First look at Redmi Note 9 Pro - real top for your money

Design

It's nice that Xiaomi wanted to do something original. Redmi Note 9 Pro does not look like a faceless mass of Chinese smartphones, although it has common features with them: rounded body shapes, a glass back and a screen with a hole for the front camera.

The design is recognizable by the textured color dividing the back of the device into two parts, as well as by the square block of cameras. The latter reminds of the Huawei Mate 20 line, but here it protrudes more from the body.

In front, the novelty can no longer be distinguished from most competitors: 85% of the area is occupied by a display with rounded corners. The bezels are not the narrowest by modern standards, and the bottom margin is wider than the rest: a display cable is hidden under it.

On the right side there is a volume rocker and a power button with a built-in fingerprint sensor. The most convenient way to unlock the smartphone is with your right thumb, which lies directly on the scanner platform. There is also face unlock.

The smartphone is large and heavy, and the glass back is very slippery. The silicone case from the kit solves the problem, but it further increases the dimensions, so the Redmi Note 9 Pro is unlikely to suit the owners of small palms.

Screen

Redmi Note 9 Pro is equipped with a huge display of 6.67 inches with Full HD + resolution. The matrix is made using IPS technology with traditional pixel structure, which makes the image clearer than OLED screens with the same characteristics. The grain is invisible even in small print.

Other pluses of the display include the absence of PWM flicker, maximum viewing angles without color distortion and neutral white balance. Of the minuses: not as deep black as on OLED-matrices, as well as a smaller margin of brightness. At the same time, the picture does not "fade" in the sun, for which thanks to the antiglare coating.

Sound and vibration

The smartphone retained a 3.5 mm audio jack, but they decided not to indulge users with stereo speakers. The multimedia speaker is located at the bottom and is not of good quality. The volume reserve is enough not to miss a call or an alarm, but to watch YouTube it is better to connect headphones to your smartphone.

The vibration is surprisingly decent. Usually inexpensive Android-smartphones emit an indistinct rattling, but here the response is very strong and clear. Xiaomi claims to have equipped the new product with a linear vibration motor, and you can feel it.

Cameras

Redmi Note 9 Pro has four cameras on the back. The standard module is equipped with a 64-megapixel sensor and can combine four pixels into one, so that the output is 16-megapixel frames with less noise and wide dynamic range.

Also, the smartphone is equipped with an 8-megapixel "width", a 5-megapixel camera for macro shots and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Front camera resolution is 16 megapixels.

Standard camera

Macro camera

Selfie

Other features

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset is responsible for the performance in the Redmi Note 9 Pro. Judging by the tests, it is not inferior to the Snapdragon 730G, which is installed in the more expensive Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite model. The smartphone also received 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. The latter can be expanded using microSD up to 512 GB.

The gadget runs Android 10 with a proprietary shell MIUI 11. From day to day, the interface will be updated to the 12th version, which will bring new animations, a notification curtain and gesture control.

The system works smoothly, applications start quickly and are in no hurry to unload from RAM. However, it is worth checking how the new product behaves in games. We will talk about this in a full review in a couple of weeks.

The 5,020 mAh battery will definitely last for a day of active use. If you need to recharge quickly, a 30W adapter is included with the smartphone. It will replenish the battery in less than an hour.

Subtotals

With the release of the Note 9 Pro, Xiaomi has “killed” its other novelty - the Mi Note 10 Lite. The smartphone under the Redmi brand is cheaper and at the same time offers a recognizable design, a 5-megapixel camera for macro photography and support for memory cards. Perhaps, with prolonged testing, pitfalls will come to light, but so far the model looks like a potential hit.