Xiaomi Mi 11 review: The Android flagship you can’t ignore in 2021-MobileStreet

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Xiaomi Mi 11 review: The Android flagship you can’t ignore in 2021

Xiaomi 12 Pro Smartphone Review: Small But Solid Forward Progress
Xiaomi may not be a household name in North America, but the brand is a rising force around the world and now sits in third place behind Apple and Samsung. One reason it hit those heights is the way it continues to innovate on the camera side of things, which is what the 12 Pro is supposed to illustrate.
Much of this started with last year’s Mi 11 Ultra, a device that turned some heads with its camera output, though didn’t impress as much in other respects. It was one of the first phones to use an image sensor close to 1-inch, along with newer computation software to render images. All that to serve notice that there was a new player to reckon with.
In other parts of the world, Xiaomi isn’t so much an upstart, but rather a trendsetter. That outlook may not be as clear with the 12 Pro, where camera output and battery charging do most of the heavy lifting on reputation.
Design and Build
In a previous story, I went over some of the details of the new Xiaomi 12 lineup, and the 12 Pro is the flagship of that trio. It has a somewhat understated design — or at least the grey review unit I tested looked like it did. It’s also a little heavier than I expected at 205 grams, and I suspect part of the reason for that is the glass on both sides, coupled with the weight of the camera modules.
What’s odd is that, despite Gorilla Glass on both sides, the phone comes with no official IP rating. While testing it, I was reticent about using it near water because it was impossible to tell whether it had sufficient resistance to that environment. That alone negates any photos or videos while in the water (unless you use a clear pouch or something), which is a shame given how prevalent that already is with the competition. Unless, of course, Xiaomi is pulling a OnePlus and saving money by not getting that IP designation, even though the phone could actually handle some water.
Xiaomi includes a thin silicone case in the box to at least offer a modicum of protection, but if you plan to go a little rugged with this thing, you will need to dish out some cash for tougher skin. As much as I liked the vibrancy of the 6.73-inch AMOLED display and its excellent mix of color and brightness, I wasn’t overly thrilled with the curved edges on the side. I just find flatter screens better and hope more phone manufacturers abandon those curves going forward.
The camera bump stands out from the rear, and with a mere three lenses, isn’t as big or pronounced as others have been in recent memory. The silicone case naturally has a cutout for the bump, but its real utility for photos and video is the improved grip. Holding the phone to take photos with it on was far easier, and that was equally true when mounting it on a tripod.
The 12 Pro is also among the current crop of phones running on the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, a 4nm chipset that delivers more powerful performance, including for camera rendering. There are a couple of variants with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There is no memory card slot, though you do get a dual SIM in the tray, which is nice for travel.
Camera Features
The centerpiece here is the 50-megapixel main wide camera (24mm equivalent), courtesy of a Sony IMX707 1/1.28-inch sensor. It’s the first phone to use Sony’s newest mobile image sensor, and while an upgrade from the IMX700, I went in thinking that it likely wasn’t going to be a leap forward.
There is a distinction here, which is that the wide camera also uses pixel binning. The regular Photo mode will always shoot in 12.5-megapixels and make use of the larger 1.22 Micron pixels. All the other modes using the wide camera do the same. To get the full resolution, you need to use the 50-megapixel mode, which does make each individual pixel smaller. This is ideal if you want to crop in later, but not as good for low-light and night shots.
Despite also shooting at 50-megapixels, the other two lenses weren’t so lucky, as Xiaomi went with Samsung’s more mid-range Isocell JN1 sensors instead. The ultra-wide (15mm equivalent) shoots at a 115-degree field of view, and with a reasonable f/2.2 aperture, whereas the telephoto offers a 2x optical zoom (48mm equivalent) with a solid f/1.9 aperture. On paper, it’s hard to see those two lenses as upgrades, simply because the telephoto doesn’t go as far as it did in the Mi 11 Ultra, and the ultra-wide may only be marginally different.
Software Features
Xiaomi talks up its proprietary AI algorithms as a secret sauce to make images look even better than before. One of those is called ProFocus, which can see and track objects with improved precision, including face and eye-detection capabilities. Some of that tends to play a bigger role for video recording, but they can also apply to still images.
Night mode is no longer exclusive to the wide camera, with Xiaomi opening it up to all cameras and other modes. That not only means you can shoot with the ultra-wide and telephoto lenses, but also use it in Portrait mode. Night mode now includes a video setting to shoot in low-light and night situations.
Low-light shots are one of the anchors to the whole camera array, which is why Xiaomi doesn’t waste an opportunity to showcase it. Its Ultra Night Photo is designed to use upgraded HDR and computation to deliver a suitable shot in really dark conditions. It’s not quite as advanced as removing all the noise or grain that comes with that, but it is an improvement.
The camera interface is otherwise going to look the same. Settings offer a lot of variances, with plenty of ways to customize the layout and add the modes you want on your main screen. Certain things still feel siloed, like how you can only shoot in RAW in Pro mode, but otherwise, it is worth exploring the settings to see what you can tap into to get more out of this camera.
Image Quality
Main camera
What impressed me most about the wide camera was the color in the overall output. Admittedly, I haven’t tested a Xiaomi phone camera before, so I don’t have a frame of reference that I’ve taken myself, but when I looked at the results, I came away liking the composition. It didn’t take rich colors and tones and ridiculously skew them with all the processing that takes place right after the snap.
Contrast is good, particularly with scenes where daylight actually works against you, like shooting in the early afternoon with a bright sun, for instance. Xiaomi seems to have dialed back some of the processing to let the photo turn out more the way you saw it, which I found pleasing to my eye.
There’s some versatility in how the 50-megapixel mode shoots, though it just won’t match the night and low-light output the regular Photo mode delivers. It just boils down to the size of each pixel, and no matter how Xiaomi tries to spin it, a 12.5-megapixel shot with the wide camera will look better. In brighter settings, though, I found the 50-megapixel shot to look quite good, with a decent level of cropping available to boot.
It’s not all perfect, mind you. Throw a couple of variables, like harsh lighting, darker skin, and a lot of shadows, and you may not find an ideal balance. I find that in a lot of phone cameras these days, playing around with the exposure slider is a necessary step to getting a better shot, and the 12 Pro illustrated that for me, yet again.
Ultra-wide and Telephoto
The gap between the wide lens and these two becomes obvious after a short while when capturing the same scenes. It’s great that Night mode works with both, only the results won’t necessarily come off with the same detail. Where light sources might look nice on the wide, the ultra-wide and telephoto are more likely to blotch them — a consequence of using an image sensor that just can’t pull in light to the same degree.
It’s not all bad, of course, but I just want to measure expectations because the real stud of this camera array is the wide lens, and that’s where much of Xiaomi’s investment clearly shows. The telephoto has a very limited range, so getting closer to a subject poses a challenge when trying to maintain a higher quality level. You can try shooting hybrid shots at 5x, and they’ll look okay, but this lens is one of the corners the company cut to keep the price down.
Night Mode and Special Modes
The 12 Pro has a solid Night mode. While I do wish it would at least allow more manual control over composition, the results are still admirable. The mode is highly automated, with a point, tap-to-focus, and click the shutter type of sequence. You can’t delay or speed up the exposure, nor alter the ISO or shutter speed.
One alternative is to use the regular Photo mode in the same situation. Night mode will pop up on the screen, though you will have access to the same settings and controls Photo offers, including HDR, Tilt-Shift, and Timed Burst. That’s why I noted earlier that this is the kind of camera array you should experiment with. Night mode won’t let you shoot in Tilt-Shift, whereas Photo will. Even better if you prop the 12 Pro on a tripod or flat surface to keep it all as steady as possible.
Long Exposure is a lot like that, too. It reminds me of how Vivo does its own special modes, where you can set the length of the exposure from three, five, or 10 seconds. It’s best with a tripod, and it lets you capture moving crowds, light trails, light painting, starry skies, and turning a scene into an oil painting.
I didn’t get to really try out Clone mode, but it’s very much what it sounds like. It works best with people and lets you capture a subject in different positions within the same frame. While a little gimmicky, I can see people liking it, so long as they have a static background to work with.
Pro Mode
It’s always nice to shoot in RAW, and Xiaomi does try to sweeten the deal by adding a few other useful elements. I liked that both focus peaking and exposure verification are available, and that parameters came with a few choices: saturation, contrast, and sharpness.
Xiaomi also wisely includes an excellent glossary within the mode to help newbies figure out what the various features in Pro actually do. Don’t know what metering is? Never heard of exposure compensation? No problem, simple explanations should at least get you started.
Xiaomi even saw to it to include the 50-megapixel mode within Pro, so if you want to shoot at full resolution with manual controls, have at it. This negates shooting in RAW, so it is a binary choice that way, but at least you’ve got some flexibility if you want the extra pixels for whatever you have in mind. That also goes for the other two lenses, by the way, so if you want to shoot at 50-megapixels with the ultra-wide or telephoto, just make those selections.
Video Features
My review is focused on still photos, but there’s a lot to work with on the video side here. The standard video mode lets you shoot in 1080p, 4K, or 8K. With 8K, however, you’re limited to 24fps. Movie frame gives your footage a letterbox look, with black bars above and below, somewhat emulating a Hollywood director sort of thing.
Movie Effects adds another layer of creativity to your shots, like with Magic Zoom and Time Freeze, among others. Tutorials within these modes also help you figure out what to do, so you hit the ground running. Vlog mode had me a little confused, though it looks like you can capture quick clips with music in the background that you can then splice together for footage you can post or share later. Short Video is clearly for the Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat crowd, where you can take quick 15-second snippets, either with regular, fast, or slow frame rates, and then upload them directly to social media accounts or messaging apps without leaving the camera app.
