Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro vs realme 8 Pro - Smartphone Comparison (with photo samples) By Tech Travel Geeks

Hi there, it’s Lukasz for the Tech Travel Geeks, and today we’ll compare two phones I’ve been using for a while now and I think are worth putting side by side - the Redmi Note 10 Pro by Xiaomi and the realme 8 Pro. They both drew my attention with their good pricing and 108 megapixel cameras, so let’s have a look into them in more detail. We’ll continue with more content about those devices, so make sure to subscribe to Tech Travel Geeks for more videos from us. Let’s start with the build and design. The first thing to note is that the Redmi is significantly bigger, due to the larger screen, and 17 grams heavier. The weight can also come from the fact that it has a glass back, compared with realme’s plastic back.

The Redmi Note 10 Pro has a rather traditional design, with horizontal alignment similar to a digital camera, and is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, so keep that in mind, unless like me you also use a phone case. It’s also quite reflective, as you can see here. The redmi is more daring with their design, if you excuse the pun. It has a textured, almost sparkly back with a large “dare to leap” slogan, which may or may not be something you like. The quad camera setup is also interesting, looking a bit like a kitchen hob or some DJ kit.

But we’ll discuss cameras in a moment. Both devices offer really nice AMOLED screens. As mentioned, the Xiaomi is slightly larger at 6.67 inches, so it will be a better option if you enjoy watching content on your phone and don’t mind carrying a bigger device with you. It also supports fast 120Hz refresh rate and the HDR10 standard, both of which are great to see in this price range. Realme’s 6.4 inch screen is also really nice, and because both devices have the same resolution, realme has an advantage of higher pixel density. However, it doesn’t support HDR or high refresh rate, so if this was a competition, I’d probably give Xiaomi a win in this category.

However, the image on the realme is nice and sharp, so no problems at all for me. When it comes to performance, both phones use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7-series chipsets with 8 cores - the 732G on the Xiaomi and 720G on the realme. Xiaomi’s chipset was announced around 7 months after the one in the realme, but both offer very similar performance, with some small advantages for the former and some for the latter. In real life, you won’t be able to see much of a difference though. I was able to play some Call of Duty on both devices, and in both cases I could either choose very high graphics quality and very high frame rate or max framerate with high details.

I went with very high graphics and it all looked really smooth, I even managed to get some nice head shots. The game was playable and enjoyable on both devices for sure. I even tried Genshin Impact to see how it would perform. In both cases, the default settings were set to low, which is expected, as it’s one of the most demanding games on Android. However, the game played well in both cases, with just some slowdowns, so it’s really impressive.

Great game by the way, I’m getting more and more into it right now. Please bear in mind, those are still mid-range devices, so don’t expect the highest performance in all games, but for the price you pay, you should be able to enjoy some gaming for sure. Both phones come in 6GB and 8GB RAM versions, and in my case, I had 8GB in the Realme and 6GB in the Xiaomi. However, I can’t say I’ve seen much of a difference - 6GB is still enough at this point. When it comes to storage, the Redmi Note 10 Pro comes with either 64 or 128GB of storage, while the Realme comes only with 128GB.

In both cases, I got the 128GB storage, so it was plenty for me. On top of that, both phones have dedicated microSD card slots, so you can easily top it up yourself. With regards to battery life, I was very impressed with both. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro has a massive 5020mAh battery and it works great, keeps the phone running for a day or two, depending on your usage. You can also top it up quite quickly, as it comes with a 33W charger.

The realme has a slightly smaller battery, at 4500mAh, but it’s still big compared to many other devices. On top of that, it comes with even faster charging at 50 watt, and according to specifications, you can top it up to 100% in just 47 minutes. That’s really brilliant. One area where there’s a bit of a difference between the two devices is the software. I’m more familiar with the Xiaomi one, as I’ve been using the MIUI on a number of devices - I think it’s my 6th already.

And what’s interesting is that the Redmi Note 10 Pro was one of the first Xiaomi devices to receive MIUI 12.5, the latest version of the software. We’ve done plenty of videos about the Xiaomi software, so feel free to check them linked below. I actually really like it, as it gives a lot of personalization options, looks good and is quite smooth. However, it does come preloaded with quite a lot of extra apps, so be mindful of that, and you might see some ads here and there, like in the “more apps” folder. On the other hand, realme’s software is a bit less bloated - other than a few Google apps, the only extra app was Facebook, which you can always uninstall as well.

However, the software is a bit less feature-rich, for example the app drawer doesn’t have multiple cards and can’t be edited, unlike MIUI’s app drawer, which allows you to create custom categories. So, it’ll be up to you to decide which software approach you prefer - the MIUI one or the realme UI one. When it comes to security updates, as of early July, the Redmi Note 10 Pro, despite being on the latest MIUI version, is a bit behind on security updates, at the May update, but Xiaomi is usually really good with that, so I’d expect a software update quite soon. The realme, on the other hand, got the June update with the June 26th patch, which is quite impressive. Speaking of security - while the software section is very subjective, what to me is not a matter of taste and preference is the fingerprint scanner.

The Xiaomi phone has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that’s on the power button, and it works just great. I use it all the time and it’s really fast, I haven’t had any issues with it, and as a user of flip cases, it’s perfect for me. Just check how fast it unlocks every single time in this short clip I’ve just recorded - really impressive. Unfortunately, the realme 8 Pro has an in-screen fingerprint scanner that I’ve not had too much luck with. In most cases, it’s not recognizing my fingerprint for some reason at least once - it either takes a few attempts, or it just keeps on retrying, and I end up having to use facial recognition or just enter my 6-digit pin.

