1-Before Buying a Phone#
1.1-Budget and Selection#
I have been using the Xiaomi 14 for about 10 days now. When I was buying a phone, my budget was 5000 yuan. There were several phones in this price range, but in the end, I chose the Xiaomi 14:
- Xiaomi 14 Pro
- Honor Magic 6 Pro
- Vivo X100 Pro
- Oppo Find X7
- Apple 15
1.2-Considerations for the Phone#
Of course, there are also Meizu and other brands, but I dare not buy them. The two brands I trust the most are Huawei and Apple. They have good reputation, quality, and stability. However, the prices of good phones from these brands are quite high, so I didn't consider them much.
The second tier in my mind is Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Honor. My previous phone was the Redmi K40 Gaming, and it had hardware issues in less than three years. When I took it for repair, the staff said they couldn't fix it, possibly due to a CPU problem, so it had to be sent back to the factory. Therefore, I have doubts about Xiaomi's quality control and quality.
Moreover, Xiaomi's phones in the 2000-3000 yuan range tend to lag after using them for more than a year. The K40 Gaming is an example. Although it is still okay overall, it frequently lags during gaming and daily use. Everyone knows about Xiaomi's system, it has quite a few bugs.
But why is Xiaomi still in my second tier? There are three reasons:
- First, Xiaomi's hardware has good cost performance.
- Second, the camera performance has improved in the past two years.
- Third, Xiaomi's other miscellaneous products, such as smart bands and small home appliances, are also good.
At that time, the other phones mentioned above were all good choices. I wanted a phone with good camera performance and fast charging. The Apple 15 was directly ruled out because it didn't have a high refresh rate. Although I liked the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, they were too expensive for me.
I felt that the hardware of the Honor Magic 6 Pro was good, with long battery life and an eye-friendly screen. The 3D face recognition also attracted me. However, I didn't like the appearance of this phone, especially the camera module, which I found a bit ugly. The camera performance of Honor is slightly worse than the others, and the most crucial point is that I need Google services, which may not be easy to install on Honor phones.
Then there were the choices between Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi 14 Pro. I immediately ruled out Oppo after watching some video reviews. It seemed average overall, and the camera performance didn't seem better than the other two. So I wanted to choose between the Vivo X100 Pro and Xiaomi 14 Pro.
The X100 Pro has many advantages. I like its appearance, and its camera performance seems to be among the best. Vivo's OriginOS is the ceiling of the Android camp, surpassing Xiaomi's MIUI. However, there are two things about Vivo that I can't stand. First, the price online and offline are different. It seems that the price online is cheaper, and I always feel like I would lose out (I'm not good at bargaining). Second, the screen seems a bit harsh on the eyes.
1.3-Final Choice#
The Xiaomi 14 Pro is decent in all aspects, and the camera performance is also good. I had already placed an order, but after experiencing the Xiaomi 14 Pro in the store, I started to have second thoughts because the camera module was too big and felt uncomfortable to hold.
At that time, I saw the Xiaomi 14 next to it and found that it felt much better in my hand. The screen of the Xiaomi 14 is flat, which really appealed to me. I especially loved the pink color. Compared to the improvements of the 14 Pro (sapphire glass, slightly better camera, faster charging), the Xiaomi 14 seemed to meet my needs and was 1000 yuan cheaper overall.
So I decisively bought the Xiaomi 14 from the store. The Xiaomi store gave me a gift box with headphones, a notebook, and a pen, and the offline experience was good. They probably won't give a weighing scale for online purchases.
2-Xiaomi 14 Experience#
2.1-Appearance and Feel#
The appearance of the Xiaomi 14 is decent (except for the camera module), but the camera module is smaller compared to the Xiaomi 14 Pro. Additionally, the phone is small and feels very comfortable to hold. It is suitable for one-handed operation, and I think girls would like this phone. Moreover, the Xiaomi 14 has a flat screen, which is much easier to apply a screen protector compared to a curved screen.
The store had white, black, green, and pink colors. The white and green colors have a glossy glass back, which is prone to fingerprints. The white one looks particularly good, while the green one is average. The black one is also average, but it has a frosted glass back, which is not easy to leave fingerprints. However, the best-looking and most comfortable one to hold is the pink color with a leather back. It's perfect for guys who like pink.
The Xiaomi 14 has a unique feature in terms of appearance. It doesn't have speaker openings at the top of the phone, but it still has dual speakers.
2.2-Charging and Battery Life#
The charging speed is very fast with 90W fast charging. It feels very quick, especially when it reaches around 80%, it charges extremely fast in about 30 minutes.
However, the battery life of the Xiaomi 14 is average. But it's understandable since the battery capacity is only 4610mAh. With light daily usage, it should last a day with one charge. When I'm at home, I often use it to browse TikTok and play games, so I have to charge it three or more times a day. Especially when playing games, it consumes battery quickly. I am currently using version 1.31.
2.3-MIUI System#
Xiaomi's MIUI system still has some bugs. The most common bug is the time and date display on the lock screen, which occasionally appears upside down for no reason. There are also occasional stutters or lags during operation. It feels like it's freezing for a moment. I have encountered this situation twice. Another issue is when playing League of Legends: Wild Rift, the controls occasionally don't respond instantly, but it's only for a very short moment.
In terms of animations, it seems better than MIUI, but overall, it's almost the same as MIUI. There doesn't seem to be any significant difference. It seems that if you have many Xiaomi smart devices, the interaction would be more comfortable, but I don't have many devices, so I'm not sure how good it is.
2.4-Camera Experience#
The camera performance seems good. It can capture decent photos with casual shots, much better than my previous phone. However, the performance for distant objects is not very good, probably because it doesn't have a periscope lens. But it's good for close-up shots.
2.5-Other Pros and Cons#
One of the biggest advantages of the Xiaomi 14 is that it's very easy to install Google services. You can download Google Play from the Xiaomi App Store. I was surprised to see this. Xiaomi 14 is probably the easiest phone to install Google services.
The fingerprint sensor of the Xiaomi 14 uses an optical fingerprint solution. It unlocks quickly when the fingerprint is aligned correctly, but if it's not aligned properly, the unlocking speed is average. However, there is an annoying drawback to the fingerprint unlocking process. The fingerprint module suddenly lights up when unlocking, which is very dazzling. There is a setting to turn off this sudden light in low light conditions, but it didn't work when I tested it.
But the fingerprint module is also intelligent. It can display a circle on the screen to help locate the fingerprint sensor. The best part is that when you haven't picked up the phone, it shows a holographic display. When you pick up the phone, it displays the circle to help locate the fingerprint sensor. There may be some kind of sensor for this feature.
3-Purchasing Summary#
Overall, it's still good, especially recommended for girls. If you want a small flat screen, the Xiaomi 14 is the only choice (Apple 15 and Samsung phones are more expensive than the Xiaomi 14).
3.1-Standard Version Purchase#
Xiaomi 14 Leica Lens, Light Hunter 900 Customized Imaging Sensor, Snapdragon 8 Processor, 1.5K OLED Flat Screen, 5G Smartphone, White, 16GB+512GB
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JD Price: 4599.00 yuan
Purchase Link: https://u.jd.com/jbX0KdA
3.2-Limited Edition Color#
The Gulf Blue color is the same as the Xiaomi car SU7, and it looks pretty good.
Xiaomi 14 Leica Optical Lens, Light Hunter 900, Leica 75mm Floating Telephoto Lens, Snapdragon 8 Gen3, 16+1T, Custom Color Gulf Blue, Xiaomi Redmi Phone, 5G
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JD Price: 4999.00 yuan
Purchase Link: https://u.jd.com/jqXrvNZ