Introduction
It's been a while since we've last seen a Mi Note phone. The Mi Note 3 came more than two years ago and received a lukewarm reception, so the Mi Note series was put on pause. Well, we can now consider that a reboot as the Mi Note 10 is official and it starts on a high note with a penta-camera setup that's the host of the world's first 108MP snapper!
The 108MP camera is the obvious highlight, but it's not the only one. The Note 10 has two zoom snappers - one for 2x and another for 5x optical magnification. There is also a 20MP ultrawide camera with autofocus and a 2MP macro shooter. All kinds of hybrid zoom levels are available, as well as many video capturing modes.
There is more to the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 than just the camera. The maker has refined its flagship design since the Mi 9, and now the Note 10 introduces a new 3D curved screen - a 6.47" panel of extended 1080p resolution. The front curves mirror the rear ones, and the Mi Note 10 has one of the most symmetrical designs we've seen in a while.
The gaming-friendly Snapdragon 730G is in charge of everything that happens on the Mi Note 10. It's not the fastest chip there is today, but it is one of the most current and its power is more than enough for the 1080p display.
The Mi Note 10 also impresses with a massive 5,260 mAh battery that's capable of 30W fast charging. We expect nothing, but record-setting scores in our battery life test and here is hoping the Note 10 delivers.
Finally, Android 9-based MIUI 11 boots right off the bat on the Mi Note 10 - making it the first Xiaomi smartphone to have the new launcher installed by default.
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 specs
- Body: Aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and back;
- Display: 6.47" curved AMOLED, droplet notch, 2340 x 1080px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 398ppi; HDR 10 and DCI-P3 compliant.
- Penta rear camera: Main camera - 108MP, 1/1.33" Quad-Bayer sensor with 0.8µm pixel size, 25mm f/1.7 lens (8P lens for the Premium edition), OIS, Laser AF; 2x zoom camera - 12MP, f/2.0, 1.4µm pixel size, dual-pixel AF; 5x zoom camera - 5M, f/2.0, saves 8MP; Ultra wide-angle cam - 20MP, 13mm f/2.2, 1.12µm pixel size; AF w/ closeup focusing Macro camera - 2MP, 1/5", 1.75µm pixel size, f/2.4; AF, 1.5-10cm focusing distance.
- Front camera: 32MP, 0.8µm pixel size, f/2.0; 1080p/30fps video recording;
- OS: Android 9 Pie; MIUI 11
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G: octa-core CPU (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver), Adreno 618 GPU.
- Memory: 6GB of RAM; 64/128GB storage
- Battery: 5,260mAh Li-Po; 30W fast charging, 0-100% in 65min.
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A, 4-Band carrier aggregation, Cat.15/13 (800Mbps/150Mbps); USB-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0; FM radio, IR blaster.
- Misc: Under-display fingerprint reader; single down-firing speaker; 3.5mm jack
It's no secret that the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is identical to the Xiaomi Mi CC9, which was unveiled yesterday for the Chinese market. The specs are the same except that the Note 10 doesn't get the 8GB/256GB tier that the Mi CC9 has.
Both phones have their 3.5mm audio jacks, IR blasters, and even an FM radio.
Sure there are some holes in their specs sheets - they lack any increased water resistance or a MicroSD slot, or wireless charging, or even stereo speakers. But some of us can live without those if it means you can get the impressive set of cameras on the back for a bargain price.
We are eager to test the 108MP camera, but before we go all-in with photo and video samples, we should probably unbox this Note.
Unboxing the Xiaomi Mi Note 10
The Mi Note 10 bundle is pretty straightforward - the contents are the same as you'd get with any Xiaomi. Inside the black box, you'll find a charger, a USB-C cable, and a black silicone case.
Xiaomi is shipping the Mi Note 10 with a proper 30W charger so that you can enjoy the fast charging right out of the box. And you are going to need it as that 5,260 mAh battery will take forever to recharge with an inferior adapter.
Design
The Mi Note 10 represents the culmination of the dual-glass design as we know it. Whatever could have been rounded, curved, thinned, trimmed, or cut - has been done. And by those ideas combined, this is the Xiaomi Mi Note 10.
The Note 10 design is quite familiar, as you've probably guessed already, but there is one thing to the Note 10 that many others are lacking - symmetry. The Mi Note 10 has the same curved Gorilla Glass 5 panels on both its front and back. The aluminum frame has been trimmed a lot, but its sandblasted finish provides an a great grip.
The 6.47"AMOLED screen is curved - it's a 3D display, as Xiaomi calls it. Beside the curved edges, it's also got rounded corners, and a small waterdrop-shaped notch for the 32MP selfie camera.
We have never been fans of the curved screens as palm rejection is rarley steller. Surprisingly, we didn't have any issues with the Mi Note 10 except for when we opened the camera to take photos. Anyway, it's nothing a case can't fix.
