Zhi DongXi (public number: zhidxcom)
Author | Yunpeng
Edit | Heart edge
Zhidong January 5 news, recently Xiaomi's first Snapdragon 8 flagship mobile phone Xiaomi 12 series has been listed, and reached 1.8 billion yuan in sales in 5 minutes.
Zeng Xuezhong, senior vice president of Xiaomi Group and president of the mobile phone department, revealed in an interview with zhidong and other media that the Xiaomi 12, which has an excellent grip size launched by Xiaomi, can already be on a par with Xiaomi 12 Pro in terms of sales, and it can be said that Xiaomi's bold attempt this time is recognized by the market.
Wisdom things also got the big cup flagship Xiaomi 12 Pro in advance, after a few days of in-depth experience, it can be said that Xiaomi still continues its own tradition, in the "Snapdragon 8 flagship machine goalkeeper" this thing, Xiaomi is serious.
In addition to the comprehensive upgrade, Xiaomi's control of the power consumption of snapdragon 8, the tuning of performance, as well as the improvement of camera algorithms and fast charging, have left a deep impression on me, and it can be said that Xiaomi's self-developed technology is playing an increasingly important role in various products.
First, the lens module design language has been greatly changed, and the border transition is delicate to enhance the feel
This time the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro series is still relatively large in terms of appearance changes, and the design language of the previous generation of Mi 11 series can be said to be completely different. It is understood that the appearance design of the Xiaomi 12 series is responsible for wei Siqi, the product manager of Xiaomi, and the last product she wielded is the Xiaomi Civi series, which focuses on appearance and photography.
Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is more restrained in appearance, and the version I got is a blue AG frosted glass back plate, the matte particle size is more delicate, and the touch is better.
Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro's lens module design this time is relatively novel, adding several dividing lines, showing a "sense of order", and a huge main camera at the top, but also shows that they take pictures "very material".
Although the Xiaomi Mi 12 is the main "best grip size", in fact, the slightly larger Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro, for users with larger hands, can also be easily held and used with one hand, and even the finger ring grip can leave a margin, and through the transition of a more natural screen, middle frame and back panel articulation, the grip of the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is more comfortable.
In fact, in recent years, various manufacturers can be said to be racking their brains in the design of mobile phone ID, but in the end they cannot escape the "square circle", and whether to continue the previous generation design, each family also has its own thinking. For example, Honor and Huawei are more inclined to continue their own iconic design elements, and Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo and their sub-brands often bring novelty in appearance design.
Nowadays, a variety of intelligent hardware has also entered the era of "face value", and how to quickly grasp the focus of target users through appearance design is a test for manufacturers.
Excellent screen quality has become one of the representative advantages of Xiaomi mobile phones, this time Xiaomi 12 Pro is also equipped with a Samsung top AMOLED E5 material screen, support the latest LTPO technology, in the color display and high brush dynamic adjustment is more prominent, but about the high refresh rate tuning, we put in the back of the system part and then detailed analysis.
From the perspective of the display quality of the screen itself, Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro supports 2K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate at the same time, ensuring the ultimate display pursuit of enthusiast users.
In addition, the color style support of Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is relatively comprehensive, including the natural color display in advanced mode, and also supports the true color display mode of dynamically adjusting the color temperature according to the ambient light, according to the actual experience, the change of screen color temperature is still relatively sharp.
Second, Snapdragon 8 achieves both frame rate and heat, fast charging for 10 minutes, brushing drama for 4 and a half hours
Of course, since it is Xiaomi's first Snapdragon 8 flagship machine, how this Snapdragon 8 is tuned is a general concern of consumers.
This time I focused on the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro's gaming and charging battery life. In the game section, I chose the MOBA mobile game "Glory of kings" and the heavy-duty mobile game "Original God", both of which run with the highest picture quality option that can be turned on.
▲ "Original God" picture quality setting
It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi has added an "extreme mode" option to the developer options this time, which can maximize the release of performance after opening.
