Xiaomi has announced the Black Shark Helo, a follow-up to the Black Shark gaming phone that improves on the original with Snapdragon 845, dual liquid cooling chambers, gaming controllers, and a massive amount of RAM, with up to 10GB available, giving other gaming phones, like Razer Phone 2, a run for their money.
Black Shark Helo is powered by a Snapdragon 845 paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM with storage remaining the same as the previous generation with 128GB.
However, Xiaomi is now offering a third option with 10GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. A definite draw for a phone in this price range.
The 6GB and 8GB versions come with a single gaming controller attachment while the 10GB model comes with two controllers, one for each side of the phone. The phone also includes a hardware button to switch the phone into gaming mode instantly.
The new Black Shark Helo swaps the LCD panel for an AMOLED but remains notch-less, 6.01″ and with FHD+ (1080 x 2160) resolution. It is now HDR10-compliant and powered by a 4,000 mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 standard support.
It features dual cameras (12MP and 20MP), a fingerprint sensor, vapour chamber for cooling, and a dedicated mobile chip by Pixelworks helps to convert SDR content to HDR in real-time via AI technology.
This AI screen recording tech is designed to automatically identify significant gaming moments to create 10-second video highlights for the user to easily share with fellow gamers.
Just as Razer has done with their second gaming phone, the Black Shark Helo has an RGB LED-illuminated logo on its back as well as side strips.
Surprisingly, the headphone jack is missing, which is odd for a gaming phone, but the handset does contain front-facing speakers to produce high-quality sound while gaming.
Additionally, the refresh rate has not been upgraded and remains at 60Hz, so for gamers looking for a smoother experience and are willing to pay more and wait, Razer Phone 2 or Asus ROG Phone may be a better fit.
The Xiaomi Black Shark Helo is currently only available in China and will cost from 3,199RMB (AU$650) for the 6GB/128GB version to 4,199RMB (AU$855) for the 10GB version.
