Can I really ditch my PC for a Samsung Note 9 smartphone?

Smartphones are getting more powerful every year, and increasing numbers of people are now using them for many of the tasks we used to rely on our PCs for. Browsing the internet, checking emails and messaging friends and family around the world can now be done from those useful little rectangles we carry around in our pockets.

Smartphone manufacturers have been claiming that their devices can replace laptops and PCs for a long time, but we’re now at the stage where it finally seems like the hardware has caught up with those promises.

As TechRadar’s computing editor, I’ve been sceptical about those claims, but with the arrival of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, which comes with some undeniably impressive specifications, and DeX functionality that allows the phone to be hooked up to a monitor (and mouse and keyboard) so that it can be used like a traditional desktop PC, I was intrigued. Could this be a smartphone that I can use for day-to-day tasks rather than my PC?

I decided to find out by going a whole week using just the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 as my main computer. Would I be able to write and work using the smartphone, or would I find myself scurrying back to my PC and booting up Windows 10 after only a few minutes? Read on to find out…

The specifications

In my line of work I’m lucky enough to get to use powerful PCs and laptops, and I have little patience for slow devices that take an age to boot up and load programs. 

With a desktop PC that boasts a 16-core processor, 32GB RAM and a plethora of NVMe SSDs (not to mention two Titan XP graphics cards), as well as a recent Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Pro as laptops, it would take a very powerful smartphone to get me to even consider moving over.

This is where the Galaxy Note 9 comes in. With an octa-core processor, 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage, it’s a handset that rivals many budget and mid-range laptops in terms of specs, and there’s also a version with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space for even more power.

What also attracted me to the phone was the large 6.4-inch screen, which makes web browsing, and composing emails, much easier. While not everyone is a fan of super-large phones (is phablets still a phrase people use? I hope not), after using the Nexus 6 a few years ago I just can’t go back to a smaller handset, especially for productivity.

The large size also allows for a 4,000mAh battery, enabling the Note 9 to go through a whole work day (and more) without needing a charge. The included S Pen stylus also intrigued me, as it meant I could take notes by hand and save them digitally.

However, the Note 9 does come with a huge $1,000 (£899/AU$1,499) price tag for the 6GB model. That’s a heck of a lot of money for a phone, and you can get some very good laptops for that kind of money.

However – and before I talk myself out of the idea – if you consider the Note 9 as a phone and a laptop replacement, that cost isn’t quite so daunting, as it means you’re buying one device, not two.

And because it’s a phone you have the option of getting the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 on a contract, which means you don’t have to part with quite so much money upfront – make sure you check out our Samsung Galaxy Note 9 deals below for the best prices.

Using the Note 9 in DeX mode gives you a Windows-like desktop

Using the Note 9 in DeX mode gives you a Windows-like desktop

The software

What really made me take the Note 9 seriously as a laptop replacement is Samsung’s DeX feature. This allows you to connect your Note 9 to a monitor and use a Windows-like desktop to work on apps. While Samsung has been toying around with DeX for a while, previous smartphones needed to use the DeX Station hub, which was an additional expense.

While the Note 9 can use the DeX Station, you can now also use the DeX interface by using a USB-C to HDMI cable. With a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse you can then use the Note 9 for a PC-like experience. It’s a much more affordable way to access the DeX functionality, which is just as well if you’ve spent all your cash on the Note 9.

However, before I tried that method I decided to try plugging the Note 9 into a USB-C Dell hub that I use at work for my MacBook Pro. To my delight, it worked, with the Note 9’s screen appearing on my monitor, and my wired mouse and keyboard, which are connected to the hub via USB, being recognized by the phone.

So far, I’m pretty impressed with how easy it is to set up and use the Note 9 as a PC replacement – but could I actually use it for a whole week instead of my trusted PC?

One final note about the software. The Samsung Note 9 runs Android, and these days pretty much all applications I run on Windows have an Android app version, and if not, there will be an alternative. These might not be as fully-featured as their Windows versions, but for the tasks I’ll be using them for – mainly word processing, spreadsheets, instant messaging, emails and photo editing – they should be fine.

Also, while pretty much every Android app should work in DeX mode, there are a number of apps that are ‘DeX optimized’, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Photoshop Express, Gmail and Chrome. Software-wise, then, I’m pretty sure I could rely on the Note 9 for productivity.

You can browse files on the phone much like you would on a PC

You can browse files on the phone much like you would on a PC

The DeX experience

With the Samsung Note 9 connected to the USB-C hub, the DeX desktop appeared on my monitor. For anyone who’s used a modern desktop operating system, such as Windows 10, the look of the DeX desktop will be familiar. A bright, attractive, desktop wallpaper is used as the background, and there are shortcut icons to My Files, Gallery and Settings.

Clicking on My Files opens up a window similar to Windows Explorer, and from there I could see the files and documents saved on the Note 9; for people used to working on a Windows or Mac laptop, this is a nice way of locating your documents. You can’t drag and drop files from one folder to another – you need to right-click the file and select Move. It’s a bit of a niggle that highlights the limited nature of the DeX experience compared to a full operating system such as Windows 10, but for the most part I was very impressed with how DeX looked, and how smoothly it ran.

