The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 had a few leaks in the past weeks concerning the slow motion mode and the company even released a water balloon sample. We decided to wait for the real reviews and samples before making an opinion on this phone which is destined for the Chinese market first. The phone is supposed to shoot 960fps in 1080p mode which is exciting as an initial spec matching the Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ3 phones in resolution and frame rate but we really have no slow motion duration spec yet.
After looking at the samples we have seen a clear indication of software interpolation to fill in video frames between high frame rate recorded video which looks to be 240p at 1080p and then conformed in software to 960fps on the fly using the phone’s hardware. The results are very good and beat anything we have seen before on phone frame rate interpolation which is a good thing, however, it looks like the phone is faking its way into slow motion 960fps.
Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 Main Specs:
The Mi Mix 3 is no slouch with 8GB- 10GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage, it is a powerhouse of specs without the added cost of other phones.
| NETWORK | Technology | GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO/LTE |
|---|
| Screen | Type | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 6.39 inches, 100.2 cm2 (~85.0% screen-to-body ratio) | |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~403 ppi density) | |
| Multitouch | Yes | |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass (unspecified version) | |
| – MIUI 10 – HDR |
| BODY | Dimensions | 157.9 x 74.7 x 8.5 mm (6.22 x 2.94 x 0.33 in) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 218 g (7.69 oz) | |
| Build | Front glass, aluminum frame (7000 series), ceramic back | |
| SIM | Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| PLATFORM | OS | Android 9.0 (Pie) |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 (10 nm) | |
| CPU | Octa-core (4×2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4×1.7 GHz Kryo 385 Silver) | |
| GPU | Adreno 630 |
| MEMORY | Card slot | No |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | 256 GB, 8/10 GB RAM or 128 GB, 6/8 GB RAM |
| Camera SPECS | Dual | 12 MP (wide), f/1.8, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, 4-axis OIS 12 MP (telephoto), 1/3.4″, 1.0µm |
|---|---|---|
| Features | LED flash, HDR, panorama | |
| Video | 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, 1080p@960fps |
| USB | Type-C 1.0 reversible connector |
MSRP $475 to $720 depending on model specs.
The phone has a sliding feature that in essence enables it to get rid of the notch without any sort of automated mechanism which is a plus for durability but the lack of any water resistance will put off some buyers. In time slider phones should be able to be submersible without compromising the feature set.
What about the Slow Motion 960fps?
The phone takes beautiful images and 4k video which is comparable to other flagships in detail and file quality. However, the slow motion feature touted as 1080p 960fps is at first glance a sub 720p image that is the result of line skipping which also uses clever interpolation to get from what we believe to be 240fps to 960fps with software. The results are very good and hardly detectable by many users so it is actually very impressive what Xiaomi was able to do here.
960fps Mi Mix 3 Samples below (Real to the best of our knowledge):
Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 960FPS video support confirmed by AndroidPure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEoRMR3zY5A
Xiaomi Mix3 slow-motion in 960 fps by 仁勋黄:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kVa0csguEw
slow-mo на Mi Mix 3 by Наши Обзоры:
The samples above show how the Mi Mix 3 is able to interpolate images with a lot of success but it is really not true 1080p 960fps video. We can see the resolution is not even good 720p which is common in phones that tout slow motion at 1080p. Good 720p images are a world above in quality when compared.
We will investigate this further when more samples are released but it is clear that interpolation is getting better and could actually be used on true 960fps phones to allow 2000fps or even 4000fps video from a 1k source with plenty good results. As long as the shutter speed is fast enough for freezing these events. That means at least 1/8000 sec. Stay tuned! -HSC