The Xiaomi Mi 10 has been a favorite product for many users. It has good performance in all aspects – audio, video, and image. Wired and wireless charging both reached 30W. Although it is not the first echelon now, it is considered to be fast charging and convenient.
Subjectively, although the weight of 209g and the FHD+ screen resolution can make the standby performance better, the feedback to the wrist and the visual experience still need to be improved. That’s why though the Mi 10 was good, many have been waiting for the Xiaomi Mi 11.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Screen
As the first model powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, the Xiaomi Mi 11 has upgraded the screen to WQHD+, which is 3200×1440. Therefore, whether it is playing games, browsing online content, and watching videos, the Xiaomi Mi 11 is much more refined than the Xiaomi Mi series in recent years. Through this upgrade, the Mi series is officially removed from the 2K slot.
While the screen refresh rate was upgraded to 120Hz, the touch sampling rate was further increased to 480Hz, which is 4 times the refresh rate. Such an improvement is very friendly to mobile game players. After all, whether it is “Honor of Kings” or “Peace Elite”, it can achieve higher refresh rate and touch sampling rate. This makes system feedback more timely, even if you don’t turn on the high frame rate option.
This screen also uses a new E4 luminescent material, which brings a 1500nit peak brightness and a 10-bit color depth display with more than 1 billion colors. With the front and rear ambient light sensors and Xiaomi’s self-developed screen calibration algorithm, the Xiaomi Mi 11 has outstanding performance in automatic brightness adjustment and color management.
The size of the Mi 11 screen has been increased to 6.81 inches. However, it is very convenient to keep in hand. It is more slender and brings a smaller body width. Therefore, the Mi 11 will not be more supportive than the Mi 10, but because the weight of the whole machine is lighter, the measured 195g including SIM card and screen protector will be more handy when used with one hand.
As for the quad-curved screen design, the curvature of the upper and lower sides is not obvious, which has little effect on actual use, mainly because it can reduce the visual thickness of the whole machine.
We think that the picture and audio have always been complementary. So with a better screen, the sound quality has to be improved as well. The sound quality of the Xiaomi Mi 11 has been professionally adjusted by Harman Kardon. At the same time, it uses a 1216 super linear speaker unit at the bottom, which forms a stereo sound with the two-in-one speaker on the top.
The sound quality and concealment of the top two-in-one speakers are good. But they still haven’t escaped the problem of different sound on both sides. The Mi 11 also adjusted the position of the speaker. So it will not need to hold the camera to play games like the Mi 10 does.
Overall, we think the audio and video experience of the Mi 11 is still worth of praise. With the 2K 10bit high-swiping screen and the external amplifier adjusted by Harman Kardon, the experience is further upgraded whether it is playing audio and video content or games.
Let’s briefly talk about the back of the Xiaomi Mi 11. This time we got a plain leather version with smoke and purple color. Personally, we feel that the look and feel needs to be improved. It might be better if the color brightness is adjusted higher. At the same time, we look forward to the actual performance of khaki.
The area of the matrix camera module in the upper left corner is not small, and the three-stage design is visually harmonious. But it is often encountered when playing games on the horizontal screen.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Performance
The Xiaomi Mi 11 debuted the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 mobile platform and is the only smartphone product equipped with this chip in 2020. As the flagship platform for 2021’s high-end Android products, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 mobile platform has been optimized in terms of performance, network connectivity and power consumption.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 mobile platform debuts the ARM Cortex-X1 super core, and comes with three A78 performance cores. The GPU is partially upgraded to Adreno 660, which has significantly improved graphics rendering performance. It is up to 35% higher than the previous generation. With the third-generation Snapdragon Elite Gaming and AI engine, the performance is significantly improved. At the same time, the Xiaomi Mi 11 comes with a full-blood LPDDR5 memory with a transmission rate of 6400Mbps, which escorts powerful performance.
In order to be more energy-efficient, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 uses a 5nm process and has a built-in Snapdragon X60 modem. The latter can not only provide a better network environment, but also effectively control the weight and power consumption of the whole machine.
In the AnTuTu, the Xiaomi Mi 11 scored more than 700,000 points and successfully achieved the top spot. However, considering that some models using Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 and 865 Plus platforms have reached about 660,000, the Xiaomi Mi 11 should not fully realize the performance potential of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888.
In GeekBench 5, which focuses more on CPU performance, and Androbench, which focuses on flash memory performance, the Xiaomi Mi 11 performs equally well.
In terms of game performance, in addition to a few actual game tests (all based on 2K resolution), we also used the Mi 11 to run 3DMark’s recently launched cross-platform project Wild Life. The results are as follows, belonging to Android’s current unique high score.
The actual test part of the game, first of all, is the recently more topical mobile version of “League of Legends”. With all special effects turned on, the Xiaomi Mi 11 ran out of 60.2 frames per second.
We can see that the game is maintained at the highest frame rate throughout the entire process, and no freezes occur. However, the Mi 11 keeps the limit of 60 frames per second very well, and does not force it to around 63 frames like some other brands.
Next is “Peace Elite”. Considering that the Xiaomi Mi 11 uses a 2K screen, currently the bottom layer of Android 11 is not easy to crack. So we chose the ultra-high-definition picture quality of 4K texture here. But the highest frame rate is only 40 frames per second.
According to the test results, the Xiaomi Mi 11 ran 39.9 frames per second in a game. And according to the chart, the stuttering situation that occurred during the period is not clearly fed back to the number of frames, and it should be the game’s data processing.
For high frame rate games, this time we still chose “Ace Fighter”. But because its frame rate will drop to about 60fps per second due to the death of the character, it is still intercepted for a while.
