Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 ,review), has been the best selling smartphone in 2017. The year has changed, so once again there are high expectations from Xiaomi. In such Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 ,review) But there is a big responsibility and we believe that this phone has fulfilled this responsibility to a great extent. Xiaomi has also launched a more powerful model with better cameras. This Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro will be known as It is the first smartphone to come with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 636 processor. The chipset supports full-HD+ display and houses Qualcomm’s own custom Kryo CPU cores. On paper, these things are very tempting. But the question is, how much premium is the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro over the Redmi Note 5? You will get the answer by reading the review of the phone.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Design and Build Quality
From the front, the Redmi Note 5 Pro looks very similar to the Redmi Note 5. It also has curved edges of the 18:9 display. The phone still has visible bezels on the left and right sides. At the same time, the borders are wider on the top and bottom. At 181 grams, the phone feels a bit heavy, possibly due to the metal back and large battery. The white and gold trim of our review unit looked great. If you want, you can buy the phone in Black, Blue and Rose Gold colors.
The 5.99-inch display is of full-HD+ resolution. Gorilla Glass has been used to protect the phone from scratches. You will not find any capacitive buttons, Xiaomi has used onscreen navigation buttons. Above the screen are a front camera, earpiece, diffused selfie flash and sensors.
The body is of metal and the grip is comfortable. On taking the phone in hands, there is a feeling of being away from the button. But their response is great. Like other handsets of Xiaomi Redmi Note series, it also has an IR emitter on the top. At the bottom of the phone is the 3.5mm headphone socket, microphone, micro-USB port and speaker grill. According to us, being a Pro model, the company should have given USB Type C port in it. There is a hybrid dual sim tray on the left side. Here you can use two Nano SIMs or a Nano SIM with microSD card (up to 128 GB).
The metal back will remind you a lot of the Redmi Note 4, especially because of the matte finish and tapering edges. The fingerprint sensor is easy to reach when the phone is held in hand. It also does fast fingerprint recognition. The bulge of the camera is clearly visible. Frankly speaking, this design seems heavily inspired by the iPhone X. The setup of lens and flash is also the same as that of Apple’s phone. The bulge means that the phone sits at an awkward angle when placed on a flat surface. There is nothing else on the back side. Xiaomi’s logo is just at the bottom.
We received the unit for review without any packaging. Xiaomi has told that users will get a standard charger and silicone cover with this phone, just like the Redmi Note 5.
The phone is long. Because of this, keeping it in the pocket will not be as easy. Other than that there is no complaint. On the other hand the width of the phone is decent. Because of this the phone can be easily gripped in one hand. After using the phone for a couple of days, we also got used to its weight. Overall, the Redmi Note 5 Pro is well built and looks beautiful.
Specifications and features of Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
Xiaomi says that the Redmi Note 5 Pro is truly redmi note 3 ,review) has an upgrade. This claim seems correct in terms of performance. The Redmi Note 3 took the performance bar up in the Rs 15,000 price range. The Redmi Note 5 Pro has also managed to do something similar. It is the first phone to come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor that was introduced in October last year. In our benchmark tests, the Redmi Note 5 Pro processor outperformed the Snapdragon 625 processor by an average of 10 percent.
Redmi Note 5 Pro you will get 4 GB RAM and 6 GB RAM options. The storage of both the variants is only 64 GB. If needed, you will be able to use a microSD card up to 128 GB. Bluetooth 5, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 AC, GPS, FM radio, USB-OTG and important sensors have been provided in the phone. 4G VoLTE support is available in the handset.
The MIUI software of the phone is still based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. This is disappointing. The company has also not said anything regarding the Android Oreo update. Android security patch is also not updated. Our test unit had received the December 2017 update. It is possible that this is due to the unit having beta build. In such a situation, we cannot consider Xiaomi as guilty.
Custom Skins Recently Launched Xiaomi Redmi 5A ,review) And Xiaomi Redmi Y1 ,review) is the same. The interface is quite slick and the home screen is also very smooth. There was no complaint of slowness of the phone even in animation.
Many of Xiaomi’s apps will already be installed in Redmi Note 5 Pro. Mi Drop lets you send files over an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network. For this, there should be Me Drop in the other person’s phone as well. You will also get Mi Store and Mi Community which cannot be uninstalled from the phone.
