Mi 10i 5G – Jack of all trades ?

The number of 5G phones in India is growing … slowly, but once Redmi enters the market, everyone knows it’s free for all, cause in the next few days even your neighbor could have one of those phones, thanks to its relatively low prices. 

Well, I’m all for low cost, but does it really at least do the job? We’ll find out! 

As you might’ve known, I review some ludicrously expensive products, and after those, these might seem too bad, but, I think from the perspective of an equivalent value phone, I’ve used. So, here’s my feeling about this 20,999 INR 5G phone. 

Mi 10i 5G, first off, it is a big device, a mammoth in proportions, at 6.51 inches and 215g. The camera module is centrally located and is styled like that of the Poco X3 (Review coming soon). The color options won’t dazzle you, but won’t bore you either. What might comfort you or discomfort you, is that it’s a plastic back, so dropping it won’t crack it, unlike glass. Gorilla Glass 5 cases the screen, so, protection is there, but as Zack from JerryRigEverything said “scratches at level 6 with deeper grooves at level 7”, and that’s quite enough for us though. The cameras are a mixed bag, a 108MP main shooter, an 8MP Ultrawide, and a just-for-the-name 2MP macro and depth sensor are there. 

Ah, yes, and 5G too. But don’t get excited, wait for a few months till a carrier in India actually brings 5G, and it’s going to be the sub-6ghz, not the beastly mmWave by Verizon in the States.

It’s an IPS panel, but, would prefer OLED. It gets reasonably bright at 450nits also. Not to mention, it’s 120Hz! That refresh rate makes the screen smoother, and there’s an option of adaptive refresh rate, which changes the refresh rate according to the app running, which saves on battery life.  A punch hole 16MP camera hides in the top part, but yeah, you can see it. This isn’t the ZTE Axon.

With a Snapdragon 750G processor and 6GB/8GB RAM, this is good for gaming too and works better than the Samsung equivalent of the M31s or M51 powered by Exynos processors (ugh) (more on that in a later review). Geekbench says it’s good. Performs better than Mediatek’s Dimensity 1000 chipset too, used on the 9,999 more Realms X7 Pro 5G. 

There’s the old-school headphone jack which we really need (for audiophile’s sake, whose idea was that ? I’d like to have a word ). There’s a fast charger to juice up your device in the box with a clear case (wow so much in the box). 

Now, let’s come onto the optics – the main shooter of that beastly ( said ) 108MP, works a beauty in well-lit and sunny conditions but falters in low light situations. Pro tip – In low light situations, it’s better to use the Night Mode or the default 12MP shooter mode. 

The same goes for the Ultrawide shooter. The video quality is good at 1080@60fps and there is a 4K option too, but beware, it eats into you 128GB, as there is no MicroSD card slot! It’s a hybrid SIM, that is 2 Sims Or 1 SIM and one MicroSD card. I ran several Geekbench tests, and it has given an average of 685 Single core and 1930 Multicore. Better than a phone with SD765G chips according to Geekbench, and it beats the SD845 Chipset (2018 edition) too. It’s equivalent to the Realms X7 Pro, just a bit ahead of the X7 and just a few points far from the OnePlus Nord. Performance-wise, you should be set to go, and it’s definitely better than the Exynos Samsung Chipsets. 

Even the battery lasts well, for my heavy 15-hour use, it lasted me till night from the morning. It is a 4820mAh battery, but 

So, at this price point, I think it really is value for money, and not just that, it’s a great phone to use! Xiaomi has once again broken the budget barrier by bringing down the price! It is a yes from my side!