Verdict
The Xiaomi F2 is an low-priced voguish goggle box that , with a few readjustment to its picture , declare oneself a watchable introduction , although the lack of any HDR10 + and Dolby Vision HDR disappoints in spark of its low brightness . number and stay for the Fire TV / Alexa consolidation . While the F2 wo n’t shake up the budget market , it ’s a decent effort .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Did you recognize that Xiaomi stick out for “ little rice ” ? It ’s perhaps dry , as Xiaomi is anything but little , with a Charles Frederick Worth of more than $ 45bn , selling all sorts of things , such as smartphones , back pack , air purifiers , emptiness cleaners and security cameras .
Xiaomi has also tried its hired man at television , although we ’ve not seen many of them in the UK . In fact , the F2 is the first as Xiaomi cracks its knuckles and heart up the budget side of the market .
gird with Amazon ’s Fire TV port andAlexa assistance , can it nail through the paries of the budget market like the Kool - Aid Man and snaffle the aid away from the competition ?
Design
The Xiaomi F2 ’s grammatical construction is a combination of gracious and less impressive portion . When I say less telling , I ’m mainly look up to its appendages .
The feet are , for all intents and purposes , fine – they keep the tv set upright – but compared with the screen , they feel tacky . Park it on a bit of article of furniture or a stand , and those fingermark - magnet feet cheapen this TV ’s look . Perhaps , much like a film aim by Quentin Tarantino , I ’m shamefaced of overly focusing on this facet , but the first affair I see are those glossy plastic foot .
The metallic bezel that cast the screen is surprisingly trim for a TV as affordable as this , and from a viewing position , it ’s virtually all filmdom . A deepness of 81 mm is not what you ’d describe as thin , but neither is it notably dumpy . Hang it on a wall and the F2 wo n’t see too shabby .
useable in 43- , 50- and 55 - inches , the screen can be distractingly meditative in a bright room . Viewing angles are average , becoming washed out the further off - centre you go .
The perfectly acceptable remote looks like the edition that comes with a Fire TV marijuana cigarette , with quick - access code button forFreeview Play , Netflix , Prime Video ( of course ) andDisney+ .
Interface
This is a Fire video , and that think one affair : if you do n’t have an Amazon Prime account , there ’s no point in even moon about buying it . ferment it on and you ’re prompted to signalize in or create an bill . You wo n’t be able to log into any apps without an Amazon account .
Being part of the Fire television set ecosystem does bring legion benefits and , for some , undesirable misdirection . The interface is what you ’d ascertain on the Fire TV streamers , with a roundabout at the top , a row of your favourite apps and shortcut , followed by rows and rows of content and apps .
The phone number of apps is huge – not as prominent as Google ’s but a slightly more riveting selection than Roku . This means you ’ll rarely run out of something to watch or do . Freeview Play is also integrated , provide the UK catch - up and on - demand apps along with an electronic course of study guide ( EPG ) that covers two workweek of broadcast schedules .
Alexa is build in via the remote . It ’s a fine and helpful assistant : call out for 4 K capacity and it will hand you all the Ultra HD depicted object from your subscription on a phonograph recording .
It will also make it easier to navigate the F2 ’s menus , of which I ’m not a devotee . The options presented with Quick preferences are pretty much useless and Advanced preferences have very small to no account of what each context does . Even more annoying is that you could only commute the Advanced preferences during playback , as the preferences are source - specific .
Features
There’sAirPlay 2,Bluetooth5.0 and Chromecast for flinging content at the Xiaomi F2 , and Miracast for sharing your mobile devices ’ screens .
forcible connectedness amount to threeHDMIports ( one supportseARCfor fling - through of lossless audio ) , two USB 2.0 comment , composite in , CI slot , Ethernet , optical digital out , aerial and a 3.5 mm headphone manual laborer .
There ’s noAuto Low Latency Mode(ALLM ) orVariable Refresh Rate(VRR ) for gaming , which are n’t often present on budget idiot box . There is a game mode and I record rotational latency at a fleet 10.1ms . I ’ve encounter other reviews mention much slower response time than that figure , but a couple of attempts work out the same event for me .
Picture Quality
4 K content is not the piercing on the Xiaomi F2 ’s 55 - in CRT screen , nor are its coloring particularly bright , and it suffers from a deficit of brightness .
It ’s a cocktail of upshot that make for an underwhelming image at first coup d’oeil . I measured brightness level on a 10 % HDR window at 296 nit in the Standard way . In the Dynamic mode , it registered 276 nits ( Film and Sport are your other option ) . The want of luminousness upshot in a flat - await image , and with no dynamical HDR format ( only HDR10 and HLG are supported ) , the F2 ca n’t mulct - tune its HDR performance with any nuance .
swarm Black Widow on Disney+ , it is n’t flush with detail , looking softer than idealistic . Hawkeye in the Film mode looks dim , with washed - out complexions , bare color and blood-red tone that lack lick .
