Redmi Note 10 Pro Photo Test

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Redmi Annotation 10 Pro offers everything from quad rear cameras to a brandish with a high refresh charge per unit in a $250 package. Unfortunately, U.S. users can't buy this phone, so the Google Pixel 4a remains a meliorate selection.

Pros

+
Big 120Hz display
+
Constructive assortment of cameras
+
Speedy charging

Cons

-
Lackluster performance
-
No U.S. availability

Redmi Note ten Pro: Specs

Starting price: £249
Display: 6.67-inch AMOLED FHD (2400 x 1080)
Refresh rate: 60Hz/120Hz
Rear cameras: 108MP principal (f/1.nine), 8MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 5MP telemacro (f/2.four), 2MP depth (f/2.4)
Front photographic camera: 16MP (f/2.45)
Chipset: Snapdragon 732G
RAM: 6GB/8GB
Storage: 64GB/128GB with microSD slot
Battery: 5,020 mAh
Charging: 33W wired
Operating arrangement: Android eleven with MIUI 12
Size: 6.45 10 3.01 x 0.32 inches (164 10 76.v x eight.1 mm)
Weight: 6.viii ounces (193g)
Water/dust resistance: IP53

Bargain hunters shouldn't overlook the Redmi Note ten Pro. Although the model name makes this device like an off-brand Samsung handset, this budget-priced phablet offers some of the most desirable features on a smartphone while managing to undercut major rivals such as the OnePlus Nord N10 5G or the Google Pixel 4a.

The Redmi Note ten Pro features excellent specs across the board, from its 120Hz display to its 108MP main camera. The only real exception is the telephone's chipset, which lacks the oomph missing from similarly priced budget handsets.

U.Southward. shoppers won't be able to enjoy the Redmi Note 10 Pro'due south stellar value. Simply in parts of the world where this phone is bachelor, the Redmi Note x Pro vaults to the top of the best cheap phones list.

Redmi Note 10 Pro review: Price and release appointment

If you're in the U.K., yous can purchase the Redmi Note x Pro right now for £249. That simply gets you the basic model with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. If you want 6GB/128GB instead, that'south £269.

In the U.Due south., there's no way to buy the Note 10 Pro, attributable to the government'south ongoing dispute with Redmi'southward parent company Xiaomi. Nothing is stopping you from importing this phone, just for this price, y'all're better off picking a phone that is already available in American stores such every bit the OnePlus Nord N10 5G.

Redmi Note ten Pro review: Pattern

"What a weird mix of textures." That was the first thing I thought when I saw the Annotation 10 Pro. The color of the glass back doesn't quite work with the metal sides, which is made fifty-fifty worse by the dissimilar color and texture of the top and bottom edges of the telephone. Add together to that the stepped camera block with metal surround, and Redmi's phone feels also busy for my gustatory modality.

Redmi Note 10 Pro review — (Paradigm credit: Tom's Guide)

For colors, you can choose Glacier Blue, Gradient Bronze and Onyx Grey (the colour of my review unit of measurement). The bronze is my favorite pick, both because it'south a skillful-looking hue that's unusual among smartphones; it'south also got a matte texture. The Gray looks prissy out of the box, but its sleeky dorsum proves to be a nightmare when information technology comes to picking upwardly fingerprints.

At least the Note 10 Pro is comfy to hold. You'd look a handset of this size to feel unwieldy, just the sub-7-ounce weight and the curved dorsum panel brand information technology nice to concord and use.

The Redmi Annotation ten Pro is IP53 rated for water/dust resistance. In real terms, that ways dust may enter the phone but won't interfere with its operation. The phone tin can withstand a spray of water, but don't drop it into a sink or pool.

Redmi Note 10 Pro review: Display

With a half-dozen.67-inch display, the Redmi Annotation 10 Pro delivers a lot of screen for your money. That panel also has a 120Hz maximum refresh rate, the aforementioned rate you'll see in much more expensive flagship phones, and an acceptable FHD resolution. Put together, these display features almost justify the cost of the phone on their own.

Ane word near the Note 10 Pro'due south refresh charge per unit: it's static, with options for 60Hz and 120Hz but. While a variable charge per unit like the kind found on the Samsung Galaxy S21 or OnePlus 9 Pro would have been prissy, that's too large an ask for a phone this cheap.

Watching the new trailer for Fast & Furious ix, the unbelievable action that defines the series seemed correct at home on the Note 10 Pro's screen, with the explosions and shiny, brightly colored cars all looking particularly exciting on the large brandish. That said, the screen's not the brightest, even though information technology's rated for 1,200 nits by Redmi itself, which made it hard to lookout whatsoever videos in direct sunlight.

Redmi Note 10 Pro review: Cameras

Flip over the Redmi Note ten Pro, and you'll run across four cameras, the highlight existence the 108MP main camera, which is the same resolution plant on the $1,200 Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. That lens is joined by an 8MP ultrawide angle camera, a 5MP telemacro lens and a 2MP depth sensor. In that location's also one camera upwardly front, a 16MP selfie cam located within a dial-hole cutout.

To assess the abilities of these cameras, I compared the Redmi Annotation 10 Pro's shots to the Motorola Moto g10. Motorola's upkeep model as well has 5 total cameras (48MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, 2MP depth and 8MP selfie), which all serve the same purpose as those on the Note 10 Pro, but for about £120 cheaper.

This starting time image compares the two phones' main sensors with a view over the Lower Pond at Waterlow Park in North London. The Redmi has an easy victory here by offer a brighter shot than the 1 captured by the Moto.

