Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G

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Introduction

Even though last year's Mi 9T lineup didn't get a Lite version, this year's 10T family did. And you can say that the Mi 10T lite is the spiritual successor to the vanilla Mi 9T since it has the mid-range specs and everything, whereas the vanilla Mi 10T is closer to the Pro version this time around.

Another interesting thing to note here is that the Mi 10T Lite 5G carries the same screen size as its other two siblings - 6.67 inches. The only difference is the punch-hole positioning for the front camera and the screen refresh rates. The Lite "settles" for 120Hz instead of 144Hz and moves the front-facing camera in the center.

Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G specs at a glance:

• Body: 165.4x76.8x9.0mm, 215g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 5), glass back (Gorilla Glass 5), plastic frame.
• Display: 6.67" IPS LCD, 120Hz, HDR10, 450 nits (typ), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM7225 Snapdragon 750 5G (8 nm): Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 570 & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 570); Adreno 619.
• Memory: 64GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM; 64GB 6GB RAM - UFS 2.1, 128GB 6GB RAM - UFS 2.2; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
• OS/Software: Android 10, MIUI 12.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.9, 26mm, 1/1.73", 0.8µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 120˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4; Dual-LED dual-tone flash, HDR, panorama.
• Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, 25mm (wide), 1/3.06" 1.0µm; HDR.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 720p@960fps; gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, 720p@120fps.
• Battery: 4820mAh; Fast charging 33W.
• Misc: Fingerprint (side-mounted), NFC.

The back of the device is also radically different than the rest of the Mi 10T's. But compared to other Xiaomi phones, it's not very unique. The camera module's placement and design are strikingly similar to the Poco X3. Other features like the camera setup, the battery capacity, fast charging, and stereo speakers are pretty much in line with the rest of Mi 10Ts.

The most significant difference is in the chipset, of course, which can also be considered as the key selling point. It's the Snapdragon 750 5G, and it's one of the newest additions to Qualcomm's portfolio. A successor to the Snapdragon 730G with improvements to the overall performance, adds a couple of actually usable features and still sits right under the Snapdragon 865G in pricing while delivering the same 5G capabilities. But more on that later.

At a price hovering around €270, the Mi 10T 5G shapes up to be a pretty good deal considering all the hardware and software features it has to offer. However, it will be curious to see if it's any better than other Xiaomi-branded phones from earlier this year, which have all fallen to this price point. So not only does the Mi 10T Lite face external but some internal competitions as well.

Unboxing the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G

There's nothing out of the ordinary inside the retail box. You will find the usual user manuals, a 33W-capable fast charger, a USB-A to USB-C cable for file transfer and charging as well as a transparent silicone case.

Design and ergonomics

The Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite is a strange mixture of a Poco-looking phone on the back with Samsung looks on the front. The back is inspired by the Poco X3, while the front's centered punch-hole reminds us of Samsung's Infinity-O panel design. Sure, there are other phones with a centered punch-hole camera, but it has become something of a trademark for Samsung because it has been used in many of its handsets.

Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro and 10T Lite

Anyway, the build itself is nothing short of premium. At least to the touch. The back and front glass panels are Gorilla Glass 5 but the frame is still plastic. It's matte, not glossy, which is a good thing because the matte surface provides a slightly better grip too. On the contrary, the back is glossy, and our Pearl Gray unit seems to be a fingerprint magnet. Smudges stick out easily.

The camera module is quite unusual looking. While it does look like the one on the Poco X3, the camera arrangement is different. The four cameras are placed in a perfect square formation. The bump itself is designed in two levels - there's a circular base and an oval rectangle placed on top. With this design, the phone doesn't wobble as much when placed on a flat surface.

Moving on to the front, we find the side bezels fairly thin, especially at this price point. The bottom lip isn't the thickest one around either. The top bezel is thicker than the side ones ruining the symmetry, but since the glass panel is ever so slightly curved at the edges, it gives you the notion of much thinner bezels. What surprised us the most, however, is the size of the punch-hole. It's placed a bit far from the top bezel to our taste, but it's definitely one of the smallest we've seen on an LCD panel. It is a bit surprising considering that the sensor on the Mi 10T Lite is bigger than on the Mi 10T Pro, which has a bigger cutout on its display.

