My Xiaomi 17 Ultra Review

So to set the scene. When this was launched in China, I really had an interest in it. While I'm not a good photographer, my first camera my parents got me was a used Leica and It was like a tank and I loved it. Given I don't game on my phone and mainly use my phone for taking candid random photos, tracking progress at the gym, my needs are basic so for me it was as long as I can get a full day out of it with my use I'm pretty pleased. Chinese phones in general have always interested me. Cutting edge specs with usually a lower price point.

I decided to pick this up via a colleagues student discount and the trade in of my 3 year old Samsung Galaxy S23 256GB.

For £1034 delivered I got the 1TB 16GB 17 Ultra, Pad 7, The Ultra Photography kit and a 90W charger. Still pretty expensive for this Yorkshireman but considering I was after a tablet anyway, it sorta swung the deal for me

Its a big phone! Coming from my S23 at 6.1" screen, I don't find this phone very comfortable to hold with the Photography camera kit case on. Oddly when the case isn't on, the phone feels much better to hold. The bit of heft, the materials. It feels premium. The case sort of takes that totally away.

I love the separate volume buttons. Please do not change this Xiaomi! They are exceptionally satisfying to press.

I'd like Xiaomi to consider finding a way to ditch the case (it really doesn't feel nice when you're holding the phone) and find a way to have the photography kit just slide on. Maybe mag locking? Surely it connecting up via the USB C port and a magnet lock would be enough to keep it secure?

Along with this, I'd like engineers to try and put this camera setup into something a tad smaller. Shuffling your hands to reach the top of the screen one handed isn't something I'm particularly used to and naturally the phone is a little top heavy. Maybe make the phone thicker to provide a bigger battery and maybe, just maybe a dedicated camera button?

It's "fine". Look the global battery isn't as big as the Chinese version and I'm just as bummed out about it as everyone else but I've put this through various different scenarios and I've comfortably got through a full days charge. I've yet to use the 90W charger too. I've been using a 3rd party 40W I had lying about.

Now everyone's battery will vary. I'm getting 8hrs screen on and still got loads of juice left in the tank from a 100% charge. 80% will see me from my day starting at 3.30am through to about 8/9pm before I'm around 20%.

For context to the above, I set my screen refresh is 60hz (I don't play games!), and a lot of bloat public and hidden is removed. What I would have liked to have seen in the OS would be an option to set the refresh to say 90hz. From what I can see its either 60 or 120.

I know right, who would have thought using a mobile phone for calls! xD - I'm pretty impressed with it. I took my phone to the gym where I have to constantly rely on the Gyms Wifi as its a tin can building on my S23 but with the 17 Ultra, full signal practically. Night and day difference in signal regards. Calls were pretty clear too. I'd say about as on par to my old Nexus 6P which was the best for calls I've ever had.

As I eluded to before, I'm not a professional photographer but I do like taking candid photos of random things. I'm very impressed with it considering its ultimately a point and shoot thing!

Couple of remarks I'd like to make on this though;

• Get the photography kit. The Pro or more expensive one (whatever its called), you won't regret it because you end up just having fun with your phone.
• Leica Authentic setting (which I shot in all of these in) is only available in 12.5MP mode. This is such a massive shame. Please for christ sake allow this to be used in all modes. Recommend you set pic quality to super in settings because of it.
• Low light it really is good. I'm off to Vietnam & Hong Kong later this month so I'll hopefully post up some photos then.
• AI Post processing - Please can we have an option to fully turn this off?! I know when something has been AI has interfered with my photo as the colours and scratches are smoothed out when I take a pic of my car for example.
• A lot has been made out about the Marco not been as good as the 15 Ultra. I can't possibly compare the two but I cay say from some of the shots I've taken, they are perfectly serviceable. May not be best in class (and one could argue for the cost of the phone they really should be) but they are certainly better than what most companies are putting in.
• Video's in fairness I don't take a lot of but the videos I did take I wasn't overly impressed with the sound. Maybe there's tweaking to be done here by myself so please take this remark with a pinch of salt.

