Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Hands-On - Android

The Xiaomi Redmi series is, without a doubt, one of the most popular Android choices in the entry-level department. Last year’s Redmi Note 8...

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The Xiaomi Redmi series is, without a doubt, one of the most popular Android choices in the entry-level department. Last year’s Redmi Note 8 lineup took the market by storm with over 10 million sales in just three months. Now that the Redmi Note 9 is out let’s have a quick look around and see what it has to offer.

Off the bat, the Redmi Note 9 receives a complete design overhaul compared to its predecessors. We get a beautiful glossy metallic-like finish that looks nothing short of premium. However, it is quite a fingerprint magnet, but the complimentary jelly case does help keep things a little more clean. The unit we have comes in Midnight Grey, but there is also a Polar White and Forest Green color variant.

At the back, you can find the quad-camera and LED flash module located at the top-center, along with a subtle looking rear-mounted fingerprint scanner right underneath and the Redmi logo at the very bottom.

With a display size of 6.53-inches, the Redmi Note 9 has quite a sizable screen. It features their Full HD+ IPS Dot Display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340, an 83.5% screen-to-body ratio, and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

It’s refreshing to see Redmi replace the dated dot drop notch design with a more modern ‘punch-hole’ setup, which is situated at the top left corner, unlike the Redmi Note 9s and 9 Pro where they’re located at the center.

You can find the power button and volume rocker keys on the right-hand side, while on the left sits your dual nano-SIM card tray along with a dedicated MicroSD card slot with up to 512GB of expandable storage.

At the top, we get your signature IR Blaster and the secondary noise-canceling microphone. While at the bottom, we have your standard USB-C charging port, single bottom-firing speakers, the primary mic, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The Redmi Note 9 comes with the latest MediaTek Helio G85 2.0GHz octa-core processor, with a Mali-G52 MC2 GPU, which Redmi claims is 32% faster than its predecessor. Our unit is the 4GB RAM variant with 128GB of storage capacity, but there is also a more affordable version with a 3GB+64GB configuration. It runs on MIUI 11, which is based on Android 10 and is equipped with a generous 5,020 mAh battery capacity with 18w fast charging.

Heading back to the primary shooter, we get a 48MP main sensor, an 8MP ultrawide, a 2MP macro lens, and another 2MP for depth sensing, while at the front sits the 13MP sensor. We’ll get into this a little deeper in our full review. But for now, here are a few sample photos you can check out below.