In the bottom-left corner of the desktop is a button that opens up your installed apps – think of it like Windows 10’s Start menu. Double-clicking an app opens it, with the app appearing in a window that can be resized and moved on the DeX desktop. Again, for Windows 10 users, this will feel very familiar.

Using apps on the Samsung Note 9 in DeX mode

Using apps on the Samsung Note 9 in DeX mode

The icons of open apps also appear along the bottom of the screen, enabling you to quickly switch between them. I should probably also mention here that my mouse and keyboard worked perfectly, with no hint of lag as I typed quickly or moved my cursor around the screen. 

Using the Dell hub seemed perfectly fine, although a pop-up on the Note 9 itself suggested using an official Samsung product. I can understand Samsung’s reasoning (got to sell more stuff, after all), but in my time using the Note 9 I didn’t see a need to purchase any additional kit, although occasionally the pop-up recommending Samsung kit would reappear on the phone.

Working on the phone

For my first day of work using solely the Samsung Note 9 I began writing this article. So, after loading up the Gmail app to check my emails, and the Slack app to keep in contact with my team, I opened the Word app to begin writing.

Both Gmail and Slack worked well with DeX, and because they were already installed on my phone it meant I didn’t have to install them or sign in. Despite Slack not being a DeX-optimized app it did the job well, letting me chat to colleagues much as the Windows 10 app does. Being able to have my mail and Slack open in the background while I work is vitally important – so far so good.

I wrote this article on the Note 9

I wrote this article on the Note 9

Opening the Word app was when I became seriously impressed, however, as it looked and behaved almost exactly like the desktop Windows program. Over the years, Microsoft Office’s Ribbon user interface has grown on me, so its presence is strangely comforting and reassuring.

It meant I felt right at home, and could begin typing away happily, with shortcuts and tools all where they should be. Another nice feature is that as it’s essentially the Word Android app (but with DeX support), the file is synched to OneDrive, so I can carry on editing on another device if needed. Handy, but I honestly didn’t feel the need to switch.

Of course, as the Note 9 is an Android device Google Docs also works very well in DeX mode. So, as a desktop replacement, I was very impressed indeed. The overall DeX interface does a good job of mimicking a desktop operating system, and while it doesn’t feel quite as smooth as Windows 10, for the most part it performed very well.

There were a few funny turns, with the Slack app crashing once, but anyone who’s ever used a PC will have experienced an unresponsive app or two. 

The Note 9 also threw a bit of a tantrum when someone phoned me while in DeX mode, and I removed the phone from the USB-C hub. I’m guessing it’s a slightly more polished experience when using an official Samsung DeX hub, but generally I was very impressed with the performance, and I found it easy to use the Samsung Note 9 as a replacement for a desktop PC for the entire week.

Can it replace a laptop?

What struck me about using the Samsung Note 9 as a replacement for my PC was how well it emulated a desktop PC. By plugging it into a hub and monitor, I was able to use a mouse and keyboard on a big screen at my desk.

However, I also regularly use a laptop when traveling, so could the Note 9 easily replace that as well? The issue here is that when using the Note 9 when traveling I’m not going to able to use a larger screen, or a mouse or keyboard, as I do at my desk. Here, the pressure is on the Note 9’s hardware itself.

As I mentioned earlier, the large screen of the Note 9 helps when it comes to browsing websites, tapping out emails and watching media, and for many people our smartphones have already replaced laptops for many of those tasks.

But while the large-screen Note 9 is fine for those activities, what about for taking down notes and writing articles, which I often do on my laptop at press events? The on-screen keyboard is large enough to type short articles and emails on easily enough, but it can’t compete with a laptop keyboard for longer pieces.

One option is to use a Bluetooth keyboard, which is something I may consider in the future. It’s another thing to carry around (and keep charged) though, so I’m more interesting in how the included S Pen stylus performs.

That fact that it’s stored in the body of the phone (and can be ejected with a push), is a really nice feature, especially as I don’t want to have to carry around more easily-lost items than I need to.  With the pen ejected, a menu appears enabling me to scribble quick notes and save them to the device in my awful handwriting.

It’s handy, and it means I don’t need to carry a notepad around with me, but it’s not quite what I’m after – I want something that can turn my scribbled notes into editable text that I can open in a word processor.

Thankfully, with a bit of digging around and experimenting, I found that the Note 9 can do that as well. Opening up the Word app and making sure the Samsung Keyboard was selected (I cheekily made Google’s Gboard keyboard the default initially, having come from a Pixel XL), I was able to write words with the stylus, and the Note 9 did a very good job of converting what I’d written into editable text and inserting it into the Word doc.

Considering how awful my handwriting is, I was again impressed. It’s not quite as quick as typing on a full-size keyboard, but it is faster than using the on-screen keyboard. There’s not a massive amount of space in which to write on the screen, but the Note 9 converts the text quickly, and gives you more room to write as you go. 

