Review: Xiaomi Redmi Note

Xiaomi Redmi Note

Price: Rs 9000

Xiaomi was probably not contenpt with its successes with the Mi3 and Redmi 1S in recent times. Now it has come up with a phablet – Redmi Note. The Redmi Note looks like a scaled-up version of the Redmi 1S. It sports a 5.5” HD IPS display and is powered by an Octa-Core processor from MediaTek supported by 2 GB RAM. This dual-SIM device promises great performance in an affordable price. Let’s find out if it can really do what it claims.

Accessories

The Redmi Note is priced in the low-end segment for a phablet, which naturally reflects in the lack of certain accessories such as headset. The box contains the basic accessories as below.

• USB Charger (Output 5V, 2A)
• Li-Ion 3100 mAh battery
• Micro-USB data/charging cable
• Manuals and warranty card

The charger is actually better than the one that comes with the Xiaomi Mi3 because of two reasons:

1. It has a better current output of 2000 mA as against 1000 mA of the Mi3 charger, which means faster charging.

2. It has a matte finish, which is resistant to dust and fingerprints, unlike the piano-black finish of the Mi3 charger.

Features

The Xiaomi Redmi Note appears to be like a scaled up version of the Redmi 1S. Although priced at just Rs 9000, the Redmi Note sports really good build quality and appears more expensive than it actually is. It is rectangular, but with slightly rounded corners. While the front glass face is black, the removable back cover is white with a glossy finish having a pixie dust treatment that makes it shimmer.

The front of the phone almost entirely features the touchscreen protected against scratches by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The actual touchscreen area is 5.5" excluding some bezel area. The IPS screen boasts of HD pixel dimensions of 1280x720 at 267 PPI, and the images really appear crisp with good colour reproduction even at wide angles. While it may be scratch-resistant, it is an incredible dust magnet and you will be at your wit's end trying to keep it clean.

Just like the Redmi 1S and unlike the Mi3, the Redmi Note doesn't have the super-sensitivity touchscreen setting, which would have made it possible to operate it even with gloves on. Of course, it doesn't matter in India, as this is only of use in cold countries where people need to wear gloves in winter.

Red backlit capacitive buttons for Android are present on the lower bezel, thus leaving the entire touchscreen for the user's perusal. The top has a speaker at the centre, a proximity sensor on the left, and the front camera on the right of the phone. 

Once the back panel is removed, the battery can be seen and it is possible to remove it. There are also two slots for mini-SIMs, of which one supports 3G, while the other 2G. A memory card slot is also present here to accommodate a micoSD card with up to 32 GB capacity. Before I forget to mention, the internal storage is only 8 GB, so you might need to exercise this storage augmentation option.

The handset weighs 199 grams, but doesn’t feel as heavy in the hands. Its dimensions of 154 mm x 78.7 mm obviously don't allow one-handed operation. The thickness is just 9.5 mm, including the slight main camera protrusion.

A 3.5 mm headphone jack is present at the top, which accepts standard headphones and also handsfree headsets. An active noise cancellation microphone is present at the top, to filter out unwanted noise while you have a conversation, so that the other party hears your voice clearly. This indeed works very well for Skype as well as phone calls.

The micro-USB socket is rectangular, without any demarcation about how to orient the plug while inserting. This may result in some confusion as some may try to forcefully insert the plug in the wrong direction, causing physical damage to either the port or the plug.

The only physical buttons on the unit are the volume and power buttons.

 

Camera

The Redmi Note comes equipped with dual cameras. The rear camera with a 13 mp image sensor and autofocus. Image stabilisation is not present in the camera, so you need to have a pair of steady hands to get good photos. The camera can also snap HDR photos via a built-in mode, although you need to be able to hold it dead-still while it takes a few shots for a split second and combines them internally to produce the HDR photo. Of course, the camera can also record Full HD (1080p) videos. A single LED is present to facilitate flash photography or videography in the dark, although it is not bright enough to be really dependable for that purpose.

 

If you dig selfies, then the 5 mp front camera should delight you. In addition to wide angle photos with multiple face detection, it is also capable of 720p HD recording. While it can take snaps and record videos, this camera is mainly meant to be used for video calling over 3G or in IM applications such as Skype. Both the cameras boast of BSI (Backside Illumination), which is supposed to help them with better low light photography.

The camera performance is decent and even better than most smartphones in this range, but at least some amount of noise is evident in all lighting conditions. Excessive noise reduction also reduces the visual quality, but this is more evident when you zoom into the picture at actual resolution. Low light photography or video recording should be ruled out in most cases because the camera finds it difficult to focus in such lighting conditions. The camera app allows you to assign the camera shutter function to the volume buttons, which gives more control over the shot than it is possible via the touch interface shutter button. Without a dedicated camera button, you need to rely on either auto-focus or touch-to-focus.

Technical Features

The Redmi Note is powered by MediaTek MTK6592 chipset, which includes a 1.7 GHz Octa-core CPU. Graphics is handled by the Mali-450MP4 GPU. There is 2 GB of LPDDR2 RAM to allow most heavy apps and games to run smoothly. Although the chipset is strong on paper, there is some noticeable lag even while moving between menus in the phone, which is unlike the Qualcomm Snapdragon powered Redmi 1S. As mentioned earlier, there is 8 GB of internal storage, with a microSD card slot to add up to 32 GB more.

