Xiaomi‘s Redmi lineup is the crowd’s favorite in markets across the world as it took over shortly after the Moto G lineup lost its magic and the latest generation Redmi Notes came early this year with major design overhaul, better processors, bigger batteries and all the MIUI 11 features at your disposal. And as always, at a reasonable price point.
Today’s subject of our review is the Redmi Note 9 – a device that’s a close relative to the Redmi Note 9S. It feels almost as if the two handsets are just different configurations of one model. The vanilla 9, for example, is slightly more compact as it has a smaller screen, employs a MediaTek G85 SoC, has NFC in most markets and there’s a resolution drop in the macro and selfie shooters.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 specs
Body: 162.3 x 77.2 x 8.9 mm, 199g; Gorilla Glass 5 front, plastic back and frame, water-repellent coating.
Video recording: Rear camera: Full HD 1080p@30fps. Front camera: Full HD 1080p@30fps.
Battery: 5,020 mAh, 18W fast charging, supports reverse charging at 9W.
Misc: NFC (market dependant); rear-mounted fingerprint reader, IR blaster;
On paper, the Redmi Note 9S seems like the better deal but there are some things to consider here before jumping into any conclusions. The vanilla Note 9 might appeal to someone looking for a handset with smaller screen or the feature that makes the phone act as a power bank. Yep, one curious feature disparity between the Note 9S and the Note 9 is that the latter can charge another device at 9W.
It’s also important to see how the ISP stacks against the Note 9S. Since the two devices share mostly the same camera hardware, the ISPs on the SoCs are what makes them different. And as we know, that could make a huge difference, case in point Snapdragon vs Exynos debate with the current Galaxy S20 family. Of course, we expect different battery endurance as well. We are sure it will do just fine with that chunky 5,020 mAh battery but will it be better than the Snapdragon 720G-powered Note 9S? Let’s find out.
Unboxing the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9
The device comes in a box containing the usual user manuals, a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging and data transfer, a transparent silicone protective case, and a power adapter. The last one is rated at 22.5W, but the phone itself caps at 18W. Xiaomi says it uses that charger for more than one device, so you could say it’s a universal plug for Xiaomi devices.
The competition
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 sits comfortably at the lower end of the mid-range spectrum with only a few alternatives in sight, and most of them are even from the same company. The phone is currently on sale in Europe for about €175/£150, either from Xiaomi‘s Mi store or from other retailers. This is also the price – Xiaomi is selling the Redmi Note 9 at the same price as the Note 9S (a.k.a. Note 9 Pro in India).
So which one to get? This is rather simple, to be honest. If you don’t care about NFC, the Note 9S is clearly the better option. For the same price, you get a bigger, brighter, and overall better IPS display, a Snapdragon 720G chipset which is considerably faster and you can take 4K@30fps videos. Not to mention that the photos look a lot better even though the two share mostly the same camera hardware. We blame the ISP on the Helio G85. The Redmi Note 9 only has the NFC on its side as that’s lacking on the Redmi Note 9s.
Another Redmi that does have NFC is last year’s Redmi Note 8 Pro. Don’t let “last-year” scare you off though, the phone launched 8 months ago and it still has a better chipset and better cameras than the Note 9. Sure, that doesn’t come cheap, but if you get it from a reseller instead of Mi.com, it will set you back around 210€ which is not that much more compared to the current price of 179€ that Xiaomi is asking for the Note 9.
However, if you are looking for something in the same price range at around €160-180, Realme has the 6i to offer as well. It’s the definition of a direct competitor to the Redmi Note 9 and you can grab it for roughly the same price if you are buying it from a third-party retailer and not from Realme Europe directly. Anyway, the device is a valid choice over Redmi Note 9 if battery life is of utmost importance. After all, this phone is currently sitting on the top of our battery ranking. But it does so with a lower 720 x 1600px resolution screen in the 6.5-inch diagonal, which turns out to be brighter, though. The rest of the hardware and features are pretty much identical with Realme’s contender falling behind in the low-light photography while snapping stills during the day. To our surprise, the Realme UI felt smoother on the hardware as well. And don’t get fooled by the “newer” MediaTek G85 SoC on the Redmi, as benchmarks and specs have proven, it’s virtually the same as the G80.
But perhaps the biggest challenge the Redmi Note 9 might face on the European market is the Realme 6. It’s a bit costlier on the official website but you can find it for €200 from resellers. The Realme 6 wins in almost all of the key departments – performance, display (still not very bright but has 90Hz refresh rate), camera, and fast charging. Sure, it has a smaller battery, but it can also be fully charged in under an hour. Realme’s contender gives the Redmi Note 9 a good run for its money.
Verdict
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 isn’t a bad phone, it’s far from it. You can depend on the camera’s Night mode and battery life. Our main complaints are regarding the screen brightness and rather under-powered SoC for the price range.
Regardless of these flaws, if you can find it for less than €150, which is the case in India, the Redmi Note 9 is quite a viable proposition.
We find it hard to recommend it at a higher price, because it’s offered in the very same markets where the Note 9S (a.k.a. Note 9 Pro in India) is selling. And the latter is, hands-down, the much better version as long as the lack of NFC support does not bug you.
Pros
Rather sturdy design.
Chart-topping battery life.
Good Night mode and the macro camera has AF.
3.5mm audio jack, dedicated microSD card and IR blaster.
Mature and feature-rich MIUI 11.
Cons
Falls behind the competition in terms of performance and charging speed.
After the release of Pocophone, the successor named Poco F2 Pro is here , we called the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro the spiritual successor of the Pocophone and it kind of filled that gap in the segment so we weren’t wrong. Especially seeing how the new Poco F2 Pro is mostly a re-branded Redmi K30 Pro (the previous version of the phone K20 Pro was also known as the Mi 9T Pro in some markets).
But enough about semantics. The real question is, does the Poco F2 Pro live up to the hype as its successor once did. Surely, there was some corner-cutting to allow the original Pocophone to be so competitively priced while this time around, the specs sheet of the F2 Pro doesn’t really give us that notion.
Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro specs
Body: 163.3 x 75.4 x 8.9 mm, 219g; Gorilla Glass 5 front and back, aluminum frame.
Screen: 6.67″ Super AMOLED, 1080 x 2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi; HDR10+ support.
With a significantly higher price, the Poco F2 Pro has yet to prove its salt. It follows the same formula of arriving with the latest and greatest from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 865 in this case, but the F2 Pro also adds a couple of welcomed improvements in key areas. The screen is now bigger, notch-less, and employs a crisp OLED panel. Additionally, the camera setup covers almost all of the focal lengths you’d want from a modern smartphone and the battery along with the charging have received some love this time around too.
And before we start pointing fingers, we would like to remind you that the prices of current flagships have risen in the past two years a lot. This gives the “flagship killer” segment some headroom to increase its pricing as well. That way, affordable flagships can offer true flagship experience, at least spec-wise, with a minimal price increase.
