Menu
Xiaomi changed the name of the Redmi Note series last year. It is pleasing that four Redmi Note smartphones were presented this year and that the scheme was strictly adhered to. The Redmi Note 9 was a largely unnecessary device that eventually became a slow seller in 2020. With the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10, there is now the official successor, and we will take a close look at it in this test. At a targeted price of less than BDT 13,700, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 offers solid equipment with a 6.43-inch FHD AMOLED display, a 48MP main camera, and a 5000 mAh battery, including 33-watt fast charging.
With its dimensions of 160.5 x 74.5 x 8.5 millimeters and a weight of 180 grams, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 can confidently be described as “normal” in size and heavy. The camera hill only protrudes a millimeter from the back and closes perfectly flat with the protective cover provided. A 33-watt charging adaptor, a quick start guide, a USB-C to USB-A cable, and a SIM needle are included in the package, in addition to the protective cover. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10’s display already has a screen protector on it.
Despite, or rather because of, the plastic frame and the back, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 has excellent workmanship. You will look in vain for large gaps, as all transitions are cleanly designed. On the outside right, you’ll find the volume rocker (also made of plastic) and the power button with an embedded fingerprint sensor. The latter is made of metal, has a good pressure point, and unlocks the Redmi Note 10 from standby in less than a second.
Unlocking with a finger is a breeze, and the posture is also really comfortable for me. Furthermore, you may choose whether a touch is sufficient for unlocking or whether you must push the button. Face recognition is also possible with the front camera. Due to the AMOLED display, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 does not have any notification LED and instead has an Always-On Display (AOD). This AOD, unfortunately, cannot be turned on at all times. However, it does light up for 10 seconds when receiving alerts or touching the phone.
A small highlight is the hybrid stereo speakers of Note 10. Even at this price level, Xiaomi’s usage of the auricle to support the main speaker is commendable. The result is okay for the price range and there is some stereo feeling. The volume is loud, but the sound is bland and lacks bass. In addition to the main speaker, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 has a microphone, a USB-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone socket on the back.
As is typical for Xiaomi, there is a second microphone and the infrared transmitter on the top, and there is also another opening for the stereo sound. The Redmi Note 10 is, of course, a dual-SIM phone. Two nano-SIMs and one micro-SD card can be inserted into the SIM slot on the far left. In the middle class, the triple slot is always appreciated. This enables the Redmi Note 10’s memory to be readily increased by up to 1 TB.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 now operated with swipe gestures or the Android onscreen buttons, much like any other smartphone. It is also possible to customize the latter. With the exception of the scratch-sensitive back, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 has evolved into a stylish and nearly flawless smartphone. The fingerprint scanner, which reliably unlocks the phone in the blink of an eye, is my particular highlight. The delivery scope remains consistent; a triple-slot was anticipated, and the hybrid stereo speakers are uncommon in this price range. The design and craftsmanship of the Redmi Note 10 are excellent.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 has an AMOLED display, which is unusual for a smartphone in this price category.
Many people will be pleased, and because we’re not talking about Samsung, the panel has a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels. The 6.43-inch display has a razor-sharp of 409 pixels per inch in the 20:9 aspect ratio. The highlight is the high brightness of the AMOLED display because you never actually see 780 lux as standard in this price range. With indirect sunlight, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 even boosts to 1270 lux and ensures perfect readability outdoors. The brightness boost takes place independently of the “automatic brightness” and “sunlight mode” options. The minimal brightness of 3 lux is perfect for reading in low light.
However, because DC dimming is not offered in this price range, sensitive users will have to deal with display flickering (induced by PWM). The color reproduction can be modified continually and the viewing angle stability is good. The colors are accurate in “Standard” mode, crisp “oversaturated” AMOLED hues in “Vivid” mode, and the contrast is tuned to the ambient light in “Automatic” mode. The contrast is AMOLED-typical, by the way, excellent, and the display is a stunner for this price range.
Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protects the front from scratches. The touchscreen can register up to ten touches at once, and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 responds swiftly and correctly to all inputs. The reading and dark modes (black/white reversal), which can be terminated, are additional settings. The AOD is a true standout in this class, however, it only lights up for 10 seconds at a time, so it’s not always on. Widevine L1 for HD streaming is always included by Xiaomi, and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 is no exception.
The AMOLED display of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 is a significant advancement. The display is sharp, color-customizable, and perfectly legible outdoors. In this price range about BDT 13700, there is currently no better display.
As an entry-level smartphone, the Redmi 9 scored nearly 200,000 points in the Antutu test last year. The Poco M3 also costs only BDT 9200 and delivers 180000 points with a Snapdragon 662 chipset. The predecessor, the Redmi Note 9, had an Helio G85 from Mediatek and scored 191400 points. That’s where the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 with the Snapdragon 678 processor lands. The processor has 8 Kryo 460 cores divided into 2 clusters and all clocked at 2.2GHz.
We will benefit from manufacturing at 11nm in terms of battery life. For graphically demanding games, an Adreno 612 GPU is available. Xiaomi has presented 3 memory versions; whether they will all appear as global versions remains to be seen. Our test device, in any case, has 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 6464GB of S 2.2 storage. The read/write speed of the internal memory is 505/216 MB/s, while the RAM runs at 24 GB/s. This means that the Redmi Note 10 is well equipped for this price range and handles standard tasks such as surfing or chatting sufficiently smoothly. Up to 1 TB of memory can be added via a microSD card.
