Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 hands-on: The bezel-less slider phone

Slider phones are back and I couldn’t be happier. Nothing beats that satisfying snap as the phone clicks back into place. Xiaomi has updated the form factor for 2018 though, with a large bezel-free display, four cameras and premium ceramic build material. This is our Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 hands-on.

What strikes you when you see the Mi Mix 3 is its screen. A 6.39-inch Full HD+ AMOLED panel from Samsung with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 600-nit peak brightness occupies 93.4 percent of the phone. There’s no notch and only the smallest chin beneath the screen, which is covered in Gorilla Glass 5. You can enable an always-on display in the settings and you can adjust the color temperature of the display.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 delivers a 6.39-inch AMOLED display with 93.4% screen-to-body ratio and no notch.

Pick up the Mi Mix 3 and the first thing you’ll notice is its weight; it is easily among the heaviest phones I’ve ever used. At 218 grams, it’s 10 percent heavier than either the Vivo Nex (199 grams) or the Galaxy Note 9 (201 grams). The Mi Mix 3 is a little slimmer and shorter than the Note 9, but has a more aggressive curve on the ceramic back panel so it feels a little less “edgy.”

The manual sliding mechanism is the standout feature here, with neodymium magnets used to lock the slider in place when open or closed. As you start to push the display in or out you encounter slight resistance as the magnets interact and then get that nostalgic click as the screen pops into place. It feels great and Xiaomi claims it can withstand 300,000 cycles. Unlike other phones with hidden cameras, the mechanism is fully manual, so no motor is required. This is a much better solution and much less likely to suffer from failure.

The manual slider mechanism uses neodymium magnets to lock the screen in place. It’s cool, nostalgic, and infinitely satisfying.

The default slider action is to launch the front-facing camera, but it can also be customized to answer incoming calls or launch certain apps. The slider sounds can be swapped out too, so adding a lightsaber noise is easy as pie. Speaking of pie, the Mi Mix 3 launches with MIUI 10 and Android 9 Pie out of the box. When the Mi Mix 3 is in landscape mode while gaming, sliding the screen over will reveal an in-game menu to hide notifications, record the screen, or take a screenshot.

The slider isn’t just for fun. Like other bezel-free phones including the Oppo Find X and Vivo Nex, the front-facing camera only pops up when required. If you’re not using the face unlocking sensor or the front-facing camera, the phone can stay in its default state. So it’s only when you want a selfie or need to unlock your phone that you need to slide the screen down to reveal the cameras. The extra layer of security adds some peace of mind.

The front-facing camera only pops up when required and there’s no motor to worry about.

Those front-facing cameras are a 24MP Sony IMX576 with 1.8-micron pixels and f/2.2 aperture lens and a secondary 2MP camera for portrait mode and bokeh effects. The main sensor uses pixel binning in low-light situations to combine light data from four adjacent pixels, dropping the resolution to 6MP and then upscaling the image back to 24MP. AI-supported portrait mode, studio lighting effects, and AI beautify settings round out the selfie options. I noticed some lens flares at the bottom of the frame, presumably from the overhead light bouncing off the edge of the screen section which sits right below the camera lens.

There’s an included case in the Mi Mix 3 box that has a cutaway at the bottom, so you can still slide the screen down with a case on. The USB Type-C cable in the box also has a kind of scalloped sheath so you can charge your Mi Mix 3 and still use the slider (other USB Type-C cables don’t let you do this). There’s a free 10W wireless charger in the box and 5V/3A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.5A charging brick (with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0).

The battery is a diminutive 3,200mAh cell, with the slider mechanism to blame for the smaller battery capacity. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ if you want to buy an optional additional charger, as well as the regular Qi standard.

Flipping the phone over, the familiar ceramic build material and camera layout remain intact, with a stylish MIX logo towards the bottom. A capacitive fingerprint scanner provides options if you don’t want to use the face unlocking on the front. The Mi Mix 3 includes NFC for contactless payments.

