Xiaomi Mi Mix - Who needs a bezel?

Overshadowing their Mi Note 2 somewhat is this, the Xiaomi Mi Max. It’s packing some wizardry from our friends at Elliptic Labs and, if you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll have known all about it way back in March. Before I go any further, you need to see the video of it, because it’s all about that screen. The bezel around the screen is pretty much none-existent here, and you instead get a true edge-to-edge experience, like a pain of glass. Here, courtesy of Marques Brownlee, is an up-close look at it..

It’s a phone, which we kinda hope won’t be “concept” for long, with a massive 91.3% screen-to-body ratio. With a 6.4″ display it’s mostly screen up front and is built using full-body ceramic technology for additional strength. The cost of the frame alone is around £120.

The Mi Mix has a bigger screen thanks to a lack of earpiece, no camera up top and there’s no proximity sensor either. Instead, thanks to those clever people at Elliptic Labs, there’s an ultrasound “BEAUTY” proximity sensor. This replaces infrared sensors and it was something that Elliptic Labs were really excited about back in Barcelona during Mobile World Congress. Have a read of our earlier story and you’ll learn all about their clever ultrasound technology. It’s very interesting indeed and this is something that we’ve been keeping an eye on for a number of years now.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi have reduced the front camera size by 50%, added “cantilever piezoelectric ceramic acoustic technology” for your calls and removed any capacitive front buttons. The result is a custom 17:9 display which gives a large 16.9 viewing area even with the on-screen keys up.

Full details on the specs are as follows..

– 6.4” edgeless display: Ultra-high 91.3% screen-to-body ratio—highest on any smartphone to date
– Full ceramic body: Ceramic back cover, frame, and side buttons, 8 MoHs hardness. Seamless connectors fuse Mi MIX’s body without any external adhesives
– Cantilever piezoelectric ceramic acoustic technology replaces the traditional earpiece speaker, allowing you to listen to calls without the earpiece
– Ultrasonic proximity sensor hidden behind the display, replaces traditional infrared proc sensor
– Custom 17:9 display, large 16:9 viewing area even with soft keys
– Soft keys with auto-hide Quick Ball allow easy navigation and reachability while keeping Mi MIX sleek and minimalist
– Compact front camera, 50% smaller than traditional camera modules, imperceptibly located along Mi MIX’s “chin”
– Custom round-edged display allowed us to create a more immersive, edgeless viewing experience
– Snapdragon 821 at 2.35GHz
– 4GB LPDDR4 RAM + 128GB UFS 2.0 storage; 6GB + 256GB (Mi Mix 18k)
– 4400mAh battery, Quick Charge 3.0
– Full NFC Functionality: Read, write, card emulation, P2P, Mi Pay ready
– HD audio quality, 192kHz / 24-bit resolution
– GPS high-precision positioning
– 16MP PDAF rear camera
– MIUI 8
– Mi MIX 18k with 18-karat gold rims around camera and fingerprint sensor; 6GB + 256GB
– RMB 3499 (4GB + 128GB, approx $516 or £423.60); RMB 3999 Mi MIX 18k (6GB + 256GB, approx $590 or £484.13 )

If you’d like to see more of it, head to www.mi.com/mix/. It’s in Chinese but you can find video and a lot more imagery.

Show Press Release (413 More Words)

Xiaomi MIX Phone First to Use Advanced Elliptic Labs Ultrasound Proximity Software, Enabling a Cleaner Design

Xiaomi MIX Phone Features New INNER BEAUTY Technology that Replaces Hardware Proximity Sensors with Software

San Francisco, Calif., and Beijing, China – October 25, 2016 – Elliptic Labs, the global leader in ultrasound sensing, today announced the first innovation in proximity detection since Apple rolled out its initial smartphone in 2007. The technology, called INNER BEAUTY is being used in a new phone, the “MIX,” launched today by Xiaomi. INNER BEAUTY replaces the phone’s hardware proximity sensor with ultrasound software and allows the speaker to be completely invisible, extending the functional area of the screen all the way to the top edge of the phone.

Until now, all smartphones required an optical infrared hardware proximity sensor to turn off the screen and disable the touch functionality when users held the device up to their ear. Without the proximity sensor, a user’s ear or cheek could accidentally trigger actions during a call, such as hanging up the call or dialing numbers while the call is ongoing. However, INNER BEAUTY — built on Elliptic Labs’ BEAUTY ultrasound proximity software — uses patented algorithms not only to remove the proximity sensor, but also to hide the speaker behind the phone’s glass screen.

Besides eliminating the unsightly holes on a phone’s screen, Elliptic Labs’ technology eliminates common issues with hardware proximity sensors, such as their unreliability in certain weather conditions or in response to various skin colors as well as dark hair. The value INNER BEAUTY brings to mobile OEMs includes not only more screen real estate but also reduced cost with the removal of the hardware sensor.

Xiaomi’s new MIX phone will be sold primarily in Asia, a vast market with millions of consumers who demand exciting technology and features. “We are thrilled to have our ultrasound proximity software featured in the new smartphone from world leader Xiaomi. Elliptic Labs is the only ultrasound proximity feature vendor designed into a tier-1 mobile handset,” said Laila Danielsen, CEO of Elliptic Labs. “This is a significant validation of our Elliptic Labs’ value proposition and we are confident this will pave the way for additional design wins for our innovative ultrasound proximity product in the coming quarters.”

Xiaomi sold more than 70 million phones in 2015 and its new Model MIX with its ultra- thin bezel will appeal to users who want more screen space for watching videos or gaming on their phone, and without unsightly proximity sensor holes.