Staying in Contention
Xiaomi didn’t try throwing a Hail Mary to score a win, it made incremental improvements to ensure that it stays in the conversation among the best mobile photography options out there. If you didn’t know anything about Xiaomi, you might consider it if you like the quality of images the 12 Pro captures. It’s a solid shooter, and offers the kind of variety many of the bigger names don’t necessarily bother with.
To do this, the company tries to sway both seasoned shooters and novices into the same funnel, perhaps under the impression that its camera array is good enough to teach those who don’t know the stuff the other cohort already does. It will be interesting to see how Xiaomi tries to improve the 12 Pro’s camera with future software updates, especially since competitors will be gunning for the top crown again in 2022.
Are There Alternatives?
Incremental improvement is exactly where the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra lies, so Xiaomi isn’t alone. The difference is that Samsung has higher visibility in North America, so I believe newcomers to Xiaomi will weigh performance and output that way. “Is it better than Samsung,” is already a question I heard when showing off the 12 Pro.
The Vivo X70 Pro+ is no less formidable, including its sheer depth in both features and performance. I would argue Xiaomi may best it on overall night and low-light shooting, but there’s a lot to like there. The Google Pixel 6 Pro is outstanding, especially for anyone who doesn’t want to think too much about how to take photos. The heavily automated camera setup does a lot of the heavy lifting. On the other hand, I would also argue the Xiaomi 12 Pro can do better than the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max in certain conditions, like night and bright light scenarios, though the latter holds an edge in video quality.
Should You Buy It?
Yes, because it’s a solid phone with a good camera at a competitive price. Starting at $999, it’s on par with other flagships, and offers way faster charging speeds than other brands do.
Xiaomi Mi 10 review: Falling just short of greatness
Bottom line: The Mi 10 combines a sleek design with the latest hardware money can buy and a fantastic 108MP camera that takes stunning photos in any lighting condition. There's also a vibrant 90Hz screen, massive battery with 30W wired and wireless charging, and excellent stereo sound. The only downside is MIUI — it continues to be aggravating to use.
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When you think of Xiaomi in India, the first thing that comes to mind is its Redmi phones. Although Redmi is now a standalone entity, Xiaomi and Redmi are synonymous in India, and that has been the way for the last five years. While Xiaomi is a major smart home player in China — where it sells over a thousand connected products — in India its focus has primarily been on phones.
That has changed in recent years as Xiaomi introduced its TVs, air purifiers, water purifier, and the Mi Box streaming box in the country, but the brand is still recognizable as a budget phone manufacturer. Xiaomi became the largest phone manufacturer in India two years ago on the back of strong sales in the entry-level and budget segments, and it has managed to stave off Samsung and Vivo to retain that title.
Xiaomi is now trying to shed this budget connotation. The brand now wants to be seen as a premium player in the country, and to that effect it is launching the Mi 10 in India. This is the first premium phone that Xiaomi has launched in India in over two years. The last phone aimed at the high-end segment was the Mi Mix 2, but that device failed to gather any sales momentum and Xiaomi's high-end efforts sort of fizzled out. As a result, customers in the country missed out on the Mi Mix 2S, Mi 8 series, Mi Mix 3, and the Mi 9 series.
Xiaomi is effectively starting from scratch in the premium category, and that creates a set of problems for the manufacturer. For starters, the brand has no cachet in the high-end segment. It is seen as a value player and a brand that focuses on the budget segment, so it now has the unenviable task of convincing buyers to pay ₹49,999 ($660) for a phone. That's nearly four times the asking price of the Redmi Note 9 Pro, so the brand has its work cut out.
The Mi 10 does have a few features that make it stand out. It has the same 108MP camera sensor as the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and it is rocking the latest internal hardware. But is that enough to stand out in India, where you can get a phone with a Snapdragon 865 chipset for just ₹34,990 ($460) (opens in new tab)? That's what we're here to find out.
About this review
I am writing this review after using the Mi 10 for five days in Hyderabad, India. The phone came with MIUI 11.0.4.0 out of the box, and did not receive any updates during the course of testing. Xiaomi India provided the unit to Android Central for review.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Design and display
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
Put the Mi 10 next to last year's Mi 9 and cover up the Xiaomi logos and you wouldn't be able to tell that the two phones were made by the same brand. The design aesthetic isn't new to Xiaomi — the dual-curved screen and symmetric curves at the back were introduced on the Mi Note 2 three years ago — but it is interesting to see the brand go back to that design language.
There's a good reason why Xiaomi is doing this: most high-end phones in 2020 feature the same glass sandwich design, and Xiaomi is just catering to what users want. An unwelcome addition is the hole-punch cutout that sits to the left, but that's again a constant on most flagships this year.
The Mi 10 combines an elegant design with a vibrant 90Hz AMOLED display.
The design itself is sleek, with the curves on both the front and back meeting the aluminum mid-frame. Xiaomi is offering the Mi 10 in Coral Green and Twilight Grey color options in India, and I'm using the latter option. The Twilight Grey model has distinct blue hues, and the glossy finish at the back is a fingerprint magnet. The phone is heavy at 208g, and the added heft is because of the oversized battery. But the weight distribution is balanced, and you don't necessarily notice the heft.
With curves on either edge, the Mi 10 isn't the most comfortable phone to use, but there is enough surface area on the sides to hold the device. Given that both the front and rear panes of glass are protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass 5, the phone should hold up just fine to the occasional tumble. That said, you should really invest in a case.
The design at the back is plain save for the Xiaomi logo and the 5G moniker (hilarious because you can't use 5G in India), but what immediately grabs your attention is the camera housing. The oblong housing holds three modules, with the fourth sensor sitting below in its own island. The LED flash sits below the fourth camera, and because the camera assembly juts out from the body, you get a decent amount of wobble when using the phone on a flat surface.
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Rounding out the design, you get the power and volume buttons on the right, and two identical speakers located on the top and bottom. The SIM card tray sits at the bottom next to the USB-C charging port, and the positioning of the power button is just right — it sits where your thumb usually rests of the mid-frame. Like most Xiaomi phones, the Mi 10 has an IR blaster.
Unlike the global variant, the Mi 10 features dual SIM connectivity in India. There's no MicroSD card here, but with the base variant offering 128GB of storage, that should not be an issue. Xiaomi hasn't offered a 3.5mm jack on a flagship in three years, and with most phones in 2020 missing the jack, the Mi 10 is no longer the outlier in this regard.
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
The Mi 10 has the same panel as the Mi 10 Pro: you get a 6.67-inch FHD+ (2340x1080) AMOLED display made by Samsung. The 90Hz refresh rate makes everyday interactions that much smoother on the phone, and you also get HDR10+ for Netflix. This is the best screen Xiaomi put on a phone to date, and you get excellent color vibrancy and great viewing angles. Xiaomi is also touting TrueColor tech for the screen, with the feature delivering accurate colors that's ideally suited for content creators, designers, and artists.
The curved edges combines with razor-thin bezels makes the screen on the Mi 10 immersive to use. Another standout feature on the Mi 10 is the stereo speakers. Xiaomi is using two identical speakers at either end of the phone, and that leads to the loudest on-board speakers you'll find on a phone today.
The Mi 10 doesn't have QHD+ resolution or a 120Hz panel, but that doesn't matter. The screen here is fantastic, and the stereo sound makes playing games and streaming content that much more fun.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Hardware and battery
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
There's only one feature missing on the hardware front: IP68 water resistance. For whatever reason, Xiaomi just doesn't provide water resistance on any of its devices, and as a result the Mi 10 misses out. You still get a P2i coating that should be adequate to ward off the occasional splash of water or being drenched under rain, but it's a good idea to not submerge the Mi 10 in water.
Specs Xiaomi Mi 10 Software MIUI 11 based on Android 10 Display 6.67-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED Chipset 2.84GHz Snapdragon 865 RAM 8GB Storage 128GB/256GB Rear Camera 1 108MP ƒ/1.7 (primary) Rear Camera 2 13MP ƒ/2.4 (wide-angle) Rear Camera 3 2MP ƒ/2.4 (macro) Rear Camera 4 2MP ƒ/2.4 (portrait) Front Camera 1 20MP ƒ/2.0 Connectivity Wi-Fi 6, BT5.1, NFC Battery 4780mAh | 30W/30W Security In-screen fingerprint Colors Coral Green, Twilight Grey Dimensions 162.5 x 74.8 x 8.9mm Weight 208g
There's a lot to like elsewhere. The Mi 10 is running the Snapdragon 865, and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for the base model. You also get Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, Bluetooth 5.1, and NFC. Interestingly, Xiaomi introduced a Wi-Fi 6 router (opens in new tab) alongside the Mi 10 in China, and it was suggested during the India briefing that the router may show up here. So look out for that later in the year.
The Snapdragon 865 continues to be excellent in day-to-day use. I didn't see any slowdowns or lag, and the chipset handles everything with aplomb. The chipset is fully leveraged here, and that means it is using all the features that Qualcomm has to offer, including the Snapdragon Gaming Elite suite. You also get a Game Turbo mode that is particularly handy when playing visually-demanding games, and there's a three-layer liquid cooling that's designed to manage the thermals when you're in extended gaming sessions.
Xiaomi is also offering the 8GB and 256GB option in India, but it is not bringing the 12GB variant to the country. With the base variant itself starting off at ₹49,999 and the 256GB option at ₹54,999, it's understandable that Xiaomi didn't want to launch the 12GB variant in the market.
One of the key changes this time around is the haptics engine. In short, it is excellent. It delivers great haptic feedback and is a delight to use, and the switch to an x-axis motor makes a lot of difference. There's Wi-Fi calling as well, and in general I didn't see any issues with calls or Wi-Fi performance on the device. The in-screen fingerprint sensor is also one of the best I've used, and it works reliably without any issues. You also get face unlock that works reliably even in low-light conditions.
