Content

1. TECH SPECS
2. Positioning
3. Equipment
4. Appearance
5. Screen
6. Battery
7. Communication capabilities
8. Камеры
9. Performance
10. shell
11. Conclusion

TECH SPECS
Processor	MediaTek Helio G80 (12 nm), Octa-core (2 × 2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6 × 1.8 GHz Cortex-A55), Mali-G52 MC2 graphics
Operating system	Android 10, shell MIUI 12
Memory	3/4/6 GB / 32/64/128 GB, separate microSD slot
Screen	6.53 inches, IPS LCD, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5 by 9 aspect ratio, pixel density 395 ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, declared brightness 400 nits
Battery	Li-Po 5020 mAh, support for fast charging 18 W, 10 W adapter included
Main camera	13 MP, f / 2.2, 28mm (wide), 1 / 3.1 ″, 1.12μm, PDAF 8 MP, f / 2.2, 118 ° (ultra wide angle), 1 / 4.0 ″, 1.12μm 5 MP, f / 2.4, (macro) 2 MP, f / 2.4, (depth) Video recording 1080p @ 30fps
Front camera	8 MP, f / 2.0, 27mm (wide)
SIM card	2 Nano-SIM
Network and data transmission	GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, NFC, IrDa, USB 2.0, Type-C 1.0
SENSORS	fingerprint scanner (back), accelerometer, proximity, compass
Other	FM radio with built-in antenna, 3.5 mm jack
Materials	Gorilla Glass 3 on the front, the rest is plastic
dimensions	163.3 x XYUMX x XYUMX мм, 77 г
Price	3/32 GB – 9 rubles, 990/4 GB – 64 rubles

Positioning

In 2013, Xiaomi introduced the Redmi brand as a range of more affordable smartphones compared to the original Mi-series. The new brand was needed for two reasons. Firstly, cheaper components were used there, which hypothetically meant a higher scrap rate. And Xiaomi did not want to spoil the image. Secondly, Xiaomi initially understood that playing a product of the first price is a disastrous undertaking. And Redmi was needed so that Xiaomi would not be associated with cheap smartphones.

The story turned out differently. It turned out that the level of technical development is quite high and defects, even in smartphones with cheap components, are rare. And buyers, having tried Redmi, realized that smartphones are cheaper, but not much worse than the flagship MI models. Then Xiaomi began to actively develop the brand, launching whole lines of smart technology. And among smartphones Redmi there are models for different price segments. So, the Redmi Note line in the company’s portfolio is responsible for the middle price segment. And simply Redmi – for the most affordable devices of the brand.

As the advantages that should motivate you to make a purchase, Xiaomi highlights the following:

• Four AI cameras, including a 5MP macro lens, a 13MP wide-angle camera, a 2MP depth sensor, and palm release (smartphone takes a photo when it recognizes that it is shown palm
• 6.53 ” Full HD + (2340 x 1080 dots) screen with blue light filtering
• 107% more power (82% more processor power and 309% more graphics performance) over the previous generation (Redmi 8)
• 5mAh battery + 000W fast charging
• Unusual design with a special coating that does not show fingerprints
• NFC, 3.5 mm jack, IR sensor, USB Type-C, noise canceling microphones

Equipment

• Smartphone
• Smoke Case with USB Type-C Cover
• Charging adapter 10 W
• USB Type-C wire
• SIM card tray clip
• Documentation

Appearance

• Front panel: 6.53-inch screen, IPS LCD, aspect ratio 19.5: 9, covered with factory film, selfie camera, earpiece mesh above the selfie camera
• Back panel: camera modules, fingerprint scanner, LED flash
• Left side: slot for 2 nano-SIM and one microSD
• Right side: volume rocker, power button
• Top end: IR sensor, microphone
• Bottom: 3.5 mm jack, two microphone holes, USB Type-C, speaker

The smartphone has a classic dimensions of 163.3 x 77 x 9.1 mm and a weight of 198 grams. The main innovation, I’m not afraid of this word, is the unusual texture of the back cover. Xiaomi has found the strength to abandon the mirrored plastic cases that have set the teeth on edge, choosing matte plastic and providing it with a relief pattern of concentric circles. Thanks to this, firstly, fingerprints really do not remain on the smartphone, and secondly, the device does not slip out of hands. And, thirdly, it looks fresh! They sent me a boring dark gray color for the test. I recommend not to be afraid and go for blue or turquoise. Since there are no mirror overflows, the smartphone looks calm even in bright colors. Black, however, is also not bad. It plays slightly in the light, and the bottom of the back cover looks a little darker than the top.

