So I finally got it! Xiaomi 15 Ultra.
Really going to miss my Note 20 Ultra that served me a solid 5 years.
From using it flying around in the outback heat, to the salts of Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays…to dropping it riding a scooter in Broome on the road at 60km/hr, narrowly missing other cars about to drive over it. I’m going to miss the bigger screen and the S-Pen. The 15 ultra is already feeling a bit too small for me lol!
The thing served me well…but it’s started to show its age with random issues like people not hearing me properly on the other side of the phone.
If it weren’t for those issues…I’d keep using it.
My shortlist:
1) Xiaomi 15 Ultra
2) Vivo X200 Pro Global
3) Samsung S25 Ultra.
Why I didn’t choose the S25 Ultra: Samsung ditched the MicroSD card…it made me want the Samsung less just because of this. I HATE cloud storage and I’ve always preferred physical storage. I’m happy to fork out a lot of money for the fastest MicroSD on the market. I wish I still had that option.
Also the ditching of the other functions of the S-Pen…I loved using it as a remote for the camera!
The camera isn’t really the best. (I’ve always liked having camera phones. I had the Nokia 9 PureView in the past, Lumia 950XL, Lumia 925 and HTC 7 Trophy in the past.
Why I didn’t choose the X200 Pro: I was SO CLOSE to getting this phone because I think it does have a better camera than the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. But…1) I wanted a 1TB phone. 2) I will be using my phone in the most rural areas of the world. I need as much possible bands on my phone. The Vivo was too limited with its available bans.
I’m one of those people that just can’t afford to buy a brand new phone every year or every two years. I prefer to buy a flagship and use it for AT LEAST 5 years.
Let’s see how this thing goes.
Welcome to the club. I was also close to getting Vivilo x200 Pro. Somehow I didn’t and got the 15U but I also had the S25U which is now with a family member.
I would say that this phone is better than S25U in some aspects such as camera and battery usage/SOT but not as good in some respects such as UI customisation. But overall whilst I prefer this phone, I do miss the S-Pen especially the translate feature where I can translate from any app. Very useful to help me with shopping from Taobao. If anyone knows how to do this with Xiaomi please let me know.
It’s the best thing you could have done! I have it and it is a total marvel! Especially their cameras
That was also my desicion – Samsung was perhaps a bit average/boring. I like the design and the great camera on the 15U. As the camera grip was included I bought it. Switched from an 6yo Huawei P30 pro – after 1 months settling in I really like the Xiaomi. I also plan to keep it min. five years thats why I aim at flagship phones.
I never had a pen that I would miss but I get you – problem is that the S25U has no remote feature on the S-pen.
I like the red Leica Sticker – is it out of the box?
Let’s see how it goes. I’m VERY fussy. I’ll let everyone know as soon as I find problems 🤣
Yeah, one thing I loved about the Note 20 Ultra aside from the MicroSD card was the reliability. My Nokia 9 PureView had an AMAZING camera but unfortunately it was extremely unreliable.
Leica sticker was one that has been laying around for a while so I decided to just stick it on this phone. Makes it look more like a Leica camera lol!
Mine doesn’t have that leica sticker
XM 15U is quite a jump from my previous P7P.
The large camera module chugs battery juice a fair bit, and intense shooting heats the phone up quite abit more.
Apart from that it is a really competent photography focused phone.
Enjoy!