The best smartphone from the Xiaomi brand with a huge rear camera module, it is a real flagship, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra. The classic Mi 11 model did not bring anything revolutionary in the field of photography, so we have high expectations from the Ultra model.
He really has one amazing night modehow does the manufacturer present? We have tested this smartphone in detail in the editorial office, so we bring you a detailed review.
About this review
The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra smartphone was available in the Chinese version, with the Chinese version of the MIUI system. At the time of testing, the latest version of MIUI V12.5.2.0RKACNXM was available for our model. The smartphone has not yet offered us the version V12.5.4.0.RKACNXM, which contains the announced one DxOmark camera software. After receiving the update, we update the photo review with a comparison between the given versions of MIUI.
Where did we buy Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra?
We ordered the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra from the Chinese seller TradingShenzhen. Similar to models My 11 a Redmi K40 Pro, delivery went completely smoothly. We did not pay any customs duties or VAT. We also wrote about our experience with ordering the Mi 11 Ultra detailed article.
We also ordered a wireless 80 W quick charger with a 120 W adapter for the smartphone.
Updated 7.5. 20201: Smartphone already on offer with global MIUI
One day after the release of our review of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, the TradingShenzhen reseller also started offering an additional installation of the global version of the MIUI system. This service is available for an acceptable fee of € 15, with delivery extended by 12-15 days to wait for the bootloader to unlock.
Thanks to this service, you will not have to bother with the installation if you do not have experience yet. The phone will arrive completely ready for use immediately after unpacking from the box.
Package contents without charger
We had the smartphone available in a version without a charger, so the box is very compact and low. Inside, in addition to the Mi 11 Ultra, there are only instructions for use and a silicone, transparent case.
Since we have several charging adapters and we also ordered a wireless charger with a 120 W adapter, we did not miss the charger in the package. But we understand that many of you would certainly welcome a quick-charge adapter in a package for an unchanged price.
Although Xiaomi presents that it gives its customers a choice and will offer packaging with a charging adapter at the same prices as without an adapter, this is not the case with international retailers.
Workmanship quality, design and weight up to 234 g
The design is perceived subjectively, but we must admit that it is really an interesting piece. The smartphone is dominated by a huge rear camera module, which protrudes significantly from its body. However, the enclosed case has a millimeter higher frame around the rear module, thanks to which the cameras are at least partially protected. When you slide the smartphone on the table, the camera module does not touch the surface of the table.
It is similar with the display. So if you place the smartphone face down on the display, we will avoid unwanted scratches thanks to the protruding case in all four corners of the display.
The back cover is ceramic and is slightly curved at the sides, which improves its grip in the hand. The left side is traditionally blank, the right side has buttons for volume control and a button for on / off or locking or lighting the display.
The bottom side hides a slot for 2 SIM cards, a microphone, a USB-C port and a speaker that complements the second speaker at the top, where we also find an IR port and a secondary microphone.
The total weight of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is up to 234 g, which is not a small amount. Immediately after holding it in our hand, we felt a higher weight, which is further enhanced by the heavy rear camera module, which is felt by the smartphone when held in the hand towards the top.
It is necessary to get used to the higher weight, but when we carried it in a pocket, we did not feel it as much as the first days when held in the hand.
Top display from Samsung with a fingerprint reader
The display is one of the best on the market. Samsung E4 AMOLED with a diagonal of 6.81″, aspect ratio 20:9 and WQHD+ resolution of 3200 x 1440 px was used. It has a fineness of 515 ppi, dynamick refresh rate with a maximum value of 120 Hz, a sampling frequency of 480 Hz and a maximum brightness of 1700 cd/m².
It has received the prestigious DisplayMate A + rating and does not lack support for technologies such as HDR 10+ or Dolby Vision. The display is really beautiful, and if you've used a display with a weaker refresh rate or IPS, you'll be thrilled. Even when simply scrolling the news on Facebook, you will notice perfect fluency.