I too tried out the phones' dark modes with these sensors with a view of Tufnell Park Underground station. Here it's a more fifty-fifty comparing, simply the Redmi's prototype has kept the bloom from the street lamp in better check. That allows y'all to capeesh the dark sky better, making it my favorite of the two photos.

For a test of the ultrawide sensors on both phones, I stood beneath this tree with white blossoms for my shots. Nosotros see the aforementioned divergence between the ii images that we did with the principal cameras; the Moto g10 providing an acceptable shot, but the Redmi offering a more attractive, brighter i.

This macro photographic camera face-off is an easy win for the Redmi. It uses the same 5MP telemacro camera that the Xiaomi Mi 11 does, a sensor that got me to praise Xiaomi for doing macro shots correct. The built-in magnification lets Redmi'due south camera get a much clearer shot of this key, while the Moto'due south struggles to deliver a similar amount of particular because of its smaller 2MP sensor.

The depth sensor on both phones is used to add portrait effects to shots such as this 1 of me standing in my lawn. With both phones set to their highest bokeh setting, the Redmi and Moto evangelize practiced blurring, except the Note 10 Pro also offers nicer colors and some attractive low-cal spots.

Our final shot compares two selfies in front end of a tree dorsum at Waterlow Park. This is too close to call since the Moto'due south warmer color temperature makes for an inviting image in the same style that the extra item of the Redmi'due south higher resolution shot does.

These comparisons evidence how spending just £120 more on your phone tin outcome in much better photography. The Redmi likely wouldn't stand to a flagship-level phone in a face-off like this, but it's over again shown just how much quality hardware information technology offers for the request toll.

Redmi Note x Pro review: Performance

The Note 10 Pro contains a Snapdragon 732G chipset, and 6GB or 8GB RAM. My review unit had 6GB RAM, so it won't have the best possible performance that the Note 10 Pro line can offer.

Results from the Geekbench 5 benchmarking app included a single-core average of 421 points and a multicore average of 1,521 for the Redmi Notation 10 Pro. That beats the Moto g10's single-core and multi-cadre scores of 247 and 1,330, respectively. It doesn't quite meet the Google Pixel 4a's 551 and 1,647 results.

Running the 3DMark Wild Life graphics criterion app, the Redmi achieved a score of 1,112 points with a 6.7fps average frame rate. That'southward far better than the Moto g10 (250 1.5fps), but these still aren't particularly mighty results.

These scores made sense one time I booted upwardly Asphalt ix: Legends. There was petty anti-aliasing effectually the border of the cars, making them look weirdly blocky. I likewise noticed the groundwork of a sudden popping in at some points, a sure sign of a chipset that's struggling to continue upward. The merely redeeming features were the frame rate, which thanks to the 120Hz display was smooth and reliable, and the powerful sound from the telephone'south stereo speakers.

Redmi Note 10 Pro review: Battery and charging

There'southward a huge 5,020 mAh battery in the Note 10 Pro, particularly for a phone of this price. Running downward the battery using a particularly long playlist of YouTube videos played over WiFi, it took just over eight hours to get the phone from 45% full to empty. Bold it drains at a consistent rate when full, that makes for around 18 hours total of video playback, which should translate for enough of juice for your everyday tasks.

To accuse the Note 10 Pro, Redmi bundles in a 33W fast charger in the box. This powers the phone from empty to 27% in fifteen minutes, to 56% in xxx minutes and to 100% in 65 minutes. It'due south faster than a lot of phones, both effectually its price betoken and beyond. The comparably cheap Motorola Moto G Ability (2021) fills its v,000 mAh battery to 22% in one-half an hour, using a 10W charger. Meanwhile the gold standard for cheap phones, the Google Pixel 4a, makes it to 50% in xxx minutes with an 18W charger and a considerably smaller 3,140 mAh bombardment.

Redmi Annotation 10 Pro review: Software

Since the Redmi brand is office of Xiaomi, the Note ten Pro gets to use MIUI 12, the visitor'due south spin on Android xi. It's attractive enough to use and is relatively light on bloatware, just lacks a few special features.

For case, the Mi 11 was capable of opening apps in floating windows on superlative of some other app, a handy feature that the Note x Pro can't manage. The new telephone also lacks the split notification shade that shows merely your notifications or quick settings depending on which side of the display you swipe downward on. Maybe this is something Xiaomi will somewhen roll out to Redmi devices, but it seems unfair to have software features like these but withhold them from users with cheaper handsets.

You lot still have a few toys to play with though. Redmi offers a customizable always-on display and the choice of using an app drawer or abode screens just to store all your apps. They're welcome but are and then mutual on other Android phones that they don't back-scratch the Redmi any extra favor.

Redmi Note 10 Pro review: Verdict

Redmi has produced the best kind of cheap phones with the Note ten Pro — the kind that makes you lot question why so many people spend $1,000 or more for flagship phones when you tin can have then much of what you want for far less money.

The Note 10 Pro ticks almost every box when it comes to desirable hardware, but doesn't pack enough processing power to be a fully formed flagship killer. It makes an excellent choice for cash-strapped users who primarily use their phones for photos, thanks to its constructive assortment of cameras, or streaming, because of the large 120Hz display.

You can become better all-rounders in the budget market, such equally Google's reliable Pixel 4a, for not much more coin, and of form, in that location's no like shooting fish in a barrel mode to overcome the fact Redmi phones are not sold in the U.South. Merely if the cost drops further or Xiaomi is allowed back into American stores, this is a phone you'd exist foolish to non check out.

Richard is a Tom's Guide staff author based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Post-obit on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he'southward also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking well-nigh how to mash the perfect cup of specialty coffee.