Xiaomi Black Shark Helo
Black Shark Helo has a stylized casing, which immediately raises associations with the equipment for players. The Xiaomi designers, however, have clearly modified the design of the first Black Shark.
The front invariably occupies a 6-inch display with the format 18: 9 and Full HD + resolution, which has quite large frames. This is due to both the presence of stereo speakers on the front panel and leaving room for thumbs. These are to rest comfortably on the frame.
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo
A large change is the use of the LCD panel and the AMOLED screen. It has lower brightness (430 rivets instead of 550 rivets), but it is characterized by a clearly better contrast and a full coverage of the DCI-P3 palette. Screen refreshing is consistently 60 Hz, so the company did not catch the ASUS ROG Phone (90 Hz) or Razer Phone 2 (120 Hz) models.
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo
The AMOLED screen of the Black Shark Helo model is to offer advanced HDR. It uses the Pixel works solution, which enables the conversion of standard material to HDR in real time (as in Nokia 7.1 ). This is to provide a more transparent and detailed picture, which should translate into better precision, eg when playing in shooters.
The most important changes, however, took place on the back panel. A large part of the back is now occupied by a sheet of tempered glass that has been incorporated into an aluminum frame with clearly contoured sides. Black Shark Helo additionally has a logotype with RGB backlight.
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo
So Xiaomi followed Razer’s path, but the Chinese decided to enrich the new Black Shark with two stripes on the sides, which also have RGB diodes. The software has to analyze the image on the screen while playing and adjust the backlight color to it in real time.
I would like to add that the reader remained on the back panel, and the type C USB connector (in the 2.0 standard) was placed on the bottom edge. The smartphone does not have a 3.5 mm Jack headphone jack.
Black Shark Helo also in the version with 10 GB of RAM
The Helo model – like its predecessor – is based on the Snapdragon 845 system. Xiaomi decided to introduce a new liquid cooling system based on two heat pipes. It is to ensure a more efficient distribution of heat.
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo
The Qualcomm system invariably supports a dedicated image processor with the MEMC solution that provides a smoother and crisp picture while playing. The battery again has a capacity of 4000 mAh and supports fast charging in the Quick Charge 3.0 standard.
Black Shark Helo not only has the latest communication standards (including Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD, dual-band Wi-Fi ac), but also an internal system of antennas on the plan of the letter “X”. Thanks to this, they are not covering during playing.
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo
The most attention is attracted by the mention of 10 GB of RAM. However, this amount has been reserved for the top version of the Sports Edition, which also has 256 GB of built-in memory. Available versions are as follows:
- 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of built-in memory;
- 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of built-in memory;
- 10 GB of RAM and 256 GB of built-in memory.
What about the cameras? Xiaomi decided on solutions known from the first Black Shark:
- main camera with a 12-megapixel sensor (f / 1.75) and an auxiliary 20 megapixel (f / 1.75), which provides a two-fold approximation without a clear drop in quality;
- front camera 20 Mpix with optics with brightness f / 2.2.
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo
The modules are supported by functions based on machine learning, which correspond to, among others, for recognizing scenes and objects (206 ready-made patterns) and applying a blur effect on selfie photos taken with a single front camera.
The key elements of the Xiaomi Black Shark Helo specification are:
XIAOMI BLACK SHARK HELO:
- Manufacturer: Xiaomi
- Family: Xiaomi Black Shark
- Segment: A flagship smartphone
- Operating system: Android 8.0 Oreo
- System overlay: MIUI 10
- Release date: 2018
Screen:
- Diagonal screen: 6.01 inches
- Screen resolution: 2160 x 1080 pears
- Matrix type: AMOLED
- Density of pixels: 402 ppi
Processor:
- Processor model: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
- The number of cores: Octa-core, 4 x Kryo 385 2.8 GHz, 4 x Kryo 385 1.8 GHz
- Graphic layout: Adreno 630
Memory:
- Maximum operating memory: 10 GB RAM
- Maximum internal memory: 256 GB
- Support for microSD cards: no
The Main Camera:
- Matrix resolution: 12 Mpix
- Brightness of the aperture: f / 1.75
- Lighting diode: double, two-tone
- Autofocus: Dual Pixel (phase detection)
- Second matrix: 20 Mpix, f / 1.75, 2-times zoom
Front Camera:
- Matrix resolution: 20 MP
- Brightness of the aperture: f / 2.2
Communication:
- LTE: Yes
- WiFi: 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac, dual range, Wi-Fi Direct
- Bluetooth: 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX HD
- GPS: GPS / A-GPS / GLONASS / BDS
- NFC: no
- USB: 2.0 type C
- Dual SIM: Yes
Security and Sensors:
- Fingerprint reader: Yes
- Sensors: accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, lighting, digital compass
Dimensions and Weight:
- Dimensions: 160 x 75.2 x 8.7 mm
- Weight: 190 g
Battery:
- Battery Capacity: 4000 mAh
- Removable Battery: no
- Fast Charging: yes, Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0
There were plenty of add-ons created for players
In Black Shark Helo there were also some original additions for players, which are part of the modified MIUI software.
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo – Gamer Studio
The equipment itself is based on Android 8.0 Oreo, and the most interesting functions in the software include:
- Shark Space – activated by means of a dedicated switch on the housing (Shark Key) hub for players with a library of available games;
- Gamer Studio – software that allows you to adjust the processor’s performance and image, sound and link parameters for a given title. The function also allows you to change the key mapping and save various settings for different games (you can share them in the form of the so-called Shark Code);
- Shark Time – a function based on artificial intelligence, which is supposed to extract the most interesting fragments from the game and create from them a 10-second recording, which can be later made available.
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo
Players can also use gaming accessories. The most important are snap-buttons with function buttons (referred to as wings), which turn Black Shark into a portable console. They are to be added as standard to the variant with 10 GB of RAM.
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo – price and availability
Xiaomi Black Shark, for now, is available for sale in China, where the various variants were priced at:
- version 6 GB / 128 GB – 3199 yuan (about 1720 PLN);
- 8 GB / 128 GB version – 3499 yuan (about 1890 PLN);
- 10 GB / 256 GB version – 4199 yuan (about 2260 PLN).
The two basic models will hit the market on November 10, and the top edition will join them on December 12. For now, it is not known when a global variant of Black Shark Helo may appear.
