July 2021
I told my wife about a week or so ago that my new phone had come and she said “show me” and I said “How did you know” 🙂
Joking apart This isn’t really a “technical review”, it’s just based on the features that impress me. Without a doubt, this is the best (smart) phone I’ve ever had and I’m glad I chose the 4G option instead of the 5G option because it has better features. It has replaced my aging Wileyfox Swift 2X which was still on Android 8.1 and needed recharging about 4 times per day and it was becoming very sluggish.
It’s a little heavier than the Swift 2X and a little longer but is about the same width. The screen is awesome, lovely and clear and the device is generally very responsive.
I tried it first as a fresh install and was quite impressed with “MIUI 12” running on Android 11. There wasn’t much in the way of “bloatware” and I could probably use the phone “as is” but I’m a “Windows fan“. I made sure that my Swift 2X was backed up and then did a factory reset (on the the Redmi) and did a restore from backup. I now had “Microsoft Launcher” and pretty much everything I had with my Swift 2X. so I now have a new “Windows Phone” that is responsive and pleasure to use, awesome!
If you’re not familiar with “Microsoft Launcher” (for Android) and you have a PC / Desktop running Windows 10, “Microsoft Launcher” is awesome. In conjunction with the “Your Phone” app on both the PC and Phone, you can integrate your phone with your PC. You can send and receive texts from you PC (using a proper keyboard and mouse). You can see the photos on your Phone on your PC screen. You can see the notifications on your Phone on the PC. If your PC / Desktop / Laptop is equipped with microphone and speakers, you can even make calls from you PC via the Phone. If you’re playing music on your phone, you can skip or pause using the PC and you can even see the amount of charge in your Phone. You can even view your contacts stored on you Phone. One of the features that still amazes me is when using “Edge” on the Phone, you can “Continue on PC”, this means you can view a webpage on your Phone and then use “Continue on PC”, the webpage just opens on your PC and that is awesome.
OK, back to the Phone, if you want all the geeky details have a look at gsmarena, this is a really good review site and helped me make my mind up about getting the Redmi 10. I’m Yorkshire born & bred and don’t like paying more than I have to, if you’re of a similar mind and you’re looking for new Phone with features that are not usually offered with “budget Phones”, the Redmi Note 10 (4G) is definitely worth a look.
I’m probably not a “typical” mobile phone user, I mainly use the phone for texting, messaging and using social media. I do take some photos and was pleasantly surprised to find that the “Location” is stored along with the GPS data. So if you open a photo on your phone using “Photos” or “Gallery”, and select “Details” this will either give a location (text based) or will show a small Google Maps screen. This is very useful if you need a reminder of where the photo was taken. This “Location” is carried through to photos stored on Google Drive, Google Photos and (MS)Onedrive so if you use “Irfanview” to view the photos on your Windows PC, just click on the info icon and select “EXIF Info” and this will give you all the details and let you open the location in Google Maps, Google Earth or Open Street maps.
It has to be said that storing the location info could be a potential security risk as it could be abused e.g. it could give your home address but the GPS data can be disabled so that it isn’t stored in the “EXIF” metadata. It’s probably best not to share photos if you don’t want the GPS data included.
Battery life is amazing! Again I’m not a typical phone user but I’m finding that the battery only needs charging every couple of days. I managed to let it get down to 24% and then stuck it on charge, it was fully charged in a little over 1 hour. In 2 days it was only down to 52% and for me that is awesome.
Double Tap the screen to wake it up, instead of fumbling for the power button is awesome. You can also “Double Tap” the screen to put it in “sleep mode” but then you have to use a PIN etc to wake the phone again. I just settle for pressing the power button to kill the screen.
Adaptive brightness (of the screen) is awesome and can help with the battery life. I usually set the brightness as low as possible but using the adaptive brightness gives amazing results. Switch it on and go outside in bright Sunshine, you will be able to read the screen. Go indoors and and the brightness adjusts to quite low so that you can still read the screen with a low brightness level. I’m impressed, maybe you will be too!
There is a lot to like about this phone and if you’re not too fussed about 5G, it is well worth considering. It even has a “high end” feature that allows “calls over WiFi”. I haven’t really tried this yet but this is a feature usually found on more costly phones. So far I haven’t found anything I don’t like.
In conclusion.
It is a phone aimed at the budget conscious (but maybe not for a penny pinching Yorkshire lad) and IMO offers more than you would expect for the price. As of July 2021, you should be able to get one for around £130 but maybe in a couple of months it will be a lower cost. It is responsive and has 4GB of RAM, it has an Octa core processor. It runs on Android 11. It has a Dual SIM capability and supports an SD card. The price is probably within most peoples budget and specs are probably greater than anticipated. The Battery life is awesome but this may change as the phone gets older. The camera stuff seems OK but I’m not a camera buff. With regards to sound, it has twin speakers and I don’t have any problems. There can be a bit of distortion at the higher volume level but I tend to listen at about 75% volume and don’t have any problems listening to Andrea Bocelli or Gigliola Cinquetti 🙂 If I want louder or better sound, I use my “Classic JAM” Bluetooth Speaker, the sound with that is awesome.
For the price, you get a lot of phone with features not expected with phones in this price range but note the 5G option has less features.
NOTE. If you use the default MiUI 12 launcher it might give different results but I don’t think you will be disappointed.