Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Review, Price and Specifications

Xiaomi recently introduced its new Xiaomi Mi Note 10 and Mi Note 10 Pro smartphones. Both are practically identical except for the amount of RAM and storage capacity, as well as the material used for the main lens.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 stands out especially against other smartphones for having five rear cameras that offer great versatility: angular camera, ultra-wide-angle camera, 2X telephoto camera, 5X telephoto camera, and Macro camera.

Another point in which the Mi Note 10 stands out is its huge 5,260 mAh battery, which offers impressive autonomy. Also, it comes with a 30W fast charger that allows you to fully charge your smartphone in just over an hour.

The other specifications of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 are those of a mid-high-end smartphone as it has a 6.5 ”AMOLED screen with Full HD + resolution and HDR, Snapdragon 730G processor, 6GB of RAM and 64/128 GB of storage. The smartphone is for sale on Mi.com, but you can find it cheaper on online sites like Amazon.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Review

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 comes with a classic design but, at the same time, elegant. Its front is dominated by a large screen with a water drop type notch at the top and curved edges at the sides, which produce certain reflections when observing the screen.

In the back, we find a glass finish that also bends to the sides. The rear glass does not have any pattern or texture but is completely uniform. The camera module is located in the corner and protrudes from the surface of the phone, so the phone dances slightly when you press the screen while it is supported.

What most attracts the attention of the construction of the Mi Note 10 is its high weight and thickness since with 208 grams and 9.7 mm thick so we are facing one of the most forceful models we have tried. This is due to the large battery that Xiaomi has incorporated, which is above what we see in other smartphones.

Xiaomi uses Gorilla Glass 5 glass on the front and back but, as expected, it has left the device devoid of water protection, so we must be careful not to take a dip.

Xiaomi has integrated the fingerprint reader under the screen and works quite quickly although it is perceived as slower than a traditional reader (or the OnePlus 7 Pro’s under-screen reader), and we must be careful to support the entire surface of the finger. It also incorporates facial recognition that works quite well although it is not as safe as it is 2D.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 has an AMOLED panel of 6.47 ″ with Full HD + resolution, which translates into a high pixel density of 403 dpi. You may miss a Quad HD + resolution but, in my opinion, the screen is sharp enough.

The screen has a brightness around 588 nits if it is in automatic mode under a bright light like the sun and 423 nits in manual mode. Although it is a high value, other high-end smartphones surpass it.

The color range is wide as it covers 100% of the large DCI-P3 range, which only high-end smartphones cover. It is compatible with HDR and, in my tests, I have been able to play HDR10 content from Netflix and YouTube.

Of the three color modes it offers, the predefined mode is the one that exhibits the highest color fidelity, but most people will prefer the Auto mode that is selected by default shows more vivid (although less realistic) colors.

Xiaomi has included the functionality of Always On Display, so we can permanently see the time/date, battery level and notifications. Also, the screen turns on momentarily or shows an animation when a notification arrives and, at any time, we can double-tap to activate it manually.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 has a Snapdragon 730G processor, a medium-high-end chip that, without being as powerful as the Snapdragon 855, has advanced features of the high-end in photography, AI and connectivity. Also, the «G» variant of the Snapdragon 730 is specially designed for games as the GPU operates at a higher frequency.

Accompanying this chip we find 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. Unfortunately, Xiaomi has not included the option to expand storage via micro-SD card, so if you think 128GB will not be enough, I recommend that you get the Mi Note 10 Pro that is practically identical but has 8 GB and 256 GB.

In tests, the smartphone’s performance has been excellent, although it is not at the level of other high-end smartphones with Snapdragon 855.

3D games run smoothly in the Mi Note 10 and I have measured stable rates of 30 FPS in games like Asphalt 9, reaching an average rate of 60 FPS in Dead Effect 2 and Call Of Duty.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 arrives with an impressive 5,260 mAh battery that, in practice, offers excellent autonomy, above virtually all the high-end smartphones I’ve tried. The phone has a 30W fast charger and is fully charged in 1 hour and 6 minutes, which is a surprisingly short time.