Speaking of curvatures, the back panel and the side frame are also slightly curved, providing a more comfortable grip. There's no way around the glass's slippery nature, but for what it's worth, the phone feels relatively secure in the hand.

In any case, there are no surprises when it comes to ports and buttons. The bottom is where you will find the 3.5mm audio jack, and we are pleased to see the IR blaster still making an appearance on the top of the frame. The power button, which doubles as a fingerprint reader, is concaved into the frame. This provides some tactile feedback, so you will know that you've placed your finger in the right spot without having to look.

The positioning of the power button seems ideal, too - you won't have to perform finger gymnastics to reach it. You do have to adjust your grip to reach the volume rocker, though.

When it comes to usability, both the volume rocker and the power button provide clicky feedback, although a bit on the shallow side.

The Mi 10T Lite from the side

On the other side of the frame, Xiaomi has placed the SIM card tray, which is big enough to house the two SIM cards and a microSD card too. The latter isn't an option on the vanilla Mi 10T or the Pro version.

All in all, there's nothing special about the phone's design and also nothing inherently wrong. We liked the reasonably thin bezels and the compact cutout for the front-facing camera, while the camera module on the back makes up for a distinctive look. Bonus points for using Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back and minus points for being a bit on the hefty side (215g, 9mm thick) and top-heavy.

High refresh rate IPS display and a tiny cutout

One of the best aspects of this tall, 1080 x 2400px resolution IPS LCD panel is the small cutout for the front-facing camera. It rivals the ones we've seen on OLED screens, and those are usually tiny, especially on high-end phones.

Another thing we've noticed right away is the absence of glow around the punch-hole and the bezels. There is a minimal shadow if you look around the camera at a certain angle when a specific color is displayed (mostly white or gray), but this is negligible.

Now, when it comes to features, this display is packed. Aside from the 120Hz refresh rate, it's also HDR10-compliant. Just like the Pro model, the Lite displays HDR10 content on YouTube and Netflix. Of course, since we are talking about local dimming on a small LCD panel, don't expect a radically different viewing experience compared to the non-HDR10 content.

When it comes to brightness, this panel isn't amazing but doesn't disappoint as well. With the brightness slider cranked up at max, the display peaks at 476 nits while in auto mode, and with the sun shining bright, the screen can go as high as 596 nits.

Display test	100% brightness
	Black,cd/m2	White,cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite	0.348	476	1368:1
Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite (Max Auto)	0.455	596	1310:1
Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro	0.432	512	1185:1
Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro (Max Auto)	0.541	630	1165:1
Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G	0	442	∞
Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G (Max Auto)	0	610	∞
Realme 7 Pro	0	459	∞
Realme 7 Pro (Max Auto)	0	585	∞
Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC	0.354	460	1299:1
Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC (Max Auto)	0.515	631	1225:1
Motorola Moto G9 Plus	0.315	427	1356:1
Motorola Moto G9 Plus (Max Auto)	0.39	522	1338:1

Color calibration, on the other hand, can be great if you need it to be. Aside from the granular color temperature control, you are also given a choice between three color presets. The default one would give you borderline acceptable 5.9 DeltaE2000 while the Standard mode can lower that value to just 2.5.

Last but not least, there's a pretty smart adaptive sync feature, hence why Xiaomi calls it Smart AdaptiveSync Display. It does offer finer control over the refresh rate than usual, offering steps like 30, 48, 50, 60, 90, and 120Hz.

When you are not touching the display, the software lowers it to 50Hz, even in static images around the system menus. It works on Chrome too. As soon as you touch it, it shoots back up to 120Hz. Depending on the video you are watching on YouTube or on the default video app, the screen can go as low as 30Hz.

There's no MEMC feature, which is a good thing in our opinion as it can be detrimental to the viewing experience with the induced smearing effect. So 24 and 30fps videos will run at 48Hz and 60Hz, respectively, without any additional frames in-between.

