Heating Issues of Xiaomi MI3 (India) and Solution

The latest mid range android smart Phone “Xiaomi MI3” has created a wave after launching in India. Every one is interested in its specs & performance. Some are willing to take the risk and buy, while some are just waiting to observe its sales, performance and service and take the decision. Looking at the specs of Xiaomi MI3, one can easily say that this is not a mid range smart phone but a premium phone. The specifications are almost same as Nexus 5, Xperia Z ultra, LG G2 which are double the price of Xiaomi MI3. Taking a risk is definitely worth it and also Xiaomi MI3 has its fan base spread all over the world and it has good forum support to get quick suggestions and trouble shoot. But does it really out perform the high end phones like Nexus 5 is  what every one looking into. Frankly speaking, the affordable cost for such high end specs of Xiaomi MI3 comes with a price to pay for. One of that is the heating issue. 

Now this heating issue should not be the only deciding factor to buy a MI3 or not. The reason being, the heating issue will get to an uncomfortable level for the one’s who will be doing extended gaming or long phone calls with lot of background applications running. If not the MI3 will just get warm in the back side. The back side of the phone gets warm soon after you play games or when on phone calls with multiple tasks running in the background. The reason might be due to the metal (Aluminum) back panel which transmits the heat soon. After some time the front side also gets heated up a little bit. But the temperature remains there and does not increase drastically. This is not uncomfortable to deal with if its just getting warm. But the trouble starts when you do extended usage of phone for gaming, say like 30-40 min of high graphic oriented games, the back panel (especially near the camera) gets hot. The portion of the back where it gets hot is given below in the figure with red patch.

Here’s a video made by youtuber “geekyranjith” on the gaming performance and the maximum temperatures reached by the phone.

I have myself used the Xiaomi MI3 phone for gaming Asphalt 8 and Dead Trigger 2 for almost 30-40 min. There were not many background processes running while gaming, except for whatsapp and wifi syncing. The phone was able to run all the high ends games smoothly. The only con while playing games is that, the speaker being on the bottom side of the phone, the right palm can block it. So, we have to hold the phone in some what uncomfortable position, so that the speakers don’t get blocked. Even after 30-40 min of gaming with high graphic settings, the phone got just warm on the back and front. This is experienced even in Moto G by me to be frank. But the difference is, in MI3 the temperature increase at the back is quick. It starts getting warm soon, but maintains the same temperature for a long period of time.

Solution: There might not be a permanent solution for this, but there can be a temporary solution to decrease the heating process.

1. If the battery power settings is set to high performance mode, it should be changed to Balance or battery saving mode. High performance mode will give more power to the battery and in turn the phone can get heated up soon.

Some users have mentioned in flipkart reviews to keep the battery in battery saving mode to solve the heating issue. Here’s the screen shot of the review.

Here’s one more link to Xiaomi community which suggest to use power saving (battery saving) mode if you are a light user as it uses only 2 cores. But if you are going to do multi tasking then, balanced mode would be suggested.

2.Simple solutions is buying yourself a rubber back cover which is thick enough that it does not transmit heat so soon and make holding the phone uncomfortable. I tried the same with Moto G. MI3 can work safely till almost 80-90 Deg. So it should not be a problem.

Nillkin provides decent rubber back cover along with screen guard. Interested people can find the link below to buy
Nillkin Frosted Hard Back Case Cover for Xiaomi M3 Mi3 + Screenguard – Black.

3. Keep checking that there are no continuous background apps running and consuming CPU usage. Gsam battery is a good application to monitor which applications run in background.

Conclusion: YES, MI3 does get warm while gaming or multi tasking. But keep in mind the price to performance ratio, the customer ultimately is a winner. Though its up to individual to avoid risk and go for lesser specs for the same price or higher specs and little risk. But if you are a heavy gamer then its better to think again before buying the Xiaomi MI3. Personally I do gaming only for some time and it does not create a lot of problem for me. I would like to see the brighter side of experiencing the premium phone features at my budget range. Anyways slight heating of the phone is found in most of the high end phones too. All have the design problem due to unavailability of proper cooling provision of processor. For who don’t want to take risk there’s Moto G, Asus Zenfone 5 available in the market.

I have made a post on the comparison of Motorola Moto G, Asus Zenfone 5 and Xiaomi MI3.

Do share your views about which phone you would prefer in the Mid budget range of 10-15K. Stay tuned.