A little more than a hundred years ago, Leica Camera, a German brand, attempted its first 35 mm film prototype. Fast forward to now, and you can have the iconic photography brand’s lenses and visual aesthetic in your smartphone, especially if you’re considering the Xiaomi 14 CIVI.
Design
Visually, there isn’t much difference between the Xiaomi 14 and the Xiaomi 14 CIVI. The camera island is circular compared to the rounded rectangle in the Xiaomi 14. It’s also marginally lighter ( 10 grams), taller, and slimmer than the Xiaomi 14. You get three colour options and finishes: Cruise Blue, Matcha Green, and Shadow Black. I’ve got the black variant for review, and it looks fairly minimal, with a smooth matte finish on the back.
There’s a 6.55-inch AMOLED display protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2. I’m not going into great detail about the display and multimedia experience as it’s not vastly different from the Xiaomi 14 experience.
Camera
The main starrer of the Xiaomi 14 CIVI is the photography experience enabled by the exclusive Leica Summilux lens. The primary camera setup includes a 50 MP Light Hunter 800 primary sensor with OIS. It’s supported by a fairly competent 12 MP ultra-wide camera which offers a 120-degree field of view and a 50 MP 2x telephoto camera.
One of the more dramatic shots a colleague captured on the Xiaomi 14 CIVI was an ultrawide shot of a gloomy, overcast evening with the exposure turned down just a notch. In daylight, too, the camera delivers some sharp, vivid results. The camera app has the option of toggling through the Leica Vibrant and Leica Authentic styles . Leica Authentic stays true to the original colour tones of the subject captures, at times imparting just a bit of warmth to add some character to the photos. In certain situations, the Leica Vibrant mode makes the frame look washed out in terms of vibrancy and details. For example, a photo taken in an accessory store with colourful objects on the shelves and lots of indoor lighting overhead made the frame look a little washed out in this mode but not in the Authentic mode.
In daylight and non-crowded frames, both deliver slightly different but mostly pleasing snaps.
The portraits I took were quite lovely, too. It might not capture skin texture as accurately as the Google Pixel 8a, but the slightly glossed-over result (even with the filters off) also looks aesthetically pleasing. The bokeh effect in portraits can be adjusted post-capture as well.
The front camera is a rare-to-find “dual selfie” 32MP ultra-wide and wide-angle camera. It’s been designed to facilitate better group selfies and is equipped with a special AI Group Selfie Mode. Both the front and rear cameras are very accurate with skin tones, with ample filters and effects to play around with. There’s the amusing and effective Pocket Mirror feature, too, if you need a quick makeup check on the go.
Tech Specs
The smartphone runs on the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, which powers the likes of Motorola Edge 50 Ultra and Nothing Phone (3). The review unit I used has 12 GB RAM and 512 GB storage.
Multitasking was smooth for the most part during casual gaming, checking emails, listening to Spotify, and taking photos and videos.
There’s the hyped-up new HyperOS, based on Android 14, which offers some really interesting features. I loved the back tap gestures, which let me toggle through silent mode with a two-tap on the rear panel and launch Google Assistant when I tap thrice. You can customise it to other preset functions if you’d like. There’s a handy sidebar feature if you switch apps a lot, in addition to floating windows with compatible apps, which can be moved around and resized or hidden. A section under ‘Settings’ that encourages new users to check out the special features would be a great addition to an OS with more to offer than meets the eye at first.
Battery
The Xiaomi 14 CIVI is powered by a 4,700mAh battery, which kept me company through a working day without about 20-30 percent still left at the end of the day. My usage was moderate, as described earlier. With the 67W turbocharger, the smartphone takes a less than an hour to fully charge.
Verdict
For those not willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for flagship camera chops, the Xiaomi 14 CIVI is a good option. The LEICA lens and filters really do make the photographs and videos stand out, creating a unique aesthetic
Price - ₹42,999
Pros - Really good camera, unique LEICA-tuned photography aesthetics, decent battery life
Cons - Bloatware, incessant notifications at times
Published on June 20, 2024