Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Review- The Beast!

Xiaomi announced their latest mid-range phone, the Redmi Note 5 Pro in India last week. This is the global debut for the smartphone and it packs good hardware for the pricing. It is the first smartphone to power the Snapdragon 636 Octa-core processor. It also comes with 5.99-inch Full HD+ resolution display and comes in 2 variants, the 4GB RAM and 6GB RAM. It is also the first Redmi smartphone to sport a dual camera. The device is priced Rs 13,999, so how does it stack against the competition? Let’s find out in this detailed Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Review.

Here is the video review of the device.

Design and Build:

In the design department, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro has an almost similar design for the front panel as that of Redmi 5 Plus and Redmi Note 5 except for the selfie camera. It has rounded edges and 2.5D glass and on-screen navigational buttons which looks good for a mid-range phone. The rear panel has the dual camera unit which is placed vertically similar to the iPhone X and it also has the LED flash. There is a slight projection for the camera unit. The fingerprint scanner is also located at the rear panel. The device also comes with tapered edges and this gives a good feel when holding the device. Although the device weight is slightly on the heavier side due to the large 4000mAh battery, it still feels good once you start using it.

The bottom panel houses the 3.5mm audio jack, speaker unit, and micro USB charging slot. The top panel has IR blaster. The right side houses the power and volume keys while the left side has SIM tray. The build quality is pretty good and has a metallic back panel. But the top and the bottom section near the antenna bands are made of plastic. Overall, the Redmi Note 5 Pro looks good for the pricing.

Display:

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro comes with the latest 18:9 aspect ratio display and has a 5.99-inch Full HD+ resolution display. It has 2.5D glass and also Corning Gorilla glass protection. The display colors look vibrant and viewing angles are also really good. The touch response is smooth and the outdoor visibility is also good, thanks to the bright display. Overall, the display is vastly improved compared to Redmi Note 4 and one of the best we have seen in this price segment.

Software:

Redmi Note 5 Pro comes with MIUI9.2 on top of Android 7.1.1 Nougat. If you have used a Xiaomi device previously you might be knowing that MIUI is a heavily skinned UI provide tons of customization and it does not have any resemblance to stock UI. It comes with multiple home screens and a custom notification center along with settings panel.

The phone comes with a plethora of options to customize, be it in the form of themes, icon packs, lock screen, boot animations, sounds and more. All of these can be downloaded from the Themes app. The phone also features the security app which comes with cleaner, virus scan, block list, data usage and more.

There are some useful features dual apps and Second space. The Second space allows you to create a different space on your phone which does not share anything with the first space. You can use the second space as a completely different phone with apps, security and all features included. This means if you want two profiles on your phone like home and work, second space helps in that. Dual apps, as the name indicates, allows users to concurrently run two instances of the app. You can run two WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger etc on the device. MIUI provides an option to lock apps using the fingerprint scanner and this provides additional security to your personal apps.

Xiaomi has also added lots of useful apps like FM radio, recorder, Compass, torch and much more. The phone also comes with IR blaster which means you can use the phone as a remote for your TV, A/C, set-top box and other devices. There is a Mi Remote app which you can configure with Indian brands and this comes handy.

Performance:

The Redmi Note 5 Pro is the first smartphone in the world to use the Snapdragon 636 Octa-core processor and this chip makes a debut with the device. The chipset is 40% more efficient than Snapdragon 630 and packs performance. It has very good overall performance and in the day to day experience it was smooth and completely lag free experience. The gaming performance of the device was also really good and there was hardly any heating issues on the Redmi Note 5 Pro. The device is one of the best in this segment for gaming.

The memory management of the device was also really good and it was able to retain almost all apps in the memory without having to compromise on performance.

The phone comes with dual SIM cards and 4G LTE with VoLTE support. The SIM card slot is a hybrid one and the device offers 64GB of storage. The call quality is very good on the device and the speaker performance has improved from Redmi Note 4.

Camera:

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro packs a dual camera and this is the first Redmi smartphone to come with a dual camera. The Redmi Note 5 Pro packs a 12MP primary sensor at f/2.2 and a secondary 5MP shooter for depth sensing and LED flash. The device also comes with a massive 20MP selfie camera with LED flash and f/2.2. The camera interface is slightly changed from the regular UI we have seen and it features all the regular modes and options along with Portrait mode. Talking about the camera samples, the daylight captures had plenty of details and good color reproduction and the overall clarity is very good for a phone in this segment. The close-up images also had good details. The low light imaging abilities of the phone also were quite ok for the segment. The most important aspect of the phone is the selfie camera which excels and produces some really good selfies. It is definitely one of the best selfie cameras in the segment. The phone can also record videos in 1080p with EIS and the stabilization worked pretty well. Here are some of the samples taken with the device.

Battery Life:

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro packs a 4000mAh battery, similar to Note 5 and Note 4. Similar to Snapdragon 625, the 636 is also an efficient processor and it has good overall battery performance. If you are a moderate user, you can easily get more than 1.5 days of battery life with screen on time ranging between 7 to 8 hours. Overall, the battery performance is very good on the device.

Verdict:

Priced at Rs 13,999 for the 4GB RAM variant, the Redmi Note 5 Pro ticks all the right boxes for a good mid-range allrounder with good design and build, great display, excellent performance, best in class camera and good battery life. While there are some minor issues like lack of Oreo at launch and the hybrid slot along with lack of type C port, these can be easily forgiven for the excellent value the device offers. If you are looking for a smartphone below Rs 20,000 in India, the Redmi Note 5 Pro is a worthy choice.