“Our first impressions of Xiaomi’s high-end mid-ranger, the Mi 9 SE”
What do you do after you’ve just announced a highly-anticipated affordable flagship? Why build upon the momentum and launch an even more competitively priced variant of the same device. That’s exactly what Xiaomi did at its launch event in China earlier this month, where the company unveiled the Mi 9 SE, a slightly toned-down variant of its flagship offering, the Mi 9 (first impressions). Now, at the smartphone’s global “Make it happen” event in Barcelona, I managed to get my hands on a unit and after playing with it for a while, here’s what I make of it.
Now, as I mentioned at the beginning of the article, the Mi 9SE is a more affordable variant of the Xiaomi Mi 9. So, let me address the measures Xiaomi took to bring the price of the smartphone down. Starting off, the Mi 9 SE is the world’s first smartphone backed by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 712 processor, which is an octa-core, 10nm chip. On the contrary, the Mi 9 is backed by a speedier Snapdragon 855 processor which is based on a more battery-efficient 7nm fabrication process. That said, the Mi 9 SE felt quite snappy during my initial usage and the chip should hold well for most buyers.
Moving on, while the company is offering a triple rear camera setup on the Mi 9 SE, it’s backed by slightly different sensors when compared to the Mi 9. Now, before you get your pitchforks out, you should know that Xiaomi has retained the 48MP, Sony IMX 586 sensor on the Mi 9 SE, which should pave way for some excellent photo opportunities. However, the assisting shooters have been replaced on the Mi 9 SE for an 8MP telephoto lens and a 13MP wide-angle lens (as opposed to a 12MP telephoto and a 16MP wide-angle on the Mi 9).
Other than that, buyers eyeing the Mi 9 SE can expect the usual compromises which go hand-in-hand when opting for a relatively smaller device 
a less capacious 3,070mAh battery and a relatively smaller 5.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display. That said, the quality of the panel felt excellent during my initial stint with the device and I’m confident that the battery-efficient cores on the Snapdragon 712 chip will ensure a good battery backup too.
As for the similarities, the handset draws parallels to its bigger brother in the design department. Not only does it employ the same glass-sandwich design, but it also ships with an in-display fingerprint sensor which as per Xiaomi is faster and more reliable than previous generation sensors. Now, having used both the devices here in Barcelona, I can confidently say that I prefer the compact form factor of the Mi 9 SE more. It felt extremely one-hand friendly, and if you’re a sucker for small phones, the device should definitely be on your wishlist.
Furthermore, the display on both, the Mi 9, as well as the Mi 9 SE, features a water-drop styled notch which is substantially less intrusive than the cutout on the company’s previous offerings. Unfortunately, much like the Mi 9, the Mi 9 SE too lacks a headphone jack, so you’ll have to use a dongle to connect a pair of 3.5mm headphones to the device. On the flipside, the software experience should be the same across both the devices as both the handsets run Xiaomi’s proprietary MIUI v10 on top of Android Pie. 
What makes things interesting, however, is the pricing. The base variant of the Mi 9 SE starts for as low as 1,999 Yuan, which roughly translates into Rs 21K. At that price, the Mi 9 SE is an absolute steal, as it brings forth some of the enticing features of its pricier sibling in a more compact, one-hand friendly chassis. We’ll address the smartphone’s Indian release date and pricing as and when we get more information, so stay tuned to our blog for more updates.
from 91mobiles.com http://bit.ly/2Nrxx4v
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