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The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro competes in the test to revolutionize the middle class. With a 6.67″ 120Hz AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 732G processor, a 108-megapixel camera, stereo speakers, and a 5000 mAh battery with 33-watt fast charging, the specifications sound just too good to be true. The price currently fluctuates between BDT 18000 and BDT 22500 for the 6/64GB or 6/128GB version, so the Note 10 Pro sounds like a price-performance miracle. You can read in the following test whether we can still confirm this after our everyday use.
The punch hole notch glows silver when the display is off. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro measures 164 x 74.5 x 8.4 millimeters and weighs 193 grams. This makes it thinner (0.4mm), lighter (12g), and also slightly more compact in length and width than the Redmi Note 9 Pro. Still, we remain big and heavy in one area of attributes here. The back of the Redmi Note 10 Pro is made of glass and is therefore resistant to scratches. For the frame, on the other hand, Xiaomi relies on plastic, which is excellently processed. The power button with fingerprint sensor and the volume rocker sits perfectly on the outside right and the frame is slightly curved at this point to create a little more space. The back is rounded to the left and right, but the front is completely flat. When designing the front, the Redmi Note 10 Pro uses a centered punch-hole notch for the front camera. Compared to the Redmi Note 9 Pro, it is visibly smaller, but it shimmers conspicuously in silver when the display is switched off. The bezels around the display look modern at 3mm, with the chin being a bit thicker at 5mm as usual. The rear camera hill is now off-center and protrudes a massive 2.7mm from the back. The Redmi Note 10 Pro also wobbles on the table with the protective cover supplied.
In addition to the case, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 comes with a USB-C to USB-A cable, a 33-watt fast charging adapter, and a quick start guide. A screen protector is applied from the factory but the quality of the film is inferior and I removed it after 2 days as it was not centered and already had scratches.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro is controlled as usual with configurable on-screen buttons or familiar swipe gestures. Incidentally, the 3.5mm headphone jack has been retained and has been moved to the top of the smartphone. The second microphone, the infrared transmitter, and three openings for the auricle are also located there. The USB-C port, the main speaker, and the main microphone are located on the underside of the Redmi Note 10 pro. The SIM card holder holds 2 nano-SIM cards + one micro SD (up to 1TB) at the same time and is located on the left outside.
Despite the many openings on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro, Xiaomi surprises us with innovation. An official IP certification, even if only IP53, is a first for Xiaomi. So far, all Redmi Note smartphones have been protected against splash water anyway, but now TÜV-Süd has had it confirmed again for spray water. Xiaomi does without a notification LED, instead, there is an always-on display (AOD).
The fingerprint sensor is excellent and faces unlock is frankly redundant. However, the latter is still supported. As soon as your finger comes close to the sensor, you are on the home screen. If desired, you can also choose “Press” instead of “Touch” for unlocking. However, I didn’t have any problems with incorrect identifications in my trouser pocket. Another highlight of the device is the stereo speakers (or hybrid stereo). By supporting the auricle, the louder and clearer sound is generated here, which is rarely experienced in this way in the middle class. As expected, the bass is hardly perceptible. There is even an extra opening at the top for stereo sound.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro has excellent workmanship and shines with a scratch-resistant back, hybrid stereo speakers, and a triple slot. The device is thinner and lighter than its predecessor, but it is still a large smartphone. The optics is a matter of taste, but the camera hill really sticks out very far. To be honest, my highlight was the super fast and accurate fingerprint scanner.
Widevine L1 for Netflix and Disney+ in HD resolution When it comes to the display, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro mercilessly outperforms all of the competition. The smartphone has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a Full HD resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels) and a refresh rate of 120 Hertz. With 395 pixels, all content is pin-sharp and with 120Hz it stays in motion. The display of the Redmi Note 10 Pro could be in a flagship and nobody would notice a difference. The brightness is a maximum of 750 lux in manual mode and boosts to 1200 lux in direct sunlight. By the way, this also happens here in manual mode and not just in automatic mode, as is usually the case. In any case, the readability outdoors is excellent and with a minimum of 3 lux, a pleasant picture is guaranteed even in the dark. The Redmi Note 10 Pro is certified for HDR 10 content and, with Widevine L1, has no limited resolution even with streaming services. You can only choose between 120 and 60Hz for the hertz frequency, with the 120Hz mode being reduced to 60Hz in many apps. This saves some electricity when watching videos on YouTube. Everyone should definitely try the 120Hz option for a week because the battery life is still good. But more on that later. As usual, the color temperature can be continuously adjusted on Xiaomi and there are three pre-sets to choose from. If you want accurate colors, choose “Standard”, with “Saturated” you get the trendy AMOLED colors and with “Automatic” the contrast is adjusted to the lighting conditions.