There’s also the 5G part. All Snapdragon 865-powered phones this year are more expensive, which probably has something to do with Qualcomm’s way of building and licensing all the parts and antennas for the 5G. That doesn’t take away the bang for the buck factor of the Poco F2 Pro as the phone is still much cheaper than the popular top-shelf smartphones and offers plenty of performance per dollar. But its pricing means its purchase is no longer a ‘no-brainer’ in stark contrast to the original Poco F1.
Let’s dive deeper to see what else the much-anticipated Poco F2 Pro has to offer.
Unboxing the Poco F2 Pro
The phone came in its original box containing the usual user manuals along with the compatible 30W wall charger and the USB-C to USB-A cable for charging and data transfer. There was also a transparent silicone case with slightly textured back for extra grip and a big cutout at the top for the 3.5mm jack and the pop-up camera.
Alternatives
Well, Xiaomi did it again. Two years after the release of the Poco F1, the company was still able to undercut the competition even with this significant price increase. The Poco F2 Pro will probably cost less in India than in Europe, but the point stands – this phone is still lighter on the budget compared to the alternatives powered by the Snapdragon 865 chip. It was able to find a sweet spot in the “flagship killer” price bracket. But there are still some phones worth considering that roam in the same territory.
The Realme X50 Pro 5G comes to mind as a potential alternative first. The handset might be a bit more expensive than the Poco F2 Pro at around €600 in Europe and a little less in India – INR 47,999 – but it’s the better phone overall. The overall camera experience with proper telephoto, the high-refresh rate display, and the faster charging might be worth your extra money.
Ultimately, the F2 Pro offers the same performance for less while having a better battery life as well. And besides, there’s nothing wrong with F2 Pro’s screen. If the cleaner, cutout-less design fits you better and the pop-up selfie camera still entertains you, it may even be the better buy.
If the Poco F2 Pro‘s price fits your budget but you can wiggle only a little, the OnePlus 7T could make a potential case for itself. Sure, it’s a last year’s device from, but the 7T is significantly cheaper now asking €529 in Europe, and it’s just INR 34,999 in India which is almost as low as the F2 Pro. The OnePlus 7T, however, will grant you a high-refresh-rate OLED screen (unfortunately, with a notch), a proper 2x telephoto camera, the same quality, if not better, macro shots and leaner, stock-ish OxygenOS, if you are into that sort of Androids. The 7T’s overall camera performance is better too.
The downside of this deal would be the shorter battery life and the older Snapdragon 855 chipset. But if you don’t have any immediate plans of switching to a 5G network carrier, last year’s flagship SoC would do just fine for at least a couple of years.
And in case the F2 Pro is really your upper limit price-wise, why not eyeball the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite, too. The camera isn’t better, that’s for sure, but the battery life and screen quality are quite comparable. Also, Samsung might win you over with its One UI. With the European pricing, the S10 Lite is about €60-70 cheaper making an even bigger case for Samsung contender if you don’t mind the older chipset.
Finally, if you are an iPhone user or an Android fan looking for something fresh, the popular iPhone SE (2020) falls in the same price category. If you go with the specs sheet, the F2 Pro has won the match before it started – superior and brighter OLED display, much longer battery life, faster charging and more cameras covering more field of views. There are some things, however, that Apple does better. One of them is cameras. Even with one, the iPhone SE is a better shooter than the F2 Pro. And you do get that extra-long software support, so that’s a plus.
Verdict
Don’t let the extensive list of alternative options above fool you – we are happy to recommend the Poco F2 Pro. It remains true to its flagship killer heritage – the same thing that made the Poco F1 famous. And despite the significant price increase, we think that Xiaomi has found a nice market niche for it.
There are some considerations, though. The camera experience has its flaws, and it’s far from polished. But when have the flagship killers offered flagship-grade camera performance?
The lack of a proper 2x telephoto is a misstep, as well as skipping the expandable storage, although you get a couple of rare commodities these days – a 3.5mm audio jack and full-screen design. The lack of a high refresh rate is a strange omission for a new €500+ phone coming out in mid-2020. Still, it’s an excellent screen – it gets super bright and brings HDR10+ support.
Battery life is remarkable, fast charging is at hand and the Poco Launcher just flies on this thing and it comes with numerous features that are hard to find all in one place.
So yes, overall, the Poco F2 Pro is an excellent all-rounder that’s worth every extra penny on top of its predecessors. Perhaps in a different way and perhaps for a different crowd, but it remains a ‘flagship killer’ nonetheless.
Pros
Really nice build and a design that stands out.
Super bright and color accurate OLED screen without any cutouts.
Record-breaking battery life.
Competitive fast charging solution over Power Delivery.
Good price/performance ratio.
Satisfactory main camera performance with great Night mode and nice macro camera.
Has 3.5mm audio jack, LED notification indicator, IR blaster.
Mature and feature-rich MIUI 11.
Cons
Thick and heavy body.
Screen lacks the trendy high-refresh rate.
No stereo speakers.
No telephoto camera.
Low-light photography is not great except for the main cam with Night mode ON.
It’s been a while since we’ve last seen a Mi Note phone. The Mi Note 3 came more than two years ago and received a lukewarm reception, so the Mi Note series was put on pause. Well, we can now consider that a reboot as the Mi Note 10 is official and it starts on a high note with a penta-camera setup that’s the host of the world’s first 108MP snapper!
The 108MP camera is the obvious highlight, but it’s not the only one. The Note 10 has two zoom snappers – one for 2x and another for 5x optical magnification. There is also a 20MP ultrawide camera with autofocus and a 2MP macro shooter. All kinds of hybrid zoom levels are available, as well as many video capturing modes.
There is more to the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 than just the camera. The maker has refined its flagship design since the Mi 9, and now the Note 10 introduces a new 3D curved screen – a 6.47″ panel of extended 1080p resolution. The front curves mirror the rear ones, and the Mi Note 10 has one of the most symmetrical designs we’ve seen in a while.
The gaming-friendly Snapdragon 730G is in charge of everything that happens on the Mi Note 10. It’s not the fastest chip there is today, but it is one of the most current and its power is more than enough for the 1080p display.
The Mi Note 10 also impresses with a massive 5,260 mAh battery that’s capable of 30W fast charging. We expect nothing, but record-setting scores in our battery life test and here is hoping the Note 10 delivers.
Finally, Android 9-based MIUI 11 boots right off the bat on the Mi Note 10 – making it the first Xiaomi smartphone to have the new launcher installed by default.
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 specs
Body: Aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and back;
Display: 6.47″ curved AMOLED, droplet notch, 2340 x 1080px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 398ppi; HDR 10 and DCI-P3 compliant.
Penta rear camera: Main camera – 108MP, 1/1.33″ Quad-Bayer sensor with 0.8µm pixel size, 25mm f/1.7 lens (8P lens for the Mi Note 10 Pro), OIS, Laser AF; 2x zoom camera – 12MP, f/2.0, 1.4µm pixel size, dual-pixel AF; 5x zoom camera – 5M, f/2.0, saves 8MP; Ultra wide-angle cam – 20MP, 13mm f/2.2, 1.12µm pixel size; AF w/ closeup focusing Macro camera – 2MP, 1/5″, 1.75µm pixel size, f/2.4; AF, 1.5-10cm focusing distance.
