Clé Wifi Xiaomi Mi Tv Stick

Tom'southward Guide Verdict

Although Xiaomi has taken the Mi 11 to the max with this Ultra handset's excellent photography, extra display and rapid charging, we need to know the cost before we understand how good (or bad) information technology truly is.

Pros

+
Beautiful display
+
Outstanding cameras
+
67W wired or wireless charging

Cons

-
No U.S. availability
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More expensive than the standard Mi 11
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Poor battery life

As far every bit "ultra" phones go, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is hard to comprehend. Its monolithic design, enormous cameras, stunning display and secondary rear display give information technology an unmistakable look — i that shows Xiaomi means business when it sets its sights on taking down its Samsung, OnePlus and Apple rivals.

Xiaomi Mi eleven Ultra: Specs

Starting toll: TBA
Brandish: 6.81-inch QHD AMOLED (3200 x 1440)
Refresh rate: Adaptive, 30Hz/60Hz/90Hz/120Hz
Rear brandish: 1.1-inch AMOLED (126 x 294)
Rear cameras: 50MP main (f/1.95), 48MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 48MP telephoto (5x optical zoom, 120x max zoom, f/four.i)
Front camera: 20MP (f/2.2)
Chipset: Snapdragon 888
RAM: 12GB
Storage: 256GB
Battery: v,000mAh
Charging: 67W wired, 67W wireless, 10W reverse wireless
Operating system: Android 11 with MIUI 12
Size: half-dozen.46 x 2.93 x 0.33 inches (164.iii x 74.six x 8.38mm)
Weight: viii.25 ounces (234g)
H2o/grit resistance: IP68

Those specs aren't just for ticking boxes either. All of them piece of work as well as y'all'd await, with a few, such every bit the QHD resolution, 120Hz console, zippy 67W charging or the telephoto camera, offering class-leading performance.

However, this model'due south ultimate fate rests on how much Xiaomi wants to charge for it. The bones Xiaomi Mi 11 is already a swell value, and uses several identical parts to the Mi xi Ultra, then arguably the Ultra could be too expensive for its own practiced. Nonetheless, with careful pricing, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra could make itself the most accessible ultimate smartphone around.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Price and release date

We know that the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra will exist coming to the U.Grand, though information technology will skip the U.Southward., given Xiaomi'south ongoing dispute with the U.S. government over alleged risks to national security.

Xiaomi has nevertheless to proper name a date and price for the U.K. version of the Mi 11 Ultra. Given the basic Xiaomi Mi 11 costs £749, just a petty less than the £769 Galaxy S21 or £829 OnePlus ix Pro, it follows that the Ultra version would toll well over £one,000, mayhap like to the £one,149 Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and £one,099 iPhone 12 Pro Max.

However, the price of the Ultra in India, the just marketplace with an announced price and so far, gives united states promise. At seventy,000 rupees (opens in new tab), the Mi xi Ultra costs less than a Milky way S21 Plus, and the aforementioned equally a OnePlus ix Pro. Nosotros tin't account for how regional differences will affect that price when it comes to the U.K., but if Xiaomi can afford to sell the Mi eleven Ultra for less than £1,000,, it would undercut its rivals significantly, and go an incredible deal for the hardware it offers, even accounting for the already cheap Mi xi.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Design

You might fault the Xiaomi Mi eleven Ultra for the basic Mi 11 from the front. The curved punch-hole display looks smart, but it'southward indistinct from both other Mi xi models and other Android phones.

Flip the phone over, and everything changes. You're immediately drawn to the huge rectangular camera bump that stretches almost the entire width of the phone, and the tiptop third of the back. The three large camera openings look foreboding, and that'south non to mention the secondary rear display sabbatum to their right.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra comes with a tough ceramic trunk, in either blackness or white. I prefer the white version since information technology helps the camera bumps stand out even more, but both colors wait elegant and the Mi 11 Ultra should shrug off scratches meliorate than a glass- or plastic-backed phone.

Both the front and back of the Xiaomi Mi xi Ultra curve into the metallic side rails, which makes it fit surprisingly well into your hand and comfy to use even with merely ane hand. You'll detect the weight of this phone the moment you pick it up, though.

At more than 8 ounces, the Mi 11 Ultra is heavier than the Galaxy S21 Ultra or the iPhone 12 Pro Max, though I didn't find it tough to use over long periods. What did get a niggling annoying withal was how easy it is to snag the Mi xi Ultra's large camera bump on a jeans pocket, stopping you from putting the phone away every bit effortlessly equally you're likely used to.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Display

Xiaomi has equipped the Mi 11 Ultra with an exquisite display. The half dozen.81-inch AMOLED panel comes complete with a QHD resolution and a 120HZ maximum refresh rate and has a subtle curve on all four edges to make it easier to agree.

If y'all prioritize battery life over refresh charge per unit and resolution, Xiaomi has fabricated it easy to tone down these settings. You can set the display to an FHD resolution instead, and the 120Hz resolution tin dynamically calibration downward to 90Hz, 60Hz or 30Hz if the content you're looking at won't be hurt past a lower refresh rate.

