Review of Xiaomi 11T Pro - a camera phone that charges in 20 minutes

The new Xiaomi smartphone is called cinematic. It really has a lot of possibilities for shooting video - from the bokeh effect to the support of ultra-high resolution. This is useful for those who prefer to make videos, rather than photos, and sticks to TikTok for hours.

Xiaomi 11T Pro - now so without "Mi" in the title, - will lead a new line of smartphones of the Chinese brand. The younger model, without the Pro console, received a MediaTek processor, 8 GB of RAM and fast charging "only" of 67 watts.

The older model we tested has a powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset, 8 or 12 GB of RAM and Harman Kardon sound. It is also the first Xiaomi smartphone with 120W HyperCharge to hit the global market.

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Design and ergonomics
• Screen
• Software and performance
• Sound
• Cameras
• Autonomy and charging
• Outcomes

Specifications

Design and ergonomics

Xiaomi 11T Pro can be purchased in three colors: "meteorite gray", "moon white" and "sky blue". We got the last one. In it, the blue-pink gradient of the lid turns into silver at the ends. It looks bright, but very much an amateur and very "Chinese".

The panel itself is glossy and fingerprints are perfectly visible. The set traditionally comes with a silicone case that protects the case, although it kills all the beauty of the gradient.

The edges of the Xiaomi 11T Pro are rounded and slightly tapered on the sides to make the device appear thinner.

The block of cameras is large. Three lenses are covered with one glass, so that your finger does not cling to them when you grip the smartphone.

The location of the keys and connectors is the most common. On the right side there is a volume rocker and a power button with a built-in sensor fingerprint. The scanner works clearly and recognizes the owner of the smartphone instantly.

A microphone and speakers are placed on the upper end. Their second set is located on the bottom edge, there is also a USB Type-C connector and a card slot. In the Xiaomi 11T Pro, you can put two SIM cards, but the memory card with them is no longer there. You will have to make do with internal storage of 128 or 256 GB. Jacks for wired headphones are also not provided.

Despite its large size - more than 16 cm on the long side - the Xiaomi 11T Pro is well balanced and fits comfortably in the hand. Although you won't be able to reach the corners with your finger.

The weight of the smartphone together with the case is 230 g, which is normal for a gadget of this size.

Screen

The "cinematic" smartphone also has a corresponding display - a huge, elongated height. Its aspect ratio is 20: 9, the diagonal is 6.67 inches, which is almost 17 cm. And all this screen is given to content, and the front camera got only a small round cutout in the center.

The screen of the Xiaomi 11T Pro is very bright with good contrast. Auto brightness works perfectly, there is no need to manually increase or, conversely, lower the intensity of the glow.

Everything is traditional in the settings. There is light and dark modesas well as an eye protection mode. All three can be turned on on a schedule.

As usual, Xiaomi provides the option to eliminate flickering on the AMOLED screen to reduce eye strain, but this option only works with a 60Hz refresh rate.

By default, the Xiaomi 11T Pro is set to a 120Hz refresh rate. With it, scrolling the page or updating the picture occurs more smoothly. However, only in those games and applications where this function is supported, and that's not all. This parameter can be reduced to 60 Hz to conserve battery power.

An interesting option is to customize the screen with artificial intelligence. It makes it possible to increase the resolution and improve the detail of the video. Another option is to let your smartphone automatically recognize objects in your photos and adjust colors to make your photo more effective. This function works only in the "Gallery" and, frankly, the difference between the "improved" and the normal frame is not particularly visible.

Software and performance

Xiaomi 11T Pro runs Android 11 with MIUI 12.5.4. There were no complaints about it during testing. The device responds to commands quickly, no glitches were encountered.

Initially, some applications are installed on the smartphone, for example, Yandex. Browser ”, Netfix, TikTok. There are also Xiaomi branded services, for example, "Mi Video" for uploading their videos to the social network and watching those uploaded by other users.

As usual, the MIUI shell contains a lot of ads and imposed content, which is offered literally from the first screen. Already on the blocking page, a brief announcement of the news is displayed, which can be read in full even without unlocking the smartphone.

The hardware of the Xiaomi 11T Pro is fine. A powerful processor with good graphics and a large amount of RAM allow you to play any games and run any applications. In the process, the smartphone almost does not heat up, obvious throttling was not noticed. Most likely, this is the merit of the built-in software, which regulates the temperature and keeps the performance at a fixed level.

The Antutu synthetic test demonstrates that the main trump card of the new flagship Xiaomi is graphics. Here he is ahead of the vast majority of competitors in terms of results. And in terms of CPU performance, Xiaomi 11T Pro outperforms 40 to 50% of test participants. The total score of the smartphone was 683,000 points.

Sound

The Xiaomi 11T Pro has Harman Kardon speakers. They are located at the top so that the sound is not drowned out when you hold your smartphone horizontally while playing games or watching movies.