The speaker mesh is conveniently located, you don’t have to look for how to put your smartphone to your ear to make it comfortable to talk. It should be noted that the screen is covered with a factory film. If you plan to play outdoor games like Call of Duty Mobile on your smartphone, then the film must certainly be removed. The finger does not slide on the screen. In other cases (social networks, typing, viewing pictures), the film can not be removed.

A nice feature is that the smartphone has 2 SIM cards and a microSD slot.

Of the minuses, it can be noted that the fingerprint scanner is located close to the lower lens of the photo module. Will hurt. This unpleasant moment, however, is relatively offset by the fact that the lowest lens is a 2 MP depth sensor, which is used only in portrait photography.

Screen

The screen of the smartphone is somewhat remarkable. This is an IPS LCD with an aspect ratio of 19.5 by 9. So far, everything is standard. Protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, there are no questions here either. This is a well-proven glass. The size is 6.53 inches – again no questions asked. Manufacturers like to stick a bigger screen in inexpensive devices. Unusually, the screen resolution is Full HD + (1080 x 2340 pixels). For devices for 10 rubles (000/3 GB version), such a resolution is a relative rarity. Still, they prefer to save money and use HD + (32p) screens. High resolution also means high dot density of 720 ppi. This is a high figure. For example, the Galaxy Note395 has 20 ppi. And the human eye is able to distinguish individual pixels at a dot density of 393 – 300 ppi. Due to the high pixel density, the screen settings even have an option “When the device is in VR mode”, that is, it is assumed that the user can insert it into the helmet. A nice feature, considering that a conventional VR helmet can be assembled from cardboard using Google’s patterns.

The smartphone has a screen brightness of 400 nits. This is a good indicator, but in the bright sun, working with the screen will not be enjoyable (for happiness, you need 500 nits or more). However, we must understand that we have a smartphone for 10-11 thousand rubles (depending on the configuration). For its price group, the brightness is excellent. It is better to switch the smartphone to auto brightness mode, since in manual mode the maximum brightness is limited to 340 nits, while with auto brightness the screen completely accelerates to almost 445 nits (which is even more than the stated value).

The screen is pretty good. Indirectly, this is indicated by the fact that the minimum brightness is only 1.6 nits. Considering that the screen does not flicker, plus there is a dark theme and blue light filtering, the smartphone is great for reading in the dark. There is a small innovation here that I may have simply not noticed before. But the smartphone has 2 brightness scales. One is basic and the other is called Night Mode. It starts if the base brightness is set to the minimum value. And then you can reduce the minimum brightness a little more.

All in all, there is nothing more remarkable. In the menu, you can select the color scheme of the screen, you can adjust or hide the cutout, change the font size.

Battery

The smartphone has a Li-Po 5020 mAh battery. Initially, I charged my smartphone with a charger from Mi Note 10 Lite, and so I would have written that there is fast charging, which Xiaomi broadcasts in advertising. And then I began to take photos and found that the complete charging was 10 watts. It’s not cool, but logical. We didn’t save on the screen, but we still need to squeeze somewhere … However, with a 10 W adapter, a full charge takes almost 2 hours – a large battery. With 18 watts, you can do it in 80-90 minutes.

The chipset in the smartphone is quite modern (12 nm), Android is fresh, and the battery is large. Accordingly, the battery life is very good:

• Airplane mode, Wi-Fi 2,4 GHz, maximum manual brightness (330 nits screen), page refresh – 15.5 hours (calculated)
• Airplane mode, manual maximum brightness (330 nits screen) – 16 hours (estimated)
• Airplane mode, Call of Duty Mobile game, maximum manual brightness (330 nits screen), Wi-Fi 2,4 GHz – 8 hours

Communication capabilities

As for the phone in Redmi 9, there are no complaints. It can even be commended for having additional microphones. They do their job quite well. And if the noises are small, then they are completely cut off. There is no recording of conversations.