Just above the OLED screen is one very thin earpiece grille. There is no visible screen enclosure - the glass ends, and the metal frame begins - which makes the Mi Note 10 look even more stunning.
Xiaomi brags with a new generation of the optical fingerprint scanner under the screen. It should be faster and more accurate than its previous version we met on the Mi 9T, and, well, it is just as advertised. It takes a bit longer to setup up, but the wait pays off in buckets - the thing is very fast, and we had few misreads attributed to wet or dirty finger tips.
The back of the Mi Note 10 looks a lot like the Mi 9's - it has a huge camera bump! It houses three of the five snappers - the 5x tele, the 2x tele, and the 108MP primary. Outside this arrangement, flush with the back are the 20MP ultrawide and the 2MP macro shooters.
There are two dual-LED flashes on the Mi Note 10, next to the camera hump. One has a clear frontn glass and it's brighter, while the other has a diffuser, and its light is much softer (and less blinding) for when you'd like to shoot portraits for instance.
We can understand the two flashes, but we can't figure why Xiaomi needed a macro cam - its ultrawide shooter has autofocus, and it is the one shooting macro videos, plus it can do closeup stills, too. We guess the 2MP imager is there for marketing reasons only, you know, a penta-camera is always better than a quad-camera. We will explore those in a minute.
You can imagine these two curved pieces of glass provide no grip whatsoever, but the metal frame makes up for this big time. Despite its longer sides are thin, they are just enough to make the phone stick in your hand and even without the case - there is a sense of security, and you will have a peace of mind.
All keys are on the right side of the said frame, as well as the dual-SIM card tray. The top has the IR blaster, as usual, while the bottom houses everything else - the loudspeaker, the USB-C port, the mouthpiece, and the audio jack.
Unfortunately, for a smartphone we praised for its symmetry, the design of the bottom is a bit disappointing. The USB and audio jack holes are not centered, not even in line with the speaker grille, and if you are after the meticulous attention to detail - the Mi Note 10 does not shine with that at its bottom.
Fitting such a big battery inside the phone has taken its toll on the phone's thickness and weight. The Mi Note 10 spreads at 157.8 x 74.2 x 9.7 mm and weighs 208 grams - 2mm thicker and 25g heavier than the Mi 9 (3300mAh battery), or 1mm thicker and 12g heavier than the Mi 9 Pro (4000mAh battery).
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is a bit heavy, sure, but it's not bulky at all, and we find its curves very attractive. The dual-curved dual-glass design is one of the most beautiful shapes a smartphone can have today, and we appreciate the grip provided by the frame. The Mi Note 10 is definitely among the better-executed smartphones.
Display
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 has a curved 6.47" AMOLED screen with rounder corners and a waterdrop-shaped notch for the selfie camera. It has one of the most common resolutions on the market right now - extended 1080p or 2,340 x 1,080 pixels to be specific (399ppi).
The screen is protected by a similarly curved Gorilla Glass 5 piece.
The Mi Note 10 display supports HDR 10, there is also an always-on option, and the night mode got TUV-certification for its low blue light emissions.
The screen has an excellent brightness for an OLED panel of 430 nits - that's in line what Xiaomi promises. And it can go as high as 600 nits in bright light if you leave it on Auto, also matching Xiaomi's official promise.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0 | 427 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 597 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 428 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 620 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 449 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 646 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 444 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 637 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 525 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 743 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 429 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 596 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 330 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 603 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 391 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 665 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 389 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 803 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 407 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 607 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 820 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 366 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 789 | ∞ | |
Xiaomi offers three different Color shemes settings, each one representing a specific color space. The Auto option fully covers the DCI-P3 color space and we measured an average deltaE of 3.7. Only in this mode you can choose the color saturation (default, warm, cool) and the Delta E of 3.7 which we measured was taken at the default preset. Choosing warm will offer an even more accurate presentation with an average deltaE of 1.9 and fix the otherwise bluish white.
The Standard setting corresponds to sRGB and we also recorded an average deltaE of 1.3 for the color accuracy, meaning it's an excellent one.
Finally, the Saturated makes the colors pop and they are no longer as accurate.
Battery life
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is powered by a massive 5,270 mAh battery - 30% larger than the Mi 9 Pro's 4,000 mAh cell and 60% lager than the Mi 9's 3,300 battery. The Note 10 supports 30W fast charging based on USB Power Deliver and the 30W adapter ships with the phone by default.
The 30W charger refills about 57% of a dead batter in 30 mins, while it takes about 65mins for a full charge - exactly what Xiaomi is promising.
