REVIEW: Xiaomi Redmi Pro is a powerful dual camera smartphone

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Xiaomi is famous for using flagship solutions in budget devices. It seems that Redmi Pro is the best combination that the engineers of this company have managed to create. Dual camera, hardware button, AMOLED display and low price. This is a claim to success.

Xiaomi smartphones with a screen diagonal of 5.5 inches make up a significant share of the company's devices sold in Russia. These are mainly devices of the Redmi Note line belonging to the budget segment. Redmi Pro is an attempt to restart the lineup with the integration of features previously unique to the flagship Mi smartphones.

Specifications

Display	AMOLED, 5.5 inches (1,920 × 1,080)
CPU	MediaTek Helio X20 / X25 64 bit 10 cores
Graphics	Mali-T880 MP4
RAM	3/4 GB
Persistent memory	32/64/128 GB
Cameras	Main - 13 + 5 Mp (dual-tone flash, autofocus), front - 5 Mp
Wireless interfaces	Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n, Bluetooth 4.2, infrared
Navigation	GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou
Connection	GSM 850/900/1 800/1 900 MHz; UMTS 900/2 100 MHz; LTE Band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20
SIM	MicroSIM + nanoSIM or microSIM + microSDXC
Sensors	Illumination, approximation, accelerometer, gyroscope
Operating system	Android 6.0
Battery	4050 mAh
Dimensions (edit)	151, 5 × 76, 2 × 8, 15 mm
The weight	174 g

Appearance

The one-to-one box is similar to the packaging from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, as well as the package bundle. It is traditionally scarce for Xiaomi: charger, cable, smartphone and pieces of paper.

The device itself completely repeats the shape of a simpler brother. The same body, the same protective glass with rounded edges (2, 5D). The location of the SIM card slot and the main control buttons also went to the smartphone from the younger version.

To emphasize the premium quality of Redmi Pro, the company went for rather controversial decisions. The smartphone has a completely sleek metal body with no surface coatings. Pure polished metal. The colors are gold, silver and gray. It is now the color of the metal itself, not paint.

The color will not fade over time, but the polishing of the back cover makes you be very careful with the device. Bare metal picks up scratches worse than paint, but much better than any plastic. You can't do without a cover.

In addition, the polishing has made the Redmi Pro incredibly slippery. If you take it in your hand at an angle of 45 degrees, it will certainly slide. The protective glass is no less slippery.

On the other hand, if you put your smartphone in a silicone case, you can't take your eyes off the Xiaomi Redmi Pro. Polished metal, shiny ribs, well thought-out angles. If the last generation of Xiaomi smartphones could be recorded as state employees, then the new devices have become an ideal example of style.

The convenience of the new building is on the verge of fantasy. All controls are at hand, regardless of its size. On the right side there is a volume rocker and a power button, on the left there is a SIM card slot.

The fingerprint scanner in Redmi Pro has moved to a hardware button located on the bezel below the screen. The exact same is used in the flagship Xiaomi Mi4 / 5 and will be used in the new modification following the Mi5s. The touch buttons on the edges are retained, so there is no need to worry about introducing new control methods like in Meizu or Lenovo ZUK. Everything is familiar.

Interestingly, the mold for Redmi Pro is exactly the same as for Redmi Note 4. Therefore, the hole for the fingerprint scanner is preserved. Now it has a second camera. Exactly the same size as the top, but simpler. What it is for - we will tell later.

At the top there is a 3.5 mm jack for headphones, a microphone and an infrared port, and at the bottom there are two symmetrical blocks of holes for the main speaker and microphone. Like other premium solutions from Xiaomi, the new product has a USB Type-C connector.

Display

The button and dual camera may be useless for some types of users. But the screen really sharply distinguishes Redmi Pro from other Xiaomi devices in the budget and mid-price segments.

Usually, the company prefers IPS for its smartphones. The Redmi Pro uses a 5.5-inch OLED display matrix with a resolution of 1,920 × 1,080, which provides a picture density of 401 pixels per inch. Color quality is beyond praise. White is really white and black is like soot. This is especially noticeable next to Xiaomi Redmi Note 4. In addition, the matrix produced by EverDisplay and BOE Display does not suffer from the notorious PenTile - it turns out, it is cooler than that of Samsung.

Viewing angles and behavior in the sun for all AMOLED matrices is about the same: beautiful and does not raise questions. The brightness can be controversial, in the case of Redmi Pro it is quite high. So much so that the minimum level still hits the eyes in the dark.

The protective glass has an excellent oleophobic coating. Fingerprints practically do not remain on the surface and are very quickly erased.

Operating system

The smartphone "out of the box" runs MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0, which received an improved security management system in the eighth generation, the ability to save an entire page in the browser with one screenshot, as well as small innovations in the gallery.

