Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is the best Redmi Note ever!!
Xiaomi has made some very good smartphones in the past and continues to deliver some really exciting products in the mid-range segment and the flagship segment with its Mi series of smartphones. The Redmi Note series is the most popular worldwide as it combines the best hardware and comes with some very good features which we see in some flagship smartphones.
Last year, the Redmi Note 9 series brought a whole new design with the Redmi Note 9, Redmi Note 9 Pro, and the largest of all, the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. All these were great offerings in their respective price segments. The Redmi Note 9 and the Redmi Note 9 Pro were a massive hit.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max is the same as the Redmi Note 9 Pro (Review) except that it has a larger display and support for faster 33W charging. The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max seems to have brought some very substantial upgrades over the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max.
Now Xiaomi has launched the Redmi Note 10 series which too has three smartphones that include the Redmi Note 10, Redmi Note 10 Pro, and the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. Xiaomi claims that with the Redmi Note 10 series, it has really worked hard to bring the best across each segment.
Here the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is clearly the largest and better smartphone of these three as it has a massive 120Hz AMOLED display, a massive 108MP camera, a capable and powerful chipset, and good battery life. So is the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max the pinnacle of all the mid-range smartphones and is worth buying? Let's find out in the full review.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Design:
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max sports a newer design with a full-fledged glass back like we saw from the Redmi Note 7 series launched in 2019. The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max brings along the new EVOL design just like the Aura design that we see on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. The back of the smartphone is curved to the sides which makes it easier to hold.
The camera module is now rectangular which houses quad cameras at the top left corner with dual-LED flashlights. This looks completely different from the square module housing quad cameras at the center on the back of the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. Xiaomi brings a whole new design with each of its Redmi Note series and is clearly seen with each iteration of its Note series.
Though having a premium look at the back, the camera has a larger hump on which the whole smartphone rests when kept on a table. The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max does not have a larger hump where the primary 108MP camera lies on the top and just below it three cameras are present. To the side inside the module, there is a dual-LED flashlight.
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is available in three different colors - Dark Knight, Vintage Bronze, and Glacier Blue. All three variants have a glass back but the material used differs on all three of these. The Vintage Bronze has a frosted finish that looks premium and provides a much better grip whereas the Glacier Blue and the Dark Knight color variants have glossy backs which attract a lot of fingerprints.
The smartphone weighs around 193grams which is 16 grams lighter than the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max and Xiaomi has done weight distribution perfectly for better ergonomics. The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front for protection and also there is an IP53 rating at the back which means the smartphone is dust and water-resistant to some extent which is better compared to the P2i coating on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max.
To the sides, there is a plastic frame running all around where on the right side, we have the volume buttons and a power button which also doubles up as a fingerprint scanner also. To the left, there is a dual SIM card slot with an extra slot for a microSD card for storage expansion.
To the top, there is an IR Blaster, a secondary noise-canceling microphone, a speaker grille, and a 3.5mm headphone jack which is rarely found on any smartphone these days. At the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port, a primary microphone, and another loudspeaker grille which also doubles up as a stereo speaker.
Xiaomi has done a very good job in terms of build and design on the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max and this is one of those very few mid-range smartphones to have such a premium look to it.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Display:
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max has a massive 6.67 inches Full HD+ (1080 x 2400 pixels) Super AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 20:9. This is the first Redmi Note smartphone to have an AMOLED display which makes it perfect for streaming content and playing games. On the front, there is a single punch-hole display with minimum bezels to the sides.
The display is quite brighter with good color reproduction and the viewing angles are great as we have seen on AMOLED displays. The display can go as bright as 1200nits when the display is viewed under direct sunlight and at dark or low-light, the display can go very dim thus not hurting the eyes. There is also a Blue Light Filter present.
You can set the color temperature from warmer to cooler tone and there are three different modes like Auto, Saturated, and Standard. It has Widevine L1 support and HDR10 content so streaming HD contents from OTT platforms and Youtube is a hassle. All contents look really great on the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. The cherry on top is the presence of a 120Hz refresh rate.
