Xiaomi 11T Review — Stuck In The Middle

Previously, we looked at the Xiaomi 11T Pro. Now, we’ll be checking out the standard variant in this Xiaomi 11T review. What exactly does it have to offer? Let’s find out.

Xiaomi 11T Unboxing

The package is similar to the 11T Pro apart from the 67W fast charger. In any case, you can expect the following to be included inside the box:

• Xiaomi 11T
• Charging brick
• USB-C cable
• SIM ejector
• Documentation
• Soft TPU case

Appearance

Before we begin with the looks, we should probably say that it’s pretty similar to the Xiaomi 11T Pro. With that aside, we see that on the front, there’s a tiny notch in the middle that houses the selfie camera. The bezels around the display aren’t too thick, which is good but could be better.

Down below, you’ll find the SIM tray, microphone, USB-C port, as well as the first speaker grille.

On the right side, there’s the usual volume rockers and power button. As for the opposite left, it’s completely naked.

One thing that’s different from the Pro version would be the Harmon Kardon branding, which you can see that it isn’t available here. Aside from that, it’s pretty much the same thing; second speaker and IR blaster.

Again, the back is also the same as its brother, with it being reflective and glossy. Apart from that, there’s the standard Xiaomi branding on the lower left and the camera setup on the top-left corner.

Xiaomi 11T Specifications

CPU	Dimensity 1200 Octa-core (1×3.0GHz Cortex-A78 + 3×2.6GHz Cortex-A78 + 4×2.0GHz Cortex-A55), 6nm
GPU	Adreno 660
Memory	8GB
Storage	256GB
Display	6.67″ FHD+ (2400x 1080) AMOLED display, 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
Audio	Dual speakers
Camera	108MP f/1.8 main camera 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle 5MP f/2.4 telemacro camera AI Camera, Auto HDR, Pro Mode, Vlog Mode, Movie Effects, Portrait, Beauty
Selfie camera	16MP f/2.25 selfie camera
Connectivity	5G Band n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n20/n28/n38/n40/n41/n66/n77/n78 LTE Band 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 7/ 8/ 12/ 13/ 17/ 18/ 19/ 20/ 26/ 28/ 32/ 66 WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 NFC
Software	MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11
Battery	5000mAh 67W fast charging
Dimensions	164.1 x 76.9 x 8.8 mm
Weight	203g
Ingress protection	N/A

Performance

As you might have known, the standard Xiaomi 11T is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset. As we can see here, the difference is quite substantial from the Pro version on Antutu V9’s test, with the Pro doing significantly better.

When it came to Single-Core performance on Geekbench 5, the Xiaomi 11T actually outperforms its brother. Despite that, we can clearly see that the previous Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro scored higher than the both of them.

Heading to graphical performance, we don’t see much of an impressive score from the device on all three tests on 3DMark. On two test, we can see that the POCO X3 GT, which uses an older Dimensity 1100, performing better too.

Over at PCMark Work 3.0’s test, we see that the Dimensity 1200 performed rather decently. However, there is still a gap between that and the Snapdragon 888-powered smartphones.

To be honest, I was expecting the phone to last longer than it did here. When I thought the Snapdragon 888 was a power-hungry, it seems that the Dimensity 1200 drains more. You might argue that it’s not by much, but it’s still something worth taking note of.

In terms of real-life usage, I find the battery to last almost as long as the Pro version, nearly 1 and a half day. As usual, I used the device with the usual string of apps, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, some light gaming, and watching some videos.

Though the phone comes with a slower 67W fast charger, it is still fast. There were no issues of charging its 5000mAh to full in a 30-minute duration. It’s certainly more than enough for most consumers.

User Experience

Since the phone is similar to the Pro version, the experience is essentially the same when it comes to the feel of the device. It feels solid but there are definitely smartphones with a more premium, better build out there. Though I do like the design on both 11T and 11T Pro, I still despise glossy finishes on smartphones. This is subjective since there will always be a crowd that prefers this.

Both the 11T and 11T Pro are equipped with dual speakers but the latter is tuned by Harmon Kardon, I thought it’d be interesting to hear for myself if there really is a difference. In short, there is but there difference is minimal. I could hear that the 11T’s audio is less punchy but still decent nonetheless.

Video consumption is the same with its brother, enjoyable. Thanks to the AMOLED display plus 120Hz refresh rate, they’ve certainly made it an enjoyable experience in that area. Unfortunately, I have the same issue when it comes to gaming. The phone’s temperature wasn’t really good when playing Genshin Impact. I played the game for 30 minutes and it gets hot at around the 15 minute mark.

Since the UI is just the same with the Pro version, we’ve decided to just put that here, in case you’ve never seen it before. As for UI experience, I don’t have much to complain about. It’s easy to use and there are no issues of sluggishness.

The same could be said about the camera UI. But with the 11T series, Xiaomi has added a handful of video filters since they are focusing on videography with this lineup.

The camera is impressive when you have good lighting conditions, but it’s not too shabby under lowlight, especially with Night Mode enabled. Despite that, the tone of shots under Super Macro mode is a bit grainy. It’s not by much, but you can tell that it looks rather processed.

Overall the quality of shots is more than decent for your social media uploads and the diversity of modes is sufficient for most people out there. You will definitely find what you need to take the shots you want.

Check out the full-sized images right here.

Xiaomi 11T Verdict

If you take the same storage configuration for both 11T and 11T Pro, the difference in price would be just RM200. While you could get the smaller 128GB storage for just RM1,699, I find that the Dimensity 1200 could’ve done a little bit better, especially in the battery segment.

The phone does need some fixes here and there but if you don’t mind some of the flaws that we’ve mentioned, it does have decent cameras, lovely display, as well as a relatively fast 67W (still can’t beat the Pro’s 120W) fast charger to enjoy. Personally I’d go for the 11T Pro between the two, just for that small upgrade.

We would like to thanks Xiaomi Malaysia for providing the Xiaomi 11T that was used in this review.