The Mi Note 10 scored an very good endurance rating of 95 hours and had great times when it comes to making calls and watching videos. The web browsing drains more battry than we expected, while the standby consumption is way below the average for a Snapdragon 855 modem. We suspect the new MIUI 11 might be responsible for the lower than expected standby and web browsing times and we hope Xiaomi improves the performance with a software update.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Speaker
There's a single bottom-firing loudspeaker on the Mi Note 10 - it's loud enough and scored a Good mark on our test though we've heard louder from the maker. The output is very good - there is rich sound, with enough bass and clear mid and high tones.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 69.0 | 72.5 | 66.6 | Good | |
| 65.6 | 71.5 | 81.8 | Good | |
| 68.5 | 69.5 | 81.7 | Very Good | |
| 68.1 | 73.8 | 79.5 | Very Good | |
| 71.3 | 74.3 | 79.7 | Very Good | |
| 69.8 | 74.5 | 81.0 | Very Good | |
| 70.1 | 74.2 | 81.6 | Very Good | |
| 70.6 | 74.8 | 81.2 | Very Good | |
| 69.8 | 73.2 | 83.7 | Very Good | |
| 71.2 | 76.8 | 80.6 | Excellent | |
| 70.1 | 72.8 | 85.7 | Excellent | |
| 79.8 | 77.4 | 91.6 | Excellent | |
| 86.2 | 79.0 | 87.0 | Excellent |
Audio quality
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Note did splendidly with an active external amplifier, reproducing our test track perfectly and at high volume to boot.
The phone managed to maintain its loudness with headphones too along with stereo separation better than most in this case, but we did record a fair amount of intermodulation distortion and some harmonic distortion too. A solid showing still, but not quite perfect.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.03, -0.01 | -92.3 | 92.5 | 0.0018 | 0.0076 | -89.7 | |
| +0.03, -0.07 | -91.5 | 89.9 | 0.109 | 0.455 | -74.4 | |
| +0.07, -0.02 | -90.3 | 90.2 | 0.0053 | 0.015 | -93.1 | |
| +0.45, -0.19 | -92.1 | 91.8 | 0.0075 | 0.302 | -51.2 | |
| +0.03, -0.06 | -92.6 | 92.6 | 0.0020 | 0.0080 | -88.1 | |
| +0.30, -0.37 | -87.2 | 91.0 | 0.0081 | 0.356 | -48.4 | |
| +0.02, -0.13 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0013 | 0.0081 | -93.6 | |
| +0.18, -0.11 | -85.6 | 84.8 | 0.0062 | 0.108 | -52.6 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -93.0 | 92.8 | 0.0012 | 0.007 | -89.4 | |
| +0.25, -0.30 | -91.8 | 91.7 | 0.0045 | 0.312 | -57.3 |
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
MIUI 11 on top of Android 10
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is the first smartphone to boot MIUI 11 out of the box. The new launcher is based on Android 9 Pie and introduces a cleaner interface, an improved always-on screen, expanded Dark mode, smart notification sounds, and a better document editor.
The Mi Note 10 supports Always-on display and you can schedule it or leave it on/off all the time. MIUI 11 brings even more AOD themes you can choose from and make it yours. You can customize may of those. And, the AOD now supports breathing light - the curved edges of the display will flash with colors upon new notifications.
Always-on (ambient) screen
You can unlock the screen via the improved under-display fingerprint scanner. The reader is very easy to set up and works surprisingly fast. The accuracy is superb, too, and overall, it's great for your daily unlocking.
You can also set up face unlock in addition to it - it's equally fast as the Mi Note 10 wakes up the moment you pick it up. Note that the face unlock option may not be available in all regions and is far less secure than fingerprint unlock.
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 has a Dark mode - it will switch all system colors from white to black and this way you can save some battery juice by making the best use of the power-efficient AMOLED. With MIUI 11 it has been improved and now more apps support Dark mode, and the icons and their colors has been redesigned to suit it better.
Dark mode
MIUI 11 supports nature alarm and notifications, which sound different depending on the time of the day. Nature sounds have been tailored for the purposes of alarms and notifications and are far less stressful through the day.
Nature-inspired notifications
There is no app drawer in MIUI so all your apps are just sitting there on your homescreen, but you can still add them to folders. Of course, you can always install a third-party launcher if you really miss the app drawer.
Here are the default home screens on Mi Note 10. There's a weather widget in the upper right corner across from a large clock widget. There is a Quick Card pane, the leftmost one. It contains different cards with relevant information - recent apps, step counter, notes, calendar events, the weather, and favorites, among others. You can configure what shows up here, or you can disable this altogether.
MIUI 11 has refined looks with less clutter and you easily spot the Xiaomi efforts towards minimalistic design in the new Settings app.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Homescreen • Tools • Quick Card • Settings
The task switcher has not changed. It shows all of your recent apps in two columns. Tap and hold on a card for the split-screen shortcut, or just swipe it left or right to close it.
