Xiaomi recently launched its budget-centric smartphone, the Redmi Note 8 Pro, in India. The smartphone comes with a price tag of Rs 14,999 for 4GB RAM + 64GB internal storage, 6GB RAM + 128GB internal storage and 8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage.
Xiaomi’s latest smartphone is loaded with all the latest technologies. This is the first smartphone from the company to feature a 64-megapixel shooter and a first in Redmi Note series to be equipped with a quad-camera setup. This coupled with the new design language and latest gaming-centric Chipset from MediaTek, Xiaomi is trying to project its latest Redmi Note 8 Pro as the ultimate smartphone in this price range. We have used the device for a while now and here are our thoughts on the latest device from Xiaomi.
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A great design with a fault! Display looks just fine!
The Redmi Note 7 Pro is certainly a well-designed smartphone from Xiaomi. The device features a glass and metal sandwich, which sure looks modern. The company has added a glass design at the back panel, which comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The front panel comes with a notch design and the company has managed to cut down some bezels around the corner.
The placement of the power button is apt, though, for volume controls, you need to stretch your finger to reach. The left side features two slots out of which one is SIM card and microSD card slot, while the other is another SIM slot. That said, the overall design language seems to be quite interesting, though it still has one big fault – the placement of the fingerprint sensor. The back panel features a camera hump and Xiaomi has added a fingerprint sensor into the camera module. This makes it quite uncomfortable when you unlock the smartphone using the fingerprint sensor. Most of the time, you will end up smudging the camera sensor when you try to unlock the device. This also means that you have to clean the camera sensor frequently so that the camera performance is not hindered.
Coming to the display, the Redmi Note 7 Pro is equipped with a 6.53-inch Full HD+ IPS display with a screen Resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. The viewing angles are quite decent and the colour reproduction is good for an IPS display, though it is lacking behind the AMOLED screen of Galaxy M30s and Realme XT in terms of deep blacks and contrast. The panel is slightly reflective, which sometimes hinders the viewing experience during daylight.
Performance is up to the mark, Software still needs refinement!
The Redmi Note 7 Pro is powered by the latest MediaTek Helio G90T chipset along with ARM Mali-G76 MC4 GPU. The phone is paired with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage. We got the top model for review and we did not notice any kind of lag or stutter during our usage time. The apps were quick to open and multi-tasking was quite decent on this smartphone.
Coming to the gaming performance, the Redmi Note 8 Pro does a good job in handling all the games you throw at it. Games like PUBG Mobile ran smoothly with high graphics settings. However, we did notice the phone was overheating during the extended gameplay despite sporting a dedicated liquid cooling technology. For a full-fledged gaming review, you can click here.
Coming to the software, the Redmi Note 8 Pro runs on MIUI 10, which is based on Android 9.0 Pie. As usual, the MIUI 10 comes with its fair share of hits and misses. The phone is loaded with the Second Space feature, which allows users to set up a parallel profile for the smartphone.
Then there are gesture-based navigation controls, which are easy-to-use. Interestingly, this is the first smartphone from Xiaomi that comes with both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa virtual assistant. The dual wake feature works perfectly fine in our testing and one can also ask either Alexa or Assistant at any time even when the device is locked.
Coming to the downside, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is still loaded with a lot of bloatware. The company has added a new GetApps that spams you with new apps to try. Then there are Mi Community, Mi Pay, Mi Store, Mi Credit and other company’s apps in this smartphone. Furthermore, the problem of ads persists in MIUI 10. The major culprit here is the Mi Security apps, which pops up every time you install an application and in the name of scanning shows you advertisements. This completely spoils the whole mood and makes difficult for those who love to download new apps on their smartphones. Furthermore, apps like Music and Mi Video spams you with a lot of notifications throughout the day.
Cameras are decent, not something out-of-the-box!
Xiaomi has added four cameras on the rear panel of the Redmi Note 8 Pro. The phone is loaded with a 64-megapixel Samsung Bright GW1 ISOCELL sensor, an 8-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, 2-megapixel depth sensor and another 2-megapixel macro lens. For the front, the phone has a 20-megapixel selfie camera that supports AI beauty.
Starting with daylight performance, the photos came out to be crisp and well detailed. The colours were close to the source and dynamic range was to the point. The photos taken from the 64MP camera delivered almost similar results, though one can notice better details when you zoom in. The photos clicked using Macro lens came out to be decent as well, though you need to keep patience when it comes to focusing. We used a Wide-Angle lens to click photos and the results were quite average in our opinion.
Coming to the portrait, the phone once again does a good as the background blur looks natural and the EDGE detection works just fine. In low light, the photos were passable as we noticed some grains and noises in photos. Furthermore, the photos clicked wide angle came out to be quite dark and there was an instant drop in image quality. The night mode does add some lights to the pictures, however, you need to keep it still. Furthermore, apart from adding more light, the Night Mode does little to increase the details of the image. The front camera does a good job in daylight condition, though, in low light, it still delivers some above-average shots. The Redmi Note 8 Pro can shoot videos up to 4K with 30fps capping. The video quality is decent in daylight condition.
Battery is dependable!
Coming to the battery, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is loaded with a 4000mAh battery with 18W Fast charging support. Under normal usage, we got almost 2 days of battery backup. Coming to power usage, we got almost one full day of battery backup. As for the charging time is concerned, it takes almost 1.5 to 2 hours to get fully charged. Apart from this, the fingerprint sensor works just fine and the face unlock is fast to unlock the smartphone. The sound quality is dependable and is call connectivity.