Practically every flagship phone can take a great picture. But that did not prevent Xiaomi from continuing its cooperation with legendary camera manufacturer Leica to come up with a photo powerhouse on the new Xiaomi 15 Ultra.
Enabled by a snapdragon 8 elite chip with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, it goes without saying that the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has top-notch specs. It also has a large 6,000 mAh batteries, which is bigger than anything you get from Apple, Google or Samsung. Meanwhile, when it comes to charging, wired speeds climb 90 watts or just slow down 80 wireless wireless, meaningless. And unlike most phones sold in the US, it has a power adapter in the box.
Everywhere, 15 Ultra sports a gorgeous 6.7-inches amoled display with 1-120hz refresh rate and up to 3,200 nits of luster. It is also available in three colorways: a white model with an etched back, black with almost rubber-textured finish and a special silver chrome edition that draws inspiration from some of Leica's old-school camera. I appreciate that the white model I tried to feature gentle swerves carved behind it shine in sunlight. But let's be honest, that the two-ton metal and black are easy to make the bunch most attractive because it really depends on the best of this phone.
In the back, there is a massive circular camera module that I usually don't have a big fan when used on rival devices such as OnePlus 13. However, in this device, it is more than a showpiece because in it is some serious photo hardware. The equivalent Ultra 15's main camera uses a massive 1-inch 50-megapixel Sony sensor. Then, for things like wide landscapes, there is an F/2.2 50-mp ultrawide cam. But it doesn't stop there because there is no one but two zoom lens: a 50mp midrange shooter with a 70mm focal length along with a super high-res 200MP periscope array with 100mm focal length (equivalent to a 4.7x optical zoom).
Now, I haven't had a ton of time to fully put it on its paces, but from what I have seen to this day, Xiaomi Ultra 15 has one of the most rounded photo toolkits around. It gets Leica optics with large sensors and lenses covering almost all the length of the focal you will need on a day -to -day basis. And on the side of the software, there are some Leica's preset filters such as vigorously or really really drive home the cooperation between the two brands.
That said, one of the things that most impressed with me was that Xiaomi also created a separate photograph kit with an add-on camera grip with a physical shutter button, an adjusted dial and a dedicated video button. There is also a case that gives you to attach a standard 67mm filter adapter. This means that, thinking you have the right gear, you can take the same glasses you use on your real camera and use it with Ultra 15. And it's not just a few half-hearted thoughts, because the kit also has bonuses such as a hand strap, a decorative lens ring and two different removable caps for its shutter.
Notably, unlike some Chinese phones like from Huawei, Xiaomi handsets still have access to Google services, so you can download apps from the Play Store. Even the company's hyperos 2 is a relatively minimalist Android skin that looks good and easy to use. And while this model is available worldwide starting around € 850, it's sad that there are no official plans to bring it to the US, which is a real shame because no one really sells handsets like this in America. (RIP in Panasonic Lumix DMC-CM1.)
This article originally appeared at the Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-xiaomi- 15-hura-an-a-lega–power
