It’s Wednesday, and that means that it’s time for a new Windows 11 Insider Preview build in the Dev channel. This week’s build is 22458, and as usual, there isn’t much that’s new. In fact, most new features that show up in the Dev channel are going to show up after the new OS ships on October 5.
The one physical change to the OS is that when you hit the power menu in Start, there’s a new option for ‘Sign-in Options’. This adds to Sleep, Shut Down, and Restart, of course.
Aside from that, it’s all about fixes. There’s a long list of things that got fixed in Windows 11 build 22458.
Windows 11 build 22458 Fixes
[Start]
Fixed an underlying issue that was impacting Start reliability.
[Search]
Folders with # in folder name can now be added to indexing.
[Settings]
Addressed an issue that was causing Settings to crash sometimes when trying to open the Display page.
Clicking “More about refresh rate” in Advanced Display Settings now opens the support page it’s supposed to.
Fixed an issue where the Location page in Settings wasn’t showing warning text explaining why the location services setting was greyed out if it was greyed out.
Changes made to preferences under Manage App Execution Alias in Settings should now be preserved.
Fixed a couple typos in the output of dll (Issue #206).
[Windowing]
Mitigated an issue that could make certain games unexpectedly crash when using ALT + Enter (i.e., switch between full screen and windowed) during with Auto HDR enabled.
[Other]
Addressed an issue that was causing text truncation in the Encrypting File System window in certain cases.
Fixed a rare scenario that could result in an uninstalled in-box app unexpectedly reappearing after reboot.
Appx commandlets should now work with PowerShell 7.0+ (Issue #13138).
Of course, being a Dev channel build, there’s also a long list of known issues.
Windows 11 build 22458 Known Issues
[General]
We’re working on a fix for an issue that is causing some Surface Pro X’s to bug check with a WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR.
We’re working on a fix for an issue that is causing some devices to bug check with DRIVER_PNP_WATCHDOG error when attempting to update to a recent build.
[Start]
In some cases, you might be unable to enter text when using Search from Start or the Taskbar. If you experience the issue, press WIN + R on the keyboard to launch the Run dialog box, then close it.
System is missing when right-clicking on the Start button (WIN + X).
[Taskbar]
IMPORTANT: Icons on the Taskbar are shifted to the side when in the default center alignment, resulting in them getting cut off by the “show hidden icons” button when too many apps are open.
The Taskbar will sometimes flicker when switching input methods.
[Search]
After clicking the Search icon on the Taskbar, the Search panel may not open. If this occurs, restart the “Windows Explorer” process, and open the search panel again.
Search panel might appear as black and not display any content below the search box.
[File Explorer]
If you right click files in OneDrive locations in File Explorer, the context menu will unexpectedly dismiss when you hover over entries that open sub-menus, such as “Open with.”
[Widgets]
The widgets board may appear empty. To work around the issue, you can sign out and then sign back in again.
Widgets may be displayed in the wrong size on external monitors. If you encounter this, you can launch the widgets via touch or WIN + W shortcut on your actual PC display first and then launch on your secondary monitors.
[Windows Sandbox]
We’re investigating an issue in which Windows Sandbox may not launch for some Insiders after upgrading to this build.
[Microsoft Store]
We continue to work to improve search relevance in the Store.
[Windows Subsystem for Linx (WSL) & Hyper-V]
We’re investigating reports of both WSL2 and Hyper-V not working on this build on ARM64 PCs such as the Surface Pro X.
Microsoft did also talk about a new Tips app, which has 114 new tips in it. It also includes Acrylic transparency, along with the other UX element that you’d expect for a Windows 11 refresh, such as rounded corners. There’s also a new Tips widget that you can find in the Widgets panel, and Microsoft says that the app will power pop-ups throughout the OS.
As always, you can grab today’s build from Windows Update if you’re on the Dev channel, and if you’re not, you can enroll via the Windows Insider Program tab in Settings. In Microsoft’s blog post, it did clear up some housekeeping issues, such as that the Dev channel can’t roll back to the Beta channel without doing a factory reset, that prerelease builds come with a watermark on the desktop, and more.
