Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro Review: Price, Look Color, Battery Life and Many More You should Know

2-minute review

What occurs when you take one of the talked-about smartphones of the year and enhance upon it in important methods whereas someway making it cheaper than the competitors? You get the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro — a phone that punches well above its weight.

2020 is an enormous year for Xiaomi. It lastly re-entered the premium smartphone house of India in addition to expanded into many extra international locations. Traditionally, all of its positive aspects have been fueled by inexpensive gadgets, making it a family identify in lots of markets. After having planted one foot securely, it was now time to tango with the large boys.

The Mi 10T Pro is not actually a successor to the Mi 10 sequence from March, however extra of an alternate proposition destined for a unique worth section. It achieves a lower cost tag with out chopping too many corners, while additionally managing to improve sure points. Essentially the most controversial change is the transfer to a 144Hz LCD panel from a 90Hz OLED display. It could look like a step backward however it actually isn’t. Features resembling a 108MP camera, the Snapdragon 865 chipset and a pair of stereo audio systems are additionally retained.

The larger 5,000mAh battery places the Mi 10T Pro in an area where few latest flagships have reached, offering very reliable battery life. The 33W charging isn’t any slouch both. The one draw back to all of those upgrades is that the phone will get a bit too huge and ponderous.

However, at a worth of Rs 39,999 in India, it doesn’t actually get any higher than the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro. In simply six months, Xiaomi has been in a position to do a strong perception turnaround, which was the last piece of the puzzle earlier than it strikes gold in another segment. Commitment to localize its meeting within the foreseeable future is one other big indication of how serious the model is for its future in India — throughout all segments.

Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro worth in India and availability

Launched in India on October 15, The Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro is priced at Rs 39,999 and is available in a single configuration with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of RAM on Flipkart. Color choices include Cosmic Black in a shiny ceramic end and Lunar Silver with a bright antiglare look.

If you want one thing a bit cheaper, the Xiaomi Mi 10T begins at Rs 35,999 (6GB + 128GB). It ought to supply a lot the same expertise as the one difference is the 64MP primary camera instead of the 108MP one on the Pro variant.

Design

The premium segment is not very acquainted territory for Xiaomi. Because it tries to carve a reputation for itself, it’s additionally more and more clear that it’s yet to finalize the path of its flagships. Nothing particularly wrong with that, just that it makes the person merchandise lack continuum.

As soon as once more, we have a model new design language on the Mi 10T Pro. Gone are the long camera setup and the petite design in lieu of a fairly imposing form factor and an intimidating camera island. The large bump will certainly trigger the phone to rock when used on a desk. The again remains to be made of a curved glass however is noticeably bigger, and thus, unwieldy. Add the 218 grams of weight to the mix, and it actually becomes a difficult phone to use with one hand. Gorilla Glass 5 safety offers some solace.

Our unit had the Cosmic Black finish which has a really shiny really feel and a ceramic look, making it prone to fingerprints. The Lunar Silver colorway appears to be like prettier and unique together with providing higher grip. The body is also a product of metallic and has a flat top and bottom, permitting it to face upright on its own.

Xiaomi also provides an anti-microbial silicone case and screen protector within the field.

Simply put, the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro is a big phone that may take some getting used to. The curved again and slender sides do assist with the handling by a bit although. It isn’t head-turning as a few of the different phones that launched recently. Equally, the buttons and ports are also of their traditional spots: power and volume on the proper, USB Type-C and speaker on the bottom along with the second speaker on the top.

Display

A fair bit of Xiaomi’s communication revolved around justifying the selection of choosing an LCD panel at this price. Apparently, OLED displays vibe higher with Indians. This was particularly a sore level as the Mi 10 did have a great AMOLED screen, however not here.

