Xiaomi Mi Note 10 long-term review

Conclusion

The Mi Note 10 is really tough to evaluate, because it reminds us of the concept of a crossover in the car world, at least when that started to arrive many years ago. Here's a device that defies the norms we've gotten used to, and thus is hard to describe in one word. Flagship? No. Flagship killer? No. Mid-range? No. So what is it then?

Well, for starters it's a unique handset for Xiaomi, because for all of the company's talk about focusing on cameras more in the past, it's never really made a statement quite as big as the Mi Note 10 in that regard. This is Xiaomi's best phone ever in terms of cameras, by a long shot.

It takes very good pictures in all conditions, but where it truly excels is in versatility, provided by the five shooters on its rear. You got your usual wide (regular in smartphone terms), ultrawide, and 2x zoom, but then there's also a 5x zoom snapper, as well as a dedicated macro cam. That last one may sound like it was only included to take the final camera tally up to five, but in our use it has actually been useful on occassion. It can create a very unique perspective for shots of food or flowers, for example.

So the Mi Note 10 is a clear success when you only look at it from this point of view. It's proof that Xiaomi has finally gotten serious about cameras. Just consider that this is the same company that as recently as last year didn't have OIS on any lens of its flagship device, and now this model has OIS on two rear cams.

The Mi Note 10 is also a success in other ways - the battery is huge and the battery life very good (even if we were expecting even more, we really can't complain), the screen is of great quality, the build is outstanding, MIUI 11 is a breath of fresh air designwise, compared to its predecessor (while still not being a huge departure).

And yet. The mid-range chipset and software work together to create a user experience that is just slower than what most flagship devices offer you these days. It's consistently slower, but at least there are no random lags or stutters or freezes. As an aside, it's strange that this phone is still on Android 9 Pie, many months after the outing of Android 10, and that it's stuck on an old security patch level. The Mi Note 10 is also quite heavy and big, so handling it might prove uncomfortable for people with all but the largest of hands. On the other hand, if for you heft equals quality, then this will feel like even more of a premium device.

So we can judge the Mi Note 10 as a flagship, and then it falls short - as in, it's not a full package in that respect. We can judge it as a mid-ranger, and then it pretty much tops all of the charts - but it's Xiaomi's most expensive mid-ranger ever, and affordability has always been a huge part of the brand's mass appeal.

In the end perhaps the best strategy is to just lay aside those traditional evaluations and look at the Mi Note 10 by itself, without trying to make it fit into any predetermined category, because it doesn't. It's a great camera phone, with the most flexible rear setup we've seen yet. It has very good battery life. It has a good quality screen, but it's 60Hz and this is likely to become a bigger and bigger downside as this year progresses. It runs an old version of Android still, but with the newest iteration of MIUI. It looks like a flagship, it shoots like a flagship, but it performs like a mid-ranger. It's priced above a traditional Xiaomi mid-ranger though.

Hence, the Mi Note 10 is a sum of contradictions. It's one of the most intriguing phones of 2019, not in spite of all this, but because of it. And despite its price, it may just be the cheapest way to get your hands on a camera system that good - unless you can find a very good deal on a Huawei or Samsung from last year.

So you don't buy the Mi Note 10 because you just want a mid-ranger. There are plenty of good ones out there that are cheaper, including from Xiaomi's sub-brands. And you don't buy this because you want an all-out, no holds barred flagship either, even if it does have a lot of elements of such a phone.

The Mi Note 10 is for those people who don't see the lack of a top of the line chipset as a deal breaker, but at the same time can't live without top notch cameras and want to spend as little as currently possible for that. We're not sure if the suddenly resurrected Mi Note line will continue to be all about experimentation in the future, but the Mi Note 10 definitely feels like one of the most interesting concepts of 2019 in the mobile world, even if you're not likely to have thought of it that way.