Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra // 4 Months Later! By Sam Beckman

This is the Xiaomi mi 11 ultra, and it's a phone that has now been out for four months. Would you believe now the device that I was using just prior to this one was the regular May 11, and so it was an interesting experience, switching to what is essentially the exact same device, but with some additional bells and whistles? But then, when you see that there is actually a 400 price difference between these two phones, depending on where you live, it makes you think well, gee. The ultra version better have some damn good additional features, and so that's what I aim to unpack in this review. I want to compare the differences between these two phones and assess whether this more premium, one is worth the extra cash and also determine how it stacks up compared to all the other premium thousand dollar plus flagships on the market. So without further ado, let's dive in okay, let's start with how these two devices are the same. Firstly, the displays like the regular me 11, the mi 11 ultra, also has a quad HD, 120 hertz AMOLED display and honestly looks and feels identical to the mi 11, which isn't a bad thing.

That phone's display was great. So is this one as well as that the software is also an exact replica. It seems of what we have on the regular 11. Same limited system launcher that requires a bit of tinkering to get set up in a way that looks nice same iOS, style gestures and the same incredibly smooth and buttery animations. Both phones come shipped with android 11 and the same set of pre-installed system.

Apps. Honestly, the phones are identical when it comes to software, thankfully, but not surprisingly, the amazing haptics from the me11 are still present with this phone, which is fantastic, but sadly the subpar fingerprint sensor is also present and in fact I actually think it might be slightly slower on the m11 ultra. That could just be my imagination, aside from that, both phones have ip68 water and dust resistant ratings both have fast wired and wireless charging, although at slightly different rates, and both phones also have the snapdragon 8 on board as well, so lots of similarities, and even though that's where the similarities kind of stopped, I do want to make it very clear that all of these components that are similar well they're very big components of what make up a phone. So the fact that they are all essentially the exact same between these two phones is testament to the great value offered by the regular me 11. But there are a number of differences too, starting with the battery, whilst the regular me 11 has a 4 600 William hour cell inside the ultra has a 5 000 William hour cell and whilst that might not sound like that big, a difference on paper.

To be honest, I've not had any troubles getting this phone to last a full day, in fact, most days it's on about 30 to 40 when I'm hopping into bed, whereas this was one of the bigger complaints I had about the regular me 11. , and then we have the design now from the front. Both of these phones are identical. In fact, I used the mi 11 ultra in the UI home screen setup video, even though I was kind of hinting at it being the regular 11. But whilst the front of these phones are identical, and they actually share the same footprint as well, the backs of these phones not only look but feel very different as well for one on the me11 ultra, the back glass is glossy and not frosted, and this is absolutely baffling to me.

I've found it very clear in almost all of my phone reviews over the past year or two that I much prefer a frosted glass finish on the back of a phone compared to a glossy one, and for me, I feel as though that's the much more premium feeling finish as well. So I'm not sure why they decided to go with glossy on the more premium phone, but it is what it is and then, secondly, we of course have the beefy camera unit on the mi 11 ultra, compared to the fairly minimal and subdued camera module on the regular me 11. That will get to the actual camera performance in a moment. But this module on the m11 ultra is bonkers. It's super thick and pronounced visually.

I don't like the look of it at all and, whilst you do get this mini display on the right side of this module, which shows the time or even a preview of what the camera is looking at. I've largely found this to be quite gimmicky and not something that I use regularly. That said, you do get the benefit of there being no side to side wobble when this phone is flat on a table. So there's that, but from a design standpoint, I actually much prefer the look and feel of the regular May 11. But then speaking of the cameras, the reason for this ridiculous camera hump on the back is that all the cameras are actually different to the ones found on the cheaper phone.

Instead of a 108 megapixel main shooter, the ultra has a 50 megapixel shooter, but don't let the megapixel count put you off both phones capture, fantastic photos with the main sensor, but then with the ultrawide. The m11 ultra has a far superior 48 megapixel ultrawide lens in comparison to the 30 megapixel ultrawide on the regular me 11, and I've definitely noticed a difference between those two lenses. Ultrawide images do look sharper than what they do from the ultra-wide on the regular m11, particularly in less optimal lighting conditions. But then an even bigger difference between the cameras on these phones is that the ultra has an additional 48 megapixel five times optical zoom periscope lens for telephoto shots, whereas the regular m11 has nothing, and so obviously you're going to see a big difference between the zoomed in shots on these two phones not in day really, and so for me, this category right here, the cameras. This is the main reason why you might want to go for the more premium flagship over its cheaper brother.

But the real question is: is a superior ultrawide camera and a telephoto lens worth 400 to you? For me, I mean yes, of course, I'd prefer to have the better camera system if I had the choice, but if it was my money no, I would actually probably stick with the regular May 11 and be really happy with the money that I've saved. But okay, let's say having the superior camera set up is essential for you no two ways about it. Well, then, might I encourage you to instead look into the galaxy s21 ultra its camera configuration is even better than what you get with the mi 11 ultra and spec for spec. Everything else is almost identical between the two phones. The only difference is that it's actually cheaper.

So even though the mi 11 ultra is a fantastic phone, it's kind of priced out of the market right now, the only real reason I can see why you'd get this over the galaxy s21 ultra is the software, because to be fair, despite some quirky limitations, I actually kind of prefer the mini software skin compared to one UI. But aside from that, unless this phone sees some pretty drastic price reductions over the next little while it's actually kind of a tough sell, which is a shame because otherwise it's a really great fun. Let me know your thoughts on this device down in the comments section below also a big shout out to pane, who are kind enough to send the 11 ultra and the regular m11 my way so that I could check both of them out for these videos. Aside from that, hopefully you enjoyed the video. Thank you all very much for watching, and I will catch you later.

You.

Source : Sam Beckman