Right after the homeland launch of Redmi Note 7 Pro (review) and Redmi 7, Xiaomi's other sub-brand – Blackshark has announced its second gaming phone in China. This Blackshark 2 boasts of a top of the line spec sheet. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, coupled with up to 12GB of RAM.
Xiaomi Black Shark 2: Does it have any ROG like Gaming-centric features?
Having already shared above, the processing power of the phone is amongst one of the best at least on paper. The flagship variant comes with an Octa-core Snapdragon 855 SoC along with Adreno 640 GPU and 12GB of RAM should give you top-rung performance. Well, other RAM+ROM combos available are- 8GB RAM with 256GB storage or 6/8GB RAM with 128GB storage. Though, it lacks a media expansion slot.
In the software front, you get Android 9.0 Pie. It is fueled by a huge 4,000mAh battery that supports 27W fast charging.
Now, since its a gaming phone, it ought to have the added bells and whistles to jazz up the overall experience. There is a Ludicrous mode which takes care of thermal throttling and AI optimization for the CPU/GPU, the network and even charging speed.
Speaking of heat dissipation, Black Shark 2 comes with Liquid Cool 3.0 vapor chamber cooling system that touts a 14°C reduction in the chipset temperature. Moreover, there's a Cooling Case and a fan that is expected to lower the temperature by another 5°C.
Hardware-wise, you could also buy Xiaomi's all-new GamePad 3.0, which transforms the phone into a console like the Nintendo Switch. It enables an HDMI output and buttons on either side of the phone.
Black Shark 2 offers two front-facing stereo speakers. So no more accidental blocking of speakers while holding the phone horizontally. Unfortunately, a lack of headphone jack could be a letdown for some.
Upfront, Black Shark 2 has a 6.39-inch HDR enabled Full HD+ AMOLED screen from Samsung. Yet again being a gaming phone, this screen is optimized for pressure sensitivity and better latency. Magic Press is a feature that lets you assign pressure-sensitive controls to the left and right side of the screen. Xiaomi claims to have calibrated the color dynamics and accuracy of the display.
You also get an in-display fingerprint sensor to unlock the device. Atop, there is a selfie camera with a 20MP sensor (f/2.0). Flipping to the back, we have a 48MP (F/1.75) Quad Bayer sensor with a 12MP secondary sensor for 2x telephoto zoom.
Xiaomi has priced Black Shark 2 starting at CNY 3,200 for the 6/128GB model going up to CNY 4,200 for the 12/256GB version. This time around, Xiaomi has brought a new Frozen Silver color version exclusive to the 8/256GB model.