Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G Review – Winner in the Mid-Range Segment

If recent smartphone industry patterns are any indicator, 2022 will probably be the year of the mid-range premium smartphones. With the launch of the Galaxy S21 FE 5G and the OnePlus 9RT 5G, Samsung and OnePlus have already taken the lead in this segment. And now, Xiaomi has also entered the competition with Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G. Xiaomi 11T Pro is yet another sturdy competent Xiaomi phone at a very reasonable price. For its reasonable price, it’s fast, has a good primary camera, a great display, and outstandingly fast charging. So let’s see does it stands against the competition and whether you should buy the Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G if you’re looking for a new affordable flagship.

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Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is priced at Rs. 39,999 in India. The 8GB + 256GB variant will set you back at Rs. 41,999, while the 12GB + 256GB model is going to cost you Rs. 43,999. Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G will be available in three colours: Celestial Magic, Meteorite Gray, and Moonlight White. You can purchase it on Amazon, Mi.com, Mi Home shops, Mi Studios, and other offline retailers.

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The premium Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G includes the following items inside the box:

• Xiaomi 11T Pro device
• 120W Adapter
• USB Type-C Cable
• SIM Eject Tool
• Protective Case
• Quick Start Guide
• Warranty Card

Before we talk in detail about the Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.67 inches AMOLED
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
• RAM & ROM: 8GB RAM 128GB Storage, 8GB RAM 256GB Storage, 12GB RAM 256GB Storage
• Software: Android v11
• Rear camera: 108MP + 8MP + 5MP
• Selfie camera: 16 MP
• Battery: 5000 mAh
• Weight: 204 grams
• Dimensions: 164.1 x 76.9 x 8.8 mm

For the price, Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G offers a fantastic in-hand feel. It has a glass back panel and curved edges, giving it a premium appearance. The 11T Pro is available in three different colours: Celestial Magic, Meteorite Black, and Moonlight White. For this review, I had the Celestial Magic colour version, which is very beautiful. It’s glossy, so it picks quite a few fingerprint smudges.

The phone feels solid and is dust and water-resistant to IP53 standards. It should withstand splashes of water and light rain, but just don’t try to take a photo underwater. Xiaomi includes a standard yet useful silicone case with the phone.

The side panel is made of plastic and does not have a premium feel to it. The power button houses the fingerprint scanner. This is becoming a popular feature on both premium and affordable Xiaomi phones. A dual nano-SIM slot, Type-C port, plus speaker grille are located on the bottom side. A second speaker is located on top for stereo sound. On the top, you’ll also discover the typical IR blaster, which serves as a universal remote for a variety of devices.

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The back camera module is quite large. Xiaomi has ditched the headphone jack and instead includes a type-C to 3.5mm dongle in the box. The phone weighs 204 grams, which may seem hefty to some, but is evenly distributed. Overall, the Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G is a stunning smartphone in its own way.

In terms of display, Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G sports a 6.67-inch AMOLED display featuring a 120Hz screen refresh rate with a resolution of 24001080 pixels. You also receive protection of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus and 1,000 nits of peak brightness. The colours are bright, the text is crisp, and even in direct sunshine, readability is superb. I had no trouble using the device in any lighting situation. Furthermore, the 120Hz refresh rate smooths out the interface significantly. The display also has a 480Hz touch sampling rate, so you can rest confident that the 11T Pro 5G’s display is fluid and responsive.

Aside from that, the phone’s big display offers a really comfy viewing experience, particularly if you like to binge-watch all of your favourite series on your smartphone like me. The Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G’s display is well bright and the colours are accurate, which contributes to the phone’s overall appeal.

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The display is Widevine L1 DRM certified and supports HDR10 and HDR10+. As a result, you can watch videos in the highest possible quality on OTT platforms like Netflix and Prime Videos. Xiaomi should have given a QHD+ display as it did with the Mi 11 Ultra last year, but aside from that, the screen is flawless. The display is vivid and smooth, making it excellent for watching videos and gaming. It provides decent viewing angles and enough brightness for outdoor use. The bezels are slim and well-balanced as well. Users can also change the colour temperature of the panel and choose from a variety of Always-On displays on the lock screen.

Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G is powered by a Snapdragon 888 chipset, which was last year’s flagship processor, featuring up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. Xiaomi has chosen LPDDR5 RAM as well as UFS 3.1 storage technology, which improve the handset’s overall performance. Despite the fact that the processor is a year old, it is capable of handling whatever task you throw on it.

Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G is a performance champ that can manage day-to-day tasks and gaming without breaking a sweat. The smartphone switches seamlessly between applications with about 10-12 apps running in the background.

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Thanks to the adaptive refresh rate, scrolling and UI navigation are silky smooth. If you want to save some battery life, you can manually adjust the screen to operate at 60Hz; but, the difference isn’t huge. The display refreshes at 120Hz in compatible games, apps, and UI actions. It automatically adjusts to 60Hz in media streaming apps and some gaming titles.