Xiaomi has nailed it! It is the cheapest smartphone to have a 120Hz AMOLED display and it completely destroys the competition as we have many smartphones like the Realme X7 that has a 60Hz AMOLED display and the POCO X3 which has a 120Hz IPS LCD display. So scrolling through webpages, playing games, and switching between applications felt much smoother.
This is a very big upgrade from the standard 60Hz IPS LCD display on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. Using both smartphones side by side, there is a lot of difference noticed while scrolling and also the color reproduction in the display.
The touch sampling rate is 240Hz which is the best in class which we will be talking about in the performance section. Though it is an AMOLED display, Xiaomi has gone for a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that is embedded on the power button which is quite accurate and fast when compared to in-display ones. This helps them reduce costs and keeps the price of the smartphone lower.
In terms of viewing contents, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is an impeccable smartphone that has one of the best displays in the mid-range segment.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Performance:
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G chipset which is the same chipset that powers the POCO X3 (Review) launched last year. The Snapdragon 732G is a slight upgrade over the Snapdragon 720G chipset on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max.
This is an octa-core chipset that has 2x2.3 GHz Kryo 470 Gold cores and another 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver cores built on an 8nm process and has the Adreno 618 GPU. Here the GPU is clocked at 800MHz which is 225MHz higher than the Snapdragon 730G on the POCO X2 (Review). In terms of performance, this is not a huge leap over the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max though.
When you see the daily performance that includes multi-tasking between applications, playing games like Call Of Duty, and scrolling through webpages felt smoother without any stutters. However, with heavy games like Call Of Duty, Asphalt 9 Legends, Gensian Impact (GPU intensive) some frame drops were noticed at the highest graphics and the maximum frame rate settings.
This is not the best chipset for gaming and for better gaming, the Mediatek Dimensity 800U on the Realme X7 (Review) or the Xiaomi Mi 10i (Review) which is having the Snapdragon 750G chipset will be better options. When you compare the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max with these smartphones, it does lack support for 5G. This may be a deal-breaker as 5G is a long cry for India and we expect the launch of 5G somewhere around next year.
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is available in three variants - 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, and another higher 8GB RAM and 128GB storage where RAM is LPDDR4X and the storage is of speeds UFS 2.2. Additionally, for more storage, there is a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion.
With a 120Hz refresh rate, the gameplay feels much better, and since there is a 240Hz touch sampling rate the animations feel much smoother and with very little latency. The touch response is much better compared to other smartphones and here gameplay feels much quicker but if it could have a more powerful chipset, that would have made it a great deal.
In terms of benchmarks, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max scored 567 and 1808 in single and multi-core tests on Geekbench 5.1 and 293962 on Antutu v8 which seems lower when compared to 331224 on the Realme X7 which has a more powerful Mediatek Dimensity 800U chipset. To cope up with the heat produced, Xiaomi has integrated a 5 layer cooling system to sustain peak performance.
Overall, the performance we cannot say is not the best but still, it handles all games with ease and the day-to-day performance feels much better.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Software:
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max runs on MIUI 12 with Android 11 out of the box. This is really good as most of its competitors are still stuck on Android 10. With Android 11, there are some new features like Device Controls which enables to control of various devices, new location privacy features, and the new Bubbles for conversations like we have seen the floating icon for the Messenger app.
Other features include a system-wide dark mode, Digital Wellbeing, navigation gestures and you are having some of the Google stock applications for dialler, messages, and calendar. There is Google Discover when you swipe left from the home screen and like we saw on MIUI 12, swiping left from the top reveals the notifications and from the right shows the Control Center.
With MIUI 12, there are a lot of themes but still, there is no support for Super Wallpapers here. However, there is an Always-On display as it has an AMOLED display and you can change different styles. There is a dedicated app drawer that has all organized applications in different categories.
The MIUI 12 has its own set of downsides like there is a lot of bloatware present i.e. many third-party applications are pre-installed and some Mi specific applications like Mi Store, Mi Community do consume a lot of memory and cannot be uninstalled. Xiaomi is rolling out the MIUI 12.5 very soon which allows you to uninstall a lot of unnecessary applications.
