RedMiNote8Pro-Profile
On 15th October 2019 – Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 8 Series Smartphones at an event held at the Address Hotel, Downtown Dubai. Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi Note 8, Redmi 8 and Redmi 8A were introduced to the attendees of the event which included Xiaomi team from UAE and China and their distribution and retail partners. Also introduced at the launch was Mi Wireless Car Charger for those on the move.
Recently got the Redmi Note 8 Pro for review which is the mid-range flagship model of the Redmi Note 8 series of smartphones. The main feature of the device is the 64Mp Quad camera.
Below are the details and review of the device.
Body & Specification
The Redmi Note 8 Pro has a dimension of 161.4 x 76.4 x 8.8 mm and weighs 200gms. The new smartphone has a little bigger display measuring 6.53 inches compared to the 6.3-inch display than the predecessor Redmi Note 7 Pro. It has front and back Gorilla Glass 5 and has a shiny finish on the back panel but interestingly it doesn’t catch fingerprint compared to other smartphones, so you can carry the smartphone without the additional protection cover.
It has a waterdrop notch at the top which houses the front/selfie camera. The earpiece sits just above the display and is finished in black, which blends well with the black bezel at the top.
It has 6.53” IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with 1080 x 2340 pixels display and 19.5:9 ratio body. The curved glass back makes it looks extremely elegant and makes the phone look a lot more premium and thin. The rounded curvy edges make the phone good to hold, and the build quality is rugged too.
There are two SIM trays on the left side, one of which also accommodates a dedicated microSD card slot. The power button and volume rocker are on the right. Three cameras and a fingerprint sensor are vertically aligned at the back centre little on the top. The macro camera and LED flash are placed next to it.
As the fingerprint scanner is located along with the cameras on an elevated panel and finger has to get used to the brushing of the hard edges while trying to unlock the phone, but the responsiveness of the fingerprint scanner is great. There is an IR Blaster located at the top, while a USB Type C port, 3.5 mm audio jack and the speaker grille can be found along the lower edge of the phone.
The Review
The Redmi Note 8 Pro is a mid-range smartphone with new look compared to the predecessor Redmi Note 7 Pro. The smartphone comes with Android 9 with Xiaomi its UI – MIUI GLOBAL 10.4.5. It runs on Mediatek’s Helio G90T gaming processor which is an MTK Helio G90T, octa-core gaming processor with 2 x A76 2.05GHz large core and 6 x A55 2.0GHz small core and comes with GPU – ARM Mali G76 MC4. It supports GAME Turbo 2.0 which supports complex game environment sensing and smart system resource management. The smartphone which we got for review is 6GB RAM with 128GB ROM (storage) and of course for people who required more storage space can add additional microSD card in the SIM slot and increase additional storage by 256GB.
The Redmi Note 8 Pro Cameras
In today’s world, the camera and capturing the moment has become part of life and smartphones are becoming smarter and better with passing days. The Redmi Note 8 Pro has also improved from the earlier version of dual cameras. There also been a change in the design and looks too like the cameras have been shifted to centred aligned and comes with quad cameras. The main rear cameras are 64 MP, 26mm (wide) with f/1.9 and 2nd camera is 8 MP,13mm (ultra wide) with f/2.2 and the third camera is 2 MP, 1/5″ with f/2.4 (depth sensor) and fourth camera which is just below the LED Flashlight is 2 MP,1/5″ with f/2.4 and it is a dedicated macro camera.
The Redmi Note 8 Pro packs a 64-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.9 aperture and 0.8-micron pixels. This sensor takes 16-megapixel shots in the default mode as is does 4-in-1 pixel binning which is quite common among the mid-range smartphone.
The cameras work within the range of 100 – 3200 ISO and can shoot video with a resolution of 3840 x 2160.
The Special Features in the Camera UI
The Redmi Note 8 Pro smartphone camera app has some dedicated features like the short video which shoots 15secs video with additional effect options like for “Tiktok Magic Sticker” and also you can capture slow motion and add filters to the video. You can also add background music to your 15sec video which is provided along with the camera.
You can shoot the video in wide-angle (0.6x), Normal (1x) and Zoom (2x). You can also control the speed of the shooting the video with Super slow, Slow, Regular(Normal), Fast and super-fast and all the above filters, speed, zoom and music in the selfie mode.
It has dedicated option for 64MP (Ultra HD) photography mode with a timer option and filters and LED flash On/Off.
This option works only for the main camera as the front camera comes with a 20MP lens with f/2.0.
The camera has a Slow Motion option where you can shoot video – 120FPS, 240FPS and 960FPS.
Under the video mode, you can work with wide-angle, normal and 2x for the main camera and also use beautify for the video. The Macro camera mode can also be used for videos. For Selfie mode, you also have the beautify option for smooth skin and soft lens style.
