I've been using this perfect yet forgotten Android phone for over 6 years — I'm still waiting for a mid-range mobile that comes anywhere close

When the phone release schedule is quiet, and I'm not drop testing the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra or falling in love with budget phones I can't even buy, I need a daily driver just like anybody else.

I recently realized with a start that my fallback handset is over six years old.

The phone in question is the Xiaomi Mi Note 10, which was released at the end of 2019. This was before Xiaomi phones were pretty easy to buy in the US, but in the UK, it cost roughly $530, so it was a solid mid-range phone.

I liked this Android phone so much that, in 2022, I bought another version, after having returned the review unit I'd first tested.

It cost only $260 then, and the purchase marked the only time I ever bought a phone for myself since becoming a mobile tester.

Over six years later, I keep coming back to the Mi Note 10, even though I have other test units I could use as my daily driver.

When I realized how long I'd been loyal to this mobile, I felt I needed to reflect on why no handset since then has come even close.

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Posts 34
By  Jon Gilbert

A moderate premium phone

Small in stature, big on style

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 came out before giant phones were the standard, and with a 6.47-inch display, it's a little smaller than anything I've tested recently.

I consider this a Goldilocks size of handset, and I wish we saw more mobiles released in this moderate size.

Despite being a relatively affordable phone, the Mi Note 10 has a few premium design traits that have become all too rare in modern mobiles.

The curved-edge display combines with the smaller size to make the handset feel wonderful to hold, while the glass and metal sandwich gives the Note 10 a refined look.

On the side, the buttons stick out prominently, nothing like modern Androids, which have flattened them as much as possible, and it makes them much easier to press quickly.

There's one extra design addition, which I appreciate so much, I've dedicated a whole separate section to it.

I'm one of many tech reviewers who complain about how boring smartphones look nowadays, with boxy flat-edge chocolate bars in an array of dull colors.

Compared to that, the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 feels like a breath of fresh air, and I love returning to it after testing yet another generic Android.

An accomplished camera collection

Two zoom cameras and more

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 had a claim to fame, the importance of which has been a little lost to history.

It was the first-ever smartphone to use a 108MP camera, leading the charge that countless Androids followed, until 50MP snappers became all the rage.

For a while, it was the only way you could capture super high-res photos from a pocket device — and, now that most mobiles are back to 50MP, it once again gets this unique claim.

That may not sound too useful to most people, but I do most of my review photography with other phones, so being able to take high-res pictures is useful.

Plenty of pixels wasn't the only impressive camera on the phone.

It had five rear cameras, something unheard of in affordable phones. That included the main camera, a useless 2MP macro one, a 20MP ultra-wide, and two telephotos: one 12MP one for 2x optical zoom, and one 8MP one for 3.7x optical zoom.

That's loads more versatility than you'd get from any other Android phone at the time, and would nowadays too. In 2026, you're still hard-pressed to find an affordable mobile with anything but a main and ultra-wide snapper.

I love being able to go on a day trip or holiday with a phone like this, as I know it'll offer me a greater array of options for capturing a scene than anything nowadays. Only a Samsung Ultra phone comes close.

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It'd be impossible to pretend that the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 could compete with most modern mobiles in terms of pure photography potential.

Its picture optimization is six years behind, and a small sensor size means images easily become grainy and noisy.

My mistreatment of the phone may not help in that front either. People checking out the pictures in this article will have noticed that the years haven't been good to it (and neither have I). But that's a reflection of my refusal to use a case, not the phone itself.

A headphone jack

Immediately better than 99% of modern phones

I'm one of those wired audio losers who still complains about the removal of the headphone jack, many years after most companies ditched them. What can I say, I like having a port dedicated to improving audio quality.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 has such a port, meaning it retains a place in my pocket as a digital audio player. I can fill it with lossless tunes, plug in my headphones, and enjoy them without messing around with adaptors.

Even when the Mi Note 10 came out, this kind of feature was rare, and it's only grown less common over time.

That's not to say it's gone completely, and I recently complimented the Sony Xperia 1 VIII for keeping it around. But why buy a new flagship when the $260 I spent years ago is still paying dividends?