Redmi Note 10 Series | Benchmark of Budget Phones

So Xiaomi has released a proper successor to their popular Redmi Note 9 Series in the form on Redmi Note 10 trio. And I can say that it is setting a new benchmark in the budget phone market. So today I will tell my briefly tell my opinions of each of them. 

Redmi Note 10 Pro Max 

Redmi Note 10 Pro (Max) Design

This is the highest model of the trio and honestly, this does not provide as much value as it's smaller siblings. So at the starting price of ₹18,999, this provides a FHD+ 120Hz Super AMOLED screen. This also has 1200 nits brightness which makes this a flagship level display for the price. Also this has one of the smallest punch-holes. 

It also has Glass Back with Gorilla Glass 5. And I really appreciate Xiaomi for still providing premium materials at budget. But note that the Black Variant still uses Plastic Back. So I recommend the Bronze and Blue Variants. I don't really understand the reason for this. This has a new Evol. Design which at the end looks quite good. This also has IP53 so thumbs up to Xiaomi for that. But note that this uses a Side-Mounted Fingerprint Scanner. This also weighs just 192g which is quite less than its predecessor. It also retains the headphone jack and a dedicated memory card slot.  Also an IR Blaster is present. 

Coming to performance, this has Snapdragon 732G which was used in POCO X3. This is not a bug upgrade from SD 720G and doesn't support 5G. But this is a very capable chipset and won't give you problems while normal usage or even high-end gaming. This also has UFS 2.2 storage which is another advantage. 

This now runs MIUI 12 on Android 11. And this will soon get MIUI 12.5. Latest software is a great thing but there's one fundamental flaw in MIUI.  Obviously ads and bloatware are one of them but they can be easily removed. But what cannot be removed are the bugs in MIUI. I hope that MIUI 12.5 brings performance improvements and even removes the major bugs in every new version. 

This has a 108MP camera which is a great thing. There is an 8MP Ultra-Wide, 5MP Macro and 2MP depth camera to tag along. And on the front, there is a 16MP shooter. The camera is mostly similar to Mi 10i. It produces great images for the price. You can't compare the 108MP with S21 Ultra but still the camera aces it's competition. The front camera is also good for the price. 

The 5020 mAh battery can last long with Aggressive MIUI Battery Optimization. And this uses a 33W charger which takes about 75 minutes for a charge. Summing up, this has a Stereo Speaker and also has all the sensors.  There is Dual Band Wi-Fi and also Bluetooth 5.1. 

So overall this seems to be an excellent phone but one phone holds it back. And it is none other than it's younger sibling -  Redmi Note 10 Pro. So it basically replaces the 108MP snapper with a lower 64MP snapper. All else remains the same. And the price difference is a huge ₹3000. So it just makes more sense to buy a Note 10 Pro and save some money. I think Xiaomi could have upgraded the processor. 

• 6GB 64GB - ₹18,999
• 6GB 128GB - ₹19,999
• 8GB 128GB - ₹21,999
• Colours - Vintage Bronze, Dark Night (Plastic Back), Glacial Blue
• Detailed Specs - Redmi Note 10 Pro Max

Redmi Note 10 Pro

Redmi Note 10 Pro (Max) Design

What applies to the Pro Max also applies to the Pro variant. As I said, the only difference is rear cameras. So this one has a 64MP camera. There is an 8MP Ultra-Wide, 5MP Macro and 2MP depth camera to tag along. And on the front, there is a 16MP shooter. The cameras are still very good and you can get great images even by this phone. The selfies are also great. 

Redmi Note 10 Pro is the Value Champ of the lot providing a 120Hz AMOLED, Glass Back, Snapdragon 732G, 64MP quad camera, 5000 mAh battery along with a 33W charger. All this at just ₹15,999. 

One thing to note is that the base variant of both Pro and Pro Max have 64GB storage. You can get a 128GB variant by paying a ₹1000 more. But you can also expand the memory with the Dedicated Memory Card Slot. But if you can, definitely get the 128GB variant. 

