Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Smartphone Review

Audio

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 uses one external speaker, which is located on the bottom edge of the case. It sounds above average and does not wheeze at maximum volume, but cannot provide the proper volume.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Smartphone Review

Headphones can be connected to a smartphone both wired and wirelessly via Bluetooth 5.0 with support for A2DP, LE and aptX HD profiles.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 review: 108 megapixel cameraphone

At the end of the last decade, the word “cameraphone” was actively used in everyday life, which is now extremely rare. It was used to distinguish phones with a camera against the background of models that did not have one. But today it is so rare that the need for a word has simply disappeared. Although in the case of Xiaomi Mi Note 10, I want to remember it at least once again, because judge for yourself, this smartphone is equipped with five cameras at once, one of which has a resolution of 108 megapixels. Isn’t it a cameraphone? At least Xiaomi is betting heavily on the shooting capabilities, so let’s see how the camera handles this. And at the same time, we will check whether the rest of its capabilities reach the characteristics of the main camera.

Performance

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is positioned by the company as an affordable flagship, therefore, despite the capabilities of the cameras, the device falls into the mid-high price segment. This is achieved, among other things, by using the Snapdragon 730G processor, which Qualcomm has released specifically for such models. It is an 8-nanometer chip with two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores at 2.2 GHz and six energy-efficient Cortex-A55 cores at 1.8 GHz. In terms of performance in synthetic tests, in particular in Geekbench 5, its results reach the level of last year’s flagship Snapdragon 845.

The processor is complemented by the Adreno 618 graphics with performance at the level of Adreno 530, which was released along with the Snapdragon 820 and 821. Its capabilities are enough to comfortably play modern games at high and medium graphics settings, but the performance margin here is no longer as large as in the flagship solutions.

In the test version of Xiaomi Mi Note 10, 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory were installed without expansion options. And given the processor with graphics, such a platform turned out to be enough for comfortable use of the smartphone, during the time spent with it I did not encounter slow applications. But I note that, given the manufacturer’s emphasis on the capabilities of the cameras, and the fact that the images of the 108-megapixel module take up more space, I would like to have a slot for microSD memory cards at hand. over, there was a place for it in the device, since Xiaomi uses a slot with support for two SIM-cards, accordingly it could be made hybrid.

Other features of the Mi Note 10 platform include Bluetooth 5.0 wireless modules (A2DP, LE, aptX HD), NFC, dual-band 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac Wi-Fi, infrared, and even an FM radio. And the positioning options are represented by A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and BDS.

The smartphone runs on the Android 9 operating system, on top of which the new Xiaomi MIUI 11 shell is installed. It does not radically change the system interface, adding its own visual style, additional settings and applications. Although the manufacturer uses as standard programs from Google, for example, “Phone” and “Contacts”.

In general, MIUI 11 is pleasant both externally and in terms of usability, but the shell is spoiled by advertisements in system applications. In budget models it is easy to understand, there Xiaomi is trying to minimize the cost, but in the conditionally flagship model, advertising looks strange. In this case, it can be disabled, but this must be done in every program where it is shown. In general, just read our instructions on how to disable it.

It’s also a little strange that MIUI 11 in Mi Note 10 is based on Android 9, while Android 10, the newer version of Google’s operating system, was released in early September. However, Xiaomi promises to release an update for the smartphone in the near future with the latest Android release. While most users are unlikely to see much of a difference, MIUI 11 overall has everything you need, including a dark theme.

Design and materials

Externally, Xiaomi Mi Note 10 has a significant overlap with the company’s past models, and in general it does not stand out much against the background of what other market players offer. The smartphone received a 6.47-inch display, at the top of which is a teardrop-shaped selfie camera. At the same time, the latter is not very large and leaves enough space for system icons and notifications.

And for those who do not like this arrangement of the front camera at all, the manufacturer left the option to hide the cutout by dimming the screen on the sides.

The frames around the display in Mi Note 10 turned out to be small, and I can not help but note that the lower one is finally almost the same size as the upper one, and is not so striking.

On the back of the smartphone there are five camera lenses and two flashes at once. Three modules are combined into one block here, and two more are located below so as not to make it more massive.

For understanding, Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is a rather large device, its weight reaches 208 grams, and dimensions are 157.8 × 74.2 mm.

The thickness is 9.6 mm, and despite this, the block with three cameras still sticks out from the body by a few millimeters.

