Redmi Note 9 Pro
Our editorial rating based on product testing.
- High-quality build
- The Snapdragon 720G processor delivers excellent performance
- Up to 5020 mAh battery
- NFC for mobile payments
- Weaker camera, especially in the evening and at night
- Big dimensions and weight of the smartphone
The company Xiaomi offers budget-friendly and very well-equipped smartphones under its subsidiary brand Redmi. Proof of that is also the new smartphone Redmi Note 9 Pro, which we’ll introduce together with you today. The new model will certainly try to build on the success of its predecessor, the Redmi Note 8 Pro.
The Redmi Note series has always offered a sensible price-to-performance ratio, and the Note 9 Pro is no exception. Besides a large battery, a powerful processor, and a quad of rear cameras, it also comes with a very tempting price.
Where to buy?
If you’re considering getting a smartphone with the Redmi Note 9 Pro, we recommend the seller Edwaybuy.com. For testing, we ordered the Interstellar Grey version (6 GB RAM + 64 GB) from the EU warehouse, and the product was delivered exceptionally fast. Delivery took just 6 days.
Redmi Note 9 Pro with express delivery
Package contents: No case included
The Redmi Note 9 Pro smartphone arrives in a standard-sized box that looks very similar to comparable models, like the Note 9S. The white box shows the phone’s name as well as its images in multiple color variants.
After opening the box, you’ll find a paper envelope right at the top. Inside, there’s accessories including a SIM card ejector pin, paper manuals, and also a practical silicone case in a smoked grey color. The case includes the required cutouts, including one for the fingerprint reader placed in a rather unusual spot.
A bit lower, you’ll find the smartphone itself, wrapped in a protective film. Under it, there’s a charging cable with a modern, universal USB Type-C connector. You’ll also find a fast charging cable connector directly in the box. It includes a local European adapter and delivers up to 33W of power.
Layout of the device components
The Redmi Note 9 Pro model is more substantial—especially thanks to the large display diagonal. Its dimensions are 165.8 x 76.7 x 8.8 mm, while the device weighs 209 grams. The higher value here can also be attributed to the battery’s high capacity.
The front features the aforementioned large 6.67″ IPS display, including a modern cutout at the top. It houses the front camera lens, but the size of this element doesn’t exceed even 1 centimeter and doesn’t look too distracting.
Above the display, there’s the earpiece for calls, which also slightly enhances the stereo effect when playing music or videos. However, it isn’t a full-fledged stereo speaker setup. This area also contains a group of necessary sensors, for example for adjusting brightness.
The bottom part of the display is unused and only forms a sort of pseudo “chin” for the smartphone. The screen is also covered with a protective film that the manufacturer installed right from the factory. The bezels around the display are thicker than on flagship smartphones, but it’s not necessarily a negative.
The top edge of the smartphone, as with the Redmi Note series, houses an infrared sensor. It’s there for remote controlling your home electronics and is complemented by the relevant software. Also in this part of the phone you’ll find a secondary microphone, which you can use, for example, for uninterrupted video recording.
The bottom edge is a bit more interesting. It includes a loudspeaker, though its quality is average, it’s loud enough especially for incoming call ringtones.
A USB Type-C connector for charging is included, as well as a primary microphone for calls, plus a standard 3,5 mm audio jack that will especially please fans of wired headphones.
Up to four rear cameras
The left side edge is completely blank—it only features a slot for inserting a pair of NanoSIM cards (DualSIM) or also a microSDXC memory card, which expands the internal storage (dedicated slot).
The right side edge houses the volume control buttons, but it also includes a wide button for turning the device on or off. This button is unusually shaped lengthwise, mainly because it also contains an integrated fingerprint reader. It’s slightly recessed and easy to feel with your fingers.
The back features, in its upper half, a module with four rear cameras. They protrude quite noticeably from the device body, and two of them also have a chrome ring. Under this module you’ll also find the LED flash and information about the main camera’s 64 MPx resolution.
