Xiaomi Mi 10 test: the smartphone is gaining ground, but does it keep its promises?

Pierre CrochartSmartphone & gaming specialistApril 13, 2020 at 11:20:35 a.m. On March 27, Xiaomi announced the French release of its Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro, thereby causing some frowning when we discovered the prices. Once labeled “flagship killer”, the Shenzhen brand no longer tries to hide its ambitions on the ultra high-end market. But does she have the shoulders strong enough to rub shoulders with the tenors of the genre? It's undeniable: the Mi range has undergone enormous inflation in one year. Put on the market under the 500€ mark, the impeccable Mi 9 today seems light years away from Xiaomi's proposal. technological novelty. In addition, Xiaomi has given enough slack to its subsidiary Redmi for it to take up the torch of the mid-range that has suited it so much so far. Finally, let's talk about the (clever) opportunism of a Xiaomi who, seeing his Huawei's fiercest competitor, entangled in a very handicapping American embargo on the European market, is trying to steal its place on the market by positioning its new models at the same price as the very recent P40 Pro and P40. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic The Xiaomi Mi 10 will be available on April 16 from €799.

Xiaomi Mi 10: the technical sheet

The Xiaomi Mi have always represented the excellence of the Chinese brand. And this year, the manufacturer has not skimped on any detail of its technical data sheet, offering at the same time a high-performance, enduring, fluid and very comfortable smartphone in photography. The Xiaomi Mi 10 is: We will have quickly seen it: the main assets of this Mi 10 are this 90 Hz screen, its 5G compatible SoC and its main 108 megapixel photo sensor (the same as the Mi Note 10) .In its case, the Mi 10 comes with a transparent silicone protective shell, a 3.5 mm jack to USB-C adapter, a USB-C cable and its 30 W power adapter. A USB-C hands-free kit is also included. of the game in the commercial version. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic

A design that contrasts with the Mi 9

It's no secret: smartphone manufacturers are looking for each other regarding the placement of the front photo sensor. Last year, Xiaomi opted for a "teardrop" notch, but this year dives into the trend with a screen with a hole in the upper right corner. A cut – we must say – very well executed, since it measures only 4 mm by 4. Rather discreet therefore. Xiaomi is opting for a pierced screen this year. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic Where other competitors have innovated this year with a different aspect ratio (we think of the new Samsung Galaxy S), Xiaomi sticks to the good old 19.5:9. Also with its 6.67-inch diagonal, the Mi 10 is much taller than it is wide. A good point for gripping the device, especially since the edges of the screen are perfectly curved. A design that is reminiscent of that of the OnePlus 7 Pro, or even that of the OnePlus 8 to be released next week. The Mi 10 looks a lot like the OnePlus 8. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic The panel, of excellent quality (we will come back to this), incorporates an optical fingerprint sensor located – for our taste – a little too low to allow easy unlocking . It must be said that the weight of the device (208 grams) does nothing to reassure us when handling the smartphone. It is heavy, and its very elongated side makes it fearful of tipping it over when held too low. The fingerprint scanner may be a bit low. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic The iPhone XS (5.8"), the Huawei P40 Pro (6.5') and the Xiaomi Mi 10 (6.67") © Pierre Crochart for Clubic The occupancy rate of the screen is good (around 90%), and the borders disappear quite easily from our view after a few minutes of use. If we push a little, we would have liked Xiaomi to make more efforts to reduce the chin of the device, only slightly thicker than the rest of the strapping. For the next time ? The edges of the device are quite discreet, except for the chin. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic The back of the Mi 10 looks more like that of its predecessor. The placement of the cameras, aligned on the left edge of the device, is a carbon copy of the manufacturer's previous flagship, and even more of the Mi Note 10 released a few months ago. The photo modules protrude enormously from the chassis. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic We thus find ourselves with the same problem: the various photo modules protrude far too much from the chassis to allow the smartphone to lie flat. We're not even talking about typing on the smartphone on a table; even without any action on our part, the smartphone cannot be laid completely flat. A strangeness which is not very annoying on a daily basis, but which comes to degrade (a little) the image of excellence of the design that Xiaomi seeks to give itself. Impossible to lay the Xiaomi Mi 10 flat... © Pierre Crochart for Clubic In terms of finishes, Xiaomi has stacked up again this year with a very shiny, almost reflective back. Rather pretty to look at, the coating is nevertheless extremely greedy in fingerprints. It's undeniable: we would like to see more polished glass back initiatives as Huawei did very well this year, or Google before it. Finally, and this is a novelty on which Xiaomi particularly insisted this year: the Mi 10 has two '1216' drivers – that's 12mm by 16mm. Arranged on either side of the phone, we must concede to the manufacturer that the sound they produce is of excellent quality. The spatialization is of high quality, and the sound dynamics are well restored. Miles behind the sonic mush offered by Huawei's latest P40s, but still not quite on par with an iPhone 11 in our opinion. The Mi 10 is imposing and quite heavy. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic Buy the Xiaomi Mi 10

