"The Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro is impressive, but not without frustration, and its high price means fierce competition."
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Colorful, detailed screen
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Excellent audio
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Very long-lasting battery
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Capable, funny camera
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Unreliable software
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Hypersensitive screen edges
Xiaomi is known for its affordable, high-quality smartphones. The new Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro does not quite fit this description. It's a high-spec flagship, but costs $ 1,000 or $ 1,080. That is almost double the price of the Mi 9 from last year.
We cannot change the price, but we can decide whether this is justified. I've been using the Mi 10 Pro for a few weeks now to check if it's worth the four-digit price. Did Xiaomi really have to follow the trend of making desirable smartphones expensive?
design
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro is more of a mature than a striking phone. I hesitate to describe it as stealth because it is also a large, old bruise from a device and certainly does not fade into the background. It's a pretty phone, mainly due to the use of frosted glass on the back, which adds a modern, classic style that I also really liked on the Huawei P40 Pro. The colors of my solstice-gray evaluation model subtly alternate between blue, gray and silver. It is nowhere near as lively or eye-catching as the OnePlus 8 Pro, for example.
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The Mi 10 Pro made of glass and aluminum is heavy. It weighs 208 grams and the weight is slightly upwards, presumably due to the large number of camera lenses on the back. Adjusted to the left, the camera module protrudes a few millimeters so that it does not lie flat on any surface. Combine this with the slippery glass, and the phone refuses to remain silent when I put it on a table or couch. It's fallen off of things more than any other phone I've used lately.
The aluminum housing is also not flush with the glass back wall, so you can feel a burr when you pick up the phone. This is quite narrow due to the 9 mm case. It's not as comfortable to hold as the OnePlus 8 Pro or the Huawei P40 Pro. However, it is well done and feels very solid. Even after its various falls, it has not suffered any major damage.
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If you expect the design and materials of the Mi 10 Pro to be reasons for the above-average price, this is not the case. The Mi 10 Pro is what we expect from every flagship phone today and is no different from any other top Mi device. This means that it is attractive without being over the top. The build quality is great and you will be proud to put it on the table.
It will slide around when you do it, but it will get some admiring looks at the same time.
screen
The Mi 10 Pro's screen is exactly what we want for 2020. It is a 6.67-inch Super AMOLED panel with a refresh rate of 90 Hz and a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. Although this is lower than the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, it is completely sufficient and also keeps the power consumption at bay. I'm struggling to tell the difference between a 90 Hz refresh rate and a 120 Hz refresh rate, so it's perfectly fine to have the 90 Hz rate here.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
The screen is bright and the AMOLED panel offers exactly what you expect by returning lots of contrast with deep black and some vivid colors. I love the balance here – it avoids too much satiety and keeps things alive. The level of detail is also just right, and watching videos is very good, also thanks to the decent stereo speakers. Placed on the top and bottom of the phone for maximum channel separation effect. What they lack in bass, they make up for in the overall volume.
In the top corner is a small hole-punch selfie camera that you can quickly get used to until it effectively disappears. When you zoom in on YouTube videos, you remove the black borders on both sides of the screen, but lose a bit of picture at the top and bottom.
The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime emphasizes the dynamic graphics, and because of the audio quality, I was happy to sit down and watch an entire episode without switching to a tablet or TV.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
There is a big problem: edge detection and the resulting numerous phantom touches. A software update improved this during my review, but it's still not perfect. I accidentally open the phone app forever and made at least one unintentional call.
During a call, my cheek activated mute, so the person I called suddenly stopped hearing me. Add the times when I would wipe my palm across screens or close apps, as well as the smoothness of the phone itself, and the Mi 10 Pro can be a little frustrating.
Apart from that, the Mi 10 Pro offers an outstanding visual experience that is worth noting.
camera
The Mi 10 Pro has a 108 megapixel main sensor, which it developed together with Samsung and which is probably almost identical to that of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. The 1 / 1.33-inch sensor has an aperture of 1: 1.69 and optical image stabilization as well as three additional sensors. There is a 20-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 12-megapixel portrait sensor and an 8-megapixel zoom lens. The selfie camera has 20 megapixels.
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There is one word to describe most of the pictures taken on a sunny day with the Mi 10 Pro: Intense. If you are not a fan of high saturation, look away now, because the Mi 10 Pro is not afraid to intensify the shades of blue, green and red. The HDR is also strong, brings out details when the sky is cloudy and balances the environment well. It's not the most natural camera, but if you want photos you share to really catch your eye, it's set just right.
Browse through the camera app and there are many functions to try out. It can take 108 megapixel photos that are not as saturated as those taken with the standard camera and can be cropped without losing detail. I like the way you can switch from macro mode to wide, standard, 2x and 5x zoom in the viewfinder without looking for the macro mode setting, as is the case with other cameras. The large sensor also offers a nice, natural bokeh effect.
The zoom is decent, although there are significant dynamic and exposure differences with the 5x zoom. The actual test of the software takes place at 50 times the digital maximum. At this level, it can't come close to the Huawei P40 Pro, which surpasses it in detail and clarity and also has a much more stable viewfinder. Apart from that, the zoom takes good photos and is a lot of fun together with the wide angle of the camera.
