Xiaomi 13 review: Nothing is missing compared to the PRO and it COSTS LESS! | Video

For about a week and a half I went from Xiaomi 13 Pro to Xiaomi 13 and although initially I was afraid of having a total downgrade in my hands after a few days I had to change my mind. Let’s understand each other, on the cameras or fast charging side, the Pro is certainly unattainable as well as the display, the vibration feedback and much more on paper, but the truth is that then you start using Xiaomi 13 and you don’t feel all these differences , especially with a very more affordable.

Although on the price we will think well in the end I already tell you that with a price list that starts from 1099€ but a real price that is already around 892€ on offer starts to be certainly more attractive by puttingmore than €200 away from the Pro model. Among other things, I remind you that, as with the Pro model, inside the sales package we find both a cover and the 67W quick charger.

• DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION QUALITY
• DISPLAY
• SOFTWARE
• DATA SHEET
• USER EXPERIENCE
• PHOTO AND VIDEO
• CONCLUSIONS
• PROS, CONS AND FINAL VOTE

CONSTRUCTION QUALITY AND DESIGN

Xiaomi 13 thanks to its 189 grams of weight , thirty less than the Pro version , and less than 153mm in height and with only 8.1 mm of thickness it turns out to be a pleasant smartphone to hold and use , especially if you have a generously sized hand like myself. There are three colors officially on sale in our country, Black, White and Flora Green , the one we have in the test and we are particularly adoring as it is something different from the average.

The design of this generation doesn’t do much to hide its inspiration from the iPhone with a brick style but I will tell you, as I am a lover of this design and as long as you take inspiration in this way raising the bar of quality so be it . In fact, we find a sandwich-style design with the rear glass of the back cover that almost seems to drown inside the chromed metal frame while on the front we have a Gorilla Glass Victus glass to protect the display but completely flat. The final result is an extreme ease and pleasure in being able to easily hold the smartphone and use it, you do not feel the slightest jaggedness between frame and glass as sometimes happens on the S23.

Worth mentioning is the decidedly less protruding rear camera module and the equipment of doors, speakers, microphones and keys on the frame practically identical to the Pro version both in the good as well as the trolley for the two SIMs protected by a rubber pad that reminds us that this smartphone is also IP68 certified , both in the bad like the Type C 2.0 or the absence of a real second symmetrical upper speaker.

DISPLAY

​To
unlock this Xiaomi 13 Pro and be able to start appreciating its display, we can take advantage of the fingerprint sensor located under the AMOLED display in a decidedly lower position. If the release is very fast and there is practically never any trouble in failing the recognition, it must be said that those with a small hand to get that low could risk unbalancing the smartphone. Obviously there is also 2D unlocking through face recognition , it works well but with all the obvious limitations of the case.

Once the Xiaomi 13 is unlocked, we are immediately faced with a 6.36 “FHD +, AMOLED display . A middle ground compared to the “compact” 6.1″ tops, even if in the end, thanks to the symmetrical and reduced to a minimum frames, we don’t deviate too much from the iPhone 14 Pro from which I come. The display has remained, as for the Pro variant, an AMOLED E6 with maximum brightness of 1900Nits , support for HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, among other things already supported in third-party apps such as Netflix since its release, and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz . I’m talking about maximum and non-dynamic refresh rate because here we lose that 1-120 dynamism of the Pro version by adoptinginstead a jagged 30/60/90/120 which considering still the imperfect optimization of Android with the high refresh rates is not so much a downgrade if not for some increased consumption especially in continuous use AOD (Always On Display).

If the maximum brightness is 1900 Nits it must be said that outdoors we often do not go beyond 1200Nits and 500 in manual . There remains the very wide possibility of calibrating the display to your taste between the DCI P-3 profile, sRGB, restoring an original color using, among other things, also a very reliable 360-degree ambient light sensor that allows you to obtain a style function TrueTone , reminding you that we have a JNCD≈0.32 and Delta E≈0.36.
Speaking of perceived quality I’ll be honest, at times I almost preferred this display to that of the Pro which for heaven’s sake makes everything more immersive thanks to its well-kept curved edges butthe completely symmetrical edges and the flat display of this Xiaomi 13 are worth much more to me.

