10 best bullet hell games and shoot ’em ups for Android https://ift.tt/3eb2DJr

Bullet hell games are a unique subgenre in gaming. The genre made a minor return to the mainstream with the release of NieR:Automata and its impressively fun bullet hell sequences. It takes the fun of a shooting and reverses it on the player. There are still shooting mechanics. However, the point is to dodge bullets flying at you as well as shoot bad guys. Thus, it’s somewhat different from your average shooting games.

Another name for the bullet hell genre is shoot ’em up (or shmup, for short), manic shooter, Danmaku (literally, bullet curtain), and STG (Japanese abbreviation for shooting games). It’s a prominent mechanic in top-down aerial shooters and some action games. It turns out, there’s a decent, if somewhat small, selection of bullet hells on Android. Here are the best mobile bullet hell games we could find.

1. ⑨弾幕
2. AirAttack 2
3. Bullet Hell Monday series (and .Decluster Zero)
4. Guardian Girls
5. Mathmare

6. ShooMachi
7. Squadron
8. Sky Force Reloaded
9. Touhou Thousand Night Anamnesis
10. AKA TO BLUE and Danmaku Unlimited 2

Read more here:

• 15 best shooting games for Android
• 10 best FPS games for Android

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⑨弾幕

Price: Free (with ads)

⑨弾幕 is a rare, free shoot em up game with plenty going for it. It has the utter chaos usually associated with the genre along with colorful retro graphics and plenty of challenge. It’s a riff off of Touhou, a classic bullet hell game from the late 1990’s and that’s not the last time we’ll use that name in this article. In any case, this is a good, basic shoot ’em up and it’s entirely free with no in-app purchases.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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AirAttack 2

Price: Free

AirAttack 2 is a World War II era aerial shooter. The game contains 22 campaign missions, a survival mission, surprisingly good looking 3D graphics, and five planes to play with. Some other game features include Android TV support along with external game pad support and you can play offline. The game play is good for the genre. Additionally, the controls are simple to learn. This one may bog down some midrange and lower end devices, but otherwise it’s quite good.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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Bullet Hell Monday series

Price: Free / Up to $4.99 each

Bullet Hell Monday is arguably the top game in the genre right now. There are three games in the series, including the original Bullet Hell Monday, Bullet Hell Monday Black, and Bullet Hell Monday Finale. The games all have retro style graphics with outrageously colorful and bright graphics with tons of bullet hell action. Each game has various chapters to play through, various upgrades to unlock, and simple controls. The developer also does .Decluster Zero, another outstanding shoot ’em up. All four games by this developer are outstanding, actually.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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Guardian Girls

Price: Free / Up to $6.99

Guardian Girls is a decent shoot ’em up with colorful graphics and anime-inspired characters. The game includes a story mode that isn’t for everyone but at least it’s there along with the usual series of things like boss fights, colorful battles, and simple controls. You get a boss fight every ten levels. The game play is relatively smooth. Additionally, the game has a strong sound track and it’s friendly for beginners. It’s not the most popular, but that’s okay.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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Mathmare

Price: Free / Up to $2.49

Mathmare is a minimal style shmup without any actual shooting. Players dodge the game’s various shooting patterns in order to proceed to the next level. This effectively cuts the amount of game play elements in half, but it’s a neat premise overall. Experienced players in the genre may find this game kind of easy. Those newer to the genre will likely enjoy it way more. This is a great way to introduce yourself to the bullet curtain aspect of the genre. The game also runs pretty well on all of our test devices.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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More:

• 15 best strategy games for Android
• 15 best Android games, ever!

