Xiaomi-11T

 

Xiaomi 11T

With the Xiaomi 11T Pro and 11T, the Chinese manufacturer tries once again to impose itself by offering a high-end technical sheet for an affordable price. After its Pro variant for the least effective, it is the turn of the 11T to pass through our labs.

 

Presentation

Driven by the desire to occupy all price segments of the smartphone industry, Xiaomi has bet heavily on the 11T Pro and 11T. Two smartphones straddling the mid-range and high-end, and trying to compete with devices often sold at higher prices. The 11T has proven to be convincing on many points and now it's time for its little brother to go through our labs.

 

Ergonomics and design

The Xiaomi 11T adopts a similar design and features (network, connectivity) to its big brother. We therefore refer you to the test of the 11T Pro for more details.

 

Screen

Xiaomi has mastered its mid-range and high-end smartphone screens. This 11T features a 6.67-inch Amoled panel in Full HD+ definition (1080 x 2400 pixels). It is DisplayMate A+ and HDR10+ certified. Unlike its big brother, it is not compatible with the Dolby Vision standard.

It is possible to choose a refresh rate of 60 Hz or 120 Hz - the rate then varies automatically between 60 and 120 Hz depending on the application used. Unsurprisingly, this second mode offers a fluidity to any proof ... provided that the application supports it. In our tests, the screen could display a maximum brightness of 818 cd/m². An excellent value, slightly better than that of the 11T Pro, which allows it to remain readable even in bright sunlight and compensate for a reflectance of 50.2%. The minimum brightness reaches 2 cd/m², which also makes it a good ally for night viewing.

The Oled technology allows to propose an almost infinite contrast. The remanence is obviously zero and the touch delay is contained (50 ms). The whole is protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass Victus.

As on the 11T Pro, the default values displayed are not ideal. We find ourselves with a delta E at 2.9 - which is almost perfect - and a temperature too cold (7749 Kelvin). A passage in the settings to activate the "Original Colors" mode allows to drop the delta E to 1.4 and the temperature to 6747 kelvins - for a video standard of 6500 K). Its competitors are all very well equipped in this respect, but the Xiaomi 11T's panel is even better. An excellent point!

 

review-Xiaomi-11T

 

Performance

While the Xiaomi 11T Pro was equipped with a Snapdragon 888, this more affordable model opts for a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 engraved in 6 nanometers. This 5G chip is coupled with 8GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of storage. On paper, it does not offer as much power as the Pro.

However, it shares the same score (100) as him in terms of multitasking. This means that there will be no problem navigating through numerous tabs or engaging in long sessions on social networks.

This SoC is certainly not as powerful as Qualcomm's, but it still allows you to play the vast majority of games in the Play Store in good conditions. On our test protocol, the Xiaomi 11T managed to maintain an average of 59 fps in 60 Hz and 62 fps in 120 Hz. So it will be possible to get into games of Call of Duty or Genshin Impact in good conditions, although we advise you to space out your game time, as the phone tends to heat up after half an hour. In the graph above, you'll notice that only the Honor 50 really stands out on this point, even though it's a bit worse at multitasking.

 

Photo

The 11T offers exactly the same photo configuration as the Pro version. We are entitled to a wide-angle module of 108 MP whose lens opens at f/1.8, but also an ultra-wide angle of 8 MP (f/2.2) and a macro module of 5 MP (f/2.4).

Main module: 108 MP, f/1.8, 26 mm eq.
The main sensor of 108 MP captures shots in 12 MP by default. Like its competitors, it benefits from the pixel-binning technology, but merges nine pixels into one (instead of four most of the time) in order to capture more light when it is missing.

In good light conditions, the two smartphones have a nice duel. We can also see that the software treatment of the 11T is different from that of the 11T Pro. Its big brother offered a strong contrast, less pronounced here, which is more pleasant to the eye. Faced with the Honor 50, we can see a difference in colorimetry and general hue. Honor opts for a warmer rendering while Xiaomi does the opposite. The 11T offers a little more sharpness, as we can see on the face, the lion's mane or the map in our test scene.