As in the design, there is nothing unusual in the design of the smartphone, Xiaomi used Gorilla Glass 5 for the front and rear panels. It is slightly rounded at the edges and fits snugly against the metal frame on the edges. This gives the body a solid feel and all the seams fit very well. But do not rely too much on them, since the body of the device is not protected from water and dust.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 cameras

As I already wrote in the introduction, this model deserves the name “cameraphone”, since it is not only equipped with five camera modules at once, but also for the first time in the industry comes out with a 108-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor, developed in cooperation with Xiaomi. And besides the record resolution for smartphones, it can offer a large 1 / 1.33-inch sensor with a cell size of 0.8 microns, f / 1.69 aperture, optical stabilization, phase and laser autofocus. Plus support for Tetracell technology, which groups adjacent pixels into groups of four to reduce noise, increase light sensitivity and increase dynamic range.

But first, it’s worth noting that Xiaomi Mi Note 10 by default does not take pictures at a maximum resolution of 12032×9024 pixels, if you take a photo in automatic mode, it will be with a resolution of 6016×4512 pixels, that is, four times less. This, firstly, allows the module to obtain more information using neighboring pixels. Secondly, less load on the central processor. And thirdly, to save memory space, because a 108-megapixel photo taken in good lighting takes an average of 18-25 MB. And the process of processing and saving it takes much longer than modern users are used to waiting.

As a result, you can shoot with a 108-megapixel module, in fact, in three modes: in the standard 6016×4512 pixels, in the night mode with the same resolution, and in the maximum 12032×9024 pixels. Let’s look at each of them separately, but I’ll note right away that the site “cuts” files up to 10 MB, so below I’ll leave a link to Google Drive with all the originals of Mi Note 10 images.

In standard mode, the smartphone’s 108-megapixel camera takes a photo with good detail, correct exposure and white balance. But often takes a long time to focus, especially in low light, which seems to be a feature of this module in general.

You can shoot at night with the main camera of Xiaomi Mi Note 10 in automatic mode, the result will be quite good, but if you switch to night mode, it will become even better.

So the module stitches together several images taken with different parameters, increasing the detail and correctly aligning the exposure.

When switching to 108 megapixels, you can create pictures with a resolution of 12032×9024 pixels, with good lighting they turn out to be very detailed, but in this mode the camera makes mistakes with exposure and white balance, the photos are darker than reality. Apparently, it is difficult for the processor to process images in this resolution, so the software revision here is minimal.

To better understand the level of detail, here’s a 200% crop from some of the shots above:

Night shots with a 108-megapixel camera lose detail, more noise appears on them, the light is not worked out as softly as in night mode, but overall the result is very decent.

We have finished with the main module, let’s now look at the additional ones, and there are four more of them! And I’ll start with telephoto, in Xiaomi Mi Note 10 there are two such cameras at once:

  • 12-megapixel with f / 2.0 aperture, 1 / 2.55 ″ sensor, phase and laser autofocus, which provides 2x optical zoom;
  • 5 megapixel (software upscale up to 8 megapixels) with f / 2.0 aperture, OIS, phase and laser autofocus, and 5x zoom.

Both cameras allow you to take good daytime shots, while the 5MP module does a little better at determining the white balance.

But at night, none of the telephoto cameras allows you to create more or less high-quality pictures, their sharpness drops very much, noticeable digital noise appears in the 12-megapixel module, and even the optical stabilization does not really save the 5-megapixel one.

Knowing this, Xiaomi went for a little trick, formally, in night shooting mode, you can switch to 2x digital zoom, but in this case, the smartphone does not activate the telephoto module, but simply makes a crop from the main 108-megapixel camera.

The fourth module in the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 camera system is a 20-megapixel ultra-wide-angle one with f / 2.2 aperture, 1 / 2.8 ″ matrix and laser autofocus. It allows you to capture more of the scene, but unfortunately gets it wrong with exposure.

It is better not to turn on this camera at all at night, the lack of optical stabilization and not the fastest optics make photos blurry and too dark.

Finally, the fifth camera in Mi Note 10 is a 2-megapixel one with an f / 2.4 aperture and a 1/5 ″ matrix and a focal length of 2 cm. Accordingly, it is designed for macro photography, and even though it has a rather low resolution, as by modern standards. but the camera copes with its task. For comparison, here is a snapshot of the map.

