Redmi Note 7 Pro – Review – Catch Mi if you can

The Redmi Note Series are quite popular and are known for their value of money. But the Redmi Note 7 pro, adds much more to it. With the new gen model, we get very powerful processing power and camera capabilities. It is priced at Rs 13,999 and with this price tag, it raises eyebrows, when I say that the Redmi Note 7 Pro can match the performance of many flagship mobiles out there. Let me clarify and explain in detail and towards the end, you will be able to decide, if the Redmi Note 7 should be your next purchase.

In the box

• Redmi Note 7 Pro
• 5V 2A Charger
• Charging Cable
• TPU Back Case
• SIM Ejector Pin
• User Manual

Design

Redmi Note series have been touting the same old metal body design for 3 generations and it is welcoming to see the Note 7 Pro change that school of thought. The Redmi Note 7 Pro, comes in 3 color variants and all of them with a shiny gradient glass back. The mobile has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on both front and the back. The mobile is predominantly flat, except for the camera bump at the back. It is glossy, yet not slippery. It is very comfortable to hold in the hand. There has been some doubts about the sturdiness of it, but in my 4 weeks of usage, I have dropped it twice from my table onto a tile floor. The mobile has survived with no traces of the incident. It has USB C Port at the bottom and rest assured that every mobile trying to compete with the Note 7 Pro, will now start having USB-C port, which has not been happening so far. With these improvements, Redmi Note 7 Pro also retains the IR port and 3.5 mm port. The design of Redmi Note 7 Pro, resembles the design ID of Honor mobiles, but on the Note 7 Pro, it is much more refined. It is also refreshing to see such a swing in design philosophy to kill the mundane design. I have not, except love for the design of the Redmi Note 7 Pro.

Water Repellant Coating

We have seen mobiles with Nano coating on the inside to protect the circuit from water splashes. But the Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with P2i coating on the inside and outside. This lets the water drops to slide away and does not let them stick on the mobile surface. Redmi Note series has been having the P2i coating for a while, but the effect of the coating is evident and can be seen clearly on the glass body.

Display

Redmi Note 7 Pro has a 6.3 inch full HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The screen has a notch and Xiaomi calls its a dot notch, though it is more of a tear drop notch. Though the mobile has a massive screen to body ratio, Note 7 Pro still has the Notification LED at the bottom and all the other proximity and light sensors tucked away between the display and the bezels. Redmi Note series’ display has not been the best. Note 7 Pro display is not as bright as other mobiles in the category. But the display has good contrast ratio and wide viewing angles. The contrast ratio and brightness is bumped up for clear visibility and better readability under direct sunlight, automatically. The colors are vibrant and the text is crisp as well. Considering the price to value ratio, the display on the Redmi Note 7 Pro is highly satisfactory.

Camera

Well, here is a section, where I can go on for eternity talking about the camera. But let me try and be precise. Redmi Note 7 Pro is the world’s only mobile with a 48MP Sony IMX 586 sensor under Rs 20k. This is a flagship level sensor, that produces true 48 MP images using Quad Bayer filters. Four pixels are combined to get a large 1.6μm pixel size to process more light and the aperture is a wide f/1.79. It has a 5 MP depth sensor and also used deep learning algorithm for edge detection and background blurring. The camera UI is highly functional and has a bunch of features that are easy to use. Studio lighting is my favorite and it is available only for the rear camera. The images are stored as 12 MP shots by default, but you can change it in settings. But in the 48 MP mode, audio HDR or digital zoom is not available. It also has a pro mode with 48 MP mode support, but does not supports RAW image outputs. The mobile shoot 4k videos, but the 1080p videos at 30 fps gets a very smooth gimbal-like stabilization with EIS. The front camera is a 13 MP single sensor. It does not have flash.

Image quality, under ample light conditions is far beyond perfection. The colors are accurate, focusing is fast and the exposure is spot on. HDR images are not over-dramatic. The dynamic range is also commendable. Under low light conditions you can shoot in night-mode, which is pretty impressive. On auto mode, the low light shots are good, but it can get a bit of noise. Color reproduction and saturation levels are accurate in low light mode as well. The 48 MP mode creates 12-15 MB images. But these images can be zoomed in for insane details. The color reproduction in videos is a bit a bland to my liking. But the footage is stable and very pleasing to watch. Portrait mode has a very accurate edge detection and background blurring is perfect in most of the shots I took. The front camera is not great under low light, but on good light condition, it can help you click impressive selfies. Both the front and the rear camera makes use of machine learning and artificial intelligence for image enhancement processing. But if you want me to sum up, Redmi Note 5 Pro has a fantastic camera and now the Note 7 Pro has doubled that performance. Every time you take out the mobile to click a shot, you can be assured of a great shot that would surprise you for the price you have paid for this movie.