You may need to slow your pace of writing down a bit, but it worked fast and – most importantly – it was pretty accurate. I found that not writing joined-up helped, and that the app would occasionally mistake a full stop for a comma, but it proved to be a fast and effective way to take notes, which I could then edit when I returned to my desk.

Unlike using the Note 9 as a desktop replacement, which emulated the experience of working on a desktop PC so well that I didn’t have to change the way I worked, it takes more time to adjust to using the Note 9 as a laptop replacement.

Crucially, though, with the included S Pen stylus and accurate handwriting recognition, I didn’t mind adapting the way I worked.

RIP my PC?

So, after a week of working on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, am I ready to ditch my PC and laptop? Not quite, especially when it comes to my desktop PC. That’s mainly because I’m always going to want to have a PC to play games on – and I’m not talking about mobile games, although I am currently addicted to the Lemmings reboot. But for the day-to-day tasks of writing, editing and emailing, I could genuinely see myself happily using the Note 9 in DeX mode. I was seriously impressed.

I’m also going to try sticking with the Note 9 for writing notes when I go to meetings and events. It’ll take a little while to adjust without my laptop – and I certainly won’t be getting rid of that trusty old workhorse just yet – but the benefits of not having to lug around a laptop are very tempting.

So far I’m really impressed with my time using the Note 9 as a PC replacement. I didn’t think that I would be seriously considering using the smartphone as my main work computer when I started this experiment – but I am.

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LG G8 may introduce touch-free gesture controls, teases MWC 2019 invite

Touch is so 2007 to 2018, according to the LG’s invite. Say hello to gesture controls – or at least, that’s what the LG G8 invite for MWC 2019 strongly implies.

The official LG G8 launch event will be February 24, according to the Save the Date email LG sent to TechRadar and other media outlets. The press conference invite links to a YouTube video that drops even more hints about LG’s next phones.

“Goodbye touch,” reads a piece of paper, as a cartoon hand swipes across the screen to reveal the text, then immediately dismiss it. The hand never actually touches the paper. “MWC 2019 LG Premiere” text appears and it’s flicked upward by the hand. 

One of many LG phones?

We’ve heard about a ‘Touchless’ input from prior LG G8 leaks, so there’s reason to think that this is LG’s new smartphone gimmick for its ThinQ phones in 2019. 

The same leak out of South Korea suggested an LG phone at MWC 2019 will utilize a connected dual display add-on to take on the foldable Samsung Galaxy X. We may be in for one or even multiple LG phones launched next month.

LG’s mobile offering at MWC 2019 will likely go up against a trio of Samsung phones – the Galaxy S10, S10 Plus and S10 Lite – and the foldable Galaxy X. Samsung’s new phones launch on February 20, four days before LG’s press conference. So expect to see more LG teases right around that time.

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Huawei’s new chip is the most complex CPU ever built

Earlier this month, Huawei announced a new server processor, the Kunpeng 920, at CES. This CPU turned heads in the industry as it was the first silicon design from the Chinese behemoth to feature rather impressive specs and benchmark numbers.

TechRadar Pro managed to get an exclusive interview with Mr Ai Wei, Fellow, Chipsets and Hardware Technology Strategy at Huawei, to discuss this new ARM-based processor in more detail, and some interesting titbits emerged concerning performance and transistor counts.

Mr Ai Wei

Mr Ai Wei, Fellow, Chipsets and Hardware Technology Strategy at Huawei

TechRadar Pro (TRP): Are the new processors (Kunpeng 920) going to be used by Huawei only in its servers or will they be available to other vendors (and potential Huawei competitors)?

Ai Wei: Our new CPU Kunpeng 920 will only be used on Huawei’s servers and other Huawei equipment, delivering value for our customers through equipment and cloud services. We will not be selling these chips directly.

TRP: Huawei servers were until now almost all x86-powered. What made you choose to go for an ARM architecture? How will both architectures sit within your product portfolio?

AW: The x86-based product market is still growing. At the same time, the service and data demands across multiple scenarios are driving the diversity of computing, and presenting new opportunities to the ARM industry. Huawei actively works with global partners to provide competitive products and solutions to customers.

TRP: How does your performance per core per MHz compare to the competition (Intel Xeon Gold, Cavium ThunderX2, Ampere eMAG)?

AW: Kunpeng 920 was independently designed by Huawei based on an ARMv8 architecture license. Kunpeng 920 significantly improves single-core performance by optimizing branch prediction algorithms, increasing the number of execution units, and adopting out-of-order execution. The CPU’s SPECint2006 score exceeded 10/GHz per core.

(Ed: In comparison, an HP 2P AMD EPYC 7601 system scored 14/GHz per core).

TRP: Why do you think Huawei will succeed with Kunpeng 920 where others have failed and lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the process?

AW: We are entering an intelligent society where all things are connected, sensing, and intelligent. In view of the industry trends and application requirements, a new era of diversified computing is unfolding. Multiple data types and scenarios are driving computing architecture optimization. Combining multiple computing architectures for optimal performance is a must. We remain customer-centric and offer multiple paths for our customers to address their diverse needs.

