Yes you all heard it right, the Mi Note 10 for me is probably the best phone Xiaomi has launched this year (yes better than the Mi 9 and Mi 9T Pro). We are basically not really talking about the processor, but we are simply talking about the camera. The 108 MP Camera that can take exceptional shots wherever you go. Now honestly, there is no need to bring that bulky DSLR on your trips, all you simply need is the Mi Note 10. Wanna know more? Find it out here.
Now there goes the question, why is it Mi Note 10 and not Mi Note 4 since the last one was Mi Note 3. Well Chinese are avoiding the number 4 for a superstitious belief in their country, but other than that, they told me that it is because they are celebrating 10th anniversary next year. This is quite similar to the reason why they skipped Mi 7 and jumped straight to Mi 8 the year before..
Tech Specs of Mi Note 10:
- · Qualcomm SDM730 Snapdragon 730G (8 nm) Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver)
- · Adreno 618 GPU (700 MHz)
- · 6GB of RAM LPDDR4x
- · 6.47-inch Samsung AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display, (~87.8% screen-to-body ratio)
- · 1080 x 2340 pixels FHD+ (~398 ppi pixel density), 400,000:1 contrast ratio, 19.5:9 Ratio
- · DCI-P3 color gamut, high color saturation, 600nit, Corning Gorilla 5
- · Midnight Black, Glacier White, Aurora Green
- · 128GB of storage
- · 108 MP, Samsung HMX, 0.8 μm, 1/1.33″, f/1.69 aperture, FOV 82°, 1.4μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel, OIS
- 12 MP (portrait camera), 1.4 μm, ƒ/2.0, 2x optical zoom
- 20 MP (ultrawide),1.12 μm, 1/3″ sensor, f/2.2 aperture, AF, 5 piece lens
- 5 MP (ultra telephoto camera),10x hybrid zoom, 50x digital zoom, ƒ/2.0, OIS
- 2 MP (macro lens), 1.75 μm pixel size, AF
- · 32 MP front camera,1.6 μm, 4-in-1 super pixel, f/2.0 aperture
- · In Screen Finger print scanner
- · Dual SIM (nano sim size)
- · 3G, LTE, 4G+ Carrier Aggregation, VoLTE Calls
- · Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, DUAL Band GPS Phone, A-GPS, NFC
- · 5260mAh battery, Quick Charge 4.0 Supported, 30 Watts Fast Charging
- · 2×2 MIMO Technology to support MU-MIMO
- · Sensors: Ultrasonic distance sensor, Ambient Light sensor, Gyro, Vibration Motor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Electronic
- Compass, Hall Sensor
- · Android Pie 9, MIUI 11
- · USB-C port, UFS 2.1
- · 157.8 mm x 74.2 mm x 9.67 mm
- · 208 Grams
Design
The form factor of the Mi Note 10 is quite a striking resemblance of the Mi 6 and the Mi 9, but this time around they have deployed dual symetry. Meaning that the back design is symetrically the same as the design at the front. This is the 2nd time around that Xiaomi has attempted to play with the front curved screen, the first being the Mi Note 2 with OLED Screen. I love the way that Xiaomi has came up with this design, its quite elegant yet it has the smooth feel especially when you are using the full screen gestures which features a lot of those swipe left and swipe right from the edge of the screen. With the flat surfaced screen, it is sometime irritable when you swiped your fingers from the edges of the screen and it sometimes stucked up a bit causing some irritabilty on your fingers. This has been solved by the designers behind the Mi Note 10.
Unboxing
Display and Audio
We were expecting a lot from the display side as we discovered that its sporting a Samsung AMOLED, tho this is already a norm for Mi Series since the Mi 8. The Full HD display did blew me away with its awesome rendering of photos and videos especially on a big screen like this one. Xiaomi has deployed HDR10 and always on display to help save our screens from burn ins which is a problem with AMOLED display screens. We watched several movies and I can say its pretty crisp and detailed especially playing 4K quality movies. The sound was excellent, we have no problem kicking the sound to the max inside a small room and it can fill the room with sound. The loudspeaker supports stereo mode as the sounds comes from the bottom of the phone as well as from the earpiece just above the front camera, and chew on this, the sounds has improved greatly from the Mi 9 itself, making it more immersive to play games. Bluetooth connectivity of headset is also no problem on this unit. Playing games like PUBG and COD at highest mode was definitely not a problem, just dont forget to access the game mode inside the security app.
