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These are the latest phones from Xiaomi's TS series, the 17T and the 17T Pro. And for the last week or so, the 17T Pro has been in my pocket for pretty much everything. The regular 17T was not far away from being the phone that was in my pocket, though. But the reason it lost out was because of this deep blue color. I mean, come on. I can't tell you how much I love that. Both these phones are definitely pushing flagship territory. But the more that I use the 17T Pro, the more I started thinking that you might be better off getting the 17T Pro rather than the 17 Ultra. And it might sound silly, but just hear me out.
I'm going to start with photos and cameras because I have really enjoyed what this lens can capture. It has the Leica branding which we've seen on other Xiaomi phones, and in turn, it then gives you those colors of vibrant and authentic. And there is just something that I love about the authentic look on this. The big standout on the 17T and the 17T Pro though is that they both share the same five times telephoto lens. No matter which of these phones that you pick up. Hello, edit Paul here. Just a quick one. So, when I was looking back at the photos taken on the five times lens on both these phones, I actually thought that first of all, they were exactly the same. However, even
though it is the same hardware, you can see that the processing is just a little bit different and I prefer the photos coming from the 17T Pro. So, just wanted to add that one in there before you see the samples. Also, I'm recording this on the Xiaomi 17T Pro, so you can let me know uh what it sounds like and looks like. So, back to the video. I'm a big fan of this because you don't usually see the same five times telephoto lens on a base model and a pro phone. So, this is really nice from Xiaomi. I think the photos you can get on the five times lens are great on either phone. And for some casual point- and-in shoots, I think these genuinely look quite good. If you know me by now, you know I love a
five times telephoto. And this is why I'm a big fan of these phones. They don't just share that five times 50 megapixel lens. They also share the same 12ap f/2.2 ultrawide. And it's not the best. It's not terrible by any means, but I would say it's a little weak. This is okay in daylight and it can definitely give you some shots that are more than usable. There is some distortion at the edge of the images and you kind of expect that. you just get a bit of a soft look, which I don't mind too much, but the details, they're just not as strong as I'd like them to be. When you take this lens into nighttime, that's when you can see where they both struggle. It's not a great photo. Not
really. Then you move to the main camera and they both have 50 megapixel sensors. However, there is a slight difference. So, the Pro has an f1.67 aperture, so you get a little bit more light on that compared to the regular's f1.7. And you might not think that's a big change, but the Pro also has a larger Light Fusion 950 sensor at 1 over 1.3 in, while the regular 17T uses the Light Fusion 800 at 1 over 1.55 in. So on paper, the Pro should have the edge for low light and dynamic range and details from that main camera. And I think you can tell the difference is not huge, but it is there. You get a pretty nice image out of both of them. But you have a look at them a little bit more and you can
see that the details are missing a little bit on the regular and they're fine on the Pro and I'd say they're still weaker than the Xiaomi 17 and of course the Ultra. The 17T Pro is only worse when you start comparing it to 17 Ultra. So I'm going to show you some pictures side by side and I want to see whether you can guess which one is the 17 Ultra and which one is the 17T Pro. I mentioned the Leica styles before and I'm obsessed with these at the moment because they look great and I'm not sure if they're film simulations or if they just add a filter on top of the photo, but I like this because you don't have to go into any editing. And the 17 Ultra and the 17T series have these styles.
Having had a minute to look through these photos, I don't know whether you all guessed this, but I thought it was quite hard to tell that the Ultra phone was on the right. For most people, what you can get out the 17T Pro and the regular to some extent is more than enough, especially if you don't care about having the best camera in a phone, but you still want 90% of that experience. And that's what you're going to get on the 17T Pro. What about the rest of these phones, though? And they're actually packing a punch. Maybe most impressively here is the battery. The regular 17T has a 6,500 mAh battery, which on its own is massive. It's larger than the Pixel 10 Pro XL, the S26 Ultra, and even the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. The 17T
Pro though pushes it just a little bit further. And inside this one, you're going to get a 7,000 mAh battery. So, these things are beasts when it comes to battery. And on the 17T Pro, this battery does not die. And this might be another reason why the T series is actually a good shout over the Ultra, because on the 17 Ultra, I found the battery to be okay. It's 6,000 milliamp hours, but if you push it, you are going to get to the end of the day and have to charge it. Whereas on that 17T Pro, honestly, like this thing just goes and goes. Even with its 6.7 in display on the Pro, I've left this on gaming for a few hours and I can't get close to that 20%. So, it's very impressive. The more I was using the Pro
version of this, the more I kept thinking of the fact that this just really reminds me of a Pixel 10 Pro XL. And the one thing that I think makes it stand out above a Pixel 10 Pro XL besides the specs is that display. Like it's lovely. And look at those bezels. Like they are so thin and nice. And this is what a Pixel should be. But the other reason that I love this display is that it goes down to one nit. So at night it's like a dream. The 17T has pretty much the same display as the Pro, just a little smaller at 6.5 in. So it's a little bit easier to hold. And this one only goes to 120 Hz, while the Pro in some scenarios can hit 144 hertz. But besides that, it's very similar. I have
a complaint though about both these phones, and the speakers on these I don't think are great. They sound very flat, and I keep blocking the single speaker with my finger, so it's annoying. The other complaint is HyperOS. While I'm still trying to get on board with it, it's not my favorite take on Android. Both these phones also have an optical fingerprint reader, which is fine, but I do wish that the ultrasonic one was added into the Pro at least. Of course, as you get a regular and a Pro, they're both powered by slightly different chips. The 17T is the MediaTek Dimensity 8500, and the Pro is giving more flagship vibes though with the MediaTek Dimensity 9500. The Pro also can do a few things that the Ultra
can do. It can record in 8K. It shares the same 4K 120 fps. The Pro also has UFS 4.1 storage, which is exactly what the 17 Ultra has. Besides the Pro name, this is giving you a quite ultra experience. You can compare this 17 Pro to other Pro phones like the Pixel 10 Pro, and I actually don't even think it comes close. I think this is closer to the S26 Ultra than it is to most other Pro phones. And there is something that these phones can do which I've not really seen on any other phones before. You can make calls directly to your Xiaomi phone without any Wi-Fi or signal. This has been around before, but I've not really seen it outside of China. But if two Xiaomi phones have a
SIM are signed into a Xiaomi account, they can make calls while being offline. When you look at these phones, both the 17T and the 17T Pro are very good phones depending on how they're priced because at the moment I'm recording this video and Xiaomi hasn't told me that yet. If it's around the same £549 for the regular and £649 for the Pro as last year, then these are quite well priced. But if they're much more expensive, then I'm not too sure. And let me say this again one more time for the people right at the back. The 17T Pro here is such an ultra experience without the Ultra name. There might be an argument from a few people out there that the regular Xiaomi 17 is better because it has the Snapdragon 8 Elite
Gen 5, but with the 17T Pro, it feels like an Ultra at a price that isn't an Ultra. Let's say that you're not considering the Ultra at all and you've been convinced that the 17T and the 17T Pro are enough. I would still go for the Pro. These phones are mostly similar, but the Pro, remember, has a faster, more powerful chip. The battery is just a little bit bigger and Xiaomi told me it gets five generations of Android updates compared to the four of the regular. Let me know what you think of the T series in the comments though. And can I just again show you this color? Uh I love this deep blue color. I think it might be actually the color of the year. But before you head off, if you can
subscribe to the channel, then I would massively appreciate it. Thank you very much. And if you do that, then I'll see you in the next one.