And a separate line of text on it, shot in macro.

In general, the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 has some of the widest photography capabilities, although not all modules do their job perfectly. But in any case, the user gets a fairly large scope for creativity, which more expensive devices cannot always provide.

The front camera in the smartphone is 32-megapixel with f / 2.0 aperture and 1 / 2.8 ″ matrix.

Package Contents Xiaomi Mi Note 10

The smartphone comes in a small black box, inside which you can find a 30W fast charger, USB Type-C cable and silicone case. There is no headset included, so you have to buy it or headphones separately.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 display

The smartphone has a 6.47-inch AMOLED touchscreen display with a resolution of 2340 × 1080 pixels (398 ppi). Traditionally for this type of matrix, the screen has colorful color reproduction, deep blacks and good viewing angles. According to our measurements, the minimum display brightness is 2 cd / m2, and the maximum is 396 cd / m2.

According to the manufacturer, the screen is capable of displaying the DCI-P3 color space, and this is indeed confirmed by our measurements. over, regardless of the selected color profile, and there are formally three of them in the display settings: “Auto”, “Saturated” and “Default”. Although the last two are practically the same. The automatic display mode changes the screen settings depending on the lighting, in the manner of the True Tone function in Apple devices. Therefore, I will only give examples of the “Saturated” profile, with it the matrix shows a wide color gamut, but an uneven gamma curve, as well as a rather “cold” color rendition, which can also be seen from the bias in blue.

However, the screen settings allow you to change not only the color profile, but also the color temperature, making it “warmer” on a permanent basis, as well as on a schedule at a specified time or after sunset using the “Reading Mode” option.

The latter is designed to reduce eye strain before bed.

The fingerprint scanner

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 uses an optical fingerprint scanner located under the display glass. For its operation, the screen brightly illuminates a small area slightly below the center of the front panel, and as it usually happens with such sensors, they hit the eyes quite hard in the dark. But in general, in most situations, the scanner works quickly and accurately enough, unless moisture gets on the user’s fingers or the outside temperature is not below zero.

Design, ergonomics and software

If the built-in cameras Xiaomi is slowly making up for lost time and clings to the top of the ratings, then the design of smartphones is still very uneven. Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is a modern, even beautiful smartphone in its own way, with polished metal around the perimeter and the inevitable polished glass front and back (back, of course, iridescent), with curved edges and a small cutout for the front camera. Its problem is that the Mi Note 10 is very difficult to distinguish from the Redmi Note 8 Pro in appearance, and from a number of damn similar smartphones. This is beauty devoid of individuality, a classic Xiaomi snag.

But Mi Note 10 is made with high quality. it is very difficult to distinguish it from Redmi Note 8 Pro by sight, but not by touch, it is made of more expensive materials. But, of course, everything is like people have. the glass back panel is slippery and easily soiled, it is better to put the gadget in the silicone case that comes with it.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, front panel: at the top of the display. a small cutout with a front camera and an earpiece

And dressed in a case, Xiaomi Mi Note 10 becomes even more bulky. And so rather big (157.8 × 74.2 × 9.67 mm. yes, almost 10 millimeters thick), it already starts to bulge too much in the. This, however, is the eternal victim of the Mi Note series, which fans of large formats should be accustomed to. The screen is not exactly a record large. 6.47 inches. Competitors sometimes have more. 6.67 inches for OnePlus 7 Pro or 6.5 inches for OPPO Reno2.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, rear panel: in the corner. a whole complex consisting of five cameras and two dual units of LED flashes

There are three color variations: black, green and, as in our case, white. with a pearlescent tint. The pentacamera is located without any special frills. in the corner, vertically, making it look like a party in a sea battle.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, the left side is free of functional elements

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, right side: power / lock key and volume key, as well as a slot for two SIM cards

The layout is classic; from relative surprises, the only thing that can be singled out is the SIM-card slot moved to the right side. the left edge is devoid of functional elements. Each one twists as much as possible, placing the filling of the smartphone. The thickness of the Mi Note 10, by the way, is explained by the hefty 5260 mAh battery, which is no joke.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, top edge: IR sensor and microphone

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, bottom side: mini-jack, USB Type-C port and main speaker

Another element, albeit not a surprise yet, but a pleasant one, especially for the target audience of the gadget, is a mini-jack on the bottom edge. The smartphone does not suffer from the lack of interfaces at all. here both the infrared port and NFC. There is only a tray for memory cards, and it is not clear why. Mi Note 10 otherwise gives the impression of a smartphone in which they tried to fit all the best at once.

