Xiaomi Mi Note 10 review

Design

The Mi Note 10 represents the culmination of the dual-glass design as we know it. Whatever could have been rounded, curved, thinned, trimmed, or cut - has been done. And by those ideas combined, this is the Xiaomi Mi Note 10.

The Note 10 design is quite familiar, as you've probably guessed already, but there is one thing to the Note 10 that many others are lacking - symmetry. The Mi Note 10 has the same curved Gorilla Glass 5 panels on both its front and back. The aluminum frame has been trimmed a lot, but its sandblasted finish provides an a great grip.

The 6.47"AMOLED screen is curved - it's a 3D display, as Xiaomi calls it. Beside the curved edges, it's also got rounded corners, and a small waterdrop-shaped notch for the 32MP selfie camera.

We have never been fans of the curved screens as palm rejection is rarley steller. Surprisingly, we didn't have any issues with the Mi Note 10 except for when we opened the camera to take photos. Anyway, it's nothing a case can't fix.

Just above the OLED screen is one very thin earpiece grille. There is no visible screen enclosure - the glass ends, and the metal frame begins - which makes the Mi Note 10 look even more stunning.

Xiaomi brags with a new generation of the optical fingerprint scanner under the screen. It should be faster and more accurate than its previous version we met on the Mi 9T, and, well, it is just as advertised. It takes a bit longer to setup up, but the wait pays off in buckets - the thing is very fast, and we had few misreads attributed to wet or dirty finger tips.

The back of the Mi Note 10 looks a lot like the Mi 9's - it has a huge camera bump! It houses three of the five snappers - the 5x tele, the 2x tele, and the 108MP primary. Outside this arrangement, flush with the back are the 20MP ultrawide and the 2MP macro shooters.

There are two dual-LED flashes on the Mi Note 10, next to the camera hump. One has a clear frontn glass and it's brighter, while the other has a diffuser, and its light is much softer (and less blinding) for when you'd like to shoot portraits for instance.

We can understand the two flashes, but we can't figure why Xiaomi needed a macro cam - its ultrawide shooter has autofocus, and it is the one shooting macro videos, plus it can do closeup stills, too. We guess the 2MP imager is there for marketing reasons only, you know, a penta-camera is always better than a quad-camera. We will explore those in a minute.

You can imagine these two curved pieces of glass provide no grip whatsoever, but the metal frame makes up for this big time. Despite its longer sides are thin, they are just enough to make the phone stick in your hand and even without the case - there is a sense of security, and you will have a peace of mind.

All keys are on the right side of the said frame, as well as the dual-SIM card tray. The top has the IR blaster, as usual, while the bottom houses everything else - the loudspeaker, the USB-C port, the mouthpiece, and the audio jack.

Unfortunately, for a smartphone we praised for its symmetry, the design of the bottom is a bit disappointing. The USB and audio jack holes are not centered, not even in line with the speaker grille, and if you are after the meticulous attention to detail - the Mi Note 10 does not shine with that at its bottom.

Fitting such a big battery inside the phone has taken its toll on the phone's thickness and weight. The Mi Note 10 spreads at 157.8 x 74.2 x 9.7 mm and weighs 208 grams - 2mm thicker and 25g heavier than the Mi 9 (3300mAh battery), or 1mm thicker and 12g heavier than the Mi 9 Pro (4000mAh battery).

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is a bit heavy, sure, but it's not bulky at all, and we find its curves very attractive. The dual-curved dual-glass design is one of the most beautiful shapes a smartphone can have today, and we appreciate the grip provided by the frame. The Mi Note 10 is definitely among the better-executed smartphones.