The high refresh rate will also please players and those who like to watch videos or movies on their smartphones. In the upper left corner of the display there is a front selfie camera in the form of a shot. We like this place more than, for example, in the middle of the display. However, this is a subjective impression.
The display is rounded on all four sides and the rounding is slightly strange in the corners when the display is on, just like with the classic Mi 11 model.
The display also includes a fingerprint reader with a heart rate measurement function. However, it is not perfectly fast, so a slight delay is visible in unlocking. Personally, we would therefore rather welcome the classic fingerprint reader on the side of the smartphone, which is much faster.
Rear display alias MiBand 5
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the smartphone is the secondary display in the rear module next to the cameras. It is basically a display from the Mi Band 5 fitness bracelet. Certainly there will be opponents of this solution, but it is a very interesting element that we do not normally find in smartphones.
What is my display use for? Isn't this a nonsense that only increases the weight of the smartphone? Let's take a closer look at its features.
It primarily displays time, date, battery status, and notifications. There are customizations in the settings, where there are really wide options. We can choose the color of the text, its rotation, turn on or off the display of notifications or the current battery status.
Namitime with date here you can put any image, your own text together with the date and time. There are really many options, so everyone can customize it according to their own preferences.
The secondary display can be turned on by double-tapping or the side button to turn on the display. It can be active for 10, 15 or 30 seconds. It cannot be set as always-on to display time continuously.
However, with notifications turned on, we somehow didn't receive notifications from apps like Messenger or Gmail on the secondary display. We were only shown a notification about an incoming call, which can also be accepted or canceled using this display.
A huge advantage of this display is that it can be used for taking selfie photos using the main, rear camera.
Cameras and the first bar in DxOmark
Most of you are probably interested in how Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra takes photos. High expectations are also in place thanks to the first place in the DxOmark ranking.
The smartphone has three main cameras, which are located in a huge rear module. Specifically, these are:
- Main 50 MPx camera (wide) with f / 1.95 aperture, 1 / 1.12 ″ Samsung GN2 sensor and optical stabilization
- Ultra-wide 48 MPx camera with f / 2.2 aperture and 1 / 2.0 ″ sensor
- 48 MPx tele-macro lens with f2.4 aperture and 1 / 2.0 ″ sensor with optical stabilization
Xiaomi says the camera should be able to take pictures even in extremely low light at night without significant noise. It has up to 64 focus points, which should ensure better sharpness over the entire surface of the photo.
There is no lack of automatic face recognition, tracking of people and animals or HDR10 +.
You will immediately notice the 120x zoom on the back of the cameras. But this is more about marketing, as the 120x zoom is only digital, which is not very useful. However, a 5x optical zoom and a 10x, so-called hybrid zoom.
Similar to the Mi 11 model, the Mi 11 Ultra can record video in 8K resolution at 30 fps. Unfortunately, as we mentioned in the review of the Mi 11 model, we can see in the video the work of image stabilization, which blurs some parts, which spoils the impression of the night video, where there is also visible noise.
Incredible night mode
We brought it to you a long time ago night mode presentation photoswho should be able to take a photo even in complete darkness. This mode was named Night Owl. We didn't believe it too much, but the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra can really take interesting pictures even in complete darkness.
As a first example, we will take a photo of an old door in a completely dark underpass without artificial lighting. Normal mode took a photo that shows absolutely nothing. With the night mode, however, it is beautiful to see the whole door, as if we turned on the light in the underpass. Of course, such an extreme photo is not very sharp, but it is still unreal what night mode can handle.
The second example is also an unlit building, which is not in complete darkness, as it is located outside. Without night mode, noise is visible in the building, but with the use of night mode, the photo is diametrically different, and if we showed someone only a second photo, perhaps they would not even believe that it was taken in the dark, without lighting.
Such photographs are very interesting, but on the other hand we have to admit that in some cases they are unrealistic and lack sharpness. In the following comparison, you can see that the photo without night mode captures again a dark underpass, from which you can see an illuminated street.
