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Redmi Note 10 Review

Charles TYK

Introduction

Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 10 alongside other devices a few months ago, which is the first in the series to feature an AMOLED display. I’ve been using the phone for quite some time, and here’s the full review!

Redmi Note 10 Specs

Design

In terms of design, the Redmi Note 10 has quite a common design. In fact, all products in the Redmi Note 10 series look quite similar to each other. You get rounded corners, a thick chin below the screen, and there’s a hole-punch camera at the center top of the screen.

The phone has a plastic back, some companies actually called it acrylic glass, which is less durable than real glass. At this price range, you kinda expect to get this kind of material. The camera module of the phone took inspiration from the Mi 11 lineup, but more squarish.

The volume rocker and the power button are located on the right side of the phone. Like its predecessor, the Redmi Note 10’s power button also doubles as a fingerprint scanner.

The phone comes with stereo speakers, but Xiaomi chose not to let the earpiece do two jobs, so there’s another speaker grille on top next to the IR blaster, which is uncommon for phones nowadays.

At the bottom, there’s a 3.5mm audio jack, microphone, USB-C port, and another speaker grille. Yup, the 3.5mm audio jack is here to stay, and putting the speaker grilles at the top and bottom is a good move for a better stereo audio experience.

Display

The Redmi Note 10 sports a 6.43-inch Full HD+ AMOLED DotDisplay with a 60Hz refresh rate. Like I already mentioned in my previous reviews, I would prefer to have a 60Hz AMOLED display over a 120Hz LCD display. No doubt, the screen is good, one of the best in its class, but the silver trim camera cutout does ruin the overall viewing experience a little bit.

Performance

The Redmi Note 10 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 678 processor with up to 6GB RAM and 128GB UFS 2.2 storage. My review unit is the 6GB RAM + 128GB UFS 2.2 storage variant, which is actually quite capable of handling tasks like using social media apps, watching YouTube videos, and moderate gaming. When it comes to graphic-intensive games, the phone struggles to keep up and it gets warm. Remember the GPS lost issue that many users are complaining about? Yup, I’m still getting that issue on this phone.

Software

The Redmi Note 10 runs on MIUI 12 based on Android 11 and the overall experience is somewhat quite similar to the Mi 10T Pro I’ve reviewed last year, with some additional Android 11 features. The look and feel are still the same, and I’m still struggling to navigate through the messy settings. I’m still not a fan of it!

Camera

The Redmi Note 10 packs a quad-camera setup on the back — 48MP main + 8MP ultra-wide + 2MP macro + 2MP depth. Obviously, the macro and depth cameras are not really useful, and I bet no one will actually care about them if Xiaomi decides to remove both.

Ultra-Wide

12MP Main

48MP Main

Night Mode

Image quality generally is quite good, especially under broad daylight. Toggling on the AI camera function will definitely improve the colors to be more eye-pleasing, but sometimes it will be overdone. It does come with night mode, but don’t expect to shoot sharp low-light images. The phone took nice selfies and it has good edge detection for portrait mode. Click here to view all camera samples.

Battery Life

The Redmi Note 10 packs a 5,000mAh battery that supports 33W fast charging. According to Xiaomi Malaysia, the phone charges up to 50% in just 25 minutes, and I found it to be true. In terms of battery life, the phone is able to last up to 2 days for moderate usage. Unfortunately, MIUI doesn’t show the total screen-on-time on a single charge. I would say it has at least around 6 hours of screen-on-time.

Final Words

Retailing at RM699 and RM799 for 4GB+64GB and 6GB+128GB variants, respectively, the Redmi Note 10 is actually one good mid-range smartphone you can get right now. However, there’s a problem, Xiaomi Malaysia actually released the Redmi Note 10 5G and Redmi Note 10S shortly after the Redmi Note 10 was released. It actually makes no sense for people to purchase the Redmi Note 10 because both new phones that were released later are better on paper, yet cost around the same. You’ll find out more in the Redmi Note 10 5G and Redmi Note 10S reviews soon.

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