The sound is loud and of high quality, although true bass and well-developed mids can not be achieved here. By default, Dolby Atmos support is enabled in the settings, and there is a tangible effect, so you should not disable it. In addition, there is a flexible equalizer and presets for music of different styles.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro microphones have a traditional problem with sound picking up, which is exacerbated by the considerable size of the smartphone. In order for the interlocutor to hear you normally, you have to adapt.

Cameras

The Xiaomi 11T Pro is marketed as a "cinematic" smartphone, but it also inherited successful developments in the field of photography. So with its help, you can get very good shots, with good color reproduction and low noise.

The main camera is 108 ‑ megapixel. However, the ultra-high resolution shooting mode is moved to the additional menu and is included separately. By default, the standard 12 megapixels are used. The detail in the maximum mode is really higher, although the difference cannot be called dramatic.

The 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens also does a good job of detail. But post-processing algorithms do not work well with distortions at the edges of the frame, even if you enable the corresponding option in the settings.

But I was pleased with the macro mode, for which the 5-megapixel camera is responsible. It creates a beautiful effect of depth and provides decent detail even in poor lighting conditions.

There is also a "super macro" mode in the settings of the Xiaomi 11T Pro. Only, for some reason, it is not included in the additional menu, but in the “hamburger” on the main screen.

If you focus correctly, the smartphone allows you to shoot as close objects as possible. Although in this case, you will have to come to terms with the blurring of areas that are out of focus.

Frames taken with night mode, look lighter and more detailed, but not without a slight yellowness.

Of the additional shooting modes in the Xiaomi 11T Pro, long exposure is worth mentioning. With it, it is proposed to photograph moving objects, the starry sky or flickering lights from a tripod. There is also a professional mode with manual adjustments for white balance, exposure, shutter speed, and more. And the new flagship Xiaomi is able to shoot in RAW format.

But the developers focused on video filming. Xiaomi 11T Pro supports resolutions up to 8K, and you can shoot macro video, track the movement of an object and use AI to improve the video.

As in iPhone 13 Pro, the Xiaomi smartphone has a "cinematic mode". True, he does not give such a beautiful blur of the background and does not know how to automatically keep the object in focus, you have to do it manually.

The additional menu of the Xiaomi 11T Pro contains a whole bunch of options for video shooting and its combination with photos. There is a "Video blog" mode - you can continuously shoot until you run out of memory or smartphone charge. And, for example, the "Movie Magic" modes with the craziest built-in special effects.

Against the background of this variety, the 16-megapixel front camera looks modest. And yet, the selfies on the Xiaomi 11T Pro are good, with natural color reproduction and neat separation of the background in portrait mode.

The selfie camera also supports various options, such as slightly retouching your face or adding special effects. There is even support for "cinematic mode", but it is limited to changing the aspect ratio.

The front camera also provides face unlock. She recognizes the owner of the smartphone quickly, even in the dark, using the screen light.

Autonomy and charging

One of the main advantages of the Xiaomi 11T Pro is its amazingly fast charging. Comes with a 120W power supply. It is very large and heavy - together with the cable it weighs almost as much as a smartphone itself.

But the "native" unit charges the Xiaomi 11T Pro at a fantastic speed. After 7 minutes, the battery level will be 30%, and to reach 100%, 20 minutes is enough.

In Xiaomi promisethat the battery does not degrade after 800 recharge cycles, while other manufacturers guarantee no more than 500. Judging by the fact that during charging the smartphone heats up moderately and evenly, such an ultra-fast "pumping" of energy really does not harm it.

But over the time of operation, Xiaomi 11T Pro did not bring any surprises. And although the battery here is larger than, for example, in the Mi 11 with a comparable display size, we did not find outstanding results when testing the autonomy.

When watching streaming video with a refresh rate of 60 Hz, the battery is discharged by about 12% per hour, and after an hour and a half of videoconferencing, the charge level dropped by 20%.

And yet, for a day of use in normal mode, the Xiaomi 11T Pro is more than enough. And if you turn off the high refresh rate and select the dark mode, then the smartphone will last a day and a half.

Outcomes

Xiaomi 11T Pro will appeal to bloggers as a powerful device for shooting video, which can be supplemented with bright unusual special effects without much effort and skill. Tiktokers will need both a huge display to view the footage, and, probably, a proprietary application to upload ready-made videos to the social network without any problems.

For the rest, the decisive argument "for" can be ultra-fast charging, good cameras and smart hardware.

The Russian price of Xiaomi 11T Pro is 53,990 rubles for the version with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory or 53,990 rubles for a smartphone with 12 and 256 GB of memory, respectively. And this cost looks quite reasonable considering the characteristics of the device. Moreover, now a smartphone can be ordered with a discount of 4,000 rubles.

The author thanks Xiaomi for the device provided for testing. The company had no way of influencing its outcome.

To order