[Summary]
Xiaomi has gotten used to tickle major manufacturers like Apple or Samsung by offering high-performance smartphones at a much lower price. With the launch of the Redmi Note 8 Pro, Xiaomi offers high-end smartphone features at a mid-range price. If this phone keeps its promises, it will wreak havoc

Manufacturer web site: Mi.com

[device_intro device="smartphone" lg="en"]

Price Redmi Note 8 Pro

The list below shows the prices for the Redmi Note 8 Pro from more than 50 sites around the world. If you are not satisfied with any price, you can subscribe to a price alert to be the first to be notified when the price drops. [pricelist keyword="139"]

Timeline

30/09/19 Purchase of the Redmi Note 8 Pro on Gearbest (pre-order)
07/10/19 Gearbest informs me that the item is no longer available and cancels my order
08/10/19 Order Redmi Note 8 Pro on Amazon
10/10/19 The Redmi has arrived, unpacking

Why this phone?

The Redmi have always been able to offer excellent value for money, but I had never bought a Pro version before because they were usually reserved for the Indian market and did not cover all European frequencies.

With the Redmi Note 8 Pro, Xiaomi has decided to change the rules by opening the Pro version to the rest of the world. The Pro version has a larger screen, a more powerful processor and GPU, a 64 million pixel camera, a 4500 mAh battery,... On paper, this new Redmi is a killer and could even shade other Xiaomi models.

Structure of my tests

I test the phones according to a pre-established structure (see below) to provide you with as much information as possible. Unfortunately, this takes a long time. Some tests like network performance tests take several days and for photo tests I sometimes have to wait until the weather is suitable to take pictures in good conditions. I am therefore obliged to publish the tests step by step, so I invite you to come back if the test is not complete at the time of your visit.

Unpacking

[specs product="xiaomi-redmi-note-8-pro" category="body"]

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione photo

Each Xiaomi/Redmi I have bought so far was packed in a different box. This time, the box is white and the device is visible on the box. It doesn't matter much, but it gives the impression of a brand that is still searching for a visual identity.

The box contains the usual accessories (charger, headphones, manuals,...), nothing extraordinary, that's what you can expect from a smartphone today.

First configuration

The configuration of the Redmi Note 8 pro is very similar to what is found on this type of smartphone. The transfer of applications is quite fast because where I had to wait hours with a Huawei Y6, everything was transferred in less than an hour with the Redmi (applications, messages, passwords,...). Xiaomi has added some screens to the initial configuration, it is now possible to configure other email accounts from the beginning, it is also possible to change the font size and choose a theme. Apart from these new screens, the configuration is strictly the same as on the brand's other phones.

I added a screenshot showing all the applications installed by Xiaomi. Some applications are useless like the browser but some are quite useful like the remote control, the screen recorder or the radio application.

Finish

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The Redmi Note 8 Pro is marketed in a price range where the finish is similar to what can be found on more expensive phones. This is a bit the case with this Redmi. The phone has a good overall finish despite the use of plastic materials. The material used is pleasant to the touch and the coating does not sink when pressed.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro is quite large and is therefore a little heavier than the average with 199 grams. If you have small hands, you will not be able to use it with one hand. The phone also has a coating that provides IP52 protection against moisture and dust. This does not allow you to dive into a pool, but it should protect the phone from splashes.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro does not offer any design revolution but it is the same with the other brands. The world of smartphones has reached a certain maturity and it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish them. The only new feature on this Redmi is the position of the photo sensors at the rear.

Top

At the top of the Redmi Note 8 Pro you will find an infrared port and a speaker between the front camera and the edge of the camera. This speaker is wide enough to allow sound to pass through correctly. This format is quite common on phones with notch today, Xiaomi/Redmi stands out with the presence of an infrared port that allows you to transform your device into a universal remote control. Xiaomi has installed its default Xiaomi Remote application on the device so that you can use the infrared port without going through a third-party application.

Bottom

Underneath the device you will find a Jack port to connect your headset, a USB-C port and a mono speaker. This configuration is also quite classic, sometimes you can find the Jack port at the top, sometimes at the bottom but all phones look the same.

Sides

On the left side you will find the SIM drawer which can accommodate 2 SIM cards or a SIM card and a memory card. On the other side you will find the usual buttons to turn the volume up/down or turn off the smartphone. As you can see on the pictures, the finishes give the impression that the phone is made of metal, this is not the case but it only shows that the finishes of the Redmi Note 8 pro are really good.

Back

The back of the phone reflects the light in an elegant way and as with the contours, it gives it a more metallic look. At the top of the back, there are 3 photo sensors in vertical position in the middle of the phone. This is the first time I have seen this configuration with a Xiaomi. I think this is a very good thing because the sensors placed on the side tend to suffer from a parallax problem and when I use the wide angle, I sometimes see my fingers appear in the picture. This is not the case for the Redmi Note 8 Pro, this positioning is for me is one of the best at the moment.