A dazzling display

Always very comfortable in terms of panels on its Mi range, Xiaomi is taking a real step forward this year in terms of colorimetry. If it has been criticized in the past for an appetite for cold tones, the color reproduction on the Mi 10 is simply excellent. Boasting a delta E of less than 1.1 on its marketing material, we have no There is no choice but to believe Xiaomi on this point as the icons of our applications explode in color. The contrast – infinite, by nature – is deep and the brightness (between 500 and 800 nits depending on the scenario) is ideal for use no matter where you are. The Mi 10's screen is outstanding. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic What more can we say about this 90 Hz refresh rate? If this aspect of the technical sheet is less impressive than a year ago as it is spreading like wildfire throughout the industry, it is difficult to do without it after having activated it. But don't you run the risk of melting the battery like snow in the sun? We will come back to this in our dedicated chapter. We would nevertheless have a slight caveat to issue to weigh these praises. The Mi 10's display doesn't have terrific resolution. With its 386 ppi on the clock despite its 6.67 inches, the most picky will avoid sticking their eye to the slab to avoid a little disappointment. In other words: we will avoid using the Mi 10 for virtual reality. The definition and resolution of the screen would have deserved to be a little more advanced. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic Moreover, the retained diagonal of 6.67 inches will delight lovers of video content on smartphones without any harm – even if the punch will hinder some in passing. In video as in game: it's a treat to use the Mi 10. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic

MIUI11 evolves little

Very customizable, Xiaomi's home interface is here delivered in version 11. An iteration that ticks (almost) all the boxes of what is expected of an Android overlay in 2020: gestural navigation, full dark mode, video recording of the screen and so on. The MIUI interface is simple to use and very customizable. But let’s come back to this “almost”. Despite the pleas of its users, Xiaomi has still not deigned to integrate an application drawer into MIUI. In other words, we stay with this “iPhone-style” layout; that is to say with the applications which come to be stored one after the other on the home screen, without the possibility (unless you go through an alternative launcher) of making them disappear in a dedicated drawer. Too bad. But MIUI11 does not lack ingenuity. Especially for one feature in particular, which allows users to avoid accidentally triggering an application with the palm of their hand. We explain: the screen of the Mi 10 being curved, it is not uncommon for the palm of the hand to be invited on the screen when one seeks, for example, to reach an icon located at the top. left. To overcome this, Xiaomi has imagined the integration of a "dead zone" on the edges of the device in order to tell the screen not to pay attention to what may well happen there. A feature allows you to avoid triggering an application with the palm of your hand. Very practical given that the Mi 10 has a curved screen. Very well integrated and customizable (you can choose between a small or large area of ​​​​effect), this function in no way alters the use of gestural navigation, of which a swipe from the edge of the screen allows you to return to the page or the previous application. Also – a small detail that hits the mark – in the absence of a notification diode, Xiaomi “irradiates” the edges of the screen with a very soft blue when you receive a message or a push alert on his phone. To conclude on this part of the test, we must also talk about the new haptic engine with which the Mi 10 is equipped. A detail too often overlooked by manufacturers this year, but which had already shown very special care at OnePlus last year. Xiaomi was inspired by this, and delivers here one of the most satisfying vibration engines on the market. Very soft, sometimes almost imperceptible, the vibrations - whether when typing a text or receiving a notification - offer a sensation radically different from what the competition offers, although difficult to describe in writing. A great point.

