Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G Review: Great Value Despite Minor Setbacks

What's Inside The Box?

The 11T Pro has a promising spec-sheet and the same old Xiaomi's aggressive pricing to address those issues and to take on the competition respectively. The company is offering the hefty 120W brick in the box along with most required accessories. So how does the 11T Pro performs as a daily driver? Let's find out.

Xiaomi 11T Pro Design

The 11T Pro is a nice-looking phone with a sturdy design but it doesn't excite us. The smartphone takes design cues from its predecessor and looks a tad boring when you compare it with the competition such as the OnePlus 9RT, Oppo Reno 7 Pro, and the Vivo X70-series handsets. These handsets look far more attractive with their thinner chassis and choice of material used in construction that gives them a more premium fit and finish.

You can buy the 11T Pro in three colors- Celestial magic, Meteorite Black, and Moonlight White. The white color variant looks the most elegant in my opinion. The one we are testing- Celestial Blue has a rear panel with a color-changing gradient finish that shows hues of purple, blue and orange colors when seen from different angles.

The matte-frosted glass finish doesn't attract too many smudges and adds a premium touch to the overall design.

Xiaomi 11T Pro Ergonomics & Durability Standards

The Xiaomi 11T Pro is a fairly big and hefty phone primarily because of two reasons- the large 6.67-inch display and a 5,000 mAh battery cell. It weighs 204 grams and measures 164.1 x 76.9 x 8.8mm. The frame is also noticeably wider and could make one-hand use a bit difficult. That said, if you prefer handy devices, the 11T Pro could disappoint you. The curved rear panel and a flat display ease one-hand usage to some extent though.

The phone feels sturdy and is IP53 rated for dust and water resistance. It should survive water splashes and light rain but don't try to take an underwater picture. Xiaomi ships the handset with a pretty average but useful silicone case. However, I would recommend buying a good third-party case for the handset, something Xiaomi could have offered at this price point.

Xiaomi 11T Pro Display- Best-In-Class Display-Sound Setup For Multimedia Consumption

The 11T Pro is an excellent smartphone to consume multimedia content and playing games, thanks to its excellent screen and speaker setup. The handset flaunts a Dolby Vision-enabled 10-Bit AMOLED panel with MEMC technology. The screen produces vivid colors (over 1-billion colors) and deep blacks that ensure an immersive viewing experience on OTT apps and YouTube.

Immersive Visual Experience

The screen supports HDR10, HDR10+ and is also Widevine L1 DRM certified. You can stream content on Netflix, Prime Videos, and YouTube in the best possible quality. Dolby Vision content looks super immersive. Add to it the Harman Kardon stereo speakers that further enhance the multimedia experience, be it MP3 files, games, or videos. The sound is loud and crisp and to some extent, compensates for the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack.

Xiaomi 11T Supports Adaptive 120Hz Refresh Rate

Scrolling and UI navigation is buttery smooth, thanks to the adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. You can also manually set the screen to run at 60Hz in case you want to preserve some battery life; however, the difference isn't that significant. The screen refreshes at 120Hz in supported apps, games, and UI interactions. It automatically switches to 60Hz in video streaming apps and some game titles.

Enable MEMC For Smoother Graphics & Transitions

Moving on, the 1080p 10-bit screen also supports MEMC tech that allows for a smooth video playback experience by putting some additional frames in the video feed. It can smoothen the graphics in apps like YouTube, Netflix, Prime Videos, etc. provided that you have activated the video toolbox toggle and the respective apps have been selected from the 'Manage video apps' list. It is worth mentioning that the feature increases some battery consumption.

AI Image/Video Enhancement Tools

You can also enable some image/video-centric utilities such as super-resolution, AI image enhancement, and AI HDR enhancement. Theoretically, the features enhance the video playback experience by scaling up the resolution and making some AI enhancements; however, the real-life output is different only marginally at the cost of some battery power. The display is adequately bright (up to 1000 nits) to offer a comfortable user experience outdoors.

As far as the screen protection is concerned, the 11T Pro comes equipped with Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus, which is found on the top-most flagship phones and promises best-in-class protection from scratches and damages. A very precise haptic feedback, thanks to the linear vibration motor, also greets you every time you lock the handset, perform a back gesture or type on the keyboard.

Overall, the 10-bit 120Hz Full HD+ screen on the 11T Pro is the phone's highlight feature. It's as best as a display can get in this price segment.

Xiaomi 11T Pro Camera Hardware Specs

The 11T Pro has a familiar camera setup. It employs a big 108MP ISOCELL Samsung HM2 sensor with an f/1.75 high-resolution 7P lens. Due to a large sensor, the pixel-binning process is slightly different. Unlike the traditional quad-Bayer process that uses four smaller pixels to combine into one, the large 1/1.52" sensor combines nine 0.7µm individual photosites of each color pixel to give a resulting 2.1µm pixel. The process creates a 12MP picture output.