During the period, the average number of frames of the Xiaomi 11 was 118 frames per second, and the other segments were between 115 and 119. So it can basically be regarded as running at full frame.
After running “Ace Warrior” for one hour, the highest temperature on the front of the Mi 11 was 37.3℃, and the highest temperature on the back was 36.4℃. Although the highest temperature is located at the lower left corner of the screen, because the temperature distribution in the 2/3 area of the entire body is relatively uniform, we can see that Xiaomi’s heat dissipation system still played a significant role.
But we should note that the temperature on the top of the fuselage has reached 39°C. And the part where the hand touches it will be more sensitive to temperature. If you want to play for a long time, it is recommended to wear a protective case.
Considering that the 2K resolution is used throughout the test, we think the above results are still satisfactory.
Actual Use
Next, let’s talk about the performance of the Mi 11 in terms of charging, battery life, photography and system.
Battery
When 5G and Wi-Fi networks are turned on, and the screen brightness is 50%, the power consumption of the Mi 11 in three games, watching videos, and browsing information content is shown in the following table.
After five hours of continuous testing, the power of the Xiaomi Mi 11 dropped from 99% to 22%.
Among them, “Ace Warrior” can achieve 120 frames per second. So the power consumption will be higher. At the same time, the screen refresh rate is higher when you surf on the net than when you watch videos. We mean the power consumption will be more.
Considering the pressure of the 2K@120Hz screen and 5G network, the battery life of the Mi 11 is still good. However, if you are a heavy user or have higher battery life requirements, you may wish to turn on the smart resolution power saving mode.
By the way, the Xiaomi Mi 11 comes with no charging head and data cable in the package this time. But there is an option to choose. The company will provide a set of wired chargers for free. It includes a 55W GaN charging head and a USB-A to USB-C data cable.
The Mi 11 supports 55W wired second charging and 50W wireless second charging. After actual measurement, with a 55W GaN charger, it can be fully charged in 47 minutes, of which 42% can be charged in 10 minutes, and 85% can be charged in half an hour.
For wireless charging, with Xiaomi’s 55W wireless charger, it can charge 45% in 15 minutes, 73% in 30 minutes, and full in 52 minutes.
It should be noted that the Xiaomi 55W wireless charger needs to be used with a charger above 65W that supports Xiaomi’s ultra-fast flash charging. So the 55W charger with the Xiaomi 11 cannot achieve full-speed charging.
Based on the above, we think that the smartphone should not be used to fully charge before it is empty, and it does not need to be fully charged. So the charging time should be controlled at about half an hour each time.
Camera
In terms of camera, the Xiaomi Mi 11 uses this year’s more mainstream matrix rear camera module. It includes a 100-megapixel Samsung HMX, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera and a telephoto macro lens.
Since the product we got is equipped with an earlier system, the imaging effect is good under the condition of sufficient light during the day. But the adjustment at night needs to be optimized.
There are often some differences between the main camera and the ultra-wide-angle imaging tone, and the 2x zoom still uses the main camera.
After turning on the night scene mode, the Xiaomi Mi 11 can effectively improve the brightness of the picture through long exposure, and the noise is much less. But now there will be a problem of white sky, the background is too bright.
On the whole, Xiaomi Mi 11’s current camera performance is average. But the manufacturer said that it will be optimized in the future via system updates. But what is certain is that the camera application of Mi 11 is very easy to use.
For example, when shooting a video, in addition to the shortcut options at the top, you can also open the menu as shown on the left, where the resolution, frame rate and various modes are clear at a glance. This time the Xiaomi Mi 11 also supports 8K video recording. But it is still limited to 30 frames per second.
The Mi 11 also provides preset templates for VLOG creators, which can generate short videos with good effects through simple selection and recording.
The “More” page of the camera provides two designs. The former has a larger image and is more suitable for placing commonly used functions, which can be easily called up when needed. The other is more comprehensive, and both support custom arrangements.
System
Back to the system experience, the MIUI on the Xiaomi Mi 11 itself is a representative of the Chinese customized OS. Whether it is localized functions, small screen applications, game assistance, or overall optimization, all are in place. This time, the Xiaomi Mi 11 has made some improvements in fingerprint recognition.
First of all, the Xiaomi Mi 11 still uses an ultra-thin optical fingerprint module under the screen, which can reserve more space for the battery, while the brightness is lower, and it is not annoying at night. Moreover, if you continue to press and hold the shortcut icon after unlocking, the Xiaomi Mi 11 has also added a heart rate detection function. It only takes 15 seconds to detect the current heart rate.
The fly in the ointment is that currently this function can only be used in Xiaomi’s own health applications. If it can be opened to third-party developers in the future.
Wrap Up
As the standard version in the series, it is also the first product of Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. Xiaomi Mi 11’s upgrades in terms of performance and screen are in place, and even a little leapfrog closer to the Pro feeling.
Among them, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 mobile platform brings a performance level that surpasses that of this year’s Android flagships. Therefore, the frame rate of the Xiaomi Mi 11 is more stable when running large-scale mobile games, and it is naturally the first choice for enthusiasts.
But we think that the 2K+ resolution 120Hz E4 screen, a thinner and lighter body, and the increased charging rate of both wired and wireless are the stronger parts of Xiaomi Mi 11’s perception.
So for a standard product, the Mi 11 has very qualified upgrades, laying the foundation for a good user experience in this series.
On this basis, we look forward to the Pro and Pro Ultra products. After all, they will not only inherit the foundation of Xiaomi Mi 11’s excellent experience, but should also bring greater surprises in terms of imaging and design.