Performance

Redmi Note 7 Pro runs on the new Snapdragon 675 processor. The 4 GB variant is on sale now and the 6 GB will soon be out. My review unit is the 4/64 GB variant. Memory is expandable, but via the hybrid SIM card slot. Though Redmi Note 7 Pro supports dual VoLTE, you would be forced to use only one SIM card, if you want to expand your storage. So if you are planning to shoot a lot of 4k videos and 48Mp shots, better get the the 128 GB variant. SD675 is a very powerful processor. With the new Adreno 612 GPU, gaming on the Redmi Note 7 Pro is such a pleasing experience. There is no lag, no frame drops nor heating issues. The mobile is a smooth performance and the quality of graphics is commendable.

The fingerprint sensor at the back is fast and accurate. The face unlock is quite impressive and reliable. The speaker on the mobile is a single speaker and I wish it was a bit louder than what it is now. The sound from the earpiece was also muffled at times and I had to find the exact placement of the earpiece and align it with my ear holes to hear better. Music via the 3.5 mm jack is crisp and gives you a full-filling experience if you grab yourself a decent paid of earphones. The mobile has all the required sensors. My daily driver is the Oneplus 6T and while using the Redmi Note 7 pro, I felt the real-life performance of the Note 7 Pro to be on par with the Oneplus 6T.

Software

Redmi Note 7 Pro runs on Android 9 with MIUI 10 skinned on top. The mobiles have been getting regular security updates and right now on the Feb patch. The hardware handles the UI smoothly. I have installed over 40 applications including resource heavy games. The mobile handles the UI with ease and with no glitches. MIUI has matured gracefully and it is one the most stable skinned UI, I have ever used. But with MIUI 10, you will be bugged with ads, but don’t worry, we have a solution for you. Ads aside, the MIUI has a whole lot of features and customization options, which would enhance the user experience.

Battery

Redmi Note series is known for its massive battery and the Note 7 Pro has a large 4000 mAh battery. This generation supports 18W Quick Charge 4, but the charger included in the box is a basic 10W charger. You can get a 18W QC3 from Mi website for about 499 Rs, but its not easy to find a QC4 charger in India. With the bundled charger, it takes about 2:30 hours to charge. With the QC3.0 charger from MI, it took about 1:45 min to full charge the mobile, but the first 60% was quickly charged in about 45 min. I am getting a 24W QC 4.0 charger soon and I will update the speed of charge here. Once charged, the mobile lasts for 1.5 days of moderate usage and gives about 6 hours of screen on time.

Which is better?

With all the features and prices of other mobiles in the market, it is natural for anyone to be confused. Yes, Redmi Note 7 Pro has a flagship level camera and a performance that matches high-end mobiles. The Poco F1 is priced less than 20k, but it has a superior chip, liquid cooling and QC3.0 charger bundled. It fails to match the design and camera quality of Redmi Note 7 Pro, so you decide between performance and camera, the choice is your. Also Redmi Note 7 Pro comes very close to Oneplus 6T in terms of design. It has a better camera compared to Oneplus 6T, but 6T is a superior device with premium build quality, fast UI and smooth performance. When comparing with any other mobiles in the price range, like Honor Play or Honor 8x, the Redmi Note 7 Pro is a clear choice. There isn’t any mobile in the market right now under 15k, that can match the Redmi Note 7 Pro in any dimension.

Verdict

or under Rs 15k, the Redmi Note 7 Pro has a stylish design, flagship camera, superior performance, and dependable battery. It has a few cons, like the hybrid SIM card, average display brightness, and speaker loudness. But if you look at the overall package, the Redmi Note 7 Pro is a deal of the millennium which offers flagship performance at a price point affordable by the masses. If my budget was strictly under 15k, I would get the Redmi Note 7 Pro without any hesitation. If I can stretch my budget a bit, Poco F1 would be my pick. But without any doubt, the Redmi Note 7 pro gets a spot in the Gadgetdetail’s recommendation list of under 15k mobiles.