Notifications • Toggles • Recents • Split Screen
Themes are supported on the Xiaomi Mi Note 10, but the app appears only when the phone is set to a supported region, say India.
Themes
MIUI also offers a Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps and allows you to define the battery behavior of selected apps and applies restrictions only to the apps you choose.
MIUI also offers proprietary Gallery, Music, and Video player. In some regions, the music and video app include paid streaming options. FM radio app is available, too.
MIUI 11 also introduces a new document viewing app, which supports all popular formats and make easier viewing docs on your phone no matter from what app they were opened. It makes for a seamless experience,There is also a new Notes app that now supports Tasks.
MIUI 11 brings an improved Health app, too, which includes support for menstruation cycle tracking.
Security app • Security app • Gallery • Music • File Manager • FM radio
In some markets, the pre-installed applications by Xiaomi will show ads, which is how Xiaomi's is compensating for the relatively low prices of its devices. We're reviewing a global version of the Mi Note 10 and we still saw ads within some of the system apps and processes (say, while scanning a newly installed app by Security).
Performance and benchmarks
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 employs the Snapdragon 730G chip - the most powerful upper midrange SoC from Qualcomm. Hardware-wise, the Snapdragon 730G is pretty much identical to its vanilla sibling. On the CPU side of things it has two Kryo 470 Gold (Cortex-A76) cores, clocked at 2.2 GHz and another six Kryo 470 Silver (Cortex-A55) ones, working at 1.8 GHz. They are all built on an 8nm LPP node and hence pretty power efficient.
Both also have the same Adreno 618 DSP. But the one on the 730G is clocked 50 MHz higher and sits at 550 MHz.
Finally, there's a single memory tier of 6GB of RAM, but you can add €100 over the Note 10 and get the Note 10 Pro with 8GB RAM and double the storage.
The Snapdragon 730G may have just two high-performance A76-derived cores, but those were enough to put a great fight . The single-core score is great and is bested only by the flagship processors of the Snapdragon 855 and Exynos 9820.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S10e
4518 - Realme X2 Pro
3527 - Xiaomi Mi 9
3503 - OnePlus 7T Pro
3502 - Sony Xperia 1
3447 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
2537 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
2536 - Samsung Galaxy A70
2391 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
1905 - Realme XT
1899 - Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite
1851
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
788 - OnePlus 7T Pro
780 - Realme X2 Pro
589 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
544 - Realme XT
410 - Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite
395
Same goes for the multi-core test, too. The S730G is the best upper midrange chip and its only topped by the flagship models.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T Pro
11246 - Xiaomi Mi 9
11181 - Sony Xperia 1
10985 - Realme X2 Pro
10373 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
10081 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
6863 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
6737 - Samsung Galaxy A70
6584 - Realme XT
6102 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
6017 - Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite
5989
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
2932 - OnePlus 7T Pro
2807 - Realme X2 Pro
2602 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
1737 - Realme XT
1569 - Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite
1471
The Adreno 618 GPU sounds beyond promising on paper and should be more than adequate to handle all 1080p content. Indeed, it can only be bested by the flagship Adreno 640 inside the S855 SoC, which is kind of an overkill beneath any 1080p's screen. The Adreno 618 inside the S730G SoC is clocked higher than the one inside the regular S730 (Mi 9T) and you can spot the difference in the scores.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
59 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
57 - Realme X2 Pro
57 - Xiaomi Mi 9
56 - Sony Xperia 1
55 - OnePlus 7T Pro
40 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
27 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
24 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
24 - Realme XT
23 - Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite
21 - Samsung Galaxy A70
13
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
41 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
40 - Realme X2 Pro
37 - Xiaomi Mi 9
35 - Sony Xperia 1
33 - OnePlus 7T Pro
24 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
15 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
14 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
13 - Realme XT
13 - Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite
12 - Samsung Galaxy A70
7
3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T Pro
6921 - Xiaomi Mi 9
5816 - Realme X2 Pro
5792 - Sony Xperia 1
5792 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
4545 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
2481 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
2329 - Realme XT
2284 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
2218 - Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite
1959 - Samsung Galaxy A70
1112
Some say AnTuTu never lies, and the compound test indeed put the Mi Note 10 on top of every other midranger but behind the flagship crop, as expected.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Realme X2 Pro
396827 - OnePlus 7T Pro
395868 - Xiaomi Mi 9
372006 - Sony Xperia 1
356734 - Samsung Galaxy S10e
325192 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
213566 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
211915 - Realme XT
185193 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
180057 - Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite
175478 - Samsung Galaxy A70
167750
The Mi Note 10 is well equipped to handle any game or any app you can throw at it. Everything is fast and fluid, there are no hiccups or bottlenecks. And we did not notice any throttling even after long benchmarking sessions. Even better, the phone keeps the shell mostly cool even when working at peak loads.
