A Complete Redmi Note 9 Pro Review: Your Budget Flagship Phone

A Complete Redmi Note 9 Pro Review: Your Budget Flagship Phone

The Redmi Note 9 Pro has just been launched in India, and its starting price of Rs. 12,999 is surprisingly low because Xiaomi has made a couple of very interesting decisions in terms of positioning and features. It is not easy to remain before the sport, and therefore the Redmi Note 9 Pro goes up against the formidable Realme 6 and Samsung M30s. Longtime fans of the series could be surprised at how Xiaomi has actually held back a touch with this model, since expectations are always when a replacement generation of Redmi Note smartphones is announced.

Previous models, most notably the Redmi Note 8 Pro (Review), are defined by their positioning above the quality Redmi series and therefore the aspirational features they provide. While prices are still very reasonable, Xiaomi has made a habit of delivering things that folks are going to be tempted to spend a touch extra money on, such large displays, high-capacity batteries, multiple cameras, premium styling, and class-leading specifications.

The tradeoff for that new low price is that the Redmi Note 9 Pro doesn't offer many of today’s most buzzworthy features ­­– a 90Hz display, extremely fast charging, and high-resolution cameras. This phone is more about core specifications and therefore the overall usage experience. In a stimulating shuffle, though, a number of these features are often found during a new higher-tier device, the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max.

So what's during a name? Does this repositioning mean that the Redmi Note 9 Pro may be a disappointment, or can it live up to its illustrious predecessors' standards? Let's determine.

Redmi Note 9 Pro Design

By any standard, the Redmi Note 9 Pro may be a bulky phone. At 8.8mm thick and 209g in weight, many of us will find this device bulky and unwieldy. That's where Xiaomi's new ‘Aura Balance' design philosophy comes in – the corporate says that weight is distributed perfectly evenly and therefore the exterior design is symmetrical to form usage easier . We found one-handed use difficult but not impossible.

In terms of looks, Xiaomi has gone with three relatively simple colours – Interstellar Black, Glacier White, and Aurora Blue. you will not find any graidents or patterns here, though the looks is anything but subtle. Our Aurora Blue unit was bright and vibrant, with a really shiny, reflective rear panel. You will see light play across the surface when using this phone, giving the sensation of depth. Thankfully the rear panel isn't too slippery, but it does devour fingerprints as soon as you touch it.

Xiaomi has come up with a particular new camera bump design which plays into the theme of symmetry. Even the flash is centred below the four camera lenses. This is often a pleasant design touch which will set the Redmi Note 9 series apart and make this phone and its siblings recognisable. The camera module does stick out quite bit though.

The front and rear of the Redmi Note 9 Pro are both made using Gorilla Glass 5, while the frame is polycarbonate. The foremost quality on the front is in fact the new embedded selfie camera, which is centred at the highest of the screen. It’s somewhat distracting, and therefore the screen's backlighting may be a little uneven around it. Interestingly, we noted that the image of the Redmi Note 9 Pro on the duvet of its box seems to point out a smaller hole and narrow chin than the device actually has. That said, the phone still looks modern and definitely defies expectations for its price category.

The next interesting design touch is that the side-mounted fingerprint sensor, which is embedded into the facility button. This sits during a slight recess on the proper of the phone which lined up fairly well with the thumb of our right. You will find this inconvenient if you're left-handed, and we'd suggest registering multiple fingers so you'll unlock this phone whether it's in your hand or lying on a table.

Xiaomi says that this approach was chosen because it's quicker than an in-display sensor and more convenient than having one on the rear, plus it doesn't disrupt the planning of the rear panel. This is often definitely a trend within the budget segment immediately, though. We even have to notice that the selection of an LCD screen instead of AMOLED plays into how an in-display sensor are often implemented.

The volume buttons are placed awkwardly above the sensor, and are not easy to succeed in while on a call. On the left, there is a tray with slots for 2 Nano-SIMs and a microSD card. Xiaomi's trademark infrared emitter is on the highest, and may be wont to control several home appliances. There's the standard USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio socket, and speaker on rock bottom. Many of us are going to be happy to notice that there's actually a notification and charging LED hidden within the earpiece.

Xiaomi has done well in terms of design, and therefore the Redmi Note 9 Pro does feel fresh without actually changing an excessive amount of for a phone during this segment. There's also a P2i coating for splash resistance, though in fact no proper waterproofing.

Redmi Note 9 Pro Specifications and Software

Redmi Note series phones typically have impressive specifications, and Xiaomi has gone with a bigger screen and battery than ever before. You get a 6.67-inch full-HD+ (1080x2400-pixel) screen which features a tall ratio to accommodate the front camera. What might surprise many fans who follow current trends, because it's a typical 60Hz panel and doesn't have a 90Hz refresh rate like another recently launched devices, most notably the Realme 6 (Review).

