Save your cash while rocking out and get into the near premium wireless ear buds market with the new Redmi Buds 3 Pro.

Redmi Buds 3 Pro, made by Xiaomi, come in at just over a hundred bucks and, for the most part, have the same features as more expensive brands.

Connecting to either Android or iOS (Apple) via Bluetooth, you can also have the Redmi Buds 3 Pro connected to a secondary device – so there’s no need to unpair with a phone if you want to connect to a laptop or tablet.

Wirelessly chargeable with the teeny carry / charge case you’ll get 28 hours of life on the go.

The wireless buds themselves will stream you audio, take handsfree calls for up to 6 hours on full. That’s pretty good going given their price tag.

During my time with them I’ve had some days that have fallen short (around 4 hours) to exceeding expectations (8.5 hours).

Given the spectrum of difference I can only put it down to using the buds for differing tasks drains quicker. During the time that I had lesser length of life I had taken a lot of calls and been in a virtual presentation. Whereas for the most part, the buds were used for streaming Spotify and Disney+.

For clarity, definition and focus each Redmi Buds 3 Pro ear bud has a super generous three mics.

Xiaomi didn’t stop there either, they have taken Noise Cancellation up several notches with the use of A.I. which will intelligently adapt to the environment to decrease the background noise.

Simply put, in a noisy place, the Redmi Buds 3 Pro will tune it out and tune you in to your audio.

Audio is powered by 9mm drivers – but here you’ll find their weakness.

While the quality is great, it is lacking any rumble. There just isn’t any low tones or bass.

If you’re someone who doesn’t like your ear canal to vibrate to the beat, shouldn’t worry you.

You have your usual options of touch control. Play, pause, skip, answer and end calls on the side of the bud. I’ll also mention how insanely light and comfortable they are to wear. So much so that you’ll forget you even have them in. I did, more than once.

But hey, they’re waterproof so it’s kinda okay if you go in the shower with them… just don’t submerse in any water though.

As mentioned, the buds can be charged wirelessly on almost any wireless charger – but expect a hefty wait time if your case and ear buds within are dead flat. 3 hours.

And this is actually correct. Usually when reviewing I’ll find variances to the manufacturer’s claim (as I did in this review on the session life span of the buds). But not on charge time. Letting the buds go dead flat and the case, on a wireless charge it was 3.5 hours.

Cabled is a wee bit quicker, but not by much, so I’d put this to 3 hours or slightly under.

Coming in two colours, Glacier Grey and or Graphite Black, the Redmi Buds Pro 3 are an excellent investment though, either as an entry point to wireless buds or as a secondary pair. While they do lack a wee bit on a full audio experience, they most definitely have the goods when it comes to full immersion.

The post Xiaomi Redmi Buds 3 Pro Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

My, that’s a big lens you have… All the better to take Ultra FHD snaps with.

Xiaomi have unleashed their 5G Mi 11 series of smartphones with powerhouse cameras built-in. The series has three variants, mid range Mi 11, top level Mi 11 Pro and the flagship Mi 11 Ultra.

We received the mid range Mi 11 to give it a once over.

Built on Android 11 the specs of the lower cost Mi 11 are a mix of high and mid.

Multitasking and mobile gaming chugs along nicely with the Snapdragon 888 5G processor optimized for both performance, battery consumption and of course 5G.

The 8GB RAM, while now considered to be at the lowly end of specs doesn’t seem to hamper what the Mi 11 is capable of.

Enough storage for most, 256GB internal but if you’re still wielding a microSD card for all of your digital hoarding you’re going to caught short on the Mi 11. There’s no external storage expansion.

Now for that very large lens and it’s accompanying cameras.

Prominent in the rear camera array is a 108 MP (wide). Alongside this is a 13 MP (ultrawide) and a
5 MP (macro) with 30x digital zoom.

The Mi 11 is built for mobile photographers, vloggers and content creators.

Of the varying Xiaomi modes there’s Vlog.

On offer is a series of pre-built vlogger templates, complete with backing music. The Vlog templates are a consistent single shoot of multi-shot short burst videos within a timeline. Thus making super professional short play vlogger video.

Again for those superstar vloggers, Dual Video is another mode where the rear and front cameras are used simultaneously splitting the screen in half, so you can narrate what you’re shooting in person.