In the test, the software has some problems with the CPU core temperature reading of the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro, so the CTemp can be ignored temporarily, and the specific temperature is subject to my actual experience.
In the "Original God" game, the performance of Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is relatively stable, in the scene of the more complex Rizuki Harbor scene, the game frame rate can basically stabilize between 55-58 frames, in a small number of scenes in a relatively simple state, can reach 60 frames full frame.
▲ "Original God" game frame rate curve, the beginning of the game for the start of the game and the option setting part, the frame rate fluctuation is a normal phenomenon
▲ "Original God" game frame rate performance
In intense battles or when the rendering pressure is high, the frame rate occasionally fluctuates to around 48 frames.
What surprised me was the temperature control of the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro, even in a heavy load game like "Original God", the back temperature of the Mi 12 Pro's fuselage was still only "warm".
▲The heat area on the back of the fuselage
You know, many of the previous manufacturers equipped with Snapdragon 888 flagship mobile phones, have caused heat discussions because of high fever problems, and even some will trigger temperature overheating warnings in the "Original God" game, of course, this has a relatively large relationship with the high fever of soC itself.
According to media measurements, the peak power consumption of Snapdragon 8 is more than that of Snapdragon 888, so the excellent temperature control of Xiaomi 12 Pro is not that the Power Consumption of SoC itself is reduced, but that Xiaomi's tuning and algorithm play a role.
At present, for the tuning of mobile phone SoC, manufacturers have two routes, one is to focus on the release of peak performance, and "release themselves" in terms of temperature, and the other is to have strict temperature control, but sacrifice frame rate performance.
This time Xiaomi obviously chose a more eclectic and balanced scheme, it is understood that Xiaomi internally set the temperature line at about 48 ° C, this temperature can not only ensure that the phone is "not hot", maintain a warm state, but can also increase the game frame rate to a higher level.
Overall, although Xiaomi's strategy looks a bit "conservative", it is actually more intelligent, because consumers are very sensitive to temperature problems, overheating and hot is basically a "one-vote veto", and in the actual game, the frame rate of 3-5 frames is sacrificed, but the perception is not strong.
It can be said that in the balance of heat and performance, Xiaomi has chosen to prioritize the experience rather than the extreme frame rate performance.
In addition to the heavy load of the game "Original God", in the MOBA mobile game such as "Glory of the King", the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro can basically be said to be easy to deal with. Even if the 120Hz high frame rate mode is turned on, the phone can still maintain a stable 120Hz operation throughout the game.
▲ "Glory of Kings" frame rate curve
Even in the fierce team battles, the mobile phone did not appear to be stuck and dropped frames. In terms of temperature performance, when running games such as "Glory of the King", the mobile phone basically has only a relatively slight heat, obviously, the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is comfortable with these games.
▲ The frame rate performance of "Glory of Kings" during the fierce team battle
This also reflects that Xiaomi's optimization at the level of scheduling strategy is more effective for improving the game experience.
In addition to performance performance, the battery life and fast charging of the mobile phone are also the focus of this Xiaomi 12 Pro upgrade, and since the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro supports 2K 120Hz at the same time, then the battery life is more concerned by users.
This time, after playing the heavy game of "Original God" for half an hour in the state of 2K 120Hz at the same time, the power consumption of the mobile phone was only about 12%.
▲ "Original God" half an hour of power change
After watching 1080P HD video for half an hour, the phone's battery consumption was only about 4%, which surprised me.
▲ Watch the video for half an hour the battery change
In terms of charging, this time The Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is equipped with Xiaomi's self-developed surging P1 fast charging chip, which realizes the industry's first single-cell 120W wired fast charge, according to my actual tests, the mobile phone from 65% of the power charged to 100%, only 10 minutes.