The 10-point touchscreen of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro reacts quickly and precisely to all inputs. A terminable dark mode (black/white reversal) and a terminable read mode are available as additional settings. The AOD is currently still missing the always-on function :), more on that underperformance and system. Another issue is pulse width modulation (PWM), i.e. brightness control, which produces flickering at low brightness. Unfortunately, the DC dimming setting, which makes this phenomenon bearable for sensitive users, is missing here. The display glass is particularly resistant to Corning Gorilla Glass 5. A screen protector is pre-installed ex-works, but it wasn’t placed exactly and I removed it immediately.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro not only meets all the current requirements for a mid-range display. It delivers a level that no manufacturer can match. Anyone who places a lot of value on the smartphone display will not be able to avoid the Redmi Note 10 Pro this year. The display isn’t good or great, it’s just unfair compared to the other manufacturers.
When it comes to the processor, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro makes a cautious leap to the Snapdragon 732G, which we already know from the Poco X3. The processor works with eight cores, which are divided into two clusters. 2 Kryo 470 Gold cores @2.3GHz are available for demanding tasks such as gaming and 6 Kryo 470 Silver cores @1.8GHz are responsible for normal operation. The SoC is manufactured using the 8-nanometer process. The Redmi Note 10 Pro also relies on fast 64 or 128GB UFS 2.2 storage and always has a well-sized 6GB LPDDR4X RAM. A version with 8GB RAM was also announced. The internal storage clocks in at a solid read/write rate of 505/229 MB/s and the RAM delivers 23GB/s. The performance under MIUI is excellent and the 120Hz ensures perfectly smooth animations. Everything seems superfluid and all tasks are implemented at lightning speed. Compared to the Redmi Note 9 Pro, the Adreno 618GPU is clocked slightly higher, otherwise, the benchmarks are almost identical.
Even demanding games are no problem for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro. Everything remains fluid and there are no unpleasant stutters. But if you like playing games with 120 FPS, you are simply in the wrong price range here. That’s what flagships are for. By the way, the device keeps a cool head (37° at the warmest point) even after an hour of gaming. The Redmi Note 10 Pro is a workhorse and even if Xiaomi has not upgraded the processor, the smartphone does exactly what you would expect in this price range. The use in the system and social media apps simply runs as smooth as butter and due to the 120Hz, a difference to smartphones that are 3-4 times as expensive is no longer perceptible.
Xiaomi ships the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro with MIUI 12 based on Android 11. In a few months, you can look forward to MIUI 12.5. As usual, Xiaomi’s in-house operating system comes with a few preinstalled apps, 16 of which can be easily uninstalled. What remains of bloatware is then the Mi Video App, the Mi Browser, Mi Music, and so on. By the way, the default browser is Google Chrome anyway. You can currently only get rid of these apps with our instructions, alternatively, this will also become a feature of MIUI 12.5 (so you can just wait and see). Xiaomi disables the new control center for the quick launch bar in the Redmi Note 10 Pro (swipe left or right for notifications or quick launch icons). So you can choose freely here.
With the app drawer (overview page with all apps) you are free to choose whether all apps end up on the home screen or not. “Google Discover” can be activated on the left home screen and Xiaomi doesn’t bother us with any immature alternatives here. All MIUI settings that are also known from much more expensive smartphones are available here. With one exception, namely the AOD. Here you can only select “Show 10 seconds”. But that is only a “Sometimes-On-Display”. I have already sent a BUG report to Xiaomi, the short-term solution is to disable MIUI optimization in the developer options. Then the AOD will always stay on and display notifications. However, without MIUI optimization, the system simply becomes noticeably slower. Xiaomi has already responded to my request and will not change the AOD!