SOFTWARE

In the display settings we started to scrutinize the MIUI 14 of this Xiaomi 13 based on Android 13 and I won’t dwell too much on the pros and cons because I already did it in the Xiaomi 13 Pro review which I advise you to recover in case you don’t have it yet Done. The highlights are compared to the past a much wider cleaning of bloatware, advertising and annoying and useless services with only a few 6-7 uninstallable apps and some notifications from Mi Browser promptly deactivated.

For the rest, MIUI 14 has never had any uncertainties, freezes or crashes of any kind , on the contrary , it has always turned out to be very reactive , thrifty in requiring resources, particularly customizable and not bulky if we think that it weighs less than half of the OneUI of the S23.

DATA SHEET

• SoC: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 a 4nm
• Modem: Snapdragon X70 5G
• Display : 6.36″ AMOLED E6 with FHD+ resolution, adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, 1900 nits maximum brightness, HDR10+, Dolby Pro Vision, HLG, Sunlight mode, P3 color gamut
• Memory :
  • RAM: 8/12GB LPDDR5X
  • storage memory: 256GB UFS 4.0
• Camera :
• 

   

  • Rear:
    • 54/50MP (total/effective) wide angle with 1/1.49 / 1/1.56″ (total/effective) Sony IMX800 sensor, 1.0µm pixel, f/1.8 aperture, 7P lens, LEICA VARIO-SUMMICRON ASPH, HyperOIS.
    • 12MP ultra wide angle with f/2.2 aperture, 125° FOV
    • 10MP telephoto with f/2.0 aperture, 5P lens
  • Front:
    • 32MP con pixel da 1.4µm, apertura f/2.0, lente 5P, 89,6° FOV, HDR
• Connectivity : 5G SA/NSA, Dual SIM, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 7, USB-C, NFC, Assisted GPS
• Audio: Stereo con Dolby Atmos
• Battery : 4,500mAh with 67W wired, 50W wireless and 10W reverse charging
• Dimensions and weight :
  • 152.8mm × 71.5mm × 7.98mm
  • 189 grams
• Other : IP68, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 front, 2.5D glass back and three color options: Black, White, Flora Green
• Operating system : MIUI 14 based on Android 13

PERFORMANCE AND FUNCTIONALITY

If the MIUI on board the Xiaomi 13 is practically identical to the Pro version, the same goes for the hardware thanks to a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 accompanied by 8 or 12 GB of quad-channel LPDDR5x 16Bit RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage. The smartphone runs like all the top of the range this year or without ever the slightest jamming and second thoughts in practically every field of use whether it is social media, video editing or even gaming where, due to the smaller dimensions, we feel the phone heat up more but with battery temperatures that anywaythey never exceed 38 degrees and are often stable at 24-27 degrees .

In this case, having also the version with 8GB of ram available, let’s talk about it briefly: does it make sense? In my opinion, yes, when we find it on offer at a sensational price much lower than the 12GB version, while if we are talking about a difference of €50 or less, it is worth a lifetime to invest that little bit more for an extra 4GB without having to bother with the virtual memory.

AUTONOMY AND RECHARGE

The battery of this Xiaomi 13 stops at 4500mAh, about 300 less than the Pro version which, however, is not felt in daily life. In fact , the hours of active display reached were almost the same with about 4h30min-5h in my extreme days with 200km of travel with cell changes and wireless Android auto/Maps, many photos and videos as well as a connection always set to 5G without exploiting the Wifi. On quieter days , however few there have been, the 7-8 hours of display can easily be reached considering that I often completed the day at 40% with 4 hours of display. If thewireless charging is present and remains as for the Pro at 50W and 15W reverse , unfortunately cable charging drops from 120W to 67W, therefore requiring 38 minutes instead of 18 for a full charge .

It is a pity that the 120W charge has not been integrated here too , not so much because we need to use it every day but because we are still paying more than €1000 in the price list and differentiating this model and the Pro for specifications like the following seems more of a choice forced considering that by now they are starting to see the 120W even on medium-range cheap smartphones. 

