decent mid-ranger does little wrong

Last year, Xiaomi hit the bull’s-eye with the Mi 9T and the Mi 9T pro. Excellent midrangers with a very nice price. The Mi 10T is slightly more expensive than its predecessor. We will share with you in this review whether this price increase is justified.

Xiaomi Mi 10T review

Xiaomi has not been on the Dutch market for very long, but scores high with its devices. The manufacturer has released one or more good devices in each segment. The devices are especially notable for their good price-quality ratio. At the DroidApp Awards 2020, two devices from the manufacturer managed to secure a place. The Mi 10T falls with a price of just under € 500.00 in the more expensive mid-range segment. In this review you can read whether this device has an excellent price-quality ratio and whether the success of the Mi 9T can be continued.

Sales package

The Xiaomi Mi 10T, like almost all devices, comes in a white rectangular box with gold-colored letters on it. This gives the box a luxurious appearance. In the box we find, next to the device itself, the fast charger with cable, a silicone sleeve, and some booklets. Because the device does not have a 3.5 millimeter connection, Xiaomi provides a USB-C to 3.5 millimeter connection. Very neat.

Design, display and interface

Where the Mi 9T had a pop-up selfie camera, Xiaomi has chosen to place the camera in the top right corner of the 6.67-inch screen. The screen is a Full HD IPS LCD screen with a refresh rate of 144Hz. As a result, the screen runs smoother, as it were, than a screen with a refresh rate of 60Hz. We do note that the fast processor also helps with this. The clarity is also fine. The brightness can be high enough on a sunny day and low enough so that you are not blinded in the dark.

As usual with smartphones from Xiaomi, there is an infrared port at the top of the device. Handy to operate your TV with your smartphone, for example. On the right side are the volume buttons and the on and off button. The latter button also serves as a fingerprint scanner. At the bottom we find USB-C connection, together with the sim tray and the speaker. Incidentally, the other speaker is placed at the top of the screen. The device therefore has stereo speakers. Xiaomi left the left side of the device blank.

Then we are left with the back. Here Xiaomi has placed the camera unit on the top left. This unit offers space for three lenses, the main camera with 64 megapixels, a 13 megapixel wide-angle lens and a 5 megapixel macro lens.

Interface

The Xiaomi Mi 10T comes with Android 10 topped with Xiaomi’s own shell, MIUI version 12. MIUI 12 looks very slick. If you come across from another brand, it may take some getting used to. Once used, we can conclude that version 12 is a lot more pleasant than the previous version, MIUI 11. I couldn’t get used to the new control center. You open this when you swipe down on the right half of the screen. The control center means that you will see various options, such as turning WiFi on and off, turning Bluetooth on or off and controlling the brightness of the screen. If I’m not mistaken, this is how it works with iOS. When you swipe down on the left side of the screen, the notification panel will open. Fortunately, this can be turned off under settings.

Communication and multimedia

Of course, the Xiaomi Mi 10T is well suited to communicate. The device also has support for 5G, of course WiFi 5GHz, NFC, Bluetooth and GPS. We cannot fault the quality of telephone calls. Both the sound and the volume are fine. To make phone calls, you use the standard Google phone app. This includes sending messages, using the Google Messages app, just like the Google keyboard for typing messages. To use the internet you have the choice between Google Chrome and the Mi Browser. Although the Mi Browser works fine and also looks fine, we still prefer Chrome.

Multimedia

The Mi 10T is also a great device for multimedia, it is equipped with a very nice and large LCD screen. The brightness is fine, as is the image quality. In addition, the Mi 10T has stereo speakers at the top and bottom of the screen. This speaker does not deliver the best sound, but certainly not bad either.

If you would like to listen to music on your smartphone, you have the option to connect your wired headset to the USB-C to 3.5 millimeter adapter or of course via Bluetooth.

Camera: photo and video

As we have already described, the Xiaomi Mi 10T has three cameras on the back and one on the front. The main camera has a lens 64 megapixel lens with an aperture of f / 1.9. The other two lenses are a 13-megapixel wide-angle lens and a 5-megapixel macro lens. Both lenses have an aperture of f / 2.4.

The camera app works very well. Although there are many options that you can set, the app is still clear. All options and functions are in a logical place. There is a Pro mode, a portrait mode and a night mode.

Then of course we have to talk about the quality of the photos. In general, we are quite satisfied with the quality. Every now and then there is a photo that looks a bit pale. We also noticed with the wide-angle lens that the sides were a bit out of focus. Photos taken in the dark are also reasonable. In our opinion, there could have been a bit more. Below you will find a photo we took with the device. More photos can be found in our online photo album.

Videos

The same applies to videos as to photos. Movies are generally of a reasonable quality, but we would have liked a bit more color.

We have no complaints about the various options. You can shoot movies from 720p to 8K and everything in between. You also have the option to add a film frame and you have the option to automatically follow a moving object.

Performance and other possibilities

The Xiaomi Mi 10T does very well in all areas except for the camera. The device is fast, has a nice screen and the battery also lasts a long time. It is actually quite logical that the device is fast. Xiaomi has chosen to equip the Mi 10T with the Snapdragon 865, the fastest processor at the moment. Add to this the refresh rate of the screen of no less than 144Hz and the working memory of 6GB and you have a device of which you can expect everything to run smoothly and you will not be bothered by any glitches. And that is also the case. The storage memory is 128GB, which is sufficient for most people. You should also do it with this, space for an SD card is not available on the device.

Battery

The Xiaomi Mi 10T has received a battery of no less than 5000 mAh. This is a very decent capacity. That is also allowed given the high refresh rate of the screen. By the way, you have the option to set the refresh rate to 60Hz. This way it consumes less of the battery.

You can also get through the day with ease at the high refresh rate. Depending on how intensively you use the device, you will still have somewhere between 30% and 50% at the end of the day with a screen time of 5 to 6 hours. If your battery is empty, it will be recharged in no time thanks to the 33W fast charger that Xiaomi includes.

Special functions

Under settings we find an option that Xiaomi calls “Special functions”. Under this option we find a number of options, namely Game Turbo, Video toolbox, Floating window, Second room and Lite mode. With Game Turbo you have the option to adjust a number of settings that benefit the gaming experience.

Video toolbox is an additional function that includes special effects for video playback. Floating window is a window that you can open by holding a notification and moving it down. You can also move this window around, so that it is in the right place for you. Swiping down at the bottom of the floating window will display the window in full screen.

Another useful option is Second Room. At least if you have something to hide or if you let your children play a game on your phone, for example. By setting a certain screen lock, you activate the second space. In this space you determine which app is displayed. You can also be logged in to another account with a particular app in the Second room. In Lite mode you make bigger icons, the text bigger and you have less visual clutter. The latter are by the way Xiaomi’s own words.

Review

Xiaomi makes it difficult for the competition with the Mi 10T. The device actually performs excellently in all areas, except for the camera. For less than € 500, you have a device that has the fastest Snapdragon processor, 6GB RAM and 128GB storage memory. Together with the large battery and the high refresh rate of the screen, the Mi 10T is a top device in the middle segment. Had the camera also been excellent, the Mi 10T would have been a downright flagship killer.

The Xiaomi Mi 10T is available at Coolblue, Mobile, MediaMarkt, Belsimpel and Amazon.