Question About to buy a new phone and have an honest question - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Hi all,
I have not been on the forums for a looong time.
I am about to upgrade from my P20 pro and I am trying to decide between the iPhone 12 Pro max, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Xiaomi Mi11 Ultra.
The problem with the iPhone for me is the display refresh rate, the fingerprint scanner and the OS. I prefer Android and I prefer 120Hz refresh rate.
I am leaning towards both android choices. However I have watched all reviews and comparisons I could between these phones on youtube and I have a few issues:
1. I think I did not see a single review with the latest Mi 11 Ultra firmware and the xiaomi.eu ROM. This is bugging me because I cannot see a comparison with the latest updates on the cameras.
2. From the videos I watched it seems the selfie camera on the Mi 11 Ultra is a real letdown. And the rear camera used to take selfies also seem to produce bad results.
Can anyone who has used both phones give an honest opinion please?
Or someone who is using the latest firmware explain the impact of the updates since the release of the phone?
Thank you!

Buy iphone 12 pro max. Is good everywhere

avetny said:
Buy iphone 12 pro max. Is good everywhere
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I am sad to hear this to be honest, but somehow I was always seeing things in both Android phones especially in video recording that were annoying as hell.
Or maybe I wait for Pixel 6 to see ...

I don't have a S21 Ultra or iPhone 12 Pro Max but I do have a P40 Pro which I still thought was the best camera phone to date.
When I bought Mi 11 Ultra, I was close to returning it because I couldn't be more disappointed by its camera performance after hearing how amazing this new sensor is. I wanted to wait for the P50 Pro even if it did not have Google app support as the camera is my #1 priority and I'm a light app user.
However, it's been a month or two and even being on CN stable firmware the camera has improved massively and I no longer regret my decision and have little complaints overall about the phone. I took a lot of sample shots on slightly older firmware in my main thread and overall I'm very pleased with the results and it can only keep improving given it's not even officially out still in some countries.
I'm now on v12.5.7 and to give you a rough idea of all the updates I received on the CN model, I've gotten at least 5 updates since receiving it. Most YouTubers such as MKBHD and MrWhosetheboss were still on early stock firmware that had no camera improvements and optimizations, while they compared it to the S21U and iPhone 12 Pro Max which were all well optimized by then. This meant their results weren't that great or convincing.

kyero985 said:
I don't have a S21 Ultra or iPhone 12 Pro Max but I do have a P40 Pro which I still thought was the best camera phone to date.
When I bought Mi 11 Ultra, I was about to return it because I couldn't be more disappointed by its camera performance after hearing how amazing this new sensor is. I was considering waiting for the P50 Pro even if it did not have Google app support as the camera is my main priority and I don't use it a lot of apps anyway.
However, it's been a month or two and even being on CN stable firmware the camera has improved massively and I no longer regret my decision. I took some sample shots on slightly older firmware but I'm still very pleased with the results and it can only keep improving given it's not even officially out still in some countries.
I'm now sitting on 12.5.7 and to give you a rough idea of all the updates I received on the CN model, I've gotten at least 5 updates to date. Most reviewers including MKBHD and MrWhosetheboss were still on early stock firmware that had no camera improvements and optimizations, while they compared it to the S21U and iPhone 12 Pro Max which were all well optimized by then.
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What improved in the camera?
Also what do you think about the selfies? Be it with front or back camera

m2]iceman said:
What improved in the camera?
Also what do you think about the selfies? Be it with front or back camera
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Everything improved across the board with one of the main updates that rolled out. Here's one which got the most attention that the majority of reviewers from what I've seen never got to test: https://min.news/en/tech/590f98d68b0fdbb259d5fd644b74d23c.html
There's been at least two more updates that were released after that one even they didn't mention camera improvements specifically. As for selfies, I don't take enough of them to say but I generally use the rear camera with the viewfinder for the best quality and it definitely delivers the results since the front one isn't great.

m2]iceman said:
Hi all,
I have not been on the forums for a looong time.
I am about to upgrade from my P20 pro and I am trying to decide between the iPhone 12 Pro max, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Xiaomi Mi11 Ultra.
The problem with the iPhone for me is the display refresh rate, the fingerprint scanner and the OS. I prefer Android and I prefer 120Hz refresh rate.
I am leaning towards both android choices. However I have watched all reviews and comparisons I could between these phones on youtube and I have a few issues:
1. I think I did not see a single review with the latest Mi 11 Ultra firmware and the xiaomi.eu ROM. This is bugging me because I cannot see a comparison with the latest updates on the cameras.
2. From the videos I watched it seems the selfie camera on the Mi 11 Ultra is a real letdown. And the rear camera used to take selfies also seem to produce bad results.
Can anyone who has used both phones give an honest opinion please?
Or someone who is using the latest firmware explain the impact of the updates since the release of the phone?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just so you understand, the Xiaomi EU ROM is based on the Chinese stable or weekly beta ROMS. There are plenty of added extras on this against any of the stock versions but the EU Devs don't write any apps, just apply their template to the relevant release. So whatever the status is of the equivalent Chinese stock ROM will be the same version on the EU ROM.
I came from Huawei too, my last being the P40Pro Plus and my first Xiaomi was the 10 Ultra and I was very pleased and that continues with the 11 Ultra. I have used stock Chinese and Global ROMs with the 11 Ultra and just love the EU version. I use the weekly branch and have had no issues at all. It is a very good all round phone and matches if not surpasses the Huawei. I had to give in me due to the lack of GMS and locked bootloaders. It was such a shame when they went down that road. Thankfully Xiaomi don't mind if you unlock but do make you wait 7 days to complete the process but once unlocked, you can swap to any stock or custom ROMs you want. Telegram has groups making camera mods and of course you can use a g-cam variant too but for me stock EU camera is pretty dam good. Multicam, super moon, slow-mo, time lapse and more.
There are a few camera comparisons against the iPhone 12 about and I think the 11 Ultra is as good or not better in some but really it's down to Android verses Apple. Make the choice that suits but I think as a user's phone, the 11 Ultra is the better choice against a phone you can never tweak with Apples.