The fingerprint sensor has been placed under the photo sensors, it gives the impression of having a fourth sensor. The positioning is unusual but I prefer this positioning to smartphones with a fingerprint reader on the screen, I find it much more natural.

Screen

The screen is huge, 6.53 inches is one of the largest screens I have ever tested and it occupies 84% of the surface. At first sight, the colorimetry is good but I will test it later with a probe. The border around the screen is quite thin, it's just a little thicker at the bottom but this is the case on most phones too.

Network/Radio performance

[specs product="xiaomi-redmi-note-8-pro" category="radio"]

3G/4G support

Redmi Note 8 Pro covers the vast majority of frequencies used in Europe, it even covers the B28 (used by Free in France for example).

3G Frequencies:
B1, B2, B4, B5, B8

4G Frequencies:
B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B20, B28, B38, B40

Signal 4G
The ability to pick up the network correctly is an essential element for a phone but it is only very rarely measured. To measure a phone's ability to pick up the network, I perform a large number of measurements on the same cells to be able to compare phones under similar conditions. The signal is measured in dBm, a value of -90dBm indicates a worse signal than -70dBm. These measurements are therefore taken under real conditions and not in a laboratory, they are not scientific but give a good indication of performance.

[short_signals]

Comparison Redmi Note 8 Pro with another device

The graph below shows the comparison between the two devices. The best device should have the largest number of measurements close to the center. The comparison is made only on the cells common to both devices. The measurements were carried out under the same conditions.

Phone 1:
Redmi Note 7

Phone 2:
Redmi Note 8 Pro

Performance evaluation:

With each new phone I manage to collect a little more data, this time I made 1599 measurements, I don't know if I will be able to do better for the next phones. The Redmi Note 8 Pro gets an average signal of -95.92 dBm, it ranks a little above the average of the phones I have tested. It slightly exceeds the Redmi Note 7 which obtains an average signal of -96.02 dBm. It is still the good old Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 that gets the best score but the measurement was made before the correction on the emission level, it is likely that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 has returned to the average with the others.

Number of measurements:
1599

Average signal:
-95.922

Download max speed:
80 Mbps

Upload max speed:
50 Mbps

Performance evaluation: The Redmi Note 8 Pro is not the fastest phone but it still offers a very comfortable download speed that will allow you to stream or download without any problems.

Wifi signal
To test a phone's ability to receive the network properly, I take measurements near my router and then remotely (and always at the same place). This gives me an average in dBm where a value of -90 dBm indicates poorer performance than a value at -30 dBm.

Signal strength close to router:
-19 dBm

Signal strength away from router:
-72 dBm

Performance evaluation: With a signal of -19 dBm near the router, I simply get the best score ever obtained with a phone. The Redmi Note 8 Pro therefore picks up the wifi signal very well near the router. At a distance, however, it ranks in the average.

Download / Wifi
To test the speed in Wifi, I connect to my router in 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz (if available) and use the Ookla application to measure the speed.[specs product="xiaomi-redmi-note-8-pro" category="measures"]
Max upload speed:
21 Mbps

Max download speed:
319 Mbps

Performance evaluation: The signal test indicated that the phone was picking up the network well and this is confirmed with its download speed where I got almost 320 Mbps, it's simply one of the best scores I got, the Redmi Note 8 Pro offers a performance equivalent to the Samsung Galaxy s10+ that I tested at the same time under the same conditions.

GPS signal
To test the quality of the GPS signal I use the Offline Maps application and I make the same train trip in pedestrian mode. Why? In pedestrian mode, the GPS does not artificially correct the signal to stick to the road, it has no markings, so you can see the actual position.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro delivers good GPS performance. Positioning remains stable at about 2 meters (max) from the actual position with sometimes a larger deviation but no signal loss. Phones equipped with Mediatek chips often perform better than others and this seems to be the case with the Redmi Note 8 Pro.

I tested the speed of the GPS network (fix) and the level of accuracy, we can see on the following video that the fix happens very quickly and that the accuracy goes down quickly to 2 meters to stay at this level. I tested a Samsung at the same time and the accuracy level was still fluctuating between 4 and 8 meters.

Battery range

[specs product="xiaomi-redmi-note-8-pro" category="battery"] The Redmi Note 8 Pro is equipped with a 4500 mAh battery, this is the first time I have found a battery of this type at Xiaomi. Where the Redmi Note 7 allowed me to last between 2 and 3 days before having to recharge the battery, the Redmi Note 8 Pro allows me to exceed the 3-day mark.

