Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Review: Checks all the right boxes

The 6inch plus phablets have existed for a while but the unusually big sized devices had a very few buyers. The new trend of thin bezels and even bezel-less display are increasingly making bigger phones compact and convenient to hold.

Xiaomi too has launched the Mi Max 2, successor to the last year's launch - Mi Max - which the company claims was the best seller in its category. Done in matte black, the Mi Max 2 feels premium to hold. Boasting a 6.4inch display just like its predecessor, the Mi Max 2 in a 6.85 (h) x 3.49 (l) inch body doesn't feel too big to hold. A lot of credit goes to the soft metal chassis and the 2.5D curved glass merging smoothly into the unibody anodized aluminium body. Held in any hand, the power button along with the volume key is easy to access. The 3.5mm port sits on the top edge with the Type C charging port and speaker grills on the bottom edge and a fingerprint scanner at the rear panel. There are three capacitive touch keys below the display, which can be used used to enter one-handed mode as well, accessible in 3.5inch, 4inch or 4.5inch. Sliding the finger from home towards the back key shifts the one-handed mode towards the bottom right and sliding the finger from home to options key moves everything to the bottom left. I rarely used this feature but it came handy while launching apps, replying to a message or even while dialing a number when the other hand was occupied. Tapping on the empty area exits this mode. Going back to the display, Xiaomi has added a full HD display with decent viewing angles, making it apt for watching multimedia content on the move. The colours reproduction is good with sufficient sunlight legibility. When compared with the 5.5inch screen of the Apple iPhone 7, both the screens fetched the same number of stories from Google News but the font size on the Mi Max was slightly bigger. Xiaomi has even added dual speakers that complement the multimedia experience. 4/5