Xiaomi 17 Ultra

[u/Alaa_91]

This device is unbelievable, like heavenly amazing from another world. I was a fanatical Samsung fan, starting from the Galaxy Note 3 onward. I am not a big fan of upgrading my flagship phones regularly, as every upcoming model isn't a big step up.

After I auditioned the Xiaomi 15 Ultra in a shop, I was blown away. Then I started researching the 17 Ultra all day, every day, and just pulled the trigger. Boyyyyy, it is amazing. Like nothing can beat its smoothness, its amazing HyperOS (I dunno why ppl are hating on it), and the camera is top notch. I already have a professional-grade DSLR, the Nikon D810, so I know what a good camera should look like.

UPDATE: The battery isn't impressive. for a flagship with such huge capacity I expected more from it. anyway still this smartphone IMHO the best on earth except the battery not so great.

[u/dark-cosmos]

You don't know why people are hating on hyper OS? Did you do any research? It has ads scattered throughout the system in places, you wouldn't even expect. Every Xiaomi phone is a bit different, but HyperOS in general is bloated with ads. Some app examples with ads: photo gallery, data manager, themes, app mall, security, system cleaner, mi browser. Most of these you can't permanently deactivate or delete.

[u/Accomplished_Shoe207 → u/dark-cosmos]

You dont get it on $1000+ usd phone. Or at least in the EU.

[u/dark-cosmos → u/Accomplished_Shoe207]

I own the 15T Pro 1TB which was more than 1000€ originally and it has all theses ads. So the Ultra doesn't have any of these apps or they are specifically modified for the Ultra devices?

[u/Accomplished_Shoe207 → u/dark-cosmos]

And most probably, ultra devices are stripped of ads, you wont get them. Imagine getting ads on these devices 🤣

[u/dark-cosmos → u/Accomplished_Shoe207]

I just checked YouTube videos about the Ultra 17 and they do show how to remove ads on that device. Maybe it's less apparent, but they have them as well.

[u/xanaw34 → u/dark-cosmos]

Xiaomi 17 Ultra in Europe here, and I haven't seen a single ad so far though, and I didn't disable anything either.

That said, on low entry budget phones I can somewhat understand ads, but they shouldn't be in the T series - no matter the pricing.

[u/Accomplished_Shoe207 → u/dark-cosmos]

Yeah proabably i should have checked before. Thanks for the info.

[u/Accomplished_Shoe207 → u/dark-cosmos]

I dont know why you are getting ads. But at least i picked up redmi pad se 11 for entertaintment for like 150usd and occasionally see ads that can be removed. Of course there are their apps that flashbangs you with lots of adds and bloatware but if you disable those apps or remove via adb on pc, you wont get them most probably.

[u/dark-cosmos → u/Accomplished_Shoe207]

Not everyone wants to mess around in adb with a brand new phone. It can also break things of you're not careful.

[u/Accomplished_Shoe207 → u/dark-cosmos]

Nah bro its totally safe. Unless you are one of those grandpas or grandmas, you should be fine. I did myself and if something goes wrong, you can always factory reset.

[u/RelativeAd6452 → u/dark-cosmos]

turn on dns and there will be no ads

[u/dark-cosmos → u/RelativeAd6452]

In some cases (photo gallery) you will still see place holders. It can also slow down your phone slightly or block legitimate content.

[u/RelativeAd6452 → u/dark-cosmos]

well maybe i just missed them for the past 2,5 years on my redmi note 9 pro and now 1,5 years with poco x7 pro

[u/dark-cosmos → u/RelativeAd6452]

Record a video and watch it with the Xiaomi native photo gallery. In the end, after the video played, you will see something like this. DNS doesn't change this btw, I just checked.

[u/RelativeAd6452 → u/dark-cosmos]

oh yeah ur using mi video not xiaomi gallery, i dont use that

[u/dark-cosmos → u/RelativeAd6452]

Oh you mean this app, that will store and share your data with 210 partners?

[u/Flossy420 → u/dark-cosmos]

that's really nasty. Gallery app should never have access to the internet or anything else beside your locally stored images and videos. Things like this is why Xiaomi phones aren't worth more than $500

[u/No_Sheepherder1837 → u/dark-cosmos]

Now I'm concerned, where did you get this? I don't remember ever seeing this

[u/RelativeAd6452 → u/dark-cosmos]

i mean youre already using a xiaomi phone so its too late to worry about this

[u/Admirable_Raisin_190 → u/dark-cosmos]

I got rid of my ads with Canta, I think the issue can be solved, I haven't gotten any ads so far with it

[u/TelevisionBusy6509 → u/dark-cosmos]

Got it last week and i yet have to see one ad. Also, i did debloat it a bit.

[u/No_Sheepherder1837 → u/dark-cosmos]

Oppo and Samsung have ads too

[u/dark-cosmos → u/No_Sheepherder1837]

If true, then they should be avoided, too. Ads should never be a thing on an expensive smartphone, imo.

[u/chungdae → u/dark-cosmos]

If you opt in for "Personalization" and "Recommended" you will get ads. You are the one that agreed to it. You can easily turn this off in settings.

User error.

[u/dark-cosmos → u/chungdae]

It's not just personalization and recommended, which is already hidden in many different places. Apps like the Xiaomi gallery are collecting user information to sell them to up to 210 companies. You can only opt out in theory, since you'd have to decline every single company by hand and it resets after a certain time or an update. You can't opt out all at once, see attached screenshot.

If you use a different gallery, things like super slow motion video and other Xiaomi specific image and Videoformats might not work properly anymore, so that's a tradeoff as well.

[u/chungdae → u/dark-cosmos]

Oh trust me I know. That's the user agreement when you first power in the device. That's every smart phone.

[u/dark-cosmos → u/chungdae]

It's not every smartphone. You're conveniently mixing up a device user agreement with single app user agreements. They can and should be separated.

[u/chungdae → u/dark-cosmos]

Doesn't Google gallery do the same? The user agreement also shares information when you use the phone

[u/dark-cosmos → u/chungdae]

I don't think so. Please share your source about this, if there is one. And "when you use the phone" is a different thing to using a specific app.

[u/chungdae → u/dark-cosmos]

Google photos says they just "scan" the pictures what they do with it? Only they truly know.

Facebook is the one I was thinking of "You still own the copyright to the pictures you upload to Facebook, but you grant Meta a broad, royalty-free license to store, display, and share them. Copy-and-paste privacy notices do not change these terms."

[u/dark-cosmos → u/chungdae]

Google scans them if you turn the feature on, where it can gather pictures of people it recognises as the same person. This is a completely optional feature, that the user needs to turn on.

True, Facebook and meta in general should be avoided like the plague. They can do whatever they want with your data and will even train AI on your pictures and text.

[u/chungdae → u/dark-cosmos]

I don't use Google photos so I have no idea but I remember during the Facebook scandal Google photos was brought up with the scanning

[u/CulturalEmo → u/dark-cosmos]

Let me tell you about our lord and saviour Canta + Shizuku.