[Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra] kyero985:
I've used my new Mi 11 Ultra (CN rom) for over 48 hours now and just wanted to say I'm very impressed so far. It's the first time I've used a Xiaomi device in over a decade and I previously had a Huawei P40 Pro for over a year. I ordered mine from TradingShenzhen and it took 9 days in total to land on my doorstep.

Screen: Amazing. Bright in sunlight, sharp, clear and just what you'd expect from an E4 screen. They weren't kidding when they said it can max out at 1700 nits if you really wanted to set it to that. Doesn't use a LTPO panel like the S21 Ultra does which would've made it even more power efficient but I suppose you can't have everything. Also, I wouldn't call the secondary screen a gimmick, but its features are certainly very limited at present so I've just put the default clock on and left it there.

Performance: Very fast. 12GB of LPDDR5 and the cooling system seem to be doing their job well as I remember Xiaomi pointing out that the SD888 runs hot on a lot of other devices in the market during their launch event.

I ran some benchmarks as shown below for curiosity and couldn't be happier with the numbers I was able to bench on it. I know real-world situations are more important but it's interesting to see the scores imho. I don't play a lot of games but I am a heavy social media user as well as happen to use my phone for work, so I do appreciate how snappy and quick everything is.

Cameras: One of the best I've seen to date, but sometimes I've noticed it's still not always consistent and reliable. Nonetheless the mains sensor captures a lot of detail due to its sensor size in almost all scenarios. You do get a really good natural bokeh effect too when shooting subjects up close, the ultrawide angle is incredibly wide at 12mm and Night mode shots are probably the best I've seen so far. The zoom is really great even though 10x optical would've been nice to have (even night mode zoom shots are decent due to its IMX586's 1/2" sensor size).

My housemate has an iPhone 12 Pro Max and I've found her phone to just be a bit more reliable and consistent. Occasionally I need to manually turn on HDR mode too as the AI won't toggle that on or maybe I'm just used to my previous phone's 'scene optimizer' feature automatically doing that for me and this behaviour of the Mi 11 Ultra is intended.

Another thing I've noticed is that camera module itself seems to get hot easily even just from taking photos. I'm not referring to taking shots back-to-back constantly or even recording videos and the shutter speed seems to have some minor 'lag' to it too which is hard to describe which is a bit annoying.

I'm hoping some software updates and optimizations will address this issue as we are still on very early firmware where none of the recent builds have specifically mentioned camera improvements from what I've noticed.

Call reception/signal: LTE, 5G and cellular speeds seem superior to my Huawei P40 Pro and when I try putting in my SIM to an IPhone 12 Pro Max, I get higher download speeds than that too. VOLTE and WiFi calling all working as intended for my carrier (EE).

Battery life: I still haven't fully stress tested it properly but the 5000mAh battery is looking good so far. Easily 7-8 hours (YMMV) SOT with 120hz, but at FHD+ due to personal preference. I didn't buy the official Xiaomi 67w wired charger as I already have a working 65w PD 3.0 from Amazon instead which works well (got over 75% in 30mins).

Build quality/feel: Love the ceramic rear back which you don't find on most flagships nowadays and even though it weighs a hefty 239g, it just screams quality to me as I'm used to big phones even though I have medium-sized hands. The camera bump is big and it's definitely going to be a dealbreaker or dealmaker for those who either like or dislike the look. I personally don't mind it since it's so unique looking.

Overall impressions: I'm a happy user (and customer!) and look forward to a couple of software updates which I hope will iron out a few issues/bugs I've encountered. The global version would've been cool to have but after spending several hours debloating, customizing and getting used to MIUI 12, it feels great and I've got no problems staying with the CN ROM since my carrier's bands are all supported on it and Google Pay is working too.

What I like

+ Beautiful and bright Samsung E4 panel with 120hz support

+ One of the faster SD888 phones out there with less throttling problems

+ First device to use the new Samsung GN2 main sensor and it captures so much detail

+ A huge battery with support for aftermarket PD 3.0 charging (I used a RavPower 65w charger)

+ Looks and smells premium and solid all-round with the Ceramic rear back and Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and back

+ MIUI 12 on the whole and its stock launcher is very speedy - I didn't need to replace it with Nova in the end

What I dislike

- Some annoying bugs/issues which I hope will be fixed soon: camera shutter button lags sometimes, the camera gets very hot quickly, my WiFi automatically goes to sleep after I turn off the screen despite turning off all battery optimization and restrictions under battery and app management settings and I can't record videos in the self-view of the secondary rear screen

- No 10x optical zoom (120x shouldn't be taken too seriously) - the 10x hybrid is still more than good enough for the most part

- Photos taken from the ultrawide's edges and corners are a bit soft and there's slightly more barrel distortion compared to my Huawei P40 Pro as well as my housemate's iPhone 12 Pro Max

- CN ROM had more junk than I expected - I had to use ADB/Fastboot Tools and SDK Platform Tools to debloat my phone and check which apps/processes were safe to remove and which were not

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