Xiaomi Mi 10i Review | Good Looks, Reliable Performance, and more

Xiaomi’s engineering and manufacturing speeds have slowed considerably over the past few years. According to the brand, it had intended to introduce another model named the Mi 10i, but it was postponed. Today, Xiaomi says happy to complete the family. Xiaomi informs us that ‘I’ stands for India because this model has been specially adapted to our market. This may be a bit of a stretch since there are just small variations between this system and the units offered as Mi 10T-Lite and Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G in other countries. It is instantly obvious that Xiaomi needs to place its stamp on the sub-Rs. 25.000 room here and the Mi 10i will have to take on some heavy hitters, including the famous OnePlus Nord Pick-up 27,999 (Review), Samsung Galaxy M51 Pick-up 22,999 (Review), and Vivo V20 Pick-up 24990 (Review). The camera specs alone are sure to draw any interest, but I’m going to look at the whole set. This is my complete analysis of the Xiaomi Mi 10i.

The simple price of the Mi 10i in India is Rs. 20,999, and you get 6GB of RAM plus 64GB of ROM. This version is not actually on offer and will be accessible at a later date. Strangely, you can get the same phone for Rs.21,999, which is only Rs. 1000 more, with 6GB of RAM and 128GB ROM of stocks, which renders the base model very useless. You should choose the third version, which is priced at Rs. 23,999, if you want up to 8GB of RAM with 128GB of data.

Design

The latest Mi 10i has very little family-like looks, considering its name. They’re both tall, heavy phones that have very little family similarities to Mi 10 or Mi 10T. Its thickness is 9mm and its weight is 214.5g. One feature both the Mi 10 siblings share is their 6.67-inch screen, but the Mi 10i has a totally flat, rounded side screen. There is a void in the upper middle of the screen for the front camera and it is significantly wider and more distractive than what we already recognize.

The polished, but understated Atlantic Blue and Midnight Black would be offered in three colors, as well as the much more glamorous Pacific Sunrise, with its matt surface and color scale shifting from blue on top to white to orange on the rim. Xiaomi will use this edition with its marketing campaign, and this is what I want to find out. It seems like a beach or forest on the horizon. I noticed it’s not very resistant to scratches or fingerprints, although this does not extend to the other coloring choices.

The camera module at the back is very large but doesn’t stick out much, says Xiaomi because of its range of sensors – later. The sensor on the right is fingerprinted, designed into the power switch. It is significantly lowered and not often convenient to use if the Mi 10i is in a plastic case. Above it, the volume keys were not always easy to find. A hybrid dual-SIM tray is on the left, but you have to pick either a second SIM or additional capacity.

The addition of a 3.5mm audio jack on wired headphones was one of the most interesting little touches, a functionality that almost all vendors claim should be found on luxury phones nowadays. The small updates Lead next to the earpiece, which lights up when you charge the phone with calling or messaging messages, is also an exceptional touch. The front component functions to include stereo audio with the speaker on the bottom.

While it’s a fairly bulky handset, the rounded edges do not make it too difficult to carry and use. It can require a little shuffling in the hand, but the rear is not too slippery at least. The front, rear, and camera modules are fitted with Gorilla Glass 5. The water and dust tolerance rating of IP53, which you sometimes don’t see at this cost range, is also worth considering. It’s not the highest in the sector, but OnePlus Nord needs any official resistance to water, in particular. My examination device also had a preset protector for the front adhesive screen.

Specifications

We have an HD+ (1080×2400), 120Hz HDR10+ LCD monitor, at the front and middle. The front and center are completely fitted. Some may be frustrated that the AMOLED panel was not offered by Xiaomi. The overall luminosity is only 450nits, and 84% of the NTSC gamut is color replication, which is not too high. I nevertheless had little difficulties in regular usage and the show is of good quality enough to appreciate videos and games. You would probably not feel you are missing so much, particularly when you don’t like colors that are really saturated.

The adaptive refresh rate will measure between 30Hz and 120Hz in 6 steps is one of the pleasant features. According to Xiaomi, whatever the material you play will be automatically balanced by the panel, for example, when you watch a 24 fps video it will shift to 48 fps. TÜV Rheinland is a Blue Light pollution qualification, and the white balance will not only be adjusted manually but also to choose the desired color saturation.

A relatively recent SoC is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G, the only other phone in India which uses the Moto G 5G so far. It is newer than the Snapdragon 765G and has some advantages in the form of higher-performance Kryo 570 cores that rely on ARM Cortex-A77 instead of Kryo 4 775 cores based on Cortex-A76. Two of these core plus six additional Cortex-A55 cores are available. The integrated Adreno 619 GPU in terms of graphic strength is one level below the Adreno 620 of the Snapdragon 765G. The Snapdragon X52 5G modem is also included in the two chips.

The battery of 4,820mAh does not seem as much according to the present requirements, but actual overall usage depends on a variety of conditions, including SoC performance. The Mi 10i follows the regular USB-PD and provides a 33W fast charger. In reality, the battery is parallel to two batteries, which Xiaomi claims make a 100% charge in less than an hour, and a 68% charge in 30 minutes.

One characteristic common to all Mi 10 models is 5G. The Mi 10i is assisted by the sub 6GHz networks and all the standard 4G, 3G, and 2G bands. The dual-band GPS and the Indian NavIC, as well as Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi ac support, are offered. Xiaomi also states that it has introduced customized hardware to both support Google Assistant and Alexa, but would allow for potential upgrades to apps.