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ShooMachi

Price: Free to play

ShooMachi is a reasonably decent bullet hell game. It’s a vertical shooter that takes place on the ground rather than in the sky. The mechanics are largely the same, though. You dodge bullets as you take down bad guys, upgrade your weapons and armor as you progress, and continue playing to unlock more stuff. The game also includes a couple of difficulty modes, various power ups and boosts, and more. Those who donate to the developer can remove ads permanently and get unlimited XP potions for quicker level ups. The only real issue is the game can get repetitive after a while and the game could use some new and more diverse levels.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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Squadron

Price: Free (with ads)

Squadron is another one of the better free bullet hell games on mobile. The game play is a little bit slower than you would typically see, but it’s smooth and otherwise enjoyable. The longer the game goes, the tougher it gets. You can also upgrade your ship as you progress. It’s not the deepest game in the genre and there are 30 levels overall. However, it’s tough to complain because the game is entirely free to play with no in-app purchases or ads.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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Sky Force Reloaded

Price: Free to play

Sky Force is one of the most popular aerial shooters on mobile. Sky Force Reloaded is the latest in the series and it’s pretty good. Players complete levels, upgrade their ships, and continue progressing in that manner. The graphics are colorful and excellent comparatively speaking. There are also nine ships to play with, bonus cards to deliver permanent buffs, and a few difficulty modes so you can play at your own pace. It’s free to play with some microtransactions, but the in-app purchases are rather tame and don’t affect game play all that much.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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Touhou Thousand Night Anamnesis

Price: Free

Touhou Thousand Night Anamnesis is another game made in the Touhou style, but is not an official Touhou game. The game includes tons upon tons of bullets to dodge, boss rushes, and 12 total stages to play through. Players can select difficulty for an easier or tougher experience comparatively. Most reviews agree that this is about as close to an official Touhou game that you can get on Android so those who want to see the genre’s roots should definitely try this one out. It’s also free to play with no microtransactions.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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AKA TO BLUE and Danmaku Unlimited 2

Price: $8.99 and $3.49, respectively

AKA TO BLUE and Danmaku Unlimited 2 are two older games in the genre that are both still really good. AKA TO BLUE has a 90’s arcade quality to it in terms of both game play and graphics. It also includes an actual voice cast, beginner-friendly features like auto-bombs, and a few other fun things. Danmaku Unlimited 2 is a bit more traditional and difficult. It includes four difficulty levels, a couple of different game modes, and graphical settings for lower end devices. Both games saw their last updates in 2017 so we don’t think the developers actively support either game right now. That makes it difficult to recommend since they are premium games (neither with in-app purchases, by the way). Still, both worked rather well on our test devices. AKA TO BLUE is available at the button below and Danmaku Unlimited 2 is available here.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY!

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Thank you for reading! Check these out too:

• 15 best arcade games for Android
• 15 best action games for Android

If we missed any great bullet hell games on Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists!

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The state of 5G: Hype versus reality two years later https://ift.tt/2Fx8f4h

5G networks have been up and running around the world since early 2019, at least in some markets. The rollout so far is touted to be much faster than 4G LTE, with broader coverage, a wide range of carriers, and a plethora of 5G smartphones and other devices to pick from compared to the same point on 4G’s deployment.

That sounds like great news for the wireless networking industry’s big players, but what about us consumers? 5G promised us not only faster data speeds for streaming content but also brand new products and never-before-seen use cases based on the benefits of 5G.

Has 5G technology lived up to the hype so far? Let’s look at the evidence.

5G vs 4G data speeds

Credit: David Imel / Android Authority

Faster data is the primary promise of 5G, touted by carriers all around the world. The benefits include streaming high-quality video on the go, low latency gaming, and better bandwidth in densely populated areas. But are consumers really feeling the benefits of faster 5G data speeds?

OpenSignals’ January 2021 Download Speed Experience for the US clocks typical download speeds of 33.2Mbps at AT&T, 28.8Mbps for T-Mobile, and 28.9Mbps for Verizon. These results measure the average download speeds experienced by OpenSignal users across a carrier’s entire network, so this includes 4G and 5G as users move in and out of coverage.