It's a bit of a letdown that the big sensor lacks OIS and only gets PDAF. The sensor can record 8K videos and supports night mode. The main sensor is paired with an 8MP Sony IMX355 ultrawide 120°, f/2.2 sensor, and a 5MP Samsung-made macro f/2.4 sensor (50mm) with 2X zoom support. The macro sensor gets autofocus and it can operate between a distance of 3cm and 7cm. For selfies, the 11T Pro uses a 16MP lens sensor with an f/2.4 lens.

The camera sensors are fast and quickly focus on subjects in the default photo mode, wide-angle and macro mode. The hardware felt a bit sloppy at times in the portrait mode with unfavorable lighting.

Picture/Video Quality

Excellent Macros & Decent Portraits

Good Low-Light & Video Recording Results

Xiaomi’s Camera Processing Spoils The Fun

The 11T Pro has a good camera that could get better with some good software tuning. Once again, the camera processing makes things complicated. If you are a seasonal photographer, the image output won't disappoint you but if you have a knack for photography, the camera output can let you down with various things.

I would recommend shooting with AI and Pro color mode disabled for a more natural image/video output. Or you can simply shoot in 108MP high-resolution mode and process the images later on a system or in third-party apps. In simple words, take the charge so that Xiaomi's poor camera software processing doesn't spoil the fun for you.

Xiaomi 11T Pro Hardware Performance

The Xiaomi 11T Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC and comes in three RAM-ROM configurations- 8GB+12GB, 8GB+256GB, and 12GB+256G featuring LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. The graphics are handled by Adreno 660 GPU.

These are some solid specs and as expected, the smartphone handles everything you throw at it with ease. Be it multitasking, demanding games, or 8K video recording, the 11T Pro never felt sluggish during our testing period.

Decent Gaming Handset But Heats Up With Demanding Tasks

Basic tasks such as UI navigation, app loading, and switching match the speed and smoothness of the most premium flagship handsets. However, we did notice some signs of heating around the camera module with 7-10 minutes of 4K video recording, gaming with titles such as BGMI, Asphalt, etc. No major frame drops were recorded during the testing period.

Excellent Haptics & Snappy Fingerprint Scanner

Moving on, one of the best things about the 11T Pro is its excellent haptic feedback. The linear X motor delivers top-class vibration feedback that enhances the overall user experience while typing text messages, performing back gestures, etc. Also, the side-mounted biometric scanner is blazingly fast and very accurate.

For connectivity, the smartphone supports 13 5G bands, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6, and NFC. So far we haven't encountered any connectivity-related issues on the 11T Pro.

Xiaomi 11T Software Performance

I was expecting Xiaomi to complete the development and testing process for the handset on the latest MIUI 13 (based on Android 12) but sadly, the handset boots Android 11 out of the box. The promised three years of software updates (and four Years of security updates) should include the Android 12 update. The MIUI 13 for Xiaomi 11T Pro is expected to come in the coming two months. We expect more manufacturers to join the three years software update cycle.

Smooth & Feature-Rich MIUI 12.5

As far as the MIUI 12.5 is concerned, the software is smooth and lag-free. It's loaded with utilities and personalization features that will keep you busy all day long. The MIUI 12 offers a comprehensive Always-On mode, visually pleasing Super wallpapers, rich theme store, and most needed utilities that one would expect on a smartphone in 2022. Make sure you disable personalization toggles while setting up the handset to avoid unwanted ads and notifications.

Xiaomi 11T Pro’s 120W HyperCharge Fast-Charging Technology

The 11T Pro's battery lasts longer and recharges in no time. In an ideal condition when the device is switched off, the HyperCharge technology takes 18-20 minutes to charge the beefier 5,000mAh battery from flat to 100%. If you are too lazy to switch off the device and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, it will take around 25 minutes for a full refuel, which is still the best in the segment. You can read the important safety aspects of the HyperCharge here. You get the hefty charging brick in the box along with a Type-C charging cable and Type-C to 3.5mm adaptor to let you connect any 3.5mm jack headphones.

The closest rivals- the OnePlus 9-series flagship handsets, Oppo Reno 7-series, and some other devices that support 67W fast-charging takes around 35-40 minutes depending upon the battery cell size and other critical factors such as room's temperature and device state.

Verdict

Like most Xiaomi smartphones, the 11T Pro manages to steal the show with aggressive pricing, solid spec-sheet, and concurrent performance. The 11T Pro brings the fastest fast-charging technology (120W HyperCharge), a gorgeous 10-bit AMOLED display accompanied by crisp sounding Harman Kardon stereo speakers, and likable camera performance for the price. Some camera tuning and OIS would have further sweetened up the deal.

The design is sturdy and nice but you can easily find a better-looking handset in the sub-45K price segment. The OnePlus 9RT is one such option at a marginal price difference. The camera on the OnePlus 9RT also has OIS. Moving on, if you are fond of clicking selfies, you can check out the Vivo V23 Pro. For loyal Samsung fans, the last year's Galaxy S20 FE makes for a good deal at Rs. 39,990.

The 11T Pro is available in three variants (8GB + 128GB- Rs. 39,999, 8GB + 256GB at Rs. 41,999 & 12GB + 256GB- Rs. 43,999) in three color options- Celestial Magic, Moonlight White & Meteorite Black. You can grab one from Mi.com, Amazon.in, Mi Homes and retail stores across the country.