At night, the 11T shot is better exposed. This allows to recover more details and to better preserve colors. The Honor 50 tries to compensate with a strong digital smoothing and more contrast, without managing to do better.

108MP mode
The 11T is capable of capturing shots in full definition, at 108 Mpx. This mode doesn't always make a significant change on smartphones. We isolated an area of identical size (0.90MP) to compare the two shots. You can see the difference in definition.

Whether by day or night, this mode does not bring a significant gain in detail or a better overall colorimetry. It does allow you to crop your pictures, which can be useful for retouching, but they also take up much more memory space. We therefore advise to stay on the standard mode or to use it knowingly.

Ultra-wide angle module: 8 Mpx, f/2.2, 120°.
We also find here an ultra-wide angle of 8 MP. These sensors have been democratized a lot, but are still rarely convincing. As on the 11T Pro, the latter has trouble to really seduce on our test scene.

By day, the rendering is not very convincing. We can certainly distinguish all the elements of the scene, but the whole lacks sharpness and sharpness. The different color charts are rather well rendered and the higher contrast offers a more flattering rendering than on the Honor 50. We do not perceive it on this part of the image, but the distortion is quite important. In the dark, the Honor 50 takes over, without shining. The level of detail collapses and clearly limits the use of this mode in these conditions.

Front module and video
A 16MP sensor (f/2.5) is housed in a central punch on the front. The rendering of selfies is quite good and detailed in good light conditions, even if the colors lack a little vividness. The result is more disappointing at night, and the sensor fills in by smoothing much more. The portrait mode is quite effective, but can still be deceived by long hair or flyaways.

The wide-angle sensor of the 11T can shoot 4K at 30 fps and Full HD at 60 fps. It is really convincing in use. We benefit from a good stabilization, a flattering colorimetric rendering and an excellent management of the dynamic range. It is thus one of the best in the exercise on its price range. In short, we do not really regret not being able to shoot in 8K like the Pro. It is possible to use the ultra wide angle in Full HD at 30 fps. The rendering is also interesting, even if the colors seem more washed out and we necessarily lose detail.

 

Xiaomi-11T-review

 

Autonomy

The 11T is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery, just like the 11T Pro. This large battery is therefore supposed to ensure a good autonomy. On our test protocol Viser, it managed to last 22 h 04 min. An excellent score given the overall performance that the device offers. However, it should be noted that this test was performed "out of the box", i.e. calibrated in 60 Hz mode. Once switched to 120 Hz, it lasted 18 h 20 min, which is still a good result. The switch to another SoC than the 11T Pro has a beneficial impact on endurance. An aspect that can make the difference between the two.

The 11T Pro charged in 20 minutes thanks to its impressive 120W charging block and its HyperCharge technology. This model offers this time a block of 67 W, which is still much more powerful than those of competitors like Apple or Google. It takes only 38 minutes to refuel. Even a short recharge allows it to recover autonomy quickly.

 

Sustainability

Our sustainability score allows us to determine the sustainability of the smartphone for both the consumer and the environment. It is based on the repairability index, on durability criteria (protection index, standard connectors, warranty period and updates...) and on an evaluation of CSR policies (Corporate Social Responsibility). You will find all the details of the analysis in our article presenting the sustainability score.

 

Interface & OS

The Xiaomi 11T runs Android 11 with the MIUI 12.5 overlay, released in spring 2021. This latest, sleeker version was supposed to bring better software optimization as well as better battery management. The Chinese firm indeed seems to be on the right track, even if the interface is not always the most readable possible.

 

Conclusion

Even though it's heavily inspired by the Xiaomi 11T Pro, this 11T manages to make a strength out of its main difference, while being more affordable. It still offers a good finish and a high-quality screen, but logically offers less raw power than its Snapdragon 888-based brother. This drop in power does have one advantage, though: it makes it much more durable, which may be more important for a majority of users. It does charge a little slower than the Pro, but the difference is negligible in everyday use. The icing on the cake is that the software processing of photos seems to be less heavy and delivers a more faithful result during the day. A very good model in its price range.

 

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