Windows 11 is almost here. The release date is set for October 5th, and soon many of us will be using the brand-new operating system. Windows 11 is different in many ways from Windows 10, so it’s good to be aware of how things work in this new version. Windows Insiders can already try the many new features available in preview, but for everyone else, we’re here to help. We’re going to be taking a deep dive into many parts of Windows 11, and this article will focus on the new Snipping Tool.
The Snipping Tool in Windows 11 is something of a merger of the classic Snipping Tool with the Snip & Sketch app in Windows 10. It mostly retains the UI elements of the latter but adds some features from the former.
Snipping Tool UI on Windows 11
When you launch the Snipping Tool app on Windows 11, you’re greeted with the window below. This window gives you a handful of options that will be familiar if you use the classic Snipping Tool. You can set a type of snip (fullscreen, rectangle, or freeform), as well as a time delay of 3, 5, or 10 seconds. This is where it’s most apparent that the new app is a merger between the classic Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch.
Snip & Sketch had a more modern UI, but lacked some features. You could only set the type of snip after clicking “New”, and the delay options were either 3 or 10 seconds. This brings back more of the options of the classic Snipping Tool but in a modern UI. The old Snip & Sketch UI has also been updated further to now match the Windows 11 design language, so your theme color isn’t as prevalent, some icons have been tweaked, and there are rounded corners everywhere.
Taking and editing snips
Once you start taking a screenshot with the new Snipping Tool, everything will feel exactly like how it did in Windows 10. You can still change the type of snip using the floating toolbar at the top of the screen, and that’s because you can launch the Snipping Tool with a keyboard shortcut (Windows key + Shift + S). You just have the option to change it beforehand, too. After you select an area to take a screenshot of, you’ll get a notification in the bottom right corner of your screen to edit the snip.
Once in the editor, the tools are pretty much the same as before, except the pencil tool from Snip & Sketch has been removed (the classic Snipping Tool also didn’t offer this option). You can draw on your picture using a digital pen or highlighter, which you can change the color of. The color picker now has a translucent background, but otherwise, it’s the same. Some options have been moved around, though. The undo and redo buttons are now in the central section of the toolbar, but there are dividers for different kinds of tools.
The first division includes the drawing tools — pen, highlighter, and eraser — while the second one has the ruler, the cropping, and the finger draw option. On touch-enabled devices, this lets you draw using your finger instead of moving the image around. This is because, usually, you might want to use a pen to draw instead. Finally, the last division has the undo and redo buttons.
Just like the main window, the editing tool also lets you set a timer and the snip mode so you can take a new screenshot. These options are up in the left corner, and on the right corner, everything is the same as before, aside from new icons. You can save, copy, or share the snip. Through the ellipsis menu, you can also print the image, open a file, or choose to open the snip with a different app for further editing.
Settings
Finally, the app settings are nearly identical to Snip & Sketch on Windows 10. One of the big options here is the ability to set the Snipping Tool to open when you press the Print Screen key. Typically, you can launch Snipping Tool by pressing the Windows key + Shift + S at the same time, and Print Screen simply copies your entire screen to the clipboard. If you enable this feature in the Settings app, you’ll make the Print Screen key behave like the key combination.
Other returning options include automatically copying snips to the clipboard — so you can paste them anywhere without editing them — automatically adding an outline to the snip, opening each snip in a new window, and asking the user if they want to save a snip before closing the window. The only new option here is the ability to set the app’s theme separately from the global Windows theme. That way, you can have a dark theme in Windows and a light theme in the app or vice versa.
That’s about all you need to know about using the Snipping Tool in Windows 11. Unifying the Snip & Sketch and classic Snipping Tool means less confusion for users, and all the options you need are available in one app.
If you’re on the iPhone Upgrade Program or looking to finance a fresh new iPhone 13 through Apple, you can get started now. The pre-approval process is live, so once you get that out of the way, the pre-order for your new iPhone 13 or iPhone 13 Pro on Friday will take just a few clicks.