The fingerprint scanner in Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is located in the smartphone screen. at the bottom of it, of course, because the technology of random touching the screen to unlock has not yet reached serial gadgets. The sensor is optical, so it does not react to touches with a wet finger, but in general, there are no complaints about the sensitivity and stability of the responses. It falls short of modern capacitive sensors, but there is no irritation either. If desired, you can duplicate the scanner with a face recognition system. without a depth sensor, only due to a photo taken by the front camera.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is running Android 9 Pie with a fresh version of the MIUI 11 shell. It is a little surprising that Xiaomi did not wait for the update of its smartphones to Android 10 in order to “roll” the new MIUI. on the other hand, the company has always been free in this relation. The new version of the shell is minimally different in appearance from the previous one. the fonts have changed slightly, the icons have increased, the animation has become smoother. But it did not become radically different and more beautiful. which is a pity, MIUI is moving away from the ideal every year, the same white borders around some of the icons are very tired. The dark theme appeared on the latest versions of the top ten, here it is, of course, also exists. 2019 has become the year of dark themes. Of the real innovations, I would like to note the flexible control over the influence of the cutout on the picture. you can simply fill this area with black, you can shift the icons, you can adjust the display of the cutout for each application separately (!). The settings menu has changed. and not for the better, everything has become even more confusing despite the fact that MIUI already had problems with this before. You often have to search for the desired parameter using the search bar.

The most noticeable external change: the updated Always-On Display with the ability to add different animations and the “breathing” function to the rhythm of a call or a playing melody. the feature of Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 has now moved to all Xiaomi with MIUI 11. Among the new modes I will note the game mode that has appeared with the ability to set different scenarios for the smartphone operation for different games, the advanced Digital Wellbeing utility, tuned to make you use your smartphone more intelligently and not get stuck in it excessively, as well as noticeably improved sound work. with an expanded base of calls and notifications and flexible setting alarms. The key problems of MIUI. annoying built-in ads, up to recommendations inside third-party applications (subscribe, they say, to our Instagram account) and too widespread base of pre-installed Mi applications. have not been resolved. At the same time, the shell works quite quickly, although against the background of the flagship Huawei or Google Pixel 4 (and even Pixel 3a!), The new Xiaomi is no longer so impressive.

