Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Review

Overview

For quite some time, the Xiaomi's Redmi and Redmi Note series have been winning worldwide appraisal for offering the best price/quality ratio in the smartphone market. In that context, the Redmi Note 9 does not need any special introduction simply because the brand is a guarantee that you will definitely get a good looking, well-made, and well-equipped smartphone for a fraction of the price you'd pay for similar offerings. Via various Chinese retailers, you can get it for up to USD 200, and import taxes might be imposed. In Europe, the price is around EUR 200 but there are no import taxes. We purchased our review unit from a local EU retailer. As usual, before commencing our in-depth Redmi Note 9 review let's check out the full specifications and what's in the box.

Specifications

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 is equipped with a 6.53-inch IPS display with an FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2340). It is covered with a 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 5 with oleophobic coating and the frame is plastic. The screen has a TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification and supports HDR10. Xiaomi specifies 450 nits brightness, 1500:1 static contrast ratio, and 84% NTSC color space coverage. The punch hole in the top-left corner of the screen houses the 13MP selfie snapper. On the back, there's a quad-camera setup with a 48MP main shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide unit, a 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor. The model is powered by a 5020 mAh battery paired to a 22.5W fast charger.

The Redmi Note 9 is based on a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset. Built on the 12nm process, it houses an octa-core CPU with 2x 2.0GHz Cortex-A75 cores and 6x 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 cores. An ARM Mali-G52 2EEMC2 GPU clocked up to 1GHz manages the graphics department. There are 3GB or 4GB of dual-channel LPDDR4X RAM clocked at 1800 MHz. The eMMC 5.1 internal storage is either 64GB or 128GB and can be further expanded via a dedicated microSD card slot.

The Redmi Note 9 supports the following network bands: 2G GSM (B2, B3, B5, B8), 3G W-CDMA (B1, B2, B4, B5, B8), 4G LTE-FDD (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B20, B28), 4G LTE-TDD (B34, B40, B41). The wireless connectivity options of the model include NFC (market dependent), Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac. There is an infrared port, 3.5 mm jack, and a USB Type-C 2.0 with OTG support onboard as well. The Redmi Note 9 supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou and runs on Global MIUI 11.0.3 based on Android 10.

Complete Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 specifications.

What's in the box

Our Redmi Note 9 review unit arrived in a simple white box with the brand, model name, and photo of the model imprinted on top of the lid. Inside the box, the smartphone lies on top of all accessories covered in a protective foil. The envelope below it contains the standard documentation and a silicone case, while at the bottom of the box, you will see the charger and cable. The charger complies with the EU standard for electric sockets. Here's the full list with the box contents in addition to the handset:

• 5V/3A~9V/2.23A~12V/1.67A~10V/2.25A fast charger (EU plug)
• USB Type-C data cable
• Transparent protective case
• Pre-applied screen protector
• SIM tray pin
• Quick start guide
• Warranty card