Buy Mi11 Ultra
Things like 67W charging, IR blaster, rear display, amazing camera trick features, you won't find this on any iPhone or Samsung, the customization on Xiaomi is unrivalled, nothing else comes close.
I switched from Note 20 Ultra to Mi11 Ultra and I am never going back to Samsung.
Also, the fingerprint sensor on Samsung Note 20 Ultra was terrible, the fingerprint on my Xiaomi Mi11 Ultra works literally every single time, it has not failed once. And I love the super wallpapers so much

This is an incredibly hard question to answer. Nobody can answer you objectively.
I have always had 2 phones - an android and an iPhone. I've only recently got the 11Ultra, coming from a Note 20. I also have a 12 Pro Max.
The mi is incredibly smooth - far more so than the iPhone. But I hated the Chinese underpinnings which you could never quite get rid of. Moving to the EU ROM today has sorted that.
What of the cameras? I'm still testing. I only started with my mi on 12.5.4 and then 12.5.7 so I missed the early firmware. They've always been very good. But so is the iPhone. The iPhone is also incredibly consistent in so many situations. The mi is phenomenal in good light - I just haven't yet been able to test it much in poor light yet, although I'm pleased with the initial results, I have to say.

The fast charging sealed the deal for me
The cooling is also better so it gets consistently higher scores from the SD 888 without throttling it down 10-20%
I would agree someone needs to do another test on YouTube when the phone and rear display has been optimized and fully functional
All the tests were done on pre release software vs optimized s21u and iPhone which was hardly fair

Honestly, apart from the design, this Xiami 11 Ultra is the best of the best (I only prefer Samsung for the phone design, but I like the Xiami too). It has a lot of potential and is blazing fast. Also the display is astonishing, and speaker quality incredible. I would recommend this phone to everyone.

m2]iceman said:
Hi all,
I have not been on the forums for a looong time.
I am about to upgrade from my P20 pro and I am trying to decide between the iPhone 12 Pro max, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Xiaomi Mi11 Ultra.
The problem with the iPhone for me is the display refresh rate, the fingerprint scanner and the OS. I prefer Android and I prefer 120Hz refresh rate.
I am leaning towards both android choices. However I have watched all reviews and comparisons I could between these phones on youtube and I have a few issues:
1. I think I did not see a single review with the latest Mi 11 Ultra firmware and the xiaomi.eu ROM. This is bugging me because I cannot see a comparison with the latest updates on the cameras.
2. From the videos I watched it seems the selfie camera on the Mi 11 Ultra is a real letdown. And the rear camera used to take selfies also seem to produce bad results.
Can anyone who has used both phones give an honest opinion please?
Or someone who is using the latest firmware explain the impact of the updates since the release of the phone?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This youtuber comparing with Miui 12.5.4

Related

Should I buy this phone ?

