The Xiaomi Mi 11 Review: A Gorgeous Screen and Design
by Andrei Frumusanu on March 10, 2021 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Xiaomi
- Snapdragon 888
- Mi 11
System Performance
System performance of the Mi 11 should be great given the new Snapdragon 888 SoC as well as the 120Hz screen. Of course, between different device vendors we can see slightly different variations as each company tunes their software stack different, so it’ll be interesting to see how Xiaomi fares compared to what we’ve seen in the S21 series devices.
In the web, test the Mi 11 fares excellent and keeps up with the best performing devices in the market, signalling that the SoC is tuned quite aggressively in lighter workloads.
In the writing sub-test however, we’re seeing that there are more differences in the stack and the device doesn’t differentiate itself too much from most other Snapdragon 865 devices last year, trailing the new S21 phones.
The photo editing score is in line with the S21 Ultra and its Snapdragon 888, both posting almost identical scores, which are a bit lower than that of S865 devices.
The data manipulation score is single-thread bound and the Mi 11 also comes in as one of the top-performing devices, even though there’s small variations.
In the overall performance score in PCMark, the Mi 11 ends up with a great result.
In the sustained Javascript browser benchmarks, the Mi 11 lands equal to the Snapdragon 888 S21 Ultra, although for some reason not in the JetStream 2 test.
Finally in WebXprt 3 which is more sensitive to performance latency (how fast a CPU ramps up), the Mi 11 takes the lead amongst all other Android device, albeit only by a small margin.
Overall performance of the Mi 11 is excellent and is clearly a 2021 flagship device. The Snapdragon 888 SoC along with the 120Hz screen signify that you’ll have amongst the best performing devices in the market, there’s really not much more to add to that.
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ZoZo - Wednesday, March 10, 2021 - link
Curved edge screen? Next.yankeeDDL - Wednesday, March 10, 2021 - link
Really? Why? I have an S8 (yes, Samsung S8, 4 years old and counting) with edge screen. It still works perfectly, it is a pleasure to hold and it has some decent edge effects that are actually useful.I'd definitely consider another phone with curved edges.
I look forward to something a tad smaller than this though: 6" for example.
I hate the fact that on Android if you want the top of the line HW you get it only on huge phones.
Wereweeb - Wednesday, March 10, 2021 - link
Because it's terrible to use and distorts images. It's stupid and should stop existing. I say this as a former S6 Edge user (I didn't buy it, it was handed down to me)theblitz707 - Friday, March 26, 2021 - link
thats your opinion. i never had a problem with my curves s10+ and quite like it, it makes the screen look more premium and i never felt a distortion problem when watching videos. in fact compared to 11 pro max, that looks like a phone from years ago.inighthawki - Wednesday, March 10, 2021 - link
Am I the only one who prefers a phone with a flat rectangle for a screen with no curves, notches, or rounded corners cutting off or warping various parts of the display?Wereweeb - Wednesday, March 10, 2021 - link
Eh, rounded corners makes it easier to hold, and doesn't really compromise images that much. I'll take notches over hidden cameras, but otherwise I also dislike them, and prefer pop-up cameras or a camera between the housing and the display.inighthawki - Thursday, March 11, 2021 - link
I guess I mean that I'm fine with having a bezel on the top/bottom for that kind of thing. The phone itself can still have some roundedness on the corners. For example right now I use a pixel 2 and love it. I think they could shrink the bezels without sacrificing the screen being a rectangle.And while the corners dont really compromise much, it's something that forces software developers to work around. For example, if you're right a game, you now have to query APIs to know how rounded the corners are to ensure you aren't putting text or status icons somewhere the user can't see. Like imagine if your desktop's monitor had rounded corners and it forced Microsoft to update the taskbar so that the start button wasn't flush against the edge. It serves no purpose. You're quite literally just losing functionality. And on a phone it's done for no other reason than the bragging rights of claiming the display is 0.2" larger than the previous generation with zero bezels.
inighthawki - Thursday, March 11, 2021 - link
If you're writing a game*Stupid no edit button :(
hanselltc - Thursday, March 11, 2021 - link
minor curved corners are acceptable if it truly helps the phone keep a more handleable shape. if it has a chin and/or a forehead, then it is stupid. other cutouts are all absolutely asinine.MetaCube - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
Rounded corners are great, stop smoking glue