Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro review: This smartphone will surprise you 

Xiaomi has sold over 100 million Redmi te devices globally since 2014 – which is when first Redmi te was launched. Clearly Redmi te has been a global bestseller – especially in India where lineup has become kind of synymous with affordability and reliability. And over years, Xiaomi has only upped its game.   

Earlier in year, Xiaomi launched Redmi te 7 Pro and Redmi te 7 and going by numbers that it is giving out – over 20 million units shipped to date – Redmi te 7 series is probably one of most popular Redmi te series ever.  

Xiaomi has launched Redmi te 8 Pro and Redmi te 8 phones barely a few months after launching Redmi te 7 Pro and Redmi te 7. That’s t surprising bit though. What’s really blowing my mind is how Xiaomi has been able to literally re-do se things from ground up – after having just come up with Redmi te 7 Pro and Redmi te 7 which were both re-done from scratch as well.  

Redmi te 8 Pro and Redmi te 8 have a new design, new hardware and more memory configurations – re are some India-specific invations as well here. A lot has changed on inside and out, and yet, one thing has remained constant. Xiaomi’s aggressive pricing. Even with all extra bells and whistles, Redmi te 8 Pro still starts at Rs 14,999. Redmi te 8, meanwhile, starts at Rs 9,999. 

w, I have been using Redmi te 8 Pro for well over a week w and I have found it to be such a typical Xiaomi device, I am t even surprised how good – re, value for money – this thing is. It just works. Even better than Redmi te 7 Pro in some cases. 

Design and build quality 

Take design for instance. Xiaomi has drawn inspiration from Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro here. This is especially true for back, which uses four-sided curved Corning Gorilla Glass 5 that sort of melts into sides – which is plastic, by way. Redmi te 7 Pro was flat and boxy in comparison which me it t uncomfortable to hold. camera alignment is also ala Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro.  

Like Redmi K20 Pro and Redmi K20, Redmi te 8 Pro also comes in a slew of fancy light-bending colours. It’s t as flamboyant though. most you get, in case you really like to flaunt it, is a new Gamma Green variant which is a first for any Xiaomi phone. re’s also a pristine Halo White, and a smart and sophisticated Show Black – both are relatively sober options. Be that as it may, Xiaomi has done a good job here and much like any or Xiaomi phone, Redmi te 8 Pro also screams premium from get-go. re are two ways about it. 

While Redmi te 7 Pro was a 6.39-inch phone, Redmi te 8 Pro is 6.53-inches – it's thicker (8.8mm) and heavier (200g) too. Which means that Redmi te 8 Pro is a big phone, something that you’ll have to get used to – volume rocker is placed higher up on right and getting to it can be quite a task. 

While we’re on nitpicking, Redmi te 8 Pro tends to wobble when placed back facing down because of its huge camera bump. Also, for some reason, Xiaomi has me fingerprint scanner part of phone’s camera array and because it sits on a raised platform, using it can be anying. That fingerprint scanner works like a charm though – once you get used to its odd positioning.  

Display 

Redmi te 8 Pro uses an IPS LCD panel which is a bit of a letdown at a time when rival phones like Realme XT are offering OLED. So yes, this is one area where Redmi te 8 Pro will seem lacking – but this may be true for only spec nerds. This is because IPS LCD screen of Redmi te 8 Pro is high-quality. It gets plenty bright and viewing angles are quite good too which means Redmi te 8 Pro is serviceable in outdoor sunny environment.  

1080p+ IPS LCD screen of Redmi te 8 Pro is HDR-certified, something that you rarely get in budget phones. phone also ships with Widevine L1 support out-of--box. At time of writing this review, both se aspects don’t work in Netflix for some reason but hopefully a software update should fix that soon. As for general content, screen of Redmi te 8 Pro can output good – if a little muted – colours by default. overall tone edges slightly towards cooler side but you can always change that from settings as per your preference. 

re are a couple of more things to te about Redmi te 8 Pro’s display -  

-- phone uses chip on film techlogy that allows Xiaomi to greatly reduce chin on this one which when coupled with its V-shaped waterdrop tch results in a screen-to-body ratio of 91.4-per cent – this is an improvement over Redmi te 7 Pro. 