Software and Usage

The Mi 10i arrives with a highly custom MIUI 12.0.3 GUI for Android 10 and Xiaomi. My device had a protection patch in November 2020, but the December update was issued for which retail units could be delivered. The initial installation method is very easy and all settings can be later modified regardless of what you choose.

In view of a successful “clean MIUI 12 experience with Google Apps” Xiaomi is doing a lot of bloatware and promotions. The lock screen displays default supported material and a little searching is needed to switch off it in the Settings app.

I was glad to see no effort has been made to have users download advertised applications during launch, but the very first thing that you see when the phone is ready to use is an enormous prompt to use the GetApps App Store from Xiaomi. I have also counted some Mi and third-party applications, but luckily all of these can be uninstalled.

The MIUI 12 is fitted with lots of adjustable functions. You may either pick an App drawer that has tabs for multiple types of applications. The search bar is handy at the bottom of the thumb. The grid and icon scale of the home monitor may be changed. However, if you want to change the wallpaper like something straightforward, you have to go through the Xiaomi Themes app with choices.

More to be found in the Settings App – power saver mode, shortcuts, and motions, a protected private data Second Room, a simplified Lite Mode UI, Game Turbo optimizations, a floating Camera Toolbox with a range of imaging and sound enhancement possibilities as well as Google’s parental control and digital health features.

Performance

Almost nobody is asking whether the mid-range or premium phones are fantastic. Usage is incredibly seamless and there should be a little inconvenience in everyday use. The device refresh rate is set to 60Hz by design, and it has little visible advantage by adjusting to 120Hz while executing touch-screen interactions such as scrolling and swiping. The only trouble with this phone is that it is so big. After keeping it in one hand for around half an hour, I was starting to experience wrist exhaustion.

The fingerprint sensor is very restricted, and the phone is not convenient for people who are left-handed. I seldom had an issue using my right thumb, but I had a persistent problem with my left forefinger. Facial recognition was also an impressive function of the phone. But, it is less reliable than utilizing a PIN or template, and an image of the consumer could be opened quickly by the phone.

The Benchmark result was a bit of a mixed bag. The MI 10i managed to score 3,29,286 in AnTuTu, but Geekbench 5 has crashed again after many attempts to run it. The graphics benchmark ran twice. Maybe the problems with the pre-release software are induced by the program. Xiaomi uses fast UFS2.2 flash memory and Androbench displays a sequential read and writes speed of 929.54MB/s and 459.47MB/s respectively.

Gaming aside, my Mi 10i did get warm a few times when playing Call of Duty. The game worked seamlessly and performed at the maximum quality and high frame rate. Metal Madness was a very fun production; it ran well.

The LCD screen appears very sharp and bright, even with the spec sheet. Video and pictures look fantastic, and colors are really vivid in the “natural” show environment. Sound quality isn’t the highest, but it is good for its scale.

Battery power isn’t a big concern since its capacity is limited. The Mi 10i worked for around a day and a half without charging until it started running. Our HD recording lasted an exceptional 18 hours, 22 minutes. Charging is also pretty fast and I can get a complete 100% charge in around an hour.

Cameras

The primary 108MP rear camera is the key attraction of the handset, which employs the Samsung GM1 sensor and f/1.75 aperture. It is a little surprising that the other three cameras are too unimaginative. The 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, 2-megapixel macro camera, and 2-megapixel depth sensors are quite like what we will come to find in a phone costing in the area of Rs. 10,000. These cameras seem to have been hung simply because “quad-camera” is so common. Video capture goes up to 4K and the slow-motion video goes up to 720p.

Pics is taken at 12 megapixels by default, with a sensor combined with nine Pixels in one. The image quality in daylight was extremely adequate but often it was looking soft. Exposures weren’t really perfect and textures didn’t really turn out properly. These are trivial problems because software fixes will fix the issues. Portrait mode appeared to produce very low-quality photographs in terms of sharpness, color saturation, and so on.

The camera needs a moment or two to save each shot, the individual images are revealed progressively. However, the sheer scale of these shots should be shown. The more benefit of shooting at this resolution is that one can crop images if required for their publications, but it is not a substitute for optical zoom. The ultra-wide and macro cameras take pretty nice images. Colors have been inferior and specifics are less crisp.

The graphics were obviously less distinct in images taken at night. Night mode certainly intensifies brightness and contrast, however, artifacts at a distance don’t appear normal.

The video shot at Full HD and 4K came off as too jerky while running. 4K footage had soft and vibrant colors which were rather confusing and unnatural in low light. You can’t switch between cameras while you’re recording.

In the selfie, there is a 16-megapixel sensor, the images are pretty sweet. Skin smoothening is available and default settings may be customized. Photographs may be posted on social media without any issues.

It is known that Xiaomi’s camera software has lots of choices. There are different directions for producing entertaining and impactful videos and short movies. It is impossible to picture just what you desire and how to achieve it.

Verdict

Xiaomi is obviously very aggressive when it comes to the high price range. The Mi 10i belongs to a price category of Rs. 25,000, and the business obviously has the OnePlus Nord in its sights. The specification is really competitive, and when you use the Mi 10i, you can find plenty of easy functionality and interface touches. There’s more than enough capacity to conduct multiple activities such as entertainment and games, with outstanding battery life.

The key selling point for the camera lies in its High Dynamic Range (HDR) picture choice. I assume that technical upgrades would boost the overall efficiency of the camera. Many of the major cameras are unable to record crucial things. If the camera works well, this analysis will be updated.

The Mi 10i is a spectacular smartphone and an outstanding value for money. If you don’t have strong standards for picture quality, you might be happy with a basic cheap smartphone.

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