Editor's Note: Updated Results and Conclusion for Xiaomi 11T Review
by Andrei Frumusanu on September 22, 2021 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- Xiaomi 11T
In last week’s review of the Xiaomi 11T series, we had covered both the 11T and the 11T Pro, two almost identical phones that were otherwise differentiated by only the SoC powering them, as well as their charging speeds.
In our original review at the embargo time, and in testing done in weeks prior to the announcement, we had noted that the MediaTek powered 11T exhibited extremely uncompetitive battery life test results. Our conclusion on the device, lacking any evidence of something being wrong with the phone, was that this seemed something related to the platform, and that it was seemingly inferior to the 11T Pro.
Shortly after the announcement event (we’re not quite sure exactly when it went live), Xiaomi had issued a firmware update where battery life seems to have improved a lot (Many thanks to Domingo Gomes for the heads-up and some initial before & after testing). We also updated and redid our battery life testing over the next days.
The new battery life results showcase the 11T slightly outlasting the 11T Pro, ending up more in line with expectations of where we had hoped the two phones would end up. Most importantly, this was a large improvement and discrepancy over the initial review firmware.
In terms of technical background as to what exactly had changed pre- and post-update, I hadn’t been able to measure any difference in performance, display power, or stead-state CPU power, with all results ending up almost the same as what we experienced prior. This is only anecdotal evidence, but it seems the DVFS might be faster to respond to dynamic workloads, but we can’t be certain of it. We’ve reached out to Xiaomi on the situation, but haven’t had yet received any comments back.
In view of the new battery life results, we’ve updated the conclusion and evaluation of the Xiaomi 11T within that review to properly represent our more positive take on the device:
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Wereweeb - Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - link
Did they turn off Bitcoin_mining_when_idle or what?yeeeeman - Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - link
so...better battery life compare to qualcomm. nice, you can see the benefit of using tsmc (mediatek) vs shitty samsung (qualcomm).Andrei Frumusanu - Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - link
Performance per watt on the Dimensity 1200 is worse than on the Snapdragon 888, the battery life difference which is minor, is only due to lower performance.unclevagz - Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - link
You mentioned running SPEC on the D1200, when would you be able to post results on performance & power?haukionkannel - Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - link
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/lit...eastcoast_pete - Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - link
That, if true, would be enormously troubling. Censorship baked into the OS or hardware should get those phones, and maybe even the entire company, banned from most markets. Too bad, I actually in the market, and considered getting a Xiaomi phone.Wereweeb - Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - link
If you're not Taiwanese or Chinese, I don't see the problem with using Xiaomi. It's not like Intel, Google and Apple don't have their own surveillance to crack down on things like union organizing within the U.S.Likewise, it would be smarter for someone from China to use something like a Motorola, Samsung or any de-Googled Android.
melgross - Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - link
Well, they don’t. Stop making things up.PeachNCream - Thursday, September 23, 2021 - link
Eh, Google spies on everything that any user of its products or services does. There are a couple of class actions happening in various places over Chrome collecting and pushing data back up to the mothership even when users explicitly opted out. There's one for Android as well. Creepy as it gets really and its sad to see mindless drones broadly trusting a company like that or justifying by saying stuff like, "Oh well other companies do it too so its not like Google is unique," instead of being outraged and demanding action akin to what the EU is doing to protect its citizens. In the US, you're just more meat generating income that the data farmers can happily mine for money while handing out free looking goo-gaws and do-dads in exchange.eastcoast_pete - Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - link
While I appreciate the update on battery life, that information is borderline useless without the details how the extra life was achieved. If, for example, the updated software simply disabled the A78 performance cores and strongly limited screen brightness, one would get a substantial increase in battery life, but the user experience would be worse than for many $ 200 phones. I applaud Andrei for clearly stating the caveats that one has to see these numbers with. Unless Xiaomi supplies additional information or, even better, let's Andrei have another go at a detailed analysis, I would still say "buyer beware".