Redmi Note 9: Design
Redmi Note 9 comes with the company’s aura design. It looks like other siblings of its series, but opposite the Redmi Note 9 does not have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. Instead, it gets a traditional back fingerprint sensor. Redmi Note 9 has a large display and hence it is not as easy to use this phone with one hand. Yes, although the power and volume button fit in the right place, it is not difficult to reach them. Most of the Redmi phones are also found in Note 9, an IR Emitter.
The thickness of Redmi Note 9 is 8.9 millimeters and weighs 199 grams. It is heavier than some other smartphones in this price range. Xiaomi says that it has used P2I nano-koting on the device with rubber seal at the port, so that the liquid can get some protection by exposed to the liquid. Xiaomi has also given a 22.5 watt charger in the box (although currently charging support is limited to 18 watts – will further discuss it).
Redmi Note 9: Specifications and Software
Redmi Note 9 The most base model of its series is, so Xiaomi has chosen MediaTek Helio G85 chipset for this model. It is an octa-core processor, with two cortex-e75 core 2 GHz set in clock speed and six cortex-A 55 core set on 1.8 GHz speed. For graphics, it gets ARM Mali-G52 GPU set on 1 GHz.
The Redmi Note 9 offers a 6.53-inch display with full-HD+ resolution (1080×2340 pixels) and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The Redmi Note 9 has three variants: 4 GB RAM with 64 GB storage, 4 GB RAM with 128 GB storage and 6 GB RAM with 128 GB storage. The price of these variants is Rs 11,999, Rs 13,499 and Rs 14,999 respectively. We had the top model for review.
Redmi Note 9 comes with a dedicated microSD card slot. It contains two Nano-SIM slots and it supports dual 4G and VoLTE. Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi 802.11 N, and four satellite navigation systems. The battery capacity is 5,020mAh. The Redmi Note 9 is also capable of charging 9 watts through USB Type-C port.
In the case of software, much is not new. The Redmi Note 9 runs on MIUI 11 based on Android 10 and our unit had a June security patch. The phone already comes with several apps that comes with volume, and also suggests downloading some other apps during the setup. It also shows advertising on lockscreen. Although this is an option, which is capable by default, but we closed it while setting the phone.
We should also get spamy notifications from some apps already installed in it. Among them, Mi Video and Get Apps were at the forefront and sure all these things definitely affect your experience a little.
Redmi Note 9: Performance
The performance of the Redmi Note 9 did not give us any reason for the complaint. MediaTek Helio G85 chipset is a competent processor and can easily handle our daily tasks. The app loading time was fine, and with 6 GB RAM, we could easily switch between different apps.
We also liked the display of Redmi Note 9. It gets good viewing angles and it becomes quite bright when needed. You also get options to change color output. However, it is not like the AMOLED display included on Samsung Galaxy M21. Its rear fingerprint sensor was also fast. Apart from this, face unlock was also accurate and fast.
Redmi Note 9 Pubg Mobile and Asphalt 9: Games like Legends can run without any problem. In Pubji Mobile, the phone is defaulted in medium settings by default, but we can also run it on high settings without much fall in performance. However, after playing for 20 minutes, the touch of the phone began to feel hot. Apart from this, the battery declined 10 percent. The Asfault 9 walked comfortably on the default settings, and we only saw light legs on a few tracks.
I liked the battery life of Redmi Note 9 quite good. It can last one and a half days in a charge. Even if you are a heavy user, the 5,020mAh battery can take you more than a day. It managed to last 15 hours, 45 minutes in our HD video loop test.
After the launch of Redmi Note 9, there were some controversies about the charger’s Whats. The Box of Redmi Note 9 provides a 22.5 watt charger, but the device is set on 18 watts. This means that even if the charger is of more watt, the phone will be charged with a maximum of 18 watt input. Xiaomi told Gadgets 360 that Redmi Note 9 currently has a “software lock”. To charge more power, it is yet to undergo some lab and field tests, which could not be possible due to the lockdown. Xiaomi says that the company is planning to release a software update in future, which will allow the Redmi Note 9 to charge on 22.5 watt.
At present, the phone is charged up to 29 percent in 30 minutes and 60 percent in an hour. The device takes more than two hours to fully charge. If Xiaomi unlock full charging speed, it should take a little less time to charge.
Redmi Note 9: Cameras
The Redmi Note 9 has a quad-camera setup, which provides a 48-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfie, it has a 13-megapixel camera in the front. The camera app is largely similar to other Redmi phones.
In addition to normal shooting mode, the app has a Pro mode for photos as well as videos, which allows you to control the exposure to iso etc. It also has a document mode that allows you to crop the photo and convert into black and white.
Redmi uses Note 9 AI, which detects the outer scene and sets the camera according to it. In the daylight, the phone takes good shots. However, AI makes photos too much sharp. Pictures taken at the entire 48-megapixel resolution found better details and were not sharp. There was a slight decline in quality in photographs taken with wide-angle camera.
Talking about the close-up, AI used to recognize the subject quickly, but sometimes there was trouble with the focus. However, the photos were good and also had a natural blur effect. There is a pro color option, which increases the contrast in the output. The macro camera lets you get very close to the subject and takes a good picture in favorable lights.
Portrait mode managed to separate the subject and background. Age detection was also very good. I found no way to set the blur’s level before taking a shot, but the device gave me the option to change the level of beautification.
In low light, the outputs were decent, but the donations began to appear on zoom in. The camera app managed to keep the app noise (grains) low. The camera in night mode takes more time to take the picture and for good photos you have to stand very stable for that time. Even after this, there was not much difference in the output.
The selfie taken in the daylight was good and they had good details. You can also take portrait shots in selfie camera, but here we did not find the option to set the blur level. The Redmi Note 9 did a good job in recognizing the edges here. However, quality fell in low light.
Verdict
Redmi Note 9 It starts at Rs 11,999 in India and it Redmi Note 8 It is much higher than that the company kept within Rs 10,000. However, due to the recent GST hike and the weakness of the rupee, the price increased. The base variant of the Redmi Note 9 gives a good price with its full-HD+ display, powerful MediaTek Helio G85 chipset and 4 GB RAM. It gives a good battery life thanks to a large battery of 5,020 mAh.
However, the variant we reviewed were the top-end variants. With Rs 14,999, this variant competes with some powerful phones in the sub-Rs 15,000 segment, such as Realme 6 (Review), Poco M2 Pro (Review) and even Redmi Note 9 Pro (Review). These models are equipped with better performance and better features than Redmi Note 9, which makes it a little harder to advise this variant.