The reason that Apple does this is because it’s had problems with the iPhone Upgrade Program in the past. The service started with the iPhone 6s, so when the iPhone 7 launched, it was the first time that customers on the iPhone Upgrade Program had upgraded to a newer device. It was a disaster, and the Cupertino firm ended up doing a lot of work to make things right.
It’s gotten a bit better every year since. Now, the financial side of starting the new 24-month installment plan is taken care of ahead of time. That way, when pre-orders begin, you don’t get kicked to the back of the queue by spending too much time sorting out your order.
Available in the U.S., UK, and China, the iPhone Upgrade Program lets you purchase a new iPhone on installments, and then you can trade it in for the new one yearly. You can actually trade in your device as early as six months from the date that you got it, but you do have to have paid 12 months of payments, so if you trade in after six months, you’ll have to pay for another six months up front. It comes with AppleCare+ as well, so if the device it damaged, you can easily get it replaced.
The iPhone 13 series starts at $699, while the iPhone 13 Pro series starts at $999. Of course, that plus the cost of AppleCare+ is divided up into 24 installments. If you’re on the iPhone Upgrade Program, you should have an email in your inbox to get started with the pre-approval process. If you just want to finance an iPhone 13 through Apple when you pre-order, you can get the pre-approval process started from the product page.
Alongside the Xiaomi 11T series, Xiaomi today unveiled the Mi Pad 5 and Mi Band 6 NFC for the European markets. Originally launched in China last month, the Mi Pad 5 marks the return of Xiaomi to the tablet segment. The latest tablet from the Chinese company takes on the likes of iPad Pro and Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus with the combination of premium design, powerful hardware, and an affordable price tag.
The Mi Pad 5 features an 11-inch LCD with 2560 x 1600 resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and 500nits max brightness. It also offers a feature called True Display which uses dual front and rear light sensors to analyzes ambient light and adjusts the display’s white point accordingly for a comfortable reading experience. The tablet supports stylus input via Xiaomi Smart Pen (sold separately), which can be used to draw, jot down notes, or take screenshots.
Under the hood, the Mi Pad 5 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 SoC, paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB/256GB internal storage. The tablet packs four powerful speakers for delivering immersive sound and a large 8,720mAh battery that charges via a 22.5W fast charger. There’s no fingerprint scanner on board, but you do get an AI-powered Face Unlock.
The Mi Band 6 NFC, as the name implies, is an NFC-enabled version of the regular Mi Band 6. It was unveiled in China back in March, but it’s only now that Xiaomi is bringing it to Europe. The new band features a 1.56-inch AMOLED display which is 50% larger than the Mi Band 5.
The fitness tracker comes in a variety of colorful bands and offers many fitness tracking features, including 24-hour heart rate tracking, blood oxygen level monitoring, sleep tracking, stress monitoring, up to 30 fitness modes, and more. Other highlights of the Mi Band 6 NFC include 5 ATM water resistance, contactless payments, and up to 14 days of battery life.
Mi Smart Projector 2 & Xiaomi Mesh System AX30000
Besides the Mi Pad 5 and Mi Band 6 NFC, Xiaomi has also unveiled two new smart home products for the European markets. The first is the Mi Smart Projector 2, a compact multi-media projector with 1080 x 1920 Full HD resolution, Dolby Audio support, multi-angle auto-keystone correction, autofocus, and Android TV support with Google Assistant built-in. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi Mesh System AX30000 (2-pack) is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 mesh router that can cover up to 4,000 sq. ft area and supports up to 254 device connections.
Pricing & Availability
The Mi Pad 5 comes in Cosmic Gray and Pearl White colors. The pricing starts at €349 for the base 6GB/128GB model and goes up to €399 for the 6GB/256GB model. Pricing details for the rest of the products are as following:
Apple’s iPads have dominated the tablet market for as long as they’ve existed. Android tablets, on the other hand, have been the butt of many jokes. This may be changing, though. After Samsung’s excellent Galaxy Tab S7 last year comes the new Xiaomi Pad 5.
The last tablet from Xiaomi, the Mi Pad 4, was released over three years ago. In the time since, Xiaomi has grown from a maker of “pretty good” products for their price to a true premium hardware maker, and the Xiaomi Pad 5 is easily the company’s best-looking tablet yet.