But with the night mode, the photo is too bright and looks like the sun is shining from the street. Personally, we would accept something between the first and second photo, since in this case the photo with night mode is too "overburnt".
Ordinary photographs of the city with street lighting are very nice, however, and the night mode brings them a lot of details that cannot be seen without the night mode.
Night mode turns on automatically when your smartphone detects poor lighting conditions. It can be easily switched off or switched on manually. It perfectly suppresses strong light sources, such as the illuminated logo of the store in the photo below. Without night mode, you can see the strong, white glow that night mode suppresses beautifully.
Main camera, telephoto lens and macro
The main 50 MPx lens makes beautiful photos full of detail, especially outdoors. The colors are a bit more contrasting than we are used to at Xiaomi, but the photo still retains its atmosphere and the colors are usually not very oversaturated, with a few exceptions.
It also handles a more difficult discipline well, such as a brightly lit street photographed from the shadow of an adjacent building. Here to see younamick range, which is quite decent. Although there are places on a shadowy building that are too dark and slightly out of focus, overall the photo is well balanced and the colors are pleasant.
As we mentioned in the introductory part of the camera, there is a 5x optical zoom and a 10x hybrid zoom. Let's now look at a series of photos that were taken without zooming, with 5x zoom, 10x zoom, and finally with 120x digital zoom.
You can find all photos in full quality in this gallery.
The 10x zoom is very high quality and it is possible to make cuts in the post-process without any problems. The 120x zoom does not have a very usable output, as the sharpness is quite weak, but we must not forget that it is only a digital zoom. Despite the less sharp photos, it is amazing that, for example, the text on advertising banners is still relatively easy to read even with such a massive zoom.
If we compare the photos taken by the main sensor and the telephoto lens, we see that the photos from the telephoto lens have a slightly warmer colors with a mixture of yellow. However, telephoto distortion is minimal and output is still good.
The macro is a bit weaker as we don't have a separate macro lens here. This is not a super macro, but the photos have very nice colors and sharpness. But taking a sharp macro is not that simple, as we couldn't go too close to the subject, otherwise the photos were out of focus.
This is due to the size of the sensor, which with its natural bokeh effect creates the impression of blur. Perhaps Xiaomi will fine-tune it in the new update.
Weaker places will also be found
From our point of view, the biggest weakness is indoor photography in strong sunlight compared to a window, or overall indoor photography in difficult lighting conditions. Here, as with other Xiaomi smartphones, there are too strong shadows that go all the way to deep black. If you look at the following photo, you may see this phenomenon, for example, on a subwoofer that is too dark to blend with the shadow behind the TV.
A similar phenomenon can be seen in some other outdoor photographs, where the shadows are sometimes too dark. The Mi 11 Ultra handles photography against the sun quite well, especially with the primary camera. At the wide angle, however, you can sometimes see unwanted sun reflections in the photo.
We could see the same problem with too dark shadows in the Mi 11 model. We believe that the latest update to the software with which the smartphone was tested in DxOmark will bring improvements in this direction.
New level of selfie photos
As we mentioned above, the secondary display in the back can also be used for selfie photos. During the photo shoot, you can see yourself clearly on the back display, which will give you a much better selfie photo. If you often take photos like this, or go on trips where there is no one to take pictures of you, this feature will surely please you. The display is small, but very soft and clear, as it is also AMOLED.
We really like such a solution and we appreciate any effort made by the manufacturers to use the main cameras for selfie photos (such as asus zen phone 7), as the main cameras are much better than the selfie on the front. Below you can see the difference between a selfie photo from the front camera and the back, taken using the secondary display.
The disadvantage is that only the main sensor is available when shooting with the rear display. It cannot be used with a wide-angle lens in other shooting modes, such as portrait, 50 MPx mode or video. The option to switch to the rear display is only with the main shooting menu with the primary lens. We believe that the manufacturer will change this in one of the updates in the near future.
