Xiaomi Mi 11 - The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide Before Buying

I’m pretty sure you already know about the specs of this phone. But you are confused about its performance and all other factors. These things created a million-dollar question in your mind, 

Is Mi 11 worth buying with such a decent amount of money? 

You know very well, Xiaomi Mi 11 is now one of the most anticipated smartphones right now that is eagerly expected to be released for Indian people. The specs are revealed already, the release date has already been announced, and the excitement regarding this model is increasing exponentially.

After shaking the whole smartphone world, Mi 11 is now coming to India to meet the exhilaration and create its dominance!

Though this brand is extensively known as the brand of reliance for mid-budget smartphone users, now Xiaomi is set to strike again and create dominance among the high-end smartphones from its other giant competitors.

Without further ado, let’s find the answer to your million-dollar question together!

When MI 11 is Going to be Released in India?

Mi 11 is currently available in China with the china variant. But the global version is spreading in the Asian and European markets at an exponential rate. Till today there is no official declaration from Xiaomi regarding the release date of Mi 11.

But according to some reliable resources, this model is going to be launched on 18th March 2021. 

What’s in The Box of Mi 11?

Unboxing this phone will create a different vibe for you, unlike any other android phone unboxing. Let’s find out what surprise you are going to get. When you purchase and start unboxing the phone, you will get the following things in the box-

• The Mi 11 itself
• SIM ejector tool
• A basic quality transparent TPU Case
• Instruction manual and some other papers

Yes, you got right. No power adapter comes with Mi 11! But hold on! There is a good reason for what Xiaomi has eliminated the power adapter from the box. I will explain to you what’s behind the scene; you will get something interesting.

Keep reading and stick with me till the end!

First Impression- Design and Look

Considering the design perspective and the outlook of this phone, Xiaomi did a great job in this case. From the first time when you will take the device, you will get a premium feel what every flagship premium-grade phone holds. Both of the sides are glass finished and the middle frame is made with aluminum. The combination of glass and aluminum and the super-premium finishing will give you another level of comfort while using the phone.

Let’s get some key points that should be mentioned from the design aspect-

Curved Design: The overall design of Mi 11 is almost curvy shaped, improving one-hand usability. 

Squircle Shaped Camera Housing: Many tech reviewers and critics are claiming, the camera squircle camera housing of Mi 11 is iPhone inspired. Whatever the actual scenario is, this change is noticeable in design language for sure.

The Punch Hole Front Camere: I’m a big fan of the punch-hole front camera as it can allow the user to enjoy multimedia content without cutting a significant portion. Mi 11 can allow you to do so as it comes with a punch-hole selfie camera.

Physical Overview

Before making your purchase decision, it’s quite essential to get a physical overview of this phone. After all, it will help you get a clear idea about how comfortably you can handle it in day-to-day use.

• Dimension: 74.6 x 164.3 x 8.06 mm
• Power Button and Volume Rocker: Right side panel of the phone
• Speakers’ Position: Bottom and top firing dual speaker
• Back Camera Housing: Top left corner (Back panel)
• Front Camera: Punch hole camera at the top left corner (Front panel)

Mi 11 comes in 4 different gradient-colored back panels - Midnight Gray, Cloud White, Horizon Blue, and Lilac Purple. So you have the option to choose the appropriate color considering your taste and choice. 

Specification of Mi 11

As you know already, Mi 11 is offering you top-notch specs considering this budget segment compared to the other giant brands. If you pay attention to the overall specs, you will get clearly what impressive Mi 11 is offering you.

Performance of Mi 11

It’s quite difficult to express any particular device’s actual performance as user satisfaction varies from user to user. But we can describe the overall experience from the general perspective for sure. In this section, I will try to cover the overall performance of the essential segments of this phone that can give you a rough idea about its performance.

Camera Performance

Xiaomi implemented a triple camera setup in the rear panel of Mi 11. Let me explain their overall performance to you.

Primary Shooter

The 108MP of the primary shooter will allow you to capture images with the most excellent details. As the 108MP lens is carrying the Quad-Bayer RGGB (2x2) filter, it combines 4 adjacent pixels while capturing photos to create the resulting picture of 108/4 = 27MP.

Secondary Shooter

The ultrawide camera is powered by the renowned OmniVision OV13B10 sensor, which is a massive upgrade from its predecessors, considering its performance. The 1.12µm allows the user to capture jaw-dropping performance in low light conditions.

The Macro Lens

The 5MP macro camera is powered by the Samsung S5K5E9 1/5" sensor that has 1.12µm of aperture. The micro camera performance is decent as well compared to the other renowned smartphones within the price range. Surprisingly there is no focus hunting issue. The details are excellent that will compel you to be surprised.

And yes, the zooming capacity of Mi 11 is excellent compared to the many flagship smartphones at this price range. Let’s take a look at a zoomed photo of the moon.

Selfie Camera

Xiaomi is introducing the 20MP shooter as your selfie camera in Mi 11. In this section, you are getting the same Samsung's ISOCELL Slim S5K3T2 1/3.4" sensor with 0.8µm pixels of focal length that Xiaomi used in the Mi 10 series.

Considering the capturing quality photos, this shooter is decent. In portrait mode, the edge detection is perfect but has an over-smoothening issue. Some people enjoy this smoothening, and some don’t. It depends on the users’ perspective.

