"You can even see inside the Ferris wheel? It could catch cheating couples."
Sitting at a cafe in front of Songdo Beach in Busan with my girlfriend, I casually took a photo out the window using the 'Xiaomi 17T'. Using the 120x zoom feature with AI processing and digital enlargement to zoom in on the Ferris wheel that looked like a dot, the silhouettes of people inside became faintly visible.
The Xiaomi 17T is Xiaomi's sub-flagship smartphone. As a brand known for cost-performance, its starting price is 799,800 won based on 256GB (gigabytes) of storage, which is about 200,000 won cheaper than other sub-flagship smartphones like Samsung Electronics' 'S26 FE' (1,045,000 won) and Apple's 'iPhone 17e' (990,000 won).
The Xiaomi 17T is equipped with a triple-camera system jointly developed with the German camera brand Leica. The rear features a △50-megapixel main camera, △50-megapixel 5x telephoto camera, and △12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. This is the first time a Leica 5x telephoto lens has been applied to the mid-to-low-priced 'T series'. It also supports up to 120x AI Ultra Zoom.
The Xiaomi 17T offers two modes: 'Leica Authentic' and 'Leica Vibrant'. Authentic is a mode that produces calm photos by restraining saturation, allowing for vintage-style images. In contrast, Vibrant's strength lies in vivid colors, making it suitable for capturing natural landscapes on sunny days.
Portrait mode offers various beautification functions including △softness △tone △contour △makeup △slim △head size △hair △big eyes △nose △hairline △teeth, etc. Users can select values between 1 and 100. In particular, the teeth whitening function was impressive, making teeth in selfies (self-camera) appear as white as if they were laminated. There are also 13 diverse filters to adjust photo tones.
The battery is 6500mAh, which is more generous than the S26 FE (4900mAh) or iPhone 17e (4005mAh). In real-world use based on Navy Headquarters results, it lasted over a day for tasks like exchanging messages and taking photos while traveling. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes to fully charge from 0% to 100%.
After using the Xiaomi 17T for a month, it was clearly a smartphone with strengths in its camera. While not at a level that can replace professional cameras, it is sufficient as an alternative for beginners who find the high price of pro cameras burdensome or who want to take up photography as a hobby.
in TECH