This is such a basic feature that I think it’s contributed to how often I use the phone - knowing that it may not unlock as fast, it’s not the first device I reach out for. And that’s quite unfortunate. When it comes to connectivity, both phones use 4G/LTE and don’t have access to 5G networks, which at this point in most places isn’t a huge disadvantage. Interestingly, both of those phones have 5G versions available, but both don’t have “Pro” in their names - check Matteo’s video about the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G in the card above. Realme also released the realme 8 5G, so you can check it out if access to 5G is a priority for you.

For audio, both have our favourite courage ports, aka 3.5mm audio jacks, which is great to see. However, the realme for some reason has it at the bottom of the device, and I don’t think it’s ideal, either when you want to have the phone standing in the case and can’t, or because you have to put your phone upside down when it’s in your pocket. I can’t complain too much though - with the courage ports almost extinct now, it’s still great that it’s here. The port is in the usual top position on the Note 10 Pro, and it’s actually next to the second speaker, as the phone offers stereo speakers, which will come in handy when you’re listening to music without headphones - it should give you a more complete experience. The speakers also seem a bit louder, probably thanks to the stereo effect, but it’s not a massive difference.

Finally, let’s talk about my favourite subject - cameras. As mentioned at the beginning, both devices sport very capable 108 megapixel main cameras on the back. They use the very capable ISOCELL HM2 sensors from Samsung and both use 9-to-1 pixel binning, which means that by default, the phone takes an average of the 9 surrounding pixels and blends them into one, creating 12 megapixel photos, which are faster to take and easier to store. If you really want to, you can take full 108MP photos using a special mode, but they take longer to process and take up around 35mb of storage each, so it’s quite a bit of an overkill. When you compare photos from both phones, they both perform great, especially for this class of a device, and I managed to take some fantastic photos with both.

However, you’ll notice straight away that the photos on the right, from the realme, are much more saturated and brighter, while the ones from the Xiaomi are much more toned down, but also closer to reality. Just look at those two photos which I took on the West coast of Scotland, near Oban. To make both have similar saturation, I have to bump the saturation on the Xiaomi photo to 140%, which is quite high. If you look at my other photos, you’ll also see that the photos “pop” more on the realme, while the Xiaomi ones are a bit more true to life. That’s especially the case when taking photos of people - in those cases, I do prefer the Xiaomi photos.

This could also be due to the fact that by default, Realme has the AI mode on, and I can’t find a way to disable it permanently - instead, I have to switch it off each time I use the camera. So whenever I remember, I disable the AI mode. Because of that, typical users might end up with those highly saturated photos. But both phones support quad cameras, so let’s have a look at the others as well. Both come with 8 megapixel ultrawide cameras.

The performance of both was really good, and I’m really happy that such good quality ultrawides are now being added to such inexpensive devices. Just check some of the views here in Scotland captured on those phones - looking really great. The third camera is the macro one, and in this case, the Xiaomi has a 5 megapixel one, while the realme has a 2mp one. As we’ve said in our past videos, 2mp cameras are not too useful, and you’ll notice that most pictures come out quite pixelated. But if you’re lucky, you might get some good photos, like this plant I captured in a botanic garden on my recent trip.

I’d give a “win” to Xiaomi here. The fourth of quad cameras is just a 2mp depth sensor in both cases, so not much to discuss here. Both phones also offer 16 megapixel selfie cameras. For normal photos, looking at some of my samples from the last 4 months, I prefer the Xiaomi camera - it has a wider angle of view, is less grainy and has better dynamic range - just check the building in the background, you can see that it’s actually yellow, not white. However, for portrait photos, I’ve noticed quite a lot of artifacts on the Xiaomi, especially around my face and ears.

That was less prominent on the realme photos. So, if you use a lot of portrait selfies, be mindful of that. When it comes to video, both devices offer similar features - 4k recording in 30 frames per second on the main lens, without image stabilization, and full HD video using the main or ultrawide lens with electronic image stabilization. Interestingly, the realme seems to offer 1080p60 with their ultra steady stabilization, unlike the Xiaomi, which is limited to 30fps. Both also offer full HD selfie camera recording in 30 frames per second with image stabilization, so don’t expect 4K recording here.

Check our video samples videos for more and to see the actual video quality of both devices. Summary So, what are my overall thoughts about those two devices? If you don’t need 5G, and at this point you probably don’t really need it, I think those are some really great options to consider, especially thanks to the camera quality which is higher than most devices in this class. As of recording this video, in early July 2021, looking at the comparative 8GB ram + 128GB storage versions, both devices are in the 280-290 pound range, with the realme being 10 pounds cheaper at this time. But you can find them a bit cheaper. If given just one choice between the two phones, I would probably personally go with the Xiaomi, as I prefer the cameras, fingerprint scanner and the bigger and arguably better screen, but if you prefer smaller and lighter devices, both when it comes to physical size and the software experience, you might want to go with the realme instead.

That’s it for this video, I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. Which phone would you go with, or do you have one of them already? Let us know in the comments below. And if you haven’t already, make sure to subscribe to the Tech Travel Geeks to see more videos from us. But for now, thanks for watching!.

Source : Tech Travel Geeks