The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro wants to seduce the markets with its very attractive price/quality ratio. The history of this range is paved with a model that successfully accomplished this mission, but what about this smartphone? Discover our full test.
In the Redmi range, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro wants to be the most advanced version of the beginning of 2020. As evidenced by its three-letter suffix. The objective is still the same for this category of products: to offer more cost-performance to attract consumers more effectively than the more aggressive competitors in this price range. Our full test is there to see if this ambitious project is carried out.
XIAOMI REDMI NOTE 9 PRO Specifications
| Model | Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro |
|---|---|
| OS version | Android 10 Q |
| Manufacturer interface | MIUI |
| Screen size | 6.67 inches |
| Definition | 2400 x 1080 pixels |
| Pixel density | 395 PPP |
| Technology | LCD |
| SoC | Snapdragon 720G |
| Graphics chip (GPU) | Qualcomm Adreno 618 |
| Random-access memory (RAM) | 6 GB, 8 GB |
| Internal memory (flash) | 128 GB, 64 GB |
| Camera (back) | Sensor 1:64 Mp Sensor 2:8 Mp Sensor 3:5 Mp Sensor 4:2 Mp |
| Camera (front) | 32 Mp |
| Video recording | 4K@30 IPS |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 5 (ac) |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 |
| Supported bands | 2100 MHz (B1), 1800 MHz (B3) |
| NFC | Yes |
| Fingerprint sensor | Yes |
| Ports (inputs / outputs) | USB Type-C |
| Battery | 5020 mAh |
| Dimensions | 76.7 x 165.75 x 8.8mm |
| Weigh | 209 grams |
| Colors | Black, White, Bleu |
| Price | 314 $ |
BIG BUT COMFORTABLE
The upper edge of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro peaks at 165.75 mm. The Redmi Note 9 Pro imposes in addition to weighting 209 grams well felt. Before buying this smartphone, it is essential to have this information in mind. If this is not a defect for you, then you will enjoy a device with a well-worked design. It guarantees a pleasant feeling in the palm because of these rounded edges, without aggressive lines.
The front is very classic with its flat-screen that does not taste the flavors of borderless. the borders around the display area are therefore clearly visible. As usual, it is not really a defect for a device at this price, even if the chin could still have been much thinner.
The front photosensor is housed in the screen, nestled in a central bubble. The circumference is also quite wide, but will not disturb the immersion of the user. We were talking about comfort in the hand. This is notably ensured by the Gorilla Glass 5 glass cover on the back – it is a glass of the same tempering found on the front and the photo module. Note that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro has a two-tone style on its blue, green color that we are testing.
The bottom two-thirds are also streaked with fine hatching-this is just decoration, there are no grooves under your fingers. Note that the gray and white versions of the Redmi Note 9 Pro have a plain back. Let’s move on to the square photo module positioned on the central axis of the rear surface. The protuberance is marked and makes the object wobbly when placed flat. In these kinds of situations, it is very delicate that you will have to put your finger on the upper corners of the screen.
The fingerprint reader is located on the right side, easily accessible with the thumb, but also with the index finger of the left hand. The volume buttons, however, rise far too high. When using one hand, turning up the sound of the device may be quite uncomfortable, too bad.
NOT ENOUGH LIGHT THIS SCREEN!
This is a large 6.7-inch panel with an IPS LCD display found on the front of the Redmi Note 9 Pro. In practice, I found this one quite good, especially for watching my Netflix series comfortably at night in my bed. However, as soon as a ray of the sun hits the screen, it can be quite difficult to correctly distinguish what is moving in the glass rectangle. And for a good reason, the maximum brightness is only 394 cd/m², which is a bit tight to ensure perfect readability in all conditions, Pity.
READ ALSO: Realme X50 PRO & Oppo Find X2 Neo
Fortunately, the Redmi Note 9 Pro catches up with a very good contrast of 1236:1. Beyond that, the phone has a few surprises in terms of colorimetry. Depending on the display mode chosen, the behavior of the screen changes completely, as shown by the measurements of our probe and Calman software from Portrait Displays.
Indeed, there is a saturated mode which greatly enhances the colors to make them more pleasing to the eye, even if they are surreal. In this configuration, we are entitled to an average temperature of 8840 K – tones that draw a lot in blue. We are left with an average Delta E at 7.58: a high figure, which indicates a white very far from that supposed to be displayed.
On the other hand, if you switch to standard mode, we obtain a temperature of 6751K, which is closer to the ideal aimed for good fidelity to reality. The average Delta E with this option drops to 3.56. A hint that indicates a fairly realistic white.
