Xiaomi 13 Professional
MSRP $1,315.00
“The Xiaomi 13 Professional’s Leica-tuned digicam is an absolute winner, and the cellphone has the efficiency and battery life to match, with the one damaging facet being the busy and complex software program.”
Professionals
- Successful Leica digicam
- Two-day battery life
- 20-minute battery charging
- Newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip
Cons
- Busy, sophisticated software program
The Xiaomi 13 Professional is right here to tackle the perfect from Samsung, OnePlus, and Oppo, and it’s doing so with the assistance of Leica. The comparatively new partnership guarantees to boost the digicam, however with this improve, in addition to the inclusion of all the newest tech, the value of the cellphone has risen to what we count on to pay for the highest Galaxy telephones.
After a couple of weeks of utilizing the Xiaomi 13 Professional, I’m happy to say it truly is a powerful competitor, and though not good, it has held my consideration to the purpose the place if I didn’t should swap out my SIM card, I most likely wouldn’t. Right here’s what it’s like in much more element.
Xiaomi 13 Professional: design
Xiaomi goes down the same route as Samsung, preferring an all-business, smart design moderately than adopting a extra eye-catching, style-driven strategy favored by OnePlus and Oppo. That’s to not say the Xiaomi 13 Professional isn’t distinctive. The digicam module might not wrap across the aspect of the chassis, however the daring, sq. form ensures the cellphone doesn’t appear like another. I don’t suppose it’s fairly, however I actually discover it.
The cellphone is large and heavy, displaying Xiaomi is focusing on potential Galaxy S23 Plus patrons, together with potential Galaxy S23 Extremely patrons who received’t discover profit within the S Pen stylus, however nonetheless need an enormous display and lots more and plenty of energy. The Xiaomi 13 Professional is 8.4mm thick and 229 grams heavy, so you recognize it’s in your pocket. For reference, the Galaxy S23 Extremely weighs 234 grams.
The curved sides present grip, however not a whole lot of in-hand consolation. Fortunately, Xiaomi features a customized clear case within the field, and I’ve used it more often than not.
I’ve actually loved the Xiaomi 13 Professional’s relative simplicity of design, and its honesty too. There’s nothing very difficult about its form, the curved Gorilla Glass Victus-covered display is pleasurable to swipe, and though it’s an incredible, large heavy factor, it’s well-balanced so it doesn’t really feel ungainly. It means the cellphone has neatly and shortly built-in itself into my life.
Whereas the Galaxy S23 Extremely takes just a little getting used to, the Xiaomi 13 Professional is much less difficult, and also you received’t have to suppose so arduous in regards to the possession expertise earlier than shopping for it.
It’s sturdy, too, with an IP68 water- and dust-resistance score. The bioceramic physique feels easy and heat to the contact, including class and luxurious to the cellphone, however it’s more likely to break if it’s dropped onto a tough floor. That’s one more reason to make use of the included case.
All of it provides as much as a cellphone that matches the bigger Samsung Galaxy S23 sequence telephones and surpasses the OnePlus 11, which lacks complete water and dirt resistance. Nevertheless, the OnePlus 11 seems to be way more fashionable, and as we’ll see in a while, it’s rather a lot cheaper too.
Xiaomi 13 Professional: digicam
The Xiaomi 13 Professional’s digicam is superb, and an actual purpose to contemplate shopping for this cellphone. It reveals Leica’s profitable partnership with Huawei wasn’t a fluke and shines a harsh gentle on OnePlus and Oppo’s comparable pairing with Hasselblad, which has failed to provide such glorious outcomes even after a number of makes an attempt.
It’s dominated by a 1-inch, 50-megapixel Sony IMX989 digicam, which works alongside 50MP wide-angle and a 50MP telephoto cameras. Leica provides its Vario-Summicron lens for the primary digicam and optimizes the lenses on the opposite two cameras. There’s additionally a pair of particular Leica “photographic kinds” named Leica Automated or Leica Vibrant, in addition to some filters (together with two for black-and-white photographs), and it has tuned the portrait mode too. The principle and telephoto cameras have optical picture stabilization, the telephoto digicam supplies a 3.2x optical zoom, and there’s as much as 8K video recording.
