Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro marks an entry into the mid-range segment
Xiaomi continues to rise with the Note series and has achieved massive success giving a tough fight to the other smartphones in this segment.
Last year, the Redmi Note 8 Pro was a big success that accompanied great hardware, a good set of cameras, and great build quality. Now the ninth generation of the Xiaomi Redmi series has come up in the form of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro and the Note 9 Pro Max. They seem to be the successors to the Redmi Note 8 and 8 Pro.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro and the Note 9 Pro Max bring along with them a new design approach, powerful hardware, and some more. There are other competitors in this price segment with the likes of the Realme 6, Samsung Galaxy M31, etc.
So can the new Redmi Note 9 Pro be the perfect mid-ranger in this segment and also see whether it is a value for money proposition?
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Design:
The Redmi Note 8 Pro had a large display with a glass sandwich design and it's nothing different from the Redmi Note 9 Pro.
Both the front and back of the smartphone is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Now this time, Xiaomi has moved towards a more premium design for the Redmi Note 9 Pro.
Instead of the teardrop notch, the Redmi Note 9 Pro sports a punch-hole display that is present on the Samsung Note 10 series, S10 Lite, etc. The screen size has also seen an increase from 6.53 inches to 6.67 inches on the Redmi Note 9 Pro.
It has become slightly thicker and weighs around 209 grams which seems a bit heavy. This is mainly due to the larger capacity battery that the Redmi Note 9 Pro packs.
Both the front and back of the smartphone is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Now this time, Xiaomi has moved towards a more premium design for the Redmi Note 9 Pro.
Instead of the teardrop notch, the Redmi Note 9 Pro sports a punch-hole display that is present on the Samsung Note 10 series, S10 Lite, etc. The screen size has also seen an increase from 6.53 inches to 6.67 inches on the Redmi Note 9 Pro.
It has become slightly thicker and weighs around 209 grams which seems a bit heavy. This is mainly due to the larger capacity battery that the Redmi Note 9 Pro packs.
Since the smartphone is curved around the edges, it gives a good feel while holding it in hand.
On the front, the punch hole is present to the top at the center. On top of it lies the earpiece. There are almost no bezels to the sides as the display is much flatter.
At the back, the glass design has a reflective design which means with the light on it, there is some pattern noticed. The cameras get a new layout which is a rectangular setup which is seen on many Huawei smartphones in the past. The camera design looks a bit different but still has an appealing look.
On top of the smartphone, there is a secondary noise-canceling microphone with an IR blaster to control Air conditioners, televisions, etc. A plastic frame holds the sides and there are the volume controls with a power button which doubles up as a fingerprint scanner.
This similar implementation is found on the Realme 6, POCO X2, etc.
At the back, the glass design has a reflective design which means with the light on it, there is some pattern noticed. The cameras get a new layout which is a rectangular setup which is seen on many Huawei smartphones in the past. The camera design looks a bit different but still has an appealing look.
On top of the smartphone, there is a secondary noise-canceling microphone with an IR blaster to control Air conditioners, televisions, etc. A plastic frame holds the sides and there are the volume controls with a power button which doubles up as a fingerprint scanner.
This similar implementation is found on the Realme 6, POCO X2, etc.
On the left side, there is a SIM card slot with a dedicated microSD card slot for further expansion.
Below lies the loudspeaker, a USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro comes with P2i nano-coating which makes it splash resistant. The only downside to the back is that it carries a lot of fingerprints but Xiaomi has provided a case inside the box for protection.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro comes in three different colors: Glacier White, Interstellar Black, and Aurora Blue. The Aurora Blue looks appealing.
Overall the design and look of the smartphone feel premium and gives it a good appeal.
Check here: Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro Review: Is this Note worth the price and the best till date?
Check here: Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro Review: Is this Note worth the price and the best till date?
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Display:
The Redmi Note 9 Pro sports a larger 6.67 inches Full HD+ IPS LCD display with a screen to body ratio of 20:9 and 395ppi density. This display seems to be slightly bigger than other Xiaomi smartphones. The display has good color reproduction but not as good as an AMOLED panel.
