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Xiaomi 11T Pro Review: Unparalleled Value

Last month, the Xiaomi 11T Pro launched in South Africa. At the time, and looking mainly at the specifications on paper, we predicted that it may be the best value for money flagship phone to land in SA in quite some time, with the R13 999 (RRP) price tag proving quite tempting indeed.

With most flagship Android phones costing upwards of R15k right now, the 11T Pro packs some powerful hardware into a more affordable frame, which could make it a savvy choice for anyone looking for an upgrade.

To find out if our predictions were spot on or off the mark, we have spent the past two weeks reviewing the 11T Pro.

Here’s what we learned.

A flagship by any other name

Alright, so let’s start with design (as we often do) and Xiaomi has not necessarily swung for the fences here. That’s not to say that the 11T Pro is an ugly handset, but in the vast swathe of Android phones out there at the moment, it does little to stand out from the crowd with its 6.67″ AMOLED display (2400×1080).

As such, place this phone next to any other similarly specced device from a Chinese firm and it would be quite difficult to spot the difference.

Turn it over, however, and things start to get a little more interesting. To that end, the Meteorite Grey colour option of our review model is quite eye catching for being a grey-coloured phone.

This is thanks to an almost mirror-like coating on the rear of the device that makes it a look a few degrees more premium. Added to this are some fine line grains running horizontally on the back of the phone, which add a bit of distinctness too.

All of this good work though, is outdone by a massive camera array. It may be housing some impressive components which we will address later on, but just in terms of aesthetics, it is a bit of an eye sore.

In the 11T Pro’s defence though, almost every smartphone maker has adopted this look. On this device, the camera array does jut out quite a bit. It means that the phone sits slightly off kilter when placed on a flat surface, with the clear generic plastic back cover not assisting in levelling things out.

Again this is a problem that we have spotted on more than one device over the years, so we guess the 11T Pro is in good company.

Other design elements worth noting is the power button on the side, which doubles as a fingerprint sensor. Where other firms opt for a flat button, Xiaomi has gone for one that is a bit more prism-shaped. It means fingerprint reading is not always as quick as you’d like, requiring a couple of attempts at just the right angle to unlock the phone.

It’s certainly not an aspect that will frustrate and lead you to bin the device, but something we felt warranted mentioning here.

Throw down with the best of them

Now let’s look at performance. On this front, and as we have mentioned previously, the 11T Pro is running some impressive components. The most notable is the chipset, with an octa-core 5nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor present.

Along with providing 5G connectivity, should you find yourself in area that has it, the 11T Pro also features 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. Both latter elements are more than enough, ensuring there is a little bit of longevity, should 5G spectrum ever be fully allocated.

In hand, this phone was rapid and never shirked the desire to handle multitasking or any applications that are processor-intensive.

The same bore itself out during our benchmarking, with the 11T Pro being one of the best phones we have tested this year.

To that end it registered 2 916 and 693 on GeekBench’s multi-core and single-core tests, as well as getting 5 493 on 3DMark’s Wild Life test. The only device we’ve reviewed to outperform it is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3, which comes in at nearly three time the price.

We understand that we’re not comparing apples with apples here, but it serves as a good indication of the value for money that the 11T Pro delivers.

Another element we should mention is the battery life. A full day is easily achieved thanks to the massive 5 000mAh battery on offer, and you can push things to two days in a pinch.

To accompany the massive battery is a 120W charger that almost dwarfs the phone itself, which also supports rapid charging that goes from zero to full in 17 minutes. This system does indeed work as advertised, but we have reservations about that level of fast charging in general as regards the long-term life of the battery.

High resolution imagery

Now let’s talk about the cameras. We’ll get the selfie option out of the way, with the 16MP option onboard proving fairly solid. That said we aren’t pulling many duckface poses, so we are not the experts when it comes to taking selfies.

We can, however, speak to the camera array on the rear. The main lens option is 108MP. Interesting, and perhaps by necessity, the large lens is only accessible in the Pro mode of the camera app.

Shooting with this option yields deeply detailed images and for those that plan to do a lot of editing of images, it is likely the route you want to go with while snapping pictures.

That said, these images (captured and scaled down below) are equally large at 12000×9000, taking up quite a bit of space and time to transfer to other devices, so bear that in mind.

In the regular camera mode, the 11T Pro is a capable all-around shooter, handling outdoor and low light environments nicely. The zoom could use a little work, producing grainy images at the 6x mark.

It is the only real issue in an otherwise good camera experience though, with video recording also being solid.

The final verdict

In a world where flagship Android phones cost upwards of R18k, the Xiaomi 11T Pro is a refreshing change of pace at R13 999 (RRP). Added to this is the fact that it is featuring components and delivers performance that is comparable to vastly more expensive devices.

If you are looking for a new Android flagship phone, 2021’s best option to date has to be the Xiaomi 11T Pro. If a premium mid-range phone is what you are looking at too, paying that extra money will get you a phone that will last you a long time while delivering solid performance throughout.

As such, the Xiaomi 11T Pro comes highly recommended by us.

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