CPU / GPU Performance

[specs product="xiaomi-redmi-note-8-pro" category="hardware"]
CPU/GPU type
The Redmi Note 8 pro is equipped with a Mediatek G90T processor, this is the first time I have tested a Mediatek in a Xiaomi, we find this type of CPU on other brands like Huawei or Umidigi. The Xiaomi G90T is the most powerful Mediatek I have ever tested. At the GPU level we find a Mali G76, it is also unusual for a Xiaomi/Redmi, this GPU is also used by the Huawei P30, so it is a GPU offering very good performance and it is quite surprising to find it in this price range.

Benchmark 3DMark
With 3Dmark, the good performance of the Redmi Note 8 Pro is confirmed, I get a score higher than 2000 and in this price range, I have not yet tested a better performing phone.

Benchmark Antutu[specs product="xiaomi-redmi-note-8-pro" category="benchmark"] I got a score of 223,000 points on Antutu, it's way above the Redmi Note 7 and it's also better than any mid-range phone I've tested so far. The Redmi Note 8 Pro is certainly the most powerful phone in the 200-250€ range. With such a score, Redmi Note 8 Pro will allow you to play the most demanding games without any problems. I didn't have a problem with overheating either.

Gaming
To test the performance in game, I download the mobile PUBG game and evaluate the in-game experience, graphics level and depth of vision. This game is quite demanding and should help you evaluating the performance of a phone. With more than 200,000 points on Antutu, the Redmi Note 8 Pro offers a very good performance in game. PUBG can be played with the maximum level of detail. The experience is perfectly fluid, distant objects such as buildings on the ground during the flight are perfectly visible.

Photo camera test

[specs product="xiaomi-redmi-note-8-pro" category="camera"]
Default app
The default photo application provided by Xiaomi is as usual quite well designed, this new version brings some new features compared to the Redmi Note 7. Instead of going into the details of each menu, I recorded the screen and went through the different possibilities. You will of course find the usual features of this kind of application but Xiaomi has added the possibility to take pictures in 9:16, 3:4 or 1:1. A macro mode has also been added in the main menu.

Overall the application behaves like the one in Redmi Note 7. You can switch from an ultra-wide angle at 1.66mm to a zoom at 5.43mm, the difference is significant and offers a certain versatility to the Redmi.

Hardware

The Redmi Note 8 Pro is the first phone to be released with Samsung's 64 million pixel sensor (Samsung Bright GW1). The pixel count argument is obviously a marketing argument but I would nevertheless bring a small nuance for this phone. 64 million pixels on a phone is obviously too much unless the phone is able to produce a sharp image so that it can be enlarged like an optical zoom. This is the promise of this sensor, you can take pictures in 64 million pixels and zoom in the image as if you were zooming in with a real zoom.

Photo quality

Photo test / studio

For this first time in the studio, I took pictures in the following modes:
- normal photo and default zoom
- normal and ultra wide angle photo
- normal photo with 2x zoom
- normal photo with HDR enabled
- normal photo with AI enabled
- macro mode (the image is darker)
- 64 million pixel mode
The following pictures are taken in normal mode with the different formats available (9:16, 3:4, 1:1,...)

As is often the case, I notice a lack of brightness, most of the phones I tested have the same problem in the studio. This deficit is generally not visible in outdoor photos. The diaphragm was open at f/1.89 for this photo session, so the depth of field is very limited but it is sufficient to ensure a beautiful sharpness area. The image is very accurate, the details of the police car are very well rendered. This sharpness should allow you to zoom inside the image without losing too much quality. The color rendering is also good because usually the blue of the car is too pale on most phones. This first visit to the studio is therefore quite encouraging for the future.

Photo test / sunny
When I test a phone in autumn, I sometimes have to wait several days before I can take pictures in good conditions. The following series of photos were taken in Berck-Sur-Mer in northern France. The light was not perfect but I took advantage of some sunrays to take some pictures.

First example - ƒ/2.2 1/3030 1.66 mm 110 ISO

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione day 1

The Redmi Note 8 Pro has an ultra wide angle of 1.66mm, which is even better than the Samsung Galaxy S10+ which offers 1.8mm. The arrangement of the sensor in the middle of the smartphone rather than on the sides is a good thing because with such an angle, you might see your fingers on the pictures. I took many pictures with the Samsung where I later noticed that one of my fingers was visible in the picture. With the Redmi Note 8 Pro, this happens much less often.

The picture taken with the ultra wide angle sensor is very well detailed, the sharpness is very good in the center and deteriorates a little on the sides. With such an angle, we inevitably find deformations, it is less visible on landscape photos like this one but if you take pictures of objects close to you, you will notice a deformation sometimes quite important. Avoid taking portraits at wide angles, as faces may be distorted (this is also the case on a normal camera).

The sky was processed by phone because in reality, the clouds were less clear than in the photo. With smartphones there is always a risk that the processing applied to a photo is not good but in this case, the result is ok.