The bottom edge has twin speaker grilles but only the one on the right is a speaker, the other just conceals a microphone. It gets decently loud and doesn’t sound terrible either, but it’s a far cry from excellent. It goes without saying there’s nowhere to include a headphone jack on a slider phone and I’d do my best to keep the Mi Mix 3 away from water as it’s not IP rated. You’ll find a 3.5mm-to-USB-Type-C adapter included in the box so you can easily use your existing wired headphones.

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The dual cameras on the back are both 12MP sensors. The main sensor is a Sony IMX363 with 1.4-micron pixels and dual pixel autofocus. An f/1.8 aperture lens sits on top with four axis OIS. The secondary sensor is a Samsung S5K3M3+ with 1-micron pixels and a 2x optical f/2.4 aperture lens in front.

Both cameras support various AI modes, but the main Sony sensor is the one handling 960fps slow-motion video (at 1080p or 720p). It’s not true 960fps like you’d find on a Galaxy Note 9 though, as the IMX363 doesn’t have built-in DRAM on which to store such high frame rates before offloading them to the image buffer. The Mi Mix 3 uses frame interpolation to achieve 960fps, meaning it won’t be as high quality as that found on a device with built-in DRAM on the sensor.

Xiaomi made a big deal about the Mi Mix 3’s low-light performance via night mode, posting side-by-side images with the Huawei P20 Pro showing the Mi Mix 3 to be superior. Some of the differences were pretty minimal, and we’d have to put the Mi Mix 3 up against the latest from Huawei, the Mate 20 Pro, to see if Xiaomi has truly outpaced its Chinese competitor in the low-light stakes. I don’t have a Mate 20 Pro with me in Beijing, so you’ll have to wait a little longer for that comparison. The Mi Mix 3 achieves its low-light results via multi-frame noise reduction, AI light metering, and AI image stabilization and calibration.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 specs top out at 10GB of RAM and 256GB of storage with the Snapdragon 845 for ~$720.

The rest of the specs of the Mi Mix 3 are top notch, with the Snapdragon 845 mobile platform with Adreno 630 GPU running the show. There are several variants of the Mi Mix 3: 6GB with 128GB of storage, 8GB with 128GB, 8GB with 256GB and a special limited-edition “Forbidden City Palace Museum” version with 10GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Prices are as follows: 6GB/128GB 3,299 yuan (~$475); 8GB/128GB 3,599 yuan (~$520); 8GB/256GB 3,999 yuan (~$575); 10GB/256GB special edition 4,999 (~$720). All versions use UFS 2.1 flash memory and LPDDR4x RAM.

	Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
Display	6.39-inch AMOLED 2,340 x 1,080 resolution 19.5:9 screen ratio
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Octa-core, up to 2.8Ghz
GPU	Adreno 630
RAM	6GB/8GB/10GB LPDDR4x
Storage	128GB/256GB UFS 2.1
Cameras	Rear cameras Main: 12MP with 1.4 micron pixels, 4-axis OIS, f/1.8 aperture (IMX363) Secondary: 12MP 2x telephoto with 1.0 micron pixels, f/2.4 aperture (S5K3M3+) Video: 4K at 60/30fps, 1080p at 960/240/120/60/30fps, 720p at 960/240/120/30fps Front cameras Main: 24MP with 1.8 micron “super pixels”, f/2.2 aperture (IMX576) Secondary: 2MP sensor for depth effects (OV02A10)
Audio	USB Type-C No headphone jack
Battery	3,200mAh battery Quick Charge 4+ 10 watt wireless charging
IP rating	N/A
Sensors	Rear fingerprint Hall Accelerometer Gyroscope Proximity Ambient Light Electronic Compass Barometer
Network	GSM: B2, B3, B5, B8 CDMA 1X, EVDO: BC0, BC6, BC10 WCDMA: B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B8, B9, B10 TDD-LTE: B34, B38, B39, B40, B41(2496-2690) FDD-LTE: B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B12, B13, B17, B18, B19,B20, B25, B26, B28, B29, B30, B66
Connectivity	Wi-Fi: 2×2 MIMO, MU-MIMO, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4G/5G Bluetooth 5.0 AptX/AptX-HD support NFC Dual frequency GPS (GPS L1+L5, Galileo E1+E5a, QZSS L1+L5, GLONASS L1, Beidou B1)
SIM	Dual nano-SIM Dual 4G standby
Software	MIUI 10 Android 9.0 Pie
Dimensions and weight	157.9 x 74.7 x 8.5mm 218g
Colors	Jade Green Onyx Black Sapphire Blue