-- Just like Redmi te 7 Pro, Redmi te 8 Pro also gets Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on front. 

Performance and battery life 

Redmi te 8 Pro is world’s first smartphone to be powered by MediaTek’s new Helio G90T processor. Helio G90T has seemingly been designed to bring high-end gaming experiences to mid-tier devices – something on lines of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 730. In terms of core specs, Helio G90T packs an octa-core CPU with ARM Cortex-A76 and A55 cores clocked at up to 2.05GHz, paired with a Mali G76 GPU clocked at up to 800MHz. 

To put it simply, Redmi te 8 Pro is most powerful smartphone that you can get at its price. In fact, if you take Snapdragon 845-powered Poco F1 out of equation, Redmi te 8 Pro becomes most powerful smartphone that you can get south of Rs 20,000. Period. 

MediaTek has been very vocal about how it’s pitching  Helio G90T straight up against Qualcomm’s Snapragon 730 –  Helio G90T is claimed to outperform SD730 by 3 per cent and SD730G by 7 per cent basis of Antutu scores.  Helio G90T is also claimed to offer up to 34 per cent faster game launch time than competition. Let's just say, Helio G90T holds up well inside a phone like Redmi te 8 Pro.  

So, what does all this jargon mean for gamers? Well, Redmi te 8 Pro performs like a champion, in real world scenarios, often putting Snapdragon 730-powered Redmi K20 to shame – especially when it comes to graphics intensive gaming. Redmi te 8 Pro is only smartphone in its class that can play PUBG with graphics set to HDR and frame rate set to ultra – and it can play it well eugh. Xiaomi’s handy little Game Turbo meanwhile helps optimize resources so you can get most out of your game – in dition to letting you view game stats like FPS count so you can tweak settings accordingly. 

re are a couple of more things to te about Redmi te 8 Pro when it comes to mobile gaming - 

-- Helio G90T brings MediaTek’s HyperEngine techlogy to Redmi te 8 Pro which means that intelligent network prediction engine inside this mobile chip can automatically switch to LTE sensing when Wi-Fi quality is low. For uninterrupted online gaming sessions. 

-- Xiaomi is using a Wi Fi X antenna setup in Redmi te 8 Pro to ensure more stable connectivity during gaming. 

next obvious question will be – what about heat manment? Redmi te 8 Pro packs liquid cooling plus dual pyrolytic sheets to help keep temperature in check. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a gaming focused processor like Helio G90T inside a relatively slim chassis phone like Redmi te 8 Pro will get warm – even toasty at times – especially when pushed to edge. What’s important is how fast it can cool off or dissipate heat to avoid throttling. Xiaomi has done well here. 

Sly, re’s only so much that Xiaomi can do. While it’s done its bit at heat manment, Helio G90T is t most efficient chipset around. And this reflects in phone’s battery life. Even though Redmi te 8 Pro has a larger 4,500mAh battery over 4,000mAh inside Redmi te 7 Pro, battery life isn’t as good. Redmi te 8 Pro will last you a full day, but t if you’re going to seriously game on it – which is whole point of Redmi te 8 Pro in first place. That’s a missed opportunity I feel. In our battery loop test, phone lasted for 14 hours which is t much going by fabled history of Redmi te.  

phone supports 18W fast charging through USB -C. Xiaomi is finally bundling an 18W fast charger in box with this one – which is nice. bundled charger tops phone in just over 2 hours which seems fair for a phone with a 4,500mAh battery. 

Quick pointers on Redmi te 8 Pro as an everyday phone - 

-- Redmi te 8 Pro comes in 6GB RAM/64GB, 6GB/128GB and 8GB/128GB configurations. That's LPDDR4X RAM and UFS2.1 stor. Which means, everything runs fast almost all time. Redmi te 8 Pro also supports expandable stor of up to 512GB via a dedicated micro-SD card slot. 

-- Software inside phone is Android 9 Pie-based MIUI 10. Yes, re are s. Xiaomi says phone will be updated to MIUI 11 (hopefully with a toggle for more control over s) in December. 

