Friends+Design
- Fresh, bright and vibrant design, with a gleaming, reflective rear panel - the design here is very similar to that of the Note 9 Pro’s with the back is now made of polycarbonate
- The distinctive camera bump design plays into the theme of symmetry - this is a beautiful design touch that sets the Redmi Note 9 series apart and makes this phone and its siblings recognisable
- The front of the phone looks modern and defies expectations for its price category - the hole-punch is now on the left unlike the other 2 Note phones that have it in the center
- Fingerprint sensor is moved to the back, and it is swift at unlocking the phone
- Xiaomi's trademark infrared emitter is on the top and can be used to control several home appliances
- At 8.9mm thick and 199g in weight, the Redmi Note 9 is a bit bulky and unwieldy
Display
- Crisp, vivid and bright 6.53-inch IPS display with a tall aspect ratio - the panel delivers punchy and vibrant colours and the large screen work nicely for consuming videos and games
- The display also gets sufficiently bright for outdoors use
Software
- MIUI is one of the more refined and smooth Android skins around, and has a lot of customisation/theming options - there are ample features for power users - from gestures to the ability to switch around button layouts as well as a robust home screen customisation experience, you can make the phone your own
- It continues to pack a lot of bloat though - you get many pre-installed applications with wide-ranging requirements for user permissions
Performance
- Good performance for the price powered by the respectable new MediaTek G85 SOC - the day-to-day tasks on the Redmi Note 9 feel light and effortless and it can run heavy 3D games like PUBG at low or medium settings
- The gaming performance is a downgrade from other Note 9 series phones, you'd be better off with phones like Redmi Note 9 Pro or Redmi 6i if you want a phone for heavy gaming
Camera
- Decent quad cameras for the price - a 48MP primary shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 5MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor
- In daylight, the primary camera takes reasonably good shots - Xiaomi has opted for a very natural-looking colour science, the colour temperature and white balance are spot-on which is very good to see, and the dynamic range isn't too bad either (though, there is a certain softness to images, which can be fixed with a software update)
- The ultra-wide-angle mode works well to capture a wide frame without much effort, and the quality is decent
- Xiaomi has done a particularly good job at optimising the portrait mode, and the phone does a fantastic job at edge-detection, creating a natural-looking blur
- The macro camera delivers good quality shots than from most other 2MP macro cameras because of the autofocus
- The 13MP front camera is fairly good in the daytime as well as at night - details are crisp, and portrait shots have nicely blurred backgrounds, which can be pre-adjusted
- Low light photography is average, images are grainy with digital artefacts and splotches creating a nearly unusable shot
- Overall, this is not the best camera setup at this price and this time Realme has done a better job which with its Realme 6i which offer better cameras at this price
Battery
- Very good battery life with the 5020 mAh battery - with ordinary use, the Redmi Note 9 easily lasts through a full day and nearly half of the second day before needing a recharge
- Decent fast charging with the 18W fast charger in the box, takes nearly 2 hours to fill the phone (though this isn't the fastest charging phone and the Realme 6i's 30W charging is much better)
Verdict
- The Realme 6i out-specs the Redmi Note 9 at every corner, be it high refresh-rate 90Hz display panel, or the supported faster 30W charging as well as the much better MediaTek G90T SOC, at just marginally higher price - Realme 6i is an all-round better deal