With the development of smartphones, edge computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT), and as data diversity drives more diversity in computing, the ARM industry will see many new opportunities for development. The ARM architecture is highly energy-efficient and can address new requirements from specific application scenarios. Technological improvement will help ARM deliver higher performance for data centers. According to estimates by ARM, 100 billion ARM-based CPUs will be shipped between 2017 and 2020, representing a huge market.

TRP: The Kunpeng 920 lands at a time of great changes in the land of processors with FPGA and accelerators playing an increasingly important role in tackling data center loads. How do you see the Kunpeng family evolving over the next few years?

AW: The explosion and diversity of data presents new opportunities and challenges. We will continue to innovate the Kunpeng series CPUs, and provide higher-speed I/Os with increased computing power. We will also constantly work with our industry partners to provide better solutions for our customers.

TRP: Are the cores standard ARM A76 cores, or ARM’s Ares platform, or something else? What is the expected die size at 7nm (roughly)? Any details regarding the transistor count?

AW: There is no relevance between these cores and ARM’s standard A76 or Ares cores, it is fully independently-developed by Huawei. In terms of transistors there are roughly over 20-billion transistors integrated. Information regarding die size is confidential.

TRP: You showed a SPECint score of 930. That’s SPECint2006 rate? What was the SPECfp result?

AW: Yes, that number is the score of running the benchmark SPECint2006 rate. The score of SPECfp is over 800 with 64 core@2.6GHz.

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Supercharge your storage with this 4TB WD external hard drive for $80, a savings of 20%

Everybody could use more storage, and today, you can add a massive 4TB of extra space on the cheap with a sale on the WD Elements 4TB external hard drive. You’ll pay $80 on NeweggRemove non-product link instead of its $99 list price when you use the code EMCTUVV45 at checkout.

This external drive is tiny at 6.50 x 1.90 x 5.30-inches and just over two pounds, but it packs a ton of storage in a small package. Shock protection and a durable exterior help keep your data safe from physical threats without sacrificing the drive’s sleek design. USB 3.0 and 2.0 compatibility make it easy to transfer data from a wide range of devices, while fast transfers can help you move over your data quickly. This huge hard drive is perfect for backing up your data.

We haven’t tried this exact hard drive ourselves, but we’ve liked Western Digital products in the past, even naming the WD My Passport our favorite external drive.

[Today’s deal: WD Elements 4TB external hard drive for $80 on Newegg with code EMCTUVV45.Remove non-product link]

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How to cancel your Netflix subscription

There are lots of good reasons to have a Netflix account; these days it hosts some of the best TV shows and movies on the planet, including The Good Place, Bojack Horseman, The Crown, Black Mirror, and more. 

But what if you’re done with your Netflix account? With the recent price hike, you may be deciding the cost is a bit rich and it’s time to save some cash. 

The cheapest Netflix plan in the US is now $9 (£5.99 / AU$9.99), while its HD Standard plan (the most popular) costs $13 (£7.99 / AU$13.99), up from $11. The 4K Premium plan is also going up in price, to $16 (£9.99 / AU$17.99) from $14.

Whether you’re on a TV detox, heading to a rival like Amazon Prime, or are just sick of your ex logging into your account behind your back, here’s how you can delete your Netflix subscription once and for all. 

How do I cancel Netflix?

If you have a streaming subscription with Netflix that you want to cancel, you first need to head to the Netflix app, or open it up in your web browser. Then, click on your account icon in the top right corner of the page, and select ‘Account’. 

Under the ‘Membership & Billing’ section, you’ll see a button that says ‘Cancel Membership’ – click on this, and you’ll be taken to a new page, where you have the option to either cancel your membership or downgrade your current plan. 

If you’re on a HD Standard or 4K Premium plan, you may want to try downgrading your account to a Standard Definition plan to save a bit of money without losing your access to the streaming platform all together. 

If not, click on the ‘Finish Cancellation’ button to stop your subscription. Once you’ve cancelled your subscription, you’ll still have access to your Netflix account until the end of the current billing period.

If you have a Netflix gift card or promotional balance left on your account when you cancel, you’ll still be able to stream until the balance runs out – after this, the cancellation will go into effect automatically. 

For up to 10 months after you cancel your subscription, your profile, favorite shows, and account details can be reinstated. All you have to do is re-subscribe to the service, and all your viewing preferences will be there waiting for you. 

How to cancel your Netflix free trial

If you’ve opted for a month’s free trial of Netflix and decided you don’t want to fork out for the paid subscription, you can cancel your account in exactly the same way. 

A word of warning though; if you don’t cancel your account before your free trial runs out, you will automatically be charged for the next month of streaming. 

Netflix does send you a reminder when your free trial is about to expire, but it’s worth setting a reminder on your smartphone if you plan on cancelling your Netflix account after the free trial is up. 

How to remove a Netflix profile

If you simply want to delete a profile on your Netflix account, go to your account icon in the top right corner of the app, and select ‘Manage Profiles’. 

Your different profile icons will appear with a pencil symbol in the bottom left corner; click on the icon for the account you want to change and from there, you can edit the profile. 

