Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 And Xiaomi Mi Max 2 – Which has better Specs?

When it comes to smartphones in the Indian market, Xiaomi has brought itself to stage wherein it has almost risen to the top smartphone manufacturers in India in overall sales volume. Innovative design, high-end features, and affordable pricing have been its positive traits and that in fact is has been the reason why Xiaomi sees itself at the position that it has been now. We will today compare two of its products and decide which one is better among the two. We present a comparison between Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and Xiaomi Mi Max 2 in today’s post.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 And Xiaomi Mi Max 2 – Which is Better?

Well, both of them come from Xiaomi, and both of them share almost similar specifications. There could be a few minor differences. The exact choice of the device for your requirements should be something that would depend on your personal preferences. The comparison below should provide a good idea.

Design And Build

Redmi Note 5 is the first smartphone in the Redmi series to sport an 18:9 aspect ratio. You will notice it as soon as you pick it up. The 5.99-inch screen takes most of the front. The Mi Max 2, on the other hand, offers you a massive 6.44-inch screen. Bot of them provides you a 2.5 D curved glass with Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

The Redmi Note 5 comes with an all-metal body construction with plastic caps at top and bottom for antennas. The phone weighs 180 grams. The Mi Max 2 to features an all-metal body, the weight of 211 grams makes it an impediment for comfortable handling.

One of the significant differences between the two devices is the availability of USB Type-C on the Mi Max 2 while the Redmi Note 5 offers you a micro USB connectivity.

In this section, we would consider Mi Max 2 to be a little uncomfortable to use – especially with one hand. The massive screen may be something you would love if you a die-hard gamer or indulge in watching movies quite often.

Hardware and Software

The Mi Max 2 offers you a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. You would get a pixel density of 342 ppi. In addition to the massive screen that would make it an excellent option to opt for, you have a gigantic battery rated at 5300 mAh. The battery is claimed to last 31 days of backup on standby.

The Redmi Note 5, on the other hand, comes with full HD+ resolution and a whopping 403 ppi pixel density. The battery capacity of the device reads 4000 mAh. The battery is nonremovable as has been the standard trend these days.

As for the inside, RedMi Note 5 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 625. The last years octa-core processor with 2.0 GHz clock speed should be a power efficient performance powerhouse for the mid-rangers. You get 3 GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage as base specs. You also have access to another variant with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. The Mi Max 2 also has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor taking care of its performance. You will be blessed with a 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage.

Storage expansion options are available on both of these devices, but with a catch – you have hybrid dual SIM slots on both of them. That would mean you will be forced to sacrifice either the microSD card functionality or the dual SIM compatibility. We would consider it to be a concern for the Mi Max 2 users, as they will miss out the chance to enjoy a host of movies and videos on the massive screen if they want to use the dual SIM function. Both the devices support expandable memory up to 128 GB.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 runs on Android Nougat 7.1.2 with customization by MIUI 9.0. If you are used to stock Android, you will find it to be a little alien to you, and you may need time to get used to the changes in the software and options. There is support for Dual Apps and Private Space. It also supports gestures. The phone comes with a host of preinstalled apps apart from Google Apps. You also have Microsoft Apps preinstalled. Quite useful for the professionals, but may not be helpful for some of us who are not interested. Then there is a slew of Xiaomi apps including Mi Video, Mi Store, and Mi Community. There are a few other apps as well including Hungama and Amazon, but they can be uninstalled.

Mi Max 2 runs on Android Nougat 7.1.1 customized with MIUI 8.5. There is a themes app to take care of your customization requirements. It offers you a one-handed mode for easy workability by shrinking the screen to 4 inches, 3.5 inches and 4.5 inches. You also have access to a host of features like Second Space, Reading Mode, and Dual Apps. However, a few features are missing that would have made the big screen more interesting.

Camera

The Mi Max 2 has a rear camera with a resolution of 12 MP. It uses a Sony IMX 386 sensor. The specifications for the camera read 1.25-micron pixels and f/2.2 aperture. The low light photography is not much impressive enough. However, daylight shots offer you an excellent color rendition and better sharpness. The HDR mode helps overcome the issues in low light photography to some extent though.

You should be able to record videos in 1080p and 4K. The video mode offers you both slow-motion video time-lapse video recording options. The  MP front camera can take decent selfies and work best for video calling needs, but the quality remains a little low under low light.

The Redmi Note  5 offers excellent photography both under daylight and low light scenarios. The camera tends to capture the right amount of exposure most of the time. The focus is entirely exemplary with the macro shots. In fact, we found that the HDR enabled snaps to come out better.

The camera can switch to night mode automatically under low light conditions. The video recording capabilities for the rear camera offer a maximum of 4K, while for the front camera can shot a maximum of 1080p resolution. You won’t get stabilization though – something expected at this price point.

Performance

The Redmi Note 5 is indeed a performer par excellence. You will not face any stutters or lags.Even the resource hungry applications efficiently work.  It is also capable of playing all the media files that you throw at it. With excellent viewing angles and excellent sunlight legibility, it lives up to the expectations.

From a performance point of view, Mi Max 2 matches up to the functionality of the Redmi Note 5. Since the specifications remain similar, we would not see any differences though. Handling multitasking is quite easy. The only issue you would face while using this phone is its vast size. The stereo speakers should provide you excellent performance regarding an outstanding audio performance, louder and clearer without distortions.

A Tabular Comparison

Here is a tabular Comparison can help you make a better decision.

In Conclusion

The Redmi Note 5 and Mi Max 2 are almost on similar lines when it comes to the functionality, performance, and features. As we have already observed in the detailed descriptions above, both the devices offer you the same level of functionality in almost all respects. The camera seems to have the upper hand on Redmi Note 5, though the spec sheet remains virtually the same.

Unless you are looking for a device with a larger screen, we would not see any point in opting for Mi Max 2 instead of Redmi Note 5. The Mi Max 2 will be your best option if you are one of the avid movie buff or a die-hard gamer. The device is a little uncomfortable to handle, and we would advise you opting for it only if necessary.

Which one among them would you go for? We do not seem much of a difference between the two except in conditions we indicated above. If you are using either of them, do share your opinions with us.