I also like some of the software and modes. The filters from Xiaomi are particularly interesting. The sky filter actually turns cloudy skies into bright sunny skies and works incredibly effectively. The app itself is clear and quick to use, but it is quite complex and offers many functions that you need to keep an eye on. The gallery has a photo editor, but isn't as full as the Huawei or Apple app, or as effective as using an app like Snapseed.
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Standard unfiltered photo taken with the Mi 10 Pro - 2nd
Sky filter added to the Mi 10 Pro photo
Finally, the selfie camera takes good portraits with strong edge detection, but pay attention to the skin smoothing that always seems to be active regardless of whether the beauty mode is activated or not. I really enjoyed using the Mi 10 Pro's camera and found that the footage can be shared instantly without much editing. It's not as wonderfully nuanced or as incredibly powerful as the P40 Pro, but it will appeal to those who want a camera for Instagram.
Software and connectivity
Xiaomi has installed its own version of Android 10 – it's called MIUI, and this is version 11. Some may not like how you are forced to place apps on multiple home screens, such as: B. Apple's iOS. In fact, it's frustrating – twice because you have to turn on search in Settings or otherwise stare at screens full of app icons without finding what you want.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
This is only the first aspect that differs for those who come from a non-MIUI phone. The "Settings" menu is different, animations are not quite as smooth as, for example, the OneUI 2.0 from Samsung, and the helicopter view of open apps offers a different vertical list of maps and some quick start links. There are many customization options, and I like the way you can choose how you want the constantly active display to look. If you spend time making everything look and feel right, MIUI will be perfectly acceptable.
However, I have more problems here than with previous Xiaomi phones. Notifications are unreliable and I've missed various messages through the line app. I also connected the phone to a WearOS smartwatch and it had to be restarted every day to reconnect and send notifications. More astonishingly, the phone sometimes freaked out, got into a vibration loop, and refused to quit apps when it happened. On a more positive note, the calls were excellent and very clear, although I was unable to test 5G due to movement restrictions.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Ah, 5G. Now we find out why the price of the Mi 10 Pro has risen. This is the only important new feature we haven't seen on a Xiaomi flagship yet, and it's a costly addition. This is also no reason to buy the Mi 10 Pro. Currently 5G may not be available in your region, making it a feature for the future and of dubious value today.
MIUI can be frustrating, especially if you don't trust it to send notifications, but it's constantly improving and Xiaomi releases updates to the platform regularly. The software is probably the biggest downside to the Mi 10 Pro, mainly because of its unreliability.
Power and battery
The Mi 10 Pro has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset and a 5G modem with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB internal UFS3.0 storage space. It has a single SIM compartment and has no space for a microSD card. The battery has an enormous capacity of 4,500 mAh, 50 W quick charge and up to 30 W wireless charging. Here are the results of two benchmark apps:
Geekbench 5: 908 single-core / 3,168 multi-core
3DMark: 6.422 (volcano)
These values correspond approximately to those of the OnePlus 8 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus and the Oppo Find X2 Pro, which all have the same processor. I played Asphalt 9 Legends on the Mi 10 Pro for some time and the game never stalled and the sound really made it an exciting experience. The phone doesn't get hot either, as there is a multi-layer cooling system inside.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Although there are phones with larger batteries, the Mi 10 Pro makes extensive use of its 4,500 mAh cell. With moderate usage, I have two days without turning it off overnight, although adding a long video call (which is common now) and a few short voice calls resulted in the day ending with less than 10% remaining performance.
Price, guarantee and availability
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro costs 1,000 euros and was launched worldwide in mid-April. Availability is still limited as the phone is sold in China and some other locations around the world. A release in the UK has not been confirmed, although it is quite possible that the phone will be launched in Europe. For U.S. buyers, the only way is to import the phone.
If you buy it from, it will affect the warranty. Most reputable online import stores offer a guarantee, but may need to be returned for repair.
Our opinion
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro frustrates me. Everything I want is there, and Xiaomi is carefully adopting the most important 2020 trends, from the 90 Hz refresh rate to the versatile camera. But the software is not as good as it should be, especially for the price. After all, the inclusion of 5G (at the moment) is more an indication of the future than something that most can use today. Taken by themselves, most of these issues are minor issues, but combined with a price tag over $ 1,000, and the availability of better devices and things becomes more difficult. I was happy enough with the Mi 10 Pro, but I never felt like I wanted to go on forever, and that's the frustration – it's good but not good enough to get that price.
Is there a better alternative?
Yes. We recommend the Apple iPhone 11 Pro for $ 1,000, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus for $ 1,100 and the OnePlus 8 Pro for $ 900. Those in the UK should also check out the Oppo Find X2 Pro (£ 1,100). All of these phones have excellent cameras, screens, performance, and battery life.
How long it will take?
The Mi 10 Pro is well built and, as already mentioned, has survived a few falls. It also has IP68 water resistance, making it a relatively long-lasting smartphone. With 5G and the latest processor, the phone lasts many years before it is classified as "old". However, the software may be out of date before this time. Xiaomi is good at updating MIUI, but less at upgrading to a new version of Android.
Should you buy it
No, at least until Xiaomi updates the software to make it more reliable. The other big features are excellent, but the price puts them alongside very tough competition that doesn't all suffer from the same software annoyance.
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