Here are some samples (23mm Focal point, exposure stop no more than -0.3, either Leica Natural, or BW High Contrast, Cinematic or Film Negative);

I'll be honest, you're either going to be fine with it and see past its shortcomings or you will absolutely hate it and call it the devil.

Me, I can just about turn a blind eye to its shortcomings and fustrations. If it wasn't for how good the camera is, I would have probably invoked a return on it.

Maybe I am just too used to One UI and how polished it is. Of course, I have found ways round some of HyperOS' shall we all nonsense, but I found irritating that I had to find those workarounds. Some are just really weird bugs. I'll example some of my short comings with HyperOS

• Delayed Notifications. X app for example just does not show DM notifications (or number badge) so I miss them from companies when I reach out to them. Yet standard mentions work fine and even have an alert counter badge. Very infuriating. Another example is Facebook Messenger. The message notification just won't go away sometimes.
• Delayed Notifications Part 2 - I really shouldn't have go to go into apps and set no restrictions. I know there's a balance here between the Chinese software and the global but c'mon.
• I have a "Do Not Disturb" after 10PM at night so only particular folk can outright reach me. In HyperOS this only works for calls...Not messages...Why? I had to install a separate app for this just so WhatsApp messages could come through from those members after hours. Exempting apps in Do not disturb is also highly hit and miss if you're an on call engineer.
• Gesture navigation locked behind Xioami HyperOS. Yes you can use a 3rd party launcher but you're stuck to then the Navigation buttons. I'm personally fine with the buttons but this should not be locked down.
• Grid Size. Need more options man. Spacing between apps is just too much for my liking.
• If you use the App Drawer layout and go to an app through the app drawer, if you exit the app by pressing the home button, it takes you back to the app drawer? - Why..I've pressed home. Take me back to the god damn home screen!
• Screen On Time is in a very unusual place. Just put it under battery. Use logical sense!
• Data usage is another. This is just outright confusing. Why is it in Security? My data limit seemingly reset on the 1st of the month when I set it to the 10th.
• WiFi direct hidden away in developer settings. Why?
• Charging bug recently discovered where I set phone to charge to 80% and sometimes is blasts right through it. No idea why.
• Having to lock VPN apps so they don't close
• Having to Lock YouTube or YouTube music so if I close tasks it continues to play in the background. OneUI was intelligent enough to know what to do here, but HyperOS you literally need to tell it.
• Analytics, ads, junk, bloat. There's more than I thought. Whilst I could remove some of it, there's lots of hidden crap which I had to use Shizuku and Canta to remove the processes. Whilst I've got the phone more lean now, compared to my S23 there is more junk there. Would suggest all users do this.

UPDATE: I updated to HyperOS 3.0.301 from 3.0.11 and those processes I disabled are still disabled after which is good.

But for all the negative stuff, there is some things which I do like

• The integration with the Pad 7 really is good.
• That cute pet widget thing!
• Customisation options in terms of wallpaper and themes goes well although I'm not sure putting it through behind an app is the right choice.
• The Gallery app I'd say is probably best in class. You don't need Lightroom or whatever to tweak your photos. Really is very powerful.
• Write your number to the sim card. Sometimes I get unknown next to my sim card where the number should be. Its nice to see Xiaomi allows you to write the number to the sim!

Amazing tech powered with a very so so software experience.

The software division clearly isn't keeping up with the hardware side of things. HyperOS 4 really needs to bring major improvements in my eyes.

I very much doubt HyperOS 4 will be the software that we want that improves things and its a shame because HyperOS will be what puts people off this phone.

Will the Vivo or Oppo Ultra be as good on the camera level? Probably. Photos are very subjective with styles. If HyperOS marmite puts you off, maybe explore those but early impressions suggest they could more expensive than the Xiaomi.

If you buy the phone, you will have an awesome time with the camera. I really do recommend you buy the camera pro kit as you really do have some fun with it, but just be mindful that the software is not nearly as polished as its competitors.

I hope you enjoyed reading all the above and if anyone has any Q's, please feel free to ask and I'll try to answer as best I can via Reddit. My apologies in advance for any grammar errors.