The first thing you notice about Xiaomi’s latest offering, the Mi Max is its sheer size. It has a 6.44-inch display which is massive. And Xiaomi is positioning the Mi Max as a phone and not as a tablet.

One of my initial concerns around the Mi Max was how to carry around a phone this big. But, I have been doing it, and it’s actually not so inconvenient. The phone easily fits into your pocket and the reason behind that is it’s 7.5 mm thickness, which is just a shade above how thick the iPhone 6s Plus is.

It’s got a metallic body and I personally quite like the look and feel of the phone. The fingerprint scanner at the back is smooth and is conveniently located. The fingerprint scanner experience is very much like the Redmi Note 3, on which the Mi Max builds itself on.

The phone comes in 2 variants, the 3 GB version with 32 GB internal storage and the 4 GB version with 128 GB memory. While the 3 GB version is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 650, the 4 GB variant is fuelled by a Snapdragon 652.

The Mi Max has a 16 megapixel primary phase detection auto focus (PDAF) camera and a 5 megapixel front or selfie shooter.

The camera performance is decent, but nothing to write home about. In daylight it takes pretty good pictures, but in low light settings it struggles a bit.

The speaker on the phone is pretty impressive and loud. I am glad that unlike the Redmi Note 3, they have put it at the bottom of the phone. The Redmi Note 3’s speakers at the back leave a lot to be desired for. Also when you place the Redmi on your bed, it’s barely audible and you tend to miss calls. However, that has been fixed with the Mi Max.

The voice call quality on the phone is also loud, clear and rather impressive.

If you’re somebody who does a lot of online shopping, uses a lot of excel sheets, edits documents on the go, the experience is very nice, given the sheer size of the screen. It’s also very convenient to use the keyboard, because of how large it is.

One of the real stars of the Mi Max, is its battery. It comes with a massive 4,850 mAh battery. Even with very heavy usage it should see you through at least one and a half days.

The Mi Max has a 1080p display, the colours are vivid and the contrast is pretty good too.

Xiaomi’s always been known for their pricing and they have priced the Mi Max rather competitively as well. While the 3 GB version retails at Rs 14,999, the 4 GB variant is available for Rs 19,999.

If you can come to terms with the size, the Mi Max is a phone that can grow on you.

---