Here you have the option to change the name of the profile, the language, icon image, and mature content filters (handy if you have small children and want to restrict their viewing to kid-friendly shows). You can also delete the profile here, unless it’s your main account profile, in which case, you’ll need to delete the entire account to get rid of it. 

Once you delete a profile, the viewing history from that profile will also be deleted. 

Can I delete my Netflix viewing history?

If you want to hide titles from your Netflix viewing history, you first need to select the profile you want to delete your viewing history from. Once there, click on your account icon, and select ‘Account’ from the drop down menu. 

Scroll down to the ‘My Profile’ section, and click on ‘My Activity’, where all the shows you’ve been watching recently will appear. 

At the bottom of your viewing activity, you can click on the ‘Hide all’ button to remove your viewing history – it’s worth bearing in mind that this action can’t be undone, and within 24 hours, the titles you have deleted will no longer be used to make recommendations and will not be shown as ‘watched’ if you click on them again in the future. So, you may find that your viewing recommendations become less accurately tailored to your preferences.

Want to give Netflix another go? Check out our round ups of the best Netflix shows wherever you are in the world:

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Best gaming phone 2019

Gaming on phones has been a thing ever since we all first booted up our Nokia 3310s for hours on Snake, before our iPhones became clogged with hours of Candy Crush Saga.

But increasingly smartphones are becoming viable gaming devices alongside home consoles.

Such is the power of modern smartphones. Gaming sensations like Fortnite and PUBG can thank their mobile platform and portability for their ridiculous run-away success. And it’s no wonder considering the power inside the best smartphones around. 

While the latest Apple and Samsung phones are capable of running the most demanding mobile games, the market is so popular that there are also dedicated gaming phones like the Asus ROG Phone, Razer Phone and Xiaomi Black Shark. Since there are only a handful like this, we’ve also included some ‘normal’ phones that also offer a good gaming experience.

Do you need all the highest specs?

These phones often have specialised hardware or even sometimes clip on controllers to help you game better. Internals often have boosts in RAM or the most powerful CPU or GPU to help the phone keep up. A couple even have liquid cooling.

Specs are pretty important if you want to game to the highest level on a phone, but it does depend on which games you want to run smoothly. If you are more into arcade or puzzle games then you might not need to splash out on a high-end gaming phone.

Below are our recommend best phones for gaming. Take some time to consider which has the best features at the best price for you, for the games you want to be able to run.

The best gaming phones in 2019

1. Asus ROG Phone

Asus ROG Phone

2. Razer Phone 2

Razer Phone 2

3. Xiaomi Black Shark

Xiaomi Black Shark

4. Honor Play

Honor Play

5. Razer Phone

Razer Phone

6. Samsung Galaxy Note 9

Samsung Galaxy Note 9

7. Apple iPhone XS Max

Apple iPhone XS Max

8. OnePlus 6T

OnePlus 6T

9. Honor View 20

Honor View 20

10. Xiaomi Pocophone F1

Xiaomi Pocophone F1

Click here for the best Samsung deals and Samsung voucher codes.


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Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro UK Review

Xiaomi is a new brand to the UK, but the world’s a lot bigger than our little island and this eight-year-old company is actually the fourth largest phone vendor in the world.

With its Mi 8 Pro among the first devices to launch in the UK in November 2018, market leaders Samsung and Apple have every reason to be worried.

Costing significantly less than its UK rivals at £499, this Mi 8 Pro is every bit as fast and stylish, with decent cameras and one key feature missing in the Galaxy S9: the in-display fingerprint sensor.

So it doesn’t have a waterproof casing, nor wireless charging support. And its display is only Full-HD+. But it’s difficult to hold any of these things against the Mi 8 Pro when you consider its incredible value.

Now that it has officially entered the UK market, for the first time you can buy a Xiaomi phone on contract, and with none of the caveats that importing consumer tech from China would usually entail.

With easy availability, full support for UK 4G LTE bands (with dual-SIM as standard), and Google services preinstalled on a Global ROM, Xiaomi phones just became a whole lot more appealing to a UK audience.

(Also see: Best Xiaomi phones and Best Xiaomi Deals)

Mi 8 Pro UK Price & Availability

The Mi 8 Pro costs £499 in the UK, going on sale on 9 November via , Amazon, Argos, John Lewis, Carphone Warehouse, Currys/PC World, Very, , and .

You can also buy the Mi 8 Pro in store at the brand-new Mi outlet in London’s Westfield shopping centre. 

At this price it undercuts all its UK rivals, coming in £30 less than the comparable OnePlus 6T with 8GB of RAM.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

Transparent By Design

Today’s flagships all follow a similar design: a high screen-to-body ratio with a large, high-quality panel adorning the front, often with a notch in which the sensors and selfie camera are placed to maximise the available screen area; a glass rear with gently sloping edges curving in to meet a skinny metal frame; and at least two cameras at the back. Check, check and check.

But tested here in Transparent Titanium, which is the only version to go on sale in the UK, the Mi 8 Pro has one feature we’ve not seen elsewhere – and the name kind of gives it away.

It looks as though the Mi 8 Pro’s internal components are on view, but it’s actually a fake board with no working parts according to . That doesn’t make it look any less special (and actually if it were the real components it probably wouldn’t be half as pretty.

