Shiomi's Mi 11 5G was launched worldwide in January, when it arrived in Israel through the official importer Hamilton, only in June.
5-6 months in terms of the cellular world is an eternity, especially with the Chinese companies, which take care of launching sequels, sub-models and other different and weird versions at a very fast pace.
Despite all this, the Mi 11 is an interesting smartphone, which should be an alternative to the flagship devices of Samsung, OnePlus, realme and Oppo.
It comes with a relatively standard price tag for flagship devices - NIS 3,000, the same as the launch price of the OnePlus 9 and even more expensive than the Galaxy S21 which was sold at the time for NIS 2,850.
Design: Shiomi Mi 11 - glossy glass body
The Mi 11 comes in three colors: blue, black and white.
I got the white version, which was glossy and slightly silver, which gave the device a shiny look.
The Mi 11 has a glass body, the front features the latest Gorilla Glass Victus glass coating and the back has a Gorilla Glass 5, in addition to an aluminum frame.
This is a smartphone that feels and looks good in the hand, even though its weight is noticeable - 196 grams.
The Mi 11 has no water resistance, at least not officially.
Screen: Shiomi Mi 11 - an excellent screen that slides to the sides
As befits a flagship smartphone, the Mi11 comes with a 6.81-inch screen in high-quality AMOLED technology.
The screen itself slides slightly to the sides, for a more enveloping experience.
We find here a 1440 by 3200 pixel resolution (WQHD Plus) with a high image refresh rate of 120 Hz, which creates smooth motion when navigating the interface and also supports the HDR 10 Plus standard for viewing appropriate content and strong 1500-light backlight at its peak.
Shiomi has also incorporated in the software, all sorts of enhancements that will upgrade the image through artificial intelligence.
For example, identifying objects in an image and dynamically adjusting the effects on the display or enhancing HDR with artificial intelligence that reveals more details in the lighter and darker areas.
All this creates a very successful image, which competes with the display quality of the best flagship devices on the market.
Interface: Shiomi Mi 11 - minor bugs and photo editing capabilities
There is no difference in the MIUI 12.5 interface and the Android 11 operating system that come in this model, compared to other models of the company that I tested in the other months. This is a colorful interface where there is an app drawer, no built-in call recording on the device and no WiFi calling. I liked less that access to the control center is separated from the notification panel. This means that in order to see the alerts, you have to slide from the top left of the screen and in order to reach the connectivity buttons, you have to slide from the top right. I also had an annoying bug on the lock screen (which already appeared on my Redmi Note 10), which constantly displayed a "no service" indication, however when opening the device lock, full or partial reception appears on the left side. Another strange phenomenon exists in the "perpetual display" mode, which is supposed to display the clock and indicator on the alerts regularly in standby mode, but for some reason in Shiomi it disappears after a few seconds.
Shiomi has also incorporated various image editing features into the device, such as removing objects that appear in the background, duplicating people or cinematic effects in video photography, including Parallel World where the photographed character touches itself when it appears from the ceiling or Magic Zoom where the background behind the object approaches.
Hardware: Mi 11 - 5th generation, under-screen fingerprint sensor and weird Bluetooth
No surprises with the Mi 11, it's a fast smartphone that comes with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 processor, which supports 5th generation cellular networks. The model I reviewed came with 8 GB of working memory and 128 GB of storage (without the ability to expand).
Shiomi has integrated a LiquidCool 2.0 cooling system here, which has managed to keep the device at a low temperature.
Also, there is NFC here for physical payment with the phone in stores and affordable stereo speakers.
I had something strange with the Bluetooth device (5.2), it made a faint sound when listening with wireless headphones.
When I connected the same headphones to another smartphone, I got a significantly stronger volume.
Camera: Mi 11 - 108 megapixel photo sensor
The photography category has an array of 3 sensors: 108 megapixels with optical image stabilization, autofocus and f / 1.9 aperture key, 13 megapixel sensor for wide-angle photography with 123 degrees with f / 2.4 and 5 megapixel macro sensor with f / 2.4.
Shiomi knows the work and the resulting images are successful, clean and sharp, but they still did not feel to me at the level of competing flagship devices.
In closed places, even in daylight, the deficit and lack of sharpness were felt, although in night shooting mode the resulting performance is very good, when the image feels very bright and clean.
Photo: Tzachi Hoffman
For zoom enthusiasts, the Mi 11 does not include an optical zoom, but it does offer a dual digital zoom 2 in the shooting interface.
The selfie camera comes with a 20 megapixel sensor with f / 2.2.
This camera has a tendency to smear the face clearly, in order to smooth them out.
I did not really like it.
Also, night photography in a well-lit place comes out too grainy, so overall you get a medium-minus-selfie camera here.
Battery: Shiomi Mi 11 - 15 minutes charging - 41% energy
The battery in this model comes with a capacity of 4600 mAh and it manages to provide a full working day.
For me after a day that started from seven and a half in the morning until midnight, there was still 34% energy left with a screen time of close to 3.5 hours.
The Mi 11 has a successful charging rate of 41% energy in a quarter of an hour.
This charging is done thanks to the fast charger - 55 watts included in the kit.
It also has a fast wireless charge - 50 watts, which according to Shiomi is able to fully charge within 53 minutes.
I have not yet tried it.
By the way, if you want to share your battery with others, you can do so using a reverse wireless charging (10 watts).
Price: NIS 3,000 (for 8 GB / 128 GB version, Hamilton official importer, two years warranty)
Bottom line, the Mi 11 arrived in the country very late, so if you are interested in purchasing it, the prominence among the variety of flagship devices that came out after it will be great.
This is a good smartphone with a not very high price tag in relation to the category.
Shiomi has various software issues that it needs to solve in its interface (does not always work well with Android Auto in the car) or the lack of WiFi Calling for those for whom this feature is important.
On the other hand, the screen is excellent, the device looks good, the processing power is fast and the battery shows not bad performance with very fast charging.
The review was originally published on TheGadgetreviews