Xiaomi claims that there aren't many apps that cash in of a high refresh rate, people can't really tell the difference, it is not well worth the battery life tradeoff, and therefore the Snapdragon 720G SoC isn't powerful enough. We do not necessarily accept as true with of these points, but we do need to remember that some compromises are to be expected at Rs. 12,999.

The 5020mAh battery is additionally interesting. Xiaomi claims 29 hours of VoLTE calling and 14 hours of gaming per charge. You get an 18W charger within the box – faster charging is reserved for the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max.

The Snapdragon 720G may be a modern SoC with two high-performance 2.3GHz cores and 6 power-efficient 1.8GHz cores, all manufactured on an 8nm process which is claimed to end in greater power efficiency and lower cooling . Buyers will note that the Redmi Note 8 Pro's support for Amazon's Alexa alongside Google Assistant has been dropped – Xiaomi tells us that this relied on specific capabilities of the MediaTek processor used for the previous model.

Xiaomi has noted that this is often the primary time we're seeing a 7xx-series Snapdragon processor during a Redmi Note series device at this price. It is a predictable move considering the race manufacturers are in, but calls into question Qualcomm's strategy of launching the 7xx-series as a premium tier to offset the downward migration of the 6xx-series.

You can get the Redmi Note 9 Pro with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for Rs. 12,999, or with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for Rs. 15,999. It's interesting to notice that when the Redmi Note 8 Pro had launched six months ago, Xiaomi had highlighted how 6GB of RAM was the minimum amount on offer. The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max will offer you 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage at Rs. 14,999, and is additionally the sole option if you would like to intensify to 8GB. The very fact that these two sibling models overlap might cause some confusion within the market.

Other highlights include NavIC support alongside standard GPS, dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5, and every one the quality sensors. Alongside the 18W charger and USB Type-C cable, you get only a SIM eject tool and plastic case within the box alongside this phone – the blue and white variants will ship with a transparent case while the black one will get a smoky translucent one.

MIUI 11 runs on top of Android 10, and our review unit had the February security patch. Sadly, bloatware and promotional content remain parts of Xiaomi's business strategy. The corporate does say that users can remove and/or disable a number of these features but we did see many spammy notifications.

There's no app drawer, but you are doing get some level of UI customisation. Swiping abreast of the homescreen launches the MI browser which also allows you to look for installed apps. This is often somewhat convenient but we wish we could reassign this shortcut. There is a Dark Mode, downloadable UI themes, and Google's Digital Wellbeing settings. You’ll clone apps and store sensitive data during a Second Space for privacy, and sort quick replies to messages from within the notification popups for a few apps.

Redmi Note 9 Pro Performance and Battery Life

At now, with the type of hardware used at even the low end of the market, there's not much which will be said about everyday usage. The Redmi Note 9 Pro is quite powerful enough to handle anything from basic calls and messaging all the high to heavy 3D gaming, with no trouble whatsoever. Multitasking was also smooth and trouble-free. If you're wont to a better display refresh rate you would possibly find that missing, but most of the people shouldn't really mind – aside from the sensation of missing out on something.

Ergonomically, this is not the simplest phone to use, as we've said. The massive screen does work nicely for videos and games, but the dimensions and placement of the camera bump make holding the Redmi Note 9 Pro in landscape while playing games just a touch uncomfortable. Holding it up to require long calls could also get fatiguing. The side-mounted fingerprint sensor and face recognition were both quick and effective in our experience.

The screen is fairly bright and crisp. Colours do look vibrant, and there are some adjustments within the Settings app if you would like to play with them. We did find the camera hole a touch distracting when watching videos full-screen. Some apps are designed to mask notches at the highest of the screen with a black band, and these might got to be updated to account for the dimensions and placement of camera holes just like the one on this phone. We weren't very impressed with the speaker though – sound was loud, but harsh and tinny.

As for benchmarks, there have been no surprises. The Snapdragon 720G does offer class-leading performance for a budget phone. We saw many 279,978 in AnTuTu also as 568 and 1,761 in Geekbench's single-core and multi-core tests respectively. 3DMark gave us 3,665 points in its Slingshot Unlimited test, and GFXBench's Manhattan 3.1 and Car Chase game simulations ran at 27fps and 15fps respectively.

PUBG Mobile defaulted to the top quality preset. We played a couple of rounds for about 20 minutes and located that the Redmi Note 9 Pro did get a touch warm, contrary to Xiaomi's claims. The phone never got too uncomfortable but we didn't want to play for an excessive amount of longer. Graphics were consistently smooth though, and gameplay was enjoyable. Asphalt 9: Legends didn't give us any trouble either.

We were wanting to test this phone's battery. With ordinary use, we were very happy to ascertain the Redmi Note 9 Pro easily lasting through a full day and nearly half the second day before needing a recharge. During this point we played some games, streamed video, and took many photos and videos. Our HD loop video test ran for 16 hours, 2 minutes which is sweet but not as great as we were expecting, considering that some competitors during this space can boast of scores that cross 20 hours.

