Smartphones
Xiaomi

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge Review

Fast charging and beyond

from ₹ 26,999

Sambit Satpathy 17 Jan 2022 05:55 PM

Humans are impatient. We want everything instantly – be it a cab, food, hot water from the geyser or that illegal download off the internet. Needless to say, we also hate waiting for our phones’ batteries to charge so we can go back to our digital lives on social media. 
Catering to this fast-moving generation is the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge, which holds the crown for the fastest charging device in India. So is 120W fast charging worth all that hype? Well, read on. 

Battery: Speeeeeeed

Let’s first tackle the elephant in the room. Does this phone charge fast? Yes. Does it charge really fast? Yes. Does it charge in 15 minutes as Xiaomi claims? Err, nope.
Right out of the box, the device charges at around 102W, which takes about 25 minutes to go from 0-100%. To really unlock the charger’s potential, one needs to enable Boost Mode by heading deep into the settings menu. When enabled, you can fully charge the battery in just a shade under 20 minutes. While it may not be at Xiaomi’s claimed speeds, charging a 4,500mAh unit under 20 minutes is still quite impressive.

It is understandable why Xiaomi has the Boost Mode disabled by default, and that is to do with thermals. No one wants their phone to become uncomfortably hot under any circumstances. But during our testing, the phone never got extremely hot even when charging was boosted. 
The issue here is with buyers who are not technically adept, and may never go into settings to enable the extra boost. Considering, most of them are paying for those insane charging speeds, it seems a bit counterproductive.
As for the battery itself, the 4,500mAh unit doesn’t drain too quickly either. We were able to get a day’s worth of usage with above six hours of screen time fairly easily. A quick juice up while brushing our teeth before bedtime was enough to get through to the next day.

Design: Flat and the precarious

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge is a good phone to look at, especially in this purple hue that we’ve got for review. The glass back and the way in which colours slightly shift under the light make this device look classy. If you do decide to put on a case, we would recommend a transparent one so as to not hide the beautiful colour. 
Xiaomi has opted for a design with flat edges, much like the current-gen Apple iPhones. While we have no complaints with this flat design, it is the size that makes it a bit precarious. If you have an average-sized palm, then be ready to have it stretched while holding the device. 

The 6.67in display along with the flat edges makes it almost impossible to operate the phone with one hand. You will need the help of your second hand to reach the top corners, which you won’t always have to, courtesy of MIUI, but still.
Speaking of the display, the one on this phone is a treat for the eyes. On paper, the FHD+ resolution, AMOLED panel, 120Hz refresh rate, and 360Hz touch rate ticks all the right boxes. In real-world use too there’s little to complain about. Text and images look sharp, and viewing angles are good too. HDR10 support really comes to the fore when streaming OTT content or playing games on the device. 

Performance: Dependable mid-ranger

With the MediaTek 920 chip under the hood, the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge is like a middle-order batsman who isn’t good enough to open the innings but isn’t a tailender either. 
Day-to-day tasks are handled with relative ease, and we didn’t notice a lot of lags or stutters. Apps open and shut in a jiffy, and you can smoothly transition between apps as well. The chip is also able to handle games to an extent as long as it isn’t pushed. 
You can play casual games without any issues. But it isn’t able to handle games like Asphalt 9: Legends and BGMI at higher graphics settings, and you’ll immediately notice a drop in frame rates. It’s impressive how Xiaomi has kept thermals in check, and at no point did the phone get hot enough to be used for ironing clothes.

Software: Not the latest

A lot of the good performance is also down to the optimised MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition. There isn't a lot of bloatware, and most of the pre-installed apps can be immediately uninstalled. Xiaomi has reduced the number of ads, but some of the core apps continue sending out annoying notifications.

The device runs Android 11 out-of-the-box, and while Xiaomi has promised an Android 12 update, there’s no timeline. Looking at the brand’s previous record, we wouldn’t hold our breath for a major update.

Cameras: Strictly average

The triple-camera setup is located in a housing that’s quite in-your-face, and also doesn’t let the phone sit flush on a hard surface. The cameras themselves aren’t up to the mark, and fall a bit short of what you expect from a sub-₹30,000 phone.
The 108MP primary camera works well in ideal lighting conditions and is able to capture plenty of details and colours. But, the moment the sun goes down, the camera starts to struggle. In such conditions, there’s plenty of noise, details are missing and the colours seem a tad saturated. The built-in Night mode helps, but barely. More often than not these photos are unusable.

The 8MP wide-angle lens isn’t a lot better either and tends to miss out on details in trying to fit extra things in the frame. As for the 2MP macro lens, the less said the better. The 16MP front snapper is better than the rest. So selfies will be good enough to share on social media without a lot of touch-ups. 

Verdict: Should you buy it?

If you want the bragging rights, and absolutely cannot wait for your phone’s battery to charge, then yes, you should go for the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge. But there’s not a lot else to convince you. 
In fact, the standard Xiaomi 11i has a bigger 5,100mAh battery and “slower” 67W charging offers better value for money. It is also slightly cheaper at ₹24,999. You might have to spend a few more minutes charging the phone, but you’re also bound to get quite a bit of extra juice from the bigger battery.

Stuff Says

Time is money, and Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge won’t waste it juicing up its battery.
Good stuff
Bad stuff

  1. Charging speed

  1. Vibrant display

  1. Smooth-ish performance

  1. Average cameras

  1. No Android 12 update in sight

Specifications
Display: 6.67in 120Hz FHD+ AMOLED
Processor: MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G
Memory: Up to 8GB RAM / 128GB storage
Battery: 4,500mAh 120W HyperCharge
Cameras: 108MP+8MP+2MP (rear) / 16MP (front)
OS: Android 11 MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition
Dimensions: 163.65 x 76.19 x 8.34 mm
Weight: 204 grams