Categories: Techno

Xiaomi 14 Ultra review: a camera that can also make calls

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Xiaomi's flagship for 2024, the 14 Ultra is a concentrate of technology. The manufacturer highlights its phenomenal power, the perfection of its screen, excellent battery life and ultra-fast charging speed. Not forgetting of course its impeccable quality in terms of photos and videos. What if we checked all this with a good old test ?

The 14 Ultra looks like a brother to the 13 Ultra, last year's star. It takes back its dimensions (161.4 x 75.3 x 9.2 mm, compared to 163.2 x 74.6 x 9.1 mm for the 13 Ultra) and also loses a few grams in the process (219.8 grams compared to 227). Its back is covered in black or white “vegan leather” and houses an imposing camera housed in a circular outgrowth.

The advantage of “vegan leather” (actually a plastic renamed by marketing services) is that it is much less sensitive to fingerprints and other dirt. To protect it a little more, you can use the transparent plastic case provided with the device. We appreciate this delicate attention all the more since it does not replace the ultra-fast charger, which is also provided as standard.

For the rest, nothing really notable. The aluminum chassis benefits from impeccable machining, the mechanical control keys are placed on the right side while the SIM card drawer and the USB-C port are on the lower face. High-end requires, the 14 Ultra benefits from an IP68 waterproof certification.

In everyday use, the 14 Ultra proves to be very pleasant if we forget all desire for one-handed use. It seems that this is not really a problem, as manufacturers are abandoning compact devices one after the other.

Once again, Xiaomi does not skimp on the equipment of its high-end. It is built around a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC and 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM. The internal UFS 4.0 storage, non-removable, has a capacity of 512 GB. Not bad at all since these characteristics would not look out of place on a good quality notebook.

Top performance

We are not going to overwhelm you with figures and performance statistics. Just remember that the 14 Ultra is a powerhouse that no task can resist. Whether it’s 3D gaming, video editing, or indulging in the simple joys of augmented reality, he’ll never waver.

The impressive amount of RAM ensures great fluidity in multitasking (split screen and multi-window). The heat dissipation mechanism works very well: if it heats up during intensive use, it hardly slows down. A nice technical success, then.

The 5000 mAh battery gives it a more than adequate autonomy, if not extraordinary. With normal use—the kind where you don't overdo it—it lasts a little over a day and a half.

Battery life falls to one day if you abuse video games, capture still or moving images, or even streamingvideo. It is of course possible to adjust certain parameters in order to extend it. To do this, we will take a look at the battery settings where we will find different operating modes.

Fast charging deserves its name: according to Xiaomi, it allows a transition from 0 to 100% in 33 minutes if we activate the Turbo mode. Our tests confirm this figure since it took us between 32 and 35 minutes to reach 100%.

The manufacturer claims that it takes 46 minutes to do the same using the 80 Watt induction charger designed for the occasion. Unable to verify this since we were unable to obtain it.

Fabulous screen

Last but not least, the 14 Ultra screen is worth a look.Xiaomi designed it around a 6.73 '' LPTO AMOLED panel with curved edges (waterfall). It displays 1440 x 3200 pixels in 20:9 format, manages 68 billion hues and has a refresh rate varying between 1 Hz and 120 Hz. Its brightness of 1000 nits (3000 nits in HDR peak) makes it readable in full sunlight.

The HDR Pro display supports UltraHDR while benefiting from Dolby Vision and HDR10+. Excuse me for the little! The image produced with the default settings turns out to be simply excellent. Depending on your tastes, you can adapt the color rendering, the settings offering a nice latitude in the matter.

Last year, Xiaomi announced that it was retiring its home OS MIUI after thirteen years of loyal service. It is replacing it with HyperOS, which the manufacturer presents as being better adapted to new technologies, particularly AI. For example, it has a “proactive intelligence” (still in beta) that is supposed to anticipate the user's desires.

AI little by little

Artificial intelligence according to Xiaomi is not as spectacular as Samsung's Galaxy AI for the moment and is gradually being installed in the interface. It is mainly noticeable in the image editing or shooting functions. Asked about this, Xiaomi specifies that its implementation will be gradual and that the deployment, already started in China, will be carried out over the course of updates. To be continued, then.

Some of the new features in HyperOS 1.0.5.0, which equipped our test unit, leave us wondering. This is for example the case of the “app chest” which purely and simply replaces Android widgets. These are becoming difficult to set up and we had to search a little time how to apply them. Also gone is the creation of user profiles, which was possible by default with Android 14.

Customizing the interface can be done through the&# 8217;app “Themes” and its marketplaceintegrated. Apart from it, there is no salvation and you have to cross out the icon packs purchased on the Play Store, incompatible with HyperOS. Too bad.

What does not change, unfortunately, is the presence of unwanted software and arbitrarily installed by Xiaomi (the bloatwares of sinister reputation). Of course, you can uninstall them one by one, but it quickly becomes tiresome. The big negative point remains the presence of advertising everywhere in Xiaomi applications.

The worst in this area are undoubtedly those that plague the Mi Video player, or that appear among the press articles — often uninteresting — in the control center. Both of them obviously cannot be completely uninstalled, the video player starting by default as soon as you select a file that it can open. Fortunately, a few unorthodox maneuvers can correct this. They can be easily found using a search engine.