But is it enough to bring some credibility back to Android tablets?
About this review: I received a Xiaomi Pad 5 and Smart Pen from Xiaomi for review, but I purchased the Xiaomi keyboard case myself. Xiaomi did not have any input into the content of this review.
Xiaomi Pad 5: Hardware and Design
The Xiaomi Pad 5 is an 11-inch wide-screen tablet with a face and sides that look similar to Apple’s modern iPads, particularly the 2020 iPad Air. While Xiaomi’s decision to go with hard, flat metallic sides in 2021 after Apple spent the past year establishing that as their aesthetic is likely no coincidence, I will argue that there really aren’t many ways to design the front and chassis of a tablet. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7, if looked at from just the front and side, looks like an iPad too.
At least Xiaomi gave the Pad 5’s backside some characteristics of its own, from the matte coating that manages to have a slight gradient and glossy finish (at least on my white model) that somehow doesn’t attract fingerprints, to the two-tone camera module design that we’ve seen across many of Xiaomi’s 2021 smartphones.
The rear-facing module on the Xiaomi Pad 5 contains a single 13MP camera, and around the front is an 8MP front-facing camera that’s located in the top bezel when the tablet is in portrait orientation.
The Xiaomi Pad 5 has an 11-inch, 2560 x 1600 IPS LCD panel that refreshes at 120Hz and can display over a billion colors, as well as support the DCI-P3 color gamut. The tablet looks great indoors and under shading, but I find the coating to be very reflective when used outdoors.
Even with the keyboard case and stylus, the Xiaomi Pad 5 is light enough to carry around all day in a backpack and not strain my back.
As someone who writes and reads often, I wish Xiaomi had gone with a 3:2 aspect ratio (like the iPads) instead of the wider-screen aspect ratio. But that’s purely my personal preference — those who game or watch movies more will prefer the screen dimensions of the Xiaomi Pad 5.
The Xiaomi Pad 5 is also excellent for binging Netflix, because it packs an excellent quad speaker system tuned by Harmon Kardon that pumps out Dolby Atmos sound.
Under the hood of the Xiaomi Pad 5 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 SoC, a 8,720 mAh battery, and 6GB of RAM with 128 or 256GB of storage. These components are obviously not 2021 flagship parts, but they cement the Xiaomi Pad 5 as an affordable, upper mid-range tablet. Curiously, the tablet is missing a fingerprint scanner, so you must use a PIN code, password, or the not-so-secure face unlock as security.
By itself, the tablet weighs 1.15 lbs (521g),and even with the official “Smart Pen” stylus and the official Xiaomi keyboard case (the latter of which Xiaomi is apparently not selling in Europe), the whole package is still a hair under 2 lbs, light enough for me to lug around all day in a backpack without straining my back.
The Pad 5 wrapped in Xiaomi’s first party keyboard case
Xiaomi Pad 5: Software
The Xiaomi Pad 5 runs Android 11 with Xiaomi’s MIUI Global 12.5.2 skin on top. Other than support for input devices like mouse and trackpad, and split-screen in landscape orientation, the software running on the Pad 5 seems identical to the OS I’ve seen a dozen times on Xiaomi’s smartphones.
This is both good and bad. I personally find Xiaomi’s software animations to be the best in the business — 120Hz on MIUI looks “smoother” to my eyes than 120Hz on Samsung’s One UI — and zipping around the Xiaomi Pad 5 on a larger panel is a visual feast.
Xiaomi’s smartphone UI also has one of the better multitasking systems around, allowing the user to open apps in a floating window that can be resized and placed anywhere on the screen. This is a more practical solution to multitasking than Android’s traditional split-screen view. You can, of course, still run apps in split-screen view if you prefer, and the Pad 5’s software allows the split to be either 50/50 or 75/25 in either direction.
But in many other ways, Xiaomi has not optimized the software to account for the fact it’s running on a much larger screen, or that it could be used as a deskbound computer. The default, and only, keyboard that comes with the (global variant) of the Xiaomi Pad 5 is Google’s Gboard, which still lacks a split/thumb layout. This means the onscreen keyboard looks comically wide and borderline unusable when the tablet is in landscape orientation.
