Xiaomi Mi 11X review: Flagship performance is getting cheaper this year

With Qualcomm pushing 5G technology into its high-end chipsets last year, 2020’s budget flagships weren’t as attractive as those that came before. However, in addition to launching a new flagship chipset this year, Qualcomm is rebranding and making minor tweaks to last year’s best chip. The Snapdragon 870 still delivers flagship performance but for less money.

The Xiaomi Mi 11X (also known as the Redmi K40 or Poco F3) is one of the first phones to sport the 870, and the competitive price ensures you won’t have to empty your bank account for blazing-fast performance. However, there’s more to the phone than that, and with a number of notable rivals like the iQOO 7 and Realme X7 Pro in the vicinity, is the phone worth picking up? Let’s find out.

Specifications

Goodness

Not very good

Design, hardware and what’s in the box

My first look at the back of the phone was a bit startling, mainly because the glossy, mirrored back reflected my grizzled pandemic face. Unless you want a mirror to look at yourself and don’t mind fingerprints hiding on it almost instantly, choose Celestial Silver or Lunar White colors that have a matte finish. The back is covered with a layer of Gorilla Glass 5, as is the screen, but the sides are made of plastic.

The only way to see clean black is to face it toward the sky on a clear day.

The Mi 11X has a large 6.67-inch OLED display, but the phone isn’t heavy – Xiaomi has clearly put some effort into improving weight distribution. The camera module on the back protrudes slightly, but it’s not close to the camera thicc boi On Mi 11 Ultra. Coming back to the display, Xiaomi has done a good job here. The bezels aren’t too thick, and the viewing experience is great — the screen is even readable in bright sunlight. Moreover, it supports 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling. There’s also MEMC on board which can insert frames into video streaming applications like YouTube. However, performance is not improved, and using it makes the video choppy – almost the opposite of its intended purpose.

From now on, the phone has a dual stereo speaker, with a grille on the top and bottom. The sound gets louder, but fidelity is affected at higher volumes. There is also support for Dolby Atmos which can significantly expand the stereo effect while using the earphones. Unfortunately, the phone does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack. However, the Mi 11X still has the company’s signature IR blaster that can control devices like air conditioners, TV, projectors, cameras, and set-top boxes.

Xiaomi doesn’t skimp on the contents of the box, so you’ll get a proprietary 33W charging module, a USB Type-A to Type-C cable, a soft case, and a SIM ejector tool along with the phone.

Software, performance and battery

No prizes for guessing that the phone runs MIUI 12 on top of Android 11. The experience it offers is fairly smooth, and there are a host of features that really add to the experience. However, there are some annoyances that Xiaomi really needs to address. First, the notification experience isn’t great. WhatsApp notifications are not grouped and the floating notifications always display an old message, making the latter pretty much useless. On the other hand, notifications from Facebook are half-cut, making them difficult to read.

Left: Facebook notification is cropped, Right: WhatsApp notifications are not grouped.

Aside from the inconsistency in notifications, there are some issues with navigation as well. One-handed mode cannot be activated when using gesture navigation. Second, and more annoying, is that gesture navigation simply doesn’t work with third-party launchers. If you’re not a fan of the stock launcher, you’ll have to resort to using the old navigation button. It’s also worth noting that the software will occasionally lower the refresh rate, even when set to 120Hz.

MIUI still has a few pre-installed apps, and you’ll need to be a little careful not to install more during the setup process. However, it is worth noting that most of Xiaomi’s system apps will no longer spam you anymore, and a bunch of pre-loaded apps will be uninstallable/removable with MIUI 12.5.

As for performance, the Snapdragon 870 keeps things fast, and animations play an important role in making the experience smooth. Whether you’re playing graphic-intensive games or streaming videos, the 11X handles it all effortlessly. The most notable improvement is memory management, which is known to be aggressive on MIUI. Fortunately, the phone has no trouble keeping apps and games open in the background. For those looking for more power and storage space, the 11X features 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage – and it’s not expandable, either.

The 4,520 mAh unit may struggle to get through the end of the day for heavy users. With an hour of gaming and two hours of video streaming, the phone will be roaring all evening long. If your usage isn’t heavy, you’ll be able to run it until bedtime. If you run out of power, the proprietary 33W charger quickly powers the phone, providing a full charge in about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Call performance on the Mi 11X was very good, and there is support for VoWiFi and VoLTE. It even has support for sub-6GHz 5G, but that’s an impressive spec considering India doesn’t even have 5G networks yet.

Cameras

The camera module helps give the phone a premium look, and I like it more than the Mi 10. The camera array features a 48MP Sony IMX 582 sensor that can take good shots in well-lit scenarios. However, Xiaomi’s post-processing gets too aggressive with sharpness at times (see the headphone box image), and HDR performance can be disappointing, especially when it comes to shadow detail. Images provide good edge detection, but detail suffers significantly in difficult lighting conditions.

The 8-megapixel ultra-resolution camera outputs images that are slightly warmer than the results of the primary sensor, and are clearly not as detailed. Night shots are pretty poor, but Night Mode helps the results get back to some acceptable semblance. There’s a 5-megapixel ‘telemacro’ sensor that can take some interesting shots if you have the interest and patience to get really close to the subjects.

The 20MP selfie camera has a beauty mode turned on by default that smoothes out textures. Once you disable it, you can take some good selfies for the gram – selfies are spot on. The Mi 11X can shoot videos at up to 4K resolution at 30fps, but there’s no support for OIS. While videos shot during the day look fairly good, performance really hinders at night. However, Xiaomi hasn’t forgotten to have fun, and the Mi 11X is packed with some creative video modes like Dual Video, Clone Video, Magic Zoom, Night Time Lapse, and Time Freeze, which should help you pass some time when you’re bored. .

Should you buy it? Rating 7.5/10

Xiaomi Mi 11X phone review

Yes. For the most part, the Xiaomi Mi 11X offers an enjoyable experience for a good price. It feels great in hand, has a high-quality OLED display, navigates through the heaviest games and apps, and manages a feature-rich interface. However, it doesn’t provide a perfect camera experience, and that might be a deal breaker for some – either the Mi 11X Pro or iQOO 7 Legend have better camera settings. The software also has some minor drawbacks, but I expect those will improve with updates.

Xiaomi phones often offer the most value for money in their segments, and this applies to some of its recent phones like the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. However, the Mi 11X isn’t a bargain that completely outshines competing offerings.

Still, it’s a respectable attempt and further proof that Xiaomi is committed to delivering a flagship experience without a hefty price tag. I’m looking forward to seeing what Xiaomi does next.

Buy it if…

• You want groundbreaking performance without breaking the bank.

• You are looking for a device that is equipped for media consumption.

Don’t buy it if…

• You take a lot of pictures

• MIUI version of Android is not to your taste.

Where to buy

• mi.com

• Amazon