I will list the main features in points:

• Bluetooth 5.0 is good and right
• There is NFC. You can pay in a store, pay in the metro by placing your smartphone on the turnstile, top up your Troika card
• There is an infrared port. Typical Mi Remote app. How the TV remote works
• 3.5 mm jack. There are no headphones included, as well as dedicated audio chips, etc. Sound as sound. Nothing remarkable
• The smartphone has a compass, that is, in the Maps application you can see where you are looking. By the way, I didn’t pay attention, but now Google understands where you parked.

Камеры

Before talking about cameras, let’s remember that this is a device for 9 rubles.

The smartphone has 4 main cameras:

• 13 MP, f / 2.2, 28mm (wide), 1 / 3.1 ″, 1.12μm, PDAF
• 8 MP, f / 2.2, 118 ° (ultra wide angle), 1 / 4.0 ″, 1.12μm
• 5 MP, f / 2.4, (macro)
• 2 MP, f / 2.4, (depth)
• Video recording 1080p @ 30fps

Below are screenshots of the “Camera” application interface.

It immediately catches the eye here that they did not save on a macro lens, putting a 5 MP camera. This raises big questions, since the module is not cheap and even in much more expensive models (from 30 thousand and above), it happens, they put 2 MP cameras.

Typical camera layout – ultra wide-angle, standard and x2 scale

Examples of selfies and selfies with blur on the front camera.

Examples of shooting a portrait with and without blur on the main camera.

I didn’t really like portraits with the main camera. Below are two pictures taken already at dusk, but notice how the smartphone not only worked with the lighting, it seems that the algorithms also combed my hair. Sounds good, but somehow unnatural?

In my opinion, the smartphone is very good when shooting during the day and even in light twilight. But night shooting is better to postpone.

You know, taking into account the price of the smartphone, I would give Redmi 9 a solid five for the pictures. If you look closely at the details, you can, of course, see that somewhere the smartphone has failed with the white balance, somewhere it has slightly missed with software blur, etc. But overall, the photos look good and above average for their price range. They are not ashamed to be posted on Instagram or shown on a smart TV. Are there smartphones for this money that shoot better? Realme 5 pro immediately comes to my mind. But this smartphone can no longer be bought. And it seems to me that realme themselves realized that they overdid it with the quality of the cameras, since, for example, realme 6, for my taste, shoots worse.

Performance

The smartphone MediaTek Helio G80 (12 nm), Octa-core (2 × 2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6 × 1.8 GHz Cortex-A55), graphics Mali-G52 MC2, 3 or 4 GB of RAM. This chipset is a fairly high-performance solution, so competitors use Helio G35 or Helio A22. These chipsets are especially inferior in graphics power. We can say that it is rather unusual to see the G80 for 10 thousand rubles.

Before moving on to the test results. We can say from an ordinary point of view that the interface is smooth, the smartphone does not dull, does not get too hot. It is quite comfortable to play on it. Is it as good and comfortable to play on the Redmi 9 as on the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra with a 120 Hz screen for 70 rubles? No, not the same, but quite good and comfortable, considering that the smartphone costs 000 times less.

An unexpected moment is that the Helio G80 (12 nm) is not subject to throttling, that is, the performance does not sag under load, and the device itself does not heat up. Perhaps this is the main surprise in the Performance section. MediaTek, of course, is great. Recently, they have been actively working on changing the image.

The storage speed is normal, but the speed of the RAM is above average for this price segment.

shell

The smartphone runs on the MIUI 11 shell. In China, an update to MIUI 9 has already been released for Redmi 12. So, apparently, it will soon reach Russia. Read reviews of MIUI 11 and 12 below on the links.

Conclusion

The Xiaomi Redmi 9 is a sturdy smartphone offering a price / performance ratio higher than the market average. Moments like the quality screen, powerful chipset, NFC, the expected upgrade to MIUI 12, and good battery life make it the preferred choice over Samsung or Huawei smartphones in my opinion.

The main competitors are realme devices. It’s about realme C15. So, the battery here is not 5, but 000 mAh, and the 6 W charger was put in the box. But the cameras are simpler and the chipset is weaker – Helio G000 versus G18 from Xiaomi. The G35 is about 80 times more powerful in terms of graphics. On the realme side, so far, there is a complete lack of advertising in the shell. The realme C80 review is on the calendar for tomorrow. Subsequently, I will add here a link with a photo of the smartphone.

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