so well you don't mind that it's not as bright as the company's other phones. There's an option to manually correct contrast and an in-built reading mode that turns colours to the warmer end of the spectrum when enabled.

The Mi Max dares to go where no other phablet - at its price point - has gone before. It's commendable. But, seriously, size does matter beyond a certain point

Sadly, the Mi Max's barely adequate brightness levels feel lacking when you're out and about. Also, the screen is prone to reflection which adds up, hampering the phone's outdoor legibility further.

Software

The Mi Max runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow-based MIUI 7 out-of-the-box. As always, latest software iteration does not necessarily translate to drastic changes in Xiaomi's interface. The MIUI 7 in the Mi Max looks almost exactly (save some exceptions) like MIUI 5 in the Mi 4 . There's very little difference between a KitKat-based MIUI and a Marshmallow-based MIUI which could be a deal-breaker for stock Android fanatics, even more so because Xiaomi's MIUI kills off key Android 6 interface elements, like Now on Tap.

If, however you are not a "stock Android fanatic", MIUI 7 offers all the bells and whistles that you'd want from a fully-functional operating system, including themes. Xiaomi has added a couple of features - one-handed mode and a shortcut menu -- to the user interface to make life easier for those having smaller hands. While the one-handed mode reduces the size of the usable screen to as low as 3.5-inches, the shortcut menu pins a quick launcher - up to a maximum of five options available -- on the home screen. A split screen multitasking feature - like the one Samsung employs - would have made a lot of sense on a 6.44-inch phablet, just saying.

Performance & battery life

Xiaomi's Mi Max is powered by a 1.8GHz hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor, clubbed with Adreno 510 GPU and 3GB of RAM. It comes with 32GB of on-board memory which is further expandable via a microSD hybrid card slot. The dualSIM (nano+micro) phone supports 4G LTE connectivity. There's no NFC though. That's basically the same configuration that's inside the top-end Redmi Note 3 variant. The Redmi Note 3 was a darn good - read, snappy - smartphone. The Mi Max is also a darn good - read, snappy - phablet.

Qualcomm has had quite a good run - and quite frankly, a change of fortune -- with its new high-end Snapdragon 820, and mid-level Snapdragon 650 processors, after the hot mess that was the Snapdragon 810 (and to an extent, even the Snapdragon 615). The new breed of mobile processors from Qualcomm are fast, energy efficient and run cooler.

The Mi Max, just like the Redmi Note 3, handles everything that you throw at it, with ease. Xiaomi's user interface is fairly heavy - with animations, and an over-board colour palette - and yet, everything runs smooth as butter. Meanwhile, Adreno 510 has just the right amount of horsepower so you can run all your graphic intensive games, like Asphalt 8: Airborne, Modern Combat 5 and Implosion, at maxed out settings. Multitasking is also handled just fine. All in all, the Mi Max continues the fine run of the Redmi Note 3, and is without a doubt a very capable performer, for the price that it commands. And it runs mostly cool, so that's a big plus.

The bottom-firing mono speaker on-board the Mi Max gets very loud, and is in fact, one of the highlights of the phablet. In a word, it doesn't get any better than this, at this price range when it comes to speakers. The Mi Max, with its large screen size and crisp audio, could well be an excellent Android tablet alternative, that is also relatively affordable.

Phone calls made with the phablet are of excellent quality and we did not encounter any odd call drop issues with our review unit.

The Mi Max is backed by a 4,850mAh battery which is non-removable. The Redmi Note 3 blew our minds off with its long-lasting battery. The Mi Max is even better. The battery just won't die on this one. Extreme usage saw us getting close to a full day, without any hiccups, while moderate to low usage got us way beyond one and a half days with ease. Most users, with more generalised usage will easily be able to squeeze out at least two days out of the phone. The only quibble I have with Xiaomi is that it doesn't ship a Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 certified charger in the box.

Camera

The Mi Max sports a 16-megapixel camera on the rear with f/2.0 aperture, phase detect autofocus and dualLED (dual tone) flash. The rear cam is capable of shooting 4K, time-lapse and slow-motion videos. On the front, you get a 5-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture.

The Mi Max has a pretty disappointing rear camera. In fact, it's the weakest link on an otherwise fairly thought-out device. Although photos clicked in good light come out nice, metering issues - overexposure - and excessive image sharpening often result in blown out highlights. Also, dynamic range is something that leaves a lot to be desired on the Mi Max. Low light photos, on most counts, are blurry and have excessive noise.

The camera app is pretty quick to snap open though. The lens is quick to focus and shutter speed is also fairly good. But if you use HDR mode, be prepared to deal with slow shutter speed. Speaking of which, the Mi Max has a pretty capable HDR mode, but you'll have to be patient with it.

The front camera shoots average at best selfies, with some noise, even in good lighting.

Should you buy it?

The Mi Max, if you haven't noticed already, is an all-rounder that pretty much checks in all the right boxes. But, at the end of the day, it's just another Redmi Note 3 clone -- in every sense of the word -- except that it has been made to order for people - if any -- who like large-sized phablets. More or less, it shares all the plus and minus points of its younger (and more affordable) sibling. The Mi Max is well-built, has a good display, is a slick and very capable performer, has excellent audio and a fantastic battery life. If you're willing to overlook its disappointing camera - note that there are way better camera phones at its price point now - there's no compelling reason to not give the Mi Max a shot. And yet there is one, a deal breaker, if you may.

The Mi Max is too big. It's sheer size and scale could be a major turn-off. Then again, if you're a multimedia junkie who loves to Netflix, or read e-books, or someone simply looking to replace your Android tablet with a full-functional phablet, the Mi Max won't disappoint you. For everyone else, who are into Xiaomi, you can always save some money and buy the Redmi Note 3.

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