As with every other 5G-enabled phone in India, you can't actually use the latest connectivity standard in the country. There's no telling when 5G networks will take off in the country, but it won't be for another two years at the least, and right now, 5G is one of those things that you don't need to care about. A lot of manufacturers in India are rolling out NavIC — India's satellite navigation system — into their devices, and while it is baked into the Snapdragon 865 chipset, Xiaomi would not comment on whether it is available on the Indian unit.
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
There's a lot to like when it comes to the battery side of things on the Mi 10. You get a 4780mAh battery — 280mAh larger than what's in the Mi 10 Pro — and there's 30W wired and wireless charging. The Mi 10 Pro gets 50W wired charging, but I prefer the fact that the Mi 10 has a larger battery.
There's 30W wired and wireless charging here, and you get a bigger battery than the Mi 10 Pro.
Battery life in general has been fantastic. I routinely got over six hours of screen-on-time over the course of 15 hours, and I didn't have to enable battery saver even once. MIUI is generally aggressive with memory management, and that makes a lot of difference here. When you do need to charge the phone, there's 30W wired and wireless charging. When plugged in, it takes just over an hour to fully charge the battery, and it gets from zero to 50% in just 25 minutes.
30W wireless charging is a delight to use, and it takes around 75 minutes to fully charge the battery. The phone doesn't get too hot after charging it wirelessly, and the fact that Xiaomi is selling the 30W wireless charger in the country for just ₹1,999 ($25) (opens in new tab) makes it an incredible deal. The wireless charger works just fine with other phones as it has a Qi coil, but it goes down to 10W. If you have any other phones that charge wirelessly, I highly recommend getting the Xiaomi charger.
The Indian variant of the Mi 10 also offers reverse wireless charging at 10W, double that of the global variant. Xiaomi has committed to bringing its entire ecosystem of wireless charging solutions to India, with the wireless charging power bank available for ₹2,499 ($32) (opens in new tab).
Xiaomi Mi 10 Cameras
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
The main difference between the Mi 10 and the Mi 10 Pro is the cameras. Both phones share the same 108MP primary camera, but the Mi 10 Pro has usable zoom lenses and a fantastic wide-angle shooter.
The 108MP camera is fantastic, but the rest of the cameras are there purely for marketing reasons.
The Mi 10, meanwhile, comes with a 13MP wide-angle lens with a 123-degree field of view that is passable in a few daylight scenarios, but the rest of the camera modules don't serve any purpose. There's a 2MP macro lens and a dedicated 2MP module for portrait shots, and the macro lens in particular is just not worth the hassle. Now, the Mi 10 Pro relies on its 20MP wide-angle lens to take macro shots, but for some baffling reason Xiaomi didn't outfit the same sensor on the regular Mi 10 — you instead get a 2MP macro lens.
I wasn't able to take a single usable photo from the macro lens, and I just don't understand why Xiaomi decided to add the module to the phone in the first place. I don't mind brands offering a macro lens on phones — what incenses me is the fact that these 2MP sensors are useless most of the time, and they're usually included just so a brand like Xiaomi can say that it has quad cameras at the back.
With that out of the way, let's talk a little about some of the features are actually great. The Mi 10 has 8K video recording at 30fps, and you get optical stabilization for video. That's a big deal considering Samsung doesn't offer OIS for 8K video. There's also a nifty vlogging mode for video that stitches short videos together. There's also Color Focus for video, with the feature letting you isolate color for subjects in focus. It is similar to what Google Photos offers, but for videos. And it works astonishingly well.
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The 1/1.33-inch f/1.68 primary sensor on the Mi 10 is one of the largest on a phone today, and you get four-axis OIS. The phone uses 4-to-1 pixel binning to produce 27MP shots, and because of the large sensor and pixel binning, you get fantastic shots in just about any lighting condition. You get plenty to detail with great dynamic range, and the phone does a great job in low-light conditions as well.
There's also 4K video recording at 60fps with OIS, and the dedicated Night Mode lets you get more detail in low-light conditions. It's a shame that the rest of the sensors are limited, but the Mi 10 has the best camera in this category. The 108MP sensor is every bit as wonderful as advertised, and it is great to see Xiaomi offer a camera that can hold its own against Samsung and Google.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Software
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
Xiaomi's decision to monetize MIUI with ads led to a lot of intense backlash in India. It has been doing so for nearly two years, and the justification that the brand gave was that because it has a 5% limit on profit margins for hardware, it needs to make up the money somewhere else. And that means Redmi users all over the country have been bombarded with ads and bloatware that cannot be uninstalled as Xiaomi used every underhanded tactic in the book.
What makes matters worse is that most of these ads that are served to users contain sexually explicit content. I mentioned this in my Redmi Note 8 Pro review last year, and things have not gotten any better for users in the country.
MIUI used to be great a few years ago — now it's a shambolic mess that needs to be overhauled.
Honestly, it's a sad state of affairs because from the very beginning, MIUI used to be focused on the community. Users suggested tweaks to the UI and new feature additions in the MIUI forums, and where it made sense, Xiaomi used to integrate the changes into the software. At some point over the last two years, Xiaomi decided it didn't want to do that and started making unilateral decisions while cutting off the community — the same subset of individuals that made the brand what it is today.
Without this turning into a tirade on MIUI, what I'm trying to tell you is that Xiaomi's software efforts used to be great at one point. Sure, it always had a learning curve and the visual elements weren't close to pure Android, but it was fun to use. That was lost the moment Xiaomi started at ways to monetize the skin. Three years ago, I called MIUI 8 the best iteration of the software. That statement still holds true, because everything that came after was just a mess.
So where does the Mi 10 fit into all of this? For starters, you don't get any ads on the phone. Xiaomi has clarified that because the Mi 10 is a "tier one" Android phone, it will not serve ads. But before you get too excited, that's technically not true. Yes, you don't see ads from the usual services, but you will be bombarded with notifications from GetApps, Security, and others.
Xiaomi won't show ads on the Mi 10, but don't worry, you'll still get plenty of spam notifications.
Now, Xiaomi says these are "notifications" and not ads, but I fail to see the difference. These are no different from spam notifications, and whatever Xiaomi is doing here is underhanded. To be fair, OnePlus and Samsung also did the same on their phones in the past, so Xiaomi isn't the only company doing this. But those companies curtailed their efforts once there was a user backlash, but Xiaomi doesn't seem to care. What's even more egregious is that I didn't see any of these issues on the global version of the Mi 10 Pro. This seems to be limited to just the Indian model, and I don't understand why that is the case.
There's also the usual bloatware that's a mainstay on all MIUI phones these days. Most of it can be uninstalled, but you can't disable the Xiaomi add-ons. There's also no app drawer, so you have to install a third-party launcher. I use Lawnchair (opens in new tab). Oh, and you should definitely not use the built-in browser. For what it's worth, Xiaomi offers Google's dialer and Android Messages as the default phone and SMS apps on the device.
If you ignore the bloatware and the spam notifications, MIUI 11 on the Mi 10 is fluid, and it has been optimized for the 90Hz display. Yes, you still get all the customization options and you can tailor the skin to your tastes. Xiaomi introduced MIUI 12 last month, and the skin will be rolling out to phones from the end of June. During the Mi 10 briefing, I asked Xiaomi whether MIUI 12 would be baked into the Mi 10 by the time the phone went on sale in India, and was told that the phone would be in the first wave of devices to receive the update. That's clearly not the case, and right now there's no timeline as to when the Mi 10 will be updated to MIUI 12.
There can be no missteps in the premium segment, and in its current state MIUI is just not good enough when seen against OxygenOS and One UI 2.0. Xiaomi needs to rethink its MIUI strategy and reverse some of the decisions it has taken in the last two years. It should start by soliciting feedback from users once again.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Should you buy it?
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
The Mi 10 offers a fantastic camera backed by the latest hardware money can buy today, a vibrant 90Hz panel, great battery life with 30W wired and wireless charging, and excellent stereo sound. MIUI takes some of the charm away, and you miss out on IP68 water resistance.
When it comes to the phone's positioning in India, I can't help but feel that Xiaomi shot itself in the foot. Had it not backed out of the high-end segment in India following the failure of the Mi Mix 2, Xiaomi would have established itself as a premium player by now. Instead, it is effectively starting out from scratch, and that doesn't make things any easier for the brand.
Xiaomi is facing a lot of challenges with the Mi 10 in India. First, it has to convince buyers that there's enough value on offer here to justify the ₹49,999 asking price. And yes, while the 108MP camera is a great addition that makes the phone stand out, that alone isn't enough to sell the phone here.
The Mi 10 is a great phone, but Xiaomi just doesn't have the brand cachet in the premium segment.
Over the last five years, Xiaomi relentlessly drove home the point that its phones offer the best value of any handset manufacturer in the country. That was the main reason why it was able to rise swiftly up the ranks and overtake Samsung. Value is the only card left in Xiaomi's arsenal in India, and the irony is that the brand cannot use that here with the Mi 10.
While Xiaomi makes all of its budget Redmi phones in India, its facilities in the country don't have the tooling to assemble a flagship like the Mi 10. So all Mi 10 units sold in India are from China, and that means Xiaomi is hit with a massive excise duty. This is being passed on to the customers, and that's how we get to the ₹49,999 asking price for the device.
In contrast, the likes of the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, Realme X50 Pro, and iQOO 3 — the other Snapdragon 865-enabled devices — are locally assembled, allowing them to avoid that excise duties. In fact, the OnePlus 8 starts off at just ₹41,999, or $150 less than its U.S. counterpart.