Other than these many applications like Music, GetApps throw in quite a lot of notifications which makes the user experience jarring. Some of the ads were noticed in the user interface here and there which simply lets it down when compared to Stock Android or OxygenOS. The software experience is good but still Xiaomi needs to work more for a better software experience.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Cameras:
The biggest highlight of the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is the camera setup. It has a 108MP f/1.9 Samsung HM2 sensor for the main camera which is quite a big upgrade over the older 64MP ISOCELL GW1 sensor on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. The other cameras remain the same which includes an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, a 5MP f/2.4 macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor.
The main camera takes some very good images with sharper details and has an excellent dynamic range. The color looks more saturated though and there are some areas of oversharpening. The contrast is good and with HDR turned on, the colors look boosted, and clearly, there is a very less amount of noise present.
The images are taken by 12MP by default and if you shoot in 108MP format, the images do crop in a bit for better dynamic range and have much better details. The noise is quite present when you zoom into the 108MP image. It has a good white balance and this sensor is better compared to the 64MP Sony IMX686 and 64MP Samsung ISOCELL GW1 sensor.
The images shot during the night have good details and the dynamic range is excellent. This one of the best cameras that works the best in low-lighting situations. The noise is present but still compared to many cameras, it has sharper details and lesser noise. Some of the details are crippled in the shadows.
Turning on the Night Mode reduces some amount of noise, restores the blown highlights in very dark areas as well as in shadows. The dynamic range is better and the contrast also improves. The long exposure shots are much better with the Night Mode and when you zoom into the images, there is plenty of details and good color saturation.
The 8MP ultrawide camera does a good job in terms of images and the dynamic range is above average. The colors look oversaturated but not as good as the main camera. There is a lot of noise present and since it has a larger 119-degree field of view, all the subjects are captured properly but when you zoom into the images, there is some softness noticed.
Moving to night images, the ultrawide camera does a good job in terms of details and the dynamic range is just average. There is a lot of noise present and the subjects look slightly softer but you do have a Night Mode that makes images look sharper with better details, restores highlights, and also reduces noise resulting in good images.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max has a 5MP macro camera which was a decent one. The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max does it even better with a 5MP macro camera that has 2x zoom capabilities as this camera can go as close as 2cm and has autofocus built-in. The resulting images have sharper details with a good dynamic range. The noise is also much lower compared to many other 5MP and 2MP macro cameras.
The color looks saturated and the exposure in the background is well maintained. For also a close-up image, the front camera can do 2x optical zoom which has better color saturation and good dynamic range. The main camera can do 2x zoom which results in images having more noise and the details are not so good.
Let's move on to portraits. The 2MP depth sensor does a great job in terms of portraits in terms of edge detection and has much sharper details. The colors do look oversaturated in the background but it handles skin tones color much better.
When you zoom into the portraits, there is some amount of noise present which is negligible and here this camera does a much better job when compared to other cameras whether it is in terms of white balance and also dynamic range. The bokeh effect is also done well with proper separation of the subject from the surroundings.
On the front, we get the familiar 16MP f/1.7 Sony IMX471 camera which we have seen on many OnePlus smartphones. The front camera does a great job of clicking selfies as the skin tones look natural and the contrast works really well. There is some slight noise present and when you zoom into the selfies, the dynamic range is good.
The same goes for the portraits as the edge detection is good with proper dynamic range. The colors look natural here also. This one of those very few smartphones to have a very good front camera.
In terms of videos, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max can shoot 4K videos at 30fps from the main camera at the rear whereas the ultrawide and the macro camera are only restricted to 1080p videos at 30fps. The 4K video footage has much sharper details, lesser noise, and the dynamic range is good. Though the lack of OIS seems to be a big miss and other than else all videos come out good.
Switching to 1080p videos at 30 or 60fps results in much better footage with excellent details and dynamic range. The presence of EIS helps in much more stabilized videos and the noise is also lower compared to the 4K videos. The ultrawide camera does a decent job in terms of videos with above-average dynamic range but the details do look a bit softer and the noise is quite present.
The macro camera can also record 1080p videos at 30fps which is a really good option as the colors look punchier with good dynamic range in videos. There is some noise present though. You also have an option for portrait videos that have a good dynamic range with proper background blur and edge detection.