Watching the Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings trailer to try out the Mi 11 Ultra's display, I was not disappointed. The floating water effects, neon lights and burning hot blade that all appear at various points in the trailer all looked fantastic, but equally I watched the teaser for the next installment of the MCU, I had a nagging thought — the Mi 11 Ultra's display is a bit underwhelming. It'south the verbal same as the ane on the Mi 11, which is far cheaper to buy.

That ways despite the display beingness i of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra's best features, the screen is non a good enough reason to pay upward for this telephone on its ain.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Rear brandish

The displays don't stop with the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra's 6.81-inch main display. The back of the phone features a secondary ane.ane-inch panel, most the size of a fitness ring's screen. You'll find the secondary display within the camera bump, and it's one of the Mi 11 Ultra's signature features. Unfortunately, the display offers surprisingly express functionality.

With the phone locked, the rear console acts every bit a miniature e'er-on display when you tap it, showing you the fourth dimension, appointment, bombardment level and whether yous take notifications. When the phone'due south open, y'all can use the rear screen as a preview window for the rear cameras, allowing your subjects to see themselves before you striking the shutter push button. Unfortunately, you tin only enable this when in normal photo manner, not when taking portrait mode shots.

Both of these are practical applications for a secondary brandish, putting us in heed of how the foldable Samsung Galaxy Z Flip or Motorola Razr use their mini external displays. I can't say I'thousand convinced this is going to be the next hot trend in smartphone design though — it feels too light on features to make it worth calculation a 2d screen. Plus the Xiaomi Mi eleven Ultra'due south rear panel is very dim. Any above-average amount of light makes it impossible to read, particularly from extreme angles.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Cameras

The Mi xi Ultra aims for camera quality over quantity, offering merely three rear sensors. The ones that are there feature impressive specs. The main camera uses a 50MP sensor, with the ultrawide and telephoto cameras both featuring 48MP sensors. The telephoto camera, as text on the back of the phone reminds you, is capable of 120x zoom, although you'll exist meliorate off sticking to its 5x optical or 10x hybrid zoom levels instead.

The Mi 11 Ultra's front end photographic camera has a 20MP sensor, but information technology almost doesn't need to be there. The secondary brandish allows all the rear cameras to be practically used for selfies.

To put the Mi eleven Ultra through its paces, I compared it with shots taken by the iPhone 12 Pro, one of the best camera phones around. In this first comparing of the phones' main cameras, I took a shot of the London Eye that turns out to be a narrow win for the iPhone. The Mi 11 Ultra's image is oddly night, while the iPhone manages to capture the sky just every bit well equally it recreates the detail of the Centre's structure.

In a slightly darker surround however, the Mi xi pulls ahead. See how the colors of the leaves and grass in the sunken foursquare of Paddington Central are much richer than that of the iPhone's shot, plus how the Mi xi Ultra still manages to capture the sky without the light blowing out the colour.

Notwithstanding when information technology'southward a proper nighttime mode shot, I think the iPhone has the border. The Mi 11 Ultra's image of the Euston Station war memorial is brighter but fails to capture the color of the sky or the street lamp light cast on the stonework in quite the same way every bit the iPhone.

Switching to the ultrawide sensor, the Mi 11 Ultra'southward larger sensor has produced a brighter paradigm that also retains the detail of the light playing on the metal installation and concrete bridge above. However it is more than evidently distorted than the iPhone's image, which looks all right overall.

The Mi 11 Ultra's strongest photos come from its telephoto lens. Xiaomi's phone has one of the largest, highest resolution sensors combined with a powerful periscope zoom, and then it's unsurprising to see that it takes a clearer image at 2x zoom than the iPhone's 2x optical zoom lens does.

Fifty-fifty increasing to 10x zoom, the Mi 11 Ultra still keeps the Elizabeth Tower, a.k.a. Big Ben, looking sharp, even from the other side of the River Thames.

The maximum 120x zoom is impressive, as you tin can run across below. However it'south non a good quality image, and I plant information technology hard to aim without a tripod due to the subtle movements of your hand causing the view to bob and weave.

The last test is to expect at how the selfie camera performs. We meet the Mi 11 Ultra's prototype is non as saturated, and has a more subtle bokeh effect in the background. While I adopt how I look in the shot from the Xiaomi phone, the iPhone's done a better job with the background.

I besides tried taking a selfie using the rear display and the Xiaomi'due south main photographic camera. This was adequately easy to manage on the Mi xi Ultra, and resulted in the highest resolution selfie I've ever taken.

It's this kind of shot, along with the telephoto camera, that sets the Mi 11 Ultra apart from all other flagship phones. Fifty-fifty the images where I picked the iPhone version as the better ane, there was nothing actually incorrect with the shot from the Xiaomi. It seems safe to say the Mi 11 Ultra has earned the right to its colossal photographic camera bump.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Functioning

Xiaomi has shoehorned a Snapdragon 888, 12GB RAM and 256GB storage into the Mi 11 Ultra. At that place aren't many phones with better specs, so you tin remainder bodacious the Mi 11 Ultra will handle any app or game yous want to run on it.