Redmi Note 9 Pro Cameras

The squared-off camera bump on the rear may additionally surprise some Redmi Note series fans. The first shooter features a 48-megapixel resolution and f/1.79 aperture, and uses the new Samsung Isocell GM2 sensor. You do not get a 64-megapixel camera just like the one on the Redmi Note 8 Pro or other recent value-segment phones. That's primarily a results of the Redmi Note 9 Pro addressing a lower market tier with its lower prices – you are doing get a 64-megapixel camera with the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max.

Next thereto you will find an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, which is pretty standard for this price index. The 2-megapixel depth sensor within the lower row is additionally basic and commonplace. What’s interesting is that the incontrovertible fact that the macro camera features a 5-megapixel resolution, which should be a pleasant raise from the barely-useful 2-megapixel ones we have seen in most phones lately.

Xiaomi boasts of an improved Night Mode, super phase detection autofocus, and a color profile optimised for Indian tastes. Video are often recorded at 4K 30fps or 1080p at 60fps. 720p slow-mo recording goes up to 960fps. One among this phone's primary target audiences is video content creators, especially TikTok users, so there is a Short Video mode with a 15-second cutoff. You’ll also shoot video using the macro camera, or save RAW 8-bit footage for external processing.

The front camera features a 16-megapixel resolution, and once more the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max offers a intensify to 32 megapixels. Slow-mo up to 120fps is feasible also. There's AI beautification which is on by default.

The camera app is simple for the foremost part, but there are some quirks. As an example, you've got to open a submenu to seek out the Macro camera icon. There are 0.6x, 1x and 2x zoom selectors right above the shutter button – the primary two switch between the wide-angle and standard cameras, but the zoom is all digital. As usual, we had to manually disable Xiaomi's advertising watermark on photos.

Starting with daytime photos, we found the first camera to be reasonably good, but it doesn't break any new ground in terms of quality or flexibility. Close-ups looked good and details were clear in foreground subjects. Distant objects were also well represented if there was adequate light and textures weren't too complex. The wide-angle camera isn't regrettable, but quality definitely suffers. Despite promising distortion correction, there's still some fairly obvious warping at the edges of frames.

The 5-megapixel macro camera does deliver much higher quality shots than we have seen from most other macro cameras, and therefore the camera app makes it obvious when you're holding the phone at the right distance to lock focus. Many of our attempts still begin looking dull though, often with washed-out colours and poorly balanced exposures.

At night, we found the Redmi Note 9 Pro's primary camera to be good if there was many artificial light around, otherwise details were lost. Low-light landscapes were unimpressive. The wide-angle camera delivered murky results, but we didn't expect an excessive amount of from it. Night mode was surprisingly ineffective – it did help balance dark scenes with bright lights that might otherwise just be overexposed blotches, but it didn't do anything within the least for shots of subjects in the dark, which other phones are capable of improving.

The front camera is fairly good within the daytime also as in the dark, but we didn't just like the aggressive beautification which made faces look artificial. Details were good within the daytime also as in the dark, and portrait shots had nicely blurred backgrounds.

Video shot at 1080p looked fine, with good stabilisation. Our only complaint was that our test footage was a touch overexposed. At 4K, colours went completely out of whack and our sample shots had an overwhelming, unnatural red tone. The shimmer effect was pretty bad in the dark when shooting at 1080p. An equivalent situation was evident in the dark – 1080p footage wasn't usable if we were moving, but we managed to capture usable footage if we stood still.

Verdict

With over 100 million units sold, the Redmi Note 9 Pro features a huge legacy to measure up to. For its price, the bottom variant is a superb option, and raises the bar in terms of features and performance. However, this phone is more of an upgrade to the Redmi Note 8 (Review) than the Redmi Note 8 Pro (Review), as its name might suggest, and that is getting to be a touch confusing for buyers.

We just like the Redmi Note 9 Pro for its overall style, and it could easily stand next to full-priced flagships from five or six years ago. The specifications are very impressive and that we had only a few complaints when using this phone for day-to-day tasks also as general entertainment. The first camera may be a letdown though, especially in low light. We also found this phone a touch too bulky for our liking.

Throughout this review, we've referenced the higher-end Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, because because it seems, Xiaomi has interleaved the costs of its variants in order that the primary intensify from the bottom Redmi Note 9 Pro priced at Rs. 12,999 is really the sibling model. For Rs. 14,999, you recover front and rear cameras, more RAM, and faster charging. The Rs. 15,999 variant of the quality Redmi Note 9 Pro is priced even higher, just for more storage. However, you get the relatively poorer feature set, making this particular variant very hard to recommend. The lineup seems much more convoluted and confusing than it must be – and there is now confirmation of a replacement Redmi Note 9S which could or won't come to India.

While it's hard to ascertain the worth within the 6GB+128GB version of the Redmi Note 9 Pro, the 4GB+64GB version has been launched at a fantastic price. We hope to ascertain Xiaomi improve things on the camera front through software updates. If that happens, this phone might be very, very hard to beat.