So,I'm due an upgrade this year and usually stick with Oneplus and currently have a 6T,
My usual upgrade would take me to a Oneplus 8 but I'm reading not so many great things about these phones such as hole punch cameras and the price is gonna be crazy for the Standard 8 and 8 pro
But here we have a phone that will probably be similar in specs and possibly better in places with the X2 pro.
I'm not crazy anymore about OxygenOS,sure it's great but it's boring after all these years. A little more features or some might say bloat can be useful and I hear ColorOS is pretty good in this regard.
Oneplus has slowed with updates for older devices so I think I could live with less updates.
Would you guys upgrade to a X2 pro considering you can get the 12/256 model for €449 now on Amazon or should I wait to see what Xaomi do though the k30 doesn't look that appealing if it turns out to be the mi 10.
Did anyone upgrade from a 6 or 6T to this phone ?
manus31 said:
So,I'm due an upgrade this year and usually stick with Oneplus and currently have a 6T,
My usual upgrade would take me to a Oneplus 8 but I'm reading not so many great things about these phones such as hole punch cameras and the price is gonna be crazy for the Standard 8 and 8 pro
But here we have a phone that will probably be similar in specs and possibly better in places with the X2 pro.
I'm not crazy anymore about OxygenOS,sure it's great but it's boring after all these years. A little more features or some might say bloat can be useful and I hear ColorOS is pretty good in this regard.
Oneplus has slowed with updates for older devices so I think I could live with less updates.
Would you guys upgrade to a X2 pro considering you can get the 12/256 model for €449 now on Amazon or should I wait to see what Xaomi do though the k30 doesn't look that appealing if it turns out to be the mi 10.
Did anyone upgrade from a 6 or 6T to this phone ?
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If you are not in a hurry (you have problems with your cuerrent phone), you should wait until the next generation of qualcomme soc (next half year).
valthunder said:
If you are not in a hurry (you have problems with your cuerrent phone), you should wait until the next generation of qualcomme soc (next half year).
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Yes, Ideally this would be true but I think the next gen of high end SD chips are gonna be more expensive and power hungry due to uneeded 5g. a lot of mid range well priced phones from Xaoimi will be having mid range chips like 765.
I actually think there is a good case to skip the next gen of chips because they are mainly for 5g which most users in the world dont need
I personally encourage you to get this phone. ColorOS has some interesting features and it's rock solid. The phone is very responsive and I have a good SOT. Talking about battery, the VOOC charging is unbelievably fast! I have so much to say about the Realme X2 Pro, but the conclusion is that I don't regret my decision.
aladin6 said:
I personally encourage you to get this phone. ColorOS has some interesting features and it's rock solid. The phone is very responsive and I have a good SOT. Talking about battery, the VOOC charging is unbelievably fast! I have so much to say about the Realme X2 Pro, but the conclusion is that I don't regret my decision.
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What device did you upgrade from if you don't mind me asking ?
manus31 said:
What device did you upgrade from if you don't mind me asking ?
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Click to collapse
I did upgrade from Huawei p20 pro
manus31 said:
What device did you upgrade from if you don't mind me asking ?
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Click to collapse
I just was with Poco F1. And it was a very good experience with it and said that I will no longer get other than Xiaomi ?
Probably the best value for the money at this time :good:
Pros
90hz Display which is very good
UFS 3.0
12gb Ram (top variant)
256gb Storage
50w SuperVooc
Great design & build.
Decent Cameras.
Cons
ColorOS still needs work and that comes in 0S7, with realme perhaps doing their own thing?
Cameras are just average (made better with Gcam) although as yet still not a stable build for the X2 Pro.
Overall for what you are paying them yea it's a very very good purchase :good:
Duncan1982 said:
Probably the best value for the money at this time :good:
Pros
90hz Display which is very good
UFS 3.0
12gb Ram (top variant)
256gb Storage
50w SuperVooc
Great design & build.
Decent Cameras.
Cons
ColorOS still needs work and that comes in 0S7, with realme perhaps doing their own thing?
Cameras are just average (made better with Gcam) although as yet still not a stable build for the X2 Pro.
Overall for what you are paying them yea it's a very very good purchase :good:
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Click to collapse
Pros: decent cameras
Cons: cameras are average
Some expert fence sitting there,lol ?
manus31 said:
Pros: decent cameras
Cons: cameras are average
Some expert fence sitting there,lol ?
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They are both in both categories as they are made better with Gcam but without I'd put in the cons as they really aren't that great.
Duncan1982 said:
They are both in both categories as they are made better with Gcam but without I'd put in the cons as they really aren't that great.
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Click to collapse
Lol,makes sense,though from what I've seen on YouTube and other reviews the cameras are pretty competitive with other flagships,not the greatest but decent in most departments,
I personally don't like using gcam because its usually unstable and annoying.
Still not convinced by the phone though with ColorOS though it should be interesting to see what colorOs7 is like.
manus31 said:
Lol,makes sense,though from what I've seen on YouTube and other reviews the cameras are pretty competitive with other flagships,not the greatest but decent in most departments,
