Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Review: Worth Paying Extra For?

The Redmi Note

 series has always stood for value, offering features that are a step or two up from the Redmi series while still remaining affordable enough for many people. you'll expect an enormous screen, big battery, powerful processor, and impressive cameras, which provides these models a touch of aspirational value, when considering the budget market. This year, Xiaomi has launched the Redmi Note 10 series, and therefore the top-end Redmi Note 10 Pro Max introduces a 108-megapixel camera which is in fact its headlining feature. this is often the sole difference between the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max and therefore the Redmi Note 10 Pro, but does it add up for a mainstream phone? We're getting to determine .

Redmi Note 10 Pro Max price in India.

Blurring the road between mainstream and premium, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max starts at Rs. 18,999 in India, for the variant with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. You pay little or no more, just Rs. 19,999, for an equivalent 6GB of RAM but double the storage at 128GB, which makes the bottom variant seem fairly pointless. the foremost expensive variant actually crosses the Rs. 20,000 mark for the primary time, costing Rs. 21,999 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

If you do not need the 108-megapixel camera, the Redmi Note 10 Pro is identical in every other way and costs Rs. 3,000 less for an equivalent amounts of RAM and storage: Rs. 15,999, Rs. 16,999 and Rs. 18,999 respectively. Both models are available within the same three colours: Dark Night, Glacial Blue, and Vintage Bronze.

Redmi Note 10 Pro Max design

Xiaomi has gone during a slightly new design direction with this generation. the tiny touches that the corporate collectively calls its ‘Evol' design language are often seen mainly round the frames and camera modules of the Redmi Note 10 series. Not much is different on the front, which is almost all screen with narrow borders and a comparatively small embedded front camera right at the highest . This camera for a few reason features a very shiny silver ring around it, which is extremely distracting and somewhat negates the aim of reducing the dimensions of the camera hole.

The power button on the side has an embedded fingerprint sensor but isn't recessed and also is no larger than a typical button. the quantity rocker is true above it, and therefore the phone's frame expands a touch in thickness to accommodate them. The glass rear panel is curved at the edges and moulded around this bulge, making for a really slick look.

The Mystic Bronze and Glacial Blue colour options have frosted backs, while the Dark Night version is glossy. i used to be ready to inspect both finishes, and located that fingerprints were a touch of a drag in both cases. The frosted glass was also actually a touch more slippery, but not enough to be a explanation for concern.

The 108-megapixel camera on the rear is highlighted by a bright silver panel. The module itself features a two-tier design to account for the camera's thickness, and is wide enough to accommodate the 2 low-resolution cameras next to every other. Unfortunately this does mean that the phone is not steady or easy to use when it's lying flat on a table.

Xiaomi has used Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front, and an adhesive screen protector is pre-applied. there's a 3.5mm audio jack but it's on the highest , which is somewhat unusual. You'll also find a speaker cutout; the earpiece is employed as a second speaker, and this enables sound to travel better. you furthermore may get an infrared emitter for controlling appliances. On rock bottom , you will find a USB Type-C port and therefore the primary speaker. The tray on the left has two Nano-SIM slots also as space for a microSD card.

There's an IP53 rating for water and mud resistance, which is usually good to ascertain . At 8.1mm thick and 192g in weight, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max may be a bit thinner and lighter than last year's Redmi Note 9 Pro Max₹ 14,999 (Review), but you've got to think about the awkward camera bulge.

Redmi Note 10 Pro Max specifications and software

This wouldn't be a Redmi Note phone without some very impressive specifications, and you'll expect a couple of premium touches. However, confine mind that the Redmi Note 10 Pro also gives you precisely the same package apart from the first rear camera for Rs. 3,000 less. The Snapdragon 732G SoC should be quite enough for everyday tasks also as gaming, and you rise up to 8GB of RAM with 128GB of storage.

I'm quite impressed with the screen that the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max has. this is often a 6.67-inch full-HD+ Super AMOLED panel with full DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage, a 120Hz maximum refresh rate, and HDR10 support. Brightness goes up to 1200nits, and there is TUV Rheinland certification for low blue light emission. the opening for the front camera is merely 2.96mm in diameter.