Front camera: 32MP, 0.8µm pixel size, f/2.0; 1080p/30fps video recording;
Battery: 5,260mAh Li-Po; 30W fast charging, 0-100% in 65min.
Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A, 4-Band carrier aggregation, Cat.15/13 (800Mbps/150Mbps); USB-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0; FM radio, IR blaster.
Misc: Under-display fingerprint reader; single down-firing speaker; 3.5mm jack
It’s no secret that the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is identical to the Xiaomi Mi CC9, which was unveiled yesterday for the Chinese market. The specs are the same except that the Note 10 doesn’t get the 8GB/256GB tier that the Mi CC9 has.
Both phones have their 3.5mm audio jacks, IR blasters, and even an FM radio.
Sure there are some holes in their specs sheets – they lack any increased water resistance or a MicroSD slot, or wireless charging, or even stereo speakers. But some of us can live without those if it means you can get the impressive set of cameras on the back for a bargain price.
We are eager to test the 108MP camera, but before we go all-in with photo and video samples, we should probably unbox this Note.
Unboxing the Xiaomi Mi Note 10
The Mi Note 10 bundle is pretty straightforward – the contents are the same as you’d get with any Xiaomi. Inside the black box, you’ll find a charger, a USB-C cable, and a black silicone case.
Xiaomi is shipping the Mi Note 10 with a proper 30W charger so that you can enjoy the fast charging right out of the box. And you are going to need it as that 5,260 mAh battery will take forever to recharge with an inferior adapter.
Wrap-up
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is a unique smartphone. First – its penta-camera is something you don’t see every day – a 108MP sensor is a first, and it seems to be taking great high-res 27MP photos, both day and night. The other four snappers are quite good, too, making for one of the most skilled and versatile camera kits on a smartphone ever.
Then the Note 10 shines with excellent symmetry in design and its build is nothing less than flagship-worthy. The curves don’t get in the way at all, it has very good palm rejection, while the sandblasted frame helps for a secure grip.
Finally, the Snapdragon 730G chip may not be the best chipset around, but it is among the better ones and it does great in combination with the 1080p AMOLED screen.
We only have two issues with the Mi Note 10 – the trickery it uses to get to 5x magnification and the lower than expected battery life. We can understand why Xiaomi made 5x zoom the way it made it, but we can’t find logic in upscaling the 5MP image to 8MP, especially when the maker is advertising the 5x zoom camera as 5MP. At least we are hopeful for the battery life as MIUI 11 would get better with updates and so will the battery performance.
The competition
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 costs about €550 at launch, which makes it a great offer already. But the so-called flagship killer segment is quite crowded, and there are other phones worthy of serious consideration.
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro costs €100 more and it offers an upgrade in RAM and storage. You get 8GB/256GB and the main camera has a 8P lens design compared to the 7P on the vanilla Note 10. P stands for the pieces the lens is made of but honestly, we don’t think the difference in photo quality will be palpable. So in end, we can’t really recommend the Note 10 Pro over the Note 10 unless you really want to splurge on absolutely top tier of the device.
Xiaomi already has the Mi 9T Pro, which is at least €150 cheaper than the Note 10. It has a notch-free flat AMOLED screen, a faster Snapdragon 855, but lacks the 5x zoom and macro snappers. Sure, it doesn’t have a 108MP camera either, but its photos are excellent nevertheless.
The OnePlus 7T Pro is about €200 more expensive, but if uninterrupted AMOLED experience at 90Hz is what you are after – you get it with the 7T. It may lack a macro camera, but its tele offers 3x zoom, which should be more than enough.
Realme’s X2 Pro, where available, is much cheaper than the Mi Note 10, but it has a lot to offer. There is a large 6.5″ AMOLED screen with 90Hz refresh rate, the most current Snapdragon 855+ chip is inside, while its battery supports 50W charging. The X2 Pro has a 64MP primary snapper, a 13MP 2x telephoto, an 8MP ultrawide and a 2 MP depth sensor – not exactly a match for the Mi Note 10 setup, but still an excellent configuration.
Finally, the price of the Samsung Galaxy S10 keeps dropping, and it is now about €50 more expensive than the Mi Note 10. The holiday season is almost here, and we expect to see the S10 trio on sweet discounts, and we’d suggest the S10 as a more compact offer, with a better display, faster performance, and high-quality triple camera on the back.
If you are after the camera experience, there is probably no better-equipped smartphone than the Mi Note 10 – it has a camera for every situation. Sure, the camera experience could use a bit more work via future updates, but even in this stage – it’s certainly the phone’s highlight feature.
The Mi Note 10 is not the best smartphone on the market, but with a stunning design, powerful hardware, and an unmatched set of cameras – it is certainly a great package worth recommending.
Pros
Bright and large AMOLED screen, DCI-P3 accurate
Large battery and very fast charging
The Snapdragon 730G is gaming-friendly and runs cool
All camera produce excellent daylight photos
Comes with the latest MIUI 11 out of the box
3.5mm jack, FM radio, IR blaster
Cons
No rated water resistance
Snapdragon 855 would have been better
Low-light photos by the zoom cameras and the ultra-wide one are nothing special
Video recording quality is not impressive with any of the cameras
Forget iPhones, Galaxies, Redmis, and whatnot. Meet the hottest phone of the season – the Poco M3. Everyone’s talking about this model by the Xiaomi-backed brand, and rightfully so. It has everything needed to become a bestseller – good looks, a nice screen, excellent battery, stereo speakers, and a nice camera setup. And all these goodies come with a cheap price tag!
Poco is now an independent brand from Xiaomi though Xiaomi still manufactures everything that Poco designs. Even down to the software Poco phones run or the chargers they use – it all comes from Xiaomi, so the two brands’ independence isn’t as obvious, at least for now.
But Xiaomi or not, the Poco M3 has the typical bang for the buck spirit we’ve seen from many Xiaomi and Poco phones before. The first thing you’ll notice about the new M3 is the not-so-typical looks, and we do appreciate the grippy leather-like plastic and the unique elements like the large POCO-marked glass at the back.
We would have expected specs to be watered down a bit at this price point, but the Poco M3 seems to tick all the boxes. It has a sizeable 1080p screen with a small notch, a good chipset, all sorts of connectivity, stereo speakers, and an impressive battery with 6,000mAh capacity and fast charging. Oh, and the fast charger is included in the box.
The triple-camera on the back is probably the only feature that took a hit to keep the price this low – while it’s headlined by a high-res 48MP sensor, it omits an ultrawide cam and instead offers macro and depth shooters. There is no 4K video either, just 1080p. Then again, look at the phone’s price! We’d say this setup is still overqualified for the money you’d be paying.
Finally, the Poco M3 runs on Android 10 with MIUI 12 for Poco. There aren’t many differences from the standard MIUI12, and the phone is expected to receive the usual MIUI update treatment for the years to come.