The default keyboard, Gboard, must show in its full form in landscape mode. You can’t shrink it, you can’t split it
Gboard does allow you to “shrink” the keyboard, but even at the smallest size, it’s still too wide for one-handed typing. If you install a third-party keyboard app like SwiftKey (which does have a split/thumb layout), it doesn’t play nicely (so far) with physical keyboards, as SwiftKey will continue to display an on-screen keyboard even when paired with Xiaomi’s own first party keyboard case.
And while the software supports input devices, gesture support is minimal. You can scroll up and down webpages with a mouse’s scroll wheel or two-finger swiping on a trackpad, but that’s about it. On both Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7, you can do multi-finger swipe gestures to quickly get to the home screen, or cycle through apps with three-finger side swipes. None of these gestures are supported on the Xiaomi Pad 5. To be fair, it makes sense the iPad and Galaxy Tab S7 have better trackpad gesture support because their official keyboard cases come with trackpads — Xiaomi’s does not.
It’s worth mentioning that MIUI’s implementation of the on-screen cursor is similar to that of iPadOS — it’s a semi-transparent white circle that turns into a vertical line when hovering above text input fields.
One last software gripe — the home screen dock can only accessed when on the home screen, meaning you’ll often have to exit out of an app to launch another app. On the iPad, that dock can be accessed within any app for easier access.
Some of the software annoyances that have plagued Android tablets are still here — for example, not all apps are optimized for the larger screen. Twitter on Android shows up in a single pane layout no matter how wide the screen is. When the Xiaomi Pad 5 is in landscape mode, Twitter looks absolutely ridiculous — one tweet took up the entire screen.
By comparison, here’s how Twitter looks on iPadOS:
One workaround for the app scaling issues on the Xiaomi Pad 5 is to simply run the problematic app in split-screen mode alongside another app. This will force the app into a more conventional smartphone aspect ratio.
I find Xiaomi’s software animations to be the best in the business.
Xiaomi Pad 5: Performance as a standalone tablet
Considering that Xiaomi didn’t introduce the keyboard case during the global launch event (the keyboard case is only for the China market for now), this means that Xiaomi is envisioning the Pad 5 to be used mostly as a handheld tablet by most consumers.
On this front, the tablet performs well. The grippy back texture, light weight, and excellent speakers make the Xiaomi Pad 5 an excellent media consumption device on the sofa or bed. While the 7nm Snapdragon 860 SoC can’t be called really powerful by 2021 standards, it can handle any app I threw at it, including graphically intensive games like CarX Highway Racing and Sierra 7.
The grippy back texture, light weight, and excellent speakers make the Xiaomi Pad 5 an excellent media consumption device on the sofa or bed.
The 8,730 mAh battery offers respectable battery life. During my first three days with the Pad 5, I used it only as a nightly gaming/movie machine, and after three nights of roughly hour-long sessions, the tablet’s battery remained at 73% despite me not having charged the device. On day four, I topped up the battery to 100% using the included 22.5W charging brick and used the Pad 5 as a work machine, and it lasted an entire nine hour workday with 25% to spare.
Here are benchmark numbers for those interested:
Xiaomi Pad 5: Performance as a work machine with keyboard case
Xiaomi didn’t make its keyboard case for the Pad 5 available to English media reviewers because the keyboard won’t be sold “internationally” (meaning outside of mainland China). I bought one personally (for around the equivalent of $66) because just using the Xiaomi Pad 5 as a handheld tablet wouldn’t be using the tablet to its full potential.
The case is made of plastic and rubber and snaps onto the back of the Pad 5 magnetically; it looks and feels like every other keyboard case out there available for the iPad, Galaxy Tab S7, etc. However, it only offers one viewing angle as opposed to other keyboard cases from Samsung or Huawei which offer two angles.
The keys are well spaced and offer solid feedback. I’m a very fast touch typist and can type on this at close to full speed. The keyboard, however, doesn’t have a trackpad or function keys.
