➤ Redmi Note 8 Pro, the review 🎮

Redmi Note 7 was a smartphone not only extremely convincing for its value for money, but also one of the best sellers of the year, capable of placing over 20 million units worldwide. It is therefore natural that Xiaomi wanted to continue on that virtuous path with the new one Notes redmi 8 Pro subject of this review, which of Redmi Note 7 is the real heir. However, since the release of the latter until today, the situation on the market has certainly changed: i competitors they did not stand by and offered a great variety of very valid mid-range terminals, and Xiaomi itself did not skimp on outputs that have gone to form an authentic internal competition against the Redmi range. Let's see if, despite these adversities, the new smartphone of the Chinese giant has what it takes to stand out on its opponents.

Aesthetics and equipment

Redmi Note 8 Pro is not a sample of originality from a purely aesthetic point of view, indeed it looks a lot like its "half-brother" Mi 9T Pro, with the only substantial difference represented by a classic notch drip instead of the pop-up camera. The back is also very similar, with the camera block in the central position to which the fingerprint sensor is added in this case. The rigid plastic frame houses on the right side the power and volume adjustment keys, on the left the housing for two SIM cards (or alternatively a SIM and a micro SD), in the lower part a USB Type C slot, a 3,5 mm jack and the speakers and finally in the upper part the microphone and the infrared sensor.

The 6,5-inch display occupies a large part of the front surface, covered by Gorilla Glass 5 as well as the rear, for a well-assembled device that however with dimensions equal to 76.4 x 161.3 x 8.8 mm it is certainly not among the most compact and not even among the lightest, considering a weight that touches 200 grams. Ergonomics is therefore not the spearhead of Redmi Note 8 Pro, and a certainly not revolutionary design is also added one thickness quite pronounced of the camera module, which stands out especially when you place the phone on a flat surface: nothing that cannot be solved anyway using a cover, even the one that Xiaomi offers included in the package. In terms of connectivityInstead, Redmi Note 8 Pro ticks all the right boxes, providing dual band WiFi, FM radio, Bluetooth 5.0, 4G + and even NFC which was one of the biggest shortcomings of its predecessor.

Display and cameras

The panel of Redmi Note 8 Pro is a 6,5-inch IPS LCD with full HD + resolution of 2340x1080 pixels. The it is characterized by a very high brightness that makes it well readable even under direct sun, and its generous dimensions give a respectable glance, especially in the use of multimedia content: in this regard it should be noted that the panel is also HDR, with all the positive repercussions of the case of video games and video applications that support it, such as Netflix and YouTube.

In terms of cameras, Redmi Note 8 counts the beauty of five sensors between front and rear, a set that proves reliable in practically all conditions. The front module housed in the drop notch is a 20 megapixel that guarantees a decent general quality and also offers some specific functions for sharing on social, with filters and music applicable on the spot. Moving on to the rear block, let's see in detail the characteristics of the four cameras, starting from the main 64 megapixel one.

With the default mode the photos are actually taken at 12 megapixels, returning very good images during the day but also valid at night, thanks to the special mode of Xiaomi which has reached a considerable level of optimization; for the 64 megapixel it is necessary to activate the specific function, the most obvious practical use of which is to take shots that guarantee an excellent level of zoom while maintaining a remarkable level of detail. Then there is an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens that discreetly does its job with adequate lighting, but showing its side at night also due to uninspiring ISO values. A third 2-megapixel sensor that comes into play automatically to manage the depth of field and a fourth 2-megapixel camera with macro lens, capable of focusing at very short distances and taking particular shots, also here at provided, however, to have a good light. Turning to the video, Redmi Note 8 allows you to shoot at the maximum resolution of 4K at 30fps, while the 60fps can be obtained by going down to fullHD, with still appreciable results thanks to a good management of exposure and focus and an electronic stabilization suitable for scope.

Performance and use

La technical equipment of Redmi Note 8 counts on a MediaTek Helio G90T processor, 6 GB of memory and a storage capacity of 64 or 128 GB depending on the version chosen. However, we are talking about UFS 2.1 memories for both cases, to guarantee high transfer speeds. Despite being less valuable than the competitor Snapdragon 730, the MediaTek SoC performs its duty very well: applications open quickly and you can also grant yourself a modest multitasking without recording noticeable slowdowns.

As for the component Gaming, Redmi Note 8 offers like its predecessor the peculiar Turbo Videogame mode, which uses smartphone resources to optimize performance and reduce the incidence of notifications during games: nothing miraculous, but which allows even the heaviest titles to run in a decidedly appreciable way.

With a 4500 mAh battery, the device guarantees aautonomy really generous, which allows you to get to the end of a day of intense use without going into reserve and which instead can also lead to not charging the phone for a day and a half or two to those who do not use it continuously. On the software front, the operating system is Android 9 Pie (with security patch updated in October at the time of writing) declined through the inevitable proprietary interface of Xiaomi MIUI, recently brought to version 11. It is a solid and hyper-tested infrastructure, which with the update has gained something in terms of aesthetic appeal and functionality but which tends to maintain historical strengths and defects: as regards the latter , we point out for the umpteenth time the massive presence of bloatware the use of which is also full of advertisements. Last note on the price: the official price list of Redmi Note 8 speaks of € 259,90 for the 64 GB version and 299,90 for the 128 GB version, but the many offers on the web allow you to take it home with figures that fluctuate slightly below or above the € 200.

Comment

Price 259,90 € / 299,90 €

Resources4Gaming.com

8.3

If Redmi Note 7 was a best buy without ifs and buts, the same cannot be said for this Redmi Note 8 Pro, but not for demerits of the device itself: we are talking about a valid and complete smartphone in all respects, equipped of a good display, versatile cameras, generous autonomy and a mature user experience. The problem, if anything, is to be found in the very fierce competition of terminals similar to it - some of which are produced by Xiaomi itself - which will probably end up making Redmi Note 8 only a terminal with a good value for money, but not necessarily the best choice inside. of his range of competence.