Review | Xiaomi Black Shark review: phone has a snap-on gamepad that really boosts precision play
- The Black Shark’s gamepad accessory is well built, with grippy handles and clicky shoulder buttons
- ‘Shark Space’ mode for gaming is a cool touch
Xiaomi has had a very ambitious 2018, in which the Beijing-headquartered tech brand went public, expanded to Europe, released three flagship phones (with seemingly a half-dozen other mid-tier phones), and launched a couple of sub-brands.
One of these is Black Shark, which the company markets as a gaming phone. I took the phone out for a spin.
Design and hardware
Sometime in the last year or two, brands decided that dedicated “gaming phones” all had to be painted black with a glowing neon light. That is the look Razer, Asus and Nubia have adopted with its devices and the Black Shark does not stray too far from that.
Shaped like a racing car if placed face down on table, the Black Shark is a curvy handset with a mix of textures across its aluminium and rubberised back. Neon green accents line the backside, with an S logo in the middle that lights up during gameplay. Dual rear cameras are lined horizontally across the top.
On the front is a 5.99-inch LCD panel with 2016-era bezels and a hardware fingerprint sensor that doubles as a capacitive home button on the bottom chin.