– 1216 0.5 mm max high amplitudeultra-linear speaker· – SmartPA provides pressure-boosted high volume· – 1.0-cclarge sound cavity design· – 3.5-mm headphone jack | HiFisound quality | Hi-Res Audio certified
Multimedia playback
· MP4· M4V· MKV· XVID· WAV· AAC· MP3· AMR· FLAC· APE
Video playback
· Supports next-generation video encodingtechnology:· HEVC, H.264, MPEG4, VC-1, VP8, VP9
SoC and Speed
Wellthe Snapdragon 730G is definitely not the fasted chip from Qualcomm anddefinitely you wont expect things as fast as those Xiaomi phones like the RedmiK20 Pro Premium which is equipped with the latest SD 855+. But I can say thatthis processor has the tools that you need to survive the daily grind ofmultitasking and gaming needs. Of course you cant compare the gaming speed withthe 8++ series, but definitely its worth your penny when it comes toperformance as well as battery optimization.
Connectivity
The Mi Note 10 supports 14 different LTE bands! It’s pretty easy to switch to LTE network inside the settings, and it also supports Dual 4G mode as well. You can freely choose which sim you want to use your LTE data, since this is a Dual LTE, Dual standby smartphone. Wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac is also smooth and it also supports Wi-Fi Direct. Wireless screen mirroring is also available via the Miracast protocol, tethering data is also working perfectly. Bluetooth 5.0,GPS, and GLONASS are all present, NFC (Near Field Communication) is also present to support Mi Pay, Android Pay and it enables you to send data to a fellow NFC user with just tapping your phones together. Transfering data from older phones using Mi Mover was also a breeze as well. Dual GPS is also working perfectly as well, except sometimes No GPS when traveling under the bridge or inside the tunnel.
Supported network bands
GSM: B2/B3/B5/B8
WCDMA: B1/B2/B4/B5/B6/B8/B19
FDD-LTE: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28
TDD-LTE: B38/B40
Camera
The biggest reveal of all! The 108 MP camera in action. I couldnt be more excited to flaunt the goodness of this camera to all of you. There are still some flaws with the 108MP that it sometimes freezes when it takes photos, it will be corrected in future updates. This camera took great outdoor shots, and mind you, the natural bokeh is really something that not any smartphone camera can just simply achieve. Its more of a feature from the DSLR level cameras and Xiaomi just give us a good alternative to heavy DSLRs. Under low light the night mode was a performer and the added vlog mode is a plus for short video clips of your journey and adventures that you can quickly upload to instagram and facebook. The 5X Optical, 10X Hybrid and 50X Digital zoom are just simply amazing.
Sample Photos
Sample Selfies
Sample Video
Mi Note 10 Battery and Benchmark
The Mi Note 10 supports the Qualcomm Quick charge 4.0, not only that, it can charge up to 30W! This means that you can charge your phone as fast as 65 minutes from zero to 100 based from Xiaomi laboratory testings. I have personally tested it and I have yielded 70 minutes on my own test from zero to 100%. We recorded a 15 hour 9 minutes endurance test under the PC Mark battery stress test, this is quite a impressive figure since the screen is quite big and the battery is also big, I was able to last more than a day without charging the phone under normal usages.
Verdict
The Mi Note 10 was definitely a stunner that Xiaomi has send to shock the world, the first ever 108MP that a normal consumer can afford, unlike the Mix Alpha which is quite impossible to buy at the moment. I have played games all day long and there are times that it will feel a little sluggish, but its because of the hight graphic intense game of the NBA2k20 that I am playing. The rest of the games like mobile legends are just a breeze. Taking photos are enjoyable but beware that back of the phone gets a little bit warn especlally when taking videos. I loved this phone and I believe that this phone is enought to learn how to do photography 101.