Xiaomi Redmi 9 Review - How is this a sub-$150 phone? By Bench House

So the path Xiaomi is taking is really impressive, with real product improvements with its every generation, especially with smartphones, it seems that you can go wrong if you choose one of the models from this manufacturer for your new phone and if your budget is below 200 euros, the new Redmi 9 definitely looks like a phone for you for roughly 150 dollars. You get the successor of the very popular Redmi 8 model, which received improvements in exact places where it needed. For starters, following the modern trends, the Redmi 9 did get bigger, mostly to the large screen gained some weight about 10 grams, to be exact, but also slimmed down a bit with 0.3 millimeters, less width, which is definitely not negligible. The screen size has increased from 6.22 to 6.53 inches, but so did the screen to body ratio, which means smaller frames than its predecessor. The screen on this new generation has significantly higher pixel density. Thanks to the higher resolution, while the Redmi 8 had 1520 x, 720 pixels, the Redmi 9 uses the wider full HD resolution with the 19.5 to 9 aspect ratios and 2340 by 1080 pixels. Instead of gorilla, glass, 5 and Redmi 8, the successor uses gorilla glass, 3 protection, but if you believe Zach from jr rig everything channel- and you honestly should, it's all the same and everything is scratched at level six with deeper scratches at level seven.

So you are still safe from coins and keys in your pocket. Just be careful not to run into sea salt or fine dust. However, at least for a while, the factory foil will come in very handy to pick up any accidental, scratches or damage. The package also includes a fine, transparent, silicone case that will serve to protect the phone's body without much impact on the aesthetics of the phone itself. Although Xiaomi has not come a long way in terms of the design of the new model, the Redmi 9 has an interesting pattern and a green body color in the model that we got to test the front of the phone is classic monolithic and monotonous.

The bezels are noticeable, but not too big, especially if we consider phones in this price category. What breaks the annoying front design a bit are the edges of the body which are visible on all four sides and would somewhat mitigate the fact that most modern phones are identical when viewed from the front. The aforementioned circular texture on the back, starts from the circle around the middle of the camera system and spreads concentrically in all directions, but does not spill over the sides which are smooth. The camera body got twice as many lenses this year, four versus the two on the Redmi 8. In essence, the Redmi 9 brings a wide angle and macro lens for a slightly more versatile camera system compared to its predecessor.

Three cameras stand in a row and end with a fingerprint sensor, somewhat unusual composition, wide angle, main and depth sensor. While the macro camera is moved to the right, along with a single tone, flash the left side of the Redmi 9's chassis carries a dual NATO sim and a micro SD drawer, while the volume control and power buttons are on the opposite side. The microphones are located on both the top and bottom of the device, while the upper side also carries an always useful infrared port. At the bottom, we find a 3.5 millimeter, audio jack, an USB c charger connector and a pretty loud mono speaker, opening roughly a standard layout for users who, like a 3.5, millimeter jack on the underside. A small curiosity is the fact that the Redmi 9s FM tuner works with no headphones connected, which is extremely rare, with smartphones for those who like to use the phone as a remote, the mini remote app has a huge database of supported devices, so chances of finding an unsupported one are very slim.

The silicone case that comes in the package fits the phone nicely, but unfortunately, it sometimes activates the proximity sensor located next to the speaker, grille at the top of the screen of the front camera. The result is an annoying message when unlocking that you should not be covering the top of the phone, even though you're obviously not doing so. The screen itself is spacious, so with its dimensions and an interface that can be both enlarged and reduced in size. It can easily adapt it to both younger and older audiences, who may not have the sharpest vision. The resolution of 2340 times 1080 pixels guarantees a sufficient pixel density that satisfies even the more demanding users.

The brightness is advertised at 400 nits, but we don't think it reaches that much because on a sunny summer day, you will have problems with screen, visibility and reflections. This is especially inconvenient when shooting a photo or video, because you can't be sure that the image is sharp and bright enough, since the screen is too dark with annoying reflections and strong ambient light. The nature of the IPS panel guarantees great viewing angles, though the color display will not be liked only by AMOLED screen users who are used to HDR display, with slightly more vivid colors below the screen. The Redmi 9 will treat you to this year's MediaTek hello g80 chipset made in 12 nanometer fine production process. The new MediaTek chipset has eight cores in a two plus x layout.

The two fast cortex a75 cores run at 2 gigahertz, while the 6 slower 855 cores, run at 1800 megahertz. The graphics are provided by Mali, g52 mc2 chip with two clusters operating in 950 megahertz. This chip matches the performance of the arena 612 and Mali g72, mp3 GPUs found in the snapdragon 675 Enos 9610 and MediaTek chipsets, such as hello, p60 and p70. All thanks to the high operating frequency. The MediaTek g80 also provides 802.11 ac, Wi-Fi at 2.4 and 5 gigahertz Bluetooth, 5.0 support for lpddr4x at 1800 megahertz and an eMMC 5.1 data storage. Redmi 9 is available with three gigabytes of ram and 32 gigabytes of storage, as well as four gigabytes and 64 gigabytes and six and 128 gigabyte versions.

