Review of Xiaomi Mi 10 - the most controversial smartphone of 2020

Xiaomi decided that it has grown to the level of Apple, at least in the eyes of the Russian consumer. There is simply no other way to explain why Mi 10 is sold for 70 thousand in our country. But what if the Chinese flagship can rival the iPhone or even surpass it? We tell you about all the features of the Xiaomi Mi 10.

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Design and ergonomics
• Screen
• Software and performance
• Sound and vibration
• Camera
• Autonomy
• Outcome

Specifications

Design and ergonomics

Xiaomi Mi 10 is a large and heavy smartphone made of glass and metal. To hide the dimensions, the engineers made the body as streamlined as possible: the front and rear windows are curved, the aluminum frame becomes thinner on the sides.

Thanks to smooth edges, the gadget fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. However, the sleek body just strives to slip out of the hands, so a cover is a must here.

The smartphone cannot boast of full protection against moisture and dust: the manufacturer has managed only with a P2i hydrophobic coating. With it, the novelty will survive falling into the rain, but you should not immerse it in water.

An optical fingerprint is located under the screen, which reads the fingerprint quickly and accurately. There is also a face recognition function. Deceive her photography or the user's video recording is impossible, but in the dark it becomes useless.

Power and volume buttons are located on the right side. At the bottom there is a multimedia speaker, microphone, USB Type-C connector and a slot for two SIM cards. Above is another multimedia speaker, a second microphone, a speaker and an infrared port for controlling equipment.

Screen

Almost the entire front panel is occupied by a 6.67 ‑ inch AMOLED ‑ screen with a resolution of 2,340 x 1,080 pixels. However, the display is not sharp enough for a flagship smartphone. Due to the typical AMOLED arrangement of pixels, graininess is striking, especially in the small white print.

The rest of the screen is decent. The refresh rate is 90 Hz, which makes the animation smoother. The contrast level is maximum, which is to be expected from a matrix based on organic diodes. The viewing angles and the brightness margin are also good, however, the picture is slightly distorted on the curved edges.

The display supports 10-bit color coding and HDR10 + standard for high dynamic range content. We did not forget about the DC Dimming function, it suppresses high-frequency PWM flicker and reduces load on the eyes.

Software and performance

Works Mi 10 running Android 10 with MIUI 11 shell. Xiaomi will soon update the latter to version 12, improving the notification shade and gesture control, as well as changing the design-code of the elements.

The most charming thing about MIUI is system notifications. Xiaomi employees have an excellent sense of humor, otherwise how to explain those opuses with which the smartphone showered the user. Also in the firmware there is a recommendation system, which in fact shows the user an advertisement. All this can be disabled in the settings.

The hardware platform is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset with eight cores and a 5G modem. Responsible for the graphics video accelerator Adreno 650. The smartphone is equipped with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory, not expandable.

The interface is smooth and responsive at both 60Hz and 90Hz. Performance in games is at its best: World Of Tanks: Blitz runs at maximum graphics settings with a frequency of 60 FPS without drawdowns and strong heating.

Sound and vibration

Xiaomi Mi 10 became the first flagship of the company with stereo sound. It is noteworthy that the engineers did not connect the spoken speaker to a stereo pair, but added another multimedia speaker. A similar scheme was previously found only in the OnePlus 7T, which boasted excellent sound.

The novelty from Xiaomi is also not a miss in terms of audio. The sound is very loud, while distortion and overloads do not occur even at maximum values. There is bass and volume that are atypical for smartphones - perhaps such speakers would do honor to many laptops.

In addition, the model is equipped with a high-quality vibration motor capable of generating different types of responses. Feels similar to those you get from the Taptic Engine in iPhoneand this is the highest praise for an Android smartphone.

Camera

The standard camera is based on a 108-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor with a size of 1 / 1.33 ''. By default, it shoots a 27 megapixel photo with four pixels combined into one. Complements the matrix with a lens with an f / 1.7 aperture, seven lenses and optical image stabilization.

Also, the novelty is equipped with a 13-megapixel wide-angle module. Two more "eyes" of 2 megapixels are designed for blurring the background and macro photography. Front camera resolution is 20 megapixels.

The set of cameras is completely goofy. There is no telephoto lens here, which is bad form by the standards of flagships. Macro shooting can be realized with the help of "shirik", equipping it with autofocus. As for the background blur, the huge sensor of the main camera, coupled with a wide aperture, produces decent bokeh without auxiliary modules.

The main camera does an excellent job with street and landscape photography. When focusing into the distance, enough detail is retained, color rendition and dynamic range are also good. At the edges, the sharpness drops slightly, but it does not strike the eye. An obvious noise appears in the dark - here the night mode comes to the rescue.

Mi 10 became the second smartphone after Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultracapable of shooting 8K video. The frame rate is 30 FPS, electronic stabilization is not available.

This is how a smartphone records traditional 4K video.

Autonomy

A 4,780 mAh battery is responsible for powering the components. This capacity is enough for a day of active use with surfing in social networks, watching YouTube and taking photos - by the night, about 30% of the charge remains. A half-hour session in World of Tanks: Blitz drained the battery by 6%.

The included 30W adapter charges the battery in just an hour. Fast wireless charging up to 30W is also supported, but you will have to buy a docking station for this.

Outcome

In some aspects, the Xiaomi Mi 10 is the best Android smartphone on the market. No other model can boast of such speakers and vibration motor as the Chinese novelty. However, the lack of a clear screen, a strange set of cameras and MIUI with their own gags will not please everyone, especially for such a price.

Buy

The author thanks Xiaomi for the device provided. The company had no way to influence the test result.