Endurance and charging
The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra received a 5000 mAh battery that uses second-generation nano-silicone anode technology. As a result, it supports fast up to 67 W charging, even wireless. You can charge your smartphone with a quick charger in the same time using a USB-C cable, but also with a wireless charger.
Because we also bought a powerful one with a smartphone 80 W wireless charger with 120 W adapter, we tested both methods of charging. The wireless charger is very elegant and also has active cooling.
If the room is quiet, you may hear noise from the fan during wireless charging, but the charger heats up only very slightly at the back. Cooling is therefore extremely efficient.
Below you can see the charging time with a wireless charger from 19 to 50, 75, 90 and 100%. Cable charging takes the same amount of time as it charges with the same power.
- to 50% in 11 min 30 sec
- to 75% in 21 min 45 sec
- to 90% in 28 min 20 sec
- to 100% in 34 min 20 sec
As you can see, charging is incredibly fast. The great thing is that the smartphone heats up only slightly during such charging.
In terms of endurance per charge, we used a smartphone with a always-on display and a 120 Hz display frequency. We got to a one-day endurance without any problems. Watching videos on YouTube for an hour at half volume took about 11% off the battery. Playing Call of Duty for half an hour took almost 10% of the battery.
Power, connectivity and speakers
The flagship model got the best on the market, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G processor. It is an 8-core processor with a frequency of 2.84 GHz. It is seconded to the Adreno 660 graphics chip, 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM. UFS 3.1 fast storage has a capacity of 256 GB. In AnTuT we got a score of up to 815 204.
When playing games, the camera area heats up slightly, but we can't talk about any overheating. Cooling is thus quite efficient. However, the rear module of the cameras slightly interferes with playing, as we had our fingers placed directly on it.
From wireless connectivity, we can find support for the latest WiFi 6e standard, which comes with a new, 6 GHz band. There are also GPS location systems: L1 + L5, Galileo E1 + E5a, Glonass G and Beidou. You will also find Bluetooth 5.2, IR and NFC support.
It will also please IP68 certification, so the smartphone can be immersed 1.5 m below the water surface for 30 minutes.
As for the speakers, we can also find stereo speakers from Harman Kardon here. They are extremely loud and play cleanly, but they still lack a stronger bass component.
MIUI in version 12.5
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra got the Android 11 operating system with the MIUI environment, which at the time of writing the review is version 12.5.2.0 in the Chinese version. We are very satisfied with the environment. It is maximally elaborated, offers a number of customizations, animations and is excellent in terms of design and function.
Although we have a smartphone in the Chinese version, we did not encounter any problem with this version. Everything is available in English and even all notifications worked for us, even from the Viber application, with which we had problems with the Mi 11 and Redmi K40 Pro.
Google services installed on the phone directly to the seller, so we could use the phone immediately after unpacking. If you prefer Slovak or Czech language, it is not a problem to reinstall the phone on a modified ROM from the Miuios.cz community. Complete instructions you will find on their forum.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra: Final evaluation
The king of androids - this is how CEO Xiaomi Lei Jun called the Mi 11 Ultra smartphone during its introduction. It is truly a full-fledged flagship with everything that goes with it. The smartphone offers an innovation in the form of a secondary display on the back, a beautiful AMOLED display, huge performance and excellent cameras, which have finally moved the Xiaomi smartphones a little further.
The night mode is also great, which can very effectively eliminate light from strong light sources during the night. He brings more beautiful colors, more details to the photo and he also takes pictures of objects in complete darkness.
A smaller negative is the higher overall weight of the smartphone, which can hinder someone. However, we got used to this weight relatively quickly and it does not interfere with us at all. However, there are still things that can be improved. These include a macro lens, indoor photography in low light, or speakers that could have slightly stronger bass.
Overall, we rate this flagship model very positively and testing the Mi 11 Ultra was a pleasure for us.
"and if you've been using a lower refresh rate or IPS display until now, you'll be thrilled."
- Certainly a person who has used IPS so far will buy a mobile phone for 1000 euros