-- Redmi te 8 Pro India variant also answers to hands-free Alexa – in dition to Google Assistant. This was glitchy first time I used it, but Xiaomi has since rolled out an update that has me experience better. 

-- Redmi te 8 Pro has a mo speaker out that’s aver at best. It doesn’t get too loud. re’s a 3.5mm audio jack for wired audio – which is decent. 

-- Phone calls me with Redmi te 8 Pro are of acceptable quality across board – thing really to complain here. dual SIM phone supports dual 4G VoLTE. 

-- re is an IR blaster on phone as well as wireless FM rio. 

Cameras 

Redmi te 8 Pro has four cameras on rear. That's two more than Redmi te 7 Pro. re’s a 64MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, a 2MP depth camera, and a 2MP macro lens. That main camera uses Samsung’s 64MP GW1 sensor which works on same principle as its 48MP GM1 and 32MP GD1 sensors – effectively producing sharper, more detailed 16MP photos in low light, and using software interpolation to produce high resolution 64MP photos as and when required. On front, Redmi te 8 Pro has a 20MP camera – which is again a step up from 13MP on Redmi te 7 Pro. 

More cameras don’t necessarily mean better cameras. Redmi te 8 Pro is a classic example. This is ar area where I feel Xiaomi has missed out even though that main camera can capture some good-looking photos in ideal lighting. At same time, re’s one area where Xiaomi has done better – Redmi te 8 Pro cameras are faster. And that’s an important area.  

-- 64MP main camera: Can capture some well detailed shots with good dynamic range in well-lit situations – at both native 16MP and high-res 64MP. I like that even though re’s plenty of post-processing/over sharpening happening in background, Redmi te 8 Pro photos are truer to life/natural than say Redmi K20s. Shooting at 64MP gives you ded flexibility of cropping and getting closer to a subject (than it actually is) without much loss in detail. main camera also does well in tricky and low light (at 16MP) provided you are super stey. Xiaomi’s long-exposure night mode can help shoot brighter, more detailed photos in low light, better than rival phones in an around its price point. 

-- 8MP ultra-wide camera: wide-angle camera offers a wider perspective so you can capture a lot more of your subject, but its quality is thing to write home about especially in low light. 

-- 2MP depth camera: Xiaomi has always done well here, and Redmi te 8 Pro’s portrait shots don’t disappoint eir.  

-- 2MP macro lens: This one’s a mere velty overshowed by Redmi te 8 Pro’s own 64MP main camera that can give you far superior close-ups. 

-- 20MP selfie camera: Gets job done but again, Xiaomi’s beautification algorithm can be so aggressive at times, it can destroy detail in almost all lighting scenarios. You’ll be better off toning it all way down for better results. Portraits shot with it are best in class though – this is one area where Xiaomi has always done well.  

Videos shot with Redmi te 8 Pro have same plus and minus points as shooting stills. An important thing to te about Redmi te 8 Pro is that it lets you shoot videos from all its cameras including macro, offering level of versatility that or smartphone does in this price range. 

Should you buy Xiaomi Redmi te 8 Pro? 

Xiaomi has launched Redmi te 8 Pro in India starting at Rs 14,999 for base variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB stor, while 6GB/128GB and 8GB/128GB models have been launched at Rs 15,999 and Rs 17,999 respectively. That’s more or less in line with Redmi te 7 Pro pricing. 

Even though pricing may seem familiar, Redmi te 8 Pro is a whole new ball game, in comparison to its predecessor. In every sense of word. It has a fresh design, a large HDR display, powerful innards, more cameras, and a bigger battery with fast charger bundled in box. What’s t to like? 

Having said that, even though Redmi te 8 Pro is full of surprises, re are areas where it could have done better. Even though it’s a big step up in all departments on paper, Redmi te 8 Pro is t necessarily more value for money than Redmi te 7 Pro. Which means if you alrey own a Redmi te 7 Pro, you should hold on to it for some more – you'll do just fine. For everybody else, Xiaomi is still kcking it out of ballpark with Redmi te 8 Pro, so you should totally check it out. But hey, options are always good so be sure to check out Realme XT as well – that phone’s fabulous too.  

(Photos by Saurabh Singh)

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