Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Review: Classic Fortitude and Top Snaps for £200

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 comes with excellent camera performance and longer battery life. It is absolutely a budget phone with high-quality specs. However, its design and performance is not so appealing but showing stamina in many regions where the Moto G8 fails. Though, it becomes a feasible substitute.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Features and Specs

Quick Review

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 is an inexpensive handset that contains an outstanding battery timing and a big FHD plus display. It has an exceptionally good camera bump. Though, it lacks the most attractive design, with a completely-plastic figure and somewhat heavy dimensions. Redmi sustains quiet enough to use. On the front of the handset, you will find the advantage of shrill bezels and a neat hole-blow notch.

The handset comes with a 6.53-inches LCD that becomes appealingly bright. This display supports FHD plus resolution which is sufficiently crisp. However, it is not an OLED that top-end phones possess, but recollect that we are reviewing on a sub £200 handset here. If we’re candid, enactment is somewhat slang, because of a cut-rate Media Tek Helio G85 processor that doesn’t constantly provide the runniest capability. Still, it’s proficient in running the new games realistically well.

However, where we’re a bit upset by the performance of the Redmi Note 9, there too satisfied with its camera. Although, a QUAD-camera format is a bit ample. It comes with a 48-megapixel leading sensor that can capture some really amazing shots in decent lighting. Even more inspiring is the Redmi Note 9’s battery life. It can easily standby for a full two days of regular use, thanks to its absolutely large 5,020mAh battery. It’s a powerful attitude that results in the phone’s pretty heavy dimensions, but it compensates generously.

Xiaomi has made a few improvements with its hottest Android skin, MIUI 12, which is obtainable as a modernized feature. It’s a piercing, more graceful, and well-looking UI than previous models. Generally speaking, it’s another good budget exertion released by Xiaomi. If you want a handset with an amazing camera and battery life then Redmi Note 9 is perfect for you. It is also perfect for those who have set their budget up to £200 for a handset. It might not be your preferred budget handset – it’s difficult to look back at the advantages of the MOTO G8’s elegant body and smooth software capability in everyday usage. But relying on your specific desires may just indicate to be yours.

Redmi Note 9 Availability and Price

• Prices as £199
• Released in May 2020 for buyers

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 first knockout the stores on May 12, 2020. It is available in the UK at the price begins from £179 for the 64GB version, goes up to £199 for the 128GB version. At the time of reviewing, however, Xiaomi arranged a 10th-anniversary auction where you could get top-model at reasonable prices. On this sale, the Redmi Note 9 sold for just £159, together with a free Redmi Power Bank of 10,000mAh. We’ve also found the lesser-capability version going for a similar low cost on Amazon.

Redmi Note 9 Design

• All-plastic frame,
• Gorilla Glass 5 display protector,
• Rear-fixed fingerprint scanner
• 162.3 x 77.2 x 8.9mm,
• Weight: 199g

When it comes to its design, the Redmi Note 9 places at the ‘efficient plastic’ end of the range. There is no sign of metallic frames as other top-ends have. The only glass you’ll get is the Gorilla Glass 5 pane that protects the front display. Of course, you wouldn’t imagine first-class constituents in the sub-£200 rate group. The Xiaomi designed it with plastic material in the form of a prominent covering blue frame texture. Its back panel swings from sky blue at the upper side to lavender at the end. This is the Polar White model we are discussing. The Midnight Grey and Forest Green versions don’t appear quite as bright.

It is a quite bigger handset for that cost. It’s quite large at 162.3mm, mainly heavy at 8.9mm, and truly pretty hefty at 199g. It comes with a huge battery that lasts for two days that’s amazing though. Xiaomi has avoided the usage of an in-display fingerprint scanner with the Redmi Note 9, which is a pure money-saving approach. This is not essentially an odd thing in our book, as in-screen technology works quite slower than a comparable sit-alone scanner.