There is also a Wi-Fi calling option in the Settings app. But you will not be able to activate it. Because this service will be provided by the cellular network provider. You can change the UI theme if you want. The fingerprint sensor lets you lock apps and capture photos. You will get features like Quick Ball, One Handed Mode and Dual Apps of MIUI.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro performance, camera and battery life
We reviewed the 4 GB RAM variant of the Redmi Note 5 Pro. Its performance was excellent in general use. Fingerprints fall on the screen, but dust and spots do not stick to the rest of the body. Call quality is good. The speaker is loud enough for alerts and media playback. The phone often freezes. It gets a bit hot even while playing games. Even after using the camera for a long time, it does not get very hot, which is a good thing.
Xiaomi has also provided its own music and video apps for media playback. Well, there doesn’t seem to be any need for these apps if Google’s media player is already installed. Apart from this, an app like MX Player equipped with many useful features is also available for free. This phone can also play 4K video. There is also an option for audio enhancement for the headphones, which can be activated from the Settings app. Good quality sound comes from the headphones.
Xiaomi says that the cameras are one of the key features of the Redmi Note 5 Pro. Our experience is also that the camera performance is commendable. There are two sensors on the back side. The primary sensor is of 12 megapixels which is F / 2.2 aperture. At the same time, the secondary camera of 5 megapixels is used to measure depth in portrait mode. The distinction between the human face and the background remains clear. But in other object it is not very accurate.
The cameras on the Redmi Note 5 Pro take decent pictures in most conditions. The 12MP sensor captures detailed photos in daylight. The phone has some difficulty in maintaining white balance in high light, but on most occasions the results are accurate. Autofocus is a bit slow in low light. There is also the problem of shutter lag. But the quality of the image is not too bad. The level of landscape shot detail is decent and noise is also limited. Color reproduction is good in macro shots. The portrait mode gives decent results even in low light.
Our review unit was running on Beta ROM so there was no support for 4K video recording. However, Xiaomi told us that the phone will probably come with this feature at the time of sale. Full-HD videos look good in natural light. Colors are saturated. The level of detail is also great. The Note 5 Pro has electronic image stabilization, which works well.
However, the continuous autofocus wasn’t very impressive when recording video. As soon as we switched it off, the autofocus became more efficient. There is also an option for slow motion and time-lapse videos which work well. The short video shooting mode records a 10-second video clip, but the audio quality is very average. The panorama mode also works fine and it does a quick job of adding frames. But its manual mode is very limited, you will only be able to control white balance and ISO.
The 20MP front camera takes great selfies. There is Bokeh mode, it does a good job in edge detection. This is made possible through Xiaomi’s AI learning algorithm. It works well in use. In test shots, the feature blurred most of the background in our photos, barring a couple of spots. There is also a selfie light in it. This is helpful in low light. Beautification mode can be switched on if needed. You can set the level of the effect and modify some of your facial features.
Battery life is also strong. The 4000mAh battery on the Redmi Note 5 Pro easily lasted us a day with moderate usage. The battery supports fast charging, but the 10W charger bundled with the handset won’t do the trick. We used our Qualcomm Quick Charge power adapter with this phone. After this a notification was showing on the lock screen saying that the phone is fast charging. Apart from this, the charging icon in the status bar has also been changed to the Quick Charge logo.
our decision
Overall, there is nothing wrong with paying more for the Redmi Note 5 Pro than the Redmi Note 5. You will get better cameras. Battery life is also slightly better and there is a more powerful processor. For all these reasons, your experience will be better. It may take some time for you to get used to the weight of this phone. Even though it is not unique in appearance, but the build quality is strong. We liked the tall screen, which is sharp and readable even in sunlight.
Portrait mode works for both the front and rear cameras and comes with reliable battery life. App and system performance is also commendable. Being a ‘Pro’ model, we were expecting more features from this phone. The company should have provided fast charger and USB Type-C port. Apart from this, the design should also have been such that it would give a different identity to this phone. Android Oreo out of the box would have been another cool feature for Xiaomi fans.
With a starting price of Rs 13,999, this phone goes far beyond the rest. As an option in this price, you have Xiaomi’s mi a1 ,review) is also. This phone is for those people who want stock Android interface like Google Pixel series. In this price range we can offer our readers so far Moto G5S Plus ,review) have also been suggesting to buy. But looking at the price, Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro has no match in terms of performance and features.