The Xiaomi 13 Professional takes images the way in which I like — reliably and competently — and it has filters and instruments that work properly and improve the expertise, plus sufficient versatility that the digicam is enjoyable to make use of. The telephoto zoom goes to three.2x zoom, which by itself doesn’t sound like a lot, however the huge sensor means it provides an exquisite, pure depth of discipline to its images, providing you with the possibility to experiment and luxuriate in utilizing it. It will possibly’t match the S23 Extremely’s 10x optical zoom, although.
The digicam’s tone can provide even mundane images character, and the stability of colour, distinction, and publicity is spot-on. There are two Leica digicam modes, Vibrant and Genuine, to modify between. I’ve principally used Vibrant, and though it might oversaturate typically, the in depth enhancing suite provides you loads of alternative to tune the photograph to your liking. If it’s all the time an excessive amount of for you, then switching to Automated retains the colour saturation in examine.
Leica is well-known for its black-and-white pictures, and there’s a selection of two totally different Leica-tuned black-and-white filters within the digicam app. They add a characterful tone that seems much less “digital” than an everyday filter, and extra emotional as an alternative. It’s not fairly as fantastic as a devoted monochrome sensor with some Leica magic inside, but it surely’s the following smartest thing.
I additionally like the way in which you possibly can shortly disable the macro mode when it routinely kicks in, providing you with the possibility to see how the scene seems to be utilizing the primary digicam. That is carried out utilizing a button on the viewfinder display, moderately than a world possibility within the Settings menu. I’ve discovered the huge sensor provides such a powerful depth of discipline that it’s preferable to the macro mode in some conditions. It’s yet one more smart function within the digicam app that provides you a whole lot of management over your images.
Dig into the enhancing suite, and there’s extra to take pleasure in. Like Magic Eraser on a Google Pixel cellphone, there’s an AI-powered object- and people-removal instrument — and it’s very efficient. All of the Leica filters could be utilized to images after they’ve been taken, so you possibly can experiment with totally different seems to be. I discovered this attention-grabbing as a result of it gave me a touch as to what mode I’d like to make use of as the usual for taking images.
It’s all very well-thought-out, the Leica options are attention-grabbing and do change the look of your images, and the general high quality of the digicam is nearly actually enhanced by the Leica lenses.
I beloved what Leica did with Huawei, and I genuinely credit score that partnership with igniting my love of cellular pictures typically. It’s thrilling, and heartening, to find that in its new partnership with Xiaomi, none of that artistic magic has been misplaced.
The Xiaomi 13 Professional has the perfect digicam I’ve ever used on a Xiaomi cellphone, and is without doubt one of the greatest general I’ve used within the final yr.
Xiaomi 13 Professional: display, efficiency, and software program
The digicam is undoubtedly the primary purpose to decide on the Xiaomi 13 Professional over another present flagship. And though the digicam specs shine the brightest, they’re shared with many different telephones. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor powers the Xiaomi 13 Professional and comes with 12GB of RAM, plus 256GB of inner cupboard space. The display is an enormous 6.73-inch AMOLED panel with a dynamic 120Hz refresh price, a 3200 x 1440 pixel decision, and a most brightness of 1,900 nits. It seems to be very good.
The software program is just a little hit-and-miss. It’s Android 13 with Xiaomi’s MIUI 14 interface, and it has a collection of alterations over MIUI 13, starting from the flexibility to make use of large Tremendous Icons on the house display to new animations, designs, and widgets. MIUI is a busy, advanced piece of software program with tons of customization, many system notifications, and questionable options to search out. It really works in principally the identical means as different Android interfaces, with a couple of annoying adjustments — such because the notification shade being cut up into two, the place swiping down on the left reveals notifications, and on the best are the Fast Settings.
It’s not stress-free to make use of, in contrast to Android on a Pixel cellphone. It’s nearer to OxygenOS on the OnePlus 11, with the identical quantity of interruptions till you silence the annoyances, a number of vivid colours, and a few poor design selections. It’s not terrible, and like OxygenOS 13, I’ve grow to be used to it over the previous few weeks. Nevertheless, I might a lot moderately use Samsung’s One UI or Android on a Pixel cellphone, as each are extra logical, much less intrusive, and higher designed.
MIUI’s uniqueness, together with the flexibility to tinker with the look and options, will enchantment to some; for others, it might really feel sophisticated, pressure you to be taught various things seemingly only for the sake of it, and is usually needlessly busy. This doesn’t take away from the cellphone’s sheer energy, although, and it has shrugged off video games, multitasking, GPS, video calls, and every little thing else I do on a weekly foundation with out even getting just a little heat.
