For the past couple of weeks, we have been using Redmi Note 10 Pro Max as the primary device. However, we have already reviewed the vanilla variant earlier, so we took a little bit more time to test this device and this is our honest review of the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max.
Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Design and Display
Starting with the design, as we said in our earlier review (of its younger sibling) the Redmi Note Series comes with a sleek good looking design. Being a very sleek smartphone the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max is not at all a very light phone because the company has used a more premium and heavier material than plastic (which is a good thing).
The device is wrapped in Corning Gorilla Glass 5 from the front to the back and packs a big 5,000mAh battery. However, the heft of the handset is acceptable and easy to hold in the hands. We like that Xiaomi is offering the phone in gorgeous colour options.
The unit we have is the Dark Night colour variant and it also comes in another Glacial Blue colour to choose from. All the colour options look refreshing. Being a darker colour, the phone does attract fingerprint smudges that is why we would prefer to go for the lighter variant. We loved the camera module design as it has a thick chrome or you can say silver frame around the 108-megapixel prime camera lens.
The frame given on the sides here is still plastic. On the right side of the frame, you will see a power button that doubles up as a fingerprint sensor. Our hands can easily reach them, which is again a very good thing. Just above it, there is a volume key button and on the other side, a MicroSD card/SIM tray is given. The 3.5mm audio jack and a secondary speaker grill can be found at the top of the frame. Whereas a USB Type-C port and the primary speaker is given at the bottom. Notably, the device comes with an IP53 rating, for safekeeping against water and dust.
Coming to the front, it has a Super AMOLED 6.67-inch full-HD+ display. This has support for HDR-10, up to 1,200 nits of peak brightness, full DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage and a 120Hz maximum refresh rate support. The screen comes with TUV Rheinland certification for low blue light emission and has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The screen is of top quality and everything on it looks crisp and bright. While watching movies and videos it delivers vivid colours and deep blacks, whereas the outside(directly under the sun) visibility is also not an issue. No doubt, Xiaomi offers the best in class display at this price point.
The audio department has also been improved as the smartphone now comes with two speakers (stereo output) that are loud and offer a decent amount of details, which is great for the multimedia buff.
Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Performance and Cameras
Done with the design and display, let’s talk about the performance next. With the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max, Xiaomi has gone with the 4G capable octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G SoC, which is a good performer in this price range, but the company could have gone for the 5G 750G chipset. We performed our tests on the 6GB RAM LPDDR4X with 128GB UFS2.2 storage variant and we found it to be a very good performer for its price.
In terms of gaming, if we compare Redmi Note 10 Pro Max with last year’s device the performance here is much better. In Call of Duty Mobile, it can go up to high settings. There are no heating issues when heavy-duty games such as COD or Asphalt 9 are played, but it does get warm (after prolonged gaming), which is not a major concern as it runs without any stutters.
We have experienced some minor issues and that is basically software related. Redmi Note 10 Pro Max ships with MIUI 12 on top of Android 11. The apps don’t take much time to load and the multitasking is swift. Other usages such as texting, browsing social media are also a breeze. We tested the phone on a high 120Hz refresh rate setting and the things here are pretty smooth. But we have to mention, the screen refresh rate goes back to the standard 60Hz refresh rate while watching movies or pictures.
The dark mode on the phone is not that optimised, some parts which are supposed to be dark are not. So we would recommend you to keep the system-wide dark mode off as you would experience a lot of dark and not-dark modes, which takes away from the experience. Also, when 4 to 5 apps are running in the background it takes a few seconds to reload a particular app or either kill one.
We have also seen some ads running on the lock screen which in this segment should not happen. The MIUI skin needs a lot of improvement in our opinion, as when we reopen an app it is very slow to reload. However, when it comes to multitasking we did not encounter any lag or jittery performance. So the MIUI left us with a mixed bag of feelings.
As Redmi Note 10 Pro Max comes with dual speakers, it delivers respectable quality. Mid and Highs are good and have a decent level of detail.
Finally, let’s talk about the cameras. Here it has a quad-camera set up on its back that includes a 108-megapixel primary sensor setting it apart from its other two siblings. There is a 5-megapixel super macro lens, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor onboard.
108-megapixel sensor(Right)
The normal daytime images are quite good having a good amount of details, dynamic range and colour reproduction is ok as well. But when we compared it to other phones the images lacked a little bit of sharpness and brightness and the device tended to oversaturate the photos a little. Though while shooting photos of flowers we loved the colour we got, more because of the colour contrast. Compared to the primary lens we noticed a magenta tint in the wide-angle shots, which made them look less vibrant. Additionally, the wide-angle shots also lacked a satisfactory amount of details too.
Wide(Right)
As far as the portraits are concerned the human elements looked a bit darker, but the results are not bad at all. The autofocus is also fast, especially when your subject is in the centre area. Under low light conditions, the device will not disappoint you at all; it delivers popping colours that look pleasing to the eyes. With night mode on, the images contained plenty of details with the right amount of exposure but that’s not in the case of dark conditions.
The macro images shot from this phone will give amazing results so this device can be a good option if you are considering buying one of the best macro cameras.
For selfies, there is a 16-megapixel front-facing camera. Here we noticed a greenish tint in the selfies, therefore, making the human element look less natural. The same goes with the portraits selfies but the edge detection is on point. There is a cinematic effects option that will enhance the portrait selfies if you wish to. The edge detection is good when there is a human element but when you are shooting flowers or there are other objects in the image, the blur effect is not that amazing. In some situations, you would notice boosted colours, which could be an issue of processing. We are sure in future updates this will be sorted by Xiaomi.
Getting to the videography there is no OIS, instead, the company has provided EIS, which is only applicable when shooting in [email protected] 30fps. The resolution can be increased to 1080P @ 60fps or 4K @ 30fps for better details but there will be no image stabilisation. You will see a noticeable shake while walking. The device also offers you video recording in wide-angle in 1080p @ 30fps. We did not notice any frame skipping when shooting in slow motion. The clone feature allows you to take multiple shots of a subject at the same place.
The video from the front camera is limited to 1080p @ 30fps only, which is not that good if you are into vlogging or similar stuff. There is an interesting feature if we open the more menu in the camera app which is the dual video.
Let’s now talk about its battery, Redmi Note 10 Pro Max boasts a 5020mAh battery. However, there is a 120Hz refresh rate display and with it, the battery will hardly last for a day. Thankfully, it supports a 33W fast charging, which takes about 30 minutes to get its charge to 50 percent and 100 percent in 1 hr 15 minutes.
Conclusion
Now here comes the last part of our Redmi Note 10 Pro Max review. Considering the camera performance there was a lot of temperature difference in standard and wide-angle shots. You will notice a magenta tone in wide-angle shots and there is more softness. The images taken from the 108-megapixel camera are also nice and images are printable too. But we would recommend you to use this option less often as it takes more space in your storage because of the heavy file size. Xiaomi has also brought a significant improvement to the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max compared to its predecessor. All in all, at the price point this is one of the best options right now. We loved the display and the sound. You can go for it, without a doubt.
Pros
- Eye Catching design
- Beautiful and vibrant 120Hz Super AMOLED Display
- Excellent Macro camera
- Comes with IP Rating
Cons
- No OIS
- Could have gone with a bitter chipset
- Software related Issues
- Dark Mode should be more optimised
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