Xiaomi Mi 360 Home Security Camera

Tom's Guide Verdict

Although Xiaomi has taken the Mi eleven to the max with this Ultra handset's excellent photography, extra display and rapid charging, we need to know the price before we empathise how proficient (or bad) it truly is.

Pros

+
Beautiful brandish
+
Outstanding cameras
+
67W wired or wireless charging

Cons

-
No U.S. availability
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More expensive than the standard Mi xi
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Poor battery life

As far equally "ultra" phones go, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is hard to comprehend. Its monolithic design, enormous cameras, stunning display and secondary rear display give it an unmistakable look — 1 that shows Xiaomi means business when it sets its sights on taking downwards its Samsung, OnePlus and Apple rivals.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra: Specs

Starting cost: TBA
Display: six.81-inch QHD AMOLED (3200 x 1440)
Refresh rate: Adaptive, 30Hz/60Hz/90Hz/120Hz
Rear display: i.ane-inch AMOLED (126 10 294)
Rear cameras: 50MP principal (f/1.95), 48MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 48MP telephoto (5x optical zoom, 120x max zoom, f/4.1)
Front camera: 20MP (f/2.ii)
Chipset: Snapdragon 888
RAM: 12GB
Storage: 256GB
Battery: 5,000mAh
Charging: 67W wired, 67W wireless, 10W reverse wireless
Operating system: Android 11 with MIUI 12
Size: half dozen.46 x two.93 10 0.33 inches (164.3 x 74.6 x eight.38mm)
Weight: 8.25 ounces (234g)
Water/dust resistance: IP68

Those specs aren't just for ticking boxes either. All of them work likewise every bit you'd expect, with a few, such equally the QHD resolution, 120Hz panel, zippy 67W charging or the telephoto camera, offer course-leading performance.

However, this model's ultimate fate rests on how much Xiaomi wants to accuse for information technology. The basic Xiaomi Mi 11 is already a great value, and uses several identical parts to the Mi 11 Ultra, so arguably the Ultra could be also expensive for its own proficient. However, with careful pricing, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra could make itself the most accessible ultimate smartphone around.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Toll and release date

We know that the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra volition exist coming to the U.Thousand, though it volition skip the U.South., given Xiaomi's ongoing dispute with the U.S. government over declared risks to national security.

Xiaomi has yet to name a engagement and toll for the U.K. version of the Mi xi Ultra. Given the basic Xiaomi Mi eleven costs £749, merely a niggling less than the £769 Galaxy S21 or £829 OnePlus ix Pro, it follows that the Ultra version would price well over £one,000, perhaps similar to the £1,149 Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and £1,099 iPhone 12 Pro Max.

However, the price of the Ultra in Republic of india, the only market place with an announced cost so far, gives us hope. At seventy,000 rupees (opens in new tab), the Mi xi Ultra costs less than a Galaxy S21 Plus, and the same as a OnePlus 9 Pro. We can't account for how regional differences will affect that price when it comes to the U.K., but if Xiaomi can beget to sell the Mi eleven Ultra for less than £1,000,, it would undercut its rivals significantly, and become an incredible bargain for the hardware information technology offers, fifty-fifty accounting for the already cheap Mi xi.

Xiaomi Mi eleven Ultra review: Design

You might mistake the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra for the basic Mi 11 from the front. The curved punch-hole display looks smart, but it's indistinct from both other Mi eleven models and other Android phones.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Flip the phone over, and everything changes. You're immediately drawn to the huge rectangular camera bump that stretches almost the entire width of the telephone, and the summit third of the back. The three large camera openings await foreboding, and that'south non to mention the secondary rear display sat to their right.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra comes with a tough ceramic torso, in either black or white. I prefer the white version since it helps the camera bumps stand out even more than, just both colors look elegant and the Mi 11 Ultra should shrug off scratches meliorate than a glass- or plastic-backed phone.

(Image credit: Tom'southward Guide )

Both the front and dorsum of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra curve into the metal side rails, which makes it fit surprisingly well into your mitt and comfortable to apply even with just one hand. Yous'll notice the weight of this phone the moment yous pick it up, though.

At more 8 ounces, the Mi 11 Ultra is heavier than the Galaxy S21 Ultra or the iPhone 12 Pro Max, though I didn't find it tough to utilize over long periods. What did get a footling annoying however was how easy it is to snag the Mi eleven Ultra's large camera bump on a jeans pocket, stopping yous from putting the phone away equally effortlessly as you're likely used to.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Brandish

Xiaomi has equipped the Mi 11 Ultra with an exquisite display. The 6.81-inch AMOLED panel comes consummate with a QHD resolution and a 120HZ maximum refresh rate and has a subtle curve on all four edges to make information technology easier to hold.

If you lot prioritize battery life over refresh rate and resolution, Xiaomi has made information technology like shooting fish in a barrel to tone down these settings. You can gear up the brandish to an FHD resolution instead, and the 120Hz resolution can dynamically calibration downwardly to 90Hz, 60Hz or 30Hz if the content y'all're looking at won't exist hurt by a lower refresh rate.