The color finish on the back is gradient—it's tempered glass, and the color changes its tone depending on the angle of the incoming light, which also applies to our grey resp. gray version. Below that you’ll find only the mandatory recycling information and the manufacturer logo/brand, Redmi.
Display: 6,67” IPS
The phone comes with a large 6.67″ display that offers IPS LCD technology and 16 million colors. It supports Full HD+ resolution (2040 x 1080 pixels) and an aspect ratio of 20:9.
These features result in a total smoothness of 395 ppi. The panel is also covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protective glass.
Naturally, this panel won’t deliver the same qualities as flagship AMOLED panels, but in this price category it’s a very solid panel—and definitely one of the higher-quality IPS panels on the market.
The minimum brightness is also fine even in complete darkness. There’s no shortage of color correction options in the settings, but there’s also a night mode that protects your eyes with blue light filters.
In direct sunlight we’d only wish for slightly higher brightness, but it’s no disaster and the information remains clearly readable.
The viewing angles of this display are excellent, and we didn’t notice any issues even with its response. The panel also covers almost up to 86% of the front side.
Performance: You don’t need to be ashamed of Snapdragon
On the performance side, there’s an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor, built on a 8nm process.
The core configuration of this processor is as follows: 2 x 2,3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold + 6 x 1,8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver. The processor is also complemented by an Adreno 618 graphics accelerator.
In everyday use, we didn’t encounter any performance issues. The smartphone handled advanced multitasking, a larger number of running apps, and there were no problems even with graphically less demanding game titles.
We can also thank the fairly high RAM capacity—more on that in the next chapter.
The fact remains that the smartphone’s performance is absolutely fine for its price category and is even higher than that of its predecessor, the Redmi Note 8 Pro, which however used a MediaTek processor.
The new model will feature a Snapdragon from the 7th series, for which you definitely don’t need to be ashamed. In terms of performance, AnTuTu benchmark tests—shown in the photos—can help you.
Memory: The more, the better
The Redmi Note 9 Pro is sold in several configurations both on our site and in other international markets. There’s the base version with 6 GB RAM + 64 GB UFS 2.1 internal storage, but also a more advanced version offering 6 GB RAM + 128 GB UFS 2.1 storage.
It’s a fairly fast storage, but if needed you can expand it with a microSDXC memory card. The phone has a dedicated, i.e., separate slot for a memory card. In this case, you can use two SIM cards plus an additional memory card.
After the first power-on and the initial installation of a few dozen apps, the smartphone showed a bit more than 43 GB of free storage out of the total capacity of 64 GB. The Android system and the graphical interface then take up roughly 15,5 GB of space. So if your budget allows it, don’t hesitate—go for the 128 GB version.
Fingerprint sensor on the side
The smartphone features a fingerprint reader placed in an unusual position on the right side of the device. It’s positioned well, slightly recessed into the device body, and it also works as a power on/off button.
The quality of the fingerprint sensor is very responsive—it’s comparably fast to a standard rear-mounted sensor. Plus, it’s a sensor placed longitudinally, and its good response also depends on gripping the device properly. This is a larger smartphone, so especially smaller hands may have occasional trouble feeling the reader.
On the other hand, the sensor delivered reliable responses even with slight oiliness or moisture on your fingers. Modern sensors under the display surface can’t do that to the same extent. For the sensor processing and its placement, the manufacturer definitely deserves praise.
Android + MIUI
On the software side, you get the Android operating system version 10 (QKQ1.191215.002). There’s also a security update package that includes security bundles directly from Google. As of 01.06.2020, the manufacturer definitely deserves praise for this.
The operating system is also complemented by the well-known powerful graphical interface in the MIUI 11 version—specifically, the MIUI Global 11.0.4.0 Stable version (QJZMIXM).
The skin includes standard features, including integrated Google Mobile Services, dark mode, and an updated font, but you also get a digital balance feature and smartphone usage monitoring.