The ultrawide camera and some basic water protection are the only things missing off that spec sheet. Yet, we are talking about a quite affordable smartphone that’s jam-packed with features, and something had to give. But the Poco M3 seems to come close, really close to that.
Unboxing the Poco M3
The Poco M3 comes packed within a dark yellow box, and it’s full of goodies. The phone is inside, of course, packed with a USB cable and a 22.5W QC3 charger by Xiaomi. The Poco M3 supports 18W fast charging, so its 22.5W adapter is a bit overqualified for the job.
The paper compartment contains the SIM ejection tool, a transparent silicone case, and a screen protector. Nice!
But wait, there is more! There is one final compartment at the bottom, where you’d find three Poco bracelets – one braided and two silicone bracelets done in the Poco’s signature yellow and black hues.
The competition
The Poco M3 offers a lot of mid-range features at an entry-level price. The M3 packs a high-res screen and camera, impressive stereo speakers, a good chipset, and a massive battery with reasonably fast charging. And all these goodies are priced between €150 and €170 depending on your region and current promotions.
There are four phones that should be considered if shopping for the best bang-for-the-buck entry-level offer. And naturally, two of those are Xiaomi-made.
The Redmi 9 and Redmi Note 9 are some excellent offers with equally large screens, similar performance, some impressive batteries and power autonomy, and quad-camera setups on their backs.
The Redmi 9 is the cheapest fella, with the 3GB+32GB going for as low as €120 or less, though its 4GB+64GB model costs about as much as the Poco M3 4/64 version. It trumps the Poco M3 with an additional ultrawide camera and wireless FM radio but can’t offer Night Mode and stereo speakers.
The Redmi Note 9 has a better main camera than the Redmi 9 – 48MP vs. 13MP – and also offers an ultrawide camera over the Poco M3. This Note does offer Night Mode, but it still cannot match the stereo speakers and the extraordinary battery life of the Poco M3. On the other hand, its 3GB/64GB version costs just the same as the Poco M3.
Then there are two Realme phones you should consider – the Realme 7i and Realme 7. Those two have a bit spotty availability, but if sold in your country – you should check them out before making a decision.
The Realme 7i has a 90Hz 720p screen and runs on the same Snapdragon 662 chipset. It has a 64MP primary camera and an additional 8MP ultrawide shooter. The 7i employs a 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging and costs as much as the Poco M3. Because of its lower-res 720p screen, the Realme 7i UI is not only lag-free but thanks to the 90Hz refresh rate – it feels much smoother. It cannot offer stereo speakers and, as we said, its availability is regionally limited.
If you can’t find the Realme 7i on your market, there’s at least the Realme 7. At €179, it’s a rather tempting offer, too. It’s got the same size 1080p LCD as the Poco M3 but with a 90Hz refresh rate plus 4K video recording, an ultra-wide camera, a 5,000mAh battery, and a gaming-capable chipset (Helio G95T).
The Poco M3 is not a perfect phone, and it can’t be, not at €149/$149. While it omits NFC, an ultrawide camera, and its UI stutters occasionally, the Poco M3 impresses with a high-res screen, a hard-to-match battery life, remarkable stereo speakers, and its main camera does not disappoint.
The Poco M3 can do even for gaming, provided you lower the game resolution and graphics quality. Yes, you can play modern games like PUBG smoothly if you tone down the settings.
The Poco M3 is a great all-rounder. The constant competition between Realme and Xiaomi (and by extension Poco) has been pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the entry-level segment. We now have a few great, no-compromise phones between €100 and €150 that well deserve your attention with large screens, capable cameras, and great battery life, and the Poco M3 takes a well-deserved place in this select group of devices, earning our full recommendation.
Pros
Large 6.53″ screen with 1080p resolution, great contrast
Unique design
Outstanding battery life
True stereo speakers, excellent audio output
Good photo quality, good portraits
MIUI 12 is easy to use
It can do well in gaming under 720p resolution and low graphics quality
The 24th of March marked another landmark in the Xiaomi’s history when the company revealed its keenly-awaited Redmi K30 Pro series devices. It was the time for the Redmi K30 Pro as well as K30 Pro Zoom Edition to roar the market with a spectacular set of specifications on the table. In particular, today, we will talk about the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition smartphone, which has mesmerized the audience at large.
Xiaomi is a reputed tech maker in the world with prideful accomplishments in the domain. When it comes to the smartphone sector, the company has a cumbersome market share with lots of famous smartphone series around the globe. Redmi is a popular subsidiary of Xiaomi, especially in India, which is well-known for manufacturing high-end flagship devices at affordable costs.
As we know, Xiaomi has already released the Redmi K30 smartphone back in December last year. Then it had teased that it would bring the Pro edition soon. The moment arrived on March 24, when Xiaomi took the covers off the Redmi K30 Pro as well as Redmi K30 Pro Zoom phone. Both devices look almost identical but with some contrasts in terms of camera and pricing. We will compare them later sometimes, but now is the time to explore the additional Zoom edition of the series to check its nitty-gritty. So, let’s proceed without any further baffle.
Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition: Price and Availability
Let’s get to know to monetary value of the handset first. Well, the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom 8GB/128GB variant will cost you at Yuan 3,799 (approx. Rs. 41,000). Similarly, the top-end 8GB/256GB edition carries a price tag of Yuan 3,999 (approx. Rs. 43,000).
As per availability, the handset will go on sale from March 27 onwards in China with Grey, White, Blue, and Purple colour options. However, we have nothing to say on its international availability.
Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Review: Features and Specifications
Design and Build
The physical appearance and construction matter a lot for most of the users. Correspondingly, Xiaomi has managed successfully to achieve exquisite personality of the device with superior craftsmanship and build. The handset looks glossy and sleek in portable-cum slim contour like the regular Pro sibling.
Furthermore, the front side provides edge-to-edge full-screen surface with ultra-narrow bezels around. It is a diagonal 6.67” panel without any point for selfie camera. The 20MP camera sits on top in the motorized pop-up style.
When we move to the opposite face, the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom smartphone utilizes the aluminum alloy frame, which feels soft to touch. The only highlight of the rear panel is the circular quad-camera module in the middle of the upper half. You will find a black-coloured unit to host cameras, whereas the flashlight is placed just under the setting. Near the bottom edge, it prints the Redmi brand name. on top of both sides, the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition receives the corning gorilla glass 5 protection.
While measuring the device physically, it scales at 163.3×75.4×8.9 mm and weighs 218g. Four colours choices are there to choose from, as mentioned above.
Display
In terms of the screen panel, Xiaomi’s Redmi K30 Pro Zoom smartphone shares the same 6.67-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED touch display as the Redmi K30 Pro. It is a full-screen edge-to-edge unit without any place for the selfie camera.
Moreover, users will get 2400×1080 pixels resolution, 395 PPI pixels density, 20:9 aspect ratio, 100% DCI-P3 and HDR10+ technologies to enjoy exceptional gaming and video experience. The 500 nits of brightness level sounds great to bestow good visuality during the daytime. On the top, the panel wears the corning gorilla glass 5 coating for protection against scratches etc.
