Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro reviewxiaomi redmi note 9 pro max review redmi note 9 pro review
Flamboyant smartphone design is the new in-thing for the industry and it’s hard to blame anyone for this trend. Present a flashy phone to the consumers and some of them might not even care what’s underneath the hood. In my opinion, Realme has been guilty of pushing the same smartphone design on consumers since the Realme XT (review) back in September. Xiaomi’s Redmi Note series, which could be considered the company’s bread and butter, has always been one to experiment with new design elements on every new iteration. I was a fan of the Redmi Note 8 Pro’s (review) design which gave the phone a more premium touch than what the price tag warranted. Now Xiaomi’s latest Redmi Note 9 Pro has won me over again simply because of its aesthetically pleasing value.
On paper, the Redmi Note name commands powerful specs with a clear focus on performance. This appears not to be the case for the Note 9 Pro. Don’t get me wrong, for a starting price of Rs 12,999, what the Note 9 Pro offers is quite spectacular and would’ve been unheard of just two years back considering even the company’s own highly remarkable standards. The competition (read Realme) has however caught up, and it has time and time again upended the budget smartphone segment held so dearly by Xiaomi till 2018. With the Note 9 Pro Max also in the fray, I have dissected what Xiaomi wants to achieve with the Note 9 Pro and here are my thoughts.
Verdict
There is definitely merit to the Redmi Note 9 Pro’s gigantic battery life and capable cameras. However, overlapping prices of the Note 9 Pro and the Note 9 Pro Max variants have made recommendations quite confusing. Throw into the mix the Realme 6 (review) which has arguably better specs on paper and things become even more confusing.
That design tho’…
It’ll be an understatement for me to say that I’m impressed with the ‘Aura Balance’ design philosophy implemented on the Redmi Note 9 Pro.
I was a fan even of the Redmi Note 7 Pro (review) back in February last year and of the Redmi Note 5 Pro (review) the year before that. Redmi phones, for me, have consistently excelled in showing off its devices as eye candy, at least more than what the price tag demands.
It’s not every day that you see phones under Rs 15,000 sporting Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on both the front and back.
We have received the Aurora Blue variant for review purposes and let me tell you that it is nothing short of breathtaking.
I have recently become quite bored with the repetitive dual-tone gradient finishes or even prism-like reflections of polycarbonate backs. However, the extremely bright glass back of the Note 9 Pro throws different shapes at you whenever light is cast on it.
The design cues are very similar to the Note 8 Pro but in the case of the Note 9 Pro, the glass back makes for much more aesthetically pleasing appeal.
Redmi has also changed its positioning of the quad-camera system, opting for a Huawei Mate 20 Pro-like matrix implementation, although for the Note 9 Pro the array is positioned at the top centre of the phone and also acquires less surface area than the Huawei Mate 20 Pro (review).
The camera bump, which is covered in Gorilla Glass 5, is also quite significant which tends to make phone wobble on a flat surface.
Other design elements include a side-mounted capacitive fingerprint sensor that has been integrated with the power button, like the POCO X2 (review). Above it is the volume rocker buttons and on the top of the phone is an IR blaster.
The phone’s bottom houses the Type-C port, speaker grille, and the 3.5mm headphone jack. There is a certain extra weight on the Note 9 Pro which can be attributed to the beefy 5,020mAh battery packed into the phone. However, the curved glass on the back makes for good grip even if it is the biggest fingerprint magnet I’ve ever seen.
Like many other Note-series phones before it, the Redmi Note 9 Pro features P2i splash-proof nano-coating technology which should prevent any small water-related damage such as using the phone in light rain and more.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro also offers the option of expandable storage alongside dual-SIM cards, a feature that was introduced first in the Note 8 Pro. Xiaomi has also touted the haptic capabilities with the Z-axis motor though in my usage of the device I was not mightily impressed.
Un-refreshing display
The Note series never had an extraordinary display to boast off. It was a screen that seemed suitable for the price it was being marketed at. POCO and Realme have changed the rules for budget phones by introducing 120Hz and 90Hz screens, thereby giving a much wider audience access to the wonders of a high refresh rate panel.
I would’ve expected Xiaomi to move step-by-step with its competition even if the company is no more an industry trendsetter like it has always been before.
Alas, I’ve been let down.
While there is nothing categorically wrong with a 60Hz panel, putting the Note 9 Pro against a similarly-priced Realme 6, gives the perception of smoother performance in the latter.
Even so, the support for high refresh rate content is considerably limited right now so I won’t hold it against Xiaomi for the time being.
As a viewing companion though there is really nothing to nitpick on the Note 9 Pro. It is a standard IPS LCD display with decent viewing angles, good contrast ratio, punchy colours (slightly oversaturated), and impressive brightness levels.
This is also the very first Xiaomi phone in India to come with a hole-punch display but since nearly every other phone has implemented it before, there is nothing special to write about it other than the fact it is slightly bigger than what I’ve come to expect and also is positioned at the top centre, like the Galaxy Note 10-series.
Cameras are impressive
I’ll be honest, when I first laid my eyes on the images clicked by the Redmi Note 9 Pro, I was not impressed.
At the time, there appeared to be some focussing issues during low light and extreme smoothening of details. However, over time when I started using it in more varied lighting scenarios indoors and outdoors, I have started to straight-up love the phone’s camera.
Let’s talks specs first, the phone’s primary camera is a 48MP Samsung ISOCELL GM2 sensor which is the upgraded version of the GM1 sensor that many previous year’s phones had. Xiaomi has undoubtedly put more faith in the GW2 rather than the 64MP GW1 sensor on the Redmi Note 8 Pro.
While the pixel count has been reduced from the Note 8 Pro to the Note 9 Pro, I would’ve to say the image quality has definitely improved.
Redmi has always been one to click true-to-life colours as compared to its competitors and the Redmi Note 9 Pro conforms to that reality.
Details have constantly remained on the higher side and they become even more pronounced when using the 48MP mode.
Exposure tended to be a problem when the sun was shining right on the sensor and I had to manually adjust the exposure meter to get a good shot.
Otherwise, Note 9 Pro has an impressive dynamic range and colour management capabilities.
There is no unnecessary AI colour boosting technology like some Realme and Vivo phones, giving a much more natural feel to the photos.
Autofocus is also up to the mark although there have been times when the lens could not detect the subject in which case I had to tap to focus.
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