Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro in for review

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro is a neat phone with great specs and a reasonable price. But before we get to the first hand impressions, let’s clear a few things up.

This is the global Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro, the people in India also have a Redmi Note 9 Pro, which is a different phone. The global Redmi Note 9 Pro corresponds to the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max in India, only that model has an 8GB RAM option. We are hoping Xiaomi will finally come to its senses and stop this naming madness, but we aren’t very optimistic.

So the Redmi Note 9 Pro that we have in our hands today has a 6.67-inch IPS LCD of 1080p resolution (and regular 60Hz refresh rate), a Snapdragon 720G with 6GB of RAM (and no 5G) and a huge 5,020mAh battery that gets its charge at up to 30W.

There’s a single 16MP camera, built-into the display, while on the rear there are four sensors – a 64MP Quad-Bayer main camera, an 8MP ultrawide unit, a 5MP macro cam and a 2MP depth sensor.

Xiaomi has really put a lot of effort in the cameras of the Redmi Note 9 Pro. The lack of a telephoto lens aside, the quad camera setup punches above the Redmi Note 9 Pro’s sub-€300 price.

In the hand the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro feels tall, but not heavy and cumbersome. In other words you don’t feel like you’re holding a phone with a 5,000 mAh battery inside.

We’ll give the big battery a run for its money in our review, but we’d be shocked if it didn’t deliver stellar endurance.

The unit we have here is the Interstellar Grey, but it has a decidedly Blue tone to it. The glossy finish means using a case is the smarter thing to do.

The MIUI 11 software is exactly what we’d become used to in other Xiaomi phones. It runs smooth and has a clean interface with all the features and tools you’d need. But we don’t understand why you get the old three-button layout out of the box and the move to universal gestures requires active digging in the settings.

Stay tuned for our full review of the Redmi Note 9 Pro.