I personally don't like using gcam because its usually unstable and annoying.
Still not convinced by the phone though with ColorOS though it should be interesting to see what colorOs7 is like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ColorOS runs just fine in terms of performance, it's just a bit disorganized, Cameras they are perfectly fine in good light, but I'd say they do struggle and the Samsung made GW1 64mgp sensor isn't great, but the price you can let the cam be the way it is, it's not shockingly poor, it's just average and the price point for everything else made it a great purchase for me.
Here is a pic in low light, (Curtains closed, no natural light) Stock Camera (using nighscape)
manus31 said:
What device did you upgrade from if you don't mind me asking ?
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Duncan1982 said:
They are both in both categories as they are made better with Gcam but without I'd put in the cons as they really aren't that great.
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Click to collapse
The camera is great people just don't know how to shoot proper pictures
Made with 64mp mode
Sent from my RMX1931 using Tapatalk
natedogg20050 said:
Made with 64mp mode
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I did hear that the 64mp mode is very good even better than the 108mp mode on the Mi note 10. I suppose it's just low light photos I would be worried about and lack of OIS
manus31 said:
I did hear that the 64mp mode is very good even better than the 108mp mode on the Mi note 10. I suppose it's just low light photos I would be worried about and lack of OIS
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Click to collapse
OIS is not needed in any kind of way thanks to the Snapdragon 855+ and 12 GB Ram
i can tell you the difference , when i was using the P20 Pro i had always lags making any kind of video.
using the X2 Pro with 30 or 60 FPS its like Butter , also the way the camera reacts like speed focus etc you dont even need OIS so trust me you would have a lot of fun
The Only bad thing about the Camera is the Night Shot Mode ... you cant compare it with Huawei
but without that its simply perfect in my eyes and i did a lot of pictures using the stock camera app
natedogg20050 said:
OIS is not needed in any kind of way thanks to the Snapdragon 855+ and 12 GB Ram
i can tell you the difference , when i was using the P20 Pro i had always lags making any kind of video.
using the X2 Pro with 30 or 60 FPS its like Butter , also the way the camera reacts like speed focus etc you dont even need OIS so trust me you would have a lot of fun
The Only bad thing about the Camera is the Night Shot Mode ... you cant compare it with Huawei
but without that its simply perfect in my eyes and i did a lot of pictures using the stock camera app
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Huawei are very good for low light so I would never expect the X2 pro to compare.What about updates ?
I believe the phone will receive support for Android 10 and 11. Updates every two months with security patch and a big update soon to colorOS 7,
Have you received timely updates as yet ?
Tbh it's a huge upgrade over the 6t... It's better in everyway except oxygen and as I've said before to others the euro version from Amazon Spain is one of the most bloat free and fluid operating systems around. Regarding the camera I've got to agree with @natedogg20050 it's a excellent camera and if you know how to use it correctly I've mostly got better shots then my son's mate 20 pro and wife's view 20.... Then when you consider the price to spec it's truly unbeatable in my opinion. I've had the OnePlus 6t and loved it but to me the X2 pro is far better.
Edit: Regarding updates I've received 1 update each month since getting the phone.
ngagephone said:
Tbh it's a huge upgrade over the 6t... It's better in everyway except oxygen and as I've said before to others the euro version from Amazon Spain is one of the most bloat free and fluid operating systems around. Regarding the camera I've got to agree with @natedogg20050 it's a excellent camera and if you know how to use it correctly I've mostly got better shots then my son's mate 20 pro and wife's view 20.... Then when you consider the price to spec it's truly unbeatable in my opinion. I've had the OnePlus 6t and loved it but to me the X2 pro is far better.
Edit: Regarding updates I've received 1 update each month since getting the phone.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the input,I looked at many reviews and comparisons over the last while and have concluded that the X2 pro is the best and most interesting deal out there.I am now bored with my 6T and wanted a change so this morning on Christmas I have just ordered my X2 pro 12/256 model in blue from Amazon Spain to receive it next week.
In regards to camera,most if not all the reviews I have looked at are positive. Ive seen that they have improved camera quality in recent updates also , particularly with low light shots.
I think people who do criticise are only nitpicking generally that a particular color may not be exactly the same as it is real life or stupid little things like that. The camera from what I've seen is excellent for the price including everything else.
Excited to use a phone with 12gb ram also,as I've only ever had 6 at most,90hz should be fun too and the little features of ColorOs.
Merry Christmas everyone.
I still cannot decide between OnePlus 7T and Realme X2 Pro. Coming from a really clean Moto G4+ experience and being kind of a power user (not gaming wise but regarding usage time & used features), I'm a little afraid that Color OS maybe couldn't deliver my wished quality. And video OIS and night capabilities of the 7T camera seems to be much better considering many YouTube comparisons.
On the other hand Realme offers super fast charging, interesting software features (three finger screenshot crop and all this nice little things) for a much lower price tag.

