One of the first, if not the first, smartphone to arrive on the market with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor was the Xiaomi Mi 11, the new top of the range of Lei Jun's company which a few weeks ago officially debuted on the Italian market. . All sorts of things have been said about this device, but it is undeniable that significant improvements have been made both on the aesthetic and hardware side compared to past generations, such as a display that turns out to be the best in the sector and to say it is not me but DisplayMate directly. But removed a decidedly pumped data sheet, how will the smartphone behave and above all the software in the Global version is already mature or as in the past we should wait for future updates to have to deal with a satisfactory user experience? Let's find out together in our full review.
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Generally in our reviews we start by telling you about the contents of the sales package, but in the case of Xiaomi Mi 11, the sample received was of a journalistic type and therefore devoid of everything, only the phone naked and raw, so we will limit ourselves to listing the contents of the sales box, reporting what Xiaomi herself writes on her website, spoiling you already that you will not have to fear, the battery charger is included:
- My 11
- 55W GaN power supply
- USB Type-C Cable
- Type-C to 3,5mm headphone adapter
- SIM eject tool
- Soft case
- User manual and warranty certificate
I admit that when the flagship in China was presented, I was not at all enthusiastic about the design that the company has reserved for this terminal, but live Xiaomi Mi 11 is really beautiful, a pleasure for the eyes and hands, in as on the back we find ourselves in the presence of a back cover made of frosted glass that returns an almost velvety feeling to the touch but above all the advantage is that this hardly retains fingerprints and dirt in general. The dimensions, however, are very important and ergonomics is not a strong point of Mi 11 which is configured with measures equal to 164,3 x 75,6 x 8,06 mm and a weight of 196 grams, which overall are well balanced along the entire axis of the phone in addition to the fact that they are not so many when compared to the weight of the competitors in the reference range.
But numbers aside, when you hold Xiaomi Mi 11 everything takes a back seat especially if we begin to admire the impressive 4-sided curved display equipped with AMOLED technology with 2K resolution (WQHD) 3200 x 1440 pixels, one of the best obtainable for one smartphone. We are talking about a panel with form factor in 20: 9 whose design is interrupted only by the presence of a punch hole used as a selfie camera, 515 ppi, 3% DCI-P100 color range, 10bit HDR10 + color, peak brightness of 1550 nits and 120 Hz dynamic refresh rate with touch refresh rate of 480 Hz, all protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus as well as a plastic film already pre-applied by the company.
Pippotto aside on the technical specifications, summing up the experience with this display is simple because one word is enough: FANTASTIC. TV series, films, documentaries, videos on Youtube and everything related to multimedia (therefore also gaming) is a pleasure for the eyes if viewed on this display and do not be scared by the accentuated curves on the profiles because it has been introduced at a software level. a function that allows you to ignore the accidental touch on the edges, however adjustable at will. To date, the display of Mi 11 is unbeatable in terms of precision, quality and chromatic fidelity as well as visibility in all lighting conditions even under direct sunlight.
Moreover, at the software level we find a whole series of functions that serve to optimize the reproduction of videos, relative to fluidity and HDR, temperature calibration and color tone, etc. But I wanted to find a defect, that is the slight asymmetry between the upper frame and the one lower, but many will not even notice.
Returning to the design of our Xiaomi Mi 11, on the rear we find the renewed bumper room that may or may not like it on an aesthetic level, but at least finds its own identity among the myriad of devices that are in practice all the same. No fingerprint sensor therefore, since it has been inserted under the amazing 2K display, with super fast and reliable unlocking results, but if necessary you can also take advantage of the Face Unlock unlocking function which proved to be just as quick and precise, too. in total darkness. The thin profiles give us the canonical on / off buttons and volume rocker on the right while on the left we find a completely smooth linear. On the lower profile we have the presence of the main microphone, the USB Type-C input, the SIM tray and one of the two stereo speakers, as we find the twin on the upper frame where the IR transmitter and the second microphone were also placed .
The audio for Xiaomi Mi 11 is therefore of the stereo type by means of a double speaker and has been edited and signed by Harman Kardon, leader in the reference sector. To be honest I would have expected something more, not so much for the quality that I admit to be excellent, but for the fact that for some musical styles I found an excessive resonance of the transmitted audio which resulted in an excessive vibration of the body. of the phone.
Nothing dramatic but since we are talking about a top of the range, no discounts are made to anyone. As for the SIM slot mentioned above, this is able to accommodate 2 SIMs in nano format but no memory expansion by means of Micro SD cards. Both SIMs can navigate in 5G enjoying the support of the new Dual-mode SA / NSA connection technology, but with my operator and especially for the area where I live I have never been able to benefit from the real browsing potential of Mi 11, but I can tell you that I have never suffered from freezing or slowness during download and upload.
As mentioned at the beginning of the review, Xiaomi Mi 11 has also been talked about for the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, a solution with Kryo 680 structure and 5 nm production process with 2.8 GHz clock which is accompanied by the Adreno GPU for graphics operations. 660. Everything is then seasoned with an 8 GB LPDDR5 RAM and 128/256 GB of internal storage UFS 3.1 while for the connectivity part we rely on the integrated Snapdragon X60 5G modem.
