First look at Xiaomi Mi 10 - a good smartphone that is doomed to fail in Russia

Design

The novelty is made according to the template common for new smartphones: a glass case with an aluminum layer, slicked corners and a frameless screen. The model is distinguished only by the design of the cameras on the back side: Xiaomi decided not to sculpt huge protrusions like Samsung or Huawei.

The smartphone is large and heavy, but it fits comfortably in the palm of your hand due to its smooth shapes. The edges of the screen are slightly curved, which does not affect the usability in any way. The front camera is located in the upper left corner and is almost unobtrusive.

Xiaomi Mi 10: front camera in the upper left corner

The Mi 10 is available in gray, blue and peach-gold. We had the first option for testing, and it's just a fingerprint magnet. Well at least, there is an oleophobic coating, so it is not difficult to wipe off stains.

Screen

Almost the entire front panel is occupied by a 6.67-inch AMOLED-screen. The resolution is 2,340 × 1,080 pixels, which translates into a pixel density of 386 PPI. The display is very bright and contrasting, the color rendition is also not satisfactory. However, the clarity is poor.

On closer examination, graininess is striking. The reason is the traditional AMOLED organization of the Diamond pixels (there are twice as many green diodes as red and blue). Here's what the Mi 10's sensor looks like compared to the Honor 9:

Xiaomi Mi 10 and Honor 9: screen comparison

It is a pity that Xiaomi skimped on the QHD + matrix, as in the OPPO Find X2. At the same time, the smartphone supports a refresh rate of 90 Hz, HDR10 + standard and PWM flicker suppression, but all this does not compensate for the lack of clarity.

Sound and vibration

Xiaomi Mi 10 is equipped with a very unusual system of three speakers: one spoken and two multimedia. The latter are brought out to the ends and give out just phenomenal sound. The smartphone in this regard is so cool that it can compete with the Asus ZenBook UX334 laptop, in places taking the lead. The iPhone 11 or Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra cannot be compared with the new product.

Also, the smartphone pleases with a really high-quality vibration motor, which is a rarity for Android devices. In addition to the vibration itself, a wide range of tactile responses is available, the strength and purpose of which can be changed in the settings.

Cameras

The smartphone received a very strange set of cameras on the back side: in addition to the 108-megapixel standard and 13-megapixel wide-angle modules, there are two 2 megapixel eyes for macro shots and background blur. The benefits of them are dubious.

There is no optical zoom here either. This partly compensates for the colossal resolution of the main camera, but it's still strange to see such savings in such an expensive device.

We shot a little on the novelty, but we will hold onto the conclusions until a full review. In the meantime, here are some examples of photos:

Standard camera

Portrait mode

Macro mode

Other features

Xiaomi Mi 10 runs Android 10 with MIUI 11. The latter is known for its recommendations, which are actually advertising. Alas, no exceptions were made for the flagship model: the user is now and then offered to download applications of varying degrees of uselessness. It's good that the recommendation system can be turned off in the settings, but the very fact of advertising in a smartphone for that kind of money is annoying.

The hardware platform of the novelty is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, which is complemented by 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory. There are no questions about the processor: this is the most productive solution for Android today. But the storage capacity could have been larger, especially considering that there is no memory card slot here.

A 4,780 mAh battery is responsible for powering all components. The capacity is decent, and considering the platform's energy efficiency and display at the lower resolution, impressive battery life can be expected. The smartphone comes with a 30-watt charging adapter.

Subtotals

Xiaomi Mi 10 will surely become a bestseller, but the Russian price for it is taken from another planet. How did 4,000 yuan for the basic version become 70,000 rubles? It is worth asking this question to the Russian office of the company.

A dilemma arises: in Russia, for 70 thousand, you can take any flagship of the A-brand, which will have a QHD + screen, optical zoom and firmware without ads. However, we will hold the final conclusions until a full review, which will be released in two weeks.