Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Review - Android

With so many companies coming out with more and more affordable smartphones for budget-centric people out there, including myself, looking for a new phone...

The post Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines Tech News & Reviews.

With so many companies coming out with more and more affordable smartphones for budget-centric people out there, including myself, looking for a new phone can be a little bit of a daunting task. You’d have to account for decent performing cameras and good battery life. Luckily, the Redmi Note 9 ticks all those boxes (and more), so let’s dive a little deeper and check it out.

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Design and Construction

It’s good to see that Redmi decided to break-away from the typical water-drop notch look and vertically aligned rear cameras, which are slowly becoming too much a familiar aesthetic.

With a glossy-metallic like finish and a seemingly bezel-less screen, it sure is a step above other entry-level devices out there. We get a generous display size of 6.53-inches, a thickness of 8.9mm, and comes in at a weight of 199 grams, which feels pretty robust. It’s also good to note that it comes with a plastic screen protector pre-installed, so you don’t have to worry about scratching the screen for the first few months. The Redmi Note 9 is available in three different color options: Polar White, Forest Green, and Midnight Grey, which is the unit that we have right now.

At the front, one of the first things you’ll notice from the Redmi Note 9 is their camera set-up, which finally received an updated punch-hole design that Redmi is calling their DotDisplay. It does have a noticeable bezel by the chin, although I don’t think it’ll be much of a bother for a screen size that big. What does bother me, though, is the lack of a notification light, which I’m sure is something a lot of people would still find useful.

Heading over to the back, we can see where most of the design was poured into with that premium looking metallic finish that still looks quite subtle. Due to its glossy design, it is quite a fingerprint magnet, although it’s good to see that a lot of phone manufacturers like Redmi often include a free jelly case. It’s not just to protect your phone from looking bad, but also helps with better grip and drags less attention when you’re out in public.

In our previous hands-on article, we did mention that it had a polycarbonate finish, but, upon double-checking on Corning’s official website, it looks like the Redmi Note 9 is also equipped with a Gorilla Glass 5 panel at the rear, which is pretty impressive as the phone’s edges are curved. Another noticeable design element can be found in their rear camera module, which has a rounded square set-up instead of having them vertically aligned.

While it still protrudes quite a bit from the rear panel, having the camera at the center means you won’t be getting those annoying wobbles when placing your phone on a flat surface. Below all of that, you can find their rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, which looks very subtle as it’s incorporated along with the camera’s design. At the same time, the LED flash independently sits nicely on the right side.

On the left of the device is your dual nano-SIM card tray coupled with a dedicated MicroSD card slot for expandable storage, while on the right you can find the power button and your standard volume rocker keys.

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

Display and Multimedia

As mentioned, the Redmi Note 9 sports a 6.53-inch Full HD+ IPS display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340, a screen-to-body ratio of 83.5%, and a pixel density of 395ppi. Nothing record breaking here, but as expected, viewing angles were still great with decent color reproduction for an entry-level device. We also get a maximum screen brightness of approximately 450 nits, which makes using this device under harsh lighting no problem.

Audio quality performs adequately, which shouldn’t be a surprise for a bottom-firing speaker. If you rely on your phone to play music as you’re taking a shower or if you’re in an average-sized room, the Redmi Note 9 should be more than enough.

Camera

Heading over to the quad rear shooter, the top half of the camera module sits a 48MP Samsung GM1 primary sensor and an 8MP ultrawide, while below are the dual 2MP lens for macro shots and another for depth sensing. The camera performance was surprisingly excellent. Shots in default mode were well detailed, although it does tend to be a little oversaturated, especially when shooting in bright environments. When things get a little dimmer, colors do get less vibrant, but turning on Night mode does bring those colors back if not make it even better.

Since the Redmi Note 9 uses the GM1 sensor, we don’t get the actual 48 million pixel resolution, as Samsung’s sensor uses pixel interpolation to convert a 12MP picture into 48MP instead. However, after some downtime in this setting, shots were still impressive, allowing me to zoom in to a decent extent without too much pixelation. Ultrawide mode was a pleasant experience as we retain those beautiful colors with an excellent viewing angle of 118 degrees. The detail might not be as good as the primary camera, but is still nothing short of impressive.