Looking back at a similar January 2019 report, these carriers scored speeds of 17.8Mbps, 21.1Mbps, and 20.9Mbps, respectively. This is a 4G only measurement, as these carriers had not launched their commercial 5G networks at the time. Over the past two years, US carriers have improved their typical data speeds by 7.7Mbps to 15.4Mbps, at least according to OpenSignal. Hardly the speed revolution that carriers promised with all the talk about gigabit capabilities. This is especially disappointing given that leading countries such as South Korea offered 40Mbps+ data speeds on their 4G LTE networks all the way back in 2019.

Over the past two years, typical speeds at US carriers have improved by 7.7Mbps to 15.4Mbps. Hardly a 5G revolution.

OpenSignal has also published a 5G-only look at US carriers for January 2021. This report finds faster typical data speeds clocking in at 53.8, 58.1, and 47.4Mbps from the big three when customers are connected to 5G. That’s fast, but still well shy of the 100Mbps+ speeds often used to showcase 5G’s potential. The key problem is that 5G just isn’t available most of the time. OpenSignal’s time connected to 5G score measures just 18.8% at AT&T, 30.1% for T-Mobile customers, and a measly 9.5% for Verizon.

It’s a similar picture when turning to the global state of 2021’s wireless networks. OpenSignal’s March 2021 report finds a wide disparity between the fastest and average global network speeds. South Korea’s SK Telecom tops the leaderboard with 74.9Mbps typical download speeds — 3.2x the global average of 23.6Mbps. The top 10 places are made up entirely of carriers from South Korea, Canada, The Netherlands, and Singapore, indicating that 5G experiences vary widely from country to country.

Although it’s been two-plus years since the arrival of 5G technology on networks, most countries are still technically in the early stages of deployment. Availability is currently limited to more populous cities and even then sometimes just in certain areas or blocks. Hence why the amount of time actually spent using a 5G connection remains low and so do the typical speeds. Unfortunately, we’re still years away from 5G becoming the dominant network technology when the switch to 5G Standalone becomes viable.

mmWave and sub-6GHz

For the uninitiated, 5G technologies can be a little bit confusing. The specification is split into three key frequency groups: very high and fast mmWave spectrum, sub-6GHz spectrum to expand speed and capacity similar to existing 4G frequencies, and repurposed low-band frequencies for long-range coverage. The big vision for 5G encompasses all three spectrum groups working in tandem, combining their strengths and smoothing over their weaknesses. Spectrum auctions around the world have all been a little bit different but have predominantly focused on the low-band and sub-6GHz frequencies so far. mmWave licensing has typically been slower, particularly in Europe. As such, the bulk of the world’s 5G networks are based on sub-6Ghz and low-band, with scatterings of mmWave in regions that are further along with their spectrum actions and deployment roadmaps.

5G mmWave: Facts and fictions you should definitely know

Despite its much faster peak speed capabilities, mmWave technology is only available in a comparatively small number of areas. Coverage is mmWave’s biggest issue. OpenSignal’s April 2021 mmWave report found that US consumers spend less than 1% of their time connected to a 5G mmWave network. While the technology is gaining some traction for fixed wireless access, sub-6GHz is the technology that the vast majority of mobile 5G consumers are actually using.

Furthermore, smartphones can also be split into camps that only support sub-6GHz and those that support mmWave. mmWave is currently reserved for the expensive flagship tier of the market or more expensive variants of mid-range devices. That means only a smaller cross-section of consumers can make the most of the fastest 5G technology currently available. Spotty coverage and a variety of handset capabilities partly explain why some 5G networks have not (yet) lived up to much of the marketing hype.

AR, VR, and other 5G moonshots

If 5G speeds have so far failed to live up to the hype, there sadly also few signs of life in the various moonshot ideas repeatedly trotted out to justify the industry overhauls required for next-gen networks.

Speaking at CES 2019, Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm, stated: “5G will pave the way for next-generation immersive experiences, including near-instant access to cloud services, multiplayer virtual reality gaming, shopping with augmented reality and real-time video collaboration.” Build it and the use cases will come has been the mentality.