MICROPHONES AND RECEPTION

Calling with this Xiaomi 13 is satisfying, on a par with the Pro version , thanks to the three microphones on the frame which also work very well in video recording and voice notes. Xiaomi 13 is one of those smartphones that if taken to a concert will not make you regret the choice . Reception is also excellent, again identical to the Pro , allowing me to hook up to 5G in my studio where many smartphones such as the 14 Pro struggle with Edge.

DOUBLE SPEAKERS

The double speaker of this Xiaomi 13 works in the same way as the Pro version : we therefore have a main speaker at the bottom which guarantees us a high, indeed very high quality of listening, practically almost on par with tops such as the S23 and iPhone 14 Pro but unfortunately we no longer have a secondary upper speaker identical to the main one for total audio symmetry. In fact, the Xiaomi 13 only has a little flower on the top of the frame to allow the audio of the ear capsule , which acts as a double speaker, to come out more easily and make everything as unbalanced as possible.

CAMERA

Xiaomi 13 on paper gives up a lot compared to the Pro version as photographic sensors “losing” the main 1 “sensor and the telephoto lens with floating lenses but I will tell you, once you start using it and until we upload all our shots on social networks or they remain however, inside the smartphone I am convinced that 90% of people will not notice very big differences , but I will try to tell you about them. Obviously the collaboration with Leica remains with its color profiles , the integration with Adobe as regards RAW, the Leica portrait profiles and the coating as well as the possibility ofrecord with the main camera in Dolby Vision.

The main camera is a 50MP Sony sensor with 1.0 μm pixel size, 23mm f/1.8 equivalent focal length, HyperOIS and seven lenses. The quality of the shots is excellent and in the end there is absolutely no lack of detail , we are on the same level as the S23, so to speak. To the question: you feel so much the difference compared to the 1″ sensor obviously the answer is yes , absolutely yes but not in the micro detail which definitely takes a back seat to the ability to capture light having lower ISO and shutter speeds as well as to a much wider dynamic range. Where Xiaomi 13 Pro almost never needs night mode, here it comes into operation much more often and when the light goes down, the perceived noise is higher. Well indeed very well the new OIS called HyperOIS which excluding the high-sounding name works very well.

The ultrawide camera stops at 12MP with a small 1/3.06″ sensor and a focal length equivalent to 15mm f/2.2. The perceived quality is not very high but on par with an S23, autofocus is also missing here but being a situational camera it is right to spend as little as possible and focus on the quality of the other sensors. 

The tele camera is 10MP , a nice downgrade compared to the 50 of the Pro but fortunately the focal aperture of f/2.0 remains . With a focal length of 75mm we find ourselves with a 3.2x zoom that is also very suitable for portraiture aided by an optical stabilizer and a series of top-level filters developed with Leica. Unfortunately, the sensor is small at 1/3.75″ making it difficult to take action in some low light scenarios.

​The selfie camera is the same as the Xiaomi 13 Pro, a 32MP 1/3.14″ sensor from OmniVision, specifically an OV32C that does not have autofocus and when the light goes down it takes a lot of effort . The S23 and iPhone remain a couple of steps higher high and when you try one of the two it is really difficult to go back to results of this type.Good indeed excellent at least the management of the microphones when we go to record videos with the front camera!

CONCLUSIONS

Drawing conclusions for this Xiaomi 13 is quite simple as we are faced with a very balanced smartphone , the classic top of the range that is comfortable to use with some renunciations which, however, is not felt so much in daily life and taken at the right price, it is the smartphone that you can recommend a little to everyone with your eyes closed. At the right price, I stress it, as the price list is definitely too high, positioning it very close to the 13 Pro and does not make it attractive to the previous user group interested in the top Xiaomi series. At 892€ on Amazon streetprice at the time of writing this review things are already starting to changewith already almost 300 euro discount compared to the price list that turns the cards on the table. In short , if today it turns out to be an excellent smartphone with practically no shortcomings but slightly overpriced for a few months or weeks and this Xiaomi 13 will definitely be a smartphone to keep an eye on.

FORM FACTOR E DESIGNAUTONOMIARICEZIONEDISPLAY

LIST PRICE SELFIE CAMERA TYPE C 2.0

VOTE: 7.5

VIDEO

Xiaomi 13 is available online from Amazon for 892 euros . To see the other 32 offers click here. (updated March 11, 2023, 12:50)