What's your opinion: Mi 8 vs Mi 9 Lite?

Hey guys!
I hope I'm in the right place to post/ask this. But I honestly don't know any better place to go to.
At the moment I am to decide between the Mi 8 (6/64GB) for 170 € and the Mi 9 Lite (6/128 GB) for 200 €.
I already ordered, received and set up the Mi8 and the good price for the Mi 9 Lite just appeared recently.
The Mi 8 definitely has a better performance due to the SD845 (vs SD710) and has WiFi MiMO, an OIS, as well as apt-X and costs 30 € less (at least for me). Likely due to its release date there also are way more ROMs and Mods available for the Mi8 already.
Mi 9 Lite on the other hand supports LTE Band28 (which will become more and more important in Germany), has better camera sensors, a bigger battery, an infrared blaster, SD card support, a drop notch, an audio jack and, well, in-screen fingerprint (which I guess is nice but not that important) and it was released about 1 year later which could lead to longer software support.
So there's very much points arguing for the Mi 9 Lite. But:
Does the premium SoC of the Mi 8 guarantee more updates over time then the Mi 9 lite?
Is the camera of the Mi 9 Lite really better than on the Mi 8 as OIS is missing?
Is the in-screen fingerprint more imprecise than fingerprint on the back?
Could apt-X also be applied to the Mi 9 Lite? (one day I read about it being implemented in LOS by default)
Thanks in advance for your help and opinions on this question.
Kind Regards,
Seyron
Not sure about Mi 8 but Mi 9 Lite has stunning display, it's the biggest selling point IMO. (Samsung's AMOLED)
And yes maybe Mi 8 has faster chip but SD710 is WAY more power efficient, with bigger battery it will make tremendous difference. And it's not that slow either.. (about 220k in Antutu)
Cant really speak for camera because i dont use it that much but the resulsts i have been getting are more than satisfactory (even at low lighting with night mode)
k3lcior said:
Not sure about Mi 8 but Mi 9 Lite has stunning display, it's the biggest selling point IMO. (Samsung's AMOLED)
And yes maybe Mi 8 has faster chip but SD710 is WAY more power efficient, with bigger battery it will make tremendous difference. And it's not that slow either.. (about 220k in Antutu)
Cant really speak for camera because i dont use it that much but the resulsts i have been getting are more than satisfactory (even at low lighting with night mode)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your fast answer!
Referring to this post the Mi8 also comes with an Samsung AMOLED, though I can't find much other reliable information elsewhere that would support this statement. Phonearena seems to be the only specs listing website that states it, too, as being produced by Samsung. However it's my first AMOLED device and I therefore can't compare to others. I've declared to myself that my next phone definitely would be one for under 200 € and would have to come with an AMOLED screen, which now, thanks to the special offer for the Mi 9 Lite, is met by both devices.
Yeah the battery point is a powerful one. I get 1.5 days of battery lifetime at most with low usage while I got almost 3 days out of my Redmi Note 4 when I didn't use it much.
Also B-S-G - afaik the most popular developer for GCam ports - is developing the GCam specifically for the Mi8 (among other devices) which almost guarantees a most recent and working GCam version for it. But I only can tell that the image quality is way better than it was on my Redmi Note 4, which on the other side just would be very devastating if it wasn't.
It'd also be worth mentioning that due to the different vendors I'd have 2 years warranty for the Mi 8 (Amazon) but none to a maximum of one year for the Mi 9 Lite (Banggood).
https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=9065&idPhone2=9862
mi 9 lite:
Under screen Fingerprint sensor is neither fast, neither accurate and not convenient IMO;
I get aprox. 2 days battery life under light usage;
Camera is better than Samsung A50/A70 series, but I don think it is perfect;
It seems it is not primary phone, which gets best support (still android 9 vs mi 8 got android 10 officially);
Display is not perfect, but much better than Mi A3
Ambient light sensor (mounted under screen) does not for as good as on samsung phones;
In 1 month I got 3 random phone crashes /reboot.
I would probably go with mi 8.
what I can tell you about Mi 9 lite is : the screen is top , fingerprint on screen ( no need to turn your phone when on desk ) battery is xxl , microSD port , Irda port ( tv remote ) I use Nova rather than miui launcher and this phone is nearly perfect for what I do.
hey. i've had both. i don't know about the band 28 situation so i can't comment on that.
Let me start by saying that I think CC9/Mi9 lite is a missed opportunity for xiaomi. It was positioned a bit awkwardly for marketing. It's evidently not sold very well and if xda is any indication, community support is also fairly low.
Yet to me it is the most "all-rounded" phone from xiaomi in 2019 (nope, not 9t/9tPro, which are very popular), checking off all the marks for me: samsung oled, great cameras front (better than mi9) and back, beautiful build and design of the Mi9, SD card, headphone jack, big battery, good battery life, midrange prices, etc. To me it was nearly perfect (except perhaps a year old SoC instead of SD730), or as perfect as I expected from Xiaomi anyway.
Except the fact it doesn't have strong community support. I've got it about 3 weeks after its China release. I am still waiting for official pixel experience or any AOSP rom to have stable releases. I am stuck with MIUI variant roms which are stable but I personally crave pure android. That and the fact there isn't a really reliable working GCam support, nor do I know of one in development (please correct me if I'm wrong).
This makes a huge difference because I shoot a lot with the phone cameras. Right now with GCam, I get more technically impressive photos from a lower priced Redmi Note 7 than the oversaturated painting I get from Miui's own cameras, and that's from a technically inferior Samsung GM1 sensor.
As it stands now, it depends on your usage and preferences. I personally wouldn't mind the Mi8 myself, especially if it's cheaper, except they are no longer available in these parts of asia (sold out). I think Mi8's faults are that the 845 isn't as efficient, and the battery is smaller, resulting in less run time. Yet it IS a flagship, which means potentially better build, better parts (it has a LRA vibration motor vs cc9's cheaper rotary motor), world bands gsm (where cc9 has a more regional bands selection), and more community support. The camera is an IMX363, same as on pixel 3 and 3a, so it's no slouch: while it has lower resolution on paper, it really just skipped the need of marketing driven pixel binning by having larger pixels to begin with. (Personally I think the apparent race toward higher megapixels as a strategy for xiaomi is completely misguided if not deliberately misleading). Post processing would be what makes or breaks the results, and with mi8 you can get full GCam support. In fact with pixel experience rom and gcam, you'd probably get nearly identical pixel 3 experience for a bargain. While 4000mah battery would be nice, pixel3/3a does just fine with similarly small sized batteries and oled. So it may just come down to better optimization.
oh, the underscreen fingerprint sensor is just crappy and unreliable. There's a reason why it's not as widely adopted. It's not a miss if you have the capacitive ones instead.
I personally would love a well supported phone, so my pick today might become mi8. As much as I love the cc9/mi9lite, it coming onto the stage too late in the cycle after all bases are covered makes it a bit of an orphan when it comes to development. I don't personally use the headphone jack but I would miss the SD card slot. Screens are similar, brilliant Samsung OLED. In fact I think Mi8 was touted as one of the best displays from Xiaomi in terms of color accuracy. If you don't care as much about community support/aosp roms, and is content with MIUI and its camera app, then CC9 is really as good as they come this year. From the way the new xiaomi phone looks (redmi k30, cc9 pro, rumor of mi10), such thoughtful and balanced design is probably going to be a rarity in the up coming models.
Hope this helps