Ultimately, the high-end market is entrenched around Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus, and it will be very difficult for Xiaomi to make a dent here with the Mi 10. Personally, I'm glad that Xiaomi decided to launch the Mi 10 in the country. Having used most of Xiaomi's flagships over the last four years, I can confidently say that the Mi 10 is the most polished phone that the brand has launched to date. But the fact that there are so many great devices available in the country makes the Mi 10 a hard sell, particularly when you consider the current state of MIUI.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that when someone is looking to buy a Xiaomi phone in India, they're in the market for value. I'm not fully convinced that the Mi 10 offers that value. And that will prove detrimental to Xiaomi's efforts in the country.
4 out of 5
It's for you if:
You want a sleek design backed by the latest internal hardware, incredible camera, excellent stereo speakers, a 90Hz AMOLED display, and fast wired and wireless charging.
It's not for you if:
You're looking for a phone with clean software without any bloatware, need regular updates, or IP68 dust and water resistance.
Alternatives:
The obvious choice in this category is the OnePlus 8 Pro (opens in new tab). OnePlus dominates in the high-end segment in India, and for good reason. The OnePlus 8 Pro delivers a 120Hz QHD+ AMOLED display with the latest internal hardware, and you get IP68 water resistance. The camera isn't quite as good as the Mi 10 and the phone costs ₹54,999 ($725) in the country (opens in new tab) — ₹5,000 more than the Mi 10 — but it is worth it for the clean software. OxygenOS is fantastic to use, and the fact that you get fast updates makes it a no-brainer.
Xiaomi Mi 11 review: The Android flagship you can’t ignore in 2021
The Xiaomi Mi 11 has been out for a couple of months now, and even though a flurry of other Android phones have been released since, it’s still one of the best devices you can get at this price point in Malaysia right now. It sits between the more budget-friendly Mi 11i and the Mi 11 Ultra (with that monstrosity of a camera bump)—and to me, it offers the best balance in the series.
Should you get the Mi 11 right now?
The gist of it
The Mi 11 holds the honour of being the first smartphone in the world to launch with the Snapdragon 888—the auspiciously-named latest chipset from Qualcomm. On the local side of things, a number of other Snapdragon 888-powered devices have been launched since, including the microscope-quipped Oppo Find X3 Pro and the gamer-centric Asus ROG Phone 5.
Beyond the power under the hood, Xiaomi has also clearly put a lot of work into the rest of the phone. From the frosted glass back, to the ultra-slim stainless steel frame—the Mi 11 genuinely feels like a top-end, flagship device. I’m also a big fan of the camera bump on the rear of the phone. Yes, I see some resemblance between the main camera’s stainless steel ring and the iPhone 12 Pro’s set of cameras, but I genuinely think this is one of the nicest-looking camera bumps on an Android smartphone I’ve seen in awhile.
And when you couple all of that with a big, beautiful display, improved cameras, and the latest hardware specs under the hood, the Mi 11 forms a compelling argument against the likes of the Exynos-powered Galaxy S21 series, or other Snapdragon 888-powered devices like the OnePlus 9 series.
Let’s start with the display
Xiaomi calls this a “quad-curved” display, but the curved edges on the top and bottom of the screen are barely even curved, to be honest—it feels a little more like 2.5D glass. That aside, this is one of the nicest displays I’ve used in a smartphone, with bright, vibrant colours and crisp details thanks to the high resolution. It’s simply a beautiful display, and I concur with DisplayMate‘s A+ grade for the Mi 11.
You’re looking at a 6.81″ AMOLED screen pushing a WQHD+ resolution of 3200×1440 pixels, and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate that scales between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz presets, depending on what’s being displayed. This isn’t quite the same as the dynamically-scaling refresh rates of LTPO displays, but it’s better than a fixed refresh rate, still. Colours also look vivid, and details are super crisp in full QHD+ resolution. The pixel density of 515ppi is identical to the much-more-expensive Galaxy S21 Ultra, for some context.
Xiaomi has also incorporated a near-bezel-less design, which gives this something of an all-screen look. My only gripe with the bezels are the corners on the display, which are a little too rounded for my liking, cutting off a tiny bit of screen real estate. There’s also HDR10+ support, 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, and 1,500 nits of peak brightness (900 typical). Like most Android flagships you see today (and those to come), this is also protected by Corning’s supposedly toughest glass yet, Gorilla Victus.
In a nutshell, this is one of the best smartphone displays you’ll find out there right now—and it shows.
What about performance?
The 5nm Snapdragon 888 powering the Mi 11 handles everything without a fuss, obviously. This is, after all, Qualcomm’s latest chipset, which will be used by almost every flagship Android phone over the next couple of months. Demanding games run on high settings very smoothly, and I hardly noticed any framerate drops in my time with the phone.
Something worth noting is that there have been complaints of heating+throttling issues on the Mi 11, particularly during gaming sessions (or other demanding tasks). However, I did not notice any overheating (beyond my palms getting a little warm during COD Mobile). For those of you who want an idea of the Mi 11’s performance in numbers, I ran a couple of benchmarks for your benefit:
Battery life is alright, and I got around six hours of screen-on-time on a single charge for a routine day’s worth of usage with WQHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. That’s usually made up of plenty of browsing, emailing, music, and YouTube, although I don’t usually game too much on a regular day. If you’re going to be performing more battery-intensive tasks such as gaming on a consistent basis, you can expect something a little closer to five hours of screen-on-time.
The good news, however, is that you get a GaN charger in the box. Yay! Sadly, it’s a USB-A GaN charger—but it’s still a powerful 55W power brick that gives you a full charge in around 45 minutes. And if you have a compatible Qi wireless charger, the Mi 11 supports wireless charging speeds of up to 50W—which is right up there with the fastest charging technologies out there currently.
What’s not to like, then?
The usual, if you’re familiar with Xiaomi smartphones. For one thing, you’ll have to live with MIUI 12—and all that comes with that. This includes the usual ads within Xiaomi’s system apps, which have probably been the most common source of complaints over the years. You can, however, disable most of these ads (check out this handy guide we shared awhile back).
I was also very excited about a new, unique feature—the ability to measure your heart rate with the in-display fingerprint scanner. Unfortunately, this appears to be geo-locked to certain regions, and I did not manage to access the feature, or even the Mi Health app. I’ve reached out to Xiaomi Malaysia for clarification on the matter, and I’ll update this review accordingly.
Something else that offered a less-than-satisfactory experience was the camera on the Mi 11. Like many Xiaomi phones I’ve used, there is a noticeable delay whenever I click on the shutter button—which lead to plenty of out-of-focus shots (and much irritation on my part). On the other hand, image quality on the Mi 11 is probably some of the best I’ve seen on a Xiaomi phone, particularly with regards to colour reproduction. Everything looks more natural compared to the oversaturated look you typically see on Xiaomi phones.
For daylight shots, the camera performs very well, offering a good dynamic range, a lot of detail, and generally crisp and vibrant results. Here are some samples taken in good lighting:
Portrait mode
Click to enlarge
Meanwhile, low-light photos are a little noisy, but it’s still passable at this price point. You can also see the Mi 11’s processing at work here, with some noise reduction—not so much that it looks unnatural, however. In my opinion, you get better results without Night Mode turned on:
Night mode
Normal mode
There’s also a macro camera, which… is what it is. It’s more of a gimmick, in my opinion, and I can’t think of a situation where I’d actually use this—besides a phone review, obviously. Something like the Oppo Find X3 Pro’s Microlens, on the other hand… wow.
Macro
You do miss out on a telephoto lens, which is disappointing. As a result, the Mi 11 isn’t capable of any optical zoom, but you have up to 30x of digital zoom available to you. Personally, I’d have swapped the macro shooter for a telephoto, but perhaps Xiaomi was reserving that for the Pro and Ultra models. You do have a 108MP resolution mode, so I suppose you can snap a high-resolution image and crop it to your liking while maintaining a certain amount of detail.
So, should you get this?
Xiaomi has always offered some of the most value-for-money smartphones in the market. This doesn’t just apply to smartphones, of course. The huge variety of Xiaomi-branded stuff that you can find online is almost always of the affordable nature—from their phones, to WiFi security cameras, or even vacuum cleaners. A big part of that is down to the company’s low-margin business model, one that has given us budget kings like the recent Redmi Note 10 Pro, or the original Pocophone F1.
But when it comes to making devices that can truly compete at the top-end of the Android smartphone world, things get a little more complicated. Ecosystem features like payment options, security features like Samsung Knox, or even simply the look and feel of a device—these are probably the differentiating factors when it comes to the premium flagship market. In contrast, Xiaomi’s entire modus operandi has been to focus on the latest hardware and narrow margins, rather than value-add features.
But with recent devices such as the Mi 10 Pro and now, the Mi 11, Xiaomi has clearly put a lot of work into blurring the lines between the big boys and the would-be contenders. You could argue that Xiaomi got the ball rolling with Mi 10 Pro—but they’re really driving this point home with the Mi 11.
To me, it’s the best overall Android phone you can get under the RM3,000 mark (unless your focus is on gaming). It has one of the most beautiful displays I’ve ever used on a mobile device, full-sounding stereo speakers, and I genuinely love the look and design of the phone. There’s even a little soundwave-inspired speaker grill at the bottom of the phone, although strangely, the corresponding speaker on the top of the phone uses a boring, straight-lined grill instead.
Sure, you might have a better software experience on another device. Or maybe you can’t live without a telephoto shooter. Or perhaps, you want a device that has access to a wider range of ecosystem features—like Samsung’s Galaxy world. But still. The way I see it, you can’t ignore the Mi 11—not if you’re looking for an Android flagship smartphone right now.