Xiaomi 13 Professional: battery and charging
Though the 4,820mAh battery contained in the Xiaomi 13 Professional doesn’t attain the 5,000mAh capability seen in most different prime telephones in the intervening time, it has confirmed to be long-lasting and strong. That is helped partially by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2’s effectivity. Throughout a morning with two hours of display time, together with half-hour of Google Maps navigation, the battery fell from 100% to 80%, and half-hour of enjoying Asphalt 9: Legends took about 12% battery energy.
Even with display time reaching 4 hours, the battery hasn’t fallen beneath 50% after a day’s use, making the Xiaomi 13 Professional’s battery able to lasting two full days (supplied it’s turned off in a single day). Add in gaming, and it received’t fairly make it that lengthy, however except you’re enjoying for a number of hours, it’ll nonetheless make it by way of a full, single day. The battery life is superb, and also you shouldn’t be delay by the sub-5,000mAh capability.
When it comes time to cost, there are a number of choices. The quickest is to make use of the included 120-watt HyperCharge quick charger, which Xiaomi claims takes 19 minutes to totally recharge the battery. My exams have proven this can be a little optimistic, with the battery often taking a couple of minutes longer, however no more than 25 minutes. It’s nonetheless exceptionally quick. The cellphone additionally has 50W wi-fi charging and a 10W reverse-charging system, which fortunately added cost to my Samsung Galaxy Buds Stay and the brand new Xiaomi Watch S1 Professional. The function needs to be turned on within the Settings menu earlier than it really works.
Solely the OnePlus 11 expenses quicker than the Xiaomi 13 Professional in the intervening time, and it simply beats the Galaxy S23 Plus and S23 Extremely, together with the Pixel 7 Professional and the iPhone 14 Professional too. Quick wired charging can actually change the way in which you reside with a smartphone and is a big profit if you happen to use the cellphone arduous regularly. Add in highly effective wi-fi charging, and the Xiaomi 13 Professional has a complete charging function record to swimsuit most individuals.
Xiaomi 13 Professional: value and availability
Xiaomi doesn’t promote its smartphones within the U.S. Within the U.Ok., the 256GB Xiaomi 13 Professional might be out there beginning March 14 and price 1,099 British kilos, which is about $1,315 U.S. Will probably be out there from Xiaomi’s personal on-line retailer and thru Currys and Argos retail shops.
No matter how good the digicam is and the way highly effective the cellphone is, that is an costly smartphone. It’s solely rather less than the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely, and much more than the OnePlus 11. It’s a severe dilemma, because the S23 Extremely’s digicam is a bit more versatile, plus the cellphone has the S Pen for elevated usefulness and higher software program too. The OnePlus 11 has the identical processor, is a bit more manageable size-wise, and whereas it has an honest digicam, it might’t fairly match the Xiaomi 13 Professional.
The Xiaomi 13 Professional competes with the perfect telephones out there.
The Xiaomi 13 Professional sits in the midst of these two glorious selections, and longevity ought to be thought of earlier than making any determination. The three years of main Android software program updates and 5 years of safety updates fall behind Samsung and OnePlus’ longer dedication, and whenever you’re paying this a lot, having the cellphone final so long as potential is necessary.
The Xiaomi 13 Professional is pricey, however well worth the cash
The Xiaomi 13 Professional is an costly cellphone, but it surely’s actually one of many first from the model that I can wholeheartedly suggest to purchase, with only some small advisories. The digicam is the standout function. It’s actually very good, and even a couple of weeks into utilizing it, I nonetheless need to experiment with it extra. I think about that an excellent signal. It has a long-lasting battery, the newest processor for loads of efficiency, and an enormous, high-res display.
It’s the software program that’s the query mark for me. It’s a extra user-friendly, much less irritating, extra fluid and logical expertise on the Galaxy S23 Extremely and the Google Pixel 7 Professional, and the replace dedication is longer on the Galaxy too. The OnePlus 11 is in-between, offering the same consumer expertise, however an extended dedication.
In a means, the nice factor is whichever you select from these three, you’ll get an excellent smartphone that may final for 3 years on the minimal — and it’s thrilling because the Xiaomi 13 Professional competes with the perfect telephones out there.
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