At night, the videos from the main camera come out with good dynamic range but there is some noise present which can be reduced by turning on the Night Mode. It restores highlights and improves the color temperature. On the front, the 1080p videos at 30fps come out with good colors and have better dynamic range when compared to other front cameras on other smartphones.
There are also other options for videos like RAW format, Log, and also an enhanced Pro Mode for both videos and images. Overall, these cameras are one of the best in the mid-range segment and Xiaomi has got some very good features like a 108MP camera and a 5MP macro camera which also works as a telephoto camera.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Battery Life:
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max has a larger 5000mAh battery which can easily last for two days with normal usage and considering the larger display, the battery capacity is just enough and since the chipset is built on an 8nm process, the battery life seems to be better. With the display set to 120Hz, it can easily last for a single day with heavy usage.
With normal usage at 120Hz, the smartphone could easily last for one and a half-day and had some charge left. The standard screen-on time was around 6-7 hours which is really good considering the AMOLED display it has. Usually, all AMOLED displays consume lesser power compared to IPS LCD displays.
MIUI 12 brings some of the very good battery optimizations and there are many modes like a Power Saving Mode and an Ultra Power Saving Mode for better battery life. Xiaomi has bundled a 33W fast charger inside the box which can easily charge the smartphone from 0 to 100 percent in 65 to 70 minutes which is quite fast.
Still it not one of the fast chargers which we saw across the mid-range segment especially the Realme X7 and the Realme 7 Pro (Review) that have 50W/65W fast charging. It also supports 18W USB-PD charging which is a good addition and overall, the battery life seems to be good on the smartphone.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Audio Quality:
For the first time, Xiaomi has given a stereo speaker setup on a Note smartphone and the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max has one of the best stereo speakers on a mid-range smartphone to date. The sound is excellent with no distortion and even in the lowest volume settings, the sound does not feel muffled. It is much better compared to last year's single speaker on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max.
There is support for Dolby Atmos for enhanced sound effects when you are playing a game or watching videos. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack which is a big boon nowadays and the sound output through it is really good. There is support for Hi-Res audio something which is very rare across a smartphone in the mid-range segment.
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max also has a 5-axis vibration motor which gives excellent haptic feedback. However, it may not be as good as some of the flagships but still, it is one of the best we have experienced so far in a mid-range smartphone to date. Overall, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max impresses the audio department.
Verdict:
Overall, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max seems to be the best mid-range smartphone that money can buy right now in the market. It has a larger 120Hz AMOLED display, a premium build and design, 108MP camera with an improved 5MP macro camera, a larger 5000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging and good overall performance which makes it an ideal mid-range smartphone.
The most talking aspect of the smartphone is the 120Hz AMOLED display which is the first time seen on a mid-rage smartphone. Not only the higher refresh rate, the smartphone has an IR Blaster, support for microSD card, a 3.5mm headphone jack, support for HDR and Widevine L1 and also has stereo speakers which make it the best combination for media consumption.
The performance and gaming is also good as the Snapdragon 732G handles almost all the tasks without any problem. However, it may not be as good as some of its competitors like the Xiaomi Mi 10i which has the powerful Snapdragon 750G and the Realme X7 that has a Mediatek Dimensity 800U chipset. It also misses on 5G support which may not be a deal breaker to some.
Then taking about the optics, the 108MP camera does a very good job in terms of images and videos and the front camera is also very impressive making it one of the best camera centric smartphones in the mid-range segment. The battery life is also good with support for fast charging. However, the charger is not the fastest as the Realme X7 supports 50W fast charging.
The biggest con being the software experience as MIUI 12 has lot of bloatware which cannot be uninstalled and then there are a lot of notifications with some minor ads present in the user interface which makes the software experience a bit jarring. Other than that, the RAM management and the battery optimizations are better on the MIUI 12.
So to conclude, if you want a smartphone that provides the best of everything in terms of build and design, display, performance, cameras and also sound quality and not much worried about software experience, then the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is the outright smartphone to buy and is worth the upgrade over the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. Xiaomi has carved another game changing smartphone!!!
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