And if the price difference between the models in your local market is not too big, say 15 euros or 20 dollars, we recommend getting the stronger version, as the extra memory will mean a lot in the long run. The Redmi 9 comes with the fresh version of the android 10 oses and the mini 11 interfaces. That is well known to all Xiaomi phone users, including those who have been long involved in installing custom ROM on their phones. Although it was announced that the Redmi 9 will come with the mini 12, that update did not reach our phone during testing, but that certainly does not mean that it should not be expected. Although mini is a graphical user interface that does not overload the system too much, we have experienced unexpected stutters and pauses that we have not seen on much weaker phones, not sure if it's the gremlins or just a bad optimization on the Xiaomi part.

Generally speaking, we believe that the mini 12 on Redmi 9 will run like clockwork, which is expected, of course, when it comes to the cameras. The Redmi 9 has added a macro and an ultra-wide camera to allow you to get those close up and wider shots. This is a camera system that we have encountered many times and represent a comprehensive approach to photography, because there is a camera for every single situation. The main camera has a modest 13 megapixel sensor, but it takes photos of decent quality. The details are in line with the resolution of the sensor, but don't expect too much the color rendering is good and faithful along with a good dynamic range.

Noise control is decent as long as there is enough light in the frame, of course, with an aperture of f 2.2. It is not exactly a champion in light absorption, but it compensates for the aspect with the focal length of 28 millimeters and a fairly wide frame. The focus is agile, uses, phase detection and seems to do its job very well. When it comes to image in low light conditions, the main lens tries to cope with the lack of light and succeeds to some extent there is noise, but that is to be expected. Considering the phone price point, the colors are no longer accurate, and the shooting may take longer, depending on the amount of light in the frame.

It is also noticeable that the focus struggles to stay on the object, so you need to have a very calm hand, because the process is reminiscent of long exposure photography. The night images are often blurry and, as the image processing takes time, it sometimes happens that the camera stays on. Even after you hear the shutter sound, so any movement might result in a blurry image. The wide angle camera gives a slightly warmer colors with pronounced post-processing, especially the sharpness filter, which can be noticed on elements such as roofs and treetops. The curvature of the lens that captures an angle of 180 degrees is noticeable, and the software fails to compensate, which is evident at the edges of the frame still for a sensor with an 8 megapixel resolution and f 2.2 aperture, we are more than satisfied with the results in the dark. The wide-angle sensor shows all of its shortcomings.

There's a lot of noise and not so much detail, especially in darker parts of the frame. The color display is similar to the main sensor. Mostly inaccurate, and often the images are quite dark. The only good thing is the image sharpness even better than on the main sensor, because the focus is fixed which makes the sensor's job much easier. The macro sensor set apart as an oddball next to the LED flash, has a resolution of 5 megapixels and makes good use of it.

Given the limitations of the sensor and the price class to which it belongs, it makes solid images. Of course, you should keep in mind that the lens has a fixed focus. So, in addition to the light, which is essential for good macrophotography, you will also need to keep an eye on the distance from the object, so it remains in the focus. If you do manage to be patient, you will not be disappointed with the results. The video is unfortunately limited to 1080p at 30 frames per second, and while we would like to see a 4k, it is not realistic to expect a good 4k in this price range.

The quality of the video is mediocre at best with a noticeable loss of detail. The color display is okay, but the lack of stabilization means that the footage should on the move is very hard to watch, because there is no stabilization of any kind. One redeeming feature are the short kaleidoscopic video with different effects, which can be very interesting for social media. The Xiaomi Redmi 9 comes with a battery of just over 5 000 William hours and 2 days of battery life. Our standard YouTube tests ended with 52 of the battery remaining.

The good news is that the MediaTek hello g80 supports fast charging at 18 watts, and the bad news is that the Xiaomi, along with the Redmi 9 supplies a 10 watt charger, which you will need a little more than two and a half hours to fully charge the battery. Our version comes with the NFC, which is not the case with all Redmi nine phones and is dependent on the market is being sold on, taking into account all the impressions that we had from spending time with the Redmi 9. It is clear that this is a very good phone and its price category Xiaomi has improved all the aspects in which the Redmi 8 lags behind the competition in 2020, and yet everything has been done within the acceptable price limits. Strong chipset and solid graphics enable smooth everyday work and solid performance in games, which is necessary, considering the full HD plus screen resolution on the design side, we like the Redmi 9 more than its predecessor and with the choice of very interesting colors few will have a real reason to complain. The camera system is certainly above the price range it belongs to, but we would rather see two higher quality cameras than four mediocre ones.

Although marketing departments would not agree with us on that, with a fair amount of light, you will be able to take decent photos with all three cameras. While video is the only weak point of this phone add to that a fresh operating system, great accessories like a FM tuner that doesn't require headphones, meaning that it does work with wireless headphones and an infrared blaster and the Redmi nine certainly has a nice list of advantages compared to its competition. Realistically speaking, we didn't expect anything different and Xiaomi once again proved to be the king of this price range. Thank you for watching bench house. My name is Marco, and if you enjoyed our content, feel free to subscribe to our channel for more content and drop a like and comment.

If you enjoyed the video, we will see you next time.

Source : Bench House