Hands On: A first look at Xiaomi’s Mi 5c, their first phone with their in-house Surge S1 SoC processor 1

Hands On: A first look at Xiaomi’s Mi 5c, their first phone with their in-house Surge S1 SoC processor

The number of phone companies that make their own SoC chips in-house is an elusively elite club that Xiaomi has just joined when they began production on their 28nm Surge S1 octacore processor that combined eight Cortex A53 cores, with four of them clocked at 2.2GHz and another at 1.4GHz with the ability to handle 4K video, VoLTE and 16kHz sampling for high-quality audio. This, the midrange Mi 5c is the first phone to incorporate the Surge S1 processor.

Hands On: A first look at Xiaomi’s Mi 5c, their first phone with their in-house Surge S1 SoC processor 2
Despite the phone having a 5.15-inch Full HD 428ppi touchscreen sheathed in 2.5D glass, it felt surprisingly slim and svelte with a matte graphite two-toned black and gunmetal grey finish.

In addition to the Surge S1 processor  running under the hood, the phone paired Android Nougat 7.0 with 3GB RAM and 64GB of storage. The rear came with an 12-MP f/2.2 camera while the front came with an 8-MP selfie camera also with an F/2.2 aperture. The battery is a somewhat modest 2,860mAh juiced by a USB Type C port with 9V/2A fast charging support. On the front at the base of the display is an ubiquitous fingerprint reader.

Hands On: A first look at Xiaomi’s Mi 5c, their first phone with their in-house Surge S1 SoC processor 18
The phone felt sleek and slick with a fast, responsive feel when we zipped through the menus. In particular the Mi 5C’s finish gave it a rather classy feel complemented by its slim build and design. 

Hands On: A first look at Xiaomi’s Mi 5c, their first phone with their in-house Surge S1 SoC processor 19

Alas, there are no plans by Xiaomi to release it here in Malaysia but in China it retails for RMB1,499 which is about RM964 give or take change though you might be able to score it via a gray import. In lieu of that, you can ogle these photos and see what the fuss is all about .

Hands On: A first look at Xiaomi’s Mi 5c, their first phone with their in-house Surge S1 SoC processor 20