However, many of us will not like fingerprint scanner here which is hard to find. It lacks edge designation which makes it difficult to feel out.  It also takes a seat quite secretly as part of the prolonged camera section. So, it is visually unclear too. Nearby the front, the Redmi Note 9 has the type of negligible bezels and blow-hole selfie camera. We’re familiar with inexpensive phones going with a central droplet notch, so it’s an elegant touch too. The bottom verge possesses a USB-C port, a mono speaker, and a 3.5mm earphone jack. But it’s the top verge that covers the main interest – an IR blaster. This Blaster can be set to utilize as a backup remote controller for all your sitting room stuff.

Redmi Note 9 Display

• It comes with 6.53-inches IPS LCD
• No OLED
• Good brightness
• Well-adjusted colors

  

A sub-£200 asking price promises one thing when it proceeds to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9’s screen. It’s not an OLED display. This is a bad update. The good update arrives in the form of a big 6.53-inches IPS LCD that normally knockouts a bright 450 nits. It yields a Full HD plus resolution, too, which isn’t an assurance still at this price rate. For an inexpensive LCD, this is pleasantly color-correct. You’re not bound for getting those profound inky blacks, of course.

However, watching videos and pictures on it endured a comprehensively enjoyable experience all through our testing phase. Picking for the saturated display approach offers a bit more pop colors. Although, the distinctions are not as noticeable as on Xiaomi’s OLED-storing devices for instance the POCO F2 Pro. You won’t find any high display refresh-rate expertise with the Redmi Note 9, which mainly develop on the costlier handsets. But all together, Xiaomi has stressed the accurate things with this inexpensive display.

Redmi Note 9 Cameras

• It comes with four back cameras and a single Selfie camera
• 48MP primary, 8MP Ultra-wide lens, 2MP macro lens, 2MP depth lens
• Video records at 1080p 30fps
• 13MP forward-facing Selfie camera

  

We’ve been inclined to be extremely captivated with the camera tech that Xiaomi stores into its Redmi Note series. The last model the Redmi Note 8T stroked well overhead its weight with a mainly inspiring Quad-camera format. The Redmi Note 9 seems to be very same indeed. Another time, you acquire a 48-megapixel leading camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens, a 2-megapixel devoted depth, and 2-megapixel macro sensor. It seems like a top score here, but the 2-megapixel macro actually covers unnecessary space where it is placed, and the depth sensor seems rather surplus.

Read Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T Appraisal: Redmi’s 1st 5G Enabled Handset

The remaining doubt is that budget handset companies just throw such modules into the combination. This is because they’re a money-making way of striking ‘quad-camera’ prestige. Call us pessimistic, but we can’t find how many of these 2-megapixel lenses add something expressive to regular shooting. Objections apart, we are mainly captivated by the shots the Redmi Note 9 takes. On condition that if good lighting available, you’ll get the sort of crunchy, well-stable shots. It takes so amazing snaps that you’d presume to pay £400 or more to attain such a quality picture. We did choose up the strange clue of overexposure. But on the whole, the phone controlled large dynamic array setups estimably well for its price tag.

The 8-megapixel Ultra-wide angle lens competes with the tone of the primary camera pretty well. Though, looking thoroughly exposes sufficiently of noise – particularly as your responsiveness moves away to the edges of the surrounding. Still, it’s a relaxing option every time. Ordinary 1X shots yield visual info from four pixels to make a good one, thus mixing out piercing 12MP shots. Even deprived of a devoted telephoto lens, it’s likely to safe functional 2X shots. It is possible by using that pixel-storing primary sensor in combination with a few smooth Xiaomi software. But on higher zooming, you’ll begin to notice some grim noise.

The Redmi Note 9 doesn’t hold up night-time or very dim-light settings well, Here its budget type really deceives itself. Here also comes a devoted Night mode, which will considerably enhance such shots. However, it takes shots that are full of rough objects and therefore off-putting. Video recording isn’t equal to the standard of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T, with a simple 1080p 30fps on bid.

Though its precursor offers video recording up to 4K 30fps/1080p 60fps, it does not offer 4K video recording. Though it runs a basic function, Here’s also a 13-megapixel front-facing selfie camera too, which is decent for selfies once you’ve returned the horrific ‘beauty’ filters. One last note to Xiaomi and all other company that picks to slap a special watermark on each picture by default: Please just stop this. Yes, you can search about it in the settings menu to turn off this maddening spec.

