Xiaomi's new $ 2,800 crazy phone has a screen on the front, sides and back

Xiaomi is back with one of his insane smartphone designs. Check out the Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha, a phone with a screen that wraps around the sides, then just keep going, wrapping all around the back of the device. As Xiaomi's blog says, "the front, the side and the back of the phone are almost entirely displayed". Xiaomi calls this a "concept" phone, and although the company is laughing at the details for now, she says will sell the Mi Mix Alpha in December in China. The Mi Mix Alpha may not be a collapsible smartphone, but its price is 2,810 USD (19,999 RMB).

OK then … why? Why does the screen all the way around the phone? Well, first, Xiaomi places features on the sides of the phone because these are all pixels now. The status bar appears to be on the side of the phone and lists the usual indications such as battery, cellular connectivity, Bluetooth and other icons. To use the sides of the screen, you must move the power and volume buttons. If there is still a physical power button at the top, the virtual side buttons take over for the volume tasks.

A button on the left side ("6" in the renderings) seems to be used as a volume knob. And instead of gestural navigation, it seems that the Android navigation buttons for "Back" and "Home" are visible to the right of the wraparound screen. Controlling this phone seems like a habit.

The main design change activated by the back screen is that a selfie camera is not necessary. When there is also a screen at the back, you can simply flip the phone, use the main camera to take a selfie and use the back screen as a viewfinder. That's just about all that justifies this design.

Although the display is the highlight of this phone, Xiaomi is not out of breath talk about it. There are no measures of display size or resolution announced – and where could you even start and stop measuring on this device, anyway? The only display specification we get is the quote made for headlines stating that the phone has "a body-to-body ratio of greater than 180.6%", which is not the case at all. the "screen-to-body ratio" specification. supposed to work.

Percentages of screens

The screen / body ratio of 180.6% would mean that you approach almost twice as much "screen" as "body". Xiaomi has neglected to show here her work on calculations, but the relationship between the screen and the body usually works by comparing the area from the front of the phone to that of the screen. Then you get something like "88.3%" for a phone like the OnePlus 7 Pro, which means that the front of the phone has an 88.3% screen and a screen 11.7%. Xiaomi seems to compare the front phone area to the all The phone's screen, which also includes the back of the phone, removes any meaning from the measurement specification of the telescope. These numbers seem impressive, I suppose, if you do not think about it too much.

The other critical information we are missing is any word on the cover of the display. Foldable phones must be covered with a soft plastic cover. But as this phone does not have a mobile screen, it is possible to use glass or a hard plastic. Xiaomi promises a "durable protective layer" only for "the screen".

But wait a minute: how does the touch screen when all sides are on the screen? Would not you be constantly touching the touch screen and sending errant display entries? Xiaomi did not know how it would work either. One possibility is that the sides are not sensitive to touch, because Xiaomi lists the "pressure-sensitive virtual side buttons" in a slide. If the sides were touch-activated, they should be pressure-sensitive since a slight touch would activate them already.

Aside from the up and down, the only part of the phone that does not have a screen is a bar at the back, which houses the cameras and many connectivity antennas. You get at least high-end materials at exorbitant price: the cameras are covered with sapphire crystal, the border of the back band is ceramic and the frame is made of titanium alloy.

For specifications, you get a Snapdragon 855+, 12 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage and a 4050mAh battery. Xiaomi also made a special effort in the cameras, with a main camera of 108 MP (yes, one hundred and eight megapixels) that uses a 1 / 1.33-inch type sensor, one of the biggest d & # 39; 39, a modern smartphone. There is also a 20MP wide angle camera and a 12MP 2x telephoto lens.

A springboard to a foldable?

The design can be a springboard to a foldable Xiaomi smartphone. In January, the company introduced a foldable smartphone "trifold", folded left and right, in a video (very blurred). Once closed, this tri-fold prototype really looked like the Mi Mix Alpha. Both phones have a screen that surrounds the sides and meet at the back, where there is a band of dead space. It's almost as if the Mi Mix Alpha was the three-ply prototype without all the folding parts.

With both devices sharing a similar form factor, the Mi Mix Alpha could allow Xiaomi to experience a wraparound screen on a commercial device without worrying about the sustainability issues of foldable smartphones. And there are many strange UI decisions on the Mi Mix Alpha that Xiaomi might want to get feedback on. The side navigation buttons, the sidebar, and the touch volume button are all new.

The Alpha Mi Mix would make a lot more sense if it became a bigger phone. But for the moment, it's just a little strange. The way Android and Android applications would treat this design is not clear and for the moment, Xiaomi does not talk about it. Maybe we will learn more at the beginning of December.

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