Cue the crickets. Consumers are still waiting for anything close to these experiences to actually land on the market. So far, there’s nothing 5G can do that 4G or fiber broadband can’t.

The moonshot ideas used to justify industry overhauls for next-gen networks have so far been lacking.

Mass Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities, autonomous vehicle networks, and zanier concoctions like remote surgery have, so far, remained firmly in the realm of ideas. Even mixed and augmented reality industries, which have had seen isolated success stories, are still waiting for their breakout 5G use case. Perhaps it wasn’t so wise to market 5G alongside so many unproven markets. Even initiatives that should benefit from basic faster data speeds and lower latency, such as cloud gaming initiatives like Google Stadia, have failed to make a dent in traditional markets.

Of course, the problem could be that 5G networks simply aren’t ubiquitous enough yet to make these ideas feasible. It’s possible that we’ll see 5G-exclusive use cases appear in the coming years, most likely in the industrial sectors to start with. But so far the radical innovation heralded by Qualcomm, Huawei, T-Mobile, and others has failed to materialize.

5G phones are everywhere, at least

At least one prediction made in the early days of 5G has come true: it’s increasingly difficult to buy a 4G-only handset in 2021. At least that’s true in Western markets. 4G handsets are still somewhat popular in more affordable Asian markets that are yet to roll out 5G.

Elsewhere, few could have predicted just how affordable 5G smartphones would become in just two short years. Granted, the first flagships with optional external modems were very expensive, pushing industry prices consistently north of $1,000.

The best 5G plans in the US: Which carrier is right for you?

However, integrated 5G chipsets arrived in upper mid-range smartphones in 2020 and are on their way to highly affordable handsets in 2021. Reasonably priced 5G flagship phones cost $799 for the Samsung Galaxy S21 and $699 for Google’s Pixel 5. At the more affordable end of the market, the Samsung’s Galaxy A32 5G and OnePlus Nord N10 both support 5G speeds for less than $300.

Even though the rollout of 5G may still be in its infancy, millions of consumers who have bought handsets in the past couple of years are already futureproofed. As 5G capabilities quickly move down to more affordable price brackets, millions more consumers will be ready when the 5G switch flicks on in their local area.

The state of 5G technology: Much more to be done

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Of course, two years is not a particularly long time in the grand scheme of entirely new networking technology. We are still in the early stages of 5G’s rollout, even in now seemingly well-established markets like the US. It will take at least a couple more years until 5G connections are available in smaller towns and rural locations. Around the world, some countries are still dividing up and auctioning 5G spectrum. It may take a while longer to reach the level of deployment required for new use cases to emerge.

5G is fast on paper but consumers aren't always seeing the benefits in the real world.

Expectation management with 5G has been poor from both carriers and tech companies. Data shows that real-world data speeds and availability have failed to live up to the lofty promises, particularly those touted by mmWave technology. Building hype with unproven ideas and new business suggestions is also bound to leave consumers and industry disappointed when they fail to materialize.

That said, there is still cause to be optimistic about 5G’s possibilities in the coming years. 5G Standalone will be possible once wider rollouts are achieved. In comparison to today’s Non-Standalone networks, 5G Standalone is able to deliver the network slicing, low latency, flexible subscription models, and dynamic creation of services for smart cities, mass IoT, automotive, and other use cases.

For now though, the high expectations set up at the launch of 5G networks two-plus years ago remain at least a few more years away.

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Xiaomi is on a roll, but it needs to fix its software inconsistency https://ift.tt/3t9B6zJ

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

Opinion post by

Hadlee Simons

The first quarter of 2021 is in the books, and it looks like Xiaomi may have been a major winner. The manufacturer cemented third place for global shipments and is now within spitting distance of Apple in second place.

It’s bound to be welcome news for Xiaomi, especially after its humble beginnings as a ROM developer. And this ROM, dubbed MIUI, still powers all of its smartphones today.

