Display

The Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus features a 5.7" IPS display of 1080p resolution, probably the same utilized by the first Mi Note. A density of 386ppi is more than respectable and leaves the Snapdragon 821 chip with power to spare on tasks and productivity, so we don't mind the lack of Quad HD resolution.

Unfortunately, Xiaomi didn't mention any specific glass protection for the screen. The Mi 5s Plus acquired lots of prominent scratches on top of its display just in the week we had it for a review. We suggest that you apply a screen protector on it as soon as you take the phone out of its box.

Other than that, the screen offers great viewing angles and there is hardly any color shift or contrast loss when looking the Mi 5s Plus display at an angle.

Xiaomi claims the screen will provide up to 550 nits of max brightness. Our test results confirmed and even exceeded the claim for maximum brightness as we measured 630nits worth of luminance.

The minimum display brightness is 1 nit, which means the screen should be perfectly suitable for late-night reading in a dark room. The screen's contrast ratio is excellent as well at 1448:1, once again exceeding the promised contrast ratio of 1300:1.

Display test 100% brightness Black, cd/m2 White, cd/m2 Contrast ratio Xiaomi Mi 5s 0.51 660 1294 Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus 0.44 637 1448 Xiaomi Mi 5 0.51 628 1227 Xiaomi Mi Note 0.43 626 1453 Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 0.38 439 1158 Apple iPhone 7 Plus 0.41 573 1398 Apple iPhone 7 Plus (max auto) 0.50 681 1362 Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 0.00 392 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S7 edge max auto 0.00 610 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ - 410 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ max auto - 540 - Google Pixel XL 0 432 ∞ OnePlus 3 0.00 433 ∞ Sony Xperia XZ 0.37 502 1349 Sony Xperia XZ (max auto) 0.46 608 1336

When it comes to color rendering, the Mi 5s Plus has an excellent color rendering with an average DeltaE of 3.3 and a maximum deviation of 7.9 in the blue color. If all colors stay below 4, the screen is considered to be of perfect calibration level accuracy and the Mi 5s Plus almost achieves that, only the blues jumped over the 4.0 threshold.

Note that we did our color test in Standard (constant) screen mode. If you opt for the Auto one, you will get punchier colors at the expense of color calibration.

Finally, the screen of the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus performed just average in our sunlight legibility test. It wasn't able to reproduce the Mi 5s high score even though it offers a superb maximum brightness.

Sunlight contrast ratio

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+

4.615

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge

4.439

OnePlus 3

4.424

Samsung Galaxy S7

4.376

HTC One A9

4.274

Samsung Galaxy Note7

4.247

Samsung Galaxy A3

4.241

Google Pixel XL

4.164

ZTE Axon 7

4.154

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge

4.124

Samsung Galaxy Note5

4.09

Huawei Nexus 6P

4.019

OnePlus X

3.983

Vivo Xplay5 Elite

3.983

Apple iPhone 7

3.964

Oppo R7s

3.964

Huawei P9 Plus

3.956

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)

3.918

Samsung Galaxy C5

3.911

Samsung Galaxy C7

3.896

Samsung Galaxy A5

3.895

Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor

3.879

Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor

3.873

Samsung Galaxy A8

3.859

Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)

3.817

Motorola Moto X (2014)

3.816

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode

3.802

LG V20 Max auto

3.798

Xiaomi Redmi Pro

3.798

Sony Xperia XZ

3.795

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)

3.789

Apple iPhone 6s

3.783

Meizu Pro 5

3.781

Microsoft Lumia 650

3.772

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)

3.756

Oppo F1 Plus

3.709

Vivo X5Pro

3.706

Sony Xperia X Compact

3.694

Apple iPhone SE

3.681

Samsung Galaxy A7

3.679

Meizu PRO 6

3.659

BlackBerry Priv

3.645

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

3.588

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

3.53

Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode

3.523

Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)