Photography by Zachary Yoong and Marcus Choo with the Sony A7 III.

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Xiaomi 12 Pro Smartphone Review: Small But Solid Forward Progress
Xiaomi may not be a household name in North America, but the brand is a rising force around the world and now sits in third place behind Apple and Samsung. One reason it hit those heights is the way it continues to innovate on the camera side of things, which is what the 12 Pro is supposed to illustrate.
Much of this started with last year’s Mi 11 Ultra, a device that turned some heads with its camera output, though didn’t impress as much in other respects. It was one of the first phones to use an image sensor close to 1-inch, along with newer computation software to render images. All that to serve notice that there was a new player to reckon with.
In other parts of the world, Xiaomi isn’t so much an upstart, but rather a trendsetter. That outlook may not be as clear with the 12 Pro, where camera output and battery charging do most of the heavy lifting on reputation.
Design and Build
In a previous story, I went over some of the details of the new Xiaomi 12 lineup, and the 12 Pro is the flagship of that trio. It has a somewhat understated design — or at least the grey review unit I tested looked like it did. It’s also a little heavier than I expected at 205 grams, and I suspect part of the reason for that is the glass on both sides, coupled with the weight of the camera modules.
What’s odd is that, despite Gorilla Glass on both sides, the phone comes with no official IP rating. While testing it, I was reticent about using it near water because it was impossible to tell whether it had sufficient resistance to that environment. That alone negates any photos or videos while in the water (unless you use a clear pouch or something), which is a shame given how prevalent that already is with the competition. Unless, of course, Xiaomi is pulling a OnePlus and saving money by not getting that IP designation, even though the phone could actually handle some water.
Xiaomi includes a thin silicone case in the box to at least offer a modicum of protection, but if you plan to go a little rugged with this thing, you will need to dish out some cash for tougher skin. As much as I liked the vibrancy of the 6.73-inch AMOLED display and its excellent mix of color and brightness, I wasn’t overly thrilled with the curved edges on the side. I just find flatter screens better and hope more phone manufacturers abandon those curves going forward.
The camera bump stands out from the rear, and with a mere three lenses, isn’t as big or pronounced as others have been in recent memory. The silicone case naturally has a cutout for the bump, but its real utility for photos and video is the improved grip. Holding the phone to take photos with it on was far easier, and that was equally true when mounting it on a tripod.
The 12 Pro is also among the current crop of phones running on the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, a 4nm chipset that delivers more powerful performance, including for camera rendering. There are a couple of variants with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There is no memory card slot, though you do get a dual SIM in the tray, which is nice for travel.
Camera Features
The centerpiece here is the 50-megapixel main wide camera (24mm equivalent), courtesy of a Sony IMX707 1/1.28-inch sensor. It’s the first phone to use Sony’s newest mobile image sensor, and while an upgrade from the IMX700, I went in thinking that it likely wasn’t going to be a leap forward.
There is a distinction here, which is that the wide camera also uses pixel binning. The regular Photo mode will always shoot in 12.5-megapixels and make use of the larger 1.22 Micron pixels. All the other modes using the wide camera do the same. To get the full resolution, you need to use the 50-megapixel mode, which does make each individual pixel smaller. This is ideal if you want to crop in later, but not as good for low-light and night shots.
Despite also shooting at 50-megapixels, the other two lenses weren’t so lucky, as Xiaomi went with Samsung’s more mid-range Isocell JN1 sensors instead. The ultra-wide (15mm equivalent) shoots at a 115-degree field of view, and with a reasonable f/2.2 aperture, whereas the telephoto offers a 2x optical zoom (48mm equivalent) with a solid f/1.9 aperture. On paper, it’s hard to see those two lenses as upgrades, simply because the telephoto doesn’t go as far as it did in the Mi 11 Ultra, and the ultra-wide may only be marginally different.
Software Features
Xiaomi talks up its proprietary AI algorithms as a secret sauce to make images look even better than before. One of those is called ProFocus, which can see and track objects with improved precision, including face and eye-detection capabilities. Some of that tends to play a bigger role for video recording, but they can also apply to still images.
Night mode is no longer exclusive to the wide camera, with Xiaomi opening it up to all cameras and other modes. That not only means you can shoot with the ultra-wide and telephoto lenses, but also use it in Portrait mode. Night mode now includes a video setting to shoot in low-light and night situations.
Low-light shots are one of the anchors to the whole camera array, which is why Xiaomi doesn’t waste an opportunity to showcase it. Its Ultra Night Photo is designed to use upgraded HDR and computation to deliver a suitable shot in really dark conditions. It’s not quite as advanced as removing all the noise or grain that comes with that, but it is an improvement.
The camera interface is otherwise going to look the same. Settings offer a lot of variances, with plenty of ways to customize the layout and add the modes you want on your main screen. Certain things still feel siloed, like how you can only shoot in RAW in Pro mode, but otherwise, it is worth exploring the settings to see what you can tap into to get more out of this camera.
Image Quality
Main camera
What impressed me most about the wide camera was the color in the overall output. Admittedly, I haven’t tested a Xiaomi phone camera before, so I don’t have a frame of reference that I’ve taken myself, but when I looked at the results, I came away liking the composition. It didn’t take rich colors and tones and ridiculously skew them with all the processing that takes place right after the snap.
Contrast is good, particularly with scenes where daylight actually works against you, like shooting in the early afternoon with a bright sun, for instance. Xiaomi seems to have dialed back some of the processing to let the photo turn out more the way you saw it, which I found pleasing to my eye.
There’s some versatility in how the 50-megapixel mode shoots, though it just won’t match the night and low-light output the regular Photo mode delivers. It just boils down to the size of each pixel, and no matter how Xiaomi tries to spin it, a 12.5-megapixel shot with the wide camera will look better. In brighter settings, though, I found the 50-megapixel shot to look quite good, with a decent level of cropping available to boot.
It’s not all perfect, mind you. Throw a couple of variables, like harsh lighting, darker skin, and a lot of shadows, and you may not find an ideal balance. I find that in a lot of phone cameras these days, playing around with the exposure slider is a necessary step to getting a better shot, and the 12 Pro illustrated that for me, yet again.
Ultra-wide and Telephoto
The gap between the wide lens and these two becomes obvious after a short while when capturing the same scenes. It’s great that Night mode works with both, only the results won’t necessarily come off with the same detail. Where light sources might look nice on the wide, the ultra-wide and telephoto are more likely to blotch them — a consequence of using an image sensor that just can’t pull in light to the same degree.
It’s not all bad, of course, but I just want to measure expectations because the real stud of this camera array is the wide lens, and that’s where much of Xiaomi’s investment clearly shows. The telephoto has a very limited range, so getting closer to a subject poses a challenge when trying to maintain a higher quality level. You can try shooting hybrid shots at 5x, and they’ll look okay, but this lens is one of the corners the company cut to keep the price down.
Night Mode and Special Modes
The 12 Pro has a solid Night mode. While I do wish it would at least allow more manual control over composition, the results are still admirable. The mode is highly automated, with a point, tap-to-focus, and click the shutter type of sequence. You can’t delay or speed up the exposure, nor alter the ISO or shutter speed.
One alternative is to use the regular Photo mode in the same situation. Night mode will pop up on the screen, though you will have access to the same settings and controls Photo offers, including HDR, Tilt-Shift, and Timed Burst. That’s why I noted earlier that this is the kind of camera array you should experiment with. Night mode won’t let you shoot in Tilt-Shift, whereas Photo will. Even better if you prop the 12 Pro on a tripod or flat surface to keep it all as steady as possible.
Long Exposure is a lot like that, too. It reminds me of how Vivo does its own special modes, where you can set the length of the exposure from three, five, or 10 seconds. It’s best with a tripod, and it lets you capture moving crowds, light trails, light painting, starry skies, and turning a scene into an oil painting.
I didn’t get to really try out Clone mode, but it’s very much what it sounds like. It works best with people and lets you capture a subject in different positions within the same frame. While a little gimmicky, I can see people liking it, so long as they have a static background to work with.
Pro Mode
It’s always nice to shoot in RAW, and Xiaomi does try to sweeten the deal by adding a few other useful elements. I liked that both focus peaking and exposure verification are available, and that parameters came with a few choices: saturation, contrast, and sharpness.
Xiaomi also wisely includes an excellent glossary within the mode to help newbies figure out what the various features in Pro actually do. Don’t know what metering is? Never heard of exposure compensation? No problem, simple explanations should at least get you started.
Xiaomi even saw to it to include the 50-megapixel mode within Pro, so if you want to shoot at full resolution with manual controls, have at it. This negates shooting in RAW, so it is a binary choice that way, but at least you’ve got some flexibility if you want the extra pixels for whatever you have in mind. That also goes for the other two lenses, by the way, so if you want to shoot at 50-megapixels with the ultra-wide or telephoto, just make those selections.
Video Features
My review is focused on still photos, but there’s a lot to work with on the video side here. The standard video mode lets you shoot in 1080p, 4K, or 8K. With 8K, however, you’re limited to 24fps. Movie frame gives your footage a letterbox look, with black bars above and below, somewhat emulating a Hollywood director sort of thing.
Movie Effects adds another layer of creativity to your shots, like with Magic Zoom and Time Freeze, among others. Tutorials within these modes also help you figure out what to do, so you hit the ground running. Vlog mode had me a little confused, though it looks like you can capture quick clips with music in the background that you can then splice together for footage you can post or share later. Short Video is clearly for the Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat crowd, where you can take quick 15-second snippets, either with regular, fast, or slow frame rates, and then upload them directly to social media accounts or messaging apps without leaving the camera app.