In the connectivity aspect, in addition to WiFi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac in the 2.4 / 5 GHz and Bluetooth 5 bands, the Mi Note 10 also offers FM and NFC radio.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 comes with five rear cameras that offer great versatility as it allows you to take pictures with both wide-angle (main camera) and ultra-wide-angle, 2X telephoto, 5X telephoto, and macro.

The main camera has a 108 MP sensor and a lens with aperture f / 1.7 with optical stabilization. This camera combines 4 pixels in 1 to generate 27 MP images with less noise, but it is also possible to take captures with 108 MP super-resolution in great detail.

In good light conditions, the image quality of the main camera is excellent and, when the light is low, the result is also very good – it has nothing to envy to other high-end smartphones. Night mode helps to get photos with a greater dynamic range at night.

The 5X telephoto camera allows you to capture details that would otherwise be impossible to record. The presence of optical stabilization and the f / 2 aperture make the results quite good even in low light.

The 2X telephoto camera is more useful in everyday life than the 5X telephoto camera due to its lower magnification factor. Also, it is especially suitable for taking portraits due to its focal length of 50 mm, which many photographers consider to be ideal. However, it does not have optical stabilization, so the low light results leave much to be desired.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 allows you to capture photos in Portrait mode and we can adjust the degree of a blur both during capture and afterward – something that not all smartphones can do. The result is quite good since the camera distinguishes the foreground in the background.

The ultra-wide-angle camera provides a different perspective when photographing large objects such as buildings or monuments. It is a useful camera during the day but it has a lot of noise when used for night shots. Finally, the macro camera allows us to approach objects up to 1.5 cm. Its resolution of 2MP is somewhat poor, so the level of detail of the resulting image is not too good.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 allows you to record video with a resolution of up to 4K at 30 fps (or 1080p at 60 fps) and, in tests, the image looks stable and with good quality.

As for the front camera, its resolution of 32MP is high and, in general, it offers good image quality. It is possible to take selfies in Portrait mode, with a quite successful result.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 offers correct sound through a single speaker at the bottom, although it cannot compete against other smartphones with stereo sound. If you are one of those who use headphones regularly, you will be glad to know that Xiaomi has maintained the 3.5 mm jack and offers Hi-Res compatible sound.

Xiaomi incorporates in this phone the customization layer MIUI 11 still based on Android 9 Pie, which incorporates some interesting features to control battery consumption, clone applications, create a second private space, protect access to apps through passwords, etc.

MIUI 11 incorporates some improvements over MIUI 10 such as Quick Responses to notifications without leaving the app, the Gaming Toolbox 2.0 tool for games, the functionality of sharing files wirelessly, etc.

That said, there are MIUI things that I don’t like, such as the complexity of the menus and options, that sometimes call the same thing in different ways depending on the screen. However, what I like least is the presence of advertising in many of Xiaomi apps, sometimes even full screen invading the screen.

Xiaomi Mi Note Full Specifications

Price and competitors

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is on sale for 469.40$ in a unique configuration of 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage on online sites like Amazon.

In the same price range is the OnePlus 7T (895.99 $) that has a 6.5″ screen at 90Hz, Snapdragon 855+ processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, triple camera 48MP f/1.6 (main) + 12MP f/2.2 (telephoto) + 16MP f/2.2 (ultra-wide-angle) and 3,800mAh battery.

If you are interested in a smartphone with a great versatility of cameras, for a little more the Huawei P30 Pro ( $685.00 (128GB), $733.99 (256GB) and $947.99 (512GB) ) has a main camera of 40MP ( f/1.6), a 5x 20MP telephoto camera ( f/2.2) and an ultra-wide-angle camera of 20MP ( f/2.2). It also incorporates a 6.5″ OLED screen, Kirin 980 processor, 6GB RAM and 4,200 mAh battery.

The Best and Worst of Xiaomi Mi Note 10

The best:

The Worst:

All image credits: Mi Note 10

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