That is to say, if you roughly estimate that it takes 10 minutes to charge, the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro can play a heavy load game for one and a half hours in a row, or watch 4 and a half hours of 1080P video continuously.
For the charging experience, it can be said that it is a "qualitative change", and it can basically eliminate the occurrence of "charging anxiety".
Third, xiaomi image brain power, taking 4.5 photos per second, the accuracy of focus tracking has been significantly improved
In addition to performance and fast charging, the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro has also improved significantly in terms of photography.
Especially at the software level, Xiaomi launched its self-developed "Xiaomi Imaging Brain", combined with the improvement of Snapdragon 8 in AI capabilities this time, which brought me a lot of surprising camera experience improvements.
The optimization of photographic focus has always been one of the key directions of Xiaomi, because the focus experience of several flagship machines has been slightly regrettable under the premise of excellent hardware quality.
This time in the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro, Xiaomi increased the "everything to chase focus" ability, according to my actual experience, in the photo preview screen, the mobile phone can indeed quickly and accurately capture the characters in the picture.
Even if the character disappears from the frame occasionally, the phone can still quickly capture it when it returns to the frame. It can be said that such a function is very obvious for the improvement of the photo experience.
Another use of focus is in the background bokeh, it can be seen that the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro's judgment of the bokeh part of the scene is more accurate, such as the leaf in the center of the picture and the door behind it makes a better distinction.
▲Portrait mode shooting
This time in terms of continuous shooting speed, Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro has also been optimized, in the process of comparing with the previous generation of super cup flagship, I can obviously feel that the imaging speed of Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is faster, but the picture quality can still be guaranteed.
▲Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro takes continuous photos
In a well-lit scene during the day, the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is able to take about 45 photos in 10 seconds, which is a significant improvement compared to the previous flagship model.
▲Take pictures continuously for 10 seconds, the number of photos obtained
From the photos taken, we can see that the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro did not sacrifice image quality because of the improvement of the shooting speed, which is closely related to the IMX707 sensor, xiaomi's self-developed image algorithm and the improvement of the ISP processing power of the Snapdragon 8.
In the darker light scene, such a photo speed advantage is also more obvious, in the darker corridor, xiaomi 12 pro can take about 10 photos in 10 seconds, and the xiaomi mi 11 ultra can take about 5 photos in the same time.
In the extremely dark light scene at night, the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro can take about 6 photos in 20 seconds, while the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra can take about 3 photos, and the speed increase is real.
▲Left: Number of photos taken by Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro, Right: Number of photos taken by Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
The upgrade of the capture experience is very important for users, sometimes occasionally see a wonderful or touching moment to record it, the ability to capture "no paste" is very critical.
For example, in this set of night capture samples, the sharpness of the center area of the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro's capture screen is relatively good, and only a certain blur appears at the edge, you know, this is a capture in the state of fast running at night.
In addition to the upgrade of focus and capture capabilities, in most of the daily shooting scenes, how does the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro perform?
From the perspective of sensor size alone, the Sony IMX707 used by xiaomi 12 pro is smaller than the Samsung GN2 of xiaomi 11 ultra, and the number of pixels is the same, which means that the single pixel size of xiaomi 12 pro is slightly smaller.
In the daily shooting of buildings, the performance of the two is basically the same, and there is no obvious difference, but in the processing of color, the finished film of Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is more "pleasing" in some scenes.
▲The main building shooting comparison
When shooting plants, the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro has higher color saturation, and users have different preferences for different color performances, and it is not easy to make too much judgment.
▲The main plant shooting comparison
In some backlit scenes, the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro imaging has more detail in the shadows, and the two suppress highlights are basically the same, and the color saturation of the Mi 11 Ultra is higher at this time.
In terms of night shooting, although the bottom of the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is smaller, the purity of the night sky in the picture is well guaranteed, the noise is obviously better controlled, and the highlight suppression of architectural light signs is also more in place.
However, in terms of color balance in night shooting, Xiaomi needs further tuning.
