Introduction
Currently, if you want to buy a 5G phone, you have to pay quite a bit more than a 4G phone, which isn't ideal given 5G isn't quite as ubiquitous yet, so there's little reason to switch. However, Xiaomi may be about to change that. The Chinese tech giant just announced the Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite, the first 'affordable' 5G phone, alongside the Mi 10 series of flagship devices. All the phones are 5G-enabled, but the Mi 10 Lite is now the cheapest-ever 5G phone. In 2018, Xiaomi unveiled the Mi 8 Lite – an affordable version of the Mi 8 flagship. The following year, it announced a successor called the Mi 9 Lite, though it was just a rebranded Mi CC9 that is sold in the home country (China). However, the Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G is the best surprise for us, which has a quad-camera setup on the back panel.
When the Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G will be available in May 2020, it'll cost just €349 (around $380, £310, AU$640), which is far more affordable than current-cheapest-5G-phone; the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G, which costs £699 / AU$1,399 (about $860). Well, that price is for Europe (as the company initially unveiled this device in Europe), and while Xiaomi told us the phone would be coming to other regions at some point, including the UK, it's unlikely the price will be an exact conversion. According to the company, it will come in White, Gray, and Green colors.
Design and Display
The overall design of the phone is excellent. The Mi 10 Lite 5G is Xiaomi’s first mid-range 5G smartphone for the international markets. The design of the phone, albeit familiar in some ways, is unlike any of Xiaomi’ (or even Redmi’s) other phones. The handset has a water-drop notch on the front panel, unlike the Mi 10 5G and Mi 10 Pro 5G, which have a punch hole at the corner of their AMOLED displays. The back is covered with Gorilla Glass, which has become standard in a lot of mid-range devices. However, the camera housing is different from that of other Xiaomi devices. It is rectangular with curved corners, but Xiaomi has put it by the left corner of the phone rather than in the middle, as you have seen on the Redmi Note 9 Pro smartphone. We also know that the phone weighs 192 grams, and be only 7.98mm thick. Towards the front, it arrives with a 6.57-inch Super AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and an in-screen fingerprint scanner for authentication. Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio at 392 PPI density.
Front and rear cameras
The rectangular-shaped quad-camera setup on the back panel houses a 48MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor, a 5MP macro lens with f/2.4 aperture, and a 2MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The primary sensor has f/1.8 aperture, 26mm (wide), 1/2.0", 0.8µm pixels, and PDAF technology. However, the ultra-wide sensor (13mm) with 1/4.0" and 1.12µm pixel has an f/2.2 aperture. Xiaomi has packed in a number of camera features such as AI Dynamic Skyscaping, Vlog Mode, Night Mode 2.0, ShowSteady, 120fps slow-motion video recording, and a pro mode for better photography experience.
There is a 16MP sensor with an f/2.5 aperture on the front side for taking selfies and live video recording. The Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite can record 4k videos at 30fps, Full HD videos at 30fps / 60fps / 120fps, and Super Slow-motion videos at 960fps. Phone’s 16MP selfie sensor only can record Full HD videos at 30fps. There are many features such as AI beauty mode, portrait mode, AI steakers for better selfie experience. You can capture beautiful pictures with original skin tones at blur background by using portrait mode.
Software, Battery, and Processor
At its core, the Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite smartphone is powered by the latest Snapdragon 765G processor (constructed on 7nm Octa-core processor), which comes with the better AI processing and Snapdragon Elite Gaming experiences. Moreover, the SoC comes with the X55 Modem RF-System that offers 5G connectivity, which, at this price point, seems impressive. Perhaps now that Xiaomi is releasing a truly affordable 5G phone, more people will be able to access the next-generation connectivity or at least other companies will get the hint that 5G needs to be more affordable before people take it seriously. Besides, the device arrives with 64GB / 128GB of UFS 2.1 onboard storage. As for the software, it runs Android 10 operating system overlaid with MIUI 11 layer. Under the hood, the device draws power from a 4160mAh battery that can support up to 20W for fast charging (over USB Type-C), to power the internals. Furthermore, it features the LiquidCool system that seems to prevent the device’s performance from throttling during gaming and other resource-demanding tasks.