Xiaomi 15 Ultra review: ugly phone, beautiful camera

Two years later, I told anyone listening to the Chinese manufacturer VIVO made the best cameras on any smartphone, Xiaomi 14 Ultra changed last year to me. Become my favorite phone and the favorite camera, where I deal with everything from the shots to the products review.

With the 15 Ultra, Xiaomi took the best to make it better with a new 200 -megapixel Periscope lens to complete other cameras (not changed largely).

The negative side? the 14 ultra It was never a lot of viewers, and the 15 Ultra enlarged camera unit has taken a bad design and made it worse. I am ready to deal with embarrassing aesthetic when the camera is good, but I will completely understand if I go in the other direction.

I did not mention much about the specifications of this phone after the camera. This is intended. Yes, this is a major phone through and lessons, but you can find most of what it offers on other phones for half the price. If you are ready to drop 1,299 pounds sterling / 1,499 euros (About $ 1,600) on 15 Ultra, the camera will be the reason for it.

It is very similar to the 14 Ultra, the new pioneer in Xiaomi has a quad rear camera in a large round unit that dominates the design. Frankly, you can say that this raises the classic Leica aesthetic that Xiaomi also raises with this silver and black, which highlights Optional photography collection supplement. Less charge, you can say it is very ugly, and no less symmetrical lens planning is not helped by last year, adding to the feeling that Xiaomi is very trying to crush devices.

This design is likely to be imposed by the new 4.3x Percycpe lens, which is used as a 200 -megapixel sensor of 1/1.4 -inch F/2.6 aperture. This is an upgrade last year in all respects except for the zoom distance, it decreased slightly from 5X, and the results are really impressive.

On the 14 Ultra, I found myself trying to use Telephoto 3.2X as much as possible, and this year, Periscope had the same captivating effect on. I continue to retract the topics to give me an excuse to use it instead of the main lens, preferring its natural depth and incense compared to the effect of the settlement to which any basic lens tends to any phone. In good lighting, you will get beautiful natural shots up to 10x, with decent results in 30x. Moreover-connect to 120x-some aggressive lipid kicks. I will not think about this anything special in the extreme range, but for the average distance, it is completely ideal.

Other three lenses-all 50 megapixels-are not sagging, too. The main camera uses the same Sony Lyt-900-inch sensor like last year, but Xiaomi may get rid of the changing hole in favor of the F/1.63 fixed approach. In theory, it makes this lens a little less diverse, but I don’t think much is lost in practice. However, it is a strange reduction.

Ordinary Teappto uses the same specifications as the equivalent of last year but with 3x zoom instead of 3.2X. This was my favorite lens last year, and I think it’s still more useful here. 3x is a more practical distance than 4.3x most of the time, which is also the lens used automatically for macro shots, allowing you to default without already approaching. High lenses and personal photos are the most forgotten: they are good but not noticeable. It will be unfair to call them the halls, but it is clear that they are not where Xiaomi’s concentration lies.

Besides simply on the enormous Periscope, the other focus on Xiaomi was to improve photography performance in low light. I manage a food message on the side, so I spend a lot of time trying to shoot dishes in faintly lit restaurants, as most phones are struggling. I liked the 14 ultra, partially because it excels in these circumstances, even in the closest. And on the 15 Ultra, the same is true, although I am not sure that this phone represents an important step forward. The new Percycope performance is impressive, although: it is a slight decrease in the 3X lens, as it is more vulnerable to the glow than the bright lights in a dark circumference and requires a more stable hand to get a clear shot.

The biggest complaint I can mobilize this camera is that it is not. Which – which It is different from last year. If you don’t have the 14 Ultra, it will not be a problem for you, but it might be for Xiaomi. The competition at the end of the market is intense, especially in China, and I wonder whether the competitors such as Vivo and Oppo are about to rape the throne.

The camera exceeds, and the 15 Ultra still impresses, but it is similar to other pioneers. All specifications are familiar: Snapdragon 8 segment group with 16 GB RAM and up to 1 TB of storage; A large screen of 120 Hz LTPO OLED 6.73 inches; IP68 classification with augmented glass of the screen. I don’t want to suggest any of this is bad – it’s the highest line. There are a lot of other phones that flourish the space on top with them.

The battery life is good. A 5,410 mAh toxic capacity, it took a day traveling with a lot of photography and a few hours of laptops before I started anxious about death. 90W wire charging will quickly rise, at 80W wireless speeds if you invest in the official charger and large speeds on a standard QI. Like all of OEM Android, Xiaomi did not feel the need to invest in it Qi2.

The program is where you will find negative aspects. Hyperos – Xiaomi’s Android Skin – is on top of Android 15 and shares in common inconvenience with others on Android from Chinese original equipment manufacturers. You will find a lot of Xiaomi-Branded applications in advance, which you cannot remove, as well as a large group of other applications that you may not want, such as aliexpress.

Xiaomi has removed some OS customization capacity in its latest version. If there is a way to have five applications on the main screen row instead of four, I did not find it, although this is exactly possible on 14 Ultra. Some other tasks only feel complicated and irritant – changing the wallpaper of the walls means your way by applying the topics that are determined to sell new ringtones and NAFF graphics.

Almost all this can be ignored. Maybe I say I prefer Hyperos over the samsung UI, but you will have to live with polishing a little less. The promise of four generations of Android OS updates and six years of security support also leaves a few years behind Samsung and Google, although it is still a decent process.

The best and worst things about 15 Ultra goes to the camera. I think the only thing that anyone is likely to buy this phone – aside – is that the lens unit is some eyes. It is the first thing that I have seen last week about the phone, not in a good way.

But then you start Use The camera, and you will get it. Yes, it’s ugly. But there is no other way to make it good.

Photography by Dominic Breston / The Forge