▲The main camera night scene shooting comparison
At present, the development of smart phones in imaging technology has a prominent trend of combining software and hardware, and various manufacturers have begun to deepen the integration of software algorithms with hardware sensors, SoCs and other parts. Therefore, in the context of hardware convergence, self-developed algorithms have become the location of each "unique secret book".
The launch of Xiaomi's self-developed imaging brain is also a low-level systematic combing of Xiaomi's own camera software technology, and its effect is also obvious.
For ordinary consumers, improving the "lower limit" of mobile phone photography, so that more people can easily, quickly and simply take good photos, is the key to improving the basic experience of taking photos. Xiaomi this time, it can be said that the "direction is right".
Fourth, the system focuses on improving stability, and the variable refresh rate achieves high brush and power consumption balance
Finally, let's talk about the software experience of Xiaomi 12 Pro, since it is Xiaomi, the MIUI operating system is naturally one of the focuses of attention.
This time in fact, on the system UI interface, Xiaomi has not made major changes, MIUI 13 system in the few days I use, basically maintained a relatively stable running state, rarely occurs stuttering or frame drop phenomenon.
▲MIUI 13 daily operation
What has attracted widespread attention from consumers this time is that under the blessing of Xiaomi's self-developed scheduling strategy and LTPO screen, it has realized the adaptive switching of multiple refresh rate segments such as 10Hz, 30Hz, 60Hz, and 120Hz.
The reason why it is called adaptive is because the switching of the refresh rate is "insensible", and I do not feel the change of the refresh rate during the use of it.
In general, the screen refresh rate of Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro is basically maintained at 120Hz when the user operates the mobile phone, maintaining fluency, and in different applications and use scenarios, the matching refresh rate is automatically adjusted.
▲Weibo refresh rate changes
For example, when brushing Weibo, the frame rate is 120Hz when the finger slides, and once the slide is stopped, the frame rate will be reduced to 60Hz, and finally reduced to 30Hz.
What is more "smart" is that when the phone detects that there is a video playback, it will adjust to 30Hz or 60Hz according to the video frame rate, and when viewing static pictures in Weibo, the refresh rate will be adjusted to 60Hz.
In some applications, the home page is still, or the mobile phone desktop is still, the refresh rate of the mobile phone screen will be reduced to about 10Hz.
▲Desktop refresh rate changes
It can be said that after the screen achieved a real dynamic refresh rate adjustment, the 120Hz screen unlocked its own "complete form", and also achieved a balance between high screen brushing and power consumption.
Previously, the Android camp took the lead in applying a 120Hz high refresh rate screen, but Apple came in first, the first to achieve Pro Motion adaptive refresh rate adjustment on the 120Hz screen, realizing eight-gear adaptive adjustment from 1Hz to 120Hz, which also reflects Apple's deep foundation in software and hardware co-tuning.
This time, Xiaomi is the first manufacturer in the Android camp to achieve similar functions, which also reflects that Xiaomi's exploration of cutting-edge technologies is ahead.
▲The change of the refresh rate of station B
Conclusion: Benchmarking Apple, hardware, software, and experience can not be less
Through a few days of in-depth experience, Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro has a more obvious experience improvement in performance, screen, charging, camera, system and other core features of several smartphones. It can be said that this is a "bucket flagship" without obvious shortcomings, and it has also become the "goalkeeper" of the Android camp Snapdragon 8 high-end flagship machine.
From the surging P1 self-developed chip, Xiaomi imaging brain to the adjustment of Snapdragon 8, we can see that self-developed technology has become a key source of core advantages of Xiaomi products, and Xiaomi's hardcore technology is also serious.
Lei Jun said at the press conference that Xiaomi will officially benchmark Apple in the future. We all know that Apple's advantages lie not only in hardware, but also in the overall synergy of hardware, software and ecology, and for Xiaomi, there are still many hard battles to be fought.