While we can at least understand the presence of bloatware and advertising on a smartphone sold at a low price, it becomes unacceptable on a product at 1500 euros. Let's hope that Xiaomi realizes this (yes, we know: we are naturally very optimistic!).

Fortunately, these software inconveniences are quickly forgotten as soon as you start shooting still or moving images. Xiaomi has teamed up with German photography specialist Leica to co-design the 14 Ultra's cameras.

The one at the back carries four modules:

Main module: 50 Mpxl 1″ sensor , photosite 1.6 µm; lens 23 mm f/1.63- 4; OIS
Telephoto 1 : 50 Mpxl 1/2.51″ sensor; 75 mm f/1.8 lens; OIS
Telephoto 2 : 50 Mpxl 1/2.51″ sensor; 120mm f/2.5 periscope lens; OIS
Ultra wide-angle: 50MP sensor 1 /2.51″ ; 12mm f/1.8 lens ; OIS

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The front camera has a 1/3.14″ 32MP sensor and an f/2 aperture lens (90° field of vision).

As we can see, Xiaomi doesn't joke around when it comes to photography. Let us point out in passing that the lenses are of the Summilux type, that is to say renowned for their color rendering, the sharpness of the images produced and their brightness. Enough to make any demanding photographer's mouth water.< /p>

Very good, but what does it look like in the field ? In one word like In a thousand, the 14 Ultra is a pure marvel. It is almost impossible to find fault with it as long as you do not abuse the digital zoom.< /p>

The shooting app gives you a choice between two renderings: Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant. The first reproduces the subtle hues of the manufacturer's cameras and will suit amateur photographers. The second boosts the colors a little to make the image more vivid: you will like it if you came to photography through the use of a smartphone.

In high and medium light, the 14 Ultra produces excellent quality shots on the focal range 12 – 240 mm (35 mm equivalent), from 0.5x ultra wide-angle to 10x zoom. The result remains very good at 720 mm (30x zoom), especially in daylight. In order to If you notice a slight lack of sharpness, you should examine the image on a computer monitor at 100% magnification.

Ultra wide-angle

Main module

Zoom 2x

Zoom 3.2x

Zoom 5x

Zoom 10x

Zoom 30x

Zoom 60x

Zoom 120x

At 1440 mm (60x zoom), the image is still usable provided you don’t crop it too much or print it in a large size. Beyond that, the AI does what it can to offer a decent image up to 2880 mm (120x zoom): it almost succeeds, despite a blurry veil that seems to cover the scene. The image remains perfectly acceptable for use on social networks, but much less satisfactory for printing.

Night mode © Marc Mitrani for Presse-citron

In low light or night mode, the image turns out to be very good in ultra wide-angle and up to 5x (120 mm). You will still have to be careful of the motion blur that can appear quite easily beyond that as well as the loss of detail. This becomes annoying at beyond 10x zoom (240mm).

Portrait mode allows you to intensify the bokeh

Photo taken in “Super Moon” freehand mode

Using a large sensor and a wide aperture lens allows you to achieve a natural background blur without going through portrait mode. This can be activated to produce bokeh and benefit from more advanced processing by artificial intelligence: we will test both possibilities and choose according to our tastes.

Macrophotography

Another good point is the Leica-branded creative filters that allow for excellent monochrome. We also appreciate the Pro mode, which gives experienced photographers great creative latitude. Macro photography is also part of it: the dedicated mode produces very beautiful images at a short distance from the subject. Finally, the autofocus proves to be extremely precise and effective regardless of the module used.

A useful, but not cheap, Pro Photo Pack

Our test unit was accompanied by the optional Pro Photo Pack. This consists of a shell, a grip, a strap, two lens rings and a filter holder. The idea is to offer the 14 Ultra an ergonomics closer to a traditional camera body.

To do this, the grip has two shutter buttons (photo and video), a customizable dial, and a zoom control. Xiaomi has also added a 1500 mAh battery that gives the 14 Ultra up to two additional hours of battery life. The grip connects directly to the USB-C port and has a locking mechanism to keep it in place.

The whole thing is very pleasant to use and actually offers better ergonomics for shooting. The 67 mm threaded mount accepts standard lens filters, which can be useful in certain cases (polarized filters, for example).

The Photo Pro Pack is probably very useful for photographers used to the ergonomics of traditional cameras. Ultimately, we will only have one criticism: its price of €200, which we consider prohibitive. To close the subject, let's add that the lucky ones who pre-ordered the smartphone have the possibility of receiving it for free.

The 13 Ultra was excellent in terms of photography, the 14 Ultra is even better! It must be said that by allying itself with Leica, the manufacturer is one step ahead of many of its competitors. The images produced are simply excellent and we must admit that we are close to the performance of a traditional camera, especially in broad daylight.

This photographic excellence is not its only asset. The 14 Ultra offers excellent overall performance, has a screen that we find almost perfect and a very decent battery life.

As successful as it is, the 14 Ultra is not yet perfect. In addition to a Himalayan price (1500 euros!), it is also criticized for the few shortcomings of the brand new HyperOS, the overload of bloatware and especially the intolerable presence of advertising. While they can almost all be eliminated with one or two tweaks, they still leave a mark on a product of this price.

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Teilor Stone

Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116