Staying in Contention
Xiaomi didn’t try throwing a Hail Mary to score a win, it made incremental improvements to ensure that it stays in the conversation among the best mobile photography options out there. If you didn’t know anything about Xiaomi, you might consider it if you like the quality of images the 12 Pro captures. It’s a solid shooter, and offers the kind of variety many of the bigger names don’t necessarily bother with.
To do this, the company tries to sway both seasoned shooters and novices into the same funnel, perhaps under the impression that its camera array is good enough to teach those who don’t know the stuff the other cohort already does. It will be interesting to see how Xiaomi tries to improve the 12 Pro’s camera with future software updates, especially since competitors will be gunning for the top crown again in 2022.
Are There Alternatives?
Incremental improvement is exactly where the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra lies, so Xiaomi isn’t alone. The difference is that Samsung has higher visibility in North America, so I believe newcomers to Xiaomi will weigh performance and output that way. “Is it better than Samsung,” is already a question I heard when showing off the 12 Pro.
The Vivo X70 Pro+ is no less formidable, including its sheer depth in both features and performance. I would argue Xiaomi may best it on overall night and low-light shooting, but there’s a lot to like there. The Google Pixel 6 Pro is outstanding, especially for anyone who doesn’t want to think too much about how to take photos. The heavily automated camera setup does a lot of the heavy lifting. On the other hand, I would also argue the Xiaomi 12 Pro can do better than the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max in certain conditions, like night and bright light scenarios, though the latter holds an edge in video quality.
Should You Buy It?
Yes, because it’s a solid phone with a good camera at a competitive price. Starting at $999, it’s on par with other flagships, and offers way faster charging speeds than other brands do.
Xiaomi Mi 10 review: Falling just short of greatness
Bottom line: The Mi 10 combines a sleek design with the latest hardware money can buy and a fantastic 108MP camera that takes stunning photos in any lighting condition. There's also a vibrant 90Hz screen, massive battery with 30W wired and wireless charging, and excellent stereo sound. The only downside is MIUI — it continues to be aggravating to use.
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When you think of Xiaomi in India, the first thing that comes to mind is its Redmi phones. Although Redmi is now a standalone entity, Xiaomi and Redmi are synonymous in India, and that has been the way for the last five years. While Xiaomi is a major smart home player in China — where it sells over a thousand connected products — in India its focus has primarily been on phones.
That has changed in recent years as Xiaomi introduced its TVs, air purifiers, water purifier, and the Mi Box streaming box in the country, but the brand is still recognizable as a budget phone manufacturer. Xiaomi became the largest phone manufacturer in India two years ago on the back of strong sales in the entry-level and budget segments, and it has managed to stave off Samsung and Vivo to retain that title.
Xiaomi is now trying to shed this budget connotation. The brand now wants to be seen as a premium player in the country, and to that effect it is launching the Mi 10 in India. This is the first premium phone that Xiaomi has launched in India in over two years. The last phone aimed at the high-end segment was the Mi Mix 2, but that device failed to gather any sales momentum and Xiaomi's high-end efforts sort of fizzled out. As a result, customers in the country missed out on the Mi Mix 2S, Mi 8 series, Mi Mix 3, and the Mi 9 series.
Xiaomi is effectively starting from scratch in the premium category, and that creates a set of problems for the manufacturer. For starters, the brand has no cachet in the high-end segment. It is seen as a value player and a brand that focuses on the budget segment, so it now has the unenviable task of convincing buyers to pay ₹49,999 ($660) for a phone. That's nearly four times the asking price of the Redmi Note 9 Pro, so the brand has its work cut out.
The Mi 10 does have a few features that make it stand out. It has the same 108MP camera sensor as the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and it is rocking the latest internal hardware. But is that enough to stand out in India, where you can get a phone with a Snapdragon 865 chipset for just ₹34,990 ($460) (opens in new tab)? That's what we're here to find out.
About this review
I am writing this review after using the Mi 10 for five days in Hyderabad, India. The phone came with MIUI 11.0.4.0 out of the box, and did not receive any updates during the course of testing. Xiaomi India provided the unit to Android Central for review.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Design and display
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
Put the Mi 10 next to last year's Mi 9 and cover up the Xiaomi logos and you wouldn't be able to tell that the two phones were made by the same brand. The design aesthetic isn't new to Xiaomi — the dual-curved screen and symmetric curves at the back were introduced on the Mi Note 2 three years ago — but it is interesting to see the brand go back to that design language.
There's a good reason why Xiaomi is doing this: most high-end phones in 2020 feature the same glass sandwich design, and Xiaomi is just catering to what users want. An unwelcome addition is the hole-punch cutout that sits to the left, but that's again a constant on most flagships this year.
The Mi 10 combines an elegant design with a vibrant 90Hz AMOLED display.
The design itself is sleek, with the curves on both the front and back meeting the aluminum mid-frame. Xiaomi is offering the Mi 10 in Coral Green and Twilight Grey color options in India, and I'm using the latter option. The Twilight Grey model has distinct blue hues, and the glossy finish at the back is a fingerprint magnet. The phone is heavy at 208g, and the added heft is because of the oversized battery. But the weight distribution is balanced, and you don't necessarily notice the heft.
With curves on either edge, the Mi 10 isn't the most comfortable phone to use, but there is enough surface area on the sides to hold the device. Given that both the front and rear panes of glass are protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass 5, the phone should hold up just fine to the occasional tumble. That said, you should really invest in a case.
The design at the back is plain save for the Xiaomi logo and the 5G moniker (hilarious because you can't use 5G in India), but what immediately grabs your attention is the camera housing. The oblong housing holds three modules, with the fourth sensor sitting below in its own island. The LED flash sits below the fourth camera, and because the camera assembly juts out from the body, you get a decent amount of wobble when using the phone on a flat surface.
Image 1 of 9
Rounding out the design, you get the power and volume buttons on the right, and two identical speakers located on the top and bottom. The SIM card tray sits at the bottom next to the USB-C charging port, and the positioning of the power button is just right — it sits where your thumb usually rests of the mid-frame. Like most Xiaomi phones, the Mi 10 has an IR blaster.
Unlike the global variant, the Mi 10 features dual SIM connectivity in India. There's no MicroSD card here, but with the base variant offering 128GB of storage, that should not be an issue. Xiaomi hasn't offered a 3.5mm jack on a flagship in three years, and with most phones in 2020 missing the jack, the Mi 10 is no longer the outlier in this regard.
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
The Mi 10 has the same panel as the Mi 10 Pro: you get a 6.67-inch FHD+ (2340x1080) AMOLED display made by Samsung. The 90Hz refresh rate makes everyday interactions that much smoother on the phone, and you also get HDR10+ for Netflix. This is the best screen Xiaomi put on a phone to date, and you get excellent color vibrancy and great viewing angles. Xiaomi is also touting TrueColor tech for the screen, with the feature delivering accurate colors that's ideally suited for content creators, designers, and artists.
The curved edges combines with razor-thin bezels makes the screen on the Mi 10 immersive to use. Another standout feature on the Mi 10 is the stereo speakers. Xiaomi is using two identical speakers at either end of the phone, and that leads to the loudest on-board speakers you'll find on a phone today.
The Mi 10 doesn't have QHD+ resolution or a 120Hz panel, but that doesn't matter. The screen here is fantastic, and the stereo sound makes playing games and streaming content that much more fun.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Hardware and battery
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
There's only one feature missing on the hardware front: IP68 water resistance. For whatever reason, Xiaomi just doesn't provide water resistance on any of its devices, and as a result the Mi 10 misses out. You still get a P2i coating that should be adequate to ward off the occasional splash of water or being drenched under rain, but it's a good idea to not submerge the Mi 10 in water.
Specs Xiaomi Mi 10 Software MIUI 11 based on Android 10 Display 6.67-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED Chipset 2.84GHz Snapdragon 865 RAM 8GB Storage 128GB/256GB Rear Camera 1 108MP ƒ/1.7 (primary) Rear Camera 2 13MP ƒ/2.4 (wide-angle) Rear Camera 3 2MP ƒ/2.4 (macro) Rear Camera 4 2MP ƒ/2.4 (portrait) Front Camera 1 20MP ƒ/2.0 Connectivity Wi-Fi 6, BT5.1, NFC Battery 4780mAh | 30W/30W Security In-screen fingerprint Colors Coral Green, Twilight Grey Dimensions 162.5 x 74.8 x 8.9mm Weight 208g
There's a lot to like elsewhere. The Mi 10 is running the Snapdragon 865, and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for the base model. You also get Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, Bluetooth 5.1, and NFC. Interestingly, Xiaomi introduced a Wi-Fi 6 router (opens in new tab) alongside the Mi 10 in China, and it was suggested during the India briefing that the router may show up here. So look out for that later in the year.
The Snapdragon 865 continues to be excellent in day-to-day use. I didn't see any slowdowns or lag, and the chipset handles everything with aplomb. The chipset is fully leveraged here, and that means it is using all the features that Qualcomm has to offer, including the Snapdragon Gaming Elite suite. You also get a Game Turbo mode that is particularly handy when playing visually-demanding games, and there's a three-layer liquid cooling that's designed to manage the thermals when you're in extended gaming sessions.
Xiaomi is also offering the 8GB and 256GB option in India, but it is not bringing the 12GB variant to the country. With the base variant itself starting off at ₹49,999 and the 256GB option at ₹54,999, it's understandable that Xiaomi didn't want to launch the 12GB variant in the market.
One of the key changes this time around is the haptics engine. In short, it is excellent. It delivers great haptic feedback and is a delight to use, and the switch to an x-axis motor makes a lot of difference. There's Wi-Fi calling as well, and in general I didn't see any issues with calls or Wi-Fi performance on the device. The in-screen fingerprint sensor is also one of the best I've used, and it works reliably without any issues. You also get face unlock that works reliably even in low-light conditions.
