Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Review: All hail to the new king of budget smartphones

Redmi Note 10 (Image: Pranav Hegde)

The Redmi Note 10 is probably the best budget phone out in the market right now. It gives you a lot of bang for your buck and has the legs to last you a good two years before your next big phone purchase. It is not perfect, but nothing really is. Xiaomi may have just pulled a masterstroke here and has made it super difficult for any phone in its price range to compete.

Redmi Note 10 (Image: Pranav Hegde)

Design

It is so refreshing to talk about design in this price bracket. Most phones in the market that sell for what the Redmi Note 10 does, do not focus too much on design. The Redmi Note 10 stands out like an exception to the rule. It has still got a plastic body, but the way Xiaomi has managed to completely taper the edges off is very noticeable.

Even with a 6.4-inch display, the phone feels very snug in the hands. The Redmi Note 10 is also shorter and less wide than other phones in this price segment, which means it does not feel too big in the hands unlike other phones with the same display size. The edges are smooth and nicely rounded making it super easy to use for extended periods of time. The display is not edge to edge, but the bezels have been so expertly sanded off that they all but disappear when you are looking at the screen.

The back of the phone has high-quality, soft touch plastic that feels great to the touch and to the top left houses the quad camera module. On the right side of the phone is the volume rocker and a power button that doubles up as a fingerprint reader. It is quite a snappy one too and was very responsive every time I used it, getting me to the home screen nearly instantly. As with all things, it is difficult to tell how much wear and tear will affect its performance down the line but for now, the fingerprint scanner is one of the best ones in this price segment.

To the bottom is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C port, microphone and one of the two stereo speakers. The other one is at the top of the punch hole front facing camera and has been hidden so well in the design that you might not even notice it. On the top is a microphone and an IR blaster. To the left side is the lone SIM Card tray.

Overall, the design is not radically different from what you see in this price range, but Xiaomi has iterated and improved upon that template. I would say it is the most premium feeling phone in the budget segment right now.

Display and performance

Let us start with the display first. The 6.4-inch 60Hz Super AMOLED panel is bright and vibrant. It has great contrast and some deep blacks. It also has Widevine L1 DRM certification which means you can stream in HD on services like Netflix and Prime video. Pictures and videos in general look very sharp and show great detail with vibrant colours.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 678 SoC does the heavy lifting on the phone and for the most part, performance is rock solid and smooth. It is not perfect and there are odd stutters from time to time, but they never overstay their welcome. MIUI 12 can also be a bit aggressive on how it manages background apps. Its priority seems to be set on closing heavier apps by default, which means you may find yourself suddenly restarting certain games if you minimise them to check a message or something.

The bloat is also real unfortunately, with a lot of apps that come pre-installed and some system apps that cannot be uninstalled. You will more than likely face a ton of notification spam especially from some system apps such as Themes and GetApps. Thankfully, Xiaomi is saying they are going to get rid of all this and allow users to delete system apps with a future update. For now, Android Security is also out of date with our build of MIUI 12 (12.0.1) showing us a last update of January.

Gaming performance is passable if not decent. Genshin Impact ran well at high settings and Elder Scrolls Blades also performed okay. You are obviously not going to see high frame rates akin to more premium phones, but this will get you through a session or two of some intense plays. The phone does tend to get hot during gaming sessions and our unit took about 20 mins to start feeling warm. It is not unmanageable and is not going to burn your hand or anything, but the warmth is noticeable on the back after a while.

Camera and battery

For all the disruptive changes it brings to the table, the camera is one area where Xiaomi seems to follow the herd. The Redmi Note 10 has the usual 48-megapixel quad camera with a super basic 2-megapixel macro sensor, 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a depth sensor. The camera app is also rather basic compared to its more expensive cousins, the Redmi Note 10 Pro and Pro Max. At this price point, this camera is acceptable with decent performance in daylight and shoots expectedly ho-hum pictures in low-light. Like most phones with this camera setup, you are not going to see great returns from the macro camera or some decent quality shots with the ultra-wide lens.

Battery life is great on the other hand and with casual use, the 5000mAh battery can easily get you through an entire day at full charge and still have a little juice left over. With heavier use and with more apps open in the background, some heavy gaming sessions, and a few HD streams with the aggressive MIUI optimisation turned off, the phone still lasted an entire workday.

Redmi Note 10 (Image: Pranav Hegde)

Conclusion

The Redmi Note 10 is one of those phones that is tough not to recommend. It does everything right for the price it is sold at and is arguably the best phone in this bracket. You simply cannot go wrong with this phone. The Redmi Note 10 retails for Rs 11,999 for the 4GB RAM + 64GB Storage variant and Rs 13,999 for the 6GB RAM + 128GB Storage variant. It is available in three colours - Frost white, Shadow black and Aqua green.