MIUI gained a reputation for being an iOS clone in its early days due to the copycat icons and lack of an app drawer, but it’s certainly morphed into a more unique, useful take on Android nowadays. The iOS stylings have been toned down, although the skin still draws divisive opinions about its looks.

Thankfully, Xiaomi has continued to bring loads of interesting or handy features to MIUI. In years gone by, we saw features like the Quick Ball accessibility option, downloadable system themes, a system manager app (for cleaning storage, etc), Dual Apps, and a one-handed mode. More recently, we had Super Wallpapers, Magic Clone functionality in the camera app, and a few privacy features (e.g. clipboard protection, secure photo sharing).

There is one major issue Xiaomi needs to address with its Android skin though, and that’s the sheer inconsistency across devices and its various sub-brands.

MehUI?

Our own C Scott Brown reviewed the Poco F3 last month and called its MIUI for Poco software “buggy” and “messy.” The list of issues he encountered was particularly alarming for a smartphone in 2021.

“I saw all manner of problems including random reboots, disappearing/reappearing notifications, and even an unsolicited switch from a 120Hz refresh rate to 60Hz,” Scott explained in his review. He also told me that he saw issues like jittery animations, apps crashing, and notification text buttons opening the notification itself instead of performing the action labeled on the button (e.g. in-line replies). This doesn’t even cover the bloatware and ads, either.

Occasionally, we chalk up some of these issues to review models with pre-production software (and note where this is the case). However, an OTA update pre-review and a further update following publication have thus far failed to resolve many of these issues for the Poco F3.

See also: These are the best Xiaomi phones you can buy

These woes should be ironed out eventually through further updates. This was the case for the Mi 9T Pro, which our own Tristan Rayner reviewed a while ago. He noted that the device had loads of little bugs (“I turned off animations as I normally did and that broke everything”), but that the MIUI 11 update fixed many issues, albeit quite a few months after launch.

Unfortunately, this general inconsistency still affects some Xiaomi phones well over six months after launch. And how do I know this? Well, my girlfriend has the Redmi Note 9, and she’s experienced issues for months now.

MIUI is not the same across devices in terms of bugs and performance.

More specifically, her Redmi Note 9 has seen issues like the camera freezing for seconds at a time (preventing you from taking more shots), and the screen turning itself on every few seconds while music or a podcast is playing. The bugs don’t end there either, as replying to messages via the notification shade doesn’t work (losing the message she just composed), and the Instagram app crashes after viewing several Stories in succession. The phone has received several updates since then, but these haven’t fixed all the bugs and have sometimes introduced new problems.

The sad part is that there are Xiaomi phones out there with relatively polished, performant MIUI skins. Android Authority reviewers Eric Zeman and Dhruv Bhutani praised devices like the Xiaomi Mi 11, Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 10, Poco X3, and Poco M3. In fact, the only major concerns we usually have are centered on bloatware and advertisements, with the latter in particular a topic for another time.

It’s unclear what could be the cause of this inconsistency, but we doubt it has anything to do with horsepower. After all, the Poco F3 has flagship-level power and still struggles. We also recently reviewed the budget-focused Redmi Note 10 and Dhruv found that it was well-optimized and that he didn’t encounter any major bugs or issues.

Whether it’s a lack of QA testing, optimization, or another factor, it’s high time for the company to ensure more consistent software across the board. We can see that Xiaomi is capable of delivering a relatively bug-free, smooth experience.

It’s MIUI against the world

Credit: David Imel / Android Authority

This inconsistent experience comes as other OEMs have begun to really step up their software game. Even OEMs that have traditionally had a shoddy reputation for software are bringing a solid take on Android in the last couple of years, such as Oppo and Vivo. Xiaomi can’t afford to rest on its laurels.

This also comes on the back of what seems to be a growing shift towards long-term update commitments. We’ve recently seen LG and HMD announce up to three years of version updates for their phones. But Samsung was the first non-Google, major Android OEM to announce a commitment to three years of version updates, and this is the company Xiaomi should be worrying about.

