The Xiaomi 14 was unveiled in India earlier this month alongside the Xiaomi 14 Extremely. Whereas the ‘Extremely’ variant aimed to sort out the very best Apple, Samsung, and Google had on supply, the vanilla Xiaomi 14 was designed for the extra price range aware flagship smartphone fanatic.

The Xiaomi 14 is positioned to compete towards extra compact flagships just like the Samsung Galaxy S24, iPhone 15, and Google Pixel 8 with the purpose to disrupt their dominance by profitable the {hardware} battle. The principle query right here is, “does the Xiaomi 14 have what it takes to emerge as India’s greatest default flagship but? Let’s discover out:

Design and Construct

Listening to that the Xiaomi 14 Professional would not be arriving to India was definitely a disappointment. Nonetheless, that did not final lengthy since Xiaomi determined to launch its ‘Extremely’ smartphone in India this trip. That being stated, the Xiaomi 14 is nothing in need of spectacular. Beginning with the enjoyable dimension, which isn’t too small that you’re left with a small display screen and nowhere close to the big, cumbersome type elements we’re used to seeing on most flagships.

The Xiaomi 14 additionally feels extraordinarily comfy for one handed use because of the shape issue, flat display screen, rounded edges, slim physique, and comparatively gentle construct. Sure, for a telephone with a steel chassis and glass safety on each side, the Xiaomi 14 is available in underneath 200 grams and measures simply 8.2mm thick, making it slimmer than the iPhone 15 Professional.

In India, the Xiaomi 14 will probably be unveiled in White, Jade Inexperienced, and Black coloration choices. Sadly, our inexperienced mannequin’s shiny end was proof against fingerprints and smudges, though it does look elegant. The case within the field does care for the fingerprints however it does take away from the telephone’s iconic design.

The Xiaomi 14 additionally options an IP68 score for mud and water resistance. The Xiaomi 14 additionally boasts the usual button placement, with the amount and energy buttons on the proper and a USB Sort-C port, SIM tray, and speaker grille on the underside. The Xiaomi 14 additionally comes with an correct and responsive in-display fingerprint reader. The Xiaomi 14 encompasses a near-perfect design and construct, with the shiny end on the inexperienced mannequin being its solely draw back.

Show

For the show, Xiaomi has opted for a customized 6.36-inch 1.5K (1200 x 2670 pixels) LTPO C8 OLED show with a 20:9 facet ratio. The panel boasts an adaptive 120Hz refresh fee (1Hz – 120Hz). The panel additionally helps Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR10+ codecs. The display screen on the Xiaomi 14 Extremely feels prime notch and is seen underneath all lighting because of its peak brightness of three,00 nits.

The show additionally options TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Gentle and TÜV Rheinland Flicker Free certifications. The panel additionally comes with Widevine L1 help for high-quality video streaming on OTT platforms like Netflix. We had no points utilizing the show outside, underneath direct daylight because it bought lots brilliant. The OLED panel additionally reproduced vibrant colours with deep blacks.

Xiaomi provides you granular controls over image high quality, permitting you to regulate the display screen’s coloration temperature robotically or manually. Furthermore, the handset will be set to 60Hz or 120Hz manually or the default setting, which intelligently adapts refresh fee based mostly on the app or process at hand.

Efficiency

The telephone is powered by the most recent Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC paired with as much as 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and as much as 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. It additionally boasts an revolutionary cooling system that gives 3 occasions the thermal effectivity in comparison with conventional VC cooling options. In expertise with the handset, it labored easily for day by day utilization and did not have any hiccups working demanding cellular video games.

We additionally examined just a few benchmarks on the Xiaomi 14. Geekbench 6 noticed the telephone managed a powerful single-core rating of 2045 factors and a multi-core rating of 6692 factors. The Xiaomi 14’s total AnTuTu rating additionally surpassed two million factors, which is consistent with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 smartphones we have examined thus far.

A number of the titles we examined on the telephone have been Name of Responsibility: Cell, Asphalt 9: Legends, and Genshin Impression. Each Name of Responsibility and Asphalt ran with out a hitch, on most graphics with the body charges set to the max. Genshin Impression additionally ran on the really helpful settings with none lag, as an alternative, body charges stabilized at round 50 to 60fps.

Cameras

For optics, the Xiaomi 14 is supplied with a triple-rear digital camera setup on the again co-developed with Leica. The setup features a 50 MP Hunter Gentle Fusion 900 picture sensor with an f/1.62 aperture and OIS help. The 23mm primary digital camera options Leica’s Summilux lens.

The Xiaomi 14 additionally encompasses a 50 MP Lecia 75mm Floating telephoto lens with an f/2.0 aperture, OIS, and three.2x optical zoom. Lastly, there is a third 50 MP ultrawide shooter with an f/2.2 aperture and a 115-degree FOV. Here is a take a look at some samples taken on the Xiaomi 14.

In daylight, images on the primary digital camera are as near flawless as doable. The 50 MP major sensor captures detailed photographs with vast dynamic vary, correct coloration replica, and no over sharpness or oversaturation. The one factor the Xiaomi 14’s major digital camera does properly is present constant outcomes each indoors and outside.