However, the levels of contrast are pretty good and this time Xiaomi has put a brighter panel compared to its predecessor. The front is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
However, the levels of contrast are pretty good and this time Xiaomi has put a brighter panel compared to its predecessor. The front is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
The punch hole cut out at the top doesn't interfere with the display while watching videos and playing games as it provides a good overall immersive experience. One thing that lets this display down is the lack of the 90Hz refresh rate which is seen on the similarly priced Realme 6.
But still, the display looks good and comes with support for HDR content and has Widevine L1 which can enable it to stream HD contents from Netflix, Amazon, etc.
But still, the display looks good and comes with support for HDR content and has Widevine L1 which can enable it to stream HD contents from Netflix, Amazon, etc.
Viewing the screen under direct sunlight is slightly difficult due to the reflective surface on most IPS LCD panels. At night, the brightness goes much lower and doesn't affect the eyes. There are various screen modes to maintain a warmer or cooler tone of the screen.
The fingerprint scanner has been moved to the power button which is fast and accurate and better as compared to last year's back-mounted one on the Redmi Note 9 Pro.
Overall, Xiaomi has put a larger display which looks good but the lack of AMOLED does make it feel a bit short.
Check also: POCO X2 Review: Should you consider this new mid-ranger?
Check also: POCO X2 Review: Should you consider this new mid-ranger?
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Performance:
The Redmi Note 9 Pro makes back the move to a Snapdragon chipset from its predecessor which had a Mediatek chipset, The Redmi Note 9 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G which seems to be good chipset in this price segment.
This chipset is almost the octa-core configuration the same as compared to the Snapdragon 730G found on the POCO X2 but with some minor changes. The Snapdragon 720G has: 2x2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold cores (Cortex A76) for "better performance" and another 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver cores (Cortex A55) and is built on an 8nm process.
This chipset is almost the octa-core configuration the same as compared to the Snapdragon 730G found on the POCO X2 but with some minor changes. The Snapdragon 720G has: 2x2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold cores (Cortex A76) for "better performance" and another 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver cores (Cortex A55) and is built on an 8nm process.
The GPU is the same Adreno 618 which is found on the Snapdragon 730G. So switching between applications, browsing social media, and playing some games, the smartphone felt smoother. Heavy games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty, etc. ran fine but at the highest graphics struggled a bit. There was some hint of lag but barely noticed.
Whether the move to the Snapdragon 720G from the Mediatek Helio G90T is a letdown or not but still compared to the Exynos 9611, it fares much better when it comes to gaming.
But after prolonged gaming of 2 hours of PUBG Mobile, the back becomes slightly warmer which is seen in many of the smartphones. When it comes to benchmarks, in Antutu, the Redmi Note 9 Pro scored 274900 which is slightly lower than the 285600 on the Realme 6 that is powered by the Mediatek Helio G90T chipset.
Check also: Realme 6 Review: With some exciting new features and more, is this the true value champion under Rs.15000
Check also: Realme 6 Review: With some exciting new features and more, is this the true value champion under Rs.15000
The Redmi Note 9 Pro comes in two variants: 4GB RAM and 64GB storage and 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. (All have UFS 2.1storage). The haptic feedback has improved from before and there is an addition of NavIC support which is used in Google Maps.
Overall the performance and gaming are good considering the price segment.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Software:
The Redmi Note 9 Pro runs MIUI 11 out of the box on top of Android 10. The MIUI 11 is very well optimized and comes with a lot of customizations. There is a system-wide dark mode, new nature-based alarm and notification sound, Quick Replies, Game Turbo mode, etc. These and some other features do come in handy to all the users.
The biggest disappointing thing about MIUI 11 is there is a lot of bloatware installed and since there is a lot of bloatware installed i.e. unnecessary applications, there are a lot of ads and notifications which seem awkward to all the users.
MIUI 12 is around the corners will surely come to the Redmi Note 9 Pro and will bring some improvements in the future.