I agree with the reply above. Had I known that the CC9 has no Camera2 API Level 3 (only "full", which doesn't support all features making GCam development very limited), I'd probably have gone for the Mi 8. They were both at the same price when i bought the CC9, and though I enjoy having a bigger display and battery, most of the time I wonder if I'd be better off with smaller ones but Level 3 API (full support for GCam, which is important to me since I've come from a RN7 that took better pictures than the CC9), a way stronger processor and better build quality. The points that made me choose the CC9 instead were simply the teardrop notch as opposed to the huge forehead on the Mi8 and the bigger battery, as I use the phone to work on the street. Also it's a newer phone. But every now and then I question myself if I made the right decision. You'll have to weigh these points and see what is most important to you and your way of using the phone. But either one you take, you'll be making a tradeoff. Think it through patiently so you don't regret it later.
bomil said:
https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=9065&idPhone2=9862
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I pointed out I already compared both phones myself using gsmarena and just summarized the main differences upon which I wasn't able to make a decision.
kesc said:
mi 9 lite:
Under screen Fingerprint sensor is neither fast, neither accurate and not convenient IMO;
I get aprox. 2 days battery life under light usage;
Camera is better than Samsung A50/A70 series, but I don think it is perfect;
It seems it is not primary phone, which gets best support (still android 9 vs mi 8 got android 10 officially);
Display is not perfect, but much better than Mi A3
Ambient light sensor (mounted under screen) does not for as good as on samsung phones;
In 1 month I got 3 random phone crashes /reboot.
I would probably go with mi 8.
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Thanks for your input! I have to say that just recently a colleague ordered and received his Mi 9 Lite and the In-Screen-Fingerprint seems to be quite fast and accurate at first glance.
Camera on the Mi 8 using GCam is amazing. Especially when compared to my old Redmi Note 4.
And as this is my first Amoled it also looks amazing, but I have no comparison.
I also face sudden SystemUI reboots on HavocOS on my Mi8 about once every two to three days.
seities said:
hey. i've had both. i don't know about the band 28 situation so i can't comment on that.
Let me start by saying that I think CC9/Mi9 lite is a missed opportunity for xiaomi. It was positioned a bit awkwardly for marketing. It's evidently not sold very well and if xda is any indication, community support is also fairly low.
Yet to me it is the most "all-rounded" phone from xiaomi in 2019 (nope, not 9t/9tPro, which are very popular), checking off all the marks for me: samsung oled, great cameras front (better than mi9) and back, beautiful build and design of the Mi9, SD card, headphone jack, big battery, good battery life, midrange prices, etc. To me it was nearly perfect (except perhaps a year old SoC instead of SD730), or as perfect as I expected from Xiaomi anyway.
Except the fact it doesn't have strong community support. I've got it about 3 weeks after its China release. I am still waiting for official pixel experience or any AOSP rom to have stable releases. I am stuck with MIUI variant roms which are stable but I personally crave pure android. That and the fact there isn't a really reliable working GCam support, nor do I know of one in development (please correct me if I'm wrong).
This makes a huge difference because I shoot a lot with the phone cameras. Right now with GCam, I get more technically impressive photos from a lower priced Redmi Note 7 than the oversaturated painting I get from Miui's own cameras, and that's from a technically inferior Samsung GM1 sensor.
As it stands now, it depends on your usage and preferences. I personally wouldn't mind the Mi8 myself, especially if it's cheaper, except they are no longer available in these parts of asia (sold out). I think Mi8's faults are that the 845 isn't as efficient, and the battery is smaller, resulting in less run time. Yet it IS a flagship, which means potentially better build, better parts (it has a LRA vibration motor vs cc9's cheaper rotary motor), world bands gsm (where cc9 has a more regional bands selection), and more community support. The camera is an IMX363, same as on pixel 3 and 3a, so it's no slouch: while it has lower resolution on paper, it really just skipped the need of marketing driven pixel binning by having larger pixels to begin with. (Personally I think the apparent race toward higher megapixels as a strategy for xiaomi is completely misguided if not deliberately misleading). Post processing would be what makes or breaks the results, and with mi8 you can get full GCam support. In fact with pixel experience rom and gcam, you'd probably get nearly identical pixel 3 experience for a bargain. While 4000mah battery would be nice, pixel3/3a does just fine with similarly small sized batteries and oled. So it may just come down to better optimization.
oh, the underscreen fingerprint sensor is just crappy and unreliable. There's a reason why it's not as widely adopted. It's not a miss if you have the capacitive ones instead.
I personally would love a well supported phone, so my pick today might become mi8. As much as I love the cc9/mi9lite, it coming onto the stage too late in the cycle after all bases are covered makes it a bit of an orphan when it comes to development. I don't personally use the headphone jack but I would miss the SD card slot. Screens are similar, brilliant Samsung OLED. In fact I think Mi8 was touted as one of the best displays from Xiaomi in terms of color accuracy. If you don't care as much about community support/aosp roms, and is content with MIUI and its camera app, then CC9 is really as good as they come this year. From the way the new xiaomi phone looks (redmi k30, cc9 pro, rumor of mi10), such thoughtful and balanced design is probably going to be a rarity in the up coming models.
Hope this helps
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Wow! Thank you so much for your efforts taking time to write such an detailed and honest opinion.
Talking about the Pixel Experience ROM I took a look into that and counting from release date of the Mi 8 it took about 6 months for a stable and official build to be released (May 2018 -> 25th Nov 2018).
Depending on the Mi 9 lite being released in Sep 2019 one could give it 2-3 months from now on compared to the time it took the Mi 8 to get some Official ROM support. As far as I can see the first unofficial custom ROMS for the Mi8 dropped in Oct 2018 which is 5 months after release whereas the first unofficial LOS build appeared just recently for the Mi 9 Lite. Therefore it only took the Mi 9 Lite 4 months to receive its first unofficial LOS build. So it looks like the support and development isn't that bad.
But yet it's still hard to tell how much (xda community) popularity the phone could get in the near future.
For me the battery life is one of the most convincing reason to buy. It was so satisfying to reach up to 3 days with my Redmi Note 4 without having to charge it once. I know this depends on usage but I always got at least 2 days if I wasn't at home gaming on the phone all the day.
Oh and yeah - you name it - the feeling of the vibration motor is so smooth and from the first moment on gives a so much more premium feeling than I experienced with the one in my Redmi Note 4. And yes the fingerprint scanner on the mi 8 is very fast and accurate.
Vinicius Bode said:
I agree with the reply above. Had I known that the CC9 has no Camera2 API Level 3 (only "full", which doesn't support all features making GCam development very limited), I'd probably have gone for the Mi 8. They were both at the same price when i bought the CC9, and though I enjoy having a bigger display and battery, most of the time I wonder if I'd be better off with smaller ones but Level 3 API (full support for GCam, which is important to me since I've come from a RN7 that took better pictures than the CC9), a way stronger processor and better build quality. The points that made me choose the CC9 instead were simply the teardrop notch as opposed to the huge forehead on the Mi8 and the bigger battery, as I use the phone to work on the street. Also it's a newer phone. But every now and then I question myself if I made the right decision. You'll have to weigh these points and see what is most important to you and your way of using the phone. But either one you take, you'll be making a tradeoff. Think it through patiently so you don't regret it later.
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Interesting point. But isn't this just depending on the ROM/software or is this a hardware issue?
I already somehow adapted to the forehead notch. I found it quite ugly the first to days. And it still is. The teardrop notch definitely is way more attractive. I guess it's missing the IR front camera, though (not that it would be that important/useful). And are the speaker, proximity sensor as well as light sensor positioned under the Amoled somewhere?