The producer Xiaomi always manages to collect top-of-the-class features, especially when it comes to these two pivotal areas. This time, the company also keeps its words and installs the latest Android 10.0 OS in the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom smartphone. Additionally, the device captures the MIUI 11 custom skin interface on top to draw magnificent navigation experience.
Similar is the case with the CPU department. Xiaomi fortifies the handset with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 octa-core processor unit based on 7nm+ process technology. It ensures solid gaming and usual performance in collaboration with the Adreno 650 chip in the GPU corridor.
Camera
What insists Xiaomi to develop the Zoom Edition of Redmi K30 Pro phone is photography tools. The department looks consolidated as it utilizes the quad-camera module on the back and a powerful lens on the front.
The primary photography unit is captained by the 64MP SONY IMX686 primary sensor, which brings Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and PDAF utilities. Moreover, the team consists of an 8MP telephoto sensor with OIS, and 30x digital plus 3x optical zoom, a 13MP 13mm ultrawide scanner and a 2MP depth sensor.
On the display side, the company fits the 20MP wide selfie camera on the upper edge in the motorized pop-up form.
Storage
The storage slots of the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom handset offer massive space to users. You will get 8GB RAM on both variants with 128GB and 256GB internal storage. However, you can’t extend the space further via external tools.
Additional Features
What’s more, the Xiaomi Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition Smartphone covers lots of other specifications in the list. It equips the Bluetooth 5.1 with A2DP, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive and LE techniques, the latest version of dual -band WIFI 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, WIFI-direct, hotspot, GPS, GLONASS, BDS, QZSS, Type-C port, 3.5mm jack, OTG, in-display fingerprint scanner, NFC, infrared port, and various features, among others.
For the first time ever, Chinese company Xiaomi has taken the second place from Apple in the global smartphone shipments ranking during the second quarter of 2021. As shown by a Canalys research, smartphone shipments grew 12% last quarter as a result of the COVID-19 vaccination around the world.
While Samsung remains in first place, Apple lost the second place ranking in smartphone shipments to Xiaomi during Q2 2021. The Chinese company also had the most significant growth in the last quarter with an 83% increase in sales, while Samsung recorded a 15% increase and Apple only 1%.
In terms of market share, Samsung accounted for 19% of global smartphone sales in Q2 2021, while Xiaomi took 17% and Apple 14%. Oppo and Vivo vie for fourth and fifth place with 10% market share each.
According to the research, one of the main reasons for Xiaomi’s growth is the more than 300% increase in sales in Latin America, coupled with a 150% growth in Africa. Compared to Samsung and Apple devices, Xiaomi offers products that cost 40% and 75% cheaper, so they become more popular in emerging countries.
And as it grows, it evolves. It is now transforming its business model from challenger to incumbent, with initiatives such as channel partner consolidation and more careful management of older stock in the open market. It is still largely skewed toward the mass market, however, and compared with Samsung and Apple, its average selling price is around 40% and 75% cheaper respectively.
Even so, Apple is still in a good position. Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan recently raised their price targets for AAPL as they believe that the iPhone 13, which is expected to be introduced this fall, will keep up the strong sales of the iPhone 12. A recent research by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners shows that the iPhone 12 line accounted for 63% of US iPhone sales in the third quarter of 2021.
Global technology leader Xiaomi today introduced a brand new form of charging – Mi Air Charge Technology. Revolutionizing the current wireless charging methods, Mi Air Charge Technology enables users to remotely charge electronic devices without any cables or wireless charging stands. Today, we enter a true wireless charging era.
Mi Air Charge Technology – 5W remote charging
The core technology of Xiaomi’s remote charging lies in space positioning and energy transmission. Xiaomi’s self-developed isolated charging pile has five phase interference antennas built in, which can accurately detect the location of the smartphone. A phase control array composed of 144 antennas transmits millimeter-wide waves directly to the phone through beamforming.
On the smartphone side, Xiaomi has also developed a miniaturized antenna array with built-in “beacon antenna” and “receiving antenna array”. Beacon antenna broadcasts position information with low power consumption. The receiving antenna array composed of 14 antennas converts the millimeter wave signal emitted by the charging pile into electric energy through the rectifier circuit, to turn the sci-fi charging experience into reality.
Currently, Xiaomi remote charging technology is capable of 5-watt remote charging for a single device within a radius of several meters. Apart from that, multiple devices can also be charged at the same time (each device supports 5 watts), and even physical obstacles do not reduce the charging efficiency.
Future living rooms will be fully wireless
In the near future, Xiaomi’s self-developed space isolation charging technology will also be able to work with smart watches, bracelets and other wearable devices. Soon our living room devices, including speakers, desk lamps and other small smart home products, will all be built upon a wireless power supply design, completely free of wires, making our living rooms truly wireless.
This is a revolutionary innovation of wireless charging.
This is also a bold attempt to turn the whole house wireless.
It’s not science fiction, it’s technology.
This is Xiaomi’s self-developed remote charging technology.
Remember when people made fun of the original Samsung Galaxy Note and its “humongous” 5.3-inch display? Oh, how the times have changed. Still, have we really come to a point where a 6.9-inch diagonal behemoth is able to avoid the “tablet” category and stretch the already confusing phablet category even further?
Well, we definitely don’t want to be on the wrong side of history here. Plus, we’re all for a positive body image. So, power to Xiaomi and the Mi Max 3! Obviously, the company has decided it’s got a wide enough user base for such a device. And truth be told, they’ve achieved a pretty sleek and compact design thanks to the impossibly slim bezels and the trendy 18:9 tall aspect ratio.
Xiaomi Mi Max 3 specs
Body: Metal unibody, glass front; 176.2×87.4x8mm, 221g.
Memory: 4GB/6GB of RAM; 64GB/128GB storage; hybrid microSD slot.
Battery: 5,500mAh Li-Po (sealed); QuickCharge 3.0 fast charging.
Connectivity:Dual-SIM (Nano-SIM); LTE; Dual VoLTE; USB-C; Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS; Bluetooth 5.0, IR blaster, FM radio.
Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader; single down-firing speaker; 3.5mm jack.
Combine the beastly display with some budget internals and a price tag to match and you basically have the Mi Max 3‘s calling card. That being said, simply looking at the Mi Max 3 in the same way as a budget big-screen TV isn’t really fair or productive in any way.
If you are going to commit to lugging the hefty Mi Max 3 around, that Snapdragon 636 better deliver a well-rounded, modern Android experience. And coupled with a 5,500 mAh battery, we expect nothing short of a marathon in doing so, from the chip, as well.
So, join us on the following pages, as we peel away the layers of the Mi Max 3 to see just how well Xiaomi managed to fill the hefty figure, at hand, with substance.
Unboxing
As expected, the Mi Max 3 ships in an impressively sized box. That’s kind of a necessity. Other than that, however, there is nothing really special about the packaging – it is the standard Xiaomi affair. That is – thick cardboard and a two-piece design.
As far as the included accessories go, you get a USB cable and a wall charger – both in matching white. No bonus plastic case, which the Chinese OEM does often throw in the box. Do, however, check with your seller of choice on that point, since a case might be present on some markets.