For gaming, the display can do 60, 90, or 120Hz as long as the phone supports it on a given game, which it often does not. Still, we can say with great certainty that this is one of the best HRR implementations we've seen. It saves battery life with the low refresh rate levels, but it can boost the refresh rate as much as the current app allows to provide smoother visuals and operation.

Battery life

Most of this year's midrangers tend to go closer to 5,000 mAh batteries, and the Mi 10T Lite makes no exception. Sure, it's not 5,000 mAh, but it gets pretty close with its 4,820 mAh unit. More importantly, though, it offers excellent battery life. In fact, even better than some 5,000 mAh-powered smartphones.

Typically for a phone with an LCD panel, the web browsing runtimes are significantly higher than the video playback. You can say that the latter isn't impressive, but the long standby time and talk time propel the Mi 10T Lite up in our battery endurance rankings. The handset gets a more than respectable 116h overall score.

Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.

Charging speed

Kudos to Xiaomi for retaining the 33W fast charging on the Lite version of the phone because it's pretty fast. In just 30 minutes, you can get from 0% to 68% of the battery charged. And it can get to 100% in a mere 58 minutes.

30min charging test (from 0%)

• Realme 7 Pro
  94%
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G
  68%
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
  61%
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  55%
• Poco X3 NFC
  55%

Time to full charge (from 0%)

• Realme 7 Pro
  0:37h
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
  0:58h
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G
  0:58h
• Poco X3 NFC
  1:15h
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  1:16h

Speaker test

Absolutely stoked that Xiaomi didn't cut corners in the audio department. Despite being a relatively affordable mid-range phone, the Mi 10T Lite features a set of dual stereo speakers. The main one is at the bottom while the other one doubles as an earpiece.

The overall quality isn't exceptional, but loudness is good. Going too high with the volume produces some distortions. We also noticed that the earpiece speaker isn't as loud as the main one at the bottom and the overall setup lacks fullness. However, vocals sound clear, and you can easily enjoy a movie, for example, without having to put on headphones.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.

Audio output quality

We've recently discontinued our audio output quality test.

The reason for that is that most phones that arrived for testing were already excellent in this regard. Whatever difference there was, it was marginal and probably indistinguishable to anything but our lab equipment.

MIUI 12 but still on Android 10

It's a bit of a bummer that the Mi 10T series isn't launching with the latest Android 11, but you can rest assured that Xiaomi will take care of future updates. The Mi 10Ts are still shipping with the latest MIUI 12, which arguably the more important thing. Xiaomi tends to push at least two or even more major updates even to its low-end phones, and by major updates read MIUI versions. MIUI often delivers the latest Android features without being based on the latest version of the OS, so this is one of the best aspects of owning an MIUI-powered smartphone.

In any case, MIUI 12 offers a slew of nice features. Probably the biggest change would be the notification shade. If you opt for the new drop-down menu style, you will see the notifications and the quick toggles separated. Swiping down from the left side of the screen, you will see all of your notifications in one place. There's also a shortcut to the notification settings letting you choose which apps can send notifications and the way the notification cards appear. They can be Android's default style or MIUI style.

Notification cards

Swiping from the right side will open up the revamped quick toggles, called Control Center, along with the brightness slider. There are four highlighted quick toggles at the top - for mobile data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and flashlight.

New Control Center

This type of overhaul is strongly reminiscent of how iOS handles toggles and notifications. We liked how it feels when you get used to it. You can focus on your notifications if needed or just open up the toggles. It's tidier this way.

Still, if all of this is too complicated (we get that it takes some time getting used to), MIUI 12 offers you the good old Android-style notification shade.

A more subtle change would be the transition animations. Xiaomi says they are more in line with the HRR displays offering smoother and faster navigation. We tend to agree with the statement because the user experience does feel light, fast, and smooth.