As with every other 5G-enabled phone in India, you can't actually use the latest connectivity standard in the country. There's no telling when 5G networks will take off in the country, but it won't be for another two years at the least, and right now, 5G is one of those things that you don't need to care about. A lot of manufacturers in India are rolling out NavIC — India's satellite navigation system — into their devices, and while it is baked into the Snapdragon 865 chipset, Xiaomi would not comment on whether it is available on the Indian unit.
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
There's a lot to like when it comes to the battery side of things on the Mi 10. You get a 4780mAh battery — 280mAh larger than what's in the Mi 10 Pro — and there's 30W wired and wireless charging. The Mi 10 Pro gets 50W wired charging, but I prefer the fact that the Mi 10 has a larger battery.
There's 30W wired and wireless charging here, and you get a bigger battery than the Mi 10 Pro.
Battery life in general has been fantastic. I routinely got over six hours of screen-on-time over the course of 15 hours, and I didn't have to enable battery saver even once. MIUI is generally aggressive with memory management, and that makes a lot of difference here. When you do need to charge the phone, there's 30W wired and wireless charging. When plugged in, it takes just over an hour to fully charge the battery, and it gets from zero to 50% in just 25 minutes.
30W wireless charging is a delight to use, and it takes around 75 minutes to fully charge the battery. The phone doesn't get too hot after charging it wirelessly, and the fact that Xiaomi is selling the 30W wireless charger in the country for just ₹1,999 ($25) (opens in new tab) makes it an incredible deal. The wireless charger works just fine with other phones as it has a Qi coil, but it goes down to 10W. If you have any other phones that charge wirelessly, I highly recommend getting the Xiaomi charger.
The Indian variant of the Mi 10 also offers reverse wireless charging at 10W, double that of the global variant. Xiaomi has committed to bringing its entire ecosystem of wireless charging solutions to India, with the wireless charging power bank available for ₹2,499 ($32) (opens in new tab).
Xiaomi Mi 10 Cameras
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
The main difference between the Mi 10 and the Mi 10 Pro is the cameras. Both phones share the same 108MP primary camera, but the Mi 10 Pro has usable zoom lenses and a fantastic wide-angle shooter.
The 108MP camera is fantastic, but the rest of the cameras are there purely for marketing reasons.
The Mi 10, meanwhile, comes with a 13MP wide-angle lens with a 123-degree field of view that is passable in a few daylight scenarios, but the rest of the camera modules don't serve any purpose. There's a 2MP macro lens and a dedicated 2MP module for portrait shots, and the macro lens in particular is just not worth the hassle. Now, the Mi 10 Pro relies on its 20MP wide-angle lens to take macro shots, but for some baffling reason Xiaomi didn't outfit the same sensor on the regular Mi 10 — you instead get a 2MP macro lens.
I wasn't able to take a single usable photo from the macro lens, and I just don't understand why Xiaomi decided to add the module to the phone in the first place. I don't mind brands offering a macro lens on phones — what incenses me is the fact that these 2MP sensors are useless most of the time, and they're usually included just so a brand like Xiaomi can say that it has quad cameras at the back.
With that out of the way, let's talk a little about some of the features are actually great. The Mi 10 has 8K video recording at 30fps, and you get optical stabilization for video. That's a big deal considering Samsung doesn't offer OIS for 8K video. There's also a nifty vlogging mode for video that stitches short videos together. There's also Color Focus for video, with the feature letting you isolate color for subjects in focus. It is similar to what Google Photos offers, but for videos. And it works astonishingly well.
Image 1 of 7
The 1/1.33-inch f/1.68 primary sensor on the Mi 10 is one of the largest on a phone today, and you get four-axis OIS. The phone uses 4-to-1 pixel binning to produce 27MP shots, and because of the large sensor and pixel binning, you get fantastic shots in just about any lighting condition. You get plenty to detail with great dynamic range, and the phone does a great job in low-light conditions as well.
There's also 4K video recording at 60fps with OIS, and the dedicated Night Mode lets you get more detail in low-light conditions. It's a shame that the rest of the sensors are limited, but the Mi 10 has the best camera in this category. The 108MP sensor is every bit as wonderful as advertised, and it is great to see Xiaomi offer a camera that can hold its own against Samsung and Google.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Software
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
Xiaomi's decision to monetize MIUI with ads led to a lot of intense backlash in India. It has been doing so for nearly two years, and the justification that the brand gave was that because it has a 5% limit on profit margins for hardware, it needs to make up the money somewhere else. And that means Redmi users all over the country have been bombarded with ads and bloatware that cannot be uninstalled as Xiaomi used every underhanded tactic in the book.
What makes matters worse is that most of these ads that are served to users contain sexually explicit content. I mentioned this in my Redmi Note 8 Pro review last year, and things have not gotten any better for users in the country.
MIUI used to be great a few years ago — now it's a shambolic mess that needs to be overhauled.
Honestly, it's a sad state of affairs because from the very beginning, MIUI used to be focused on the community. Users suggested tweaks to the UI and new feature additions in the MIUI forums, and where it made sense, Xiaomi used to integrate the changes into the software. At some point over the last two years, Xiaomi decided it didn't want to do that and started making unilateral decisions while cutting off the community — the same subset of individuals that made the brand what it is today.
Without this turning into a tirade on MIUI, what I'm trying to tell you is that Xiaomi's software efforts used to be great at one point. Sure, it always had a learning curve and the visual elements weren't close to pure Android, but it was fun to use. That was lost the moment Xiaomi started at ways to monetize the skin. Three years ago, I called MIUI 8 the best iteration of the software. That statement still holds true, because everything that came after was just a mess.
So where does the Mi 10 fit into all of this? For starters, you don't get any ads on the phone. Xiaomi has clarified that because the Mi 10 is a "tier one" Android phone, it will not serve ads. But before you get too excited, that's technically not true. Yes, you don't see ads from the usual services, but you will be bombarded with notifications from GetApps, Security, and others.
Xiaomi won't show ads on the Mi 10, but don't worry, you'll still get plenty of spam notifications.
Now, Xiaomi says these are "notifications" and not ads, but I fail to see the difference. These are no different from spam notifications, and whatever Xiaomi is doing here is underhanded. To be fair, OnePlus and Samsung also did the same on their phones in the past, so Xiaomi isn't the only company doing this. But those companies curtailed their efforts once there was a user backlash, but Xiaomi doesn't seem to care. What's even more egregious is that I didn't see any of these issues on the global version of the Mi 10 Pro. This seems to be limited to just the Indian model, and I don't understand why that is the case.
There's also the usual bloatware that's a mainstay on all MIUI phones these days. Most of it can be uninstalled, but you can't disable the Xiaomi add-ons. There's also no app drawer, so you have to install a third-party launcher. I use Lawnchair (opens in new tab). Oh, and you should definitely not use the built-in browser. For what it's worth, Xiaomi offers Google's dialer and Android Messages as the default phone and SMS apps on the device.
If you ignore the bloatware and the spam notifications, MIUI 11 on the Mi 10 is fluid, and it has been optimized for the 90Hz display. Yes, you still get all the customization options and you can tailor the skin to your tastes. Xiaomi introduced MIUI 12 last month, and the skin will be rolling out to phones from the end of June. During the Mi 10 briefing, I asked Xiaomi whether MIUI 12 would be baked into the Mi 10 by the time the phone went on sale in India, and was told that the phone would be in the first wave of devices to receive the update. That's clearly not the case, and right now there's no timeline as to when the Mi 10 will be updated to MIUI 12.
There can be no missteps in the premium segment, and in its current state MIUI is just not good enough when seen against OxygenOS and One UI 2.0. Xiaomi needs to rethink its MIUI strategy and reverse some of the decisions it has taken in the last two years. It should start by soliciting feedback from users once again.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Should you buy it?
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central (Image credit: Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
The Mi 10 offers a fantastic camera backed by the latest hardware money can buy today, a vibrant 90Hz panel, great battery life with 30W wired and wireless charging, and excellent stereo sound. MIUI takes some of the charm away, and you miss out on IP68 water resistance.
When it comes to the phone's positioning in India, I can't help but feel that Xiaomi shot itself in the foot. Had it not backed out of the high-end segment in India following the failure of the Mi Mix 2, Xiaomi would have established itself as a premium player by now. Instead, it is effectively starting out from scratch, and that doesn't make things any easier for the brand.
Xiaomi is facing a lot of challenges with the Mi 10 in India. First, it has to convince buyers that there's enough value on offer here to justify the ₹49,999 asking price. And yes, while the 108MP camera is a great addition that makes the phone stand out, that alone isn't enough to sell the phone here.
The Mi 10 is a great phone, but Xiaomi just doesn't have the brand cachet in the premium segment.
Over the last five years, Xiaomi relentlessly drove home the point that its phones offer the best value of any handset manufacturer in the country. That was the main reason why it was able to rise swiftly up the ranks and overtake Samsung. Value is the only card left in Xiaomi's arsenal in India, and the irony is that the brand cannot use that here with the Mi 10.
While Xiaomi makes all of its budget Redmi phones in India, its facilities in the country don't have the tooling to assemble a flagship like the Mi 10. So all Mi 10 units sold in India are from China, and that means Xiaomi is hit with a massive excise duty. This is being passed on to the customers, and that's how we get to the ₹49,999 asking price for the device.
In contrast, the likes of the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, Realme X50 Pro, and iQOO 3 — the other Snapdragon 865-enabled devices — are locally assembled, allowing them to avoid that excise duties. In fact, the OnePlus 8 starts off at just ₹41,999, or $150 less than its U.S. counterpart.