The most powerful smartphone on the market

Xiaomi manages, each year, to make its new Mi the master standard of benchmarks. The Mi 10 is no exception, and already appears to be the most powerful smartphone we have ever tested at Clubic. With its Snapdragon 865 trio, 8 GB of RAM (LPPDR5) and UFS 3.0 storage, the Mi 10 obtains crazy scores in our various tests. With its 586,181 points obtained on AnTuTu, the Mi 10 literally atomizes Samsung's Galaxy S20 Ultra (495,507 points). A trend confirmed by Geekbench 5, which awards 905 and 3304 points to the Mi 10. On the storage side, the flash disk of the Mi 10 is once again excellent and provides an indecent write speed of 661 Mb/s! Finally, 3DMark hoists the Mi 10 on the throne with scores never reached before during our tests – the 7,000 point mark on Sling Shot Extreme had never been exceeded at Clubic. You know the song. With such a smartphone, you have the assurance of never running out of power. Whether you are launching 200 applications simultaneously, filming in 8K while leaving your GPS running in the background, and continuing with a game on Call of Duty: Mobile, the Mi 10 will respond without making a fuss. Xiaomi has offered the best to its Mi 10, and it shows at all levels. Video games run like a charm. Here, Sky, from thatgamecompany. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic A debauchery of power which, however, is not without raising the mercury in some scenarios. First of all, charging will quickly heat up the Mi 10. The heaviest graphics tasks, such as video games, will also tend to heat up the back of the phone. However, this does not reach worrying levels.

Very good autonomy... for 5G and 90 Hz

In another reality, the Xiaomi Mi 10 could have been one of the most enduring smartphones on the market. Be aware: it has a 4,780 mAh battery! This is 50% more than on the Mi 9. But there are many other elements to take into account when evaluating the autonomy of a smartphone. First, and as Lu Weibing, the general manager of Redmi (a subsidiary of Xiaomi) professed this week, 5G would consume 20% more energy compared to a 4G smartphone. Another element to keep in mind: we performed this test using only the 90 Hz display mode – logically more resource-intensive, but we believe that users will prefer it to the classic 60 Hz. That being said, we can be reassured by stating that the Mi 10 displays an autonomy roughly equal to a 4G smartphone, with a 60 Hz screen. The battery lasted exactly 30 hours and 17 minutes, and the phone screen remained on for 8 hours and 24 minutes. An even better score than the P40 Pro. The autonomy of the Mi 10 is very good, especially for a 5G smartphone whose screen is clocked at 90 Hz. On the charging side, if the Mi 10 escapes the 50 W fast charge of its big brother the Mi 10 Pro, he doesn't really have to be ashamed. It only took an hour to go from an empty battery to 100% autonomy. In 30 minutes, the smartphone had already regained 58% of energy.