On the Mi 10T Pro, we get a 6.67-inch IPS LCD panel with a Full HD+ decision (2400 x 1080) together with a whopping 144Hz refresh rate. Xiaomi calls it “the most clever display ever placed on a smartphone”, and with prolonged use, we perceive why. New AdaptiveSync expertise helps the display well range its refresh fee between 30, 48, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 144Hz based mostly on the content being considered. As an illustration, games will be able to make the most of the buttery 144Hz, static pages shall be on the lowest one, whereas movies shall be in the 30-60Hz vary, and so on. As per our data, no different phone provides seven steps of variable refresh fee.

While this inherently allows for better battery life, it really works very seamlessly — by no means did it look like the phone was lagging or not easy enough for the content being displayed. It’s executed completely, however can’t be switched off. The max refresh rate, however, might be varied between 60Hz, 90Hz and 144Hz.

We rarely missed not having an OLED display on the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro.

As far as the screen expertise is worried, that is in all probability one of the best LCD panel ever placed on a phone. It balances vibrancy and color accuracy beautifully whereas also providing a good bit of distinction and brightness (over 600 nits). Even the black ranges have been surprisingly near being good. You might be reminded of it solely throughout watching content that’s primarily black in color. The one different giveaway is the marginally thicker bezels and chins, but that’s actually simply nitpicking. Naturally, the fingerprint scanner is now not embedded beneath the display.

Sticking to LCDs also comes with one other benefit. Greater refresh fee OLED panels are very tough to calibrate and preserve correct across the board. A good LCD panel provides a lot of the goodness of an OLED whereas with the ability to touch market-leading refresh rates without any pointless byproducts. Equally, LCDs can attain decrease brightness ranges without issue such as prematurely crushing blacks.

Auto-brightness on the Mi 10T Pro was also better than most phones. Over 4,000 phases of brightness paired with three ambient gentle sensors on the front, top and back (the last one resides within the camera module) enable it to all the time have the proper degree of brightness without ever noticing the transition.

The aforementioned difficulties in handling the system are also partly due to moving back to a flat display, making the width of the phone higher. I nonetheless stand with curved shows, however for the value, it’s not likely an issue. For what it’s price, there were no palm-rejection points. Gorilla Glass 5 protection makes the cut, too.

Audio

The Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro has a proper dual speaker setup with the first loudspeaker on the bottom and a smaller secondary unit on the top. The positioning offers nice channel separation, making content consumption or gaming extra immersive. It gets loads loud too, but that does bring in some distortion.

There’s no headphone jack but audio over USB is supported. Music output over Bluetooth was nice too. For calls, there’s a tiny earpiece within the top edge of the phone. It can take some adjusting to seek out the precise spot towards your ear. The proximity sensor was inconsistent although – very often did the display get turned on while I used to be on a name, toggling quick settings or opening apps.

Performance and gaming

Here’s where Xiaomi didn’t go unnecessarily overboard. The Mi 10T Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 865 SoC, the same chipset that powered most flagships this year. Some anticipated to see the Snapdragon 865 Plus over right here however that wouldn’t have been a clever choice for an inexpensive flagship. There’s additionally 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage – all finest at school.

As anticipated, the phone chomps via all the things thrown at it, be it a bunch of light duties on a similar time or heavy gaming. Memory management was excellent too, conserving apps in memory for long after they have been opened. It’s as quick as Android flagships get, especially with the 144Hz display.

The powerful efficiency translates into nice gaming efficiency as properly with constant framerates, excessive responsiveness and powerful haptics. The massive display and stereo audio system add to the immersion. The thick profile also makes the phone very snug to hold whereas gaming. There was no overheating both. The gaming mode overlay additionally adds helpful fast shortcuts for messaging apps, present stats in addition to screen recording choices.

On the connectivity entrance, it helps 5G, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1.

Software

As with all latest Xiaomi phones, the Mi 10T Pro runs on MIUI 12 over Android 10. It’s disappointing, however not shocking, to see it not run on Android 11 out-of-the-box. There’s no phrase on when the next update will come, so we guess it wouldn’t be too quickly.