It’s not just the fact you can see through the rear cover and all the flashes of gold and metallic red that extend to the outside with the dual-lens surrounds and power button, but the text labels Xiaomi has added: it’s all kinds of cool.

Some are descriptive, others less so. We’re pretty sure the MIUI 10 operating system isn’t hidden behind a screw, for example, and in fact our review sample is running MIUI 9.6.3 because Xiaomi didn’t want to give us a phone running new software that could still contain bugs.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

“Innovation for everyone,” Xiaomi’s slogan, is emblazoned across its belly. Down at the bottom you’ll find a couple of nods to its huge community of users, which are always kept in mind by this fan-first company. “MiFans” is one, and the other is its promise to “Be the coolest company in the hearts of our users.”

“Sincerity, passion” and “Always believe that something magical is about to happen” are visible toward the top. Also here is a “<5%", which we presume is reference to the fact the company makes no more than 5% profit on any of its devices - a key reason behind it being able to undercut its rivals on pricing.

Roughly half the view from the rear is concealed by the phone’s 3,000mAh battery, which has a carbon-fibre design that looks amazing under the glass.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

Putting Xiaomi’s Best Tech On Display

Something you won’t find at the back is a fingerprint sensor, and that’s because it’s built into the display – an increasingly popular trend in new flagship phones. The Mi 8 Pro is Xiaomi’s second smartphone to have this feature, with it being in essence the same phone as the limited-edition Mi 8 Explorer but without its 3D facial recognition (it uses an IR camera instead).

The Mi 8 Pro is certainly not the first phone to integrate the fingerprint sensor in the display, but it’s far from a common feature. Samsung, the market leader, has yet to add it to any of its phones, for example. 

This is a pressure-sensitive fingerprint scanner, and you don’t need to wake the screen in order to use it but we often found it worked better if we did (you can double-tap to wake the screen, though this gesture is turned off by default).

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

Probably eight times out of 10 the Mi 8 Pro correctly recognised our fingerprint and instantly unlocked the phone, but if the screen is a bit dirty – perhaps covered with fingerprints or make-up where you’ve held it against your cheek – it can fail to recognise your fingerprint, and after the third attempt will prompt you to enter your backup PIN, password or pattern.

The pressure-sensitive area is reasonably small, but when you tap the display or wake the screen it flashes up so you know exactly where to press.

The screen itself is a 6.21in AMOLED panel, exactly the same as on the standard Mi 8. We are big fans of AMOLED with its vibrant, punchy, saturated colours, and rich, deep blacks. Although it has the same Full-HD+ resolution as the cheaper Mi 8 Lite, the difference between AMOLED and IPS is clearly visible when these two phones are held side by side. (You’ll also like our Mi 8 vs Mi 8 Pro vs Mi 8 Lite comparison.)

Xiaomi claims a contrast ratio of 60,000:1 and a maximum brightness of 600 nits, though we weren’t able to achieve quite this level in our own tests with our Spyder tool hitting a maximum 406 nits. Even so, this panel is easily visible in all lighting conditions, even in direct sunlight (where we can find it).

Having covered Xiaomi phones for several years now, it’s no surprise to us that it would launch a flagship phone with a display that maxes out at Full-HD+ (2248×1080). Xiaomi intends to keep down costs, and is clearly sitting on the side of the fence that thinks Quad-HD+ on a phone is unnecessary, having never fitted such a panel on any of its phones. Even Samsung has back-peddled here, allowing the display to hit that super-high resolution when required but setting it to Full-HD+ by default to save on battery power.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

In common with the likes of Samsung and LG it supports an Always-On Display, though with less control over what is visible here: you get the time, date and notification icons, or you don’t. You can schedule the AOD to switch off at certain times if it’s keeping you awake at night, though you won’t be forced to do so for its minimal impact on battery life.

Sometimes, while getting ready for work in the morning, we found the AOD didn’t always update in real time. So it might jump from 7:31 to 7:38 and then we’d have to hurry up and leg it out the door. It’s never far out, but when every minute counts it’s annoying.

The Mi 8 Pro has incredibly slim bezels and a tall 18.7:9 aspect ratio, which not only looks futuristic but helps Xiaomi to cram such a large screen into a device that is narrow enough to hold in one hand. Curved edges at the rear and a slim 7.6mm body help here, too. Though we wouldn’t go so far as to say you can achieve all tasks without resorting to a second hand, there are some software features of note that can make doing so more manageable.

One-handed mode shrinks the screen to 4.5-, 4- or 3.5 inches, and can snap the smaller display area to the left- or right-hand side of the device to serve all users equally well. There’s also a Quick Ball feature, which places anywhere onscreen quick access to common functions.

By also utilising a ‘screen notch’ – and rather a large one at that, much wider than on the Mi 8 Lite – Xiaomi is able to achieve an 86.68% screen-to-body ratio. That’s about as close to full-display as you can get without completely removing the selfie camera and sensors from the front, which is exactly what it has done with its Mi Mix 3, a phone that achieves a 93.4% ratio by utilising a sliding-screen mechanism and tucking away these components out of sight.