An uneven photo part

Test conditions Tested in the midst of the containment measures adopted by France to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, forgive in advance the lack of diversity of the photographs taken with the Mi 10. We have done our best in view of the exceptional circumstances .Xiaomi has upped its photography game. While it has always defended itself honourably, a milestone was reached last November with the release of the Mi Note 10 – the first to integrate a 108-megapixel 1/1.33" sensor from Samsung. The Mi 10 benefits from the same sensor main photo than the Galaxy S20 Ultra © Pierre Crochart for Clubic We have since found this gigantic sensor on the back of the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and today of the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro. Another way of saying that we weren't really surprised by the results obtained. The exposure is perfectly managed, the accuracy of the colors is preserved and the processing software judiciously sprinkles the final result with just the clarity and sharpness needed to further enhance the already excellent contrasts . in automatic mode (27 megapixels) © Pierre Crochart for Club ic As usual, it is possible to choose between two capture modes. The first will release shots of 27 megapixels in order to combine four pixels into one and therefore increase the size. The images therefore come out brighter, although a little less detailed. The second mode mobilizes all of the 108 megapixels of the sensor. The pixels are therefore much smaller (0.8 µm), but the image reaches an astounding level of detail. A shot using the 108 megapixel mode. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic Difficult to observe on the site, where the compression does not help to show details, the 108 megapixel mode allows you to zoom in deeply on the image and crop it as you see fit without losing finesse. We also realize how good the general sharpness of the lens is, as all the parts of the image are perfectly sharp. The color management is admirable. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic We are less at the party when it comes to describing the results obtained via the other modules. Let's start with the 13-megapixel ultra-wide angle. Fairly weakly defined, the ultra-wide-angle module is a pleasant gadget, but clearly out of step with the main module. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic If it is, in itself, not bad, we immediately notice that the colors do not correspond to what we see, and even less to those captured by the main sensor. Desaturated, the shots appear dull, and logically lack detail due to the low definition. The processing software also operates strangely with this module. It tries to expose the whole scene correctly, but sometimes does too much, at the risk of appearing totally out of step with the rest of the photo configuration. The treatment is sometimes very curious. This photo was taken at the same time as the one displayed above. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic Also, the sharpness here is very bad. If the center of the image defends itself rather well, with textures transcribed advantageously, the edges of the shot are very runny and weakly defined. Light years away from the P40 Pro and its 40-megapixel ultra-wide-angle module (but it's not exactly the same range of devices, let's remember). Let's continue. If the Mi 10 does not have any telephoto lens, this does not prevent Xiaomi from offering a 2x hybrid zoom on its device, and even 10x digital. It will be understood: the manufacturer takes advantage here of the very high resolution of the 108 megapixel sensor to cut generously into it. The results of the 2x hybrid zoom are very good. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic In 2x, it feels quite little. It almost feels like a real telephoto lens. The level of detail remains good, but some parts of the image are a little too dark for our taste. Nothing bad. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic In 10x on the other hand, the pictures are simply unusable. The details are absent subscribers and the textures appear runny as desired. Still, the colors are still preserved. In 10x digital zoom, on the other hand... © Pierre Crochart for Clubic Absolutely not a customer of this kind of module, I must nevertheless confess that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the macro mode of the Mi 10. Mobilizing a 2 megapixel module , this capture mode allows you to get as close as 2 centimeters from your subject. If we would have appreciated more pixels in order to capture all the details, we are delighted that – for once! — the autofocus works properly. Notice however how the ends of the petals are runny, and how a chromatic aberration forms on their edges. The module dedicated to the macro is doing quite well. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic Finally, the last module dedicated to depth finds all its interest in portraits. If we must recognize that the clipping is rather harmonious, we cannot sing the praises of this ultra aggressive treatment carried out by default by the telephone. I can guarantee you two things about this shot: yes, I'm as tired as I look, and no, the colors of my shirt aren't quite as vibrant anymore. In reality, the portraits mostly give the impression that an Instagram filter has been automatically applied to the photo. The treatment of the portraits is really exaggerated. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic A problem that is not found by going through the front photo module, which is much more reasonable in terms of image processing. The 20 megapixels are enough to display many details on your face, and the portrait mode allows you to trim your hair with quite impressive attention to detail. The front photo module is very correct. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic Finally, at night, the Mi 10 does quite well. In automatic mode, it will manage, willy-nilly, to correctly expose the whole scene, but will have all the trouble in the world to bring enough detail to the whole. Much more convincing results using the long exposure of the night mode, which this time makes it possible to find almost all the details on the surfaces of the buildings, and to manage with more measure the highlights and the shadows. Night photo with automatic mode. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic Night photo with night shot mode. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic On the video side, the Mi 10 is one of the first smartphones to be able to shoot in 8K at 30 frames per second. If the usefulness of such a feature remains to be demonstrated, we recommend in all cases the addition of an external stabilizer. The main sensor of the Mi 10 may be stabilized (OIS, EIS), but unfortunately this is only possible in 1080p30.

Xiaomi Mi 10: the opinion of Clubic

Does the Mi 10 line up enough arguments to justify a price increase of around €300 compared to its predecessor? It's hard to say. To add Normand's answer, let's just say that "it will depend on people and their expectations". one of the most exciting photo sensors we've seen in recent years doesn't seem that expensive. You only have to compare it head-on with the Huawei P40 (sold at the same price) to be convinced: the Mi 10 is better on all points (Google as a bonus). Now, maybe indeed Xiaomi should have gone more gradually on its move upmarket. Keep a classic Mi 10 under €600, and offer a Mi 10 Pro around €800 – like OnePlus since last year. A daring strategy, but which is fortunately supported by a smartphone of excellent quality.

Xiaomi Mi 10

9

Most

The lessers

Design7

Screen9

Performance10

Autonomy9

Photography8

Design7

Screen9

Performance10

Autonomy9

Photography8

Buy the Xiaomi Mi 10 Test carried out on a smartphone loaned by Xiaomi This article contains affiliate links, which means that a commission may be paid to Clubic. The prices mentioned are subject to change. Read the charter of confidence