There is only one concern with the Mi Note 10 - its price is a match to quite few Snapdragon 855-powered smartphones. We can understand Xiaomi charging premium for the unique camera, sure, but we are not sure everyone will take note of that.
Penta camera has us moderately confused
The Mi Note 10 is equipped with Xiaomi's first penta camera array and for all its versatility and impressiveness it leaves a few puzzling questions to be answered. Like, how and why does the 5x zoom 5MP telephoto camera take 8MP photos, and how did they fit a 5x zoom lens without employing a periscope, which this one apparently isn't?
Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves though, let's start with the biggest number. The Mi Note 10 is the first phone to come out with Samsung's 108MP sensor in what is the phone's 'primary' camera module. It's a massive 1/1.33" inch imager that's bigger than anything else currently on the market.
Part of a family of Quad Bayer sensors that starts at 32MP units used for selfie cams (you know, like the selfie cam of the Mi Note 10), the 108MP version has the same 0.8µm individual pixel sized. As with all Quad Bayer sensors, it's designed to output images at quarter the nominal resolution, and we can see 27MP being easily enough for any use case we can think of.
The sensor is paired with a 7-element lens that is stabilized and has an f/1.7 aperture (Xiaomi specs say f/1.69, the embedded value in the EXIF data is f/1.65). It covers a field of view of 82 degrees which in our world equates to a 25mm equivalent focal length in 35mm film terms (sure enough, it says 24mm in EXIF data).
Next up is the telephoto camera - the first one of those that is. A 12MP sensor with 1.4µm pixels and dual pixel autofocus sounds pretty impressive for a zoom camera and that's before we even get to the f/2.0 aperture - compare it to the Galaxy Note10's 12MP-1.0µm-f/2.1 setup. That said, the Mi Note 10's 2x module isn't stabilized.
The 5x one is, though - we're back to that one. Xiaomi lists its resolution at 5MP and says it has an f/2.0 lens. The only 5x module we've seen around is a periscope type employed in one form or another on the Huawei P30 Pro and the Oppo Reno 10x zoom (don't even get us started on that name). The P30 Pro quotes it at 8MP f/3.4, while the Reno 10x Zoom is more impressive at 13MP f/3.0. Well, the Mi Note 10's lens is over a stop brighter than the Reno's and there's no periscope in sight. Ah, and it takes 8MP photos..
We've seen a similar peculiarity on the OnePlus 7T Pro - it has an 8MP 3x zoom camera that us actually a 13MP 2.2x snapper and an 8MP crop from the center is how OnePlus delivers 3x magnification. The Mi Note 10 uses a similar approach - it has an 8MP sensor instead of 5MP with lens that provide 3.7x or so magnification. The algorithm then crops the 5MP center of this 8MP image and upscales it to 8MP. And voila, you now have a 5x zoomed photo.
No multi-camera is complete without an ultra wide angle module (right, Pixel 4?) and the Mi Note 10 sure enough has one. It's got a 20MP sensor mated to a (13-ish mm equivalent) lens that covers a 117-degreee field of view. The aperture is a less impressive f/2.2, but more importantly, this ultra wide has autofocus unlike the bulk of ultra wides, meaning it can also do closeup photos and videos.
Which brings us to the tiniest module on the back of the Mi Note 10 - its 2MP macro camera. Capable of focusing in the 2cm to 10cm range, it takes closeups that you may not be able to replicate with the other cameras, though admittedly you'd need a cooperative subject.
It seems there are two snappers on the Mi Note 10 that can do macro shots - the 20MP ultrawide and the 2MP dedicated macro. Xiaomi says the dedicated macro mode uses the 2MP snapper for closeup photos, but the ultrawide for videos. If you want to focus on something that is closer than 2cm, say 1.5cm, you can and the phone will use both of these cameras to do the shot. This is the first smartphone to go beyond 2cm focus distance.
In between the 1x and 2x cameras there are a couple of barely visible windows for the laser autofocus. Meanwhile, in the auxiliary hardware department, a total of 4 LEDs are at your disposal for illuminating subjects in the dark - 2 of them are regular bright LEDs, the other two are placed
Hybrid zoom is available up to 10x thanks to all these snappers. The 108MP primary is used for up to 2x zoom, the 12MP tele camera is used between 2x and 3.7x magnification, and the 5MP (real 8MP) is responsible for the 3.7x shots and above. The 10x magnification uses the 5MP (or, you know, 8MP) sensor and stacks a bunch of shots for better quality.
Over on the front the Mi Note 10 has a 32MP camera for selfies. Itself a Quad Bayer sensor, this one only spits out images at the nominal resolution as opposed to 8MP. Xiaomi specifies an f/2.0 aperture but omits the focal length, and we're not buying the 21mm in the EXIF.
