The Redmi Note Series has been very important for the Chinese giant Xiaomi. The Redmi Note 4 was the first model that sold in huge numbers, helping the Chinese smartphone giant cement its position in the UAE market. Naturally, this puts a lot of pressure on its successor Redmi Note 8 Pro.
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Redmi Note 8 Pro Design
Xiaomi has changed the design of the Redmi 8 series of smartphones, and the Redmi Note 8 Pro also benefits from this. The new smartphone packs in a bigger display measuring 6.53 inches compared to the 6.3-inch display on the Redmi Note 7 Pro. It has a waterdrop notch at the top which houses the selfie camera. The earpiece sits just above the display and is finished in black, which camouflages it well with the black bezel at the top. There is Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection
Xiaomi has managed to reduce the thickness of the bottom bezel on the Redmi Note 8 Pro by opting for a flexible chip-on-film display driver that bends downwards. The power and volume buttons are on the right side of the device. We found the power button to be well-positioned while the volume rocker needed a bit of a stretch to reach.
The left side of the Redmi Note 8 Pro sports two trays: one has only a Nano-SIM slot while the other has the second Nano-SIM slot and a dedicated microSD card slot. Xiaomi has specifically added the microSD card slot for the Indian market, as the Chinese version of this phone lacks this feature.
The back of the phone is made out of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and is curved on the sides to make it easy to grip. The camera module is positioned in the center and is slightly raised. Xiaomi has also moved the fingerprint scanner into the raised camera module, which feels a little weird at first. We usually have fingerprint scanners recessed into the bodies of smartphones, and this one is quite the opposite. However, it isn’t a huge issue and it didn’t take us long to get used to. We also found that the fingerprint scanner is slightly higher than ideal. Next to the camera module is the LED flash along with a separate macro camera positioned under it.
At the bottom, the Redmi Note 8 Pro sports a USB Type-C port, loudspeaker, and primary microphone while the IR emitter and secondary microphone are on the top. Xiaomi ships a clear plastic case in the box along with an 18W fast charger.
Redmi Note 8 Pro specifications and software
The Redmi Note 8 Pro sports a big 6.53-inch display with a Full-HD+ (1080×2340 pixels) resolution and HDR support. It has a vivid output and gets bright enough when outdoors with a maximum brightness of 500 nits.
Xiaomi has opted for the MediaTek Helio G90T SoC which has apparently been specifically designed for gaming. This processor competes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G SoC which is expected to power the Realme XT 730G. The Helio G90T is an octa-core processor with two performance ARM Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.05GHz and six efficiency Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. For graphics, it has an ARM Mali-G76 MC4 integrated GPU clocked at 800MHz.
To maintain operating temperatures on this processor, Xiaomi has implemented what it calls liquid cooling along with dual pyrolytic sheets.
Xiaomi has launched three variants of the Redmi Note 8 Pro with the base variant sporting 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The second variant sports 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The top variant of the Redmi Note 8 Pro gets 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
Xiaomi offers the Redmi Note 8 Pro with UFS 2.1 storage instead of EMMC 5.1 which is common at these price points. Storage is expandable using a microSD card of up to 512GB.
Connectivity options on the Redmi Note 8 Pro include Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, dual 4G VoLTE, and four navigation systems. The phone packs in a 4,500mAh battery.
Redmi Note 8 Pro Cameras
Xiaomi has effectively doubled the number of cameras compared to its predecessor. The Redmi Note 8 Pro packs a 64-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.79 aperture and 0.8-micron pixels. This sensor takes 16-megapixel shots in the default mode as is does 4-in-1 pixel binning.
The second sensor in the array is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a 120-degree field of view. Xiaomi has also added a 2-megapixel macro camera. The fourth sensor is a 2-megapixel depth sensor. At the front, this phone has a 20-megapixel selfie shooter.
Verdict
Geekfence Rating – 8/10
To give it a fighting chance, Xiaomi has equipped it with powerful hardware previously unseen in this price segment. The MediaTek Helio G90T can easily take care of your gaming needs. It beats the Snapdragon 712 as well as the Snapdragon 730 SoC in terms of performance, making it an easy pick for someone looking at just that.
Redmi Note 8 series phones are available at Etisalat, Carrefour, and Mi Stores across the UAE.