While there ’s little to be done about the cleverness , the F2 ’s color performance can be meliorate by move the saturation level to about 80 . At this layer , the colours seem tidy and rich , signal that this television set ’s options are buttoned-down out of the boxwood . I flick back to Black Widow , and the coloration spectrum carries more expression – with these alteration , the F2 ’s HDR performance is much more attractive .
The difference of opinion between the characterization mood is not monumental , away from eking out a smidge more brightness . The Standard modality may be the druthers over the Film mode for some , but its dusty musical note and cherry-red / blue push button can cause the image to see unbalanced , with complexions appearing too red in some cases .
There ’s a Dynamic Backlight setting , but its effectualness vary – and not in a positive means . As the screen looks brighter with this circumstance turn off , I ’d suggest giving it a miss .
Motion processing is at 60Hz , and I ’d rate its carrying out as OK . Streaming Homeland from Netflix , the movement of heads cause blurriness and judder , while pattern on the side of a taxi become unsound . Meanwhile , The Gray Man on Netflix gains a processed look , the image stability wavering as object move across the frame .
There ’s no blooming , particularly in light of the idiot box ’s downcast brightness , but backlight bleeding appears from time to time , which – even with its reflective covert – gain the F2 well suited to viewing in bright rooms than dimly lit ones .
That said , black level can be in effect satisfying , as experienced in theIMAX Enhancedspace in Pixar ’s Lightyear . These black stratum are n’t always specially thick but show up in good order enough in a bright way . Although in Hawkeye , the black levels lack depth , so perhaps the F2 is n’t the most uniform performing artist in this regard .
Upscaling with South Dakota images is predictably flaccid and lacking in detail , but as is often the case with cheaper telly , the colours are astray - swan enough to please , compare with its out - of - the - box HDR performance . in high spirits - def subject matter is clear and sharp , with more detail and coloration in people ’s face . Stick with 1080p content and the F2 is a satisfying upscaler – you may even line up its execution more enrich than its portrayal of 4 K HDR content .
SD upscaling———————————————HD upscaling
Sound Quality
With two 12W verbaliser in its chassis , the Xiaomi F2 put in a perfectly adequate operation for a TV . As always , you may boost it with a sound system , and with its support for eARC , you may pass - throughDolby Atmostracks from another generator .
This is helpful , considering this TV does not support Atmos natively . None of the apps I used had Atmos support ( 5.1 for Disney+ , et al . ) , and the auditory sensation through its loudspeaker system is undisputedly a flat one despite the presence ofDTS Virtual : X(along with Dolby audio and DTS - HD ) .
When face with action scenery , such as the ones in The Gray Man , the F2 can sound boxed in , but there ’s good pellucidity provided to dialog . With Just Mercy on Prime Video , there ’s a crisper , sharper tincture to voice in the Film mode that introduces some sibilance and a slight hiss to interpreter .
Standard is smoother but does n’t sound as big , while Enhanced Bass nerfs the upper frequence , the telly ’s performance taking on a mushy quality and Clear Voice diminish contingent and music within the track . play around with the modes , Dialogue Clarity and balance wheel preferences can shape thing but not to a massive degree .
There ’s decent steering of sound effects around the CRT screen in the video ’s Movie mode when view The Gray Man and Ridley Road ( iPlayer ) , with result farm out wide to expand the soundstage . In general , the F2 ’s performance is no more than hunky-dory , and at this price , that ’s the outlook . tot up a soundbar ( or a couplet of headphones ) , and you ’ll have a better experience .
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Should you buy it?
You ’ll require an Amazon Prime story to get this telecasting going , but if you do have one , the smart on offer are better than the huge bulk of budget - brand TVs .
The lack of brightness for HDR is no surprise , and there are other models that eke out a better performance for less money .
Final Thoughts
As an low-priced TV , the Xiaomi F2 exhibit the telltale signs of place itself as a value steal . The design in most esteem is upright , and its set of feature article is whole if you ’re an Amazon Prime client . But Roku TVs fromHisenseandTCLare good performers and cheaper .
The F2 ’s deficiency of brightness level means there ’s a ceiling to how good its 4 K moving-picture show can be , with noHDR10+or Dolby Vision to allay its HDR plight .
It ’s a decent Fire TV and , with a few readjustment , a watchable endeavor – as long as you ’re not look for blockbuster operation .
Trusted Score
How we test
We try every telecasting we review thoroughly over an prolonged period of time . We expend industry standard tests to compare feature properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , bear money to review a Cartesian product .
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FAQs
There ’s no funding for Dolby Vision on this video , nor is there any HDR10 + support either .
Test Data
Full Specs
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