Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G review

Camera performance

The Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite features the same 64MP main sensor with f/1.9 aperture as the vanilla Mi 10T. The sensor itself is quite big, measuring 1/1.73" in size and offering 0.8µm pixels. Since it's a Quad-Bayer sensor, combining four adjacent pixels into one, the effective pixel size ends up being 1.6µm, and the actual image resolution is 16MP.

For its ultra-wide snapper, Xiaomi has downgraded from 13MP on the vanilla and the Pro to 8MP - an ordinary mid-range camera for ultra-wide stills. The aperture is f/2.2, while the size of the sensor is 1/4.0" with 1.12µm pixels. The field-of-view is rather impressive, promising a 120˚ viewing angle, although that means it's falling short by 3 degrees compared to the Mi 10T and 10T Pro.

The dedicated macro camera has also been downgraded from 5MP to 2MP, having the same f/2.4 aperture, though. For reasons unknown, there's a fourth camera for depth sensing - something missing on the other Mi 10Ts.

Camera menus

The new MIUI 12 default camera app is super easy and straightforward. Most of the important additional settings are found in the so-called hamburger menu accessible from the camera viewfinder. Swiping left and right cycles through the camera modes.

Camera menus

You can also re-arrange the camera modes from there because the Night mode, for example, is hidden in the More tab. Oh, and to our surprise, the Macro mode is in the hamburger menu in the standard Photo mode. We guess the dedicated macro camera isn't getting its own camera mode.

Daylight sample

Main camera

The photos by the main camera have nice colors, and the level of detail is good even though sharpness isn't up to snuff. The HDR algorithm is doing a good job of balancing out shadows and highlights. Noise is kept to a minimum and can only be seen in uniform areas.

Main camera daylight samples

When light is not as strong, as in our indoor shots below, the rendition of the detail can be a bit mushy.

Main camera daylight samples

2x zoom

Since there's no dedicated telephoto camera, the phone crops out from the main 64MP sensor. The results don't look tack sharp upon close examination, but they are quite good overall and would work okay for social media posting and viewing on the smartphone's screen.

2x zoom daylight samples

Ultra-wide camera

Just like the zoom mode, the ultra-wide camera mode tends to go for the warmer look. But we also had some issues with the dynamic range as often white buildings are clipped. Sharpness and detail aren't the best ones around either. Noise is visible, edge softness and color fringing are a frequent sighting, which is understandable given the 8MP resolution. Most, if not all, similarly-priced midrangers offer the same ultra-wide camera performance.

Ultra-wide daylight samples

The lens correction algorithm is doing a pretty fine job, though. Even buildings that are close to the edge don't look as distorted.

Macro camera

Since the phone uses a popular 2MP sensor for macro photography, we already knew what to expect. Also, the absence of autofocus makes capturing a clear photo quite the challenge. However, the macro samples are sharp enough, the colors are nice, and the detail is satisfactory given the camera's resolution. The noise may be a bit too much in some sub-optimal lighting scenarios, though.

Macro samples

Low-light samples

Main camera

When it comes to low-light photography, the phone isn't exceptional, but it does perform as one would expect given the price point. Noise is aplenty, but the detail is relatively well-preserved. Don't expect too much in terms of sharpness too. In those rare cases where the noise suppression algorithm reduced the noise, the detail is smeared away. Anyway, the noise can be seen easily only in the dark areas of the image and the sky.

Low-light main camera samples

Light sources can often blow up, but unlike during the day, the color temperature and colors are rather accurate. Since the contrast is good, we suspect that the software often goes for a brighter exposure clipping the highlights but revealing plenty of detail in the shadows.

Main camera Night mode

Capturing a photo with the Night mode turned on takes a couple of seconds and a few more to process and save the picture. It's definitely worth it, though. You get a clearer overall picture with less noise, a little bit of added sharpness, more balanced highlights, and shadows. The amount of detail is higher, too, despite the cleaner overall look of the scene. Eliminating the noise while conserving fine detail and sharpness is no easy task.

Night mode

We really liked how the sky has cleared up, and the neon signs and street lamps look well-contained. We strongly recommend using the Night mode in pretty much all low-light situations, even in the brighter scenes.

2x zoom

It's a good thing the Night mode is available for 2x zoom and ultra-wide photos. Both modes leave a lot to be desired, but we will touch on the ultra-wide camera later.

Low-light 2x zoom samples: Normal vs. Night mode

As you'd expect, cropping from the primary camera in low-light scenes rarely produces any satisfactory results. The issues we had with the primary camera during the night become more apparent here. Luckily, the Night mode improves the photos' overall quality quite a bit, and shots can even become usable if you keep them on your phone for show and tell. Still, don't expect too much.

Ultra-wide camera

Using the standard photo mode for ultra-wide snaps produces muddy, almost out of focus-looking scenes. Noise can be seen from afar, lights are clipped, and there's barely any detail in the shadows.

Low-light ultra-wide samples: Normal vs. Night mode

However, the Night mode can turn most of those unusable images into half-decent shots. The noise is cleared up, and the fine detail that was previously missing makes its way out of the shadows. Light sources look better too. It's still pretty hard to take a good shot at night using the ultra-wide camera.

Done with the pixel-peeping? Care for some more? Take a look at the Mi 10T Lite compared to some of its rivals in our photo compare tool.

Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G vs Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite and the Realme 7 Pro in our Photo compare tool

Portraits

In portrait mode, the phone gets the skin tone right, captures quite a bit of detail, and the subject's face is always well-exposed. The edge detection seems to be having a hard time with some complex haircuts, but it's otherwise pretty convincing. Notice in the second sample how the objects in front of our human subject are blurred out, too. This one particular scene had sub-optimal lighting, too, hence why the subject's face and clothes lack sharpness and fine detail.

Portrait samples

Selfies

The selfie performance seems to be adequate, to say the least. We find the photos detailed enough as well as sufficiently sharp. The subject's face is always well-exposed and matches the natural skin tone too. In fact, colors are usually accurate in general. Our only complaint would be the noise, which worsens even if the light drops just a little. Sharpness seems to suffer from sub-optimal lighting a bit too much, but it's to be expected.

Selfie samples

The selfie portrait mode is a bit rough around the edges, as expected, but it looks rather convincing if the background isn't too complex.

Selfie portrait samples

Video recording

The phone's recording capabilities cap at 2160p@30fps but without EIS. If you want stabilization, you must go for the 1080p@30fps or 1080p@60fps option.

Now, in terms of quality, the device can record some good-looking videos. The sample below has good contrast, nice colors, and a wide dynamic range. The noise is barely visible on the asphalt and grass. We find the exposure a bit off, though, as the buildings in the distance are clipped.

Since the ultra-wide sensor lacks the resolution needed for 4K video recording, it can only go up to 1080p. As expected, the results aren't impressive. There's a bit of grain, and it's rather soft. Interestingly enough, we found the exposure metering a tad better as the white buildings in the distance aren't clipped.

As already mentioned, video stabilization is available only in 1080p mode, so you have to trade some overall quality when doing handheld videos. See the difference in the two videos below. The 1080p stabilization is much-preferred when recording videos while walking. The EIS itself, on the other hand, looks pretty good.

After you are done with the real-world examples, go take a look at how the Mi 10T Lite stacks against some of the alternatives on the market in our video compare tool.

4K: Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G vs Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite and the Realme 7 Pro in our Video compare tool