Home screen, recent apps and main settings menu

With previous MIUI versions, not all phones had the option to choose between a simplified home screen and an app drawer, but with MIUI 12, we believe every phone running the OS will have that option baked in. The setting is hidden within the Home screen settings. The app drawer itself is no ordinary one too. You have system-managed categories, custom ones that fit your needs, you can choose the type of scroll bar, and more importantly, the search bar has been moved to the bottom for easier reach with one hand.

App drawer and app drawer options

The display options are aplenty too. You can leave your brightness at manual, for example, but when the ambient light becomes too much, it triggers the auto mode and boosts the brightness despite being set to manual. We find this feature quite useful for users that don't really like Android's auto-adjusting brightness.

Interestingly enough, though, the refresh rate options are either 60 or 120Hz, and we can't think of a reason to go for the 60Hz mode. Due to the Smart AdaptiveSync feature, the system will choose the appropriate refresh rate to save on some battery anyway. So leave it at that.

Display settings

To our surprise, the haptic feedback is on point. It seems that Xiaomi didn't cut corners with its least expensive model from the Mi 10T lineup and put a proper vibration motor. It's strong and precise when you need it to be. There are a couple of options in the settings menu that allow you to adjust it to your liking. We found it to be excellent when it comes to tactile feedback during navigation or when interacting with certain UI elements. It feels really nice.

Haptic feedback options

The fingerprint reader is exactly the same as on the Mi 10T Pro. It's fast, accurate, and snappy. One issue with side-mounted fingerprint scanners is that you often get misreadings when you are fidgeting with the phone or when reaching for it in your pocket because your fingers or palm are almost always in contact with the side frame. Xiaomi has an easy fix for that - the fingerprint scanner will start reading only if you press the power button.

Fingerprint unlocking method

The battery settings menu has been enhanced with a couple of new features. The Ultra battery saver mode will restrict most of the phone's functionalities, including the demanding 5G connectivity. Only the cellular and network connections won't be affected. The phone enters into a simplified mode that allows you to use only a couple of apps you choose. Animations are disabled and almost all of the phone's features too.

Battery menu and settings

Adjusting the level of battery saving for each app is also possible. You can restrict some apps from launching in the background and allow others to run unrestricted at all times. Or use the default option - let the system analyze and decide what to do with each app. In any case, if you have an app that's misbehaving, going for the nuke option might not be such a bad idea.

There's also the Game Turbo selection of features, if we can call it that. It gives you quite a bit of control over certain game-related things and supposedly boosts performance, but no specifics have been given so as to how it affects performance.

What blew us away was the individual profiles you can set for each game. You can adjust the touch response (why would you want a slower response, though) and sensitivity to repeated taps. We can see how that one is useful in certain games that require lots of tapping on a single control.

Game Turbo options

Setting up an area of the screen that doesn't react to touches is also possible. It solves the issue of accidental touches for users with bigger hands. And visual effects to each game can be added. The slider increases the contrast and sharpens the picture to your liking.

In-game overlay

A set of quick shortcuts is always available during gaming. An awkward swipe from the upper-left or right corners of the screen will bring out the said shortcuts. They can launch apps or certain gaming-related features. For instance, you can restrict notification bubbles, clear up the memory, make a screenshot, start recording your gameplay or even cast your screen to a bigger one as long as the receiving device supports Wireless Display. One particularly useful option is the ability to turn off the screen and leave the game running in the background. This is especially useful for games that require you to be online most of the time. It will save you a lot of battery.

Xiaomi has done a great job with its latest iteration of MIUI. It feels fast, smooth, and full of features while being rather easy to use. There are a couple of bold moves like the Control Center, and we do appreciate that.

Performance

The brand new Snapdragon 750G is running the show, and the Mi 10T Lite is the first device we've tested with the SoC. It's a typical mid-range SoC that's supposed to fill the gap between the Snapdragon 765G and the Snapdragon 690. It can also be considered as a successor to the Snapdragon 730G. It's still built on the 8nm node.

The CPU configuration is as follows - 2x Kryo 570 Gold (Cortex-A77 derivative) @ 2.2 GHz and 6x Kryo 570 Silver (Cortex-A55 derivative) @ 1.8GHz. The chipset also gets a slightly newer Adreno 619 GPU, which is expected to be 10% faster than the Adreno 618 found in the SD730G.