Hardware Performance

As you already have known from the table I have created a little bit earlier; Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset is present to power up Mi 11, which has been used in Mi 11 for the first time in the world. According to many tech experts, this 5nm tiny-sized chipset can handle any high-end task such as heavy gaming and heavy multitasking.

For your convenience of understanding, we have tested some games with this phone and found satisfactory results. 

• Graphics in PUBG and Call of Duty: Immersive and rich amount details
• FPS During Gaming: 50-60 FPS most of the time
• Lagging: No noticeable lagging is found.
• Performance Drop During Gaming: Not significant
• Action Delay: Not found

Additional Note Regarding Gaming

We have tested two games in Mi 11. One is PUBG, and another is Call of Duty. We have decided to try only these popular heavy games that require a decent spec and top-notch performance to run.

Cause if your device can run these games seamlessly, then the other small-size games like PUBG Lite, GT Racing 2 will perform superbly well for sure.

The overall performance of these two games was decent in Mi 11. That proves the gaming experience with other games will give you the ultimate taste of a real gamer.

Benchmarking

I prefer two apps to taste the overall performance. Yes, apps don’t always give accurate info regarding the actual performance during gaming. But these two apps are extensively popular to help a user get the overall idea about the hardware performance. These two apps are- 

1. An Tu Tu Benchmark
2. Geekbench 

We have found decent results after testing. In An Tu Tu Benchmark test Mi 11 could score 694545, which is extreme! The Geekbench score is decent as well. The single-core score was 1012, and the multi-core score was 3528.

Battery Backup

Here comes the tricky part!

The phone is offering you a 4600mah battery as backup. Compared with other smartphones with the same specs, you may find this battery to handle this phone.

But my opinion will be a little bit different in this case. As you know already, this phone display contains extreme resolution, the highest PPI, 120Hz touch sampling rate, and extreme brightness to offer you a pro-level user experience. But the fact is, it will drain your battering at the same rate as well.

But the overall hardware and software optimization efficiency will help you in this case. The backup will vary considering your smartphone setting and your user behavior.

But I want to give you a clear idea of some points that will help you get how much it will take to run out the battery for different user types. Keep Reading the following lines

SOT (Screen On Time)

We have got different results for different settings in the display section. To get a clear idea, just go through the bullet points.

• 2K resolution with 120Hz: 4+ hours
• 1080p resolution with 120Hz: around 5.5 hours
• 2K resolution with 60 Hz: approximately 6 - 6.5 hours
• 1080p resolution with 60Hz: about 7 hours

So the verdict regarding the overall battery backup can be that if you are a heavy gamer or user, you can struggle a little bit to pass the whole day with this 4600 mah backup. But for moderate users, it can serve for the entire day seamlessly.

The Overall Advantages of Mi 11

After considering the overall discussion regarding Mi 11, we can point out some significant advantages that can influence your buying decision.

• AMOLED display with 1B color support
• The super powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 CPU
• Impressive camera performance in low light condition
• 55W fast charging support
• 50W fast wireless charging
• 8K video recording with 30 FPS
• 4K video recording with 60 FPS
• Dual Video, Video recording with Night Mode, Subject cloning, and many more!

The Disadvantages

Some cons of this phone should be mentioned here as well. I want to express some of these that you should know before making the purchase.

• No charger is included in the box.
• The quality of the transparent TPU case is not up to the mark.
• One-hand usability could be better.
• No headphone  jack (But the dongle is provided in the box)
• App crashing issue for some specific apps (hopefully will be fixed in next update)
• Price could be lower a little bit.

Why is Xiaomi Not Providing The Charging Adapter in The Box?

Here comes another interesting part! The most viral and common answer to this question for all-time among smartphone users- 

Apple removed the charging adapter from their box, and Xiaomi is just following the same trend!

But here, the scenario is something interesting. In Apple’s case, they showed an interesting reason behind doing this. According to Apple’s announcement on July 21, 2020, they are now committed to giving more concern to nature. Carbon reduction from nature was their primary concern.

Their logic was that most iPhone users already have a power adapter that came with the previous model. So it’s unnecessary to produce one more charger for the new models and make more free carbon for nature.

Some Valid Points

Some other android phone manufacturer brands, including Xiaomi, are following the same steps, but their intention is something different from many tech experts’ points of view.

I agreed with some of these points, such as-. 

• They want their user to be used to using wireless charging gradually.
• They are trying to reduce the box size that can allow them to transport more units and save fuel cost.
• Reducing the phone cost is their other intention. And on the other contrary, it allows them to sell the charger separately with improved quality. 

Final Verdict

I am pretty sure that you have got the answer to your million-dollar question after reading the whole article. Can you remember what the question was?

Is Mi 11 worth buying with such a decent amount of money? 

Well! First of all, it depends on the users’ perspective. If you are a moderate user, then the phone can serve you the best from every aspect, such as camera, performance, and other major and minor factors.

In the finishing line, I can say, If you are a  pro-level gamer, you will get top-notch performance from Mi 11, but you will get less battery backup in this case. Reducing the touch sampling rate can help you to get increased backup.

But Mi 11 supports 55W fast charging that can fully charge your phone within  45 minutes. As you will have to buy your charger separately, my recommendation will be to buy the 55W wireless charger instead.

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