This skin of MIUI 12 isn’t actually completely different from something we’ve seen on different Xiaomi gadgets. Some housekeeping earlier than we get to the fascinating stuff: there are not any advertisements within the interface, however some providers will send pointless notifications now and again. They are often turned off simply. Fairly a few extra apps have been pre-installed on our system however most have been detachable. The new privacy dashboard shows which apps have access to which permissions at a look.

The notification shade has been replaced with a new control centre which takes just a few cues from iOS, bringing all the fast toggles collectively and occupying the entire screen. A swipe down from the proper half of the standing bar brings the management centre whereas the left aspect will deliver the standard notifications. This change has a steep studying curve without adding a lot utility. Furthermore, reaching the notification aspect is very tough whereas utilizing the phone with the proper hand. Thankfully, it may be simply switched again to the older interface.

MIUI 12’s in style Super Wallpapers aren’t available currently. Navigation gestures, knuckle triggers, an app drawer, focus mode and improved notifications are the other key features this time.

It looks like a way more mature pores and skin now, now not being the Achilles heel of the phone. It strikes the proper balance between having character without seeming overwhelming.

Biometrics

Owing to the LCD construction of the display, the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro strikes to a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that’s embedded inside the power button. It resides precisely the place the proper thumb rests naturally, making it fast and easy to unlock. However, it is a passive scanner, which implies that the display should be on for the scanner to respond — Simply resting a finger on it whereas the phone is sleeping doesn’t work.

Then there’s face unlock which makes use of solely the front camera to recognize the face. It works completely, even at lower than ideal angles or lighting.

Battery

I don’t remember the last time a flagship phone offered such great battery life.

The facet that surprised me the most was the Mi 10T Pro’s battery life. Sure, it has a big 5,000mAh cell, however I expected the 144Hz LCD panel to chug via the battery. I’m glad to report that my expectations were very mistaken. The phone offers one of the best battery lives of any high-end smartphone this season in India. It will almost all the time last me to the second day on a single cost, clocking 6-7 hours of screen-on time. On some events, I was even able to cross the 9-hour mark.

A brand new 33W Dual Cut up Quick Charging expertise is current right here, taking the phone from zero to full in beneath 70 minutes – not dangerous contemplating the scale of the battery. It does decelerate significantly if the phone is getting used on the similar time although. It implements Center Center Tab architecture the place the centre of the battery receives the present (as a substitute of the underside) and concurrently spreads it throughout the highest and bottom. An analogous implementation was seen on the Poco X3.

Camera

The Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro is the most cost effective smartphone in India with a 108MP camera. The corporate says {that a} telephoto lens could not be added because of house constraints and restricted utilization. The cropping enabled by the upper resolution main camera is claimed to handle that too. Not like the Samsung flagships, this one is paired with the superior ISP that is part of the Snapdragon 865 platform.

The primary lens is a big 1/1.33-inch 108MP f/1.7 sensor (Samsung ISOCELL HM1) with OIS. Natively, it produces 27MP photographs with pixel-binning, bringing quite a lot of dynamic vary and element even whereas cropping. It does undergo from a really shallow depth of area at shut distances, as all cameras with a big sensor do, but the chromatic aberration appears to have been decreased. Low gentle efficiency was nice too.

It’s joined by a 13MP ultra-wide shooter which does an honest job in most eventualities. The dynamic vary wasn’t too bad both, although, the color temperature can range when compared with the other cameras.

Lastly, there’s a 5MP macro lens with autofocus. Apart from sturdy {hardware}, Xiaomi additionally provides a ton of fun shooting modes with Pro photo and video, filters, evening mode, lengthy publicity, paperwork, clones, tilt-shift, etc. All of them are simple to find and well-explained.

General, it is likely one of the finest camera experiences for the value, beating the likes of OnePlus by a bit.

Verdict

The Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro provides greater expertise than the competitors in lots of points at a really aggressive worth. Whereas the Mi 10 was a very good first step, in nearly six months, Xiaomi is already disrupting the premium section, similar to it did with finances smartphones just a few years in the past. There’s nonetheless a long strategy to go however Mi appears is on the right track.

Buy it if…

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