There are no problems with messenger notifications. Other applications do not require additional security settings either.

The shell of the eighth version has been seriously redesigned. In my opinion, it has become less stylish, but much more comfortable. Gestures, swipes, taps - all this turns the smartphone into an ideal companion.

Performance

Redmi Pro uses a more powerful platform than the standard Redmi Note 4. The base variant with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of permanent memory is equipped with MediaTek Helio X20 MT6797M. The higher frequency of the processor is practically not reflected in the test results.

Apparently, this is due to insufficient optimization, the previous graphics subsystem and a more voracious screen. The real smartphone performance is kept at the same level. True, the comparison is only relevant for the Redmi Note 4 Pro with 3 GB of RAM, since there is no Redmi Pro variant with 2 GB of memory.

The older version of Redmi Pro with 64 GB of permanent memory, like the top 4/128 GB, is equipped with a Helio X25 processor. In this case, the increase in productivity is obvious.

In everyday use, the smartphone behaves perfectly, pleasing with high speed and no lags. In gaming scenarios, the behavior of the smartphone is ideal. World Of Tanks Blitz by default starts at the lowest graphics settings, although at maximum fps rarely drops below 30. There are no problems with watching videos in Full HD and 4K resolution.

Sound

The phone features in Redmi Pro work as they should. The earpiece speaker provides clear and natural reproduction of the interlocutor's voice. No complaints about microphones. The main speaker has good volume and sounds clear.

The sound in the headphones is average. But it can be tightened up using the built-in equalizer and a set of presets designed specifically for the company's branded headphones. When using them, the sound becomes very pleasant, even if it does not reach the flagship solutions with separate audio decoupling.

Camera

The smartphone was the first among Xiaomi devices to receive a dual camera module: a 13-megapixel Sony IMX258 sensor with five-lens aperture optics f / 2, 0 and an auxiliary 5-megapixel Samsung S5K5E8 sensor with identical optics and aperture ratio. The same sensor, but without autofocus, is used in the front camera.

Daytime shooting shows that the Redmi Pro can take excellent, clear pictures with highly accurate white balance.

Indoors, the camera also accurately maintains white balance and is more likely to guess with metering compared to competitors. So the camera really works - you need much fewer takes. Similarly, the module behaves in low light conditions.

The main function of the Redmi Pro dual camera system is to create portraits and close-up shots of small objects. An optional 5-megapixel sensor takes background shots and depth metering throughout the exposure, allowing you to manually adjust the background blur depth and select the focus point all the way down to f / 0.95.

Not every point-and-shoot camera and mirrorless camera can handle these numbers. Unfortunately, the effect is purely software, therefore, in certain conditions, significant distortions are possible.

Photos taken with the front camera are of average quality. There is a good "self-enhancer" that removes facial imperfections.

But taking good photos at night for Redmi Pro is still a big problem. Rescues only the shooting mode with an extended range (HDR).

No HDR

With HDR

Wireless interfaces

The set of wireless interfaces is standard. There is support for basic Russian LTE bands (by the way, both SIM cards work with fourth-generation networks). Wi-Fi - only IEEE 802.11n, but Bluetooth version 4.2 is used. There is also an infrared port that has become standard for Xiaomi.

The navigation module supports GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and pleases with a high speed of operation with moderate power consumption. A cold start takes no more than half a minute, a hot start about 5 seconds.

Autonomous work

Redmi Pro is equipped with a 4,050 mAh non-removable battery. Charging takes a little over two hours, since the bundled charger does not support accelerated charging from MediaTek. However, no one bothers to buy an appropriate accessory if necessary.

The battery charge during standard use is enough for a day and a half of active use: a couple of hours of Internet, instant messengers in the background, an hour of games, music in headphones. An hour in a three-dimensional shooter via LTE at medium brightness takes about 18% of the charge, at maximum brightness - about 30% of the charge. In airplane mode, Full HD viewing is possible for 13 hours.

Outcomes

Now there are two Xiaomi phablets on the market - Redmi Pro and Redmi Note 4. Each of them is intended for its own audience. The differences between the junior and senior models are very noticeable. With a live comparison, there is no doubt: if you take it, then Redmi Pro.

The dual camera should not be included in the list of the real advantages of the device. If desired, the bokeh effect can be obtained on any smartphone using software. But the hardware multi-function button, polished body and AMOLED display are really worth the extra $ 20-30. Previously, such solutions could only be found in the price range from $ 300.

If only the screen is important, Redmi Pro is ready to offer it for $ 234. The variant with 3 and 64 GB of memory will cost $ 264, and the top-end 4/128 GB version will cost $ 297.