Specifications

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Xiaomi Mi 9 OnePlus 7 Pro Honor 20 Pro OPPO Reno2
Display 6.47 inches, AMOLED,
2340 × 1080 pixels, 398 ppi, capacitive multitouch
6.39 inches, AMOLED,
2340 × 1080 pixels, 403 ppi, capacitive multitouch
6.67 inches, Fluid AMOLED,
3120 × 1440 pixels, 516 ppi, capacitive multitouch
6.26 inches, IPS,
2340 × 1080 pixels, 412 ppi, capacitive multitouch
6.5 inches, AMOLED,
2400 × 1080 pixels, 401 ppi, capacitive multitouch
Safety glass Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Corning Gorilla Glass 6 Corning Gorilla Glass (version not specified) No information Corning Gorilla Glass 6
CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G: two Kryo 470 Gold cores, 2.2 GHz six Kryo 470 Silver cores, 1.8 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 855: Single Kryo 485 Gold, 2.85 GHz Three Kryo 485 Gold, 2.42 GHz Quad Kryo 485 Silver, 1.8 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 855: Single Kryo 485 Gold, 2.85 GHz Three Kryo 485 Gold, 2.42 GHz Quad Kryo 485 Silver, 1.8 GHz HiSilicon Kirin 980: eight cores (2 × ARM Cortex A76, 2.6 GHz 2 × ARM Cortex A76, 1.92 GHz 4 × ARM Cortex A55, 1.8 GHz); HiAI architecture Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G: two Kryo 470 Gold cores, 2.2 GHz six Kryo 470 Silver cores, 1.8 GHz
Graphics controller Adreno 618 Adreno 640 Adreno 640 ARM Mali-G76 MP10, 720 MHz Adreno 618
RAM 6 GB 6/8/12 GB 6/8/12 GB 8 GB 8 GB
Flash memory 128 GB 128/256 GB 128/256 GB 256 GB 256 GB
Memory card support No No No No Yes (hybrid)
Connectors USB Type-C, 3.5 mm minijack USB Type-C USB Type-C USB Type-C USB Type-C, 3.5 mm minijack
SIM card Dual nano-SIM Dual nano-SIM Dual nano-SIM Dual nano-SIM Dual nano-SIM
Cellular 2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz CDMA 800 GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz CDMA 800/1900 GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Cellular 3G HSDPA 800/850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz HSDPA 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz HSDPA 800/850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100 MHz HSDPA 800/850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz WCDMA 800/850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz
4G cellular LTE Cat.15 (up to 800 Mbps): bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 38, 40 LTE: bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20, 28, 38, 39, 40 LTE Cat.18 (up to 1200 Mbps): bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 34. 38, 39, 40, 41, 66 LTE bands 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 38, 40, 41 LTE: bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 32, 38, 39, 40, 41
Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac 802.11a / b / g / n / ac 802.11a / b / g / n / ac 802.11a / b / g / n / ac 802.11a / b / g / n / ac
Bluetooth 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
NFC there is there is there is there is there is
Navigation GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo GPS (dual band), A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
Sensors Illumination, proximity, accelerometer / gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass), IR sensor Illumination, proximity, accelerometer / gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass) Illumination, proximity, accelerometer / gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass) Illumination, proximity, accelerometer / gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass), IR sensor Illumination, proximity, accelerometer / gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass)
The fingerprint scanner Yes, on the screen Yes, on the screen Yes, on the screen there is Yes, on the screen
Main camera Five module: 108 Mp, ƒ / 1.7 12 Mp, ƒ / 2.0 20 Mp, ƒ / 2.2 5 Mp, ƒ / 2.0 2 Mp (macro), авто / 2.4, phase detection autofocus with three cameras (contrast laser with wide-angle), quadruple LED flash Triple module: 48 MP, ƒ / 1.8 16 MP, ƒ / 2.2 12 MP, ƒ / 2.2, hybrid autofocus, dual LED flash Triple module: 48 MP, ƒ / 1.6 8 MP, ƒ / 2.4 16 MP, ƒ / 2.2, hybrid autofocus, dual LED flash Quadruple module, 48 8 16 2 Mp, ƒ / 1.4 ƒ / 2.4 ƒ / 2.2 ƒ / 2.4, optical stabilization, hybrid autofocus, LED flash Quadruple module, 48 8 13 2 Mp, ƒ / 1.7 ƒ / 2.2 ƒ / 2.4 ƒ / 2.4, optical stabilization with 48-megapixel module, phase detection autofocus with main and telephoto modules, dual LED flash
Front-camera 32 MP, ƒ / 2.0, fixed focus 20 MP, ƒ / 2.0, fixed focus 16 MP, ƒ / 2.0, fixed focus 32 MP, ƒ / 2.0, fixed focus, no flash 16 MP, ƒ / 2.0, fixed focus
Food Removable battery: 19.98 Wh (5260 mAh, 3.8 V) Removable battery: 12.54 Wh (3300 mAh, 3.8 V) Removable battery: 15.2 Wh (4000 mAh, 3.8 V) Removable battery: 15.2 Wh (4000 mAh, 3.8 V) Removable battery: 15.2 Wh (4000 mAh, 3.8 V)
The size 157.8 x 74.2 x 9.67 mm 157.5 x 74.7 x 7.6 mm 162.6 x 75.9 x 8.8 mm 154.3 x 74 x 8.4 mm 160 x 74.3 x 9.5 mm
Weight 208 grams 173 grams 206 grams 182 grams 189 grams
Hull protection No No No No No
operating system Android 9.0 Pie, MIUI shell Android 9.0 Pie, MIUI shell Android 9.0 Pie, shell OxygenOS Android 9.0 Pie, Magic UI shell Android 9.0 Pie, shell ColorOS
Actual 26 550 rubles for the 6/64 GB version, 31 990 rubles for the 6/128 GB version 37 990 rubles for version 6/128 GB, 39 770 rubles for version 8/256 GB 34,990 rubles 39,990 rubles

Xiaomi Mi Note 10. information about the filling according to the CPU Z application

Review of the smartphone Xiaomi Mi Note 10. One hundred. Eight. Megapixels

Xiaomi has always tried to stuff its smartphones with as many megahertz, megabytes and inches as possible and then sell them at the lowest possible price under the current conditions. This is the starting point from which the dominance of the Chinese company gradually began in all segments of this market, which do not imply superprofits for manufacturers, but suggest the attention of buyers who are hungry for powerful combinations of characteristics and price tags.

