The Xiaomi Mi 11 : This smartphone is currently Xiaomi’s main weapon, appearing as the first flagship to use the Snapdragon 888 chipset in the world. Because Xiaomi’s decision is quite unique. In its home country, the Xiaomi Mi 11 comes in two types of sales packages; with and without a charger adapter. Although in the end the global variant still comes with a charger adapter. And at a higher retail price, of course.
Design
Since the release of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 at the end of 2019, in my opinion, the Xiaomi flagship can be juxtaposed with the flagships of other brands in design and appearance. Likewise with the Xiaomi Mi 11, which comes in two rear body material options; fingerprint-free, anti-glare frosted glass, to vegan leather. The unit I tried happened to have leather in Lilac Purple color.
It feels quite light in the hand, because it weighs less than 200 grams (194 grams to be precise). It’s also relatively thin at 8.56mm, while the glass body variant is even thinner at 8.06mm. The curves at the left and right corners on both the front and back, apart from adding a premium feel, are also comfortable in the hand. Moreover, the leather variant is very gripping, aka the doormat on the palm surface.
The camera module design is made different from the previous series, it stands out a little with silver accents. It is also less massive than the flagship with the other 108MP main sensor, using a one-piece glass coating. Visually, that’s enough to be proud of.
Display
Xiaomi provides a significant increase. After previously ‘only’ using the highest resolution in full HD +, now the Xiaomi Mi 11 uses a 2K AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and a touch sampling rate of up to 480Hz. The dimensions themselves reach 6.81 inches, but because the bezel is relatively thin and the left & right sides of the screen are slightly curved, the dimensions are not too big.
There is no doubt about the quality and color reproduction. Xiaomi to register Mi 11 to DisplayMate, and get an A + score. A high score can only be obtained if the screen can display good and accurate saturation, indicating that the screen can be used for professional photo and video editing purposes. Reinforced with a layer of Gorilla Glass Victus .
What is a little annoying to my eyes is the four corners of the screen. The arch is wide enough, and the angle is not the same between the top and bottom. So that when displaying the application, it looks less “match” with the applications that are currently running. Maybe this is just my personal nitpick, and the rest is fine, with the four-sided bezels equally thin.
Camera
three camera sensors are carried on the rear body, in contrast to the Mi Note 10 series which has five with two different telephoto sensors. While on the Xiaomi Mi 11, there is no telephoto sensor at all. Will be a weakness for the 2021 flagship standard.
The main sensor on the rear body has a resolution of 108MP f / 1.85, is equipped with OIS, and 7 layers of lenses. It has 1 / 1.33 ”physical dimensions, and supports 4-in-1 pixel-binning technology. This means that the sensor is capable of producing high-quality 27MP resolution photos by merging four individual pixels into one “super pixel”. Next door is a 13MP f / 2.4 123 ultra-wide sensor with a 123-degree FoV.
The third sensor is a tele macro type, with 5MP f / 2.4 resolution and supports autofocus (3 – 10cm). The type is similar to that used in the Poco F2 Pro — it’s easier to take photos of small / close-up objects via this type of sensor than the usual macro sensor. Without a telephoto sensor, of course, photo zoom will be processed digitally.
However, when I tried it, I felt that the digital zoom quality was similar to the Pixel 3. In that sense, it still looks detailed even when using 2x zoom. It looks like Xiaomi is also using software processing, or assistance from the Snapdragon 888 ISP to improve its photo quality. While the front camera is equally good, with a resolution of 20MP f / 2.4.
Other System Features
The Xiaomi Mi 11 comes with MIUI 12 based on Android 10, and will get an update to MIUI 12.5 with Android 11 in the near future. I myself am quite fond of the MIUI interface which is now more mature. It doesn’t look full to the eye, even though there are still a lot of features.
There are several additional gimmick features that I think are quite interesting on the Xiaomi Mi 11. The software can automatically increase the resolution of the video being played, and several other features such as AI Image Enhancement, AI HDR Enhancement (for videos) and MEMC which are claimed to increase framerate video, to make it look smoother.
These features will consume more power when activated, taking advantage of the power of the powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset . The variant I tried has a RAM capacity of 12GB, while the global variant only has an 8GB option (with a choice of 128 / 256GB internal memory). Without a microSD card slot, the Xiaomi Mi 11 is equipped with a dual SIM card slot.
The fingerprint sensor that is immersed in the Mi 11 screen is also unusual. Through a software update, the user will be able to detect the rhythm of the heart rate by placing his finger for a few seconds. And besides a quality screen, Xiaomi completes the panel with a stereo speaker setup in collaboration with Harman Kardon. Even the audio hole on the bottom side is designed like an equalizer rhythm.
Battery
Fast charging support is also available. The 4,600 mAh battery on the Xiaomi Mi 11 can be fully charged in about 45 minutes via a 55W charger. Also supports 50W wireless charging via an optional accessory that is sold separately. What is slightly lacking is the absence of an IP rating on this smartphone.
Xiaomi through Mi 11 is quite interesting. Visuals that are no less attractive than competitors, screen quality that has not been saved, a capable camera (although the sensor is not as complete as others) and the Snapdragon 888 chipset. There are still some things that are trimmed, water resistance is one of them.
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