The "G" at the end of the name denotes that the chipset has been optimized for gaming as well supporting Snapdragon Elite Gaming and the fifth-gen AI Engine.

And as for memory, the handset starts at 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal, expandable storage and can go up to 6GB/128GB. All of the configurations use the UFS 2.1 for storage, but there's only one 6GB/128GB configuration that boasts UFS 2.2.

Now let's see how it compares to other Qualcomm and MediaTek alternatives on the market.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  2009
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  1927
• Realme 7 Pro
  1811
• Poco X3 NFC
  1777
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
  1694
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  1261

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  661
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  616
• Realme 7 Pro
  576
• Poco X3 NFC
  568
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
  521
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  349

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  318882
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  318117
• Poco X3 NFC
  283750
• Realme 7 Pro
  278414
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
  253271
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  187863

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  38
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  33
• Poco X3 NFC
  33
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
  30
• Realme 7 Pro
  30
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  12

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  32
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  28
• Poco X3 NFC
  27
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
  26
• Realme 7 Pro
  25
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  14

3DMark SSE Vulkan 1.0 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  3080
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  2595
• Poco X3 NFC
  2495
• Realme 7 Pro
  2358
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite
  2248
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  1013

As expected, the Snapdragon 750G offers better raw CPU performance in single and multi-threaded scenarios compared even to the Snapdragon 765G. Still, due to its inferior GPU, it falls behind in strictly GPU-intensive tests. In compound estimations (look at the AnTuTu 8 sores), the two SoCs are head to head. Coupled with the great battery efficiency, this is a great showing from the new Snapdragon 750G.

Camera performance

The Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite features the same 64MP main sensor with f/1.9 aperture as the vanilla Mi 10T. The sensor itself is quite big, measuring 1/1.73" in size and offering 0.8µm pixels. Since it's a Quad-Bayer sensor, combining four adjacent pixels into one, the effective pixel size ends up being 1.6µm, and the actual image resolution is 16MP.

For its ultra-wide snapper, Xiaomi has downgraded from 13MP on the vanilla and the Pro to 8MP - an ordinary mid-range camera for ultra-wide stills. The aperture is f/2.2, while the size of the sensor is 1/4.0" with 1.12µm pixels. The field-of-view is rather impressive, promising a 120˚ viewing angle, although that means it's falling short by 3 degrees compared to the Mi 10T and 10T Pro.

The dedicated macro camera has also been downgraded from 5MP to 2MP, having the same f/2.4 aperture, though. For reasons unknown, there's a fourth camera for depth sensing - something missing on the other Mi 10Ts.

Camera menus

The new MIUI 12 default camera app is super easy and straightforward. Most of the important additional settings are found in the so-called hamburger menu accessible from the camera viewfinder. Swiping left and right cycles through the camera modes.

Camera menus

You can also re-arrange the camera modes from there because the Night mode, for example, is hidden in the More tab. Oh, and to our surprise, the Macro mode is in the hamburger menu in the standard Photo mode. We guess the dedicated macro camera isn't getting its own camera mode.

Daylight sample

Main camera

The photos by the main camera have nice colors, and the level of detail is good even though sharpness isn't up to snuff. The HDR algorithm is doing a good job of balancing out shadows and highlights. Noise is kept to a minimum and can only be seen in uniform areas.

Main camera daylight samples

When light is not as strong, as in our indoor shots below, the rendition of the detail can be a bit mushy.

Main camera daylight samples

2x zoom

Since there's no dedicated telephoto camera, the phone crops out from the main 64MP sensor. The results don't look tack sharp upon close examination, but they are quite good overall and would work okay for social media posting and viewing on the smartphone's screen.

2x zoom daylight samples

Ultra-wide camera

Just like the zoom mode, the ultra-wide camera mode tends to go for the warmer look. But we also had some issues with the dynamic range as often white buildings are clipped. Sharpness and detail aren't the best ones around either. Noise is visible, edge softness and color fringing are a frequent sighting, which is understandable given the 8MP resolution. Most, if not all, similarly-priced midrangers offer the same ultra-wide camera performance.

