Site icon Technophile

Xiaomi 14T Series Marks an EPIC COMEBACK for Leica!

TechnophilePH

The phones are priced reasonably too!

It’s been a year since the last Xiaomi T series, so it’s now appropriate to make a comeback. Yep, exactly a year since the release of the 13T comes its successor, again with Leica-engineered cameras. Also, like last year, the price is quite reasonable and the 14T Pro has a titanium build. It’s like every company is using titanium after a certain fruit popularized it.

Xiaomi released a lot of new phones yesterday. By coincidence, both its main Chinese and global operations launched events at the same time but for two different handsets. The global launch saw the release of the 14T series while the Chinese launch saw the release of the Note 14 series. We will discuss the latter in detail in a future article.

As always, it can’t be a tech event without mentioning “artificial intelligence”. Let’s face it, there’s really no such thing, and it’s more of a rebranding of already existing machine learning algorithms, if anything. “AI” is a buzzword and if it makes it easier for a brand to explain what machine learning algorithms are, then it might as well abuse the term.

Xiaomi 14T

Xiaomi makes the T series consistent by having only minimal differences between the vanilla T series and the Pro version. Typically, this involves changing the chipset and the battery size or charging rate but everything else is the same. This is important when discussing about the camera capabilities of the phone.

First things first, the display. The 14T uses a 6.7″ 1.5K OLED display with 144Hz adaptive refresh rate. It also has a high-frequency dimming of up to 3840Hz, touch response rate of 480Hz, and HDR10+ support. These are things you would expect from a flagship killer smartphone. Yes, Xiaomi labeled it as “AI display” even though there’s nothing remotely “artificially intelligent” about it.

The Xiaomi 14T, and by extension, the 14T Pro comes with a classic design that is inspired by the Xiaomi 14 flagship line. Both phones are equipped with two 50MP cameras (LEICA VARIO-SUMMILUX 1:1.7-2.2/15-50 ASPH) but the two use different sensors for their main cameras. The Xiaomi 14T uses a Sony IMX906 while the 14T Pro uses the Omnivision OV50B, referred to by the company as “Light Fusion 900”. Both phones also feature a 50MP telephoto and a 12MP ultrawide camera. The selfie camera for both phones is 32MP.

The Xiaomi 14T is available in four colours. The latter three colours include Titan Green, Titan Black, and Titan Blue. As you can tell, the phone has a metallic finish, like Titanium. Meanwhile, for those who love the soft feeling of leather, the 14T is available in Lemon Green.

Another big difference between the vanilla 14T and Pro is the chipset. It has been tradition for the T series to have the vanilla phone use a weaker chipset to distinguish it from the more expensive Pro. In this case, the 14T uses the MediaTek Dimensity 8300-Ultra. Don’t worry about the “Ultra” name, it’s just a marketing tactic for you to think it’s a more powerful version of the base Dimensity 8300. The 14T has 12GB of RAM and a choice between 256 or 512GB ROM.

As for charging, the 14T lacks the wireless charging capability that the 14T Pro has, which is why it is significantly more affordable. It does have 67W fast charging but lacks a charger. The type-C cable is still in the box. You can have the 67W charger though, in the style of a video game’s DLC, by buying it separately. It’s not going to be cheap if you’re buying the original Xiaomi charger. Thankfully, if you already own one of these charging bricks from other brands, you can use it. It won’t affect the charging time or battery health.

The phone costs PHP 25,999 (12/256) and PHP 27,999 (12/512) respectively. If you want a charger, that will be PHP 2,000 extra.

SPECS:

The phone is available now and ready for pre-ordering at Xiaomi’s official concept stores and third-party partners. Moreover, the phone is also being offered at XUNDD for the same price and extra goodies like gift bags and a vacuum cup.

XIAOMI 14T PRO:

Being the “Pro” phone, it’s appropriate to discuss whatever Xiaomi means by “AI” in this, specifically the AISP. Here’s what it is and you will be surprised: it’s just algorithms. What it does is learn the environment around you and create the best possible result after processing the image or video you just have taken. This algorithm also includes artificial noise reduction so when you vlog, only your voice can be heard and noise around you will be silenced.

We mentioned earlier that this phone is nearly identical to the 14T albeit it uses different cameras, a different chipset, has wireless charging, and has a dedicated charging chip. Not to mention, a staggeringly more expensive price tag. The phone starts at PHP 37,999 (12/256) but can go all the way to PHP 41,999 (12/1TB), which is especially useful if you’re the type of person who constantly captures photos, makes movies, and play heavy-duty games like Wuthering Waves and Genshin Impact daily. You do need a powerful phone for these two games.

The display is identical to the 14T, and so are the cameras. However, there are some minor alterations versus the 14T. For instance, the 14T Pro uses the so-called “Light Fusion 900” (Omnivision OV50B) sensor which is supposedly a lot more powerful than the Sony IMX906. Every other cameras are the same.

Speaking of powerful, the 14T Pro makes use of the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ Chipset. The “plus” designation isn’t just for show unlike the “Ultra” mentioned before. This is a beefed-up Dimensity 9300 that can compete even with next-gen flagship chips for around four years. This is important because the phone can give you guaranteed updates for the same period.

The 14T pro has 50W fast wireless charging and 120W fast wired charging. The 14T Pro also has a dedicated charging chip called the T1 Tuner that monitors your phone activity to further optimize battery life. Like the 14T, the Type-C charger is present but not the charging brick. You want one? Spend a bit more.

Finally, the phone has a stereo speaker system with Hi-Res Audio, Bluetooth 5.4, IP68 water/dust resistance, 5G services, and in-display fingerprint sensor. There are only three colours now, again flaunting a metallic back made of Titanium because a certain fruity phone did so. These include Titan Gold, Blue, and Black.

SPECS:

The phone is available for pre-ordering now at Xiaomi’s concept stores and online. You might get yourself a FREE charger and other goodies if you pre-order now. You can pre-order until October 3 and the goodies you get are what we call “photographer’s basics” which also includes a small tripod.

The 12/256 version of the 14T Pro is exclusively available online-only.

Exit mobile version