The 12GB RAM option is recommended for those who wish to run heavy gaming titles. That’s the one I used for review and faced no problems whatsoever. I spent a lot of time on the smartphone playing heavy games like Asphalt 9, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), and PUBG: New State. None of the games showed any lags, and I had a great time playing these mobile games on the Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G. This device does become a little warm after long gaming sessions. However, it is not as terrible as the first set of Snapdragon 888-powered handsets, which were affected by heating issues. The haptics on this smartphone is also responsive, which enhances the gaming experience. During my testing period, the 11T Pro 5G never felt slow, whether it was multitasking, playing demanding games, or recording 8K videos.

Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G ships with MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11. In case you’re wondering, there seem to be no ads. However, the MIUI 12.5 update includes minimal bloatware that can be removed. It irritates me when some system apps bombard me with notifications. The user experience can be improved with a simple tap on the toggle in the Notifications settings. To avoid unwanted adverts and notifications, ensure that you disable the personalisation toggles option while setting up the smartphone.

MIUI 12.5 is said to improve the performance of the system at the core, and it appears to be working fine for me. The custom Android skin contains features such as floating windows, Super Wallpapers, and more, in addition to enhancing performance. While these additions make MIUI more feature-rich, it would have been good to get the latest Android 12 OS right out of the box. Xiaomi promises three years of software updates with four years of security support for the Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G. As a result, the device is expected to receive the Android 12 update running MIUI 13 in the near future.

Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G has a triple-camera layout on the back. The camera specs include a 108MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 5MP TeleMacro sensor. The smartphone has a 16MP front-facing camera for taking selfies and video calls.

The primary 108MP sensor captures photographs with a lot of details. Xiaomi 11T Pro’s main camera doesn’t really oversharpen photos to get more details, unlike the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge. Although the software tends to oversaturate the blue tones in some places, the overall results are excellent. The same is true for low-light performance. The camera samples I took have very little to no noise. The photographs are also very detailed. The shadows are properly exposed while the highlights are not overexposed.

The 8MP ultrawide lens captures a wider field of view and comes close to matching the primary camera’s colours. There is obvious distortion at the edges, and the details aren’t as good as they could be. The third lens is a 5MP tele-macro camera, similar to the one seen on the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. It’s the best macro camera sensor implementation I’ve seen in the market so far. The super macro mode provides great depth while allowing the camera to focus on the subject quickly. I have to say that the Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G does set a benchmark for its competitors with its macro camera lens in the flagship segment.

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When it comes to the selfie camera, the Xiaomi 11T Pro takes great photos with balanced colours, but it lacks detail, even when there is plenty of light. When it comes to portrait mode shots, I felt they were sharp and had a natural skin tone. The camera app on Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G offers several modes like Pro, Photo, Portrait, Video, and More in the viewfinder. Other modes available from More include 108M, Short video, Night, Panorama, VLOG, Slow motion, Movie effects, Documents, Time-lapse, Dual Video, and Clone.

The camera is capable of recording videos up to 8K at 30fps. You will find HDR 10+ filming, movie effects, video pro mode, VLOG mode, and other features in the camera app. The front camera can record videos in 1080p at 60fps. The sad thing is that there is no support for optical image stabilisation (OIS), which is disappointing at this price.

Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G’s fast charging feature is one of its major selling points. The Xiaomi 11T Pro supports 120W fast charging, and the good thing is that the adapter is included in the box. Yes, the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge has the same feature. However, the device lacks the flagship processor for the price. The Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G makes up for it but at a higher price.

To begin, Xiaomi 11T Pro is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery. With such a large battery, users can expect all-day battery life. Considering my use case, I averaged around 7 hours of screen time. Apart from games, I used the phone to watch YouTube videos, scroll over social media apps, and join in video calls with friends. Those that do not use their phone for heavy gaming will get longer battery life.

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The 120W fast charging technology adds to the charging experience. According to Xiaomi, the smartphone charges from 0 to 100 per cent in 17 minutes. However, when I tried to test it, the 120W fast charger took about 25 minutes to fully charge the Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G. Although this is longer than Xiaomi’s claimed 17-minute charging time, it is still impressive. Every time you charge the smartphone, the charging adaptor and phone become slightly warm. However, it is not alarming.

Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G features a stereo speaker arrangement with cutouts on opposite sides to simulate surround sound. The sound is clear and loud. The speakers, when combined with the stunning display, do wonders for the smartphone’s entertainment and gaming experience. The smartphone has 13 5G bands, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC as connectivity options.

You get a fingerprint scanner on the side that is lightning fast and really accurate. The fingerprint scanner is perfectly positioned, so you won’t have to change your grip to access it using your thumb. You can even use facial recognition to unlock the phone, which worked flawlessly.

Pros

• Solid construction, beautiful design, splash-proof.
• Outstanding OLED, Dolby Vision With HDR10+, 120Hz adaptive.
• Whopping fast probably, Performance
• Stereo balanced speakers, excellent sound
• Flagship 5G chipset
• MIUI has 3 major Android upgrades promised.

Cons

• An IP68 rating would have been preferred.
• Typical battery life.
• There is no optical image stabilisation, telephoto lens, or lossless zoom.