Under the Portrait mode – you can change the filters, adjust the depth of field for getting a sharp image with blurred background, you can add filters to your choice and also you choose different effects like studio lighting and lot more.
As Android 9 has Al support, so does the camera and you can choose the AI camera mode with the above options. Similar options are also available for the front (Selfie) camera.
Night Mode – The Redmi Note 8 Pro smartphone has night mode which only works with the main camera and has the option for Normal (1x) and Zoom (2x). This option is available for photography (Please note: To get a sharper and proper image, need to have very stable hands or better to use tripod or platform)
Panorama Mode – The camera app with the guide option and stitching the images was quite good and it worked in the selfie mode too. You can have Beautify Mode On while capturing the image on front capture. This mode will come in handy especially you are clicking group shots which are not fitting in the regular frame or want to have a wider background shot.
Pro Mode – This is for the people who would like to control and adjust the lighting, focus, ISO and also the lens setting. In this mode, you have an option like spot metering like the DSLR and can shoot at 64MP. You can adjust the frame size and also use the timer. This is only available for the main camera.
You can shoot videos and images in different frame size like 9:16, full-frame 21:9, Square frame 1:1 and regular frame 3:4.
I have clicked the photographs from a moving car at speed of 80Kmh and the smartphone camera performed very well.
The day shot was good and looked natural, except when you use the Ai mode, it tries to correct the image by adding extra colour.
Here is shot of a flower in photo mode
At the low light shooting, the camera performed well.
Here are images shot on the balcony with only the light source is the tea candle.
Here are some images clicked in the house.
Here are some images clicked during the Diwali day in the community basketball court.
Here is some selfie at night.
The video capture was good and sound while shooting the video was natural.
The speakers sound good but on horizontal viewing, you can hear the music more from the right side and not balanced. Quality of the speakers is quite sharp on the treble and mid-tones and can be a little irritating to hear from a long time and lacks bass.
The video quality on viewing a video on YouTube was a good experience, colours and sharpness were good.
The Performance
The Redmi Note 8 Pro smartphone was tested with a different benchmark test. In the Antutu (V8.0.2-OB), the smartphone scored 286015. There were very little jitters in the FPS while the video played on the smartphone. Under the AnTuTu Ai benchmark, it scored 79351. Under the Futuremark 3D Benchmark – Single Shot Extreme – OpenGL ES 3.1 scored 2283 and Sling Shot Extreme – Vulkan scored 2454. Under PC mark benchmark Work 2.0 performance it scored 10232. Under the GFX Benchmark – Aztec Ruins Open GL (2134 x 1080) – 695 frames, Car Chase (2134 x 1080) – 831.2 Frames and Manhattan 3.1 (2134 x 1080) – 1593Frames.
Overall the performances with all the above test can say for the price factor and mid-range phone, it performed very well. While playing KillShot, War Wings and Asphalt 8, there was no delay or lag. The smartphone temperature remained around 35 C° to 37 C° which is good compared to some of the expensive flagship phones I have reviewed in the past.
As for the battery, the 4500mAh battery lasted for more than a day with an average usage of the phone with playing games, listening to music, calls and even continuous webs surfing.
Xiaomi ships an 18W charger in the box which charged the battery to 30% in 30 minutes and to 55% in an hour.
Conclusion
The Redmi Note 8 Pro is a great smartphone for the price and perfect companion for the people who are selfie addict and love mobile photography. With a lot of features available like the short video with “Tiktok Magic Sticker”, it would very much appeal to the younger generation who want all the options readymade in their hand. The 64MP camera mode felt more like the gimmick than any additional feature. But can say made it easier for the consumer. Also, the 64MP UltraHD image was not very detailed as expected. No doubt the image result was good but on zooming on the image distorted.
And 64MP image from a DSLR has a lot more details compared to a smartphone image. But the image clicked at 1X or 2x will have good output but not a great sharpness or clarity when you zoom in to have a cropped image.
It has a 4500mAh battery which was good and lasted for more than a day and as for the standby it lasted for than more than 4 days in a single charge. As for mobile gaming, it can give run for its money to many of the flagship smartphones.
As mentioned earlier for the mid-range smartphone, it is a great smartphone with great features.
Redmi Note 8 Pro Package
The package contains a Redmi Note 8 Pro smartphone, 18 W charging wall unit adapter, USB to USB Type C charging and data transfer cable, grey translucent safety back cover, warranty and instruction paper.
Another interesting small feature which I appreciate Xiaomi for doing so is the back cover has small lip cover flap for the USB Type C which gives additional protection to USB Type C from dust. It is a small design element but quite useful in terms of protecting the charging pin from dust. But there are no headphones along with the package. You can purchase any brand of headphones with 3.5mm jack pin to be used along with this smartphone or can purchase Xiaomi branded headphones from their website.
Priced at AED 1,049 for 6GB+128GB smartphone.
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