Xiaomi’s voice assistant, Xiao AI, can be accessed via the dedicated assistant button on the left of the phone. It will likely be replaced by Google Assistant on the global version but I couldn’t get this confirmed. 5G support will be coming on the limited edition version but not until next year. As always, take any claims of “5G” with a pinch of salt. You’ll need your carrier to support it at any rate. The Mi Mix 3 thankfully features global bands.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 comes in three colors – onyx black, jade green, and sapphire blue – the most Xiaomi has ever offered at launch. It will be available in China on November 1, with select global markets to follow. There are currently no confirmed launch markets or prices outside China.

What do you think of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3? Would you buy one if it comes to your market?

Source: Android Zone

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Google Pixel 3 eSIM will work on Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T (eventually)

• The eSIM on the Google Pixel 3 isn’t locked to Google’s Project Fi.
• Although U.S. carriers don’t yet have eSIM systems set up, when they do the Pixel 3 will work with its eSIM on major carriers.
• The Google Pixel 2, however, is likely to stay eSIM-locked exclusively to Project Fi.

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The Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL include eSIM technology, which allows you to connect your device to a wireless carrier without using a physical SIM card. The Google Pixel 2 has the same technology.

However, unlike the Pixel 2, the Pixel 3’s eSIM will work with any wireless carrier which has a system in place to utilize the technology, via XDA Developers. The Pixel 2’s eSIM is unfortunately locked to only work with Google’s own Project Fi.

Since the Pixel 3’s eSIM isn’t locked to Project Fi, it will be possible to jump from carrier to carrier using an unlocked device — and not need to swap SIM cards each time (or pay for a SIM card in the first place). All you’ll need to do is scan a QR or number code provided by your carrier and BOOM: your eSIM will connect your Pixel 3 to the network.

Editor’s Pick

Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL review: The Android iPhone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkBIx-PNiCw

Historically, Android sat in diametric opposition to iOS. Where Google’s Nexus phones offered cheaper price points and endless customization, the iPhone was expensive and locked down. Apple had a great camera, Android did not. One …

However, the three major U.S. carriers which have stated they will support eSIM tech — Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile — do not currently have systems in place to support eSIM, at least not yet.

For the time being then, the Pixel 3 eSIM will only work with Project Fi and other select global carriers which support the tech. But at least you can rest assured that at some point in the future it will work here at home on at least three of the Big Four carriers.

NEXT: eSIM: What it is, who’s got it, and why should you care?

Source: Android Zone

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How to Check If Your WordPress Blog Posts Are Ranking for the Right Keywords

Do you want to check if your WordPress posts are ranking for the right keywords? Most beginners manually check rankings for their articles by typing keywords in Google. This does not give you an accurate idea of where your articles stand for the target keyword. In this article, we will show you how to easily check if your WordPress blog posts are ranking for the right keywords.

Why Check Keyword Rankings for Your WordPress Posts?

If you follow our complete WordPress SEO guide, then you will learn how to optimize each article on your website for specific keywords. This helps you get more traffic to your website.

Most beginners simply search on Google to see if their posts are appearing for those keywords. Even then, they usually only check the first page or probably the second page at best.

The issue is that sometimes your article might be ranking way below the first two pages or worst it may not even be ranking for the keyword that you want.

If you rely on manually checking your keyword rankings, then you are missing out useful information that you can use to improve your SEO rankings and increasing traffic.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to properly check keyword rankings for your WordPress blog posts,

1. SEMRush

SEMRush is one of the best SEO and Keyword research tool on the market. It is a comprehensive SEO suite with all the useful tools you’ll need.

It comes with a powerful organic research tool that can show keyword rankings for any domain name. You don’t need to type in URLs for individual articles. It will automatically fetch results for all URLs of that domain name.