Updates are generally not a big issue at Xiaomi, because there are enough of them. The Redmi Note 8 will be 2 years old this year and will get Android 11 as the basis for MIUI 12. This is the second major Android update and MIUI will also have version 13 (or 12.5). You can expect at least 2 Android versions and 3 MIUI versions. With custom ROMs, you can of course extend the updates as you like at Xiaomi, a Xiaomi. EU ROM also brings additional functions after the UNLOCK. With a mid-range smartphone for BDT 18000, there is no manufacturer that offers updates and new functions for longer. With Xiaomi, you hardly have to worry about reliable and long updates within the popular Note series. At least that’s what counts for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10S and 10 Pro.
MIUI has been doing decent advertising in the system for a long time. However, we keep receiving messages and comments from users who report pop-up ads across the entire display. This advertising does not come from MIUI but comes from some “free” apps from the Playstore that you install yourself. Preferably QR code scanner and compass apps. Incidentally, both are already pre-installed on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro without advertising. Back to the advertising in MIUI 12, which can only be found in system apps and is hardly noticeable. The most striking is the security scanner’s advertising for individual apps that you install from the Playstore. With two simple clicks (see screenshots) the part is deactivated and apps are simply installed. If the rest of the ads still bother you, you can use this guide to get rid of them completely.
The system is already well optimized for a smartphone that has just been released and all animations run butter-smoothly in 120Hz operation. We didn’t notice any serious bugs this time, it was different with the Redmi Note 9S back then. There was the so-called W-LAN BUG with Fritz boxes, which was then eliminated 2 months after the release. In any case, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro runs as fast as an arrow and without any problems through the MIUI 12 system.
The quad-camera of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro consists of a 108MP Samsung HM2 main camera, an 8-megapixel Sony IMX355 ultra-wide-angle camera (UWW), a 5-megapixel macro camera, and the obligatory depth sensor for bokeh/portrait shots. These 4 cameras sit in a bulky module on the back. The selfie camera, on the other hand, is housed in a tiny punch hole on the front. The 16-megapixel camera is a Sony IMX471 sensor with a fixed focus. There is only autofocus on the main and macro cameras. The UWW camera also has a fixed focus.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro is of course a dual SIM smartphone and can handle 2 SIM cards and a micro SD at the same time. What is missing here is the new 5G standard, but hardly any of you will complain about that. The Note 10 Pro transmits reliably on the following 2G, 3G, and 4G (LTE) frequencies:
The signal strength is good and Xiaomi specifies the SAR value as 0.6 W/kg for the head and 1 W/kg for the body. The call quality is good and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Voice over Wifi (VoWIFI) are also supported.
Another radio standard is WiFi 5 (ac standard) which offers a long-range and stable data throughput. Right next to the router, the Note 10 Pro fully utilizes my 250/40 Mbit line, 2 meters, and 2 walls later it’s still a solid 120 Mbit/s. Bluetooth 5.1 is used in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro and modern codecs such as aptX and LHDC are included. Xiaomi doesn’t show any weaknesses when it comes to determining the location either and the position is determined with an accuracy of 3-4m in a few seconds using GPS, Galileo, Glonass, and Beidou. There were no problems with navigation either in the car or as a pedestrian. The pre-installed app and the 3.5mm headphone jack is still available for FM radio fans. With NFC you can also easily participate in the mobile payment revolution. In addition to the standard sensors (acceleration, proximity, and brightness sensors), there is also a gyroscope, compass, and infrared transmitter.
The Redmi Note range is known for excellent battery life and the Note 10 Pro is no exception. The 5020 mAh battery is even housed in a thinner case and delivers a good 13.5 hours in 60Hz mode and 12 hours in 120Hz mode in the PCMark battery test. The standby consumption is perfect and in 8 hours you only lose 3% battery power. The Note 10 Pro can also convince with videos and here it doesn’t matter whether the 120Hz is activated. Videos always run in 60Hz mode and the smartphone only loses 6-7% of the battery after an hour of YouTube via W-LAN. In practice, I ended up in the test after 2 days of use at 8-9 hours with the display switched on.
