This is the best phone I used all year — and it’s not Apple or Samsung

This is the all-time telephone I used all year — and information technology'due south not Apple or Samsung

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Xiaomi Mi 11 is the best telephone I used literally all year. It'south never been far from my pocket since I reviewed the telephone, which I think is equally expert an endorsement of this well-priced Android flagship phone as whatsoever other.

While technically mi 11 launched in 2020, the Xiaomi Mi 11 merely reached British shores in March, subsequently making its first advent in Prc the December before. During my original review of the phone in March, I praised its 6.8-inch QHD display, powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset and found things to like nigh the design, audio quality and the MIUI 12 operating arrangement.

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While information technology lacked in some areas such every bit its photography, the Mi 11 won me over by being surprisingly cheap while offer a significant feature overlap with phones that costs hundreds more than.

A little while after finishing that review, I establish a new way to appreciate the Mi eleven, this fourth dimension for its telemacro camera. Virtually macro cameras on phones are a waste material of time, producing night, grimy shots. The Mi 11 is a rare exception. Past offering a larger sensor and plenty magnification that you can keep the phone out of your subject'due south light, you tin really accept good close-ups with the camera.

The Mi xi and then became my work phone for a time, by which I don't merely mean I checked emails and Slack messages. I really wrote a few articles on information technology if I fancied a suspension from my laptop, which isn't as stupid equally it may audio. The big display is keen when you're typing in a word document, and information technology allowed me to appreciate the phone's surprisingly swell haptics as I wrote up news stories and features.

Partway through the year, a new Mi 11 arrived: the Mi 11 Ultra. This was a telephone that I was tempted to swap to due to its eye-catching rear brandish and impressive triple camera array. But I never did, because ultimately it was an unpleasantly heavy phone whose special features I knew I would not make plenty use of over the long term. Part of why the base Mi eleven appealed to me so much was how it offered pretty much everything I wanted from my telephone, with very little frills.

Even now the combination of an excellent screen, lengthy bombardment life, and Snapdragon power for mobile gaming take made the Mi xi the perfect phone for when I want to current of air down or ignore my WhatsApp letters. And and then the Mi 11 withal finds itself in utilize and on my desk, 9 months after it kickoff arrived.

I've been strongly impressed by other devices, such as the remarkably improved Google Pixel 6, I also like the well-specced Samsung Galaxy S21 and OnePlus nine serial, and the highly refined iPhone 13. I even tested another Xiaomi phone, the Xiaomi 11T Pro, which offers 120W charging. Nothing'due south felt quite as fast to charge once more since, including the Mi 11, only information technology wasn't enough to persuade me it was time to bandy.

The iPhone thirteen Pro Max, and before that the iPhone 12 Pro, have remained my main phones throughout the year. Just that'south my ain error for burying myself too deeply in the Apple tree ecosystem. If I was still an Android user, I likely would accept had the Mi 11 as a daily driver phone every bit shortly as information technology came in. In fact, sometimes when Apple tree's heavy, slab-sided iPhone feels too unwieldy, I am tempted to back up my letters and photos and make the switch to the lighter merely just equally premium Mi 11.

My time with the Mi 11 may well cease next year if I find a new phone I gel with similarly that offers amend specs. Merely perhaps it will be from the aforementioned company. With the Xiaomi 12 at present official, you can bet I'll be keeping an centre on this new flagship. Maybe my favorite telephone of adjacent year will exist the follow-up to my favorite this year.

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Richard is a Tom'southward Guide staff writer based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, gaming, sound and whatever else people need advice on. He'due south also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When non at work, he's probable thinking nigh how to mash the perfect loving cup of specialty coffee.