Case nitpicking aside, we were delighted to see the included wall charger is a Quick Charge 3 unit. So, you won’t have to buy a fast charger separately.
The Competition
As we mentioned earlier, picking out proper competitors for the Mi Max 3 is a rather tough task. Mainly, since there’s practically nothing out on the mainstream market that can come close to the 6.9-inch panel and the pure real estate it offers.
As far as performance and value go, the Snapdragon 636-based internals of the Mi Max 3 do represent quite decent value, at a price point of EUR 260, or so. Our first, go to, is, understandably, the Redmi Note 5 family. To be more specific – the Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera, since that one features the updated camera, with a brighter f/1.9 aperture. The rest of the internals are pretty much identical to the Mi Max 3. Of course, a 5.99 inches, you will be giving up quite a bit of screen. But, that’s just something you’ll have to deal with, given the Mi Max 3‘s unique position in this regard.
For a notable performance and all-around experience boost, may we suggest the Mi 8 SE, complete with an excellent, even if smaller, 5.88-inch, Super AMOLED display, and the new Snapdragon 710 chipset. On the flip side, if you really need as much screen as you can get and are willing to forgo certain modern treats, the Mi Max 2 might be right up your alley. You might even save a few bucks in the process.
Looking past team Xiaomi, Huawei and Honor seem to be hitting the big-display, budget segment pretty hard. Frankly, not surprising, seeing how the pair is pretty much playing on all fronts and filling every niche in 2018. The Honor Play springs instantly to mind. A spacious 6.3-inch display and a flagship Kirin 970 chipset make up, what Huawei is positioning as a great mobile gaming platform, on a budget.
For a more official, work setting, there are the Honor View 10, Mate 10 Lite and the P20 Lite, all positioned under the EUR 300 mark, on most markets. Choosing between the trio is mostly going to depend on personal preference and you opinion and the value you put in things like a more powerful chipset, bigger screen, a home button, zoom functionality and a notch, to name a few. If we had to choose, for us, the Honor View 10 stands out as the best value deal, with its notch-free, 5.99-inch display, excellent camera setup and flagship Kirin 970 chipset.
Some other notable competitors to the Mi Max 3 include the Lenovo Z5, with its quite large 6.2-inch display and pretty similar internals. Then there is the Motorola Moto G6 Plus and the Nokia 6.1 Plus. Both, also, quite similar to the Xiaomi phablet.
Truth be told, however, if the screen real estate is your main draw towards the Mi Max 3, you might be better off exploring LTE tablet options. It all depends on your intended use case. Finding something quite as compact will be a challenge, though.
The Verdict
Playing a particular angle in any product, especially tech is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you could limit your goals to a particular niche requirement alone and cruse though everything else, cutting corners as you please. Chances are that with a unique enough offering, you can still make the bottom line work.
Then there is another, a perhaps even bigger danger of overreaching and trying to crank every aspect of your device to 11, while also offering a unique feature, or two. This increases price, expectations and in many ways the chance of failure (we’re looking at you Razer Phone).
Pros
Solid build quality.
Huge 6.9-inch, 18:9, FullHD+ display; Surprisingly color accurate.
Great battery life, although it could potentially be better; Quick Charge 3 support.
Dual SIM LTE standby
Great audio output quality and fairly loud stereo speaker setup
Flexible and feature-rich MIUI 9.1; Based on a current Android Oreo core.
Solid, mid-range performance. It is powerful enough for most everyday tasks.
Good all-round camera experience with plenty of shooting modes.
Fast and accurate fingerprint reader, IR blaster, FM radio
Cons
No official mention of Gorilla Glass.
Still no MIUI 10 update; Mi AI assistant and a few other features are still only available in Chinese.
AI scene detection seems to be missing from camera UI.
EIS does not work at 4K resolution with the Mi camera app.
Limited camera Manual controls (only ISO and white balance).
Decent edge detection on Portrait mode, but we expected more from the dual camera setup.
Xiaomi seems to have hit a nice middle ground with the Mi Max 3. The unique feature is obvious and executed masterfully. All the while, the rest of the device offers a solid experience, a good middle-ground in practically every respect, building and borrowing from the success of the Redmi line of devices. This is a great way to keep costs down, as well.
To put it in simple terms, after spending some time with the Mi Max 3, we can vouch that it won’t disappoint in any way as a daily driver for most average users out there. As for the unique offer of a huge display, it is one of those things you either instantly love or hate. If you’re up to the task of handling the beastly Xiaomi, it’s one to easily recommend.
Last October 19, 2020 on Beijing, Xiaomi introduce its latest achievement in the field of next generation fast charging – the pioneering 80W Mi Wireless Charging Technology. A major leap forward from Xiaomi’s 30W Wireless Charging Technology introduced last year, the new iteration of the cutting edge technology is an order of magnitude ahead of similar solutions offered by other smartphone brands.
80W Mi Wireless Charging Technology is capable of filling a 4,000 mAh battery to 10% in 1 minute, 50% in 8 minutes and 100% in just 19 minutes. For comparison, 30W Mi Wireless Charging Technology from 2019 was capable of charging a similar battery to 50% in about 25 minutes, and 100% in 69 minutes1.
The introduction of 80W Mi Wireless Charging Technology is expected to set a new benchmark not only in the area of wireless charging but in charging as a whole. Xiaomi has been spearheading this trend by recognizing the importance of battery life and faster charging for the future development of smartphones.
In March 2020, Xiaomi introduced to the world 40W wireless charging, in August that record was broken by Xiaomi’s first mass-produced 50W wireless charging technology, only to be broken again with 80W Mi Wireless Charging Technology. In less than a year, three technological breakthroughs and three new records.
Xiaomi recently introduced Mi 10 Ultra, the world’s first smartphone equipped with 120W wired charging and 50W wireless, to global acclaim.
Data acquired from Xiaomi Labs
Xiaomi claims the new 80W Mi Wireless Charging Technology will set a new benchmark in the area of charging as a whole. If you don’t know, the smartphone brand already has wireless charging tech on a shipping phone. It introduced 50W wireless charging tech in its Mi 10 Ultra smartphone that can fully charge its 4,500mAh battery in just 40 minutes. Recently, OnePlus also launched OnePlus 8T 5G with a higher 65W warp charge support. However, this fast charging technology is not shipped in any commercial device yet.
In this very year, Xiaomi introduced a wireless charging solution three times, one powerful than the other. It first launched 40W wireless charging in March, then broke its record by mass-producing 50W wireless charging in August. Now, it has again broken its own record with this 80W charging solution.
The company, however, hasn’t yet announced when a phone with 80W Mi Wireless Charging tech will actually ship. Xiaomi displayed the 80W charging miracle in a modified Mi 10 Pro device. We hope to get to see the Xiaomi devices equipped with this new tech shortly. Till then, watch the video of the new 80W Mi Wireless Charging Technology in action on a modified Mi 10 Pro.