The ultrawide digital camera on the Xiaomi 14 matches the primary shooter each by way of element and coloration consistency. Nonetheless, photographs taken on the ultrawide are visibly softer with restricted dynamic vary. The final lens here’s a 3.2x telephoto unit, which is primarily designed for portrait images relatively than these lavish zoom photographs.

The 50 MP telephoto lens did yield good outcomes, matching colours with the primary digital camera and retaining a ton of element, whereas preserving noise to a naked minimal. Xiaomi permits you to select from varied portrait modes, together with customary, documentary (35mm), swirly bokeh (50mm), portrait (90mm), and mushy focus (90mm).

You too can select from totally different filters co-developed with Leica. We’re not going to lie; the assorted filters and totally different focal lengths are essentially the most enjoyable facet of the telephone’s portrait mode. Nonetheless, high quality of the photographs themselves are a blended bag with some photographs appeared softer than standard. Nonetheless, the portrait mode is loads of enjoyable and is greater than what many of the competitors gives.

In low gentle, night time mode kicks in to ship clear photographs with a ton of element and completely uncovered highlights. Gentle flare will be a difficulty, however night time mode typically takes care of it on second or third try. Each the ultrawide and telephoto lenses carry out well-above the common utilizing the night time mode, notably the previous, which yielded some surprisingly good outcomes.

The 32 MP selfie digital camera took natural-looking photographs with good dynamic vary, however there’s a main drop off right here when in comparison with the rear cameras. I favor selfie photographs taken on the Pixel 8 (Overview) and Vivo X100 Professional (Overview), each by way of colours and pores and skin tones.

All three rear cameras on the Xiaomi 14 can document 4K video at 24fps, 30fps, and 60fps. Nonetheless, video recording on the primary digital camera maxes out at 8K at 24fps. The rear cameras additionally help HDR and Dolby Imaginative and prescient video recording. Up entrance, there is a 32 MP OmniVision OV32B40 selfie digital camera with an f/2.0 aperture that may document 4K video at as much as 60fps.

We recorded just a few movies utilizing the telephone’s rear cameras, which precisely reproduced colours, whereas sustaining consistency throughout all three lenses. There was no noise whereas recording movies outside and dynamic vary was glorious. The principle digital camera additionally captured surprisingly good movies at night time, correctly exposing darker objects within the scene. Total, the cameras on the Xiaomi 14 are on the degree of a ‘Professional-grade’ flagship, even when the telephone lacks the moniker.

Battery

The Xiaomi 14 additionally packs a 4,610 mAh battery, which is sort of massive for a telephone this dimension. It could actually ship all-day battery life underneath moderate-to-heavy utilization. We ran Name of Responsibility for a complete hour on the Xiaomi 14 and noticed the telephone’s battery drain by little underneath 15%. Moreover, working a video on YouTube for an hour, additionally noticed the telephone’ battery drain by round 5 %.

Xiaomi additionally features a 90W adapter within the field that may ship a full cost in 31 minutes. The Xiaomi 14 additionally helps 50W wi-fi charging, which is quicker than the wired charging on most premium smartphones. Connectivity choices embrace Wi-Fi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, 5G, dual-SIM help, and extra.

Software program

The Xiaomi 14 runs Android 14-based HyperOS out of the field. Xiaomi has dedicated to 4 years of Android OS updates and 5 years of standard safety updates with the handset. The introduction of HyperOS serves to assist Xiaomi in making a extra related ecosystem between its varied merchandise. However it’s not too dissimilar from MIUI.

The Management Middle on HyperOS is right here to remain, whereas Xiaomi has eliminated texts from icons, though the drop-down labels will seem in the event you determine to edit or rearrange their order. HyperOS is very customizable like MIUI. There are just a few new additions like extra personalised lockscreens and an up to date multi-window interface with extra intuitive options.

The Xiaomi 14’s in-display fingerprint reader additionally has an built-in coronary heart fee monitor. HyperOS retains the identical performance and customizations as MIUI, whereas chopping a number of the bloat and introducing new options and an interface. Nonetheless, the one factor missing right here is the incorporation of AI options.

Verdict

So what’s a default flagship? In our view, it’s one that provides a protected path to the premium expertise with out making any compromises. We consider the Xiaomi 14 matches this criterion and here is why! First off, the Xiaomi 14’s Lecia digital camera system gives the proper mix of versatility and high quality, delivering glorious outcomes throughout totally different lighting situations.

Then there’s battery life, which simply passes the all-day check, regardless of the Xiaomi 14’s dimension. Nonetheless, what’s much more spectacular is the wired and wi-fi charging help. You additionally get a brilliant and vibrant show and high quality stereo audio system. Even the software program seems extra streamlined and proficient than ever earlier than.

Then there’s the premium feel and look of the telephone, which is second to none within the section. That being stated, the Xiaomi 14 is not with out its caveats. The inexperienced variant is a smudge magnet, whereas the telephone itself was fairly slippery. The software program isn’t fully bloat-free and the entrance digital camera leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Nonetheless, loads of these hiccups are overlookable and do not take away from what’s on supply right here, which is one hell of a smartphone. And whereas the Xiaomi 14 prices (Rs 69,999) the equal of an iPhone 15 or a Samsung Galaxy S24, it does supply a greater total package deal. The Xiaomi 14 is among the most versatile ‘non-Professional’ flagship smartphones we have used so far, incomes it a simple suggestion in our books.

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