And it seems quite logical against this background that it was Xiaomi who was at the head of the peloton in the new megapixel race. the competition that raged in the middle of the 2000s between specialized cameras has already begun to be forgotten. but the introduction of Quad Bayer technology initiated a new round of it, now among smartphones. The year began with the first devices with a 48 megapixel module, and ends with gadgets that crossed the 100 megapixel line. The first of these was Xiaomi Mi Note 10, which, in addition, can knock out an impressionable audience with the number of not only light-sensitive sensors on the sensor, but also the direct number of cameras included in the module. there are five of them here.

The experts from the DxO Mark rating also added fuel to the fire, who gave the mid-range smartphone (worth 40 thousand rubles at the start of the Mi Note 10) the top line of the rating, side by side with the impressive Huawei Mate 30 Pro. Is this really the case when quantity turned into quality, and Xiaomi finally got a smartphone really impressive in its photographic abilities??

Display and sound

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 received a fairly modern display. AMOLED with a diagonal of 6.47 inches (even slightly smaller than that of the Redmi Note 8 Pro, by the way) and a resolution of 2340 × 1080 pixels. The format is 19.5: 9. The pixel density is 398 ppi. The number is not outstanding, but quite adequate.

The panel is curved at the edges, but not the entire area is used, but only a part. when the display is on, you can easily see the border around the perimeter. The reception has long been known, but this did not make it more pleasant. But when the screen is off, it seems as if the smartphone has no “chin” at all, and the frames are minimal, like the flagships. No, it’s not that rosy. The panel itself is of high quality, with good viewing angles and a normal oleophobic coating.

The maximum measured brightness of the display of Xiaomi Mi Note 10 was 422 cd / m2. For a panel based on organic LEDs, it is quite a good indicator, of the competitors in Mi Note 10, only OPPO Reno 2 wins. Honor 20 Pro does not count. it has an LCD display with an active backlit.

Display color settings in MIUI 11 have not changed. Color tone adjustment is available (from cold to warm), but only when the automatic color adjustment is activated (which is still illiterately called “contrast”). There are also modes of “increased” or “standard” “contrast”. I measured the color reproduction in “high contrast” mode and in standard mode. Measurement was taken in a room with incandescent lamps on.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, gamma in “standard” mode. Yellow line. indicators of Mi Note 10, dotted. reference gamma

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, color temperature in “standard” mode. Blue line. indicators of Mi Note 10, dashed. reference temperature

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, color gamut in “standard” mode. Gray triangle is DCI-P3 coverage, white triangle is Mi Note 10 coverage

By default, the Xiaomi display operates in the adaptive “contrast” mode, with which I also measured its color rendering. and the results were close to “increased”. For the purity of the experiment, I will still give measurements of only two fixed presets of the color rendition setting. The color space is wide in any case. in the “standard” mode it is slightly less than DCI-P3, but still closer to this standard than to sRGB. The average gamma is 2.21 with fairly flat curves. The color temperature is almost reference. it ranges from 6,500 K to 7,000 K. The average deviation of DeltaE on the Color Checker scale, which includes both a wide range of colors and shades of gray, was 3.75 while the norm is 3.00. there is a deviation, but not so significant.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, gamma in “high contrast” mode. Yellow line. indicators of Mi Note 10, dotted. reference gamma

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, color temperature in “high contrast” mode. Blue line. indicators of Mi Note 10, dashed. reference temperature

Xiaomi Mi Note 10, color gamut in “high contrast” mode. Gray triangle is DCI-P3 coverage, white triangle is Mi Note 10 coverage