In return, the saturated mode also allows you to enjoy a greater diversity of colors. Witness the RGB and DCI-P3 color spaces covered at 119% and 79%, respectively – which is already not incredible – against only 101% and 68% in standard mode. If these numbers knock you out, remember especially that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro will not offer you an exquisite explosion of colors.
As far as I’m concerned, I preferred to leave these settings on the default auto mode which adjusts the colors according to the ambient light, by simply adjusting the slider on a fairly warm temperature. This seems to be the best balance.
NFC, APPLIANCES DRAWER … AND ADS
We find the MIUI 11 interface at work on this phone with its batch of welcome customizations such as the very pleasant dark mode or the navigation by gestures. Good point, unlike the Redmi Note 9S, the Redmi Note 9 Pro can activate an application drawer if you want to enjoy an experience more faithful to that originally thought for Android.
This is strange because the MIUI Global version of the Pro model is slightly older (11.0.1 versus 11.0.3), but offers this additional functionality. Proof of this is that the logic of software deployments at Xiaomi is not necessarily obvious to understand.
By the way, speaking of Google, we are once again observing the policy led by Xiaomi to put forward the applications of the Mountain View firm.
From the first use, a Google folder is displayed on the home page, and it includes 15 applications, including Google One, Google Podcasts, or Google News, which are not part of the mandatory package of Android smartphones certified by the giant American. The default SMS and Telephone clients are also those powered by Google. We can repeat it once again: Xiaomi seems here to want to mark its difference from its compatriot Huawei who cannot enjoy this because of the American embargo.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro offers a lot of software advantages. Unfortunately, it does not get rid of the very annoying pseudo antivirus that scans downloaded applications – even if they come from the Play Store. In reality, it is mainly a matter of displaying advertising during the so-called analysis. It is a really annoying defect that the interface, fortunately, allows us to deactivate quite easily.
Finally, for your content on SVoD platforms, the Redmi Note 9 Pro can easily play videos in HD quality on Netflix or Disney +, because it embeds the DRM Widevine L1. MUI 11 on this phone is generally very pleasant, but it is a shame to still see some inconsistencies in the interface. We can end up with two “Battery saver” options, which do not lead to the same page. There can also be confusion about the “full-screen mode,” which relates to the display of applications and the “full-screen display” option, which allows you to choose gesture navigation.
Mode Full Screen
In addition, at the time of publishing this test (early June 2020), the security patch dates from April. We hope that the updates on this site will not be too far apart in time.
ONE OF THE MOST CLASSIC SPEAKERS :
The speaker on the bottom edge is very powerful. By pushing the volume all the way down, you can use the Redmi Note 9 Pro to liven up an evening with a small group. Unfortunately, the sharpest tones may suffer from very slight saturation. Overall, the quality and clarity of the sound is quite good but doesn’t shine either. It’s ultimately very classic.
Nothing, in particular, to report on the listening side via earphones or headsets plugged into the jack.
FOUR PHOTO SENSORS FOR GOOD GLOBAL QUALITY :
- 64-megapixel main sensor (f/1.89).
- 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle, 108.3 degrees (f/2.2).
- 2-megapixel depth sensor (f/2.4).
-
Sensor with a macro lens of 5 megapixels (f/2.4).
There are no more surprises on this side in this price range, the daytime photos offered by the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro are quite satisfactory as well on the level of details, the management of the dynamics – despite some quirks from time to time – and in the displayed colors which are pleasantly contrasted. We’re not going overboard, but it’s still pretty good.
However, even if the option is disabled, I intentionally did not remove the watermark at the bottom left of the photos to show you how ugly this watermark is by default. I urge you to get rid of it, as there is no point in diverting the attention of the viewer.
In night photos, the smartphone struggles very clearly to display details, and the madman is therefore very present in the images, especially on scenes where light sources are scarce or weak.
That said, by activating the night mode, we recover a lot of information, and especially the images become more bright and pleasant to look at. It doesn’t fix everything obviously, but I invite you to use this option.
In 64 megapixel mode, the phone is doing with honors. This feature allows you to enjoy significantly finer details when the light conditions are good – at night, these kinds of full-frame photos are not very effective at capturing light.
What is appreciable is that this option preserves a certain coherence in the processing compared to conventional shots. In other words, the gain in sharpness is not thwarted by a defect, and the 64-megapixel mode has the potential to be quite relevant. We are, however, very far from the killer feature: the advantages of this option are still quite easily undermined.
Regarding the ultra-wide-angle, there is not much to report. You obviously benefit from a wider field of vision to immortalize more elements in the scene and this mode is rather effective on many points, but it inevitably suffers from a loss of information: zooming in the image makes it possible to see that the fine detail is not as good as on the main sensor. At night, you can’t see anything with the ultra-wide-angle.
The good surprise of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro comes from its very good portrait mode, indoors and outdoors. The module is very effective in delimiting with precision the person photographed against the blurred background, with the exception of a few strands of hair poorly managed by the algorithm. All this, while saving the small details of the face even if the contrast is a little too marked to artificially reinforce this impression of sharpness. It’s still a great job for a smartphone at that price.
Finally, macro mode is not bad at all on this phone to focus on very close objects but remains a very gadget feature. The images thus produced are poorly defined, which makes them irrelevant, and most users will probably mouse with them a few times before getting tired.
It should also be noted that Xiaomi has not implemented a telephoto lens on the Redmi Note 9 Pro, thus depriving it of an optical zoom, which is always a shame when you get closer to 338 dollars and especially for a phone that calls itself “Pro ”
For selfies, it’s a 32-megapixel sensor that looks at us on the front. This is effective with a convincing level of detail, but it is also not breathtaking. In general, it does its job well, despite some difficulties incorrectly transcribing the complexion of the face according to the light conditions. In the first series of photos below, for example, my skin is strangely whitened.
GOOD PERFORMANCE, BUT WITHOUT MORE :
A Snapdragon 720G runs the Redmi Note 9 Pro. In other words, the most expensive model in this range is probably not the most powerful, since the classic Redmi Note 9 is equipped with a MediaTek Helio G85 which augurs better performance.
Concretely, this is not felt in conventional everyday tasks, or your Redmi Note 9 Pro holds the shed perfectly. It is rather necessary to look at the side of 3D video games greedy enough to observe small gaps on the part of the phone.
Indeed, Fortnite rotates at 30 frames per second without worry with 100% 3D resolution, but you will not go beyond graphics set to “Medium”. During a game, you will not suffer from annoying bugs or jerks. We just see that it is mainly the graphics in the distance in the background that are a little sacrificed on the altar of fluidity.
| Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro | Realme 6 Pro | Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S | Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SoC | Snapdragon 720G | Snapdragon 720G | Snapdragon 720G | MediaTek Helio G90T |
| AnTuTu 8.x | 276 347 | 279 164 | 272 446 | n/c |
| PCMark 2.0 | 7 704 | 10 303 | 7 847 | 10 037 |
| 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme | 2 518 | 2 523 | 2 519 | 2 377 |
| 3DMark Slingshot Extreme Graphics | 2 371 | 2 380 | 2 366 | 2 213 |
| 3DMark Slingshot Extreme Physics | 3 214 | Three 19_ | 3 253 | 3 213 |
| GFXBench Aztec Vulkan High (onscreen / offscreen) | 10/6,7 FPS | 11/7 FPS | 10/6,6 FPS | 6,5/9,9 FPS |
| GFX Bench Car Chase (onscreen/offscreen) | 16/18 FPS | 16/18 FPS | 15/17 FPS | 15/18 FPS |
| GFX Bench Manhattan (onscreen/offscreen) | 38/42 FPS | 37/41 FPS | 37/40 FPS | 43/48 FPS |
| Sequential read/write | 500/205 Mo/s | 513/204 Mo/s | 489/171 Mo/s | 524/192 Mo/s |
| Random read/write | 34,4k/29k IOPS | 40,3k/31,8k IOPS | 31,3k/29,1k IOPS | 38K/42K IOPS |
The benchmarks show this quite well: the Redmi Note 9 Pro does not record better results than the Redmi Note 9S, which is, however, significantly cheaper, and that is why we could have some regrets on this Pro model.
Also, remember that there is 8 GB of RAM on this phone, which heats up quickly enough when it is running at full speed, but never enough to burn your fingers.
AN ULTRA ENDURING SMARTPHONE
If the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro weighs more than 200 grams, it is mainly because of its size, but it is mainly due to its large battery of 5020 mAh. A capacity far from being negligible, which fulfills its promises.
Indeed, the phone is excellent in terms of autonomy. He faces all the trials of the day without difficulty. You can also count on it to hold the next day in fairly conventional use (web browsing, sending emails and instant messages, music, videos, taking photos…) without really making any compromises.
During our visit custom test protocol, the device held up for 14 hours and 47 minutes. This is an excellent result which easily propels it to the top of the ranking in terms of autonomy. Note that this exercise consists of launching a rather frenzied plethora of applications in a row in order to simulate the consumption of active use.
In addition, there is a 33 W charging unit capable of recharging the Redmi Note 9 Pro from 8 to 58% in 30 minutes. It then takes just over half an hour to reach 100%.
XIAOMI REDMI NOTE 9 PRO PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro is sold from June 9, 2020, with a price of 316 dollars for the model equipped with 64 GB of internal storage. The 128 GB version costs 338 dollars.
THE 64 GB VERSION :
THE 128 GB VERSION :