There's a 5020mAh battery and you'll charge this phone at up to 33W using the included adapter. Other specifications include dual active LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth, stereo speakers, a haptic vibrator, and every one the standard sensors. Surprisingly, NavIC isn't listed together of the supported satellite navigation systems, and there is no mention of high-resolution Bluetooth audio codecs. NFC would even have been nice.

As for software, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max ships with MIUI 12.0.6 on top of Android 11. it's tons of features and customisations including a locked Second Space for personal data, Game Turbo shortcuts, home screen customisations and gesture navigation, iOS-style gestures to point out notifications and quick settings, floating windows, Reading Mode with a paper-like texture, and a customisable always-on screen.

We've complained for years about the quantity of advertising and promotional content there's in MIUI, from the “Glance” content on the lockscreen to constant notifications from certain apps. While it is not as bad as we've encountered within the past, Xiaomi promises that the upcoming MIUI 12.5 will dispense with all of this entirely. What's more, even the difficulty of bloatware are going to be addressed by allowing users to uninstall about the foremost essential apps.

My review unit was running the February 2021 security patch which is okay, but not the foremost up-to-date. Xiaomi has indicated, but not promised, that users should get security updates a minimum of once per quarter for subsequent three years, plus one or two Android version updates.

Redmi Note 10 Pro Max performance

One thing that basically stands out about the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is its display quality. The Super AMOLED panel is bright and crisp, with everything looking slick. Colours pop nicely and blacks are quite deep, making permanently contrast. There are three colour profiles to settle on from, and you'll override the color temperature manually if you wish . HDR video looks excellent . The refresh rate isn't adaptive and is about to 60Hz by default.

The only thing that detracts from the video experience is that the shiny ring round the front camera. The always-on display implementation may be a bit strange, since it doesn't actually always stay – you've got to tap the screen to bring it up, and it only stays on for a couple of seconds, making it functionally no different to your lock screen. Also, it's nice to possess stereo speakers, but sound is not rich or detailed and therefore the bass is certainly lacking.

The fingerprint sensor works well despite being rather small, but is additionally very easy to hit unintentionally. you'll also found out a double-tap shortcut to perform an action or launch an app. Despite the massive screen, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is fairly easy to handle, but you would possibly want to slide on the included case for better grip. the most annoyance is promotional notifications from Xiaomi's GetApps store and Themes app, and that i hope the MIUI 12.5 update arrives soon.

You won't have any trouble with everyday apps. My review unit had 6GB of RAM, and even heavy multitasking wasn't a problem . I got a score of two ,71,830 in AnTuTu, and Geekbench 5 managed 563 and 1,703 points in its single- and multi-threaded tests. The 3DMark Wild Life test produced a score of 1,118, and therefore the Sling Shot Extreme score was 2,734. GFXBench's T-Rex and Car Chase scenes ran at 82fps and 17fps respectively. Heavy games including Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends ran well but the rear of the phone does get a touch warm after a moment or two.

The 5020mAh battery can take you thru a full day with a touch bit left over for subsequent morning. If you play tons of games, stream media, and take tons of photos and videos, you ought to still be ready to make one charge last a full day. In our HD video loop test, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max lasted for 17 hours, 1 minute. When plugged into the bundled charger, it went from zero to 44 percent in half-hour and 84 percent in hour .Redmi Note 10 Pro Max cameras

The star of the show in fact is that the 108-megapixel main shooter. It's supported an equivalent Samsung HM2 sensor because the Mi 10i₹ 21,999's main camera, but there are some differences within the optics here, like an f/1.9 aperture and 6P lens. By default, this camera combines nine 0.7um pixels into one 2.1um pixel for an efficient resolution of 12 megapixels – though you'll override this.

Just as interesting though, is that the 5-megapixel macro camera which also boasts of 2X magnification. this could allow you to urge macro shots from farther away than usual. The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max also features a standard 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.

There's quite lot happening within the Camera app, and even some modes that you simply aren't getting on the lower-end Redmi Note 10 (Review). Vlog mode allows you to package graphics, background music, and even effects into one clip just by tapping the shutter button a couple of times. Clone and Dual modes, as their names suggest, allow you to create multi-exposure shots and superimpose video from the front and rear cameras, respectively. the opposite modes include Document, Panorama, Time Lapse, and AI Watermark.