In the “increased contrast” mode, the gamma curves behave exactly the same, and the average value is 2.18. The color temperature is too high, but insignificantly: it basically stays in the range from 7,500 to 8,000 K with a short drop to 6,500 K. The color space turns out to be even wider than DCI-P3. The average DeltaE deviation on the Color Checker is 5.00, which is quite normal with extended coverage. In general, the color reproduction settings of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 display can be considered high-quality. from it you can achieve both naturalness and more pleasant to most cold and saturated shades, but without brute force.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 sounds. usual. There is a mini-jack and Bluetooth 5.0 with all the profiles necessary for high-quality wireless sound transmission (both aptX and LDAC). But, despite the new convenient menu for managing sounds with advanced settings for alarms and calls, there are no special talents in playing music. at least in combination with third-party headphones. For headphones by Xiaomi, a variety of profiles are provided in the smartphone settings. As for the loudspeaker, it is monophonic here, located on the lower edge, and is distinguished by really excellent volume. you shouldn’t judge the quality of music playback here, but it is able to sound videos from Youtube quite confidently. It won’t hurt too much.

Testing

First, a few words about MIUI 11.

It is possible to enable gestures by removing the bottom panel with buttons. When you activate the gesture mode, it is suggested to go through the “tutorial”. The screenshot is taken with three-finger gestures.

The smartphone has a fresh stable version of MIUI 11. If you tap on the number, then we get the developer mode. OTG works without problems, flash drives and DACs are connected.

Standard tests to confirm phone performance and parameters.

AIDA64 Report You can double-check the characteristics declared by the manufacturer Display, battery. everything corresponds to the declared characteristics.
The phone supports Russian Bends. Wi-Fi speed is also very, very decent. GPS / GLonass catches satellites with a bang! PC Mark shows 7400 thousand parrots.
Antutu 260 thousand. GeekBench 543/1711 3D Mark 2403/2257

Test results are very enviable.

Only the flagships of the first echelon, whose cost is more than twice as high as the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 smartphone, have higher performance. So the result is excellent.

Smartphone specifications

Characteristics:
Model Xiaomi Mi Note 10
CPU Snapdragon 730G Octa Core, Adreno 618
Display 6.47 “AMOLED screen (curved), 398 PPI 2340 x 1080 FHD, Corning Gorilla Glass 5,
brightness 600/430 nit
Memory 6GB RAM 128GB ROM (not support TF card)
Rear camera Pentacamera: 108MP main sensor, 20MP ultra-wide 12MP short throw telephoto camera telephoto camera, macro camera, quad flash.
Front-camera 32 MP, ƒ / 2.0, fixed focus
Battery 5260 mAh (Typ), with 30 W charger included, fast charging
Interfaces USB-C, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, OTG, NFC, dual SIM cards, 3.5mm audio jack, active infrared port, on-screen fingerprint scanner
Network frequencies LTE B1 / B2 / B3 / B4 / B5 / B7 / B8 / B18 / B19 / B20 / B26 / B28 / B38 / B40
GSM: B2 / B3 / B5 / B8
OS MIUI 11, Global Version, OTA Update Support
Weight and dimensions weight 208 g, WxHxT 74.20×158.80×9.67 mm

In terms of its characteristics, the smartphone slightly resembles one of the Xiaomi Mi9 variants. the Mi9T version, which I reviewed in detail. But if we compare with Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, then the new model confidently climbed into the top segment, since the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 case is made of aluminum and glass, and the glass is curved at the edges.

Smartphone Xiaomi Mi Note 10: review of the new budget flagship with pentacamera, NFC and FHD screen

Finally, a novelty from Xiaomi has reached me. this is the MI Note 10 model, which is about to be released and is currently available for purchase. We can say that the smartphone was ahead of its time. the most modern technologies became available to everyone at the usual price for Xiaomi.

Specifically, in this model, Xiaomi has relied on a pentacamera, contactless payment with NFC and an excellent AMOLED FHD screen with curved edges. This is really top for your money.

For ease of navigation through the text, I made a small overview.

NFC test

Looking ahead, I will say that Xiaomi has not only added new features, but also retained the old “chips”, for example, a 3.5 mm headphone jack with built-in DAC.

At the moment, the smartphone is available in three colors.

The current and offers were taken from the Xiaomi group at VK. User support is also provided there.

Appearance and equipment of the smartphone

The packaging is strict and minimalistic. This time, Xiaomi has moved away from the corporate white color and paid tribute to the strict design in dark colors with and gold embossing.

The smartphone is carefully covered with a transport protective film.

Ruthlessly ripping off the transport protective film. Before us is a new smartphone model Xiaomi Mi Note 10. a budget flagship made of glass and metal.

On the back there is a sticker with IMEI and partnumber. It can be easily removed without any marks.