The device runs Android 4.2 with the company's own MIUI interface. The MIUI interface actually makes it easier to navigate and access the phone's features and only adds to the stock Android interface. There are various nifty features such as the ability to select a system default font.

 

Some of the other specs of the Redmi Note include tri-band 2G, dual-band 3G, Wi-Fi with hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS (assisted), GLONASS, FM Radio, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, compass, light sensor, and USB OTG.

Additional Features With Screenshots

Swiping down the notification bar reveals a tab called Toggles. This is where you can quickly access eleven of the phone features we usually toggle. This shortcut is great for convenience and saves time.

 

The settings allows you to specify notification light colours for default notifications, calls, and messages. You can choose from amongst seven colours as can be seen in the below screenshot.

For some reason, Xiaomi seems to have omitted the screen colour calibration settings found in the Redmi 1S and the Mi3, meant to allow you to fine tune the screen colours.
To keep your system running in top notch condition, Xiaomi provides a set of tools to optimise the system performance. These utilities also include a virus scanner, power manager, data usage controller, and a facility to manage blocked phone numbers.

Multimedia Performance
Like any Android device, the Redmi Note supports just about every audio and video format, as long as the proper player app is installed, and these are available aplenty in the Google Play Store. Movie playback is smooth. Movies up to 1080p are handled without stuttering.

The audio performance is decent, and mainly depends on the quality of headphones/earphones you plug in. The settings allow the phone to be set to vibrate with beats, somewhat enhancing the experience while you are in contact with the phone.

The handset comes with Dirac technology - a common feature on Xiaomi phones. This optimises audio quality according to the type of headphones being used. In fact, there are several presets to choose from, depending on the type of headset, altering the way the audio is rendered.

A 7-band equalizer is provided to further control the audio output. There are 11 presets as well as the ability to create custom settings and save them.

Volume levels can be controlled independently for ringtone and notifications, alarm, voice, music and multimedia, and Bluetooth.

There is an option to configure the buttons of a headset plugged into the phone. You can assign the buttons various functions for volume control as well as music playback.

In case you don't want to remain shackled to the phone by headphones, the loudspeaker is extraordinarily loud and clear, almost comparable to laptop speakers.

Network Performance

Call quality was found to be very good with both SIM cards. The voice clarity is remarkable and it continues to be so even when the network coverage is weak. Noise cancellation actually works, as mentioned earlier.

Wi-Fi performance is also good with the device being able to maintain good reception even through several walls of obstructions.

Gaming Performance and Benchmarks

The Redmi Note is good for gaming, although it does start stuttering in some of the more complex HD games such as GTA San Andreas. For most other popular games such as Candy Crush, this handset is a joy to game on, not only because of the fluid graphics, but also because of the good quality accompanying sound from the loudspeaker, which doesn’t produce jarring sound even at high volume levels. It must also be noted that the handset doesn’t get hot even after a long gaming session.

For those who are interested, here are the scores for the three most intensive and popular benchmarks for Android.

Antutu

Quadrant

PCMark for Android with battery life test

3DMark (Ice Storm)

Basemark X (Medium Quality)

Battery Life

The enduring 3100 mAh battery lasted for over a day and a half of general usage comprising web browsing and YouTube videos over 2G and Wi-Fi, a couple of hours of videos, music, and a couple of hours of calling. While most smartphones struggle to keep up from dawn to dusk, the Redmi Note certainly gets a few valuable brownie points for going many extra miles. This indicates a very efficient battery management under the hood, considering that the device runs power-hungry components such as the octa-core CPU, Mali-450MP GPU, and a 5.5" HD screen.

SAR Value

Contrary to popular belief, Xiaomi does print the SAR value of this handset inside the battery compartment as can be seen below. The maximum value for this handset is 0.760 W/kg, which is well below the country’s accepted limit of 1.6 W/kg.

Additionally, you can also see that the device is CE certified which is not only printed in the battery compartment, but also on the box.

My Verdict

The Xiaomi Redmi Note has done it again for the company, which is to give the consumer an affordable option of a phablet with good features, powerful specs, and good performance. The MediaTek octa-core chipset may not be as good as the Qualcomm Snapdragon on its other tablets, but it does get the job done. It is a good camera-phone (except in low light) with the 13 mp main camera capturing decent details and featuring 1080p video capture. The 5 mp front camera is good for selfies. The large screen is really good if you want to watch movies or play games, and the speaker gives good accompaniment. Priced at Rs 9000, it doesn’t really have a competitor as such, except the upcoming Redmi Note 4G from the company featuring all the same specs with the exception of a Snapdragon chipset in place of the MediaTek, which should make it more interesting of a proposition in the phablet market.

Pros: Great specs, Good performance for gaming, Crisp screen, Good looks and build quality, Good battery life, Good pricing.

Cons: Some lag in menus, Mediocre camera especially in low-light, Inadequate LED light.

Features: 4.5/5

Performance: 4/5

Build Quality: 4.5/5

Ease Of Use: 4.5/5

Value For Money: 4.5/5

 

Overall: 4.5/5