While there are many 5G smartphones, there are hardly any as affordable as the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite. Yet, the manufacturer still did not cut any corners in terms of the important features, and the 6.67-inch midrange Android smartphone includes a 120-Hz display and a battery that lasts for a very long time.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Xiaomi-Mi-10T-Lite-5G-Smartphone-Review-5G-and-120-Hz-display-at-a-budget-price.510882.0.html
I got one to use as a cheap 5G modem to backup or possibly even replace my unreliable VDSL broadband connection. The USB 2.0 speed explains why I have a maximum throughput of about 230 Mbps using an USB-C Ethernet adapter, when I've clocked 5G in my area as high as 530Mbps down.
Android 10 that ships with the unit does not do Ethenet tethering (an Android 11 feature) and USB tethering requires you to unlock the screen to activate it, which is stupid and obviously not an option for a permanent connection to a router, so you will need to root the device. TWRP is not available for this "gauguin" platform yet, but once you have unlocked the phone (an annoying process that requires you to create a Xiaomi account and wait for a week), you can use Magisk to root the phone and install SSH. The process is:
- set up an Xiaomi account
- turn on developer mode and associate your Xiaomi account with the phone
- download and install the Xiaomi unlock tool on a Windows PC
- use the tool to request an unlock
- wait for a week in frustration
- install add and fast boot on your computer
- Download an official Gauguin firmware zip from Xiaomi
- Unzip it to extract boot.img, upload it to your phone
- Sideload Magisk Manager from the APK on github
- Start Magisk manager, use "Install" then "Patch a file" to patch the boot.img you uploaded previously
- Download the resulting magic_patched.img to your computer
- Use "fastboot flash boot magisk_patched.img" to install the rooted boot loader
- Start Magisk manager again to finish the root environment, and install plugins like busy box and ssh
The performance is remarkable for an Android phone, but the plastic shell definitely feels cheap.
I have one and find myself pretty pleased with it, having mo Ed from a tired OnePlus 3t this performs well, has pretty good battery life.
However, my notification lights rarely. Work and I have been unable to get any response from Xiaomi either via the built in app or via their online support. Literally no response.
And the camera.... Its OK in pro mode, colours are heavily distorted but fixable but in other modes the jpg compression is so heavy pictures can look like oil paintings.