There’s Gorilla Glass 5 protection front and back, which is handy given that transparent rear is so pretty you’re not going to want to add a case.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

Pro performance

Xiaomi’s Mi 8 Pro might cost significantly less than its UK rivals, but the hardware is well up to scratch. Inside is the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor as we see in all 2018 flagships, an octa-core processor built on the second-generation 10nm process that is optimised for both speed and efficiency. It’s integrated with the Adreno 630 GPU and comes with a colossal 8GB RAM – the only time we’ve seen more is in a special-edition version of the Mi Mix 3, which has 10GB.

It’s also paired with 128GB of fast UFS 2.1 internal storage. It can’t be expanded using a removable microSD card as you can with the Mi 8 Lite, but you can make full use of cloud storage with both Google apps and Mi Cloud. Few people will need more than 128GB in any case.

Before we get on to the benchmarks, let us tell you this phone is quite simply fast. The Mi 8 Pro never once showed any signs of not being up to the job in any of the tasks we threw at it, nor in any of our general usage.

It’s got all the power you need for gaming, and we found even an hour of Helix Jump (which, to be fair, probably isn’t the most intensive game) failed to stump the battery.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

There’s a 3,000mAh battery inside this Mi 8 Pro, which is 400mAh lower in capacity than that in the standard Mi 8, and 350mAh lower than in the Mi 8 Lite. Housed inside the exact same size case as the Mi 8 we presume this has been necessary to squeeze in the in-display fingerprint scanning tech, since there are few other major differences in the spec.

In our fairly heavy usage, which includes an hour of gaming on our daily commute and hundreds of incoming Slack messages and emails throughout the day, we found the Mi 8 Pro would easily last until we laid down in bed at night.

This came as a surprise following its Geekbench 4 battery time of 6 hours, 45 minutes – we thought battery life would fall short. Fact is, synthetic benchmarks are useful but don’t always paint a true-to-life picture of performance. 

When it comes time to recharging the Mi 8 Pro its support for Quick Charge 4.0 means it’s back up and running in minutes. We are told there is an 18W charger supplied in the retail box, though we weren’t provided with said box or charger. Using a 15W charger the Mi 8 Pro managed 35% on a 30-minute charge, so expect even better results with the supplied kit. There is no support for wireless charging, which is a little odd given that it features in the Mi Mix series, but we guess it helps keep down costs.

Geekbench 4 isn’t used only for battery testing, and we also run its CPU benchmarks. The Mi 8 Pro turned in a multi-core score of 8334 points, and 2333 single-core. That’s a below some flagships running pure Android, and even Xiaomi’s other phones running the same processor, as you’ll see in the performance chart below, but not so different that a real-life user would be able to notice a difference.

In games benchmarks the Mi 8 Pro really showed us what for, and this is almost certainly because it has a Full-HD+ rather than Quad-HD+ display and therefore fewer pixels to push around. It achieved superb, perfectly playable framerates in all GFXBench’s onscreen tests.

Ports & Connectivity

Taking a look round the Mi 8 Pro’s edges we find a USB-C port at the bottom, and there’s another nice touch here as a red metal prong is visible inside, tying in with the flashes of red and gold seen throughout the design. 

This USB-C port is not only used for charging and data transfer, but also audio. Again, we’re informed that a USB-C- to 3.5mm adaptor is provided in the box. This is quickly becoming the norm for flagship phones, freeing up space inside the chassis for either extra tech or a more compact design.

To either side of this USB-C port is a line of drilled holes, hidden behind which is a mono speaker. We heard minimal distortion at full volume, which as it happens is pretty loud. We found it performed well with pop music and ballads, and was even up to a bit of bass. It’s a good all-rounder for audio.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

Moving on to the left-hand side we find a pin-operated SIM tray. That’s pretty standard for Android phones, or in fact any phones these days, but less standard is the fact it accepts two SIMs.

Almost all phones in China accept two SIMs, but often when they are brought to the UK they are sold as single-SIM variants. Not so with the Mi 8 Pro. It supports dual-SIM dual-standby, and either Nano-SIM can connect to 4G networks. This makes it easier to balance work and play, or local and foreign SIMs. As we noted earlier you cannot replace one of these SIMs with a microSD card, as you can in the Mi 8 Lite.

Connectivity all round is good. There’s dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0 and dual-frequency GPS. We used the Mi 8 Pro as our navigator in the car with Google Maps, and it always knew exactly where we were – it’s super-accurate.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

Take Mi Photo

The Mi 8 Pro takes the same cameras as the standard Mi 8, which means a dual-lens assembly on the rear that comprises a 12Mp Sony IMX363 and 12Mp Samsung S5K3M3, and a 20Mp Samsung S5K3T1 at the front. AI is built into each, enabling the Mi 8 Pro to intelligently select the scene (one of 206 presets) and automatically configure appropriate settings. The second lens is also useful for achieving the popular bokeh (blurred background) effect.