During our use, we didn’t notice any software shortcomings. The phone responded quickly and smoothly—mainly thanks to good software optimization, as well as the hardware and enough RAM capacity, which in our case is 6 GB.
Camera: Up to 64 MPx
The Redmi Note 9 Pro comes with four rear cameras in total, all placed in one shared module that sticks out from the smartphone’s body. The main sensor is 64 MPx (f/1.9), complemented by three additional cameras.
Specifically, it includes a 8 MPx (f/2.2) ultra-wide-angle sensor, and we were more than satisfied with it. There’s also up to 5 MPx (f/2.4) macro lens with Autofocus, plus a 2 MPx (f/2.4) depth sensor that mainly handles the impressive background blur effect. Under the rear camera module, you’ll find an LED flash.
You don’t miss features like HDR or panorama, ultra-slow-motion 720p video (960 fps), and more. The rear camera can record video in 4K resolution (30 fps). The front camera offers 16 MPx (f/2.5), it’s placed in a cutout at the top of the display, and it records 1080p video (30/120 fps).
Original photos in full resolution are available at the following link.
In daylight, the photo performance was at a good level considering the price. What stood out to us most were the results from the ultra-wide camera, which delivered enough detail and we also didn’t notice excessive image distortion.
However, as light decreased in this case, the image quality also dropped, which was reflected in indoor photos as well as in night or evening shots. These cannot even be compared with the quality of flagship models. So the camera definitely has certain compromises.
Connectivity
For connectivity, 4G (LTE-A) connectivity is available on channels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40 and 41. There is also dual Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with support for Wi-Fi Direct, or Bluetooth 5.0 LE with support for A2DP.
Fans of sports activities will appreciate the GPS connectivity, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, and BDS also integrated. We did not encounter any problems with the connection; it was fast, taking just a few seconds. In terms of reliability, there was also no problem with any deviation, which was only in the range of a few meters.
An NFC chip is also available for contactless payments, for example via Google Pay. We also tested payments with our payment card and they worked without any problems.
An infrared sensor for controlling home electronics will please you, as will FM radio with recording function. Charging is handled by a USB Type-C connector with USB OTG support, and fans of classic wired headphones will also appreciate the 3,5 mm audio jack.
Battery: 5020 mAh
The Redmi Note 9 Pro packs a battery with an above-standard high capacity of 5020 mAh. In addition to the high capacity, support for fast 30W wired charging is also available. What’s more, support comes directly in the box thanks to the 33W local adapter.
Thanks to its power-efficient processor, the phone is competing to be one of the best models in terms of battery life per charge. Under standard use, we had no problem reaching almost two days of battery life, with screen-on time at around 5 – 7 hours.
In our case, standard use included active social media use, regular photography or video recording, an hour of calling, an hour of watching Full HD videos, as well as occasional mobile gaming. The manufacturer definitely deserves praise for the battery used and the resulting battery life per charge.
Final verdict: Best mid-range smartphone
What seemed impossible is becoming reality. Redmi Note 9 Pro is the best mid-range smartphone, offering features in its price category that even smartphones costing several dozen euros more have.
The main advantage of this device is its very good battery life per charge, a quality and proven camera, as well as a large IPS display and NFC connectivity, all at an extremely affordable selling price whether imported or sold through official distribution.
Redmi Note 9 Pro Global
TIPExpress delivery from a Polish warehouse without customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Polish warehouse. Shipping from Poland usually takes 7-10 days and is handled by a courier. On delivery, you won’t pay any extra fees—no customs duty and no VAT.
TIPExpress delivery from a Polish warehouse without customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Polish warehouse. Shipping from Poland usually takes 7-10 days and is handled by a courier. On delivery, you won’t pay any extra fees—no customs duty and no VAT.
We definitely recommend buying this device. What's more, if you want to buy even cheaper, don't hesitate and use one of our discount coupons.
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