Xiaomi Mi Note 2 review: Filling in

Synthetic benchmarks

The Snapdragon 821 is the flagship chipset of choice this season and the Mi Note 2 packs one. Qualcomm's top-end offering, as the number hints, is an updated version of the S820 from the spring, and we've witnessed what both chips are capable of in a number of devices. Let's check out the Mi Note 2's scores.

Starting off with some good ol' Geekbench, we can see the Mi Note 2 scoring on par with its S821 peers - two more from camp Xiaomi and the OnePlus 3T. The regular S820 bunch are a notch down. The Huawei Mate 9 rules the multi-core test with its unmatched quartet of Cortex-A73s, while the iPhone 7 Plus' Fusion cores are in a league of their own in single-core.

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 9
  6112
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  5664
• OnePlus 3T
  4364
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  4333
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  4288
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  4278
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  4128
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3868
• LG V20
  3824
• HTC 10
  3621

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3473
• Huawei Mate 9
  1898
• OnePlus 3T
  1890
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  1824
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  1815
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  1815
• HTC 10
  1708
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  1696
• Sony Xperia XZ
  1578
• LG V20
  1576

From dedicated CPU benchmarks to the compound Basemark OS II 2.0 and we see the OnePlus 3T pulling ahead with its S821, just barely edging the Huawei Mate 9. The Xiaomi Snapdragons stick tightly together, with only the 5s Plus marginally ahead, but the S7 edge matches them despite packing the older Qualcomm chip. The Exynos powered variant doesn't fare as good, and neither do the LG V20 and Xperia XZ.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3796
• OnePlus 3T
  2678
• Huawei Mate 9
  2637
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  2434
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  2381
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  2364
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  2352
• LG V20
  2159
• Sony Xperia XZ
  2151
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  2050
• HTC 10
  1839

Antutu doesn't seem to like the Mi Note 2 (or the other way around), and the Xiaomi phablet scores about 140K. That's the first run though, subsequent tests yield progressively lower results, all the way down to 110K which seems to be the minimum with the SoC already thermally throttled down. It's not the only device that does this though, we experienced the same behavior on the LG V20, for example.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  173110
• OnePlus 3T
  165097
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  155185
• HTC 10
  154031
• LG V20
  141945
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  140324
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  133242
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  132849
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  129229
• Sony Xperia XZ
  124266
• Huawei Mate 9
  122826

With the latest Antutu heavily leaning towards graphics tests, we can find explanation for the diminishing test scores there in GFXBench. First runs of Manhattan yield a reasonable 40fps, but that tends to drop down with subsequent testing, all the way to 32fps, both onscreen and off. Also, Xiaomi's own Mi 5s Plus is consistently an odd frame or two ahead of its more premium brother. And with the OnePlus 3T the gap is even wider.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  60
• OnePlus 3T
  49
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  49
• HTC 10
  47
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  44
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  40
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  40
• LG V20
  40
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  38
• Sony Xperia XZ
  37
• Huawei Mate 9
  30

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  56
• OnePlus 3T
  48
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  47
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  41
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  41
• Sony Xperia XZ
  37
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  29
• Huawei Mate 9
  28
• HTC 10
  28
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  27
• LG V20
  25

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  39
• OnePlus 3T
  33
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  32
• HTC 10
  31
• Sony Xperia XZ
  31
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  30
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  29
• LG V20
  29
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  28
• Huawei Mate 9
  22

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  42
• OnePlus 3T
  33
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  32
• Sony Xperia XZ
  32
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  30
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  27
• Huawei Mate 9
  23
• LG V20
  17
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  15
• HTC 10
  15

Then again, Basemark X produces more consistent results between runs, which is the behavior we're normally used to with graphics benchmarks. Here, it is the Mi Mix that does the best job of all Xiaomis, but also among the current crop of Android flagships. We observe a very pronounced gap in this test between the Spring Snapdragon and the one from the Fall, with the Kirin 960 rubbing shoulders with the better one.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  37346
• OnePlus 3T
  36958
• Huawei Mate 9
  36519
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  36506
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  36062
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  32160
• Sony Xperia XZ
  29548
• LG V20
  29385
• HTC 10
  28882
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  28480

In Basemark ES 3.1 the Mate 9 is the highest ranked droid, but more importantly to the Mi Note 2, the OnePlus 3T has a meaningful advantage here. It also goes to show that the Snapdragon 820 can outperform the 821 - compare the Galaxy S7 edge to the Xiaomi bunch.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  1517
• Huawei Mate 9
  794
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  733
• OnePlus 3T
  641
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  624
• Sony Xperia XZ
  577
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  558
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  556
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  538
• LG V20
  526

Overall, nothing surprising in the Xiaomi Mi Note 2's performance - the Snapdragon 821 is a true powerhouse across the board. Even if the Mi Note 2 doesn't top any charts it's still a top-class performer. We're not thrilled about its inability to deliver sustained performance over prolonged work loads, but that's become all too common and is by no means exclusive to the Xiaomi phablet.