The phone is fashionably big even though the screen size is only 6.53". I say only, meaning it's not one of the oodles of 6.67" screened devices being pushed out there. But yes, still big. Bigger in every dimension over the Motorola One Zoom, Nokia 9 PureView and even Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. So big pockets and forget about one-handed use without trickery.
There's a sturdy, thick, very tightly-fitting clear TPU case in the box along with the usual stuff, USB-A to USB-C cable, charger and pokey-tool but no earphones. The unit I have here in for review thanks to Tim Pugh is a 64GB version (supporting UFS2.1), though there is a 128GB one out there too (supporting UFS2.2). This one has 4GB RAM, like the 128GB version, and is Nightfall Black. The alternative is Daybreak Purple.
Part of the weight is of course the physical size but also the large 5,000mAh battery packed into the phone. This has 18W charging out of the box (from a 22W charger!) which gets you half full in about 45 minutes from flat and to full in under 2 hours. Needless to say, there's no Wireless Charging at this price-point, though I fail to see why. Surely a Qi coil can only be a couple of quid. With this battery and my average daily use, we're looking at getting well into Day 2 and maybe with a bit lighter use, the end of it. My Screen-On 10% Reading Test returned a score of a fabulous 2hrs 45 minutes, but to be fair I didn't have the device for longer than to be able to test this a couple of times - and it certainly wasn't 'run in'. Excellent performance anyway.
Hopping back to the physical for a moment, apart from being big, it looks very nicely made with a really nice textured plastic back. It feels a bit like what Google were after with the Pixel 5 but didn't quite get there. Not exactly 'grippy' but just textured and nice to the touch. The back curls round to meet the front screen in what appears to be one-piece which 'flattens' out top and bottom to accommodate the various ports. There's a circular-looking camera island on the back towards the top, central, Moto style, which is actually pretty attractive and boasts "AI Super Camera". It hardly sticks out at all - and certainly doesn't with that TPU in place!
The bottom has one of the two stereo speakers, USB-C data/charging port and a 3.5mm audio-out socket. The right side has a clicky and sturdy-enough feeling volume rocker above a long-pill capacitive fingerprint scanner/power button. On the left is a slider drawer which accommodates two nanoSIM Cards as well as a microSD at the same time. Good stuff! Up the top is the other stereo speaker which seems to have been smartly arranged with a 90-degree hole serving sound from both the front-facing earpiece speaker and channelled out of the top. Odd, but seems to work! It all has 'water repellent coating' so should survive getting accidentally wet.
The 60Hz refresh-rate screen (you really don't need more - really!) is nice and colourful, as bright as it needs to be at max. 450 nits (apparently) on auto-brightness. I don't have Florida sunshine to test the phone outside in bright conditions but it seemed to be good enough for use in the average UK day! The colour scheme can be adjusted to taste, including near-infinite adjustments to temperature. By the way, having taken the phone out of the TPU to continue the review I realise that without that case around it, it really does feel significantly less big. Maybe at this price-point, the risk of going nude could be considered for that benefit.
There's no Always on Display sadly, even though we know that this can be done with LCD screens, so only needs software. Always On AMOLED in the Play Store will fix this for users who find it important enough. Double-tap to wake works well to flash up the screen and Notifications can be set to wake the screen briefly. Otherwise, it's the capacitive fingerprint scanner on the side which seems to work really well, reliably and fast. Registration is short enough and this, supported by Face Unlock which, again, is reassuringly long enough to register and quick in use. Lift the phone, look at it, open. OK, slight delay - but it really is fast enough for all but nit-pickers!
Android 10 is present here out of the box with 11 coming soon, apparently. MiUI 12 provides for a near-enough-for-me Vanilla experience until we get into Settings, which really need the user to get stuck in (like a phone reviewer can't) and work out what is where and how to find stuff with an under-par Search facility. They will find it in the end and get used to it, but for me, it's just too far from Vanilla. What is great though is that I haven't felt the need to use Nova Prime Launcher with Google Feed as an option to the left of the home-screen, vertically-travelling App Draw (for those who want it), widget support and so forth. Outside of Settings and Themes and Galleries, which I'll come to, it really does feel like a nice UI. As I report in February 2021, the Google Security is up to December 2020. Could be better of course, but they seem to be not too far behind the leading pack.
I'm not Geek enough to report on the technicalities of chipsets I'm afraid but those who seem to know report that the MediaTek Dimensity 800U 5G (7 nm) employed here seems to equate in terms of performance with the likes of the SnapDragon 765/765G, which has been used last year on the aforementioned Pixel 5. Everything seems to be fast enough to me around the UI. I can usually tell at my level when I run tasks such as data copy from microSD Cards or my PC, or executing a backup of data to another device or a plug-in SSD for example. All seems good here, tasks are fast enough and it plays nicely with my 512GB microSD and 2TB SSD.
Yes, if you put it down next to a high-flying Samsung flagship and run similar tasks you'll see the difference in speed, but consider once again the difference in price. The target audience using this phone will have no complaints about speed around the UI and serious Gamers wouldn't even be considering such a phone for their high-octane activities! So, much as I have been afraid of the MediaTek word in the past, I think that things are changing and there's really no reason why confidence shouldn't be high, for the price savings involved.
Having praised the Vanilla-like attributes of this phone, I'm afraid that I will have to come to the bloat. Bear in mind that this was not an imported-by-third-party or user device, so destined for the UK market and sold by Xiaomi themselves. The following is clearly helping them to hit their price-point and yet maintain a good array of features and components. So here we go then...