Question Mi 11 Ultra vs. Oneplus 9Pro

Hi there!
Apologies if this is not the right place to post this.
What do people think of the two devices? I'm curious to hear if there are people who switched from OP to Mi devices or the other way around and why.
Cheers!
achalgurnani said:
Hi there!
Apologies if this is not the right place to post this.
What do people think of the two devices? I'm curious to hear if there are people who switched from OP to Mi devices or the other way around and why.
Cheers!
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Click to collapse
I had Xiaomi 4 years ago and since then I have been on oneplus 5t, 6t and 7 pro all the time and I really wanted to have a 9 pro but as I saw the price and the fact that these cameras, apart from good marketing, do not offer anything great, I was looking for an alternative and it was mi 11 ultra. I ordered from china and the 8gb / 256 version came out cheaper for me than the op 9 pro. Chinese rom, but it will easily flash a European one after the premiere.
For me, the advantages of oneplus are:
-minimally better screen
-oxygen os
and that's all
Xiaomi:
- the best (apparently) camera on the market
-innovative appearance
-second screen (I hope it will be useful)
Thanks for sharing. The Mi 11 Ultra does look quite good even if it is a bit heavier. I think OP9Pro wins on the looks, or at least the hand feel department.
The 2nd screen is cool, but I didn't find anything in the settings when I was playing around with it in the store. So I couldn't figure out the customization and the interaction of it. It does react to touch for sure, but it was kind of useless in that situation where no notifications were coming in etc.
Wrong thread . Delete my post please.
kuba319 said:
I had Xiaomi 4 years ago and since then I have been on oneplus 5t, 6t and 7 pro all the time and I really wanted to have a 9 pro but as I saw the price and the fact that these cameras, apart from good marketing, do not offer anything great, I was looking for an alternative and it was mi 11 ultra. I ordered from china and the 8gb / 256 version came out cheaper for me than the op 9 pro. Chinese rom, but it will easily flash a European one after the premiere.
For me, the advantages of oneplus are:
-minimally better screen
-oxygen os
and that's all
Xiaomi:
- the best (apparently) camera on the market
-innovative appearance
-second screen (I hope it will be useful)
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Click to collapse
even the screen is brighter on the Mi11 ultra.
for me its a no brainer, Mi 11 ultra all the way!
OP9PRO can be compared to mi 11 pro, not ultra, and still lose
OnePlus 9 Pro's advantages:
Samsung LTPO AMOLED panel - more power efficient
Smaller, tidier and more discreet looking camera bump
Superior Ultrawide Angle lens in terms of image quality - Uses the newer and bigger 1/1.56", 1.0µm IMX766 vs Xiaomi's 1/2" 0.8µm IM586
Lighter - 197g vs 234g
Current local availability with trade-ins
Cleaner and default bloatfree OS
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra's advantages:
Brighter screen - max 1700nits
Slightly more responsive screen - up to 480hz touch sampling rate, good for gaming
Largest mains sensor on a phone since the Nokia 808 - Most reviews still pending but it's looking promising
Zoom is miles ahead in both videos and photo capture - 5x optical with a bigger sensor
Can record 1080p 60FPS on front camera and 8k on all rear sensors
Bigger battery
67w wired + 67w wireless charging that charges equally as fast due to new battery technology
Gorilla Glass Victus front as opposed to GG5 on the OnePlus
Ceramic rear back - Defintely feels and looks more premium than glass or plastic imo
IR blaster if needed
Secondary screen depending on your use cases - Notifications, clock, answer/reject incoming phone calls, personalized logos/images to show off from your gallery
WiFi 6e support - nice to have future-wise
Cheaper/identical pricing - 12GB RAM / 256GB onboard storage costs less than OnePlus' 12GB RAM / 256GB storage offering (at least from what I've seen so far)
Bottom line: I'd recommend the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra easily!
Came across your thread and wanted to share my opinion.
I bought the OnePlus 9 Pro on launch day and ended up returning it.
The North American variant of the OnePlus 9 Pro is seriously lacking compared to its variants in other markets. It doesn't come with Dual-SIM capability which was a big selling feature for me personally. The screen is nice but didn't blow me away.
Mi 11 Ultra on the other hand has 1 of the best displays in the market currently in terms of quality/resolution/brightness.
I have had the OnePlus 5T since launch and it has served me well till now. The only downside of getting the Mi 11 Ultra in North America is that we may not get full 5G support. Even the global variant doesn't have most of the 5G bands used in US/Canada.
Does anybody know if Google Pay will work with either the Chinese ROM/EU ROM? The last xiaomi phone I had was the Redmi Note 4.
I doubt it will on the Chinese but it will on the already released fastboot EU ROM. And of course, when it's released globally, it will be on the native global ROM, so you could flash that too.
Google Pay was working for me on Chinese Ron in Mi10 Ultra, so I don't think there should be an issue with Mi11 Ultra.
Google pay is working on Chinese Mi11 Ultra
jirka607 said:
Google pay is working on Chinese Mi11 Ultra
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Click to collapse
Thanks!

Question Op 10 pro camera

Hey guys
So I have a question
I've been using the s22 ultra for almost 4 months and honestly its a decent phone but I can't take the Samsung bloatware and un snappy overall experience with it.
The camera is very important to me and seriously I can't find something unusual in the s22 ultra camera .
Now .
I wonder about the OP10 pro
I saw several reviews and I understand that now the device experience especially in the camera department are pretty good and I wonder if this is really the situation and how is the device experience today?
I will have the EU version with 12 GB of RAM BTW
Thanks
I'm a big fan of my 12/256 OnePlus 10 Pro . The camera is definitely the best quality oneplus had out out. I know it's identical quality to the 9pro but my 10 pro takes such better quality images than my 9 pro