Specs of Redmi Note 9

Performance of Xiaomi Redmi Note 9

• Subnormal MediaTek Helio G85 processor
• Storage 64GB or 128GB
• RAM 4GB
• MIUI 12 upgrade makes enhancements

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 does not come with largely amazing performance. You don’t obtain the Snapdragon 665 processor here that top rivals, for example, the Moto G8 have. As an alternative, this handset comes out with the inexpensive MediaTek Helio G85 processor. Though for gaming the Redmi Note 9 grasps its own. On the other hand, The Gardens between runs sensibly well, it does so with the strange stumble and an extremely low level of visual reliability.

The Redmi Note 9 comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB or 128GB storage. The choice of inner space capabilities is sufficient at either 64GB or 128GB. You can’t surely want for more at this cost. Though the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 comes with Android 10 and MIUI 11. We got that there was an upgrade to MIUI 12 obtainable from the beginning. It’s a great development though. You have to physically activate the gesture steering system. It doesn’t set upon the innovative splitting Notification Shade menu by default. When activated, we got that this last iOS-aping facility positively declutters the slightly packed Android default.

With MIUI 12, you don’t obtain the decorative fresh live wallpapers of more skilled Xiaomi/POCO handsets but it’s a minor sacrifice. It’s possible that these may not run too smoothly on Note 9’s restricted hardware, refereeing from our experience. Otherwise, web browsing and social media scrolling are pretty fast with Redmi Note 9. But you may feel irritation by Xiaomi’s pre-installed apps that take up more space. You may need to install Facebook or Netflix of your choice but pre-installed apps may irritate you a little.

Battery Life

• 5,020mAh large battery
• It lasts for two full days
• 18W Faster Charging

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 comes with a 5,020mAh battery. This may consider quite large in high-end handsets with a 4K display and a 120Hz refresh rate. Xiaomi offers this alone in an inexpensive handset with much less challenging hardware. Though, size isn’t the whole thing when it goes to its battery life. Smart software is also essential if you need good stamina. However, it counts sufficiently. And the outcome is that it is an appropriate two-day standby battery handset.

If you’re an obvious media hound or a total power user then this isn’t possibly the handset for you anyway. Anyhow the Redmi Note 9 lasts for two full days from a single charge. It is running well while using streaming services on the internet. We have tested the battery life by viewing the Netflix for an hour with the display intensity set to half. It exhausted 7% of a charge – a decent, but not amazingly good outcome. Also prominent is the point that the Redmi Note 9 offers 18W fast charging. Though it is not the quickest standard on the marketplace, it’s still striking in such an inexpensive handset.

Should I purchase the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9?

Purchase it if:

• You have set a budget of up to £200 and want the amazing camera phone

If you want to buy a handset with an amazing camera also for just £200 then Redmi Note 9 is for you. It comes with four rear cameras and a front-facing selfie camera. Its main 48-megapixel camera, in general, can take well balanced and eye-catching shots in good lighting. The 13MP selfie camera is good here.

• You need a longer battery life phone

The Redmi Note 9 comes with an outstanding 5,020mAh battery. It’s remarkably good for an inexpensive handset. You will be glad to have such a reasonable handset that lasts for two full days. If you are in search of a reasonably good battery life handset then you should pick up this one.

Don’t Purchase it if:

• You want a first-class design

If you want a premium-looking handset with a glass back and metallic frames then Redmi Note 9 is not for you. As Redmi Note 9 comes with a heavy and thick full plastic body that does not inspire someone too much. Many inexpensive handsets have premium design in the market place you should go for them.

• You want a well-performing CPU

The Redmi Note 9 comes with the MediaTek Helio G85 processor which is cheaper and low performing than other top ends. It does not run as smooth as other Top-end rivals that come with a Snapdragon chipset. However, if you want to run demanding games and heavy apps smoothly without any pause then go for other top-ends.