I purposely did not perform benchmarks, if not the most important one, that is to exploit the device in everyday life, stressing it with the thousand social notifications, uploading videos on Youtube, photos, internet browsing, GPS and even gaming with results above expectations and free from excessive overheating, with framerates also quite important in gaming sessions. In short, Xiaomi Mi 11 is a fighter, a real out of class in the execution of "daily" tasks but also "off the track". Moreover, the connection equipment is good, which for the flagship also boasts the presence of WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, dual-frequency GPS also on Galileo satellites and NFC for mobile payments, with full certification by Google and related services, what not so obvious these days.
And we have come to one of the most important innovations of this top of the range branded Xiaomi, or the photographic sector, which also stands out for a new look of the rear bump camera which consists essentially of two elements, namely a frame in polished aluminum, in which there are also the flash and the macro lens, and another black insert that contains the main sensor and the ultra wide-angle camera.
But going beyond the mere aesthetic judgment, the qualitative performance of photos and videos of Mi 11 are worthy of the camera phone label, thanks to a primary sensor of 108 MP, f / 1.85, optically stabilized (OIS) which is flanked by a 13 MP ultra wide-angle lens with 123 °, f / 2.4 field of view and finally a 5 MP, f / 2.4 tele-macro lens with minimum AF of 3 cm.
As already stated earlier, the quality is in line with the top-of-the-range competitors, perhaps slightly inferior in the performance of the ultra-wide optics both for the field of view and for the general quality of the photo and if I really want to be critical, in my opinion Xiaomi should work on the management of strong contrasts and in the management of the white balance, as in some conditions it can happen that overexposed areas appear that are not corrected by the software, while for the macro sensor I feel I can express as an opinion that it is the best currently on the market. In good lighting conditions, the photos taken with the main camera but also with the wide-angle one are decidedly good: excellent dynamic range and excellent noise management.
We can shoot videos with a maximum resolution of 8K at 30 fps, as well as being able to enjoy cinema filter effects, HDR10 + videos and AI cinema effects. we have brought you an in-depth analysis in this article. In short, Xiaomi for his Mi 11 has also focused a lot on the software enriching it with functions dedicated to video management as if we were directors, but to be honest you need to do a lot of practice to get the desired result. And again as regards the new functions, the company also integrates the new Eraser UI 2.0 which allows you to delete lines and people with a simple click with often stunning results. Good indeed excellent night mode that can also be used with ultra wide optics as well as for videos, whose rendering is much more realistic than the competition while unfortunately it is still not possible to switch from one focal length to another while we are shooting a video, a real shame !!!
NB: ALL THE PHOTOS HAVE BEEN COMPRESSED FOR THE NEEDS OF SPACE ON THE SERVER
Good stabilization even if in some areas, during a fast pan, you notice a certain jerkiness of the image as well as the transition of focus from macro to infinity is jerky, but nothing that cannot be solved with a software update . No optical zoom that therefore on Xiaomi Mi 11 is of the digital type with an excursion from 2X to 30X, impacting on the quality that clashes with the real potential of Mi 11. The same considerations apply to the 20 MP selfie camera, f / 2.2 which it allows us to shoot 1080p video at 60 fps, far beyond most of the competition.
At the time of the review, our Xiaomi Mi 11 is still animated by the MIUI 12 graphic interface waiting for the 12.5 which should arrive very soon, while the operating system is Android 11 with the latest security patches available. Therefore I will not dwell much on the software paragraph, but I can say that overall the user experience is decidedly positive and free of any lag or uncertainty. Unfortunately, however, I must emphasize that despite the fact that we are in the presence of a top of the range, therefore the cost is not exactly economic, the company has still included a series of pre-installed applications (however easily uninstalled at will) but what I just did not digest is the presence of advertisements in system apps.
Despite the reduced thickness, Xiaomi Mi 11 integrates a large 4600 mAh battery which, as far as the charging modes are concerned, supports 2 different variants: an ultra-fast wired mode at 55W and a fast wireless charging at 50W. Unfortunately I cannot give you statistics about the charging times because the company has provided a journalistic sample, that is, only the device and nothing else, but I can safely unbalance the real autonomy obtainable with Mi 11 at maximum performance. Personally with a rather intense use I was able to take home about 5 hours of active display, guaranteeing me the working day without any effort.
An interesting value considering that I used the maximum refresh rate available and the 2K resolution of the screen, but in the gaming field things drop drastically, obtaining a discharge of about 30% in just over 1 hour of activity. But it is not surprising, after all just like a Ferrari, also for Xiaomi Mi 11 the rule applies that if we press the accelerator to the floor, more fuel is consumed, but the fun is undeniably skyrocketing. Also of positive mention is the fact that the top of the range integrates 10W reverse wireless charging, so you can charge headphones, wearables and gadgets equipped with this technology simply by placing them on the rear surface of the phone.
PROJECTED IMPACT
Mi 11 is definitely a top of the range, which has nothing to envy to the most famous rivals, such as Samsung's solutions that even cost over 500 euros more than the Xiaomi price list. However, we always talk about a considerable figure, or 799 euros for the 8/128 GB variant while we go up to 899 euros for the 8/256 GB one, important figures that highlight the small and large shortcomings of this device, such as the absence of IP certification but at much lower prices, such as those available on Chinese stores but also on Amazon (Spain) which bring the price down to around 600 euros, everything seems to take a back seat. At this figure, Xiaomi Mi 11 becomes a real bargain that you don't have to miss if you have a budget to invest.
Very interesting review. Thank you!