Before we start the unboxing, I will tell you the final conclusion right now: I love this phone. And the Xiaomi 13 Standard Edition is the most satisfying Xiaomi phone I’ve ever had. For most people, it is also the best Xiaomi phone to buy. I even think it has more appeal than the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and 13 Pro.
If you’re willing to listen to why I like the Xiaomi 13 so much, then I’d be happy to tell you what’s so great about it.
DESIGN
Now phones have been put in more and more stuff, the body has to be bigger and bigger. The largest regular phone has reached 7-inches, if you count the foldable phone then the number will be even like 8 inches. I often miss the old days when the phone could be controlled with one hand. When the mobile phone becomes no longer mobile, then more features also become meaningless. It’s embarrassing to think that it’s difficult to find a small-sized phone these days. It’s especially hard when you’re also trying to find a flagship small phone that doesn’t have shortcomings. I’ve put together the numbers of a few compact phones that look good right now, and blue one is their cons. It’s easy to see that the Xiaomi 13 really has no shortcomings. It’s a bigger phone than the other phones, even a little bigger than the Xiaomi 12. But it perfectly balances size and functionality. That’s the main reason why I like the Xiaomi 13: phones that are better than it, aren’t as small as it. Phones that are smaller than it, not as well as it.
Why would I choose white over blue vegan leather. Look at my Xiaomi 12S Ultra that I’ve been using for less than six months. Maybe the footage isn’t visible enough. The leather texture in the four corners has been smoothed out. If you don’t want your phone to look like this, then get the glass version. Because of the small size and light weight, fingerprints are more downward, but does not affect the feel much when holding it.
In the unboxing video for the Xiaomi 13 series, some viewers guessed that it was still USB 2.0. Congratulations, you guessed right. This is the nightmare for Xiaomi users the whole life.
Like you guys, I think the Xiaomi 13 must have referenced the iPhone and Samsung. You can say the Xiaomi is copycat, but I don’t think it’s ugly, I even think it’s kind of pretty. Especially the screen. When you light up the screen, you can feel the beauty of it without me saying anything more. The screen, which is almost equal in width on all four sides, puts me in a happy mood every time I use the phone. If there is no front camera, I think it is the best looking screen in the world.
Some people will ask: why don’t you buy Samsung S22? Haha, see Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, do you think I still want to buy it? In addition to the excellent bezel width, other specs are also very powerful. This Samsung E6 panel ensures high brightness while DC dimming is not missing. Adaptive colors, or “True Tone” on the iPhone, are also available. Some people complain that the standard version doesn’t have 2K resolution, but the Xiaomi 13 the display DPI is actually 414, which is sharper than most FHD+ phones. Using 2K resolution on a small phone can also bring down battery life, so the display is really good for just the right amount of time.
PERFORMANCE & GAMING
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0, the latest chips are of course there. The throttling test also shows that it can keep the performance stable for a long time, so it seems that the 8 Gen 2 has really improved a lot.
Smaller phones are usually not very good at gaming because of their size limits. But the Xiaomi 13 is an exception. Maybe it’s the new 8 Gen 2 that’s so great, or maybe the cooling system is so nice. Anyway, it does well in Genshin Impact, running around Sumeru can’t stress it out anymore. There were lags during the game, all caused by loading textures. To test how long it takes for Xiaomi 13 to overheat, I followed it up with 25 minutes on Spiral Abyss floor 12, and it still held up. Oh, and the frame drops in the middle were caused by loading, not lagging. The temperature after 45 minutes of intense gaming is also only 45°C.
All in all, it has no problem handling games. But I still don’t recommend it for long term gaming, because the screen is really small. If you have big hands, it will be more difficult to play.
Compared to the Pro version, the standard version seems to have a less surprising camera system. It does have an average camera performance, but because of this 75mm telephoto lens, it stands out from the crowd of small sized phones. The reason I used to have to use big and heavy flagship phones is that I love telephoto lenses. And most of my photography is taken with telephoto. Now that the Xiaomi 13 also has a 3.2x telephoto and is equipped with OIS, then I can use it with no worries. But don’t get me wrong, I mean an extra telephoto will allow you to compose more angles compared to other compact phones. But the image quality is definitely not as good as flagship phones.
When the light is bad, as long as you zoom in on the picture, there is very little detail and all are sharpening traces. Just like the S22, it really can’t put a bigger sensor. So let’s give it a pass.
CAMERA
Compared to the Xiaomi 12S, the 13’s main camera is a step backwards. Although the sensor is smaller, the performance is not much of a step back. Most of the performance is okay, both day and night. I only have two complaints, one is the purple-fringing issue, which is not very well controlled. Another is that the color is a bit strange. Even though we were using the Leica Vibrant mode, the colors were always very dull. The too-intense colors look even worse in the samples taken on cloudy days. These two problems are even worse on the ultra-wide camera. So I’m actually not satisfied with the ultra-wide camera.
But then again, if I am given two options, a telephoto plus a good main camera, or a very good main camera plus a macro lens, I would definitely choose the former. Users of smaller phones must know what they need, because most of the time they are not able to have both.
You should not expect anything from the Xiaomi phone front camera. Except for the Civi series, they all perform pretty much the same. Although the photos look good and rich in detail. But the video performance is really not good. Not only is the 4k resolution missing, but it doesn’t even support 60fps. If you pay more attention to the recording of the front camera, then we recommend you to buy other phones.
All three lenses support different recording specs. The main camera supports up to 8k 24fps and OIS+EIS. the footage also looks the best, stable and clear. The ultra-wide camera supports up to 4k 30fps, which is also good. But the picture does not look so clear. The telephoto camera supports up to 1080P 60fps. only in 1080P 30fps can switch the lens during recording.
BATTERY & CHARGING
67w fast charging and 4500mAh battery, does it sound familiar? Yes, this classic combination is once again found in the Xiaomi 13. I have no complaints about the charging power, 67w is also fast and there is also 50w wireless charging. Plugged in and fully charged in just 41 minutes.
4500mAh is big for a phone of this size, and in actual use it feels about the same as my 12S Ultra, which lasts 5 to 6 hours. Because of the new processor being more power efficient and the smaller screen, it already lasts about the same amount of time as many 6.8 inch phones. One less factor to stop you from buying a smaller phone, isn’t it?
After a few days of use, MIUI 14 has no lags or bugs. Their claim of improving the smoothness of the new system seems to be working so far. No matter how fast your operation is, it doesn’t lag. I don’t know if older Xiaomi phones will be smoother with the MIUI 14 upgrade, but at least with my Xiaomi 13, MIUI 14 is definitely smooth enough.
There are relatively few new features in 14, one of which is the new icon customization feature. Some icons can change shape, but some can’t. The new folders also open the applications inside of it from the outside. Obviously, MIUI 14 also borrows some features from other systems. But it doesn’t matter to consumers, as long as it works, it’s fine. The biggest upgrade of MIUI 14 should still be this: you can delete most of the system applications. Those apps that you never use can finally be uninstalled. Even the album, weather, can be uninstalled. You can keep only 8 apps, it’s very crazy for MIUI.
When Xiaomi 13 was released, I was very happy because Xiaomi almost created my dream phone. It fits my hand perfectly and didn’t lose important features. Especially the screen, until the S23 was released, I thought the Xiaomi 13 was the best small size flagship in Android. I will also keep my SIM card in this phone all the time, waiting for the next phone to come along that will fascinate me so much.