On the Geekbench v app that measures general functioning, the Mi eleven Ultra posted a unmarried-cadre outcome of 1,136 points, and a multicore score of iii,724. That's slightly ahead of the OnePlus ix Pro (1,126 and iii,685) and the Samsung Milky way S21 Ultra (1,123 and 3,440), merely still a ways off the iPhone 12 Pro Max (1,603 and 4,111) and its all-conquering A14 Bionic chipset.

Moving to the 3DMark graphic benchmark and its Wild Life Unlimited exam, and the Mi 11 Ultra scored 5,617 points and managed an average of 33.8 frames per second. Comparing to the same phones as earlier, the OnePlus 9 Pro and S21 Ultra crush it (5,755 and 34.5fps, v,739 and 34.37fps) as does the iPhone 12 Pro Max (9,113, 54fps).

I tested the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra's performance for myself by playing Mario Kart Bout, and I didn't notice the performance gap between this Xiaomi device and the other phones. The game plays excellently, and Xiaomi's Game Turbo software streamlines the telephone's operation to make sure you get the best from the device, and can play without beingness disturbed.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Battery and charging

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is fitted with a 5,000 mAh battery, a hefty power pack for nigh phones. The Mi 11 Ultra's bombardment is unique in that it uses nano silicon oxide, which allows it to stuff the same capacity into a smaller footprint compared to a traditional lithium-ion smartphone battery.

I drained the battery with my informal YouTube rampage-watching examination, and after vi hours of not-finish video, the Mi xi Ultra had gone from 100% charge to 64% accuse. As you'd look from a phone with two screens, the main ane existence amid the best currently on offer on any phone, the battery life takes a astringent knock. Even with the phone sat on my desk with the ever-on brandish enabled,

Impressively, you can charge at the same 67W speed with a wired or wireless connection, assuming you accept the correct plug and Xiaomi'southward sold-separately charging stand. While you will get the wired charging block in the Mi eleven'south box, sadly Xiaomi was unable to provide us with either of these for testing. Its own figures claim that charging with i of these fills the phone 100% full in merely 36 minutes. That beats both the Galaxy S21 Ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro, neither of which come bundled with chargers. Notwithstanding, the latest OnePlus nine flagships can pull off the aforementioned feat while taking a few minutes less, due to their dual-jail cell 4,500 mAh battery designs.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Software

The MIUI 12 spin on Android 11 is a good one, so we're glad Xiaomi kept this interface for the Mi 11 Ultra. Xiaomi has successfully balanced the straightforward stock Android experience with its own exclusive features, such every bit floating windows, always-on displays, and an attractive look with nicely animated transitions.

The just new feature worth mentioning is the options carte du jour for the rear display, found within the special features section on the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra. Information technology allows you to choice whether the display shows a clock, signature or image, what color it uses, which notifications show, if you want to turn information technology on with a double-tap and how long it stays on for before disappearing. You lot can also disable it completely, which seems like a waste of i of the telephone'due south biggest features.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Verdict

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is a powerful phone that's either going to be the smartphone bargain of the year or repakcage what the Xiaomi Mi 11 already offers. Considering of how generous Xiaomi was with the basic Mi 11, which shares the same principal brandish and chipset while nevertheless offering competent photography, the Mi 11 Ultra offers less additional value to the Mi 11 compared to what a Galaxy S21 Ultra offers on top of a base Galaxy S21, for example. Therefore, Xiaomi will make or break the Mi xi Ultra based on how much it charges for the new phone.

This is a moot indicate for U.S. users, who withal have to look at other phones by default, such as the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra or OnePlus nine Pro. U.K. users all the same could observe themselves in i of two worlds. If Xiaomi sells the Mi xi Ultra for around the £1,000 mark like the Indian retail cost suggests, and then we will be offered an Android phone with iPhone-rivalling photograph quality, two displays and some of the fastest charging speeds around for the cost of a mid-level Samsung flagship. It would be difficult to deny the Mi xi Ultra a spot on our best camera phones or overall best phones guides if this comes to laissez passer.

Withal if Xiaomi follows the case of the S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max and charges around £1,200, then the Mi eleven Ultra becomes an overgrown Mi 11 that doesn''t offering the extra £400 to £500 of value. In this instance, it's withal a great telephone, but ane that gets outshone past the well-nigh identical Xiaomi Mi 11.

If y'all're convinced of the utility of the actress display, the 67W charging and the ability of the rear cameras, and then buy a Mi eleven Ultra, you won't discover these features replicated anywhere else whatever time before long. Virtually users in the market for a premium phone might want to wait though, in case nosotros live in the timeline where Xiaomi is about to drop the all-time value flagship phone of the year.

Richard is a Tom's Guide staff writer based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatsoever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Mag Journalism at the Academy of Sheffield, he's as well written for WIRED U.One thousand., The Register and Creative Bloq. When non at work, he'southward likely thinking about how to brew the perfect loving cup of specialty coffee.