I spent a week with Xiaomi Mi 10. Two delight and two disappointments

It's been a week since I took Xiaomi Mi 10 out of the box for the first time, but we still have a week to start selling in stores, so instead of rushing with the review, I will tell you about two things that already delighted me and two that already disappointed.

Xiaomi fans are used to the fact that the company's top devices cost very reasonable money, even when competitors price their products much higher. This year, however, Xiaomi almost equaled the price with the most important rivals - the Xiaomi Mi 10 copy I tested costs PLN 3,499 , and the offer includes an even more expensive version for PLN 3,999 and the Pro version for PLN 4,399.

Judging by the comments under the first impressions , consumers are clearly embittered with such a high price of Xiaomi Mi 10. All the more so I wanted to give the smartphone more time to defend himself and prove that it is worth the money.

A week is not enough to clearly determine whether it is worth buying Xiaomi Mi 10. As the lockdown is in full swing and it is not proper to roam around the city , the camera test must also wait a moment.

Nevertheless, after a week I found two things that Xiaomi Mi 10 does brilliantly and two things that does ... not brilliantly.

Xiaomi Mi 10 - two huge advantages

The first of the two advantages that immediately catches the eye (quite literally here) is the screen. The only thing you don't like about it is a bit too strongly curved edges. Except that? Miracle, honey and nuts.

The AMOLED panel with 6.67 "diameter and 2340 x 1080 px resolution looks great. The screen of my private iPhone 11 looks really poor with it, especially when we add 90 Hz refresh to the equation. The higher refresh rate in Xiaomi really translates not only to more beautiful, smoother visuals, but also significantly affects the perception of the smoothness of this phone.

Xiaomi Mi 10 itself has powerful components, so it does not lack power. Adding 90 Hz to the screen, however, means that every smallest activity seems to be even faster.

Amazingly, even when I put Xiaomi Mi 10 next to the theoretically better Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, I can not say that I liked the screen in Samsung more. You can feel the difference between 120 Hz and 90 Hz in favor of the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but the Xiaomi Mi 10 has an incomparably faster and more accurate fingerprint reader under the screen. Next to top OnePlus - it's probably the fastest reader of this type on the market.

The second advantage is the working time away from the socket.

Again: a week is not enough for a clear-cut assessment. For now, however, I can only talk about Xiaomi Mi 10 work in superlatives.

The 4780 mAh battery without any problem is enough for two days of work, and unlike many Android smartphones, Xiaomi Mi 10 does not lose too much power in sleep mode - maybe 5 percent falls overnight.

So far, the fastest I managed to get tired of Xiaomi Mi 10 reaching 6.5 hours of running screen, watching anime in the browser, using social media and playing a podcast on YouTube during the dishwashing.

Xiaomi Mi 10 ended this day with over 30 percent more. energy. Yes, too small for the next day of use, but also large enough that I would not worry about charging around the clock.

Xiaomi Mi 10 - two significant disadvantages

The first disadvantage can already be seen in the technical specification: Xiaomi Mi 10 is not resistant to dust and water, as one of the few smartphones in this class.

In 2020, the flagship smartphone without the IP67 / 68 standard is a bit unfit. Splash protection should long ago become a standard on all price shelves, let alone on the top shelf.

I don't remember the last time I was afraid to pull a top phone out of my pocket in rainy weather. Usually, I can reach for the phone, without caring about the rain, and send a message to my wife or make a phone call. With Xiaomi Mi 10 with me, I was afraid to respond to the notification during a rainy walk with the dog, for fear of splashing the inside of the device.

Such anxiety should definitely not accompany the use of a telephone for PLN 3,500.

The second drawback is disappointment rather than an objective problem. It's about the speakers.

According to DxO Mark analysis, Xiaomi Mi 10 has some of the best, if not the best speakers among all smartphones.

In my opinion, you can do the same with this analysis as you would with any other DxO Mark analysis (concretely - add it to yourself).

The stereo speakers in Xiaomi Mi 10 are ... fine. They play. They exist. Xiaomi even boasts that thanks to the unusual layout (the top speaker is a separate converter, not the speaker for conversations) stereo imaging in Xiaomi Mi 10 is better and more accurate.

Maybe it's all true, I don't know, I don't have equipment that would allow me to do such thorough measurements. Maybe in synthetic tests Xiaomi Mi 10 speakers really stand out.

It's just that in everyday use they don't stand out at all. In fact, they sound poorly compared to other stereo speakers in competition smartphones. When I put Xiaomi Mi 10 next to the iPhone 11 and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, the comparative test resembles the beating of the weaker.

The speakers in Xiaomi Mi 10 sound very thin, dry, lacking in detail. The stereo image seems to be wider than the competition, but the Xiaomi Mi 10 sounds much quieter than the above-mentioned rivals. He also lacks low frequencies, with which both the new iPhone and the new Galaxy are doing perfectly, as for smartphones of course.

I was disappointed cruelly. I often use speakers in my smartphones - whether it's for listening to podcasts or watching YouTube videos. For me, they are a very important element of every phone, especially when the global consumption of video content on smartphones chases away any other device. Good speakers are the key. Xiaomi Mi 10 has at most acceptable speakers.

The above disadvantages do not change the fact that ... I like this phone.

I like this phone. I say it simply and bluntly - I like this phone much more than I expected to like it, considering how controversial it was priced.

It lacks water resistance. It lacks decent speakers, although the manufacturer claims it is different. Many people also lack the 3.5mm jack connector.

After the first week, however, I must say that these shortcomings do not outweigh the advantages of Xiaomi Mi 10, especially the sensational speed, beautiful screen and great working time.

Is it worth spending PLN 3,500 on Xiaomi Mi 10 instead of reaching for the iPhone, Galaxy S20, or the upcoming OnePlus 8 Pro? I do not know that yet.

I spent a week with Xiaomi Mi 10. Two delight and two disappointments