The specs of these cameras are good, with the primary lens able to draw in more light with an f/1.8 aperture and 1.4um pixels. The selfie camera supports huge 1.8um pixels, and performs particularly well in low light. There’s also 2x optical zoom and four-axis OIS, while for video it can shoot 4K at 30fps or full-HD at a super-slo-mo 240fps, and there’s a Time Lapse mode.

The app itself is clean and easy to use, with a selection of real-time filters and various modes including Group Selfie and Beautify. In Manual mode you get control over white balance, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and which of the two lenses you use – wide-angle or telephoto.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

There’s a Beautify mode for the front camera too, but perhaps something is at fault with the software on our review sample because none of the adjustments made a slight bit of difference. If working correctly you should be able to set one of five preset beauty levels, or enter a remodeling mode in which you can tweak how slender is your face and the size of your eyes, nose, chin, lips and risorius. 

We had to Google that last one, and learned that “The risorius is a muscle of facial expression which arises in the fascia over the parotid gland and, passing horizontally forward, superficial to the platysma, inserts on to the skin at the angle of the mouth.” Thanks Wikipedia, though we are actually still none the wiser.

It transpires that several software features will be delivered after the launch via an OTA update, so it’s possible this may be one of them.

We took a selection of test shots and found the Mi 8 Pro to be an excellent camera phone, able to reproduce vibrant colours and plenty of detail, sharp right to the edges. From our seventh-floor roof terrace we could pick out individual bricks on the building opposite and even read the ground-level road signs. 

Indoors and especially in low-light it does a fantastic job of lighting the scene, and noise – although present – is reasonably minimal. Text is well defined, Shades of black easily distinguishable, and colours accurate.

Outdoors in good lighting the results are even better.

Check out some of our test shots below:

Mi 8 Pro close-up

Above: Mi 8 Pro close-up (indoors)

Mi 8 Pro Auto settings

Above: Mi 8 Pro auto settings

Mi 8 Pro HDR

Above: Mi 8 Pro HDR mode

Mi 8 Pro Low Light

Above: Mi 8 Pro in low-light test

MIUI is Android… but better?

Running the MIUI 9 Global ROM (on our review sample, the retail unit will run MIUI 10), the Mi 8 Pro has full support for Google Play and many Google services preinstalled out of the box. You’ll also find a selection of Xiaomi’s own apps, though not as many as you would find on the Chinese ROM. All are suitable for a UK audience, but you may prefer to stick to the Google apps with which you’re familiar.

One notable difference between MIUI and pure Android is there’s no app tray, which means all app shortcuts are found on the home screen, as you’d find on an iPhone. At first this approach seemed alien to us, but it’s easy to tuck away in a folder the apps you don’t want to use all the time, and we quite like the fact nothing gets forgotten on the twentieth screen of the app tray.

Pull down from the top of the screen and you’ll also find the quick-access shortcuts look different, but not bad different – it’s very easy to use, and you can choose which toggles are displayed here. Tap the Settings cog and you’ll find all the same settings as you would on standard Android, but some are in different menus – there’s a search function for anything you can’t immediately find.

Swipe in from the left of the home screen to access the ‘App Vault’. It’s a bit of a strange name for the feature, but it works just as on any other Android phone – a screen that offers quick access to your most commonly used apps, notes and calendar events. You’ll also be notified here if any updates are available. 

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

MIUI has many of the same features as standard Android, in fact it is a custom version of Android 8 Oreo. So you’ll find functions such as Split Screen in the multi-tasking menu. MIUI will eventually be updated to Android Pie, though no timescale has been given.

MIUI also has other features you won’t find in other Android phones, such as Second Space and Dual Apps. The latter is particularly useful if you’re using two SIMs, allowing you to run two individual instances of any app installed on your phone.

Mi Mover is useful if you’re moving from another Xiaomi phone, while Mi Drop allows file sharing without an internet connection.

There are some really decent backup options in MIUI, which are similar to the System Restore feature in Windows – at any point you can create a backup point, including system settings, account info and apps, and later restore to this point (even after a factory reset). You can also access standard Google backup options, and Mi Cloud.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

The Mi 8 Pro also supports full-screen gestures, so you can remove the onscreen buttons from the display and swipe up to go home, swipe up and pause to access the multitasking menu, and swipe in from the right or left edge to go back.

In either mode there’s also an option to hide the screen notch, in essence by filling in black the space to either side. The time, signal strength and remaining battery capacity icons are still visible in the same space, so it’s purely an aesthetic thing. 

Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro Review

There’s a Themes option in the Settings menu, and whereas you would usually get a dedicated Themes app on Xiaomi phones from which you can download a number of themes, here you have a choice of only Default or Limitless.

One complaint we do have with MIUI concerns the volume settings: you cannot independently control call and notification volume: you have just three sliders, for rings, alarms and media. In MIUI 10 the volume sliders are displayed as vertical bars, as seen in Android 9.0 Pie, but that is not the case for our review sample.

Mi 8 Pro Verdict

We’ve admired Xiaomi phones for some time, and now the rest of the UK will get a look in too. This Mi 8 Pro is the best of Xiaomi and, we think, as good as any other flagship phone on the market – even those costing double the price.

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