Related: Samsung has raised the bar for Android updates

The top-ranked manufacturer is promising a three-year pledge for flagship and select budget phones, dating back to the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 family. Samsung is giving existing owners incentive to stay with the brand, making it harder for OEMs like Xiaomi to poach its customers. Xiaomi does offer MIUI updates to older devices, but these often don’t update the underlying Android version, which leaves the device at risk of app compatibility issues down the line.

Either way, Xiaomi is clearly capable of delivering a smooth, reliable take on Android. Now it’s time for the company to ensure that it’s delivering this same experience across the board, and for a longer period of time.

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Xiaomi Mi QLED TV 75 review: Great for movies, not so much for gaming https://ift.tt/3e67JKg

In recent years, Xiaomi has been working on changing its image from a value-conscious player to a full spectrum brand. Part of this transition involved spinning off the Redmi brand into its separate entity to focus on more affordable smart devices across its various product lines.

Clearly, the strategy is working for the brand as it starts getting more ambitious with its extensive portfolio. Alongside the high-end Mi 11 series of smartphones, Xiaomi recently introduced the Mi QLED TV 75 for the Indian market. As the name suggests, this is a 75-inch television that sits a step above the recently launched Redmi 65-inch television. Beyond the obvious difference in size, Xiaomi is focusing on image quality with a QLED panel and, of course, value.

Has Xiaomi made the right compromises in its effort to bring out one of the most affordable large screen QLED televisions? Find out in the Android Authority Xiaomi Mi QLED TV 75 review.

Rs.119999 .00

Mi QLED TV 75

Buy it Now

Mi QLED TV 75 Buy it Now

Rs.119999 .00

About this Mi QLED TV 75 review: I used the Mi QLED TV 75-inch television for six days running software version QTG3.200305.006.1328. The unit was provided to Android Authority by Xiaomi for this review.

What you need to know about the Xiaomi Mi QLED TV 75

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

• Mi QLED TV 75-inch: Rs. 1,19,999 (~$1,600)

The Mi QLED TV 75 is a 4K TV taking a value-focused approach towards large-screen displays. Priced at Rs. 1,19,999 in India, it undercuts other QLED sets by a significant margin, and the only competitors price-wise stick to regular LCD panels. The television can be purchased via Mi.com and Flipkart and is available only in gray. Xiaomi has not announced plans for a global launch.

The feature set includes most modern codecs and formats including Dolby Vision, HDR 10, HDR 10+. Built on top of Android TV with a serving of Patchwall on the side, it offers access to a wide range of streaming services as well.

How’s the design?

The Mi QLED TV 75 takes a lot of inspiration from the 55-inch model and looks suitably premium. It’s affordable in the broader scheme of large-screen televisions but is still Xiaomi’s most premium television. It’s very evident that Xiaomi has paid a lot of attention to detail.

This starts from the general display where the bezels are suitably small. A dark silver frame runs all around the display with minimal branding. A nondescript Mi logo sits front and center, while a barely-there “Designed by Xiaomi” logo is placed on the right side of the frame.

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

A major change this time around is the television stand. Gone are the side-mounted metal stands, and the Mi TV 75 gets a heavy-duty centrally-mounted metal stand that looks rather handsome. The TV is, of course, VESA compatible, and Xiaomi will wall-mount it for free should you require the service.

Port selection is exactly the same as we saw on the Mi Q1 55-inch and includes two HDMI 2.0 ports and a single HDMI 2.1 port which has eARC support. You’ll also find dual USB 2.0 ports, ethernet, audio jack as well as an optical output. For legacy devices, Xiaomi has included an RF port as well, so you should be able to connect a particularly old set-top box or a retro console dating back as far as the Nintendo Entertainment System. Finally, you’ll also find a composite input. It’s fair to say that the port selection is robust.

