Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra long-term review

26 November 2021


Sort by:

"The fine detail in leaves or grass, or the texture of a building's wall has a 'real camera', 'big sensor' look."

It's quite depressing that after all these sensor improvements in the last few years (both in terms of size and technology), only Xiaomi and Huawei seem to achieve this, to some extent.. while Apple, Google, Oppo/OnePlus/Vivo, or even companies who have past imaging experiences with dedicated cameras like Samsung and Sony treat their phones like cameras with tiny sensors and try to overprocess details in most situations.

    • D
    • AnonD-1014095
    • mXr
    • 27 Nov 2021

    Nick Tegrataker, 27 Nov 2021It's a good device with easily one of the best cameras... moreHe's trolling.

      • D
      • AnonD-1014095
      • mXr
      • 27 Nov 2021

      Love the bright Dartboard and colours.

        walkman8, 26 Nov 2021What's the point of excellent hardware if poor softwar... more"terrible night mode"
        What are you even talking about?

        "barel distortion corection does nothing to remedy the Effect"
        It is still being corrected significantly, and there's no UWA camera that is "too" wide - I, myself, prefer a 14-15mm equivalent field of view for a UWA camera, but I definitely see the appeal of wider/narrower lens.

        "Periscope video recording is unusable"
        From what I have seen on Youtube, the footage comes out just fine from the periscope lens, as long as you don't try shooting in 8K resolution (where EIS becomes least effective).

          Anonymous, 26 Nov 2021Why did you answer your own comment to disagree with it? It's called a "follow-up" comment, where you reply to your own comment to show that the initial comment still has additional content to be followed.

            Anonymous, 26 Nov 2021Overhyped phone with overhyped cameras. The power of marketing.It's a good device with easily one of the best cameras available on any smartphone, I don't see what's "overhyped" about it.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • TL%
              • 27 Nov 2021

              ypcx, 27 Nov 2021tried to order it order got cancelled due to unavailabilit... moreIt is sold out. Maybe wait for 12 Ultra.

                • y
                • ypcx
                • HB4
                • 27 Nov 2021

                tried to order it order got cancelled due to unavailability, so much for xiaomi this Year.

                  Kevin Spacey , 27 Nov 2021Samsung Galaxy dethroned for the first time... Absolutely!!! made me snap from my decade old tendency of sticking to Galaxy flagships.
                  I actually bought the S21 Ultra (Exynos only here in Europe), but then returned it in favor of waiting for the MI 11 Ultra.
                  I only paid 980€ for 12/256gb Ceramic white version. I managed to save a couple of hundred bucks by avoiding the global variant. Totally worth it!!!

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • tZ0
                    • 27 Nov 2021

                    mkreku, 27 Nov 2021I bought a Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra back in April, a few weeks af... moreThose 'critics' still can't accept that Mi 11 Ultra can be better overall than Samsung S21 Ultra in photography. Therefore they will look for anything, no matter how insignificant, to validate that their S21 Ultra is better. Some even went as far as accusing GSMarena of being biased.

                      • J
                      • JZA
                      • PUr
                      • 27 Nov 2021

                      STREET PUPPY, 26 Nov 2021Pics from periscope are oil painting. If you zoom past 30x the quality starts to degrade but you can take pretty great photos up to about 30x. If I could post photos here I would give you some examples where I climbed to the top of a small mountain near my house and then took photos at 1x, 5x, 10x, 20x, 30x and 60x looking at my house and the quality was phenomenal up to about 30x. The 120x zoom is quite useful as a tool to see stuff from a distance. I have tested it for reading signs or registration plates that I can't see with my eyes but when you zoom 120x on this phone it makes it easily readable. So even though the 120x zoom isn't useful for photos, it's certainly a useful tool.

                        • T
                        • Terms and conditions
                        • M0x
                        • 27 Nov 2021

                        [deleted post]Yeah it is indeed an uncomfortable brick to hold. Checked it out in the store before deciding.
                        The 13 pro was relatively compact but it had a smaller screen.

                        Problem is lack of choice on iOS. This is why I love Android.
                        I wanted a fully loaded flagship with large screen, without the device being too bulky or heavy.

                        The iPhone 13 pro Max, S21 Ultra, Mi 11 Ultra are all too heavy and bulky.
                        This is why Vivo X70 pro plus was the best option.
                        Lighter and more compact compared to rest of the bricks without compromising on display size.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • p%S
                          • 27 Nov 2021

                          shethsa, 26 Nov 2021It's a great phone but my SOT barely stretches to 6 hr... moreTry dialing the resolution down to 1080p+ and keep the refresh rate at 120hz to get better battery life.
                          Snapdragon 888 has reduced battery life on all flagships by around 1hr SOT this year.
                          Pixel 6 pro and Vivo X70 pro plus have a similar battery life. No point in changing.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • asM
                            • 27 Nov 2021

                            AnonD-994853, 27 Nov 2021Phone of the year so far in all areas except brand and soft... moreWhat do you mean by brand?
                            Xiaomi is no.1 in Europe.

                              • K
                              • Kevin Spacey
                              • asM
                              • 27 Nov 2021

                              Samsung Galaxy dethroned for the first time...

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • p$1
                                • 27 Nov 2021

                                AnonD-994853, 27 Nov 2021Phone of the year so far in all areas except brand and soft... moreNo phone is bug free.
                                It's already the phone of the year according to mrwhosetheboss with his honorable mentions being Galaxy S21 Ultra and Vivo X70 pro plus.
                                Do you think he'll give this the winner if software was an issue??
                                Did you forget that Gsmarena called miui the smoothest experience??

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-994853
                                  • Kx9
                                  • 27 Nov 2021

                                  Phone of the year so far in all areas except brand and software (if u are lucky to not get bug then this is not a problem)

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 3dv
                                    • 27 Nov 2021

                                    Anonymous, 26 Nov 2021Best of all. This device gets security patches only every ... moreStill Doesnt stop it from being the best Flagship phone of the year

                                      DMX, 26 Nov 2021This thing still costs a thousand dollars? After almost a ... moreYou people are funny... If the device drops in price after a few months, you'll blame it for not having any resale value. You guys will say things like.....Android phones drop half in price after a year... Blah... Blah!!!
                                      Now when the price hasn't dropped, you still complaining???

                                      This is a premium device.
                                      Although the person reviewing this phone suggests saving money and going for S21 Ultra or pixel 6 Pro for its easy availability, they are full of compromises.
                                      S21 ultra has downclocked performance and pixel processor is straight up trash, giving mid range performance because of overheating and thermal throttling. Both are slow charging phones with one ui being less smoother than Xiaomi's buttery smooth interface.

                                      MI is asking premium price for premium device, nothing wrong in it. With pixel 6 Pro and S21 Ultra....you get what you pay for (cheap at cheaper price)

                                        AresinUAE, 26 Nov 2021Design-wise, this is indeed a premium-looking phone an it d... morePhotos on S21 ultra are not even among top 5 camera on smartphones.

                                        Here's Gsmarena in their starting line of camera section:

                                        "Now, we've come to the meat of this phone. The cameras are what keep me using the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra and not going back to the Galaxy S21 Ultra or switching to an iPhone or a Pixel."

                                          12 of 14