The biggest disappointing thing about MIUI 11 is there is a lot of bloatware installed and since there is a lot of bloatware installed i.e. unnecessary applications, there are a lot of ads and notifications which seem awkward to all the users.
MIUI 12 is around the corners will surely come to the Redmi Note 9 Pro and will bring some improvements in the future.
There is no dedicated app drawer which makes the home screen cluttered. However, you can group the applications into one folder. MIUI needs a lot of improvement on this front.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Camera:
In terms of camera, the Redmi Note 9 Pro comes with the same quad camera setup as the Redmi Note 8 Pro but here the design of the cameras has been changed. In the Redmi Note 8 Pro, the cameras were aligned vertically but with the Redmi Note 9 Pro, you get a rectangular setup.
This time the main camera uses a 48MP Samsung GM2 sensor compared to the 64MP ISOCELL GW1 on the predecessor. So there are four regular cameras:
- Main camera: 48MP f/1.8 Samsung ISOCELL GM2
- Ultrawide camera: 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera with 119-degree field of view
- Macro camera: 5MP f/2.4 aperture
- Depth camera: 2MP for portraits
So coming to the main camera, the 48MP captures some very good images that have plenty of detail and the color reproduction is done well.
The images have a good amount of saturation and do not over-boost colors like some other smartphones. The dedicated Pro mode does boost the color in the images but still, it won't make much of a difference. With the HDR turned on, the images come lively and the dynamic range is also very good.
The images have a good amount of saturation and do not over-boost colors like some other smartphones. The dedicated Pro mode does boost the color in the images but still, it won't make much of a difference. With the HDR turned on, the images come lively and the dynamic range is also very good.
The 12MP images come out well detailed as there is no sort of noise in the images.
At night, the images come out above average as there is some lack of exposure in the background and with the dedicated Night Mode, the images come out punchier and the dynamic range as a whole improves. Still, the 64MP ISOCELL Bright GW1 does slightly better in night images than the 48MP ISOCELL GM2.
Like all smartphones in this range, there is an 8MP ultrawide camera that takes some very good images during the day with a wider field of view, and the dynamic range also works pretty well.
Zooming into the images, there is some loss of detail and the images do look a bit washed out. Xiaomi needs to work on the ultrawide camera.
Zooming into the images, there is some loss of detail and the images do look a bit washed out. Xiaomi needs to work on the ultrawide camera.
Similarly, at night, the images come out about average as there is considerable loss in detail and the exposure in the background seems lost. There is a lot of noise present in the images and there is no dedicated Night Mode for the ultrawide camera which lets it down.
The upgrade from a 2MP macro camera in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro to a 5MP depth seems good, as the camera can take very closeup images. It can focus as close as 2cms as opposed to 4cms on other smartphones.
The colors look punchier and the edge detection works pretty well. There is no loss of detail in the shots.
The colors look punchier and the edge detection works pretty well. There is no loss of detail in the shots.
The 2MP depth camera takes very good portraits with proper edge detection and a good amount of detail. The skin tones come out natural and the background blur has been implemented well. The bokeh mode works pretty well too.
It is slightly let down by the poor capture of light and there is some amount of noise in the images.
It is slightly let down by the poor capture of light and there is some amount of noise in the images.
On the front, the 16MP camera does a pretty decent job in taking selfies with a good amount of detail, and with the portrait mode, the images come out well detailed. The skin tones look natural and the edge detection works well in portraits.
The rear camera also has an ISO mode which does tweak a camera a little bit and the log format feature to capture RAW images is a good addition.
In terms of videos, the Redmi Note 9 Pro can capture 4K videos at 30fps which is the highest it can capture. Other video modes include 1080p,720p at 30fps and 60fps.
The ultrawide camera and macro camera can only record 1080p videos at 30fps.
The 1080p videos come out good with proper stabilization as EIS kicks in, making the colors look punchier and video less shaky. At 4K there is considerable loss in detail in the videos.
There is also a Movie frame mode which helps to capture some really good videos while shooting.
There is also a Movie frame mode which helps to capture some really good videos while shooting.