Watching the Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings trailer to try out the Mi eleven Ultra's display, I was non disappointed. The floating water furnishings, neon lights and burning hot bract that all announced at various points in the trailer all looked fantastic, merely equally I watched the teaser for the next installment of the MCU, I had a nagging thought — the Mi 11 Ultra's display is a scrap underwhelming. It'southward the verbal same equally the one on the Mi 11, which is far cheaper to purchase.

That ways despite the display being one of the Xiaomi Mi xi Ultra's all-time features, the screen is non a good enough reason to pay up for this phone on its ain.

Xiaomi Mi eleven Ultra review: Rear display

The displays don't finish with the Xiaomi Mi xi Ultra'southward 6.81-inch main display. The dorsum of the phone features a secondary 1.1-inch panel, nearly the size of a fitness band's screen. You'll find the secondary display within the photographic camera bump, and it's ane of the Mi 11 Ultra's signature features. Unfortunately, the display offers surprisingly limited functionality.

With the phone locked, the rear panel acts every bit a miniature always-on display when yous tap it, showing you the time, date, battery level and whether y'all have notifications. When the phone's open, yous can employ the rear screen every bit a preview window for the rear cameras, assuasive your subjects to come across themselves earlier yous hit the shutter push button. Unfortunately, y'all can only enable this when in normal photograph mode, not when taking portrait mode shots.

Both of these are practical applications for a secondary display, putting united states in listen of how the foldable Samsung Galaxy Z Flip or Motorola Razr apply their mini external displays. I can't say I'm convinced this is going to be the next hot trend in smartphone blueprint though — it feels too low-cal on features to arrive worth adding a second screen. Plus the Xiaomi Mi eleven Ultra's rear panel is very dim. Any above-average amount of light makes it incommunicable to read, particularly from extreme angles.

Xiaomi Mi xi Ultra review: Cameras

The Mi 11 Ultra aims for camera quality over quantity, offering just three rear sensors. The ones that are in that location feature impressive specs. The principal photographic camera uses a 50MP sensor, with the ultrawide and telephoto cameras both featuring 48MP sensors. The telephoto camera, as text on the back of the phone reminds you, is capable of 120x zoom, although you'll be meliorate off sticking to its 5x optical or 10x hybrid zoom levels instead.

The Mi 11 Ultra'southward front end camera has a 20MP sensor, but information technology well-nigh doesn't need to be there. The secondary display allows all the rear cameras to exist practically used for selfies.

To put the Mi 11 Ultra through its paces, I compared information technology with shots taken past the iPhone 12 Pro, one of the best photographic camera phones around. In this first comparison of the phones' master cameras, I took a shot of the London Centre that turns out to be a narrow win for the iPhone. The Mi 11 Ultra's prototype is oddly dark, while the iPhone manages to capture the sky merely as well every bit information technology recreates the item of the Heart'southward construction.

In a slightly darker surround still, the Mi 11 pulls ahead. See how the colors of the leaves and grass in the sunken foursquare of Paddington Cardinal are much richer than that of the iPhone's shot, plus how the Mi 11 Ultra still manages to capture the sky without the lite blowing out the color.

Withal when it's a proper nighttime fashion shot, I think the iPhone has the edge. The Mi 11 Ultra's image of the Euston Station war memorial is brighter but fails to capture the color of the heaven or the street lamp light cast on the stonework in quite the aforementioned way every bit the iPhone.

Switching to the ultrawide sensor, the Mi 11 Ultra'due south larger sensor has produced a brighter image that also retains the particular of the light playing on the metal installation and concrete span in a higher place. However it is more evidently distorted than the iPhone's image, which looks all right overall.

The Mi 11 Ultra'due south strongest photos come from its telephoto lens. Xiaomi'due south phone has one of the largest, highest resolution sensors combined with a powerful periscope zoom, and so it's unsurprising to see that information technology takes a clearer epitome at 2x zoom than the iPhone's 2x optical zoom lens does.

Even increasing to 10x zoom, the Mi 11 Ultra still keeps the Elizabeth Tower, a.1000.a. Big Ben, looking sharp, fifty-fifty from the other side of the River Thames.

The maximum 120x zoom is impressive, as you can see below. However it's non a good quality image, and I constitute it hard to aim without a tripod due to the subtle movements of your paw causing the view to bob and weave.

The last test is to await at how the selfie camera performs. Nosotros see the Mi 11 Ultra'due south prototype is not as saturated, and has a more subtle bokeh result in the background. While I prefer how I look in the shot from the Xiaomi phone, the iPhone's done a better job with the background.

I as well tried taking a selfie using the rear display and the Xiaomi's chief camera. This was fairly easy to manage on the Mi 11 Ultra, and resulted in the highest resolution selfie I've e'er taken.

It's this kind of shot, forth with the telephoto camera, that sets the Mi xi Ultra apart from all other flagship phones. Even the images where I picked the iPhone version as the improve one, in that location was nothing actually wrong with the shot from the Xiaomi. Information technology seems condom to say the Mi 11 Ultra has earned the right to its colossal photographic camera bump.