While the Mi series may be the flagship series of Xiaomi‘s product line, it’s the Redmi series that’s the company’s bread and butter. And within the Redmi series, it’s the Redmi Note series that has everyone’s attention as it encapsulates Xiaomi‘s ethos of offering more bang for your buck.
Continuing the tradition this year is the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro, the flagship within the company’s Redmi lineup. Like the previous phones in the series, the Redmi Note 7 Pro pushes the budget smartphone category further than it has ever been, cramming in as many flagship features as it possibly can without breaking the bank.
The crown jewel this year is the presence of the Sony IMX 586, a 48MP behemoth that is found in nearly every flagship Android smartphone this year but Xiaomi was one of the first few companies to implement it, that too in a budget phone.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro specs
Body: Gorilla Glass 5 front and back, polycarbonate frame
Display: 6.3-inch, 2340×1080 IPS LCD, 409 PPI
Rear camera: 48MP f1.79 PDAF primary, 5MP secondary, 4K30 video
The rest of the kit isn’t bad either. You have a polycarbonate and glass body with a teardrop notch display, a Snapdragon 675 chipset with 4GB or 6GB RAM and 64GB or 128GB storage and a big 4000mAh battery.
When you remind yourself all of this is in what is still essentially a budget smartphone, it seems very impressive indeed. Of course, running on top of all this is Xiaomi‘s MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie, which, for now at least, is the latest version of Android available.
The front of the device has a display going nearly edge to edge. There is a small chin on the bottom and on top is the familiar notch, but neither are particularly distracting.
The sides of the phone are made out of glossy polycarbonate, which can feel slippery at times. On the right are the power and volume buttons, placed appropriately and having a decent tactile feedback.
On the top of the phone are two things that are very hard to spot these days, a headphone jack and an IR blaster. The latter is quite common on Xiaomi phones but the former is starting to disappear, even from budget offerings like the Mi A2 so this may just be the last Redmi Note phone with a headphone jack.
On the left side of the phone is a SIM tray with a hybrid design that can hold either two SIM cards or one SIM and one microSD. The tray has a rubber gasket around the rim, which should prevent water or dust from entering.
On the bottom of the phone is a USB-C port flanked by the microphone on the left and a loudspeaker on the right. This phone does not have stereo speakers, so that’s the only loudspeaker on this device.
The back of the phone is also finished in Corning Gorilla Glass 5 like the front and has a beautiful 2.5D gradient reflective surface that changes color from bottom to top. This finish is found on the blue and red variants but not on the black.
On the back is also a fingerprint sensor, which is easy to reach and the camera module, which sticks out a fair bit from the back.
The design of the Redmi Note 7 Pro is really nice, especially in the blue or red variants. It also feels quite premium in hand, something that’s not the case for a lot of budget phones, even ones that do have a glass body. This phone is heavier than most in the segment, which actually helps make it feel more substantial and opulent in hand.
However, the phone still isn’t rated for dust or water resistance, which is to be expected in this price range and other than the gasket around the SIM tray we saw no other evidence of this phone being able to ward off the elements, so it’s best to keep it away from water.
Display
The Redmi Note 7 Pro has a 6.3-inch display with a resolution of 2340×1080. It’s an IPS LCD panel with a notch and a 19:9 aspect ratio.
The display has three color modes. The default Automatic contrast makes the colors more saturated with higher contrast and bluer whites. It also changes the display contrast based on ambient lighting and has manual white balance wheel. The Increased contrast option looks similar to Automatic contrast but lacks the automatic adjustment of contrast and white balance. Lastly, there’s the Standard mode, which is based on the sRGB color standard, and it’s what we used for our testing.
The image quality in the Standard mode is decent. The colors look reasonably accurate but the display has a greenish yellow cast. However, you do tend to get used to it and after a while it’s not that noticeable.
In our color checker tests, the display produced mediocre results in the grayscale patterns due to the greenish tint to the whites. However, the rest of the color performance wasn’t too shabby for a budget device.
Overall, the display quality is pretty good for the price but we would have liked to see better color accuracy.
Software
As with all Redmi phones, the Redmi Note 7 Pro runs on MIUI. Our review unit is using the latest MIUI 10 on top of Android 9 Pie.
As we have mentioned in our previous Xiaomi reviews, MIUI is a major departure from stock Android. This is a complete redesign of the user interface and outside of a couple of specific menus you will never see stock Android UI elements here.
This includes a lot of custom items, such as the launcher, the notifications, the app switcher and all of the stock apps. All of these have gone through several changes over the years, with MIUI 10 easily being the best version so far.
The launcher is as we have seen before, lacking a traditional app drawer and instead of placing all the apps and widgets on the homescreen like on iOS. Xiaomi has a different launcher for the Pocophone that does have an app drawer and also some other features and while that launcher can be installed on any Xiaomi phone, for some reason Xiaomi chooses not to integrate the two.
The notifications also sport a custom design. The grid of icons is customizable but for some reason you cannot have fewer than twelve icons. The notifications themselves have seen several improvements over the years and do work more or less in line with stock Android and other Android phones.
Another thing that was improved recently was the app switcher. Instead of the horizontal card layout of previous versions, we now get a tiled view that shows four apps at the same time. This is definitely the most functional layout of any app switcher and there isn’t another phone that lets you jump straight to the fourth last app that you had opened.
Also updated are the volume controls, which now features a much more attractive and easier to use interface. You can also expand it to show all the volume levels for different functions.
The Settings app has gone through some changes as well and the About phone section has now been moved to the top of the list. This is convenient if you like to constantly check for new OS updates or updates for the stock apps that come pre-installed. The rest of it, however, is more or less the same and a lot of it is still a bit convoluted and many of the things aren’t placed where you’d expect to find them on any other Android phone.
Xiaomi has also added dark mode in the latest version of the OS. This works system-wide across all the stock apps as well as every other part of the UI. Well, almost every app as the File Manager app and the Security app for some reason aren’t affected by the dark mode.
As before, there is gesture support built-in. Xiaomi‘s gesture implementation is perhaps the best on Android, possibly because it’s identical to iOS. You swipe up to go home, swipe up and hold for app switcher and swipe from left or right edge of the screen to go back. It works as you’d expect and the animations are done well.
There are tons of other features in the OS that we don’t have time to discuss today. There’s also a lot of customization options built-in. It’s one of the reasons why people like MIUI so much and even prefer it over stock Android.
But while there’s definitely a lot to like here, it can also be quite a nuisance at times. Many of the stock apps that come with the phone will bombard you with notifications throughout the day. If you know how to block these, that’s fine but a lot of people don’t and it’s common to see someone’s phone going off and it’s the Themes app telling you of a new theme. The phone is littered with such apps and even apps you don’t expect to send you notifications will do so at some point or other.
There are also far too many duplicate apps on the device. In the same vein as Samsung, Xiaomi loves to have a version of its own app for every Google app, so the phone comes with two of everything. There are two browsers, two music players, two image galleries, and two app stores. The app store is particularly annoying, as it merely exists so Xiaomi can shove promotional content at you and offers nothing extra over the Play Store. As you can guess, none of these duplicate apps can be removed entirely.