3.523

Acer Jade Primo

3.521

Microsoft Lumia 950

3.512

Oppo R7 Plus

3.499

nubia Z11

3.466

Samsung Galaxy J7

3.422

Meizu MX5

3.416

LG V20

3.402

Oppo R7

3.32

Xiaomi Mi 5s

3.276

Xiaomi Mi 5

3.24

Samsung Galaxy J2

3.235

Sony Xperia X Performance

3.234

Motorola Moto X Play

3.222

Huawei P9

3.195

Lenovo Vibe Shot

3.113

Motorola Moto X Force

3.105

LG Nexus 5X

3.092

Huawei Mate S

3.073

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL

3.065

Sony Xperia X

2.989

Samsung Galaxy Note

2.97

Huawei Mate 8

2.949

Xiaomi Redmi 3S

2.913

Sony Xperia XA Ultra

2.906

LG G5

2.905

HTC One S

2.901

Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus

2.884

Sony Xperia Z5

2.876

Microsoft Lumia 550

2.851

Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro

2.803

Sony Xperia Z5 compact

2.784

LG V10

2.744

Xiaomi Redmi 3

2.735

Sony Xperia M5

2.69

Huawei P9 Lite

2.679

Vivo V3Max

2.659

Xiaomi Mi 4i

2.641

Sony Xperia XA

2.609

Xiaomi Mi 4c

2.574

LeEco Le Max 2

2.567

Microsoft Lumia 640

2.563

Lenovo Moto G4

2.544

Oppo F1

2.528

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

2.525

Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c

2.506

Sony Xperia M4 Aqua

2.503

Oppo F1s

2.481

Motorola Moto G

2.477

Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus

2.473

Huawei G8

2.471

Huawei nova

2.467

Sony Xperia Z

2.462

Lenovo Vibe K5

2.459

Huawei Honor 7

2.406

Sony Xperia E5

2.386

ZUK Z1 by Lenovo

2.382

HTC 10

2.378

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)

2.378

Huawei nova plus

2.329

HTC One E9+

2.305

Alcatel One Touch Hero

2.272

Apple iPhone 4S

2.269

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note

2.254

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra

2.253

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)

2.249

Sony Xperia C4 Dual

2.235

Xiaomi Mi Note

2.234

Motorola Moto G (2014)

2.233

LG Nexus 5

2.228

Huawei P8

2.196

Huawei Honor 6

2.169

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2

2.166

OnePlus Two

2.165

HTC One X

2.158

LG Aka

2.145

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

2.145

Archos 50 Diamond

2.134

Xiaomi Redmi Note

2.119

Xiaomi Mi 4S

2.095

Acer Liquid X2

2.084

Huawei P8lite

2.078

Moto G 3rd gen max manual

2.026

Xiaomi Mi Max

1.996

Sony Xperia E4g

1.972

OnePlus One

1.961

Meizu m3 note

1.923

Meizu m2 note

1.892

BlackBerry Leap

1.892

HTC Butterfly

1.873

ZTE Nubia Z9 mini

1.759

Sony Xperia U

1.758

Asus Zenfone Selfie

1.68

Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)

1.675

ZTE Nubia Z9

1.659

Jolla Jolla

1.605

Motorola Moto E

1.545

Sony Xperia M

1.473

Xiaomi Redmi 2

1.311

HTC Desire C

1.3

Sony Xperia C

1.283

Meizu MX

1.221

Sony Xperia E

1.215

Battery life

The Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus is powered by a 3,800mAh battery, which seems enough for a phablet. It's also 600mAh beefier than the one inside the Mi 5s.

We ran our battery test, and the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus scored a 104h rating, which means you can count on the battery to last almost four and a half days if you do an hour each of calling, web browsing and video playback a day.

The phone outed consistently good scores across all battery tests, including single and dual SIM standby.

If you want to use the phone with two SIM cards, you'll end up with a 96h rating, or four days.

The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.

Connectivity

The Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus supports 8 LTE bands, quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G connectivity with HSPA support. You can tap to an LTE network on either SIM, but once you do, the second one will be limited to 3G or GSM connectivity. You can even have both registered on 3G networks, when 4G is not available.

The rest of the connectivity features include single-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac support and Wi-Fi Direct. There is also support for Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS with GLONASS and Beidou.

There is no FM radio support.

Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus comes with USB Type-C port. Media transfer mode is supported for accessing the phone's built-in memory over a USB connection. The port also supports USB On-the-go for connecting USB peripherals such as pen drives, keyboards or USB hard drives, but you'll need to buy a proper adapter for that.

Wireless screen mirroring is available via the Miracast protocol.

The IR blaster is located on the top and coupled with the right software, it can be used to operate almost any remotely controlled home appliance, turning the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus into a universal remote. Xiaomi provides its MiRemote app right out of the box.