On the wireless side, the TV includes both Bluetooth 5.0 as well as Wi-Fi and things are plenty good all around. I had no trouble streaming high bitrate content from a local server, and streaming services worked just fine in 4K. Connectivity was good enough even with the television at a distance from my Wi-Fi router.

All in all, the Mi QLED 75-inch is premium enough to pass off as a high-end product. It’s certainly not as good-looking as an equivalent product from Sony or LG, but I doubt users will find anything to complain about here.

What’s the Mi QLED TV software like?

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

A key differentiator for Mi televisions is the Patchwall interface. It’s not as flashy as, say, WebOS on LG TVs, but it makes up for it with integration across a wide range of regional and international streaming services. More importantly, the television pulls DTH or Direct to Home services and seamlessly integrates them into the interface.

Patchwall is easy to use and beautifully integrates DTH services with online streaming content.

What does this mean for users? Better recommendations, for one. The universal search works across 25 streaming services and can also tie in with over-the-air television to dial in the recommendations and suggestions. It all works rather well if you care about over-the-air television, and is a nice value add. Meanwhile, you can easily drop out to the standard Android TV interface with the click of a button if you, like me, prefer the standard interface. Regardless, the set also has built-in Chromecast functionality.

Android TV guide: All you need to know about Google’s TV platform

That’s for the good stuff. However, I faced serious issues with the software optimization on the Mi QLED TV 75. There were more than a few occasions when the interface locked up for a few seconds. The volume bar would also lock up at times, and there were moments when the remote was completely unresponsive. I’ve been told that many of these bugs have been fixed in an upcoming update. However, there is no fixed timeline for when that update will be out.

What’s it like to use the Mi QLED TV 75?

Picture quality and features

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

Xiaomi has thrown a lot of tech into the panel here, and it shows. The 4K 8-bit panel is HDR 10, HDR 10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision compatible. Peak brightness is rated at 1,000 nits, and the 192 dimming zones allow for very effective control over backlighting. The Q in the QLED comes from the quantum dot layer that helps improve contrast levels. And yes, the panel itself is 120Hz capable — with a caveat.

Like many televisions, I wasn’t too impressed by the out-of-the-box color calibration. Spend a bit of time with the picture settings though, and you can eke out a lot more from the television.  There’s a wide range of picture settings and pulling down the backlight level, sharpness, and turning off MEMC alone can bring about a world of difference.

Contrast levels are excellent and the black levels are particularly great thanks to that full array dimming. I’m partial to OLED panels, but the Mi TV pulled its weight with aplomb and I never really felt I was missing out while watching a movie like Hereditary.

The panel quality is very good — once calibrated.

Over on the gaming side of things is where I noticed some peculiarities. First up, while the panel itself is 120Hz rated, the television can’t accept an external 120Hz signal in 4K because of the decoder being used. This means that next-gen consoles are locked out of 120Hz support in 4K, making Xiaomi’s claims of this being a 120Hz television quite disingenuous. Xiaomi claims the television will support 1080p/120fps input over HDMI, but I was unable to verify this since the Mi QLED TV 75 altogether refused to detect my PlayStation 5 later into the testing period. Additionally, there’s no variable refresh rate (VRR) support either.

And that’s before we get to the real issue here. Chalk it down to bandwidth issues, or the aforementioned decoder, but I had serious issues keeping two HDMI devices connected to the television. The PlayStation 5 has a known issue that can cause flickering with certain televisions, but reducing the transfer rate fixes this in almost all cases — it certainly did with my older LG 4K set.

However, before it flat out failed to be detected every time, the only recourse with the Mi QLED TV 75 was to either reduce the PlayStation’s resolution to 1080p or, weirdly, to remove the Fire TV Stick I had in the other HDMI port. Removing the secondary streaming stick fixed the issue. I’ve reached out to Xiaomi about these issues. The company says it is investigating it, but no solutions have been offered at the time of publishing.

