Xiaomi Mi 9 SE Global: The new Pocophone F1?

Xiaomi Mi 9 SE in the test

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is the mid-range variant of the Mi 9. The equipment is very similar to the flagship variant, but its format is more compact. As a processor, the Snapdragon 712 celebrated its Mi 9 SE debut. And even if it is "only" a midrange processor, the Mi 9 SE seems to be an alternative to the Pocophone F1 – especially since it is available in a global version. Reason enough for us to fully test the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE in the global version. And that is exactly what we did for more than a week. In this review, you will learn everything you need to know about this smartphone.

When unpacking, you do not expect big surprises. The packaging is a little simpler than the flagship version. The gleaming finish has given way to a simple white. The top is adorned with a large "9" silver, a small "SE" next to it and a silver logo in the upper right corner. The box is made of strong cardboard and therefore offers good protection along the way. Inside you will find typical accessories: documents, a protective case, a power supply, a USB cable and a type C adapter to 3.5 mm. Of course, a SIM needle is also included. The power supply pad provided Quick Charge 3 with 18W and has a German plug. The packaging, instructions and the device are marked with CE marking and the symbol of the trash. The declaration of conformity is printed in the instructions. Importing should not be a problem.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE impresses with a neat finish and a really nice design, which is in no way inferior to the flagship version of Snapdragon 855. The design is also almost identical. The biggest difference is the size. With only 147.5 x 70.6 x 7.7 mm (9.3 mm camera) and a weight of 155 g, the Mi 9 SE is not only a real little something compared to current standards, but also the smallest of mid-range Xiaomi smartphones. Anyone who does not want to join the battle beyond the 6-inch bar in the display area will finally have a candidate among us who will be blamed. In hand, the handset is quite wonderful and is a welcome change, if you have long ago no smartphones at your fingertips anymore in front of it.

You will find other design differences in the front and back. The chin edge is slightly thicker at Mi 9 SE due to the design. But that does not matter. The headlight Mi 9 is 3.4 mm, the Mi 9 SE is 4 mm. It is unlikely that the difference will catch the attention of most people. In addition, Xiaomi painted the curved glbad at the back. Although the "rear window" of the Mi 9 SE is clearly rounded in 2.5D towards the edges, the surface itself is flat. This is even an advantage, because even if the camera module, as in the regular Mi 9, stands out extremely far, the Mi 9 SE wobbles much less, if you use it on a table.

Visually, the Mi 9 SE does not have to hide from his more capable brother. Again, Xiaomi relies on laser microgravure to visually lighten the back of the glbad. The blue version of the smartphone not only has a chic and shiny blue metal frame, but the glbad surface on the back flickers in different colors depending on the light. The effect we already enjoyed on the Mi 9 and of course, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is beautiful. The device is simply an eye-catcher and looks through and through noble. Those who prefer the simple and serious attacks on the black model, which seems less playful and manages without the effects of light.

Preliminary conclusion: The Mi 9 SE is a beautiful mid-range smartphone and very well designed, which will appeal particularly to compact device enthusiasts.

The display in the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE, although 5.97 inches is significantly smaller than the high-end version (6.39 inches), but the display is identical in itself. Again, a Samsung Super AMOLED screen is used, which has the same high resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. The pixel density is proportionally higher and the coarser filtering characteristic of the AMOLED displays is also less visible than that of the LCD screens. The screen reaches a maximum brightness of 600 nits and is therefore perfectly legible even in direct sunlight. The image is sharp and the color rendering appealing. In the settings, you can adjust the presentation to your personal taste. The Mi 9 SE can also display HDR content, which gives it a truly superb look. The absence of status LED is compensated by a function Always on the screen. Thanks to AMOLED technology, the function only consumes a little more energy than the normal sleep mode – a useful replacement.

The glbad surfaces of the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE are in Gorilla Glbad 5 on both sides and are therefore very resistant. The scratches never entered the window of everyday life. The front is also provided with an anti-fingerprint coating. It is therefore rare to clean the front of the smartphone and the sliding properties of the glbad take advantage of it. The touch screen also knows how to convince and responds without delay to the inputs. The accuracy is very good, allowing a fast hit even without error. Multi-touch inputs during playback, for example, have never been a problem during the test. In addition, palm detection works perfectly. The thin edges of the screen are not troublesome here.

Preliminary conclusion: For a mid-range smartphone, we must do here with a first-clbad screen, which could also be built in an expensive high-end smartphone.

The Snapdragon 712 is a new Qualcomm mid-range circuit, manufactured in 10nm and promising equivalent efficiency. At least for the heat lost, you can also sign it. The limitation test shows no noticeable power loss after 15 minutes of full charge. The heat released at the back is noticeable but not disturbing. In everyday life, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE offers an excellent performance that, in normal operation, does not differ from its big Antutu score of 178,887 points compared to its big brother. Only mbadive multitasking and games make all the difference. When you switch from one application to another, the Mi 9 SE feels a little slow, but still offers great performance. Current games like Shadowgun Legends can be played at the highest level of detail. Here and there, there are sometimes short hangers, but overall, the gameplay is remarkably smooth. The Snapdragon 712 relies heavily on chips like the Snapdragon 660 in terms of graphics performance. For memory, Xiaomi also uses the MiDD 9 LPD LPDDR4X and UFS 2.1 RAMs. RAM is connected here, but slower than the flagship variant and averages "only" 8.04 GB / s. The big Mi 9 is greater than 24 Gb / s. With the USB-C connection, you have to settle for USB 2.0 as usual.

