Review of Mi 9 Lite - a new smartphone from Xiaomi with NFC and a 32 megapixel selfie camera

In-display fingerprint scanner and luminous logo

The edition turned out to be a model in black, which looks more like dark gray. Also Mi 9 Lite is sold in white and bright blue versions.

The glass on the rear panel refracts light rays in a characteristic way: it does not just reflect them, but shows different vertical reflections depending on the tilt.

The camera block is vertical and located at the left edge of the panel.

Below is the Xiaomi inscription. It lights up when receiving notifications or charging.

Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite: logo illumination

The set includes a classic silicone case. There are no port caps.

The fingerprint scanner is at the bottom of the screen. It recognizes the owner almost as quickly as classic rear fingerprints. Works confidently: not a single unsuccessful attempt during testing.

The screen of Mi 9 Lite can be called frameless. This is not hindered by either the thickened lower brow or the teardrop-shaped cutout for the front camera.

Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite: cutout for the front camera

The display of the Mi 9 Lite is powered by AMOLED technology. This is not always an advantage; IPS screens also have their fans. But in Xiaomi smartphones, as a rule, AMOLED performs better. The picture is very contrasty, the colors are juicy, the brightness margin is good, but its automatic detection sometimes fails. You have to tweak the corresponding slider manually.

The smartphone is quite lightweight - only 179 grams. At the same time, it is made with high quality: both panels received Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and matte metal frames. The dimensions are serious, lovers of Xiaomi and compact smartphones should pay attention to the Mi 9 SE.

Selfie-camera 32 megapixels and "sky" filter

The camera unit consists of three lenses: the main one with 48 megapixels, an ultra-wide-angle 8 megapixel and a depth sensor with a resolution of 2 megapixels. The latter is auxiliary. Thanks to him, on Mi 9 Lite, you can take portraits with a blurred background or, conversely, a close object.

The smartphone has a 48-megapixel sensor. In automatic mode, it shoots at 12 megapixels, and the button for activating HD ‑ shooting is in the additional menu.

The stated resolution does not guarantee high quality frames: in fact, the difference between the options made in automatic and HD ‑ mode is not always noticeable. To demonstrate this, we enlarged the area of the photo at different resolutions several times. On the left is a portion of a 12-megapixel frame, and on the right is a 48-megapixel frame.

And this is how the frames taken in automatic mode look without magnification.

The ultra-wide-angle lens will help to take an interesting angle in good lighting, but in general it is not impressive: the low resolution and aperture are affected.

Mi 9 Lite received a night mode. In a city lit by streetlights and signs, the camera can cope without it, but algorithms can make the photo a little sharper and more contrasting, as well as separate light sources that are close to each other.

One of the features of Mi 9 Lite is the new "Sky" section in the filters of the built-in photo editor. Such processing will help to make a morning photo a sunset, and a photo in cloudy weather - full of sunlight. The program finds an area with the sky and simply replaces it with another picture. The rest of the frame is processed by the filter.

It's strange that one of the world's leading smartphone manufacturers is betting on an exclusively software function that Telegram bots can handle. Sometimes jambs come up during processing.

Before processing

After processing

Filter flaws

The decision to put a 32 megapixel front camera does not justify itself. The pictures come out great, but they are also obtained on the sensor, for example, with 20 megapixels in the more affordable Redmi Note 8 Pro.

Such a high resolution selfie camera has an obvious disadvantage: the photo size can be up to 20 MB.

Also, the main camera of Mi 9 Lite allows you to shoot video in 4K with a frame rate of 30 FPS and slow motion videos with 960 FPS, and the front camera - Full ‑ HD ‑ video with 30 FPS.

Game processor and 4,030 mAh battery

The Mi 9 Lite has a Snapdragon 710 with a core frequency of up to 2.2 GHz, an Adreno 616 GPU and 6 GB of RAM. The configuration is not advanced, but it performs well under load. The session in COD on the maximum graphics settings Mi 9 Lite went off with a bang: it almost did not get warm and did not lag during the game.

The use of Snapdragon 710 and OLED screen has a positive effect on the smartphone's autonomy. The battery is also capacious - 4,030 mAh. Mi 9 Lite confidently withstands a day of work with a load above average. Wireless charging is not provided, but an 18W adapter is included. From it, the device's battery gains from 0 to 100% in about an hour and a half.

Specifications

Colors: black, white, blue.
Display: 6.39 inches, 1,080 × 2,340 pixels, Super AMOLED.
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 (2 × 2.2 GHz Kryo 360 Gold + 6 × 1.7 GHz Kryo 360 Silver).
GPU: Adreno 616.
RAM: 6 GB.
Built-in memory: 64/128 GB + slot for microSD ‑ cards up to 256 GB.
Rear camera: 48 MP (main) + 8 MP (ultra wide angle) + 2 MP (depth sensor).
Front-camera: 32 megapixels
SIM card: two slots for nanoSIM.
Wireless interfaces: Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, GPS, IrDA, NFC.
Connectors: USB Type ‑ C, 3.5mm audio jack.
Unlocking: by fingerprint, by face, PIN-code.
Operating system: Android 9.0 + MIUI 10.
Battery: 4,030 mAh, fast charging supported.
Dimensions: 156.8 x 74.5 x 8.7 mm.
The weight: 179 grams.

Outcomes

The main advantages of the Mi 9 Lite are NFC with support for Google Pay, a decent camera, sufficient performance for almost any purpose, and a great screen.

The main risk of Mi 9 Lite on the market is associated with the abundance of competitors, moreover, released by the same Xiaomi. The closest in terms of cost and features are Mi 9 SE and Redmi Note 8 Pro. The first bypasses the new model in compactness, the second in autonomy, main camera resolution and price.

The cost of Mi 9 Lite in the official Xiaomi store is 22,990 rubles for the version with 64 GB of memory and 24,990 rubles for the version with 128 GB of memory.