The body of the smartphone has rounded corners with a curved screen. Made very interesting, especially glass coating over metal.

Several detailed photos of the appearance.
On the underside are USB-C, speaker and headphone jack. On the top panel there is an active infrared port (remote control emulator), a noise canceling microphone. At the bottom right end there is a SIM card slot, at the top there are buttons.

The body is made of milled aluminum and covered with glass on top. It looks very interesting. The camera is five-fold, has an intelligent ultra-wide-angle mode, moon mode, stabilization of shooting in night mode, background blur in portrait mode, panorama, manual mode, shooting timer, Horizon function, burst shooting, face detection, HDR, dynamic photos, the possibility of improvement AI-powered photography and much more.

Selfie camera (front) is made as a “drop” in the center of the screen.

The set is poor, could put headphones.

On the other hand, it comes with a great case and powerful fast charging.

The case is really nice, soft, with sides for the camera and screen.

The camera protrudes decently above the surface of the case, so if you look after a case for yourself, consider this point.

It should turn out something like this. The side around the camera completely protects it not only from bumps, but also from scratching on the table.

Charging with EU plug (remind, I have a global version).

Charger parameters: 5V to 3A / 9V to 3A / 10V to 3A / 12V to 2.25A / 20V to 1.35A. Up to 30W total in fast charge mode. one of the fastest options available today.

Also included is a high-quality USB-C cable for charging and syncing.

The kit includes a needle for removing the SIM-tray.

Tray for two SIM-cards combined, but without a slot for a memory card. Alas.

Special thanks to the developers for the 3.5 mm audio output. I can safely use my favorite wired headphones. Please note that this smartphone has Hi-Res audio certification, and a dedicated Qualcomm WCD9375 DAC (192kHz / 24-bit) is responsible for the output of high-quality sound inside.

Turning on your smartphone for the first time.

The version is global, right out of the box there is a Russian language, it is proposed to link a card for contactless payment. The proprietary MIUI 11-version shell is installed on board. The setting is standard, in a few clicks, of the features. it is offered the ability to transfer settings from an old phone (Androis / iOS) immediately and without problems.

The phone has a stunning screen. Excellent color reproduction, high brightness (up to 600 nits).

The screen is curved from the sides, and this, first of all, is designed for top flagships from Samsung.

The smartphone works without any complaints, and in order to assess its level, I conducted a series of tests.

Pentacamera test

The zest of the smartphone is a powerful camera with 5 sensors, of which the main one has a resolution of 108 megapixels and allows you to take the most detailed photographs.

Pentacamera: 108 Mp main sensor, ƒ / 1.7 12 Mp, ƒ / 2.0 short throw camera 20 Mp ultra wide-angle camera, М / 2.2 5 Mp long telephoto camera, ƒ / 2.0 2 Mp super macro, ƒ / 2, 4. Phase autofocus with three cameras (contrast laser with wide-angle), quad-LED flash.

A separate mode is used to take pictures with a resolution of 108MP.

Image properties. 9024 x 12032 points (this is 108,000,000 points). File size about 20 MB.

Such pictures can be zoomed in.

And zoom in even further. there is enough resolution to see individual details in the photo.

In addition to 108MP mode, others are available.

“Photo” mode 1x Photo mode with
5x zoom
108MP mode Pro mode with manual settings and RAW saving Ultra wide-angle mode 0.6x Macro (focusing from 1.5 cm)

Image properties. 3024 x 4032 pixels. File size about 10 MB.

Wide angle shot from the same distance.

Macro photo is taken realistically for close objects from 2 to 10 cm.

Macro properties. 1600 x 1200 pixels.

Front camera. selfie of an art object.

Early morning, photo was not processed (but compressed).

games and apps

In games, the smartphone proved to be at its best.

Here are some screenshots, all games have the maximum performance and graphics settings.

World of tanks blitz. plays very well, you can set the settings to the maximum. it does not lag. I prefer to play from a tablet, after all, the screen is too small for such a game.

In fact, Xiaomi has reinvented the Galaxy S8. Rather, I made it a budget reincarnation on Snapdragon with a stunning pentacamera. Really top-end config (body, camera, processor, screen, etc.) for minimal money. Now with promotions and coupons, you can get it for about 430… 480. This is a great price for an excellent smartphone. Has practically no competitors in its price segment.