Question X90PP vs Xiaomi 13U

I thought it would be interesting to compare camera performance of these two beasts.
Found this review by Han.
Not so bad
maxel77 said:
Not so bad
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I have seen that video yesterday already and I think in the end it's all personal preference. Both phones have their pros and cons and I think in my case the 13u is the better deal.
After seeing many comparisons I see the photos and videos of the xiaomi too saturated wanting to imitate the iPhone and samsung
P6P said:
I have seen that video yesterday already and I think in the end it's all personal preference. Both phones have their pros and cons and I think in my case the 13u is the better deal.
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They are at the same level but Xiaomi 13 ultra has been launched 6-7 months later than Vivo which is a long time in this market. I suppose that when Vivo X100 Pro Plus will be launched in November It would be a better deal
maxel77 said:
They are at the same level but Xiaomi 13 ultra has been launched 6-7 months later than Vivo which is a long time in this market. I suppose that when Vivo X100 Pro Plus will be launched in November It would be a better deal
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Click to collapse
No doubts the next vivo will have a better camera setup than the x90 pro plus. But if you look further Samsung will release their next flagship again in February 2024 which could be better than x100 pro plus. It's an endless loop and basically you can always wait and never buy. That's why I said it's personal preference.
maxel77 said:
They are at the same level but Xiaomi 13 ultra has been launched 6-7 months later than Vivo which is a long time in this market. I suppose that when Vivo X100 Pro Plus will be launched in November It would be a better deal
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Click to collapse
There is a good possibility for the x100pp to launch in Q1/Q2 2024. Similar to how Xiaomi did it with their 11,12 and 13 line up.
On color os china, on oppo x6 pro, do always on display show all notifications or just stock sms and missed calls (as on vivo originos)?
I would like to buy this device especially for its camera that I consider superior even to the Xiaomi Mi 13 ultra. I come from years of Xiaomi, with some problems but nothing serious and I have always unlocked, flashed rom of my liking and rooted. I thought it could be done also on Vivo but it seems not and then I do not know if it is convenient the X90 pp or the certainty of being able to do everything on the Mi 13 ultra...
if you're used to rooting forget Origin OS. It's a prison cage like iOS. Most of their huge settings menu is only related to functions 3rd party apps can do better anyhow like launcher or similar.
And removing apps with adb is getting more and more painful each software update. If you live outside Europa an import Xiaomi 13 Ultra is a no brainer vs Vivo. Also gcam support is much better on Xiaomi.
On stock camera the Vivo only has advantage in 2.2-4x zoom range and at night. The front camera of both sucks for the segment, but is even worse on Xiaomi. Especially the ultra wide is far superior on Xiamo 13Ultra.. However with Find X6 Pro at same price - I would always chose that one over the Vivo - and the software on the Oppo isn't as crappy as Vivo when it comes to dark mode/notifications (that will even get worse when vivo.pem cannot be removed anymore in future). At night except for main camera the Find X6 Pro is way above both others.
A good review of 2023 phones cameras is here (Vivo based on the beta firmware with Demo-X)
(pretty sure subtitles are coming soon) - and xiaobai is a lot more objective than most english youtubers that live in China.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra is the only Chinese phone that gets the preview quite okay, not as good as Iphone 14 Pro but much better than the rest of the market when it comes to lowlight or HDR.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra ultrawide is better than X90PP? Even with smaller sensor? Why?
(sorry, without subtitles I can't understand what is said in the video)
Look at the model number. At Sony the first number is about the positioning. Size of sensor isn't everything. The ultrawide on the vivo is a much cheaper sensor vs Xiaomi.
Yeah Sony claimed the sensor was improved despite being smaller, but sometimes that's just marketing nonsense. Glad to see that the IMX858 is actually good.
Another problem that the X90PP has is bad demosaicing while calculating the 12MP image from the 48/50MP quad-bayer raw data. That leads to "smushy" textures. Apple for example does this waaaaay better, GCam too. It's especially noticeable in combination with an ultra-wide lens.
I'm really looking forward to the subtitles!!
imx 598 is more or less a imx 586 - basically 5 year old tech. besides size and therefore not too bad at low light - it's really not a modern sensor anymore. it was back then mainly used as a main sensor for midrangers...
Cannot compete with a smaller but modern 858 or even less with the IMX 890 sensor on the Oppo Find X6 Pro (which is a 2022 mid range main sensor)
The video now has subtitles. BTW Huawei P60 Pro tiny bit ahead of Xiaomi 13 Ultra overall - Oppo a bit behind - and then Vivo, ahead of Honor and then Iphone is the conclusion.
The main problems for Vivo being the boring images (you see everything - suitable for beginners or pixel peeping - but not good for interesting pictures) - the low light abilties of the zoom lens (usually at night it uses main sensor up to 5x) and the ultrawide. Strong point for Vivo are portraits (best after Huawei) and lowlight on main lens. Vivo choses the easiest option of boosting pictures brightness overall - which gives images that do well in blind tests - but transport no athmosphere. The comparison is only about photo - not video. Otherwise Iphone wouldn't be last. And yeah this review isn't about front camera - because Iphone is way better there.
With Huawei a total no go without any kind of google services for most users and no 5G- the camera king right now is clearly Xiaomi 13 Ultra - especially as you can use a global OS - or even buy a global version with proper warrranty and the longest promised software support for chinese manufacturers right now - the software situation of course also applying to chinese version after unlock and flash of global OS (not xiaomi.eu which is based on Chinese OS). The Oppo is better than Vivo because of far superior ultrawide/zoom lens in the dark (but worse when zoomed over 5x). The Magic 5 Pro doesn't make too much sense anymore - as the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is now also available globally (or very soon). Iphone well - that's apples to oranges besides the camera. A proper macro mode of course also is missing from X90PP while Huawei/Xiaomi have one.
BTW in a newer video no subs yet - Xiaobai is not recommending Huawei P60 Pro for buying. Oppo Find X6 Pro is the 4500-6000RMB choice. Iphone 14 Pro Max, S23U, Xiaomi 13Ultra and X90Pro+ get the recommendation above 6000RMB (phones are categorized by list price - and while X90Pro+ is actually cheaper than Find X6 Pro and Xioami 13U - the list price of Find X6 Pro was cheaper). For Xiobai S23U is the best android phone besides the camera (and Samsung clearly doesn't pay him - Samsung has a difficult standing in China right now much more pricey than domestic brands, unlike Europe/USA where Samsung is cheaper than the global models of Chinese flagships)
BTW - the Xiaomi 13 Ultra manual F-Stop is still problematic for user experience. They need to work on it still. Huawei is much advanced there. It's pretty solid in rumors Vivo X100 Pro+ will get variable aperture too (but unknown if variable one like Huawei or 2 stops like Xiaomi)
Oh yeah and Xiaobai vs for example Hans Tech Talk is like take someone who is a world difference in objectiveness and professionalism. There's a good reason why Xiaobai is the undisputed most reknown smartphone camera reviewer in China (though his battery life review has no relevance at all except for gamers. )

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