Redmi Note 9 r48MP Quad Camera & Full HD+ Display - Review

Xiaomi made a huge splash in the Indian market earlier this year with the Redmi Note 9 Pro and the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. These two smartphones had impressive specifications at competitive prices, but the excitement has been short lived, as they have both become more expensive now thanks to rupee-dollar fluctuations and a GST hike. Now, Xiaomi has launched the Redmi Note 9 which comes in at a sub Rs. 15,000 price. It sports powerful internals compared to its predecessors, but is it good value for money?

Redmi Note 9 design: Same but different

Redmi introduced its Aura Balance design with the Redmi Note 9 Pro₹ 12,999 series, and the Redmi Note 9₹ 10,999 gets it by default. It looks a lot like its siblings, but unlike them the Redmi Note 9 does not have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. Instead, it has a more traditional rear-mounted one, positioned right below the rear camera module.

Xiaomi has matched the colour of the fingerprint scanner with the glossy finish of the camera module, which makes it hard to spot from a distance. I prefer a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, and the one on the Redmi Note 9 is well positioned. Xiaomi has launched the smartphone in three colours: Pebble Grey, Arctic White, and Aqua Green. I had an Arctic White unit for this review, and it has a nice gradient at the back.

Xiaomi has gone with a big display for the Redmi Note 9, and so this phone needs a slight shuffle in the hand to reach the top with one hand. The power and volume buttons are well positioned and easy to hit. Just like most other Redmi phones, the Note 9 has an IR emitter on the top. This can be used to control your television or air conditioner, and could come in handy.

The phone is 8.9mm thick and weighs 199g. It is slightly on the heavier side compared to some of the other smartphones in this price range. Xiaomi says it has used a P2i nano-coating on the device with rubber seals on the ports for a bit of protection from exposure to liquids. The main reason for the weight could be the big battery that this phone packs. Xiaomi has also bundled a 22.5W charger in the box (though charging is currently limited to 18W - more on that later).

Redmi Note 9 specifications and software: New hardware, same old experience

The Redmi Note 9 is now the entry point for the Note 9 series, and Xiaomi has picked the MediaTek Helio G85 for this model. It is an octa-core processor with two Cortex-A75 cores clocked at 2GHz, and six Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. For graphics, it has an ARM Mali-G52 GPU clocked at 1GHz.

The Redmi Note 9 has a 6.53-inch display with a full-HD+ resolution (1080x2340 pixels) and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection. There are three variants of the Redmi Note 9: 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage, 4GB of RAM with 128GB of storage, and 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage. These variants are priced at Rs. 11,999, Rs, 13,499, and Rs. 14,999 respectively at launch, and I had the top variant for this review.

Currently, the phone charges to 29 percent in 30 minutes and 60 percent in an hour. Charging the device completely takes a little over two hours. This should go down if or when Xiaomi unlocks the full charging speed.

Redmi Note 9 cameras: Not so good at night

The Redmi Note 9 has a quad-camera setup consisting of a 48-megapixel primary camera, 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies, it has a 13-megapixel camera in the front. The camera app is very similar to what I have seen on other Redmi phones.

Apart from the usual shooting modes, the app has a Pro mode for both photos as well as video, which lets you manually control different parameters. It also has a Document mode that lets you crop photos and convert them to Black and White right from the viewfinder. With apps such as Camscanner banned, this will come in handy.