The rest are system-additions and can't be uninstalled, many double-ups on Google Apps, some will find useful, other will find in the way: ShareMe, Themes, Weather, Screen Recorder, Security, Music, Notes, Recorder, Scanner, Mi Community, Mi Remote, Mi Store, Mi Video, File Manager, Gallery, Mi Browser, Clock, Calculator, Compass and downloads. I do like to use a manufacturer's own Music and Video Apps but the rest can be lost as far as I'm concerned.
Strangely, they seem to have bought into Google's Phone, Contacts and Calendar Apps, so that's a start and a good way forward as far as I'm concerned. There will, as I say, be others out there who don't want to use Google's Apps whenever they can avoid them - in which case, they'll be happy. What's more annoying is the embedded adverts inside their own apps, such as the Security App which, when any of the modules are run and completed, pops up an advert, plug for some other App which they have, presumably, done a deal with. Bloat. Keeping the price down? Always a discussion point!
MiUI feels in many ways similar to what I reported in my review of the Redmi Note 8T and then Redmi Note 9 Pro though 12 (awaiting bigger changes in 12.5) tones things up, as described above. The Notification Shade remains very iOS in look and feel but maybe that's not a bad thing as it works really well and has oodles of options and layout possibilities. Swipe-down to get to see it and swipe-up for the App Drawer, hide the 'notch' is great, which I defaulted to, but of course the pay-off is less screen and bigger 'virtual' bezel. The person who's prepared to invest long-term in what Redmi is offering here has a large learning curve, but once learnt, there's plenty of options, apps, and quirky unique additions to the experience - and a lot of it, useful additions. There's tons of stuff to be discovered is Settings and in the UI (which I won't go over all again), some nicked from Samsung (and others) some unique to Xiaomi/Redmi. Certainly a new user would have a month of exploration ahead of them! I concluded.
There is limited control over the sound from the speakers without a third party Music Player but actually the sound isn't at all bad. It's certainly loud enough for most users. The quality, tone, bass and richness of the experience could be better - this is no Razer Phone or ROG - but again, for the price, it's very good. Plug in a pair of headphones to the 3.5mm audio-out socket and suddenly the user is hearing 24-bit/192kHz audio with full access to equalisation or auto-Hi-Fi sound adjustments and it sounds great. It's too loud for my poor old ears and I'm no audiophile, but for those who want bass, as always depending on attached equipment, the phone can do a good job. Once again, far ahead of what you'd expect for the price.
Bluetooth 5.1 is present here and as is rapidly becoming the case, the sound via this route is even better. Stunningly good. It's no wonder manufacturers are dropping 3.5mm audio-out sockets when the user would need very expensive headphones to get up to the quality of bluetooth output and reproduction. The bluetooth seems to pair quickly and allows for access to those sound adjustments making things (even) better. There's a recording FM Radio which seems to do the trick using something plugged into the 3.5mm socket as an aerial, picks up stations well and plays via 'phones or speakers.
Connectivity on my tests here seems good on all counts. I say this same thing every time I get a new phone in my hands but it really does seem to be true. Components getting better all the time, even at low price-points. NFC (though not tested with Google Pay) connects to gear well, GPS tracks quickly in various apps which need it, WiFi connectivity tested on two networks here is very good, fast and reliable and Cellular on 4G (couldn't test 5G) seems to be solid, holding onto a good signal reported both ends in voice calls and reliable for data, including via my MiFi. There's even an Infrared Port for those up to the challenge of making the best use of that.
Which brings us lastly (as usual) to cameras. Once again, I'm going to hand this one over to Steve Litchfield as I'm sending this phone to him for his thoughts. Steve's YouTube Channel will no doubt in the coming weeks feature this device, so check back there shortly. It'll be interesting to see what he thinks of the camera output in relation to the price-point (rather than up against the iPhone 12 Pro Max)! There's a 48MP/12MP f/1.8 (normal viewpoint) main camera, a 2MP f/2.4 (macro), 2MP f/2.4 (depth), capability of video recording up to 4K@30fps, 1080p@60fps and round the front, a 13MP f/2.3 Selfie shooter. There is a Macro mode which is pretty good (the first thing I test!) but not as close as some. The Portrait Mode seems to offer pleasing enough results for the masses. There are various modes in the camera app which could be of some use to people, including VLOG, Tilt-shift and Straighten! Anyway, I'll leave this to Steve. As usual for me, it looks like a perfectly capable tool for the vast majority of ordinary people going about their lives.
There's an awful lot of phone here for the money. A budget-5G phone for those who really think they need it yet! As we so often say now, it's a crowded place in this c.£200 (or so) bracket. Many more features arriving for less and less money. Compromises on performance less common, build and feel in the hand better. Bigger batteries and more power for the user. Yes, you're not going to get flagship performance from a £200 phone but the equation is offset in terms of value for money against features. And really - a 60Hz refresh-rate screen is perfectly good enough. Really!
You can get 5 of these for the price of an all-singin' and dancin' flagship - and when money is tight, or we're all just getting smarter, it makes an awful lot of sense to at least go for second-hand flagships or check out what the likes of these Chinese outfits are producing. Not such a hard choice for those with limited funds, but in a changing world financial astuteness is becoming key. Highly recommended for the price. There's very little not to like.
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