Some aspects of the app are odd, like the very fact that you simply need to enter a Settings submenu to modify to the macro camera. You'll also find a Tilt Shift filter here, which could are another separate mode. there is a very flexible Burst toggle that allows you to choose the amount of shots and interval, plus options for framing and object tracking. The UI could use some improvement, especially within the way text labels are stop . Thankfully, Xiaomi has also decided to not impose a tasteless and obtrusive branded watermark on users by default anymore.

Coming to photo quality, we will see that the first camera does an honest job when it involves detail, exposure, and colour reproduction. you ought to be proud of the results, given the worth of this phone. Close-ups work best, of course, but even objects at a distance look fairly good at the default 12-megapixel resolution. If you employ the 108-megapixel mode, you'll find yourself with shots that take up 20MB of space on the average . While you'll magnify photos far more before losing definition, you cannot really expect to crop distant objects to simulate optical zoom. Results also tend to be a touch less sharp at the complete resolution.

The wide-angle camera, needless to say , captures duller shots with poorer contrast. you'll adjust the depth effect before or after taking an attempt in Portrait mode, and results were good, but not especially great.

I found the macro camera to even more interesting than the first one. it is a bit tricky to urge the space between the phone and subject right, and there is no indication on screen of when you've the optimum focus. This led to a touch of awkward guesswork and disappointing results, but it had been better than getting right up on the brink of a topic and covering it with the phone's own shadow. However, when the main target was good and therefore the subject was nicely framed, my shots came out looking spectacular, with precisely the quite detail and definition that make macro shots so compelling. This could be the simplest implementation of a fanatical macro camera that I've used thus far on a smartphone.

Night mode can make a reasonably big difference to low-light shots, but detail isn't that great regardless of whether it's on or off. Colour tone wasn't very natural-looking, especially in 108-megapixel mode. Focus was also harder to urge right at the complete resolution. The wide-angle camera does in fact capture duller, darker shots, but given enough ambient light, these were actually not regrettable .

The 16-megapixel f/2.45 front camera is decent within the daytime, but don't expect the foremost natural-looking skin tones. Beautification is on by default. Selfie portraits had good depth of field with accurate edge detection.

Video recording goes up to 4K at 30fps. Full-HD video is stabilised, but 4K video isn't. Quality is decent enough within the daytime, even with wide-angle full-HD video. At night, an honest amount of detail was captured but colours attended get pumped up to unrealistic levels. There was shimmer at full-HD, while 4K video was very shaky.

Verdict

Xiaomi usually pitches its Redmi Note series as all-rounders, but the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max clearly wants to up the ante specifically with its 108-megapixel rear camera. I'm not entirely convinced that this may be well worth the Rs. 3,000 premium over the Redmi Note 10 Pro, which is otherwise identical. Sure, it's great for bragging rights and there are situations once you might want to capture very fine detail, but the general camera quality doesn't really seem to profit all that much. it'll be interesting to match these two phones' main cameras side by side in identical conditions.

In all other respects, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max may be a very compelling device, but that just makes a good stronger case for recommending its considerably less costly twin, instead of this phone itself. All the strengths of this phone apply to the Redmi Note 10 Pro as well: its screen is extremely good, there's many processing power on tap, the software is thanks to get a big update, and therefore the design is extremely slick. Battery life could are better, and therefore the fingerprint sensor might become annoying, but these issues are relatively easy to measure with.

It's interesting that Xiaomi has not used a 5G-capable SoC for this phone. The Mi 10i (Review) does offer 5G and more processing power for just Rs. 2,000 more, with an equivalent three RAM and storage combinations. If you are doing want the 108-megapixel camera, this looks like it might be a far better option for several people. Realme has also just launched its Realme 8 Pro (First Impressions), and therefore the X7 5G (Review) is within the same ballpark.

Once you check out the market overall, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max seems to deal with a really small niche. it is a great phone, but you've got two other options from Xiaomi which will either prevent some money or offer you a beefier overall package for not that far more .