Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Review

Battery Tests

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 is equipped with a 4000 mAh battery that supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ but arrives with a 5V/2A Quick Charge 3.0 fast charger. According to Xiaomi, the model should provide up to 23 hours of talk time and up to 251 hours of standby time. The battery of our review unit charged in full for 2 hours and 12 minutes with the provided USB data cable and charger. The process maintains a steady pace from the start until the battery reaches 90% of its capacity, which happens 1 hour and 39 minutes from the start. After that, charging slows down a bit and the battery needs 33 minutes to reach 100% of its capacity. The battery temperature starts at 31°C but immediately jumps to 34°C and gradually reaches its peak of 38°C in 39 minutes. This level is maintained for 54 minutes and after that, the temperature gradually decreases, measuring 30°C at the end. During our intensive browsing test, the battery of our review unit lasted for 10 hours and 12 minutes. The discharging process develops with almost one and the same speed from the start. Its speed increases a bit only after the battery drops to 20% of its capacity and a bit more after it drops to 5%. The battery temperature starts at 31°C and in 1 hour and 10 minutes, it reaches 36°C which is maintained for 3 hours and 40 minutes. Then it increases to 37°C and remains at that level until the end with occasional drops to 36°C. The video test for battery life uses a 1080p video at 30 fps with a ~20Mbps rate is used. Our review unit's score from this test is 11 hours and 28 minutes. The discharging pattern is relatively steady with minor fluctuations in the beginning and in the end. The battery temperature starts at 27°C and in 1 hour and 26 minutes reaches 35°C maintaining this level until the end. For the 3D Graphics/Gaming test, the YEBIS OpenGL ES 3.0 3D Tech Demo is used. The battery of our review unit lasted for 6 hours and 43 minutes. The discharging process develops with almost one and the same speed from the start until the end, increasing its speed slightly after the battery drops to 20% of its capacity. The battery temperature starts at 31°C and in 45 minutes reaches 40°C. After another hour, it goes up to 41°C and remains at that level for 4 hours and 30 minutes with a temporary peak to 43°C in the mid-term. For the last half an hour of the process, the battery maintains a temperature of 43°C. The above photos of our sample of Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 are taken with a FLIR thermal camera. The left photo shows the device's temperature during charging. The hottest area of the smartphone is the top part of the left frame with a temperature of 33.4°C. The second photo depicts the device's temperature during our 3D battery life test. In this case, the device gets hot in the upper half of its body, where the peak temperature measures 37.6°C. The hottest part, however, is the centre of the chin where the temperature measures 38.4°C.

Battery Software

Original MIUI-based Xiaomi devices arrive with Xiaomi's proprietary Security application, which has a special section dedicated to Battery management. The Redmi Note 7 is no exception. However, the Battery management part of the Security app has been simplified - for the first time in MIUI. It does not have a dedicated screen but opens the battery usage optimization screen instead and the usage history in terms of apps and hardware. Of course, there's a battery saver feature for each app. It gives you more granular control over battery draining by managing each app individually in terms of power usage. From the Battery manager settings, you can also use a number of power saving settings such as battery drain and heating notifications, toggles for clearing cache and turning off mobile data when the device is locked. It also includes a Schedule power on & off menu and Battery indicator settings. The Battery menu from the System Settings actually leads to the power manager of the Security application, adding only one feature - the Smart Scenes. In MIUI 10, this includes only the Sleep Mode. If the Sleep Mode is on, MIUI will know that you're sleeping and will not light up the screen for notifications, will restrict Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mobile data and GPS usage, and will close all background apps.