Still, I was able to write articles and do chunks of my day-to-day tasks just fine. As I said, I wish the screen had a 3:2 aspect ratio instead of a wide-screen, but there’s still enough screen real estate for me to open WordPress and a second window like Chrome or Slack in split-screen view without issues. Xiaomi’s software doesn’t, however, allow a third app to be opened. You must choose between split-screening two apps or have one app floating above another.
For me personally, I find the keyboard case a more indispensable part of the tablet experience than the stylus.
Xiaomi Pad 5: Performance with Smart Pen
The Xiaomi Smart Pen is a roughly $60 stylus designed specifically for the Xiaomi Pad 5. It clips onto the top of the Pad 5 magnetically (just like the Apple Pencil), where it also charges.
The overall sketching experience is similar to the Apple Pencil or Samsung’s S-Pen for the Tab S7. I don’t have specifics in terms of how many points of pressure Xiaomi’s Smart Pen can detect, or exact latency figures down to the millisecond, but I was able to sketch on Xiaomi’s tablet and get an experience and results similar to the iPad with the Apple Pencil. Whatever latency there may be, I didn’t really see it — the digital on-screen ink follows my pen stroke close enough.
One thing Xiaomi added that I like are two physical clicky buttons near the base of the stylus. They allow me to trigger various shortcuts, like switching colors or drawing tools when sketching.
If I long-press one button, I can grab screenshots in specific shapes (the shape I draw). Long-press the other button and the Xiaomi Pad 5 launches its notepad. However, this is the full-screen version of the notepad (that replaces whatever your screen is showing) and not a smaller floating one, so it isn’t quite as useful as the quick notes feature introduced in iPadOS 15.
There is one shortcoming — Xiaomi’s software cannot convert handwritten words to digital text. Honestly, I’ve always found this feature to be a bit of a gimmick. I type faster than I write (and I’m willing to bet that’s the case with most people reading this article), so why do I need to write words with the goal of them then being converted to text? Still, having this feature is a flex of software smarts, and Apple’s, Samsung’s, and Huawei’s tablets can all do it (even if I have almost never used it).
Xiaomi Pad 5: Cameras
I really don’t want to be one of those people who takes photos in public with a tablet, but nonetheless, for the sake of providing you all with a full review, I had to.
The Xiaomi Pad 5’s single 13MP camera is fine for a tablet, but of course pales in comparison to a smartphone.
The front-facing camera however, is in an unfortunate spot for those of us who use the tablet like a computer, because in landscape orientation, the camera ends up being on the left bezel. This means in video calls, it’s at an awkward angle as it seems like I’m not looking at the camera when I’m speaking.
The rear (main) camera can record 4K/30fps footage; the front-facing camera maxes out at 1080/30fps.
Xiaomi Pad 5: Conclusion
Xiaomi is selling the Pad 5 in Europe starting at €349 (around $412) for the base 6GB/128GB version (doubling the storage bumps price up to €399). These prices in a vacuum are really good in Europe. However, Apple just announced yesterday a new 10.9-inch iPad starting at €389 in Europe.
Just like Xiaomi’s Pad 5, Apple’s new entry-level iPad runs on a two-year-old SoC (Apple A13 Bionic), and from my experience, Apple’s A13 Bionic is more powerful than the Snapdragon 860 in the Pad 5. The iPad, of course, has a much more fleshed out eco-system.
Wins in favor of the Pad 5 include a much more modern design (Apple’s new 10.9-incher still uses the thick bezeled, circular home button design), a faster, more pixel-dense screen, better speakers, and double the base storage. In its native home country of China and Southeast Asia, the Pad 5 is priced lower than European pricing, which further widens its appeal.
Still, because Apple’s grip on the tablet market is so strong, I feel like westerners really have to be consciously pro-Google or anti-Apple to consider an Android tablet over an iPad, especially if pricing is similar. These people do exist — I am one — even if we are not the mainstream.
But whatever the case, the Xiaomi Pad 5, along with Samsung’s recent offerings, have made Android tablets relevant again. The Xiaomi Pad 5 just needs some software polish, when (if) they arrive, it will be yet another great value offering for a company known for offering the best value around.