The other nuisance is ads. Xiaomi has gone on record saying it can afford to sell these phones at such low prices because it’s found another revenue model – by pushing ads through its apps. Unfortunately, practically every app that comes built into the OS now has ads built-in. The good thing is these can be disabled but you have to do that on a per-app basis and the option to do it isn’t always easily accessible.
It is possible to spend an hour or so going through every app and setting to disable all the notifications, unwanted apps, and ads. We’d also recommend switching the launcher to something more practical and sensible with a better-looking set of icons. Unfortunately, a lot of this requires knowledge that most people don’t have. Most people just use their phones as they come out of the box and the out-of-the-box user experience for MIUI phones isn’t great.
Unfortunately, there’s no point expecting Xiaomi to fix any of this considering these annoyances are now part of the company’s revenue model. However, it’s good to note that this is not the case on all markets that Xiaomi phones are available on. Users in most Western countries seem to be spared the barrage of ads. For now.
Performance
The Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with a fairly respectable Snapdragon 675 chipset with a choice of either 4GB or 6GB RAM with 64GB or 128GB storage, respectively. The regular Redmi Note 7 (or Redmi Note 7s as it’s known in India) has a Snapdragon 660 chipset instead.
For the price, the performance of both Pro and non-Pro models is really good. Xiaomi generally has very good performance optimization so the phone never feels sluggish or out of breath. Even doing things like switching apps or taking pictures in the camera app feel very quick. You only really notice the difference in performance if you use a much more powerful smartphone side by side but for most users, the performance on offer here is perfectly satisfactory.
Gaming is another area where the Redmi Note 7 Pro does reasonably well. We played a few rounds of PUBG Mobile and even at ‘HD’ setting and ‘High’ frame rate option, the game was perfectly playable and we didn’t have any issues with it.
The single loudspeaker on the bottom of the sounds good but it doesn’t get particularly loud and just having it on one side makes it sound unbalanced when you’re watching a video or playing a game. Fortunately, the phone does come with a headphone jack although there aren’t headphones provided with the phone and you will have to buy those separately.
Lastly, the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone also works quite well and was generally quite reliable.
Camera
The Redmi Note 7 Pro has the Sony IMX 586 sensor on the back with 48MP resolution in a Quad-Bayer array. If you don’t know how a Quad-Bayer array works, you can check out our explainer here.
The camera has an aperture of f/1.8 along with phase detection autofocus and a dual LED flash. Complementing it is a secondary 5MP depth sensor used for taking portrait images.
The camera application is similar to what we have seen on Xiaomi phones in the last couple of years. The UI is inspired by the iOS Camera app, so on the bottom, you have all the various camera modes and you can tap or swipe to move between them. On the top are toggles for the flash, HDR, AI mode, beauty and color filters.
There’s also an additional menu housing the options for tilt-shift mode, aspect ratio adjustments, countdown timer, and Google Lens. There’s also the Straighten option, which uses the phone’s accelerometer to automatically straighten the image even if you don’t hold the camera perfectly level.
Among the various modes we have the standard Photo mode, a dedicated 48MP mode, Portrait mode, Night mode, Panorama and lastly Pro mode. For video there’s the standard Video mode and also a short video mode that takes quick 15 seconds videos suitable for Instagram.
The Pro mode on the Redmi phones isn’t as elaborate as on the Mi phones, which is a shame considering the sensor on this device. Here we find white balance adjustments, manual focus but without focus peaking, shutter speed and ISO. There’s no option to capture images in RAW.
Image quality in the default photo mode during daylight is largely excellent. The camera has excellent color reproduction that even surpasses some of the more expensive phones on the market, along with really good contrast and exposure. Images captured in daylight have rich details with very little noise or over-sharpening. The only area where it struggles is in capturing bright highlights in moderately lit situations but apart from that there’s not much else to complain about.
Low light is a different ballgame, however. The images in low light come out way too soft at times. The noise reduction algorithm wipes out a lot of the detail and texture in the images. The lack of optical image stabilization also doesn’t help, as the images can also tend to be shaky and the camera has to bump up the ISO instead of the shutter speed to compensate.
There’s also a night mode, but it doesn’t really do much and is basically useless.
The HDR mode works quite well. Images shot in HDR mode have improved shadow and highlight detail without looking too over processed.
You can also choose to shoot images in 48MP mode; however, we didn’t see much reason to. While in bright sunlight you do get some extra detail, it’s not enough to justify the 2 seconds or so where the camera app freezes while it saves the image, nor is it worth the 2-3x increase in file size.
Also, the camera will only actually capture true 48MP images in bright light. In any other situation, it will simply upscale 12MP images, which as you’d expect, don’t look any better than the default 12MP images.
The Redmi Note 7 Pro can also record 4K video. Unfortunately, there is no OIS on this phone and the electronic stabilization is also disabled in 4K mode. This results in a detailed but very shaky video and the camera shake, even when standing still, makes the video unwatchable.
The same is true for the 1080p60 mode, which also does not have any stabilization. On top of that, this mode also suffers from a very soft image as it’s being captured at a fairly low internal resolution and then upscaled to 1080p.
The best mode in our opinion is 1080p30, where you get good image quality, at least in daylight, but also electronic stabilization.
You can also record 120fps slow-motion video in 1080p but the video is soft and there’s no stabilization.
Overall, the camera on the Redmi Note 7 Pro is rather good for the price range. As with the other phones with this sensor, the 48MP description is a bit of a misnomer but even in 12MP mode the phone captures some good-looking images, provided there’s enough light.
Battery Life
The Redmi Note 7 Pro has a 4000mAh battery. We didn’t do our usual battery life test, but in actual usage, the phone easily went through an entire day on a single charge. The battery life has always been a highlight of the Redmi Note series, and the Redmi Note 7 Pro is no exception.
The phone does support Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0, but the phone does not ship with a fast charger. The bundled charger does charge the phone in under three hours but if you want faster charging you will have to spend extra for a compatible charger.
Verdict
The Redmi Note series has pretty much dominated the budget Android smartphone segment ever since it was released. In markets like India and China that are remarkably price- and value-conscious, the combination of affordable price and robust feature set of the Redmi Note series made it the absolute favorite of the masses and pushed Xiaomi to the top of the sales charts.
With the Redmi Note 7 Pro, Xiaomi is injecting even more of the flagship smartphones into the budget market. The glass body feels premium, as does the large, nearly edge to edge display. The performance is best in class, and the 48MP camera takes some terrific photos. And finally, the battery life is as good as it has ever been.
As a complete package, few phones can compete with the Redmi Note 7 Pro on the market, which is why it has been so challenging to get one since it was released. We would like to see Xiaomi improve its software experience further and make it less of an annoyance with the abundance of ads, notifications, and duplicate apps but apart from that there’s not much to complain about here.
Pros
Good design and build quality
Good display quality
Good performance for the price
Good daylight camera performance
Good battery life
Well priced for the hardware and performance
Cons
Software loaded with bloatware, ads and disruptive notifications