Xiaomi Mi eleven Ultra review: Performance

Xiaomi has shoehorned a Snapdragon 888, 12GB RAM and 256GB storage into the Mi xi Ultra. There aren't many phones with better specs, so you can rest bodacious the Mi 11 Ultra will handle any app or game you want to run on it.

On the Geekbench 5 app that measures general performance, the Mi 11 Ultra posted a single-cadre result of 1,136 points, and a multicore score of 3,724. That'south slightly ahead of the OnePlus 9 Pro (one,126 and 3,685) and the Samsung Milky way S21 Ultra (i,123 and 3,440), but still a ways off the iPhone 12 Pro Max (1,603 and four,111) and its all-conquering A14 Bionic chipset.

Moving to the 3DMark graphic benchmark and its Wild Life Unlimited test, and the Mi 11 Ultra scored 5,617 points and managed an boilerplate of 33.8 frames per second. Comparing to the same phones as before, the OnePlus 9 Pro and S21 Ultra trounce information technology (5,755 and 34.5fps, 5,739 and 34.37fps) every bit does the iPhone 12 Pro Max (9,113, 54fps).

I tested the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra'south performance for myself by playing Mario Kart Tour, and I didn't observe the performance gap between this Xiaomi device and the other phones. The game plays excellently, and Xiaomi's Game Turbo software streamlines the phone'south performance to make certain you go the best from the device, and tin can play without being disturbed.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Bombardment and charging

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is fitted with a five,000 mAh battery, a hefty power pack for most phones. The Mi xi Ultra'southward battery is unique in that it uses nano silicon oxide, which allows it to stuff the same chapters into a smaller footprint compared to a traditional lithium-ion smartphone bombardment.

I drained the bombardment with my informal YouTube binge-watching test, and after half-dozen hours of not-stop video, the Mi eleven Ultra had gone from 100% charge to 64% accuse. Equally you'd expect from a telephone with 2 screens, the chief one being amongst the best currently on offer on any phone, the battery life takes a severe knock. Even with the phone saturday on my desk with the ever-on display enabled,

Impressively, you can charge at the same 67W speed with a wired or wireless connection, assuming you have the right plug and Xiaomi's sold-separately charging stand. While y'all volition become the wired charging cake in the Mi eleven'southward box, sadly Xiaomi was unable to provide us with either of these for testing. Its own figures claim that charging with one of these fills the phone 100% full in only 36 minutes. That beats both the Galaxy S21 Ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro, neither of which come arranged with chargers. Nevertheless, the latest OnePlus nine flagships can pull off the same feat while taking a few minutes less, due to their dual-cell iv,500 mAh battery designs.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Software

The MIUI 12 spin on Android eleven is a good i, so we're glad Xiaomi kept this interface for the Mi 11 Ultra. Xiaomi has successfully balanced the straightforward stock Android feel with its own sectional features, such as floating windows, e'er-on displays, and an attractive await with nicely animated transitions.

The but new feature worth mentioning is the options menu for the rear display, found inside the special features section on the Xiaomi Mi eleven Ultra. It allows you to pick whether the display shows a clock, signature or image, what color it uses, which notifications show, if yous want to turn it on with a double-tap and how long information technology stays on for before disappearing. You can also disable it completely, which seems like a waste product of 1 of the phone'southward biggest features.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: Verdict

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is a powerful phone that's either going to be the smartphone deal of the twelvemonth or repakcage what the Xiaomi Mi 11 already offers. Because of how generous Xiaomi was with the basic Mi 11, which shares the same main display and chipset while still offer competent photography, the Mi eleven Ultra offers less additional value to the Mi 11 compared to what a Galaxy S21 Ultra offers on elevation of a base Galaxy S21, for example. Therefore, Xiaomi will brand or suspension the Mi eleven Ultra based on how much it charges for the new telephone.

This is a moot point for U.S. users, who still have to await at other phones by default, such every bit the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra or OnePlus 9 Pro. U.Thou. users however could find themselves in one of two worlds. If Xiaomi sells the Mi 11 Ultra for around the £i,000 mark like the Indian retail price suggests, then nosotros will exist offered an Android phone with iPhone-rivalling photograph quality, two displays and some of the fastest charging speeds around for the price of a mid-level Samsung flagship. Information technology would be difficult to deny the Mi 11 Ultra a spot on our all-time camera phones or overall best phones guides if this comes to laissez passer.

However if Xiaomi follows the example of the S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max and charges around £1,200, and then the Mi eleven Ultra becomes an overgrown Mi 11 that doesn''t offer the extra £400 to £500 of value. In this instance, it's still a bully phone, but one that gets outshone by the nearly identical Xiaomi Mi eleven.

If yous're convinced of the utility of the extra display, the 67W charging and the ability of the rear cameras, and so buy a Mi 11 Ultra, you lot won't find these features replicated anywhere else any time before long. Most users in the market for a premium phone might want to wait though, in example we live in the timeline where Xiaomi is about to drop the best value flagship telephone of the yr.

Richard is a Tom's Guide staff writer based in London, roofing news, reviews and how-tos for phones, gaming, audio and whatever else people need advice on. Post-obit on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.Chiliad., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he'southward likely thinking about how to brew the perfect loving cup of specialty coffee.