Xiaomi Blackshark Helo

Not only is the Black Shark Helo rocking all the necessary internal to make it a powerhouse for gaming, but it also flaunts an appropriately aggressive aesthetic. The entire device is black with a textured pattern on the back panel paired with green accents all around. Furthermore, it has an RGB illuminated logo at the back, and on strips at its sides. For security, the phone comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. On the front, the large display remains unobstructed as there is no notch here. Xiaomi decided to keep the top and bottom bezels in order to provide large front-facing stereo speakers. This area should also help gamers hold the phone for longer while gaming in landscape orientation. Not everything is positive here, however, as Xiaomi has decided to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack and offer a 3.5mm to Type-C adapter in the box instead. While the large 4000mAh battery will certainly help gamers extend gaming sessions for a considerable amount of time, keeping the CPU chilled remains a factor that could pose a challenge if you want consistent performance. To address these concerns, Xiaomi has implemented a vapor chamber cooling solution. The phone basically has two copper pipes with a tiny amount of liquid inside which helps dissipate heat from the CPU.

To help gamers have further control over the games they are playing, all three models of the Xiaomi Black Shark will come with additional joystick attachments. The 6GB and 8GB RAM models will come with a single rail protective case which can attach a controller to the left side. The 10GB model, on the other hand, will come with a double-rail case along with two such controllers, one for each side. These controllers look a lot like those that come with the Nintendo Switch, and we assume they function pretty much the same way.

At the front, the main difference between the Black Shark and the Black Shark Helo is with the new phone sporting an AMOLED screen instead of LCD. The CPU is the same on both devices, but the new cooling system is said to improve performance and keep the phone steady for longer sessions. Storage also sees a bump where the base variant of the new phone offers 128GB in place of the older device’s 64GB. Also, the top end variant goes up to 256GB of storage with 10GB of RAM. The aesthetics are also vastly improved with the new phone even offering RGB lighting on its back and sides. However, there are some specifications of the two phones that are pretty much identical. They have the same camera configurations and battery sizes. Both miss out on the 3.5mm headphone jack and require you to use a Type-C dongle for wired headphone connectivity. Both charge over USB Type-C and offer rear-mounted fingerprint sensors. With that said, the new controllers of the Black Shark Helo look far more functional when compared to the one that comes with the original Black Shark. As for pricing, the base variant of the Black Shark comes in at CNY 2,999 and offers 6GB of RAM with 64GB. While the base variant of the Black Shark Helo is priced higher at CNY 3,199, it offers 128GB of storage. The 8GB RAM + 128GB storage models of both phones are priced at CNY 3,499. In both situations, the newer Black Shark Helo offers a more compelling reason to purchase it with much-appreciated improvements at appropriate pricing.