Audio

Xiaomi has talked up the audio prowess of its new television. Offering up a total of 30W of output using two tweeters and four woofers, there’s plenty of volume. However, that volume doesn’t really translate to a well-separated sound stage. Despite the drivers being spread out across the expansive size of the television, I found myself constantly adjusting the volume to hear dialogue.

The TV supports eARC over HDMI and can shoot over Dolby Atmos audio to a receiver if you want to integrate it into a home theater system.

How is the remote?

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

Xiaomi has a unified remote across its television and streaming device portfolio, and that’s exactly what you get here. It would have been nice to see a more premium remote considering the high-end positioning of the television, but what’s here is functional.

Xiaomi's included remote gets the job done, but a premium television deserves a higher quality remote.

There’s a direction pad, direct shortcuts for Netflix and Prime Video, as well as buttons to drop you into Patchwall or the Android TV interface as well a back button. I wish some of these were customizable. The volume button doubles up as a mute button by double pressing. However, it is way too easy to mute TV audio while quickly tapping down the volume levels and Xiaomi should add a function to disable this feature.

Smart Hub functionality

Xiaomi has also talked about smart hub functionality for the TV, but, realistically, this is just an extension to the Google Assistant built into every Android TV. You can invoke the function by tapping the Google Assistant button on the remote and voicing out your command. It is possible to toggle the mic off.

What’s different here is the inclusion of four far-field microphones which should let you simply call out for the smart assistant by using the “Hey Google” command and the TV should pick it up. I had reliability issues here and it rarely worked for me.

Value and competition

Mi QLED TV 75

Xiaomi's largest TV to date in India blends a massive 75-inch QLED panel with a value proposition.

• Rs.119999 at Flipkart

Despite the issues — of which there are quite a few — the Mi QLED 75 offers value in spades. Not only is it one of the more affordable 75-inch models around, but it also tosses in a QLED panel to stand out amidst the competition. The picture quality, once calibrated, is excellent, and that’s not just true for its price point.

However, it is prudent to look at the alternatives, some of which include more affordable options.

The most affordable of the bunch is the Kodak 75-inch 4K TV. Priced at Rs. 99,999 (~$1,333), the TV has a similar feature set including Android TV support. However, the lack of a QLED panel means that picture quality won’t be quite as good.

Related: The best 4K TV deals

Meanwhile, the TCL 75CS2US priced at Rs. 1,49,999 (~$2,000) is another alternative that one-ups Xiaomi’s offering with Harman Kardon tuned speakers.

You can also find older models by LG and Samsung, but missing features or lackluster picture quality in comparison to QLED panels make them hard to recommend. For a true leap in picture quality, you will have to spend an order of magnitude higher. You could, however, downsize to a smaller model and pick up an LG CX OLED television for not much more money.

Xiaomi Mi QLED TV 75 review: The verdict

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

I’ve got mixed feelings about Xiaomi’s new 75-inch QLED television and a lot of that has to do with the mass-market approach the company tends to take. If all you want to do is watch movies on a big screen, there’s a lot to like here. The panel, once tuned, looks very good and not just for the price. The aesthetics blend in well with most decors. I’m positive this is a product that will spur other TV manufacturers to cut prices — something we’ve seen Xiaomi already act as the catalyst for in the smartphone space.

The Mi QLED 75 is an excellent deal for avid consumers of movies and TV shows, but gamers might want to look elsewhere.

However, the TV is decidedly a first-generation product. I can look past the lack of high-end features like VRR, but Xiaomi’s claims of 120Hz support are disingenuous at best considering there appears to be no way to get a high refresh rate signal to the TV at 4K resolution. There are also the reliability issues I faced with external sources. Finally, the UI lock-ups and glitches are not something you expect in a high-end product such as this.

Priced at Rs. 1,19,999 (~$1,600), the Mi QLED TV 75 is relatively affordable for a large screen TV, but I’m afraid the company might have cut a few too many corners. It’ll suffice for media consumption, but more evolved users might want to downsize and look at some of the options on the market like the LG CX.

from Android Authority https://ift.tt/3t49vQ9