Passwords are a bad product, and Microsoft knows it. Every year, we see reports on the most popular passwords that are used, and those that know how to make a secure password always find it a bit jarring to see how many people are still using things like ‘123456’, ‘password’, ‘abc123’, and so on.
Microsoft has been waging a war against passwords for some time. They’re simply not secure, and even if you have a good password, it’s a hassle. You have to make this compromise between a secure password and something that you can remember. So now, you’ll actually be able to remove the password from your Microsoft account.
This is something that’s been available for commercial customers since March, and now it’s available for consumers. You can use Microsoft Authenticator, Windows Hello, a security key, or a verification code to sign into your MSA.
In its blog post, Microsoft talked a lot about just how problematic passwords can be. People will name their passwords after a pet or a relative, which is insecure to start with. Or, they make a password that they end up forgetting, and that doesn’t help. The Redmond firm says that a third of people would rather stop using an account entirely instead of resetting their password. In a more fun Twitter poll, one in five people said that they’d rather accidentally hit ‘reply-all’ on an email than reset their password.
It’s a broken system, and one that’s been in place for as long as we’ve had accounts for anything. It’s gotten better with two-factor authentication, and the fact that systems are always getting smarter about when 2FA is necessary, such as when a device is on a new network or when it’s a new device. Still, the password is always the first factor.
That ends now though, or at least you now have the option for it to end for you. You can now remove the password from your Microsoft account completely.
Xiaomi today expanded its premium smartphone folio in Europe with the launch of three new smartphones: the Xiaomi 11T Pro, Xiaomi 11T, and Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE. The new Xiaomi 11T series succeeds the last year’s Mi 10T lineup, while the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE represents a minor refresh over the Mi 11 Lite 5G that came out earlier this year. The Xiaomi 11T and 11T Pro are the show-stoppers here, packing 120Hz displays, powerful SoCs, and capable cameras. They are also the first Xiaomi phones to launch globally without the “Mi” branding.
Xiaomi 11T series and Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE: Specifications
The Xiaomi 11T and Xiaomi 11T Pro are identical to each other in many respects. They both have similar designs, similar displays, and exact camera hardware. However, they deviate widely in the areas of SoC and charging speed. The Xiaomi 11T Pro features a 6.67-inch AMOLED 120Hz display with a 480Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support, and 1000nits peak brightness. It also has a True Display feature that automatically adjusts the color temperature of the display according to the surrounding conditions — just like Apple’s TrueTone feature.
On the inside, the Xiaomi 11T Pro packs Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888 SoC, paired with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB flash storage. On the back, you’ll find a 108MP primary shooter flanked by an 8MP ultra-wide shooter and a 5MP macro lens. A 16MP shooter on the front handles the video calling and selfie duties.
The phone is powered by a 5,000mAh battery which is charged via an insanely fast 120W wired charger. Xiaomi claims it only takes 17 minutes to fully charge the Xiaomi 11T Pro from an empty state.
Elsewhere you get a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, dual speakers tuned by Harman Kardon, Bluetooth 5.2, an IR blaster, and X-axis linear vibration motor.
Coming to the regular Xiaomi 11T, it has the same display as the Pro model save for Dolby Vision support. Under the hood, it’s powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 1200 SoC, paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB/256GB storage. The 5,000mAh battery is the same as the Xiaomi 11T Pro, but the fast charging tops out at 67W.
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
The Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE (New Edition) is an upgraded version of the Mi 11 Lite 5G. The new model swaps the Snapdragon 780G in favor of Qualcomm’s newly announced Snapdragon 778G chipset, and that’s the only real change here. Otherwise, the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is identical to the Mi 11 Lite 5G, featuring the same 6.5-inch AMOLED 10-bit display with a 90Hz refresh rate, a 64MP primary shooter, a 4,250mAh battery with 33W fast charging support, and dual speakers.
Pricing & Availability
The Xiaomi 11T Pro, Xiaomi 11T and Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE will be available in select European markets at following prices:
