Redmi Note 10 Pro: A budget phone with a premium camera

Redmi Note 10 Pro

Redmi’s Note 10 Pro comes with a focus on two main things, Camera and battery. Most people prefer a phone with a better camera and a battery to keep the phone up. It hosts a 108mp sensor and a 5100 mAh battery, and let’s review it so that we can know if these big numbers are what they seem to be.

Redmi Note 10 Pro – Camera

Main Camera Specs

The Camera is main highlight of the Note 10 Pro as the 108mp Samsung HM2 image sensor sitting at the rear end attracts us more than anything else. It is very similar to the sensors used in Mi 10 Pro and Mi 11, the popular Xiaomi flagships. However, this is a bit smaller than them and supports 9 pixels into one binning – great for low-light photography, better dynamic range, great image processing, and a better overall experience contributing to the performance.

You will see that it’s pretty much up to the par with Mi 11 in image quality. Note that the Mi 11 has a different, slightly bigger sensor, so they are not the same. During the day or at night, camera quality is brilliant, and every time the Camera will surprise you with great results.

Video qualities are also great, but you would notice drawbacks when comparing with flagships like Mi 11. 4k is available but doesn’t support stabilization, and you would need a gimbal if you want to stabilize it. The feature only allows recording of 1080p at 30 fps and not 60 fps, and you need a smartphone gimbal, a device that will stabilize the phone to enable a smooth recording with shaking.

Wide-angle Camera and tele-macro are two additional features, with tele-macro being telephoto and macro-camera at the same time. It is only used in the dedicated macro mode. The wide-angle Camera may not be the best in class but is certainly better than most mid-range action cams, and with some good post-processing, even low light photos are acceptable.

Dual Video Mode

The MIUI camera app has Pro mode, AI mode, and in-app color grading. Quite many features that until recently were possible with flagships only, such as the Dual-video mode. Photo and video cloning, filters, and shoot steady mode are available as well.

Redmi Note 10 Pro – Display

Redmi Note 10 Pro Screen

It is among the first-ever Redmi phones to use an AMOLED screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate, and gamers will appreciate it. It is one of the few budget-oriented phones that offer an AMOLED screen with such a high refresh rate. There are some red tints notable in certain angles which will mostly bother you if you switch from a more premium screen.

Colors are oversaturated, and I think when compared to most LCDs, it will feel better. AMOLED means better outdoor visibility, especially under direct sunlight. As a person that prefers OLED technology over LCD, I like this one.

Redmi Note 10 Pro – Battery

5340mAh Battery

5100 mAh battery powers the phone and 33-watt charger with a type C cable. This means that you can charge your phone without an hour, and it is crazy good. Ampere shows that charging can be as high as incoming six amps. I noticed that you get around 5.7 with the provided 33-watt charger and a bit more when charging with Mi 11’s 55-watt charger.

Battery life is pretty good, and I was getting more than that of Mi 11. Powering a FHD+ resolution that is battery friendly and brightness peak is not that high compared with flagships and combining a snapdragon 732 manufactured on 8nm technology for nearly 2 days.

Redmi Note 10 Pro – Processor

Qualcomm 732G Processor

Note 10 pro has a snapdragon 732G processor with Adreno 618 GPU, and 732 has 15% better graphics performance than its predecessor. While it is not as fast as Snapdragon 888, it is good for games.

The phone efficiently handles high-intensive games, and everything that I have played proves it. Real Racing has become more power-hungry, but it is not a problem for Redmi Note 10 Pro. In 120 Hz, the gaming is quite nice, and it shows you the CPU load thanks to the gaming info-bar provided by MIUI automatically launches should it detect a game, and user can access it by swiping from the left corner.

Fingerprint, IR Blaster and Speakers

FIngerprint Sensor

The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button, and I have registered most of my fingerprints. I figured out that having left mid-finger added is a good idea because it naturally touches the power button while holding the hand in my left hand – Redmi Note 9 Pro had it integrated within the power button as well.

Headphone Jack, Speaker Grill, IR Blaster

Infrared Blaster or IR Blaster controlled by Mi remote app allows you to use the phone as a remote control for almost any infrared-based remote. Go to IR remote app and search the database for the TV model that you want to access using the smartphone.

Note 10 Pro has dual speakers with loud and crisp sound, which guarantees an amazing multimedia experience. The Mi 10t pro has been topping the DXOmark chart for best audio throughout the big part of 2020.

Redmi Note 10 Pro – Software

Software Specifications

Redmi Note 10 Pro uses a modified version of Android, which it calls MIUI, and it one of the most customizable deliverables of Android. At the time of the Note 10 pro’s launch, it’s Android 11. We expect the major update to MIUI 12.5, which will further improve battery life and performance.

At this point, the phone has a lot of optimizations and of course, some delightful ways to customize it. You have many options for themes and hundreds of different styles you can apply, with countless wallpapers, icon packs, fonts, etc. There are many options to fine-tune the appearance and customize the system behaviour.

MIUI is known to get frequent updates for a long time, which means you will get the right treatment from Xiaomi regarding software experience. Depending on the region, there might be some features locked or unlocked. Being based in Europe, you have to live without call recording, MIUI dialer, and messaging app.

I think Google phone’s app is quite a nightmare for handling a dual SIM system. I found an alternative app with call recording built, I am still testing it, and so far it looks good.

Redmi Note 10 Pro is a serious update over Redmi Note 9 Pro, and the price also got higher. But from a technology perspective, if you look for flagship-grade camera performance and fantastic battery endurance without sacrificing speed and responsiveness the Redmi Note 10 Pro is the right one. The great thing is when I switched from Mi 11 to Note 10 Pro, it didn’t feel that much as a downgrade.

The Good and The Bad

Useful Links

YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2cSnrlNUdA

Redmi Note 10 Pro: https://geni.us/RedmiNote10Pro

You can read about other smartphones here.