The camera app is a rather straightforward implementation. You swipe from side to side to change modes and you can also tap on the ones that you can see to switch to those directly, though they don't all show up in one screen. Up and down swipes don't work for switching between the front and rear cameras, only the toggle next to the shutter release does that.
On the near end you have the rear camera switch that operates in one of two fashions. The first one is simply tapping on the circle with the active magnification to cycle between four out of five cameras - main 1x, tele 2x, tele 5x, ultra wide 0.6x - leaving out the macro module. Alternatively, you can tap on the respective dots for direct access to each module - that's neat because the cycle-only implementation would have been particularly time-consuming with such a number of cams. Not that it's overly convenient on the triple-cam Xperia 1 and 5, but we digress.
On the opposite end of the viewfinder you have a flash mode switch (Off/Auto/On/Torch/Soft light), an HDR switch (Off/Auto/On), an AI toggle, and a magic wand with beauty effects and filters. Behind a hamburger menu you'll find some more options, plus the shortcut to the settings. Neither in the hamburger menu, nor in settings will you actually find an option to set resolution for any of the cameras.
Camera UI
There's a nicely capable Pro mode, where you can tweak shooting parameters yourself. You get to pick one of 4 white balance presets or dial in the light temperature with a slider, there's a manual focusing slider (arbitrary units 0-100), and shutter speed and ISO control with ranges depending on which camera you're using. That's right, best of all, you can access each of the five cams in Pro mode. There's also a focus peaking toggle up top, as well as a metering mode selector.
Pro mode • App settings
That seems more than enough for a preface, join us on the net page for some samples.
Daylight camera samples
The Mi Note 10 takes very nice 27MP photos with its main cam. They are packed with detail (27MP is a lot) and this is the first time we're seeing the patterns of the balcony blinds rendered so clearly with a 1x cam. Meanwhile noise is virtually eliminated. The colors are spot on, and dynamic range is very wide (all of these were shot in HDR Auto).
Daylight samples, 1x
Shooting at the nominal 108MP resolution comes with an obvious noise penalty, for which you're getting a marginal increase in absolute detail. Upscaling and then sharpening the 27MP will give you cleaner images with only the slightest bit less fine detail, which, frankly, we can't imagine anyone needing out of their phone camera. Mind you, when shooting in 108MP, the phone takes significantly longer to save the image, and we also had the camera app freeze on us on several occasions during this process. 27MP is more than enough, use that.
Daylight samples, 1x, 108MP
Since we have a bit more to say about the telephotos, let's get the ultra wide out of the way first. It's photos are a touch soft throughout the frame, but only in comparison with the main cam and certainly not worse than other ultra wides. The software distortion correction is competent too and doesn't mess up your corners. We're liking the colors and the dynamic range too. Most important, perhaps, is the camera's ability to autofocus, making it a lot more versatile than the majority of rivals, letting you focus on nearby objects, as opposed to being locked at infinity.
Daylight samples, 0.6x
On to the zoom modules. The 2x cam takes really sharp 12MP images, which are, however, quite noisy even in bright daylight. Colors are nicely matched with the main cam, which isn't something you can say of all multi-cam setups we've seen. Dynamic range is quite good too - not main-camera-good, but still respectable.
On a side note, one begins to wonder if cropping the center of the main cam's 27MP to match the coverage of the short tele wouldn't make for a better 2x shot, but after trying it out, the answer is 'not really'. Almost, but not really. The same experiment carried out when starting with a 108MP shot got us to the same conclusion - the dedicated 2x module still makes a valid case for its presence.
Daylight samples, 2x
Which gets us to the 5x telephoto. The 8MP photos we got out of it are plenty sharp and we'd easily forgive it the moderate amounts of noise there is. The continued consistency in color rendering is much appreciated too.
Daylight samples, 5x
We did immediately think of a comparison with the other 5x camera that's widely available, the periscope one on the Huawei P30 Pro. In a head-to-head comparison, the two capture about the same detail - the Huawei may have a minor edge in the definition of the text inside the clock in the second sample, but we can't say it has a definitive advantage in the plant on the balcony in the first image. In any case, the Mi Note 10 costs a little more than half the price of the P30 Pro, and the Huawei certainly isn't performing twice as good.
Daylight samples, 5x, Huawei P30 Pro
Low-light camera samples
We're really liking the low-light shots out of the Mi Note 10's main camera, in the general Photo mode. They're detailed and clean, with nice mostly accurate colors. Perhaps a bit more dynamic range in the highlights wouldn't hurt, but we're more than okay as it is.
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 27MP low-light photos
Switch to Night mode, and you won't be getting much better results, though it restores most of the clipped highlights but loses some detail and sharpness. The Night Mode on the Mi Note 10 is one of the most conservative ones we've seen and acts more like HDR rather than Night mode. There is something that may make it rather unattractive though - while shooting takes about 2 seconds, processing the image (read the camera is unavailable) takes about 10 seconds. That's why we suggest sticking with Photo mode instead, and happily so.
