Stepping into MSI’s 40th year anniversary exhibition space felt less like exploring a traditional tech pavilion and more like embarking on a time-travel expedition.

From the nostalgic, raw engineering of 1986 legacy motherboards to the breathtaking, AI-driven flagships and starry-night inspired laptops of tomorrow, four decades of continuous craftsmanship were brought to life under the watchful eye of the iconic dragon motif.

This photo journal captures that vibrant atmosphere. It’s a visual walk through the heritage and the sheer hardware artistry that defined MSI’s historic celebration in Taiwan.

Photos by Vincenz Lee

Picture this: one night, I’m dressed for a sophisticated gala in a carefully curated look. The following morning, less than twelve hours later, I’m standing at the starting line of a Spartan Trail 10K in Arden Botanical Estate with dirt on my shoes.

I’ve always struggled with smartwatches (or other timepieces) because they tend to ask you to choose a side. For instance, a classic timepiece looks right with tailoring, dinner jackets, and occasions where dress codes actually matter.

Meanwhile, a sports watch belongs in training kits, race bibs, and muddy obstacle courses. I’ve spent years switching between both, often leaving my smartwatch behind whenever the outfit called for something more refined.

Then, the Xiaomi Watch S5 arrived and challenged that whole routine. For once, I didn’t feel like I had to pick between looking polished and being athletic. I didn’t feel like I had to separate one part of my life from another.

A wardrobe investment

The Xiaomi Watch S5 immediately felt sleek. The upgraded stainless steel frame gives it the weight and polish of a traditional luxury watch. It looks expensive in the way a great accessory does.

It slips easily under a cuff, works with tailoring, and doesn’t compete with the rest of what you’re wearing. That mattered to me because I wore it to an evening event, styled like any proper watch would be.

Then the next morning, I wore it at a Spartan Race — at 6:00 AM, I was running the Spartan Trail 10K during a sudden downpour. Heavy rain poured over the course. Mud thickened under every step.

A few hours later at 9:30 AM, I was back on the course for the Spartan Sprint Open under the complete opposite conditions. Bright sun, harsh heat, and definitely no shade. By the time I crossed the finish line, I had visible sunburn.

I wore the Watch S5 across back-to-back races in completely different conditions. When it rained, the 5ATM water resistance handled it and allowed me to finish the Spartan Trail 10K with 350m elevation gain in 1 hour, 20 minutes.

And even in full sun, the 2500-nit AMOLED display was bright enough for me to check my pace and metrics without squinting through sweat.

In a way, that is the whole point of versatility. You don’t have to look good in one setting. You just survive all of it.

High-fashion navigation on a sample sale budget

I love gear that performs. I love it even more when it doesn’t cost as much as a plane ticket.

My Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2) — which I had since 2023 — remains my benchmark for race-day navigation. It’s dependable and incredibly capable. It also costs enough to make me stare at my credit card statement in silence.

The Xiaomi Watch S5 gave me a surprisingly similar sense of confidence with built-in offline maps at a much more approachable price.

For trail races where routes are usually marked, that feature becomes less about finding your way and more about peace of mind.

Knowing you can navigate technical terrain without reaching for your phone feels reassuring, especially when weather conditions change fast — and on race day, mine certainly did.

One moment I was climbing through rain. A few hours later I was baking under direct sunlight wondering how my shoulders had already turned red.

The Watch S5 handled both like it was no big deal.

Keeping pace with a social butterfly’s calendar

A wearable becomes part of your wardrobe when you stop thinking about it. That’s where battery life matters.

The Xiaomi Watch S5 runs up to 14 days on normal use, which means I wore it across workdays, training sessions, events, recovery days, and race weekend without needing to obsess over charging it overnight.

It outlasted my phone, my laptop, and possibly my emotional stability somewhere between the last aid station and the fire jump.

Once I finally got home, showered off layers of mud and sunscreen, and collapsed into bed with sore legs and sunburn, the Watch S5 kept doing its job in the background.

Sleep tracking, recovery insights, and wellness metrics all quietly continued while I did absolutely nothing.

Is the Xiaomi Watch S5 your GadgetMatch?

What I like most about the Xiaomi Watch S5 is that it doesn’t force a choice. It doesn’t ask you to pick between being sporty or polished. There’s no need to separate performance from style.

It looks elegant enough for formalwear, and tough enough for weathering the elements. For me, it went from chic events to an action-packed Spartan Race day without feeling out of place. And maybe, that’s the best way to describe it.

Swipe Right if you want a smartwatch that can keep up with both your calendar and your training schedule. The Xiaomi Watch S5 feels right at home with tailored looks, yet it’s durable enough for muddy race courses, sudden downpours, and long hours under the sun.

This is for the people who go from dinner reservations to race day without warning.

Swipe Left if you want highly advanced training analytics or a deeply specialized multi-sport watch for serious race preparations. Athletes who rely heavily on performance metrics may still prefer something more purpose-built.

