Xiaomi Mi Note 3 presented: Should you buy it?

Design
Mi Note 3 is basically just a larger version of a Mi6. On the front, there is a 5,5-inch FullHD screen with almost non-existent side bezels and big top and bottom ones. Below the screen there are two capacitive buttons and a fingerprint scanner, which also acts as a “home” key, above the screen are proximity sensor, earpiece and frontal camera. The back is a glass panel with dual camera module.

Hardware
The phone has a new Snapdragon 660 chipset, which proved to be almost as powerful as Snapdragon 820 and even more power-efficient. The RAM amount available is equal to 6GB, while the internal storage options include 64 and 128GB. The battery capacity is 3500 mAh, which is less than in the Mi Note 2, but let's not forget that the screen is smaller this time and processor is less power-hungry.

Camera
Mi Note 3 utilizes the same rear camera setup found in the Mi6 — one ordinary 12MP and one 12MP with telephoto lens. The overall photo quality on Mi6 was worse than on other 2017 flagships, but let's hope that Mi Note 3's software will be better optimized. The frontal camera is a 16MP unit.

Software
The phone comes with MIUI9 based on Android 7.1.

Price and availability
The prices start at 2499 RMB (~385 USD) for 6/64 version. 6/128 versions in Black and Blue cost 2899RMB (~445 USD) and 2999RMB (~460 USD). The phone will be available globally.

Verdict
Mi Note 3 is not a direct successor of Mi Note 2. It lacks 5,7-inch curved screen, high-end chipset, audio chip etc., but the price is also smaller. In 400 USD price range this handset also has a lot of strong competitors, such as last year's OnePlus 3T. In fact, it is only logical to buy the Mi Note 3 if you love MIUI and want a 2017 model for 400-500 USD.

Should you buy it?
No. The phone is not as powerful as Mi phones usually are, nor as cheap as Redmi phones.

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