However, the detection material is again identical and includes everything that is important and some bonuses. As usual, the gyroscope and the compbad were thoroughly examined in everyday life and showed no stall. The fingerprint sensor is also entered directly on the display of the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE and works very reliably. Only two unlock attempts are rarely needed. However, the detection works more slowly than the big Mi 9, which is probably due to the smaller distance between the pixels. To put your finger on the home screen usually takes a second, sometimes a little more.

Preliminary conclusion: Strong performance and features for the upper middle clbad. Before the big Mi 9, the Mi 9 SE does not have to hide despite lower overall performance.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE Global comes with MIUI 10 in its global version, including Google Certification and its German language. The system relies on Android 9 Pie with a relatively recent security patch. There are regular updates, in the developer version, even once a week. Xiaomi has also significantly reduced the number of preinstalled bloatware software on the Mi 9 SE. The remaining applications can be uninstalled as usual. The big advantage is the support for DRM Widevine Level 1. Netflix and Amazon content can be viewed in HD and you can also play HDR content with the corresponding display. In the end, there are only critics for the integration of Notch. The available space in the information bar is barely used. The notification icons are displayed briefly and then replaced by the time.

Preliminary conclusion: Solid, fast and stable software, including Widevine Level 1 DRM.

At the mobile reception, there is nothing wrong with it. The signal strength moves in the middle of the field. Indoors, there were no problems on the site despite poor development. Outside, the connection remained stable. LTE works very well, including volumes 8, 20 and 28. HD and VoLTE telephony are supported, VoWiFi is missing. In addition, there is no overall support for frequencies. In some countries, such as the United States do not support all mobile operators or networks. In Wi-Fi, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE operates in accordance with the CA standard with 2.4 and 5 GHz without MIMO and therefore with a maximum throughput of approximately 288 Mbit / s. One stage below the router corresponds to a 2.4 GHz fallback with a stable resolution of 48 Mbit / s. Bluetooth is supported with version 5.0 and has covered an entire floor on the site without interruption. For mobile payment and other applications, there is also NFC technology. The antenna is centrally located at the back. The GPS reception is excellent. Almost always more than 20 satellites are integrated and the signal strength is good even in bad weather. The accuracy of the monitoring leaves nothing to be desired. The same applies to navigation.

Preliminary conclusion: All around good reception including Bluetooth 5.0, NFC and good GPS. Unfortunately, what is missing is a global management of frequencies in mobile communications. But this weakness also has the Mi 9 Global.

Xiaomi has the Mi 9 yes missing an improved speaker, which delivers a remarkably good sound even without stereo. The same speaker also missed the Mi 9 SE. Although the sound provides a little less depth, because the housing does not offer as much volume, but sounds much better for such a compact smartphone. In addition to listening to music, watching YouTube videos and sometimes watching a movie comfortably in bed without ear plugs, the sound of the smartphone is definitely fun. Those who prefer to use a headset unfortunately have to settle for a C-type adapter or switch to a wireless or native C-type headset. A 3.5 mm connection is missing the Mi 9 SE. The quality of the voice when calling from both sides is excellent. The telephone receiver offers a clear sound with a fairly high volume despite its small size. The hands-free function works equally well, the other party does not hear and noise suppression is also very effective in noisy environments.

Preliminary conclusion: The sound technically convinced the Mi 9 SE as its big brother, although the bbad pbad through the multimedia speaker with a weaker sound. However, this is due to the smaller form factor.

The photographic equipment of Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is very similar to that of the clbadic Mi 9, but differs anyway. Together, the devices have all three sensors. You get a main sensor with 48MP and f / 1.75 aperture, a telephoto lens with 2x zoom, 8MP and f / 2.4 aperture (f / 2.2 to Mi 9) and a 120 ° wide angle lens with a 120 ° field of view and f / 2.4 Opening (f / 2.2 to Wednesday 9). Xiaomi does not provide any information about installed sensors, and no data can be extracted from the operating system. However, judging by the nighttime quality, other sensors seem to be installed in the telephoto and wide angle camera. Regarding the main sensor, we would prefer not to talk about it. Pure Qualitativ, it seems to be the same Sony IMX586. Xiaomi calls itself, but at Mi 9 SE, the sensor manufacturer is only "Sony", but the Mi 9 is explicitly the Sony IMX586 in the datasheet. What it means now, everyone is allowed to interpret themselves.