Simply enter the domain name you want to look up and SEMRush will get a ton of information. After that, click on the organic research tab to view the full list of all keywords your website is ranking for.

You can sort the results by position, URL, traffic, and more. You can also export the results to a CSV file and research offline using your favorite spreadsheet program.

You can also track specific keywords with SEMRush, and they track those keywords on your dashboard, so you can instantly see their performance.

SEMRush can do the same things for any domain name which means you can enter your competitor’s domain name and see which keywords they are ranking for. You will also be able to see their paid search traffic, paid keywords, and other useful information that you can utilize to outrank them.

2. Google Search Console

Google Search Console (formerly Webmasters Tools) is a set of tools offered by Google to help webmasters improve their website for search. See our guide on how to add your website to Google search console.

You can see your website’s performance in search results, impressions, click through rate, position, and more. It also allows you to submit XML sitemap which helps Google crawl your website more intelligently.

To view your keyword positions, click on the Performance report and then click on average position score.

Search Console will now load your reports with average position column included. Next, you need to scroll down a bit to see the full list of keywords your site ranks for.

Next to each keyword, you will see how many clicks it gets, impressions, and position in search results.

You can sort the results by clicks, impressions, and position columns. By sorting using position, you will be able to see your top ranking keywords. As you scroll down, you will be able to see keywords where your site appears deeper in search results.

You can also export this data and open it with your favorite spreadsheet software.

3. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is another popular SEO Tool among professional marketers. It comes with an easy to use interface and tries to make information understandable even for new users.

Simply enter your website domain name in the search box, and it will create a neatly organized report with beautiful graphs and charts.

You will find all your keyword rankings under the organic keywords report. Next to each keyword, you’ll be able to see its search volume, keyword ranking position, keyword density, and more.

Using Keyword Rankings to Get More Traffic in WordPress

Now that you have learned how to check keyword rankings for your WordPress site, let’s talk about improving your rankings.

Analyzing which keywords need improvement

It’s important to note that not all keywords are created equal.

For example, ranking #5 on a high traffic keyword is way better than ranking #1 for a low traffic keyword.

There are certain aspects to this data which you may want to consider.

For example, appearing on #1 position may not always bring you the most traffic. You will see some of your keywords ranking pretty well but not getting significant clicks or impressions.

During this research, you might also find some surprise keywords that you didn’t know you were ranking for. If these keywords have significant impressions and search volumes, then you should see if you can make strategic changes to your content to improve rankings for those keywords as well.

Improving rankings for specific keywords

After you have decided which keywords you will be working on, you can go ahead and see which of your articles are ranking on those keywords and what you can to optimize them better.

Here are a few tips:

Keyword density: See how many times the keyword appears in your content. You can do that using Yoast SEO plugin. Simply enter the ‘Focus Keyword’ in SEO meta box and it will show you the analysis including the keyword density.

Outdated Information Your article can be old, not have enough content, or contains outdated information. Updating it with newer information and just improving the content can give it an SEO boost.

Internal Linking Internal linking is when you link an article from other pages of your site. Linking to an article in other related content can give it an SEO bump. Use your target keyword as the anchor text when linking to it from other articles on your website.

For more details on this topic, please see our article on how to optimize your WordPress blog posts for SEO.

Learn What Your Visitors are Doing on Your Website

SEMRush and Google Search Console can help you find your keyword positions, but they can’t show you how many visitors are coming to your articles, where they are from, and what they do when they are on your website.

All of this information is crucial when planning your content strategy to rank for certain keywords.

This is where Google Analytics comes in. It shows you the number of pageviews for your articles, your top content, your visitor information, and more.

Google Analytics can be difficult to setup for beginners, that’s why we recommend using MonsterInsights. It is a Google Analytics plugin for WordPress that will help you easily install Google Analytics and see all reports inside your WordPress dashboard.

We hope this article helped you check if your WordPress posts are ranking for the right keywords. You may also want to see our guide on actionable tips to drive traffic to a new WordPress site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Source: Wordpres

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