Is Xiaomi trying to bring back the Xiaomi Mi Note range which dwindled out in 2017 along with the Mi Note 3? The above question has been making rounds among Tech bloggers, contributors and commentators due to the announcement of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10.
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 was announced in November 2019 and is expected to arrive next month or early 2020. Most people are wondering if Xiaomi is releasing the smartphone to revive the Xiaomi Mi Note range or to compete with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.
Whatever the reasons for releasing the Mi Note 10 maybe, the fact remains that the device is astonishingly a good one. Apart from bringing in a low price tag on the table, the Xiaomi Mi Note surely a front-runner, with a shipload of energy and premium features and specifications.
This new smartphone may end up being Xiaomi’s photography powerhouse due to the powerful 108MP main camera shooter that was added among the five (5) primary camera set up, at the back of the smartphone.
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The selling points of the new smartphone is its premium-looking curved screen, the huge battery, and the impressive cameras that produce lovely pictures. The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is a synergy of the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom, OnePlus 7 Pro as well as the P30 Pro.
Design
You might likely mistake the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 for the Huawei P30 Pro. It has the same small ‘tear-drop’ which holds the single selfie camera, big screen with curved edges, and a large body build and the same arrangement of the primary camera module.
The new smartphone has a body dimension of 157.8 x 74.2 x 9.67mm and is a quite heavy weighing 208g. The Mi Note 10 is a little bit huge and heavy which may be as the result of its jumbo size battery.
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The smartphone may be huge, but you can still control it using just one hand, but you may find it difficult if you have a small hand.
The front of the smartphone is dominated by the 6.47 inches Super AMOLED capacitive display. It has a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 (~398 PPI density). Users are presented with a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for screen protection. Other features of the screen include HDR10, 600 nits max brightness, Always-on display, and DCI-P3.
The power button and volume rocker are on the right side of the smartphone, while the bottom holds the 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C port. This smartphone is presented in three (3) color options which are the Midnight Black, Aurora Green, and Glacier White.
Camera
The camera of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 happens to be one of its selling points. Users are offered a total number of six (6) cameras on the Xiaomi Mi Note 10; five (5) at the back and a single selfie camera in the front.
The back of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is blessed with a 108 MP (7P lens) which happens to be the main sensor among the five. It has an f/1.7 aperture 25mm (wide) and has other features like a PDAF, Laser AF, OIS.
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The second camera on the back comprises of the 12MegaPixel with an f/2.0 aperture 50mm (telephoto), and other features like a Dual Pixel PDAF, Laser AF, and 2x optical zoom.
The third sensor is a 5MegaPixel which can be upscaled to 8MP. It has an f/2.0 aperture (telephoto) and other features such as PDAF, Laser AF, OIS, 5x optical zoom. The fourth camera sensor is a 20MegaPixel sensor with an f/2.2, aperture and 13mm and has features such as a Laser AF.
The fifth camera is a 2MegaPixel with an f/2.4, aperture and serves as a 1.75µm (dedicated macro camera). On the front side of this smartphone, you will find the single 32MegaPixel camera sensor with an f/2.0 aperture. Some of the general camera features include the Quad-LED dual-tone flash, HDR
Performance
One of the flaws of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is in its performance section. You wouldn’t be seeing any powerful Snapdragon 855 chipset found in most mid-range smartphones. The chipset featured inside this smartphone is a lot weaker and far from our expectations.
It was quite disappointing to see the Qualcomm SDM730 Snapdragon 730G (8 nm) which happens to be a mid-range process that’s optimized to give you a better gaming experience, but weak in other relevant areas.
The chipset is based on an Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver) CPU. Meanwhile, you also have the Adreno 618 GPU that handles all your gaming and graphics activities.
Under the hood, you are getting a 6GB RAM with a 128GB worth of internal storage. Please note that you are stuck with this model and there is no room for memory expansion.
Just as expected, the smartphone runs on the company’s MIUI 11 software which is based on Android 9.0 (Pie).
Battery
Just as we had mentioned earlier, the battery of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 remains one of its selling points. The iPhone 11 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus had 3,969mAh and 4,300mAh respectively and were both considered being impressive.
But, powering the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is a huge 5,260mAh battery capacity which seems to very huge even for a flagship smartphone.
The battery can confidently take you through two days and could excide from just a single charge. The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 doesn’t just end at offering you a huge battery life but has also gone out of their comfort zone to provide users with a 30W Fast battery charging technology using the 30W charger out of the box. You can have a full 100% battery juice from 0% in 65 minutes.
Other Features
- FM ~ Yes,
- 3.5mm Jack ~ Yes,
- Expandable storage ~ No.
- Five Primary Cameras ~ Yes.
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Price
Until now were are yet to get an actual price from Xiaomi Mi Note 10, though the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 arrives in just one model which is the 128GB 6GB RAM and has been rumored to arrive with a price tag of about €549 which is equivalent to $610, £470 or AU$880, N220,515 Naira in Nigerian currency.
The Mi Note 10 was announced just a few days ago and is yet to be released into the market. There is yet no announcement on the global release date, though the smartphone has already been released in China but under a different name which is the Mi 9.
Verdict
Don’t get it twisted, things are not all rosy for the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 as it also brings along some flaws. For instance, the almighty cameras can respond slow at times and this is a result of the weak processor holding things at the center.
The smartphone is slightly heavier than most smartphones of the same category. This may be as a result of the hug battery or the glass back.
But, on the other hand, if you can overlook these little flaws, then you might likely be able to get the most out of this smartphone. The new device offers you huge battery life, great design, nice cameras with impressive 108MegaPixel shooter which happens to be one of the best cameras presently around in the smartphone market.