• 6GB 64GB - ₹15,999
• 6GB 128GB - ₹16,999
• 8GB 128GB - ₹18,999
• Colours - Vintage Bronze, Dark Night (Plastic Back), Glacial Blue
• Detailed Specs - Redmi Note 10 Pro

Redmi Note 10

Redmi Note 10 Design

This is the cheapest phone in Redmi Note 10 Series. This retains the sAMOLED display but you get a normal refresh rate. The has peak brightness of 1100 nits, less that the bigger variants but still a lot. So the display experience is great even on this phone, especially seeing the aggressive ₹12,000 price. This also has a slightly bigger punch-hole than the Pro and Pro Max. 

The back panel uses Plastic which is a downgrade from the bigger models but still it has the same Evol. Design. And the front is also downgraded to Gorilla Glass 3. This also retains the Headphone Jack, Dedicated Memory Card Slot and even the IR Blaster. And also the IP 53 rating is present. And this is a light-weight device at 178 grams. So the design is an advantage considering the price. 

The processor is Snapdragon 678 which is an upgraded Snapdragon 675. This provides about 30% less performance than the SD 732G in the higher models. But this is quite better than the Snapdragon 662 and Helio G85 that are very popular at this price. This also uses UFS 2.2 Storage which is also great. So you can get a good gaming experience for the price you pay. 

This now runs MIUI 12 on Android 11. And this will soon get MIUI 12.5. Latest software is a great thing but there's one fundamental flaw in MIUI.  Obviously ads and bloatware are one of them but they can be easily removed. But what cannot be removed are the bugs in MIUI. I hope that MIUI 12.5 brings performance improvements and even removes the major bugs in every new version. 

The main camera uses a 48MP IMX 582. There is an 8MP Ultra-Wide, 2MP Macro and 2MP Depth to assist. The front camera is 13MP. The cameras aren't as great as the higher models but one of the best for the price. 

There is a 5020 mAh batter with 33W charging. It can last even longer than the higher variants due to normal refresh rate. This also takes about 70-75 minutes for a full charge. Summing up, this has a Stereo Speaker and also has all the sensors.  There is Dual Band Wi-Fi and also Bluetooth 5.0. 

4GB 64GB - ₹11,999 
6GB 128GB - ₹13,999

Colours - Aqua Green, Frost White, Shadow Black

Detailed Specs - Redmi Note 10

CONCLUSION

• The phones are really good for the price. The Redmi Note 10 is the cheapest but also carries a lot of good things of the higher variant. You can defenitely consider it over phones at the same price like Realme 7i, Realme Narzo 20, Redmi 9 Power, Poco M3 and even the Micromax In Note 1. The sale starts on 16th March and there is up to ₹1500 discount on ICICI Credit Cards and EMI. 
  
  
• The Redmi Note 10 Pro emerges as a value champ making an impact at its price. The closest rival is the Realme Narzo 30 Pro which offers a better 5G chipset but the Note 10 Pro fights back with a better camera, a better sAMOLED screen and even better build quality. The sale starts on 18th March and there is up to ₹1500 discount on ICICI Credit Cards and EMI. 
  
  
• The Note 10 Pro Max has tough competition. First is from the Note 10 Pro itself where you can get almost the same device for ₹3000 less. Second is the Mi 10i which offers 5G and a better chipset but it lacks an AMOLED screen. From Realme, there is Realme X7 with a better 5G chipset but the Note 10 Pro Max has a 120Hz Screen, better build and a better camera to fight back. There is Samsung Galaxy M51 with similar chipset, bigger battery and an equally capable camera. But the Note 10 Pro Max has a higher refresh rate and even better build quality. The sale starts on 18th March and there is up to ₹1500 discount on ICICI Credit Cards and EMI. 
  
  
• The Note 10 Series will face the biggest threat from the Realme 8 Series coming soon. And when it will come, there will be tight competition between the two devices.