Their Night mode almost seemed superfluous – taking a shot in a pitch black environment with or without Night mode didn’t see a whole lot of difference.

Astrological snappers also have a mode; Supermoon. As you’ve likely guessed it takes a super close up of our interstellar friend.

Being in New Zealand, infamously known as the land of the long white cloud meant cloudy, rainy nights every night that I had the Xiaomi Mi 11, so was unable to test this feature.

If you’re just going to use the Mi 11 for general photos and have no desire to be a content creator or vlogger, this handset has you sorted there too.

With bokeh effects your pics are going to be top shelf.

Then there’s the Ultra 108MP mode. This primarily where the larger lens comes in and as you probably already guessed, it’s ultra high fidelity shots.

The front camera comes in at a generous 20MP and this seems to be able to keep up the quality on par with native shots from the rear lens.

The AMOLED 6.8 curved screen has been given the bells and whistles treatment too.

A 120Hz refresh rate, excellent for mobile gaming or media streaming. And gaming I did try.

Call of Duty Mobile, Fortnite and PUBG are my general go to’s. Neither a graphical lag or device heating was experienced. Bare in mind that this is the lower version of Xiaomi’s M11 series.

Finally battery life.

The Mi 11 comes with a 4600 mAh battery that I got up to 3 days of everyday usage from, from full charge.

Gaming chipped that a bit, Call of Duty Mobile being the worst offender where after a two hour play 15% of a full charge was gobbled.

Xiaomi haven’t just provided a smartphone that’s going to last the distance, the Mi 11 can also be wirelessly charged and features both quick and reverse charge.

For what would otherwise be coined as a mid-range phone the Mi 11 redefines that category on several levels. It has created a new normal for the middle range smartphone.

Ultimately targeted for content creators the Mi 11 doesn’t exclude the average smartphone user out either.

Xiaomi’s Mi 11 leaves some of the more pricier flagship smartphones in the dust.

It exceeded my expectations and then some.

The post Xiaomi Mi 11 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Jumping on the 5G wagon is no longer going to cost you the equivalent of a small nations gross economy with Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 9T 5G.

The all-screen 6.5 inch LCD display weighs in at 1080 x 2340 pixels. It’s bright, vibrant and super responsive.

Powering the Redmi Note 9T 5G is a medium level Octa-Core Max crunching the numbers at 2.4GHz. For the multi-taskers or light mobile gamers out there the 4GB RAM (memory) should see you right.

True, compared to higher brands, this is on the low side, but the Redmi Note 9T 5G is not Xiaomi’s flagship device, it is their more affordable solution for 5G networks.

Camera smarts are impressive.

The rear triple camera housing comprises of 48MP main wide, 2MP macro and 2MP depth lenses.

Snapping pics you can opt to use 48MP mode or standard. Xiaomi have also included some fun stuff, especially for Vloggers.

Short burst video or short video with Vlogger templates with visual camera effects. I had a good play with these and can see mobile videographers that just want to point and shoot without a high price tag getting a Redmi Note 9T 5G just for these enhancements.

The Redmi Note 9T 5G will record video at 4K 1080p both 30 and 60fps.

The selfie camera is not to be sniffed at either at 13MP.

Xiaomi have pulled a whopping punch against their market competitors with the Redmi Note 9T 5G for what it can do at it’s pricing tier of being under $400 NZD.

Looking sharp with a coloured textured backing the Redmi Note 9T 5G has one more killer feature – the 5,000 mAh battery with quick charge feature.

Recording video or playing light mobile games for up to an hour hardly puts a dent on the battery at full charge.

For light to moderate use you’re likely to get up to two full days use from full to empty.

The Redmi Note 9T 5G runs Android 10 and Xiaomi have held back from over-doing the reskin of Android or adding bloatware.

Usually I use a flagship high spec’d smartphone on a daily basis. Having been using the Redmi Note 9T 5G for over a week fulltime there I found that the phone runs real smooth, no lag and handles 5G speeds like a pro.

If you’re keen to grasp the future of mobile network with 5G and do not need a super-computer of a smartdevice to get you through your connected life the Redmi Note 9T 5G is the one.

The post Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T 5G Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.