We have already seen companies such as ASUS and Razer trying to break into the market of gaming smartphones. However, I am quite sure that not a lot of people know about Xiaomi’s involvement in this market. Granted, it’s involvement is not under the Xiaomi identity. A startup called Black Shark has been receiving Xiaomi’s instructions on manufacturing smartphones as well as investments. The first product of this cooperation is a bold gaming smartphone released in April. Today, the company is back already with Helo, a beefier model. After some testing, this phone is shaping up as a greater package both internally and externally.

Just like the previous model, Helo has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 along with cooling by vapor-chamber, making gameplay smoother. In addition, it has a 4000mAh battery and Quick Charge version 3.0. There are two speakers facing front, making it excellent for any sort of entertainments. The phone has a 20 MP and 1.25um f/1.75 12MP main sensor combination. However, they are now vertically aligned in the middle and above the fingerprint reader in the rear. The front camera is lum f/2.2 and 20MP. The “Shark” feature is present, too. You need to toggle the left switch and then be greeted by various settings for gaming.

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Playing PUBG with the Helo

All the other things have been given boosts, the phone memory is now 10 GB of LPDDR4X and 1,866 MHz, storage is now 256 GB. The screen is also upgraded to an AMOLED 2,160 x 1,080 panel of 6.01 inches.

We will not forget the updated RGB lights. This phone has a backlit and customizable logo on its rear. However, when we tried it out, we only had eight options, not the whole 16.8 million. I was at least be able to get some blinking patterns and control its brightness. Helo has stripes of LED on both of its sides, they are expected to react to our gameplay. However, the prototype can only light up when toggling to game mode.

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It has a backlit logo

The Bluetooth controller is the most appealing part of the phone. When the phone is placed in the protection case bundled along, you can connect the controller through its top side. This will give you better thumb control as well as more screen space to view.

I was trying the accessory through a quick PUBG match during the testing. It was quite a blast, at least until my character died. When you finished playing, you only need to slide the game controller out, you can keep the case on if you like. After comparing it to the other one, the Helo indeed has a better build quality and better grip.

At the moment, the Helo is available only in China. The price is at $460 for the 128GB storage and 6GB RAM version. The “Sports Edition” jumps to $605 due to the right-hand controller, 256GB storage and 10GB RAM. However, the Helo may not be the first device with 10GB RAM to go on sale as it will not arrive until the 12th of December. It’s more likely the title will belong to Oppo Find X or Xiaomi Mix 3.