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 27MP Night Mode photos
On to the 2x zoom module. Unlike most phones on the market which will decide for yourself which camera to use in the dark, if it says 2x in the Mi Note 10's viewfinder and you're in Photo mode, the 2x will be used.
It's capable of some very sharp and detailed shots, though they all exhibit one major flaw - noise. It's luminance noise this time, made all the more obvious by the sharpening. It's a valid approach, and you can get rid of some of it in post choosing your own balance between noise and detail, it's just that it's a bit too much to start with.
Low-light samples, 2x zoom
Now, if you go into Night mode, the 2x magnification will come out of the main cam instead, and will be in 27MP, only zoomed in to match the correct field of view. As with the 1x mode it takes a while for the photo to be saved and this one will restore the clipped highlights as well, and also do a minor improvement in contrast. We played around and downscaled a 27MP 2x Night mode image to 12MP to see how it compares against the 12MP 2x Photo mode shots, and it's... ever so slightly more detailed, though not really worth the trouble, perhaps.
Low-light samples, 2x zoom, Night mode
It gets more interesting when you zoom in to 5x in the dark - the long tele actually does produce usable results much to our amazement. Your results will vary from scene to scene, and even the best ones won't be spectacular in terms of dynamic range, and maybe you'll generally get underexposed shots. But the fact is, you'll be getting images in which you can make out the subjects in the dark at around 130mm focal length out of smartphone. And that's mighty impressive.
It's worth pointing out that while the camera may be capable of capturing a sharp image, the autofocus may not be willing to comply all of the time. If you get soft shots, it's very likely that you didn't bother to tap to focus, or didn't wait for the focus to lock before triggering.
Low-light samples, 5x camera
The ultra wide angle cam really struggles in the dark, with both exposure and autofocus. Give it enough light and time to focus, however, and it can produce decent images, like the second sample below.
Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera
There's no night mode for the 5x telephoto or the ultra wide angle cam.
Close-ups
Since there's a dedicated 'macro' camera, we snapped a few quick close-ups. At just 2MP, it's not all the resolving power you might want, but as we previously pointed out with the telephotos, you can't replicate this unassuming module's output with the other cams.
Close-up samples
Portraits
Portraits on the Mi Note 10 are taken with the 2x cam. Subject detection is excellent, and the produced background blur looks natural at the f/1.8 simulated aperture we opted for (the default is f/3.5).
Portrait samples
Of course, you can use the portrait mode on non-human subjects with much the same success.
Portrait samples
Selfies
Selfies out of the Mi Note 10 come out looking pretty good, with high dynamic range and mostly nice colors. Looking at them up close, there's not really 32MP of detail, but we didn't expect that either.
Selfie samples
When shooting selfie portraits on the Mi Note 10, you'd be sacrificing the HDR processing - there's only so much they can do at the same time with just one cam. However, subject isolation is competent and the background blur at our chosen f/1.8 setting is pretty convincing.
Selfie portrait samples
Video camera
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 captures videos up to 4K @ 30fps, and all other common modes are available - 1080@30fps and 1080p@60fps. It seems at first that you can capture in these resolutions with all five cameras as all toggles are available - macro, ultrawide, 1x, 2x, and 5x, but you actually can't. And you can't use other zoom levels besides those specified on the toggles.
The main and ultrawide cameras can do all of these, the 2x tele snapper can't shoot in 1080p @60fps, and the 5x option is digital zoom over the footage coming from the 2x tele.
The macro samples are shot with the ultrawide shooter and thus all resolutions are available.
There is 4-axis optical stabilization is available on the main camera, while electronic stabilization is available on all snappers in all 30fps modes. The only place you can't use it is when shooting macro videos, which is probably the place you will need it the most.
Slow-mo video are available on the main and ultrawide (as macro slow-mo) at 720p @960fps.
The video bit rate is 40-42Mbps in 4K. Audio is recorded in stereo with a 96Kbps bit rate.
The 4K videos from the main and ultrawide snappers have excellent contrast, spot-on colors, and we can praise the dynamic range. The resolved detail is far from impressive and the footage is rather soft - we have definitely seen better on other Xiaomi smartphones.
The 4K videos from the 2X tele camera lack in dynamic range big time and came way too contrasty. The detail is unimpressive, too, but there seems to be slightly more than what we observed on the clips from the main camera.
The 4K videos shot in the 5x mode are digitally zoomed from the picture coming from the 2x camera and are pretty much unusable. They are soft and blurry and inherit everything that's wrong with the 2x videos.