Then there is a Slow-Mo mode to take slow-motion videos at 960fps.
On the front, there is also support for 120fps Slow-motion videos which is a great feature in this price segment.
Overall the cameras seem to do a pretty good job at this price segment with some very good features but there need to be some improvements especially the ultrawide camera and the Night Mode needs to be worked a bit.
On the front, there is also support for 120fps Slow-motion videos which is a great feature in this price segment.
Overall the cameras seem to do a pretty good job at this price segment with some very good features but there need to be some improvements especially the ultrawide camera and the Night Mode needs to be worked a bit.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Battery Life:
This is one area where the Redmi Note 9 Pro impresses with a massive 5020mAh battery which can make the smartphone last up to two days with normal usage.
With normal gaming which includes light games, browsing social media, and watching videos, the device easily lasted for around 1.5 days with around 15-20 percent left.
The average screen on time for the Redmi Note 9 Pro is 6-7 hours which is very good and the best in this price range.
Heavy games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty do drain the battery but still, MIUI's optimization of battery works very well.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro ships with an 18W fast charger which feels a bit short as compared to today's charging standards. The first half an hour takes the smartphone from 0 to 37 percent and a full charge takes around 2 hours.
This is quite slow compared to 30W VOOC charging found on the Realme 6. However, the bigger capacity battery and with the normal 60Hz refresh rate gives the Redmi Note 9 Pro good battery life.
With normal gaming which includes light games, browsing social media, and watching videos, the device easily lasted for around 1.5 days with around 15-20 percent left.
The average screen on time for the Redmi Note 9 Pro is 6-7 hours which is very good and the best in this price range.
Heavy games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty do drain the battery but still, MIUI's optimization of battery works very well.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro ships with an 18W fast charger which feels a bit short as compared to today's charging standards. The first half an hour takes the smartphone from 0 to 37 percent and a full charge takes around 2 hours.
This is quite slow compared to 30W VOOC charging found on the Realme 6. However, the bigger capacity battery and with the normal 60Hz refresh rate gives the Redmi Note 9 Pro good battery life.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Audio Quality:
The Redmi Note 9 Pro ships with a single firing bottom faced loudspeaker which is adequately loud and the audio output through the 3.5mm headphone jack is also good. There is support for Dolby Atmos which enhances the sound further.
The call quality is good and the level of loudness feels good. The vibration has also improved as the haptic feedback is one of the best in this segment.
The call quality is good and the level of loudness feels good. The vibration has also improved as the haptic feedback is one of the best in this segment.
Verdict:
Overall the Redmi Note 9 Pro seems to be a very good device in the sub-Rs.15,000 segment. There are many other smartphones in this price range with the likes of Realme 6, Samsung Galaxy M31, etc.
It has great build and design with a punch-hole display which is the first in this segment. Coming to display, at 6.67 inches, the smartphone provides a good immersive experience but does lack an AMOLED panel.
It has great build and design with a punch-hole display which is the first in this segment. Coming to display, at 6.67 inches, the smartphone provides a good immersive experience but does lack an AMOLED panel.
The performance is good as it can handle all small and heavy games with ease. The cameras are good and Xiaomi has packed with some very good features for both the images and videos. The Redmi Note 9 Pro sports a massive 5020mAh battery which gives it very good battery life.
However, there are some downsides which are the not so great ultrawide camera performance and the night mode is not as good as found on the Realme 6 and Samsung Galaxy M31.
Then the display lacks a higher refresh rate and with such a large battery, you still get that 18W fast charger which seems a little bit slower compared to 30W VOOC charging on the Realme 6 series.
MIUI is good as it provides a tone of customizations but comes pre-installed with a lot of bloatware which makes the smartphone a little bit cumbersome to use.
MIUI is good as it provides a tone of customizations but comes pre-installed with a lot of bloatware which makes the smartphone a little bit cumbersome to use.
The prices of the Redmi Note 9 Pro starts at Rs.12999 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage and Rs.15999 for the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage which seems to be a good value for money proposition and a good mid-ranger to be considered in this price range.
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