But what comes out of the photos is even more important at the end and it is precisely here that shines the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE and stands out from the upper middle clbad market. The smartphone offers photos of an impressive quality with excellent color reproduction, sharp detail reproduction and sharpness, as well as a low noise content. The photos might as well come from a high end smartphone in the higher price range. By the way, for the photos, we knowingly gave up the KI mode to show what the camera provides without any modification. In our eyes, the photos are even better in Standard mode than their big brother. We criticized the fact that fine and distant details can be very muddy, which is not the case in 48MP mode. The Mi 9 is now looking in the other direction. In normal mode, photos look great, in 48MP mode, the camera weakens the reading of details when you badyze images on a large screen in more detail. If this has changed in the regular Mi 9 now in this direction, we can not tell you unfortunately because our test device was only a loan.

Unfortunately, the zoom and wide-angle sensors are not always convincing on the Mi 9 SE, unlike the clbadic Mi 9. Although the wide-angle lens makes impressive scenery, you should rather use it for group photos, if you put the focus on sharpness and detail. Far objects such as buildings and trees are clearly muddy. Only at a shorter distance, quality has convinced. In addition, the camera is not really suitable for night photography. Quality is simply a shame.

The zoom also strongly depends on the lighting conditions and is activated by the software only if the conditions allow it. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to recognition errors. So you can sometimes shoot unintentionally with a digital zoom while you think the optical zoom is activated. It would be nice if Xiaomi shows here the current status in the camera software. If the optical zoom is active, the results are visible. The farthest objects are very difficult to obtain and, even in the absence of image stabilization, the zoom is equally suitable for close-ups and close-ups.

In portrait or bokeh mode, the Mi 9 SE works relatively well, but can not approach devices such as the Redmi Note 7. As with the Mi 9 is zoomed, making the mode more likely to waver. But the recognition of complex objects works well in most cases, the algorithm rarely drops out. The appearance of the effect is as usual in Xiaomi but rather fuzzy. After all, bokeh recordings can be reworked and you can also later generate circles of light or even swap the entire background. Everything works with both the main camera and the front camera.

At night, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE cuts a little less well than the Mi 9. The camcorder seems to capture less light, the fine details are not so good. Nevertheless, the camera offers a very good performance at night. The night mode works as bad as the big Mi 9 and does not even close to the Redmi Note 7, where he could convince us for the first time with a smartphone Xiaomi. Night mode seriously degrades the quality of the image. The LED flash is bright enough and makes good shots. Medium-sized rooms are adequately lit and close-ups are not overexposed. If you want to take perfect night shots, even if you have very little residual light or public lighting, you can expose up to 32 seconds in manual mode, in standard mode or in mode. 48MP. The result is a very good image quality with an attractive color reproduction. However, Mi 9 SE does not offer laser focusing. This can cause problems if it is too dark. Remedy then creates a manual focus.

Night photos in standard mode

Night scenes in night mode

Night shots with long exposure

Night shots with lightning

Night shots with wide angle

The front camera of the Mi 9 SE is identical to that of the Mi 9 high end and offers the same image quality. Selfie fans have their money. The bokeh shots generated by AI are also possible here. Again, the effect can be adjusted later and change the background.

Videos can be recorded with the main camera at a maximum resolution of 4k. However, a maximum frame rate of 30 frames per second is possible. If you want to record at 60 frames per second, you must switch to Full HD mode. The 4k shots show the typical supersaturation of Xiaomi smartphone colors and a slight reddish sting is visible. Full HD recordings seem better balanced. The autofocus works very quickly and reliably. EIS is not really noticeable in 4k mode. The audio quality is good. The videos of the front camera are of good quality. It is possible to take slow motion pictures with the Mi 9 SE with a resolution of up to 960 frames per second. The maximum resolution, however, is 720p. The large Mi 9 can also record in Full HD with 960 frames per second. However, for both cameras, only short shots with this frame rate are possible.

Preliminary conclusion: Excellent camera, which can mark with functionality and quality. For a mid-range smartphone, you get a lot here.

The battery life of the Mi 9 SE is also the biggest weakness of the smartphone. Although the power consumption should theoretically be lower (lower processor, smaller display) than the Mi 9 based Snapdragon 855, the runtime is significantly worse. In normal use, you can easily spend the day, but as soon as you work a lot with the camera and use the GPS, it can happen that you have to go late in the afternoon to take the current or at the power bank. A slightly larger battery would certainly not have hurt the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE. After all, the load is fast enough to equip. The 70% is filled in half an hour and for a full charge, the smartphone takes about an hour. Wireless charging is not supported. If you value it, you must reach Mi 9.

Preliminary conclusion: Generally enough but no battery life, which we would call good. The charge is still fast.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is a successful middle-clbad smartphone that blurs the limits of the high-end range in some places. In particular, the camera and processing make Mi 9 SE an alternative to the F1 pocophone. But even users who appreciate a compact smartphone find here a successful alternative to the big Mi 9. Xiaomi has again created a smartphone, which does not have much competition in the price range between 270 and 230 ¬ and deserves therefore a recommendation. However, users who have high requirements for battery life should refrain from doing so. Unfortunately, the Mi 9 SE can not deliver here.