Ultimately, the high-end market is entrenched around Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus, and it will be very difficult for Xiaomi to make a dent here with the Mi 10. Personally, I'm glad that Xiaomi decided to launch the Mi 10 in the country. Having used most of Xiaomi's flagships over the last four years, I can confidently say that the Mi 10 is the most polished phone that the brand has launched to date. But the fact that there are so many great devices available in the country makes the Mi 10 a hard sell, particularly when you consider the current state of MIUI.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that when someone is looking to buy a Xiaomi phone in India, they're in the market for value. I'm not fully convinced that the Mi 10 offers that value. And that will prove detrimental to Xiaomi's efforts in the country.
4 out of 5
It's for you if:
You want a sleek design backed by the latest internal hardware, incredible camera, excellent stereo speakers, a 90Hz AMOLED display, and fast wired and wireless charging.
It's not for you if:
You're looking for a phone with clean software without any bloatware, need regular updates, or IP68 dust and water resistance.
Alternatives:
The obvious choice in this category is the OnePlus 8 Pro (opens in new tab). OnePlus dominates in the high-end segment in India, and for good reason. The OnePlus 8 Pro delivers a 120Hz QHD+ AMOLED display with the latest internal hardware, and you get IP68 water resistance. The camera isn't quite as good as the Mi 10 and the phone costs ₹54,999 ($725) in the country (opens in new tab) — ₹5,000 more than the Mi 10 — but it is worth it for the clean software. OxygenOS is fantastic to use, and the fact that you get fast updates makes it a no-brainer.
Xiaomi Mi 11 review: The Android flagship you can’t ignore in 2021
The Xiaomi Mi 11 has been out for a couple of months now, and even though a flurry of other Android phones have been released since, it’s still one of the best devices you can get at this price point in Malaysia right now. It sits between the more budget-friendly Mi 11i and the Mi 11 Ultra (with that monstrosity of a camera bump)—and to me, it offers the best balance in the series.
Should you get the Mi 11 right now?
The gist of it
The Mi 11 holds the honour of being the first smartphone in the world to launch with the Snapdragon 888—the auspiciously-named latest chipset from Qualcomm. On the local side of things, a number of other Snapdragon 888-powered devices have been launched since, including the microscope-quipped Oppo Find X3 Pro and the gamer-centric Asus ROG Phone 5.
Beyond the power under the hood, Xiaomi has also clearly put a lot of work into the rest of the phone. From the frosted glass back, to the ultra-slim stainless steel frame—the Mi 11 genuinely feels like a top-end, flagship device. I’m also a big fan of the camera bump on the rear of the phone. Yes, I see some resemblance between the main camera’s stainless steel ring and the iPhone 12 Pro’s set of cameras, but I genuinely think this is one of the nicest-looking camera bumps on an Android smartphone I’ve seen in awhile.
And when you couple all of that with a big, beautiful display, improved cameras, and the latest hardware specs under the hood, the Mi 11 forms a compelling argument against the likes of the Exynos-powered Galaxy S21 series, or other Snapdragon 888-powered devices like the OnePlus 9 series.
Let’s start with the display
Xiaomi calls this a “quad-curved” display, but the curved edges on the top and bottom of the screen are barely even curved, to be honest—it feels a little more like 2.5D glass. That aside, this is one of the nicest displays I’ve used in a smartphone, with bright, vibrant colours and crisp details thanks to the high resolution. It’s simply a beautiful display, and I concur with DisplayMate‘s A+ grade for the Mi 11.
You’re looking at a 6.81″ AMOLED screen pushing a WQHD+ resolution of 3200×1440 pixels, and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate that scales between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz presets, depending on what’s being displayed. This isn’t quite the same as the dynamically-scaling refresh rates of LTPO displays, but it’s better than a fixed refresh rate, still. Colours also look vivid, and details are super crisp in full QHD+ resolution. The pixel density of 515ppi is identical to the much-more-expensive Galaxy S21 Ultra, for some context.
Xiaomi has also incorporated a near-bezel-less design, which gives this something of an all-screen look. My only gripe with the bezels are the corners on the display, which are a little too rounded for my liking, cutting off a tiny bit of screen real estate. There’s also HDR10+ support, 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, and 1,500 nits of peak brightness (900 typical). Like most Android flagships you see today (and those to come), this is also protected by Corning’s supposedly toughest glass yet, Gorilla Victus.
In a nutshell, this is one of the best smartphone displays you’ll find out there right now—and it shows.
What about performance?
The 5nm Snapdragon 888 powering the Mi 11 handles everything without a fuss, obviously. This is, after all, Qualcomm’s latest chipset, which will be used by almost every flagship Android phone over the next couple of months. Demanding games run on high settings very smoothly, and I hardly noticed any framerate drops in my time with the phone.
Something worth noting is that there have been complaints of heating+throttling issues on the Mi 11, particularly during gaming sessions (or other demanding tasks). However, I did not notice any overheating (beyond my palms getting a little warm during COD Mobile). For those of you who want an idea of the Mi 11’s performance in numbers, I ran a couple of benchmarks for your benefit:
Battery life is alright, and I got around six hours of screen-on-time on a single charge for a routine day’s worth of usage with WQHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. That’s usually made up of plenty of browsing, emailing, music, and YouTube, although I don’t usually game too much on a regular day. If you’re going to be performing more battery-intensive tasks such as gaming on a consistent basis, you can expect something a little closer to five hours of screen-on-time.
The good news, however, is that you get a GaN charger in the box. Yay! Sadly, it’s a USB-A GaN charger—but it’s still a powerful 55W power brick that gives you a full charge in around 45 minutes. And if you have a compatible Qi wireless charger, the Mi 11 supports wireless charging speeds of up to 50W—which is right up there with the fastest charging technologies out there currently.
What’s not to like, then?
The usual, if you’re familiar with Xiaomi smartphones. For one thing, you’ll have to live with MIUI 12—and all that comes with that. This includes the usual ads within Xiaomi’s system apps, which have probably been the most common source of complaints over the years. You can, however, disable most of these ads (check out this handy guide we shared awhile back).
I was also very excited about a new, unique feature—the ability to measure your heart rate with the in-display fingerprint scanner. Unfortunately, this appears to be geo-locked to certain regions, and I did not manage to access the feature, or even the Mi Health app. I’ve reached out to Xiaomi Malaysia for clarification on the matter, and I’ll update this review accordingly.
Something else that offered a less-than-satisfactory experience was the camera on the Mi 11. Like many Xiaomi phones I’ve used, there is a noticeable delay whenever I click on the shutter button—which lead to plenty of out-of-focus shots (and much irritation on my part). On the other hand, image quality on the Mi 11 is probably some of the best I’ve seen on a Xiaomi phone, particularly with regards to colour reproduction. Everything looks more natural compared to the oversaturated look you typically see on Xiaomi phones.
For daylight shots, the camera performs very well, offering a good dynamic range, a lot of detail, and generally crisp and vibrant results. Here are some samples taken in good lighting:
Portrait mode
Click to enlarge
Meanwhile, low-light photos are a little noisy, but it’s still passable at this price point. You can also see the Mi 11’s processing at work here, with some noise reduction—not so much that it looks unnatural, however. In my opinion, you get better results without Night Mode turned on:
Night mode
Normal mode
There’s also a macro camera, which… is what it is. It’s more of a gimmick, in my opinion, and I can’t think of a situation where I’d actually use this—besides a phone review, obviously. Something like the Oppo Find X3 Pro’s Microlens, on the other hand… wow.
Macro
You do miss out on a telephoto lens, which is disappointing. As a result, the Mi 11 isn’t capable of any optical zoom, but you have up to 30x of digital zoom available to you. Personally, I’d have swapped the macro shooter for a telephoto, but perhaps Xiaomi was reserving that for the Pro and Ultra models. You do have a 108MP resolution mode, so I suppose you can snap a high-resolution image and crop it to your liking while maintaining a certain amount of detail.
So, should you get this?
Xiaomi has always offered some of the most value-for-money smartphones in the market. This doesn’t just apply to smartphones, of course. The huge variety of Xiaomi-branded stuff that you can find online is almost always of the affordable nature—from their phones, to WiFi security cameras, or even vacuum cleaners. A big part of that is down to the company’s low-margin business model, one that has given us budget kings like the recent Redmi Note 10 Pro, or the original Pocophone F1.
But when it comes to making devices that can truly compete at the top-end of the Android smartphone world, things get a little more complicated. Ecosystem features like payment options, security features like Samsung Knox, or even simply the look and feel of a device—these are probably the differentiating factors when it comes to the premium flagship market. In contrast, Xiaomi’s entire modus operandi has been to focus on the latest hardware and narrow margins, rather than value-add features.
But with recent devices such as the Mi 10 Pro and now, the Mi 11, Xiaomi has clearly put a lot of work into blurring the lines between the big boys and the would-be contenders. You could argue that Xiaomi got the ball rolling with Mi 10 Pro—but they’re really driving this point home with the Mi 11.
To me, it’s the best overall Android phone you can get under the RM3,000 mark (unless your focus is on gaming). It has one of the most beautiful displays I’ve ever used on a mobile device, full-sounding stereo speakers, and I genuinely love the look and design of the phone. There’s even a little soundwave-inspired speaker grill at the bottom of the phone, although strangely, the corresponding speaker on the top of the phone uses a boring, straight-lined grill instead.
Sure, you might have a better software experience on another device. Or maybe you can’t live without a telephoto shooter. Or perhaps, you want a device that has access to a wider range of ecosystem features—like Samsung’s Galaxy world. But still. The way I see it, you can’t ignore the Mi 11—not if you’re looking for an Android flagship smartphone right now.
Photography by Zachary Yoong and Marcus Choo with the Sony A7 III.

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