For PhP 10,999, the Xiaomi Watch S5 46mm feels more like a wardrobe investment. One that happens to track your sleep, navigate a trail course and survive the elements, and still look good at dinner.

The Xiaomi Watch S5 46mm comes with an early-bird price of PhP 10,229 and a free strap. The Special Edition retails for PhP 11,999, with an early-bird price of PhP 11,159 and a free strap.

I have spent the better part of the last few weeks grappling with multiple emotions.

I feel silly referencing this but as a “feel” type, my days are guided by vibe and mood. It’s been a challenge trying to reconcile and make sense of everything.

Thankfully, the Xiaomi 17T Pro presented an unexpected outlet.

So no, this isn’t exactly a review of the Xiaomi 17T Pro. This is yours truly, once again, processing feelings through a telephoto essay.

The “T” is for Telephoto

When being briefed about Xiaomi’s latest device, my favorite part was when a guest photographer jokingly attached the T in the Xiaomi 17T series to “telephoto.”

It’s not official or anything. But in this case, it made perfect sense.

My relationship with Xiaomi’s T series has always been a little complicated. For a while it felt like it was searching for an identity. One year it was positioned as a performance-focused device. Then it became an all-rounder. 

Now, one of its biggest highlights is a dedicated 115mm equivalent telephoto camera. The reality is that it might actually be all of those things at once.

For this piece, however, I ignored almost everything else. I shot almost exclusively at 115mm.

No elaborate test plan, no checklist of scenarios, and no mission to prove a point. I simply carried the phone everywhere and photographed whatever caught my attention.

At first, I thought I was testing a camera. Eventually, I realized the camera was teaching me something instead.

Chasing

When the year started, I was certain about something. Or perhaps someone.

The conversations were easy. The banter felt natural. The possibility of something more lingered quietly in the background.

After a few genuine attempts, reality eventually became clear. This wasn’t going where I secretly hoped it would. I felt defeated.

But apparently, I wasn’t done learning yet.

One thing I quickly discovered about shooting at 115mm is that distance changes how you approach a subject.

You cannot simply stand where you are and expect every shot to work. Sometimes you move. Sometimes you wait. And sometimes you accept that a moment isn’t yours to capture.

The Xiaomi 17T Pro’s telephoto camera made those adjustments feel surprisingly natural. The focal length compressed scenes beautifully while still allowing me to isolate subjects from busy surroundings.

More importantly, it encouraged patience. Not every frame needed to be forced.

Blind projection

Waiting in the wings was another lesson entirely.

As a photographer, there are moments when something catches your attention immediately. A shape. A silhouette. A person. A scene.

From a distance, it looks compelling.

The problem is that distance leaves room for imagination. Sometimes too much room. You think you know what you’re looking at. But you don’t.

The more I used the 115mm lens, the more I appreciated how it could pull distant subjects closer while still leaving context around them. It gave me a cleaner view of things that initially felt obscured.

Yet photography has limits. A lens can reveal details. It cannot reveal meaning. That part still requires understanding what’s actually in front of you.

Generative longing

After some quiet reflection, I realized that much of what occupied my attention wasn’t reality at all. It was possibility. Potential.

Stories constructed from incomplete information. As it turns out, people aren’t the only subjects we do this to. Photographers do it all the time.

We imagine a frame before it exists. Then we convince ourselves the next corner might hold something extraordinary. And we chase moments that never arrive.

Sometimes they do. Most of the time they don’t.

The Xiaomi 17T Pro encouraged a different approach.

Instead of hunting for specific shots, I found myself roaming freely. Walking more. Observing more. Adjusting my position constantly to find a better composition.

After a few days, I stopped thinking about the lens itself and started understanding the space around me.

I knew how far to stand, what would fit into frame, and when a moment was worth waiting for.

The telephoto camera became less about zooming in and more about understanding my position relative to a scene.

And that’s when things started getting interesting.

Close without crossing

Something unexpected happened while reviewing this gallery. There are more people here than in any collection of sample photos I’ve ever taken. 

Normally, I avoid photographing people. I’ve always worried it feels intrusive. The telephoto lens changed that.

The extra reach allowed me to observe moments without disrupting them. Most of the people here aren’t looking at the camera. Many are turned away entirely. They’re simply existing within their own space.

And perhaps that’s what fascinated me most.

After spending so much time chasing, projecting, and attaching meaning to things that only existed in my head, I found myself approaching photography differently.

There was no grand pursuit. No dramatic realization. No need to manufacture scenarios. I simply paid attention.

Telephoto photography is often associated with distance. Over the last few weeks, however, it taught me something else.

Distance and closeness are not always opposites.

Sometimes maintaining a little distance is what allows a moment to remain exactly what it is. Sometimes stepping back helps you see more clearly. 

And sometimes the people, places, and experiences that matter most are not the ones furthest away. They’re already within view.

Shooting at 115mm taught me that keeping a little distance can be its own way of staying close.

Maybe that’s what this gallery ultimately became. Not a collection of subjects I couldn’t reach. Not proof of anything.

Just a record of moments I was fortunate enough to witness.