Qualcomm’s new chipset offers increased single-core performance, and the Adreno GPU beats its predecessors. In reality, most games run smoothly, but demanding 3D games like Asphalt 8 or PubG cause the tablet to tremble violently. With 4GB of RAM, multitasking isn’t an issue, and a 6GB version for Europe is possible. Instead of upgrading the memory, you should rather use the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10S. On this smartphone, 4/64GB is unquestionably the sweet spot. I found no concerns with heat generation when the system was under load. The system is so well-functioning that true outages are rare. However, compared to a Redmi Note 10 Pro applications open substantially more slowly.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 currently runs on MIUI 12 on Android 11, just like all other smartphones in the series. If you want to learn more about the system, please have a look at the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro review, I’ll keep it a little shorter here.
Note 10 comes with 16 preloaded apps that can all be simply removed. If you want to clean up the system even further, just use this guide. Subtle advertising in selected system apps is also part of Xiaomi, which you can also get rid of with these instructions. What then remains is a stable system that did not show any serious errors at the time of the test. Unfortunately, the AOD remains a “Sometimes-On-Display” and Xiaomi will probably not change anything about that. The only way is to disable MIUI optimization in the developer options. Then the AOD remains switched on permanently.
Updates should be provided here, but a small warning nonetheless. If Xiaomi smartphones are not well received, Xiaomi sometimes discontinues support earlier. There will be plenty of custom ROMs due to the Snapdragon CPU, so a Xiaomi An EU ROM is already available. In addition, the device is worth recommending compared to the Redmi Note 9 at the time.MIUI is and will continue to be a highly customizable system with several customization possibilities.
On paper, we’re looking at a quad-camera system with a 48-megapixel primary camera. Only the main and ultra-wide-angle cameras (UWW) are usable at all. However, Xiaomi surprises us here. with a 48-megapixel Sony sensor and not with the usual Samsung GM1/GM2 formula. You can read now whether the quality can also convince us in practice. The camera arrangement of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 is as follows:
Since Xiaomi does not explicitly advertise with this sensor, I cannot rule out a sensor roulette at this point. It can happen that you receive a Samsung GM1 or GM2 and the picture quality differs visibly from our results here. Xiaomi hasn’t done that for a long time, but it was the case with the Redmi Note 4X, for example.
In the photography department, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 may surprise you. While the Redmi Note 9 is far behind at the moment, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10’s cheapest smartphone provides rock-solid recordings in this price category. Of course, the quality goes downhill steeply in night shots, but the daylight shots are very convincing, apart from a red tint. The smartphone’s ultra-wide-angle camera is also a highlight. The device can even impress with a well-stabilized selfie-and 1080p/30fps recordings with the main camera when recording videos.
Triple slot (2 x nano SIM + micro SD) The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 is a dual-SIM smartphone with a triple slot so that it can hold two SIM cards and one microSD card simultaneously. It works on all the common 2G, 3G, and 4G (LTE) frequencies in Germany and Europe:
The reception and data throughput on the LTE network is good. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 has a SAR of 0.6 W/kg (head) and 0.97 W/kg (body) (body). The standard repertoire includes WIFI (telephony via WLAN) and VoLTE (telephony via the 4G network). The call quality is excellent, and the auricle is audible. Even at the lowest volume, I could easily understand the caller.
In both 2.4 and 5GHz networks, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 supports WiFi 5. The range is good and the data throughput is also fully convincing. The plastic design fully exploits its well-known strengths. Even with 2 walls and 10 meters away from the router, I still get 144/47 Mbit/s from my 250 lines. An excellent value. Bluetooth version 5.0 (which has aptX and AAC but not LHDC) functions as it should. Note 10 is the first smartphone in the new Note series to lack NFC. If you pay by mobile, you should use a different model. Maybe an extra version with NFC will appear, you just have to wait and see. Crystal-clear music enjoyment is possible via the 3.5mm headphone connection, and radio fans also get their money’s worth with the FM radio app. Using GPS, Baidu, and Galileo, the position is determined within a few seconds with an accuracy of 3-4 meters. There were no problems with navigation in the car or as a pedestrian.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 includes a conventional set of sensors, including acceleration, proximity, and brightness sensors. Also included are a compass, gyroscope, and infrared transmitter. I have already written something about the hybrid stereo loudspeakers under Design and Processing.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro was a little surprised by the battery life because the AMOLED and Snapdragon processor should have ensured an outstanding value in the PCMark battery test with 5000 mAh. This actually works in the benchmark with the Note 10, and it runs for 15 hours and 30 minutes at a time. This is an excellent value, and I can confirm it in practice. An hour of YouTube on the WLAN only costs 5% of the battery, and bringing the Note 10 to its knees in one day is hardly possible. In intensive testing with benchmarks, photos, GPS, and lots of social media, the Note 10 only had to be plugged in after 2 days. Without gaming, a screen-on time of 10 to 11 hours is easily possible.
The Note 10 can also score with the loading time because Xiaomi does not give us a downgrade here. With the supplied 33-watt charging adapter, the charging process only takes 80 minutes. A top value for the price range.