Now, let's talk about the 1080p video recording. The 1080p clips shot at 30fps on the main and ultrawide snappers excel in everything - resolved detail, contrast, colors, and dynamic range.
The 1080p videos taken with the 2x tele cam are sharp and have enough detail, but the dynamic range is still very low and they don't look so good.
And then the 5x digitally zoomed videos are still as awful as the 4K ones.
Shooting in 1080p at 60fps is available only on the main and ultrawide snappers. They resolved detail is halved here as the bitrate stays the same, or lower, than the 30fps samples we took. The 60fps videos from the main camera are over-sharpened in an attempt to mask the low detail, while the ultrawide footage is very soft.
You can shoot slow-mo videos with the main camera, or in macro mode with the ultrawide camera.
As we mentioned - optical stabilization is always available on the main camera. You can also enable electronic stabilization on 30fps modes but macro and it does an excellent job at smoothing the camera shake at the expense of minor loss of FoV.
Wrap-up
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is a unique smartphone. First - its penta-camera is something you don't see every day - a 108MP sensor is a first, and it seems to be taking great high-res 27MP photos, both day and night. The other four snappers are quite good, too, making for one of the most skilled and versatile camera kits on a smartphone ever.
Then the Note 10 shines with excellent symmetry in design and its build is nothing less than flagship-worthy. The curves don't get in the way at all, it has very good palm rejection, while the sandblasted frame helps for a secure grip.
Finally, the Snapdragon 730G chip may not be the best chipset around, but it is among the better ones and it does great in combination with the 1080p AMOLED screen.
We only have two issues with the Mi Note 10 - the trickery it uses to get to 5x magnification and the lower than expected battery life. We can understand why Xiaomi made 5x zoom the way it made it, but we can't find logic in upscaling the 5MP image to 8MP, especially when the maker is advertising the 5x zoom camera as 5MP. At least we are hopeful for the battery life as MIUI 11 would get better with updates and so will the battery performance.
The competition
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 costs about €550 at launch, which makes it a great offer already. But the so-called flagship killer segment is quite crowded, and there are other phones worthy of serious consideration.
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro costs €100 more and it offers an upgrade in RAM and storage. You get 8GB/256GB and the main camera has a 8P lens design compared to the 7P on the vanilla Note 10. P stands for the pieces the lens is made of but honestly, we don't think the difference in photo quality will be palpable. So in end, we can't really recommend the Note 10 Pro over the Note 10 unless you really want to splurge on absolutely top tier of the device.
Xiaomi already has the Mi 9T Pro, which is at least €150 cheaper than the Note 10. It has a notch-free flat AMOLED screen, a faster Snapdragon 855, but lacks the 5x zoom and macro snappers. Sure, it doesn't have a 108MP camera either, but its photos are excellent nevertheless.
The OnePlus 7T Pro is about €200 more expensive, but if uninterrupted AMOLED experience at 90Hz is what you are after - you get it with the 7T. It may lack a macro camera, but its tele offers 3x zoom, which should be more than enough.
Realme's X2 Pro, where available, is much cheaper than the Mi Note 10, but it has a lot to offer. There is a large 6.5" AMOLED screen with 90Hz refresh rate, the most current Snapdragon 855+ chip is inside, while its battery supports 50W charging. The X2 Pro has a 64MP primary snapper, a 13MP 2x telephoto, an 8MP ultrawide and a 2 MP depth sensor - not exactly a match for the Mi Note 10 setup, but still an excellent configuration.
Finally, the price of the Samsung Galaxy S10 keeps dropping, and it is now about €50 more expensive than the Mi Note 10. The holiday season is almost here, and we expect to see the S10 trio on sweet discounts, and we'd suggest the S10 as a more compact offer, with a better display, faster performance, and high-quality triple camera on the back.
Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro • OnePlus 7T Pro • Realme X2 Pro • Samsung Galaxy S10
The verdict
If you are after the camera experience, there is probably no better-equipped smartphone than the Mi Note 10 - it has a camera for every situation. Sure, the camera experience could use a bit more work via future updates, but even in this stage - it's certainly the phone's highlight feature.
The Mi Note 10 is not the best smartphone on the market, but with a stunning design, powerful hardware, and an unmatched set of cameras - it is certainly a great package worth recommending.
Pros
- Bright and large AMOLED screen, DCI-P3 accurate
- Large battery and very fast charging
- The Snapdragon 730G is gaming-friendly and runs cool
- All camera produce excellent daylight photos
- Comes with the latest MIUI 11 out of the box
- 3.5mm jack, FM radio, IR blaster
Cons
- No rated water resistance
- Snapdragon 855 would have been better
- Low-light photos by the zoom cameras and the ultra-wide one are nothing special
- Video recording quality is not impressive with any of the cameras
- Upscaling the 5MP 5x photos to 8MP makes no sense
- No Android 10 yet
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