Ultra-wide daylight samples

The lens correction algorithm is doing a pretty fine job, though. Even buildings that are close to the edge don't look as distorted.

Macro camera

Since the phone uses a popular 2MP sensor for macro photography, we already knew what to expect. Also, the absence of autofocus makes capturing a clear photo quite the challenge. However, the macro samples are sharp enough, the colors are nice, and the detail is satisfactory given the camera's resolution. The noise may be a bit too much in some sub-optimal lighting scenarios, though.

Macro samples

Low-light samples

Main camera

When it comes to low-light photography, the phone isn't exceptional, but it does perform as one would expect given the price point. Noise is aplenty, but the detail is relatively well-preserved. Don't expect too much in terms of sharpness too. In those rare cases where the noise suppression algorithm reduced the noise, the detail is smeared away. Anyway, the noise can be seen easily only in the dark areas of the image and the sky.

Low-light main camera samples

Light sources can often blow up, but unlike during the day, the color temperature and colors are rather accurate. Since the contrast is good, we suspect that the software often goes for a brighter exposure clipping the highlights but revealing plenty of detail in the shadows.

Main camera Night mode

Capturing a photo with the Night mode turned on takes a couple of seconds and a few more to process and save the picture. It's definitely worth it, though. You get a clearer overall picture with less noise, a little bit of added sharpness, more balanced highlights, and shadows. The amount of detail is higher, too, despite the cleaner overall look of the scene. Eliminating the noise while conserving fine detail and sharpness is no easy task.

Night mode

We really liked how the sky has cleared up, and the neon signs and street lamps look well-contained. We strongly recommend using the Night mode in pretty much all low-light situations, even in the brighter scenes.

2x zoom

It's a good thing the Night mode is available for 2x zoom and ultra-wide photos. Both modes leave a lot to be desired, but we will touch on the ultra-wide camera later.

Low-light 2x zoom samples: Normal vs. Night mode

As you'd expect, cropping from the primary camera in low-light scenes rarely produces any satisfactory results. The issues we had with the primary camera during the night become more apparent here. Luckily, the Night mode improves the photos' overall quality quite a bit, and shots can even become usable if you keep them on your phone for show and tell. Still, don't expect too much.

Ultra-wide camera

Using the standard photo mode for ultra-wide snaps produces muddy, almost out of focus-looking scenes. Noise can be seen from afar, lights are clipped, and there's barely any detail in the shadows.

Low-light ultra-wide samples: Normal vs. Night mode

However, the Night mode can turn most of those unusable images into half-decent shots. The noise is cleared up, and the fine detail that was previously missing makes its way out of the shadows. Light sources look better too. It's still pretty hard to take a good shot at night using the ultra-wide camera.

Done with the pixel-peeping? Care for some more? Take a look at the Mi 10T Lite compared to some of its rivals in our photo compare tool.

Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G vs Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite and the Realme 7 Pro in our Photo compare tool

Portraits

In portrait mode, the phone gets the skin tone right, captures quite a bit of detail, and the subject's face is always well-exposed. The edge detection seems to be having a hard time with some complex haircuts, but it's otherwise pretty convincing. Notice in the second sample how the objects in front of our human subject are blurred out, too. This one particular scene had sub-optimal lighting, too, hence why the subject's face and clothes lack sharpness and fine detail.

Portrait samples

Selfies

The selfie performance seems to be adequate, to say the least. We find the photos detailed enough as well as sufficiently sharp. The subject's face is always well-exposed and matches the natural skin tone too. In fact, colors are usually accurate in general. Our only complaint would be the noise, which worsens even if the light drops just a little. Sharpness seems to suffer from sub-optimal lighting a bit too much, but it's to be expected.

Selfie samples

The selfie portrait mode is a bit rough around the edges, as expected, but it looks rather convincing if the background isn't too complex.

