- Analysis by KJ David
Although it is one of Xiaomi's most-ambitious 2019 smartphones when it comes to photography (We'll cover that down this specs-based review), the Xiaomi Mi 9 drops the ball on certain hardware fronts. For instance, its 3300mAh-only battery power 
ends up as an outright con in our book, knowing that many tantamount high-end phablets pack at least 4000mAh cells. Its 6GB-only RAM count sounds a tad underwhelming as well, seeing that a few tantamount models pack 8GB RAMs, not to mention that this phone runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 triple-cluster 2.84GHz (top speed) engine 
, which was a popular pro among performance-driven smartphones around the time of this Phonerated analysis.
Compared to some of rivals' 256GB or 512GB native memory caps, the Mi 9's 128GB maximum internal memory is unimpressive -- this is aggravated by the fact that it does not come with a dedicated memory card slot for storage expansion.
Its mix of pros and cons aren't all about drawbacks, though, seeing that it boasts a triple-lens primary camera consisting of a whopping 48-megapixel primary lens, a 12-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 16-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. It is accompanied by a bevy of AI optimizations and it captures 4K-2160p videos at 60fps.
Related: Best Camera Phones
Up front, the Mi 9 features a promising 20-megapixel selfie camera that levels with those of some of the leading selfie-first phones in town, with things like AI studio lighting and AI Beautify leading its perks.
Resembling those of several other high-class large-screen phones on the market, this Mi edition's screen is a 6.4-inch FHD+ (1080p) display with a 600-nit peak brightness level and support for HDR10 content. Moreover, it scores a reassuring 103.8 percent NTSC color gamut and it has a damage-resistant Gorilla Glass 6 finish . Also part of its pros and cons is an in-screen fingerprint scanner promising a faster response time than conventional rear-mounted fingerprint detectors.
Offered in colors like Lavender Violet and Ocean Blue, the Xiaomi Mi 9 makes for a solid choice for mobile photographers and tech-savvy Android users.
On-paper Review rating: 
The Xiaomi Mi 9 can record high-resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels) movies. Bravo! But we couldn't determine whether it had an HDMI port or not. Granted, HDMI (which lets you connect to your HDTV), is not an absolute necessity, but it seems like a desirable feature on an HD phone.
- Also check out: The latest HDMI phone models
According to our research, it doesn't feature any memory expansion slot.
It's disappointing that we could not find its weight information.
- Recommended alternative: Photo gallery of the latest slim phones
The speed of its Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 (AI engine) microprocessor (Single 2.84GHz (+ Triple 2.42GHz + Quad 1.8GHz)) spread across 8 cores is among the fastest among recent phones.
- Related link: List of the latest octa-core smartphones
NFC can be used for electronic payment systems and other uses.
- See also: The latest NFC-enabled phones
It carries the Miracast technology, a system that lets you share your display with a TV
We're dealing with a hefty display here, making it a phablet: 6.4 (actual diagonal size is 6.39 inches) inches and a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels means about 15.57 square inches and an image quality of at least 403 dots per inch (DPI)!
A 48-megapixel (combined with a 16-megapixel wide-angle cam and a 12-megapixel telephoto cam), Sony IMX586 sensor (for 48MP cam) camera offers a lot more pixels than most other phones. It also sports these features: AI lens flare, Background blurring, Burst, Custom watermark, Dynamic photos, Group photo face correction, HDR, Level display, Macro photography, Moon Mode, Panorama, Pro, Smart ultra-wide-angle mode, Studio lighting, Timer, Ultra Nightscape, Ultra wide-angle edge distortion correction, Wide-angle photography.
The 20-megapixel selfie camera offers an interesting resolution.
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