The Xiaomi Mi Note Pro and Mi Note Review
by Joshua Ho on September 11, 2015 9:00 AM ESTStill Image Performance
Now that we’ve discussed some of the basic aspects of the camera system in the Xiaomi Mi Note line, we can begin to look at how this all translates to real-world camera performance. In order to do this, we run our standard suite of camera tests which should give a good feel for what camera performance is like when variables such as hand shake and inconsistent camera positioning are removed from the equation.
Xiaomi Mi Note
Xiaomi Mi Note Pro
Our first test is the ISO chart test, which is designed to provide an absolute test of peak spatial detail. This is a controlled lighting test, which should help to reduce potential confounding factors. In the case of the Xiaomi Mi Note line, we can actually see the difference in detail compared to the Galaxy S6 as the Mi Note appears to retain much more detail along the edges of the photo relative to the Galaxy S6 and other smartphones with larger sensors and wider apertures. Detail at the center of the photo is also strongly retained but it seems Xiaomi might be sharpening a bit aggressively as the circle in the center is rather jagged instead of smooth and round. Both horizontal and vertical detail is well retained though, all the way up to the 20 line mark. We can also see some evidence of haloing around the high contrast detail, which is rather distracting and is indicative of strong sharpening effects.
Mi Note
Mi Note Pro
In this basic daytime landscape shot we can see a few potential problems already with the Mi Note camera processing. Although the details are mostly correct, looking at the trees in the distance it's quite obvious that noise suppression is strongly suppressing fine details in order to try and make sure images don't have any noise. The tree in the center of the frame has this strange effect where details inside of the leaves are mostly smudged away but the edges have very high contrast, which creates an odd effect and suggests artificial sharpening. The Mi Note also clearly has far too aggressive noise reduction here as it basically looks like the Mi Note Pro photo but with an AA filter applied. However, for the most part that's all that I have to criticize here. Given that a number of flagship smartphones have shipped with shockingly poor post-processing even in daytime scenes, I'm impressed by how the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro give at least respectable results here.
Mi Note
Mi Note Pro
In low light we really start to see the weaknesses of the Mi Note Pro and Mi Note. Despite the use of OIS, both devices are underexposing significantly and there's just far too much luminance noise reduction going on here. However, once again, that's all the real criticism I have for these phones. Obviously, something like the Galaxy S6 shows far more detail and better exposure in this scene, but there are significant purple hues present in areas that should be black instead of purple, and when looking closely at the Galaxy S6 photo the severe sharpening effects really make it a bit unnatural and gritty. The iPhone 6 Plus is the winner here by virtue of larger pixel size and a lot of software magic to hide the 1/4 second exposure so moving cars appear to be relatively sharp instead of a complete blur, but Xiaomi could easily be in the race for best smartphone camera within a single product cycle of work.
Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Note camera isn't amazing, but it's far from terrible. In daytime situations photo quality is actually already very good, but with some minor post-processing issues that could be resolved with a single OTA update. At night time, with some processing improvements and perhaps higher sensor gain the Mi Note line could start to be compared to the iPhone as well. This doesn't sound all that impressive, but it really is because this is the first phone in this price point where I can even begin to compare the camera to flagship smartphones.
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valinor89 - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Xiamomi is about to start trials with some products in the Us and other countries. You could end up having acces to this phone or its successor before long...Or do like the people who bought those korean screens early on and import.
I live in Europe and most of the products reviewed here are not directly avaiable to me, even less at the same relative price, 1€=1$ over here, but I still like to read about new product tendencies, at the minimun it lets me evaluate the products I can get in another light.
menting - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
How are phones any ground breaking nowadays? There have been 0 phones in the past few years that are groundbreaking, with maybe the exception of the S6 Edge with the curved screen. And if it's fair to whine about something you can't use, then 1) Verizon/Sprint customers will be whining more than 50% of the time here, and 2) Who said you can't use it? Does the lack of LTE make it unusable? BS.Yaru - Sunday, October 4, 2015 - link
You don't have to care but I very very much do. Not all of their products are only applicable to the US, some of them apply to other countries as well.Also, you can buy a Xiaomi phone from the US. Much like I can buy US phones from here. The iPhone 6+ I'm using to type this comes directly from the US (a T-Mobile to be exact). Just because Xiaomi doesn't sell it directly doesn't mean you can't buy it.
lilmoe - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
That's the worst thing one could ever do really. You should buy a product that has proper support in your country. Good luck finding parts or repairing the device. And good luck if you get a lemon.mforce - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Actually I bought an LG Optimus G made for Korea ( F180L ) which I've flashed with the ROM for E975 but keeping the modem part of the F180L .... I have all the 2G and 3G bands working perfectly here in the EU and the phone has been doign well for 2 years now.It is true that it's a risk you're going to make when buying without a local warranty but the seller might still honor your warranty if you send it back. Also yes you need to carefull look at the supported bands but some might just work out fine and be what you need in your country too.
Xiaomi does make phones which have all the right bands for the EU ( including LTE ) so I'm OK with reading reviews about Xiaomi phones such as this.... this isn't a US only website you know. Maybe folks from China read it too for instance ... Also many Xiaomi phones are available in India where they speak EN so ...
DigitalFreak - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
You just don't get it. No-one said they shouldn't review non-US phones. Just put a blurb in the beginning saying it doesn't support US bands. Why is that one simple thing so hard for people to comprehend?Pissedoffyouth - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
>I'd rather not waste my time reading a review of something that's only available in Asia/Europe.Why not? I'm a tech head, I'm happy to read reviews of droids only available on Verizon even though I'm in Europe because its great to see what competition ithere is.
menting - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
talk about being self-centered! So they'll have to say if it's going to be on Sprint and/or Verizon too I suppose?DigitalFreak - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Yeah, because I'm the only person who reads through a review only to find out they won't be able to use the device.BMNify - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Anandtech is an International website with only 40% of the readership coming from USA and Xiaomi already caters to the largest smartphones markets that is China, India, Brazil, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines. So, your redneck 'Murican pride is misplaced here.