Selfie portrait samples

Video recording

The phone's recording capabilities cap at 2160p@30fps but without EIS. If you want stabilization, you must go for the 1080p@30fps or 1080p@60fps option.

Now, in terms of quality, the device can record some good-looking videos. The sample below has good contrast, nice colors, and a wide dynamic range. The noise is barely visible on the asphalt and grass. We find the exposure a bit off, though, as the buildings in the distance are clipped.

Since the ultra-wide sensor lacks the resolution needed for 4K video recording, it can only go up to 1080p. As expected, the results aren't impressive. There's a bit of grain, and it's rather soft. Interestingly enough, we found the exposure metering a tad better as the white buildings in the distance aren't clipped.

As already mentioned, video stabilization is available only in 1080p mode, so you have to trade some overall quality when doing handheld videos. See the difference in the two videos below. The 1080p stabilization is much-preferred when recording videos while walking. The EIS itself, on the other hand, looks pretty good.

After you are done with the real-world examples, go take a look at how the Mi 10T Lite stacks against some of the alternatives on the market in our video compare tool.

4K: Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G vs Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite and the Realme 7 Pro in our Video compare tool

Alternatives

The Mi 10T Lite appears to be aimed at the European market, judging by its notable absence from the Indian market.

At the time of writing, the Mi 10T Lite 5G 64GB starts at £200 in the UK but is considerably more expensive (€280) in the Eurozone for some inexplicable reason. The 128GB version is £225 in the UK and €320 in the Eurozone.

This makes drawing general comparisons really hard. For instance, its close competitor, the Mi 10 Lite 5G, is more expensive in the UK but cheaper in the EU.

The Mi 10 Lite 5G has a crisp, bright AMOLED panel but no high refresh rate. It offers roughly the same performance and arguably a better camera experience. Sadly, the stereo loudspeakers aren't included in the specs sheet, and when it comes to battery endurance and charging, the Mi 10T Lite 5G has the edge over its close sibling.

Then there is the Poco X3 NFC - again by Xiaomi. It doesn't have 5G, but it is also €50 less expensive. A great all-rounder with similar camera performance, the same 6.67-inch 120Hz IPS LCD panel, stereo speakers, the same fast charging tech but slightly longer battery life. The chipset is the only thing that's inferior to the Mi 10T Lite. So in case you really like the Mi 10T Lite 5G, but it's a bit out of reach, and you don't care about 5G, the Poco X3 NFC may make all the sense.

Realme has a budget 5G contender, too, in the face of the Realme 7 5G. It doesn't get any cheaper than the Mi 10T Lite, but these two are head to head in pretty much all departments. We guess the choice here will be down to brand preference or any available options for carrier subsidies.

Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC • Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G • Realme 7 5G

Verdict

The Mi 10T Lite 5G is a great phone. It's powerful, feature-packed, and offers some high-end features like HRR, stereo loudspeakers, and excellent haptic feedback. Although there are some similarly-priced alternatives with OLED panels, this IPS screen is one of the good ones. It's sufficiently bright (in most cases), supports HDR10, goes up to 120Hz and the smart refresh rate control makes the whole experience even more worthwhile. Bonus points for not having those annoying halos around the punch-hole camera and the bezels.

The battery life and charging speeds are great, while the Snapdragon 750G seems to be packing a punch, beating even the Snapdragon 765G in some CPU-intensive scenarios. Adding the IR blaster, the mature MIUI 12, and the dedicated microSD card slot into the mix, you get a decently-priced all-rounder. Our only complaint would be the camera's overall performance.

We feel like the Mi 10 Lite 5G is too close to the Mi 10T Lite 5G performance and price-wise, so some users will be drawn to the former due to its more competent camera performance and OLED display. And we would totally get that. We are sure you would be happy with either one.

Pros

• Good build with Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back
• Solid IPS LCD panel with 120Hz refresh rate and tiny cutout
• Great battery life and fast charging
• Stereo loudspeakers
• IR blaster and dedicated microSD card slot
• Mature and feature-rich MIUI 12 with granular refresh rate control

Cons

• The overall camera experience needs more work

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