Redmi Note 10 Pro Max price in India starts at Rs 18,999. The budget smartphone is Xiaomi's latest offering under the Redmi Note 10 series. Xiaomi has gone all out and packed the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max with internals that we haven't seen in the price range. It comes with a Super AMOLED 120Hz display, a 108MP quad-camera and a 5020 mAh battery - all of it packed in a glass body. With all that hardware, is the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max the best smartphone under Rs 20,000 in India? Here's our Redmi Note 10 Pro Max review. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Design: The Note 10 Pro Max comes with a glass back that offers a very premium in-hand feel. The weight distribution too is very good and the phone doesn't feel as heavy at 192 grams. It is also only 8.1mm thick. The rear panel curves along the edges, which aids in offering better grip. The power and volume buttons on the right edge are tactile and easy to reach. The phone also has a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top edge. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Design: My only complaint here would be the mirror finish on the Dark Night colour option. If you do not like carrying a microfibre cloth to clean your fingerprints, consider buying the Vintage Bronze or the Glacial Blue colour options that have a frosted matte finish. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Display: On the front, you have this gorgeous 6.67-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display that is crisp and offers punchy colours. Add to it the brightness levels that peak at 1200 nits when you are watching HDR content. We did not face any difficulty in reading the screen contents even under direct sunlight. What makes the viewing experience even better is narrow bezels and the tiny hole-punch. The dynamic range on this display is also excellent for the price. No complaints here. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Display: The screen on the Note 10 Pro Max also supports a 120Hz refresh rate. It is the only phone in its price range to offer a Super AMOLED + 120Hz combo. In theory, 120Hz should offer you a smooth scrolling experience. While it is an excellent feature to have, we noticed a slight lag at times. Perhaps a software update can fix this issue, and when resolved, it has the potential to offer the best screen experience on a smartphone under Rs 20,000. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Software: While we are talking about fixing software issues, let's take a look at the MIUI 12 features. The custom Xiaomi skin comes with a bunch of optimisation and customisation features. My favourite feature is Floating Windows that lets you run apps on the screen as you multitask. Our unit runs on Android 11-based MIUI 12 and is promised to get MIUI 12.5 very soon. There is bloatware, yes, but you can remove most of the unwanted third-party apps. Regarding ads, we have not yet come across any "ad". However, GetApps spams a lot of notifications and you can at best disable it in the settings. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Software: We experienced some lag while switching between apps. This could be due to the animations that take the extra second at times. As we said earlier, the slightly-laggy software experience can be fixed via an update. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Performance: The Note 10 Pro Max gets powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G processor, and this could also be a reason for the laggy experience. While the processor is more than capable of handling basic day-to-day tasks, it has to bear the load of the resource-hungry MIUI 12. Otherwise, the phone is smooth-enough for most tasks. We played Call of Duty Mobile and the game loaded on High Settings and frame rate. The game ran fine and we did not experience any frame drops. RAM management also isn't the best. There were instances wherein apps restarted or froze on our 6GB RAM variant. Xiaomi needs to fix this annoying bit to ensure a smooth user experience. It is best that you pick the 8GB RAM variant priced at Rs 21,999 to be on the safer side. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Battery life: The phone packs a massive 5,020 mAh battery, which can easily give your worth a day's juice depending on your usage. On days when we played Call of Duty Mobile for nearly two hours, the device offered over five hours of SoT. On other days with medium to light use case, the phone lasted for up to nine hours on a single charge. There is also a 33W fast charger packed inside the box, which can be used to charge the device via the USB Type-C port. The phone takes close to an hour to charge completely. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Camera: The 108MP quad-camera on the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max adds more value to the complete package. The device's main camera sensor clicks detailed shots with almost true-to-life colours. There were instances when the Reds in an image were slightly oversaturated. Night mode performance is quite good. The software does ensure to not overblow the highlights while bumping up the exposure to get more details in the shadow. There is some noise but it is acceptable for a phone under Rs 20,000. There's more... (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Camera: The phone also has an 8MP ultrawide sensor. In our sample shots, we noticed that the colour temperature of the main and ultrawide camera varies, with the latter offering a more-cooler tone with a pink hue. The 5MP Super Macro camera on the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is the best we have seen in its price range. Although colours are a bit off at times, the sensor captures good details. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Camera: On the front, there is a 16MP camera inside the hole-punch display. The front camera performance is decent and not the best. It manages to capture ample detail but messes up with the colour accuracy sometimes - more like a hit or a miss. Portrait mode is excellent when it comes to edge detection. Click here to check some Redmi Note 10 Pro Max camera samples. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
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Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review | Verdict: Xiaomi has knocked the competition out of the park with the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. The device, with its heavyweight internals, is light on the pocket and offers the best value for money in its price range. I wouldn't mind calling the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max the "Master Blaster" of budget smartphones. It punches way above the competition with its Super AMOLED 120Hz display, 108MP quad-camera setup and a capable performance unit wrapped inside a premium glass body. No other phone under Rs 20,000 currently offers such specifications. Yes, there are some issues. 120Hz and the software experience isn't the smoothest. It is a gentle reminder that no matter how superior the hardware, the buggy software will be a spoilsport resulting in a poor user experience. We hope Xiaomi addresses these issues and fixes them via an update. There is no 5G support either. One could argue that the 5G rollout is months away, if not years and its good to be future-proof. That being said, the budget smartphone under Rs 20,000 has many pros and few cons. If you want to buy the best smartphone under Rs 20,000 in India, consider the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. (Image: Pranav Hegde)