The colours are good even if they are not quite accurate. The phone could have increased the exposure by a notch to obtain a lighter and bluer ocean, but overall the treatment applied to the photo is good.

Second example: ƒ/1.89 1/2198 5.43 mm 100 ISO

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione day 2

This time I used Samsung's main sensor in 64 million pixel mode. This sensor is the first to capture 64 million pixels. You will probably have read on other sites that 64 million pixels on a phone is useless. I agree with that, but I would like to make a small nuance. Xiaomi applies sharpness processing to photos taken in 64 million pixels, sharpness is sometimes even a little forced. Why? By increasing the sharpness, you can zoom into the photos without losing too much detail. This is where the 64 million pixels become interesting because you have the possibility to take a large picture and create the illusion of an optical zoom by isolating a part of the picture.

What is the result? Before I transferred my photos to a computer, I had already noticed that the sharpness was particularly high and this was also verified on a large screen.

This is a 100% enlargement:

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione day 2 100pc

This is a 300% magnification:

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione day 2 300pc

The 300% magnification loses quality and that's normal because I magnified the picture three times over its size. However, this enlargement makes it possible to see the sharpness proposed by Redmi Note 8 Pro. You can see very clearly the texture of the tractor's tires, you can see very clearly sand on the right wheel and you can also see that the man next to the tractor is wearing glasses. For a phone in this price range, the result is really good.

Beyond the sharpness, if you compare the entire picture with the one taken with the ultra wide angle sensor, you will also find that the colors are more correct. The picture taken with the ultra wide angle sensor is more yellow than with the main sensor.

Third example: ƒ/1.89 1/2198 5.43 mm 100 ISO

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione day 3

The EXIF in the photo shows that the sensor is the same as the main sensor, so there is no optical zoom. The Redmi Note 8 Pro takes a 64 million pixel picture and isolates part of it to give the impression of zooming in. In theory, this type of technique leads to a deterioration in quality, but this cannot be seen when the light is good. What I explained above with the 64 million pixels also applies here. The phone takes a picture in full resolution by sharpening it and then isolates part of the picture in 16 or 12 million pixels to give the illusion of an optical zoom.

Fourth example: ƒ/1.79 1/2395 64.74 mm 125 ISO (night mode)

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione day 4

The night mode works like HDR but with a more aggressive treatment. In broad daylight when conditions are not ideal, the night mode can sometimes give good results but sometimes it is the opposite. In this picture the night mode reveals details that a normal picture cannot detail, but the picture is darker overall and digital noise appears while the EXIF indicates 125 ISO.

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Photo test / cloudy

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione nuit cloud 1

The photos under cloudy skies were taken in poor conditions, the weather was capricious, sometimes it was raining, sometimes a ray of sunlight was piercing the clouds and the photos were taken in the late afternoon. I'm not looking for an excuse to explain bad pictures but on the contrary, it makes the test more interesting.

On this first photo, the difference in exposure between the sky and the building is very important, I did not use any improvement provided by the camera. The photo is globally too dark but it is probably a processing choice because it allows you to capture as many details. If you look closely at the picture more specifically around the tiles for example, you will notice that the roof is full of details and despite the impression of overexposure of the sky, many details are present too. Let's see what it looks like if I improve the picture directly from the camera:

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione nuit cloud 2

I increased the exposure and the saturation. This kind of manipulation can have a destructive effect on the photo but here we see that it is the opposite, the treatment reveals details that were not visible in the original photo. The sensor records a lot of details, which is probably one of the first benefits of a 64 million pixel sensor. You may find it a shame not to see a good picture from the beginning, but when the difference in brightness is large, no device is able to reproduce what the eye sees without any form of manipulation. This type of problem is solved either by combining several exposures (HDR, available in the application) or by taking a neutral picture (as in this example) and then making changes.

In the next series, I took a picture in the same place with different settings in the application, I didn't change anything to the pictures.

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The photo with the blue sky is an HDR photo, we see here all the usefulness of combining several photos to obtain a satisfactory result. HDR is not too aggressive and you could very well let it do its job as soon as the light drops. The night mode allows to obtain a similar result but there on the other hand the treatment is much more aggressive and the photo becomes unrealistic. To make your photos successful in these conditions, I advise you to use HDR.

Test photo / night

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione nuit night 1

Redmi Note 8 Pro features a night mode in the default application. This night mode was already present on the Redmi Note 7 and it delivered excellent photos. The night mode takes several pictures and combines them to create a more beautiful picture. The picture above this paragraph was taken in night mode, I took other pictures in normal mode indicating each time on the picture which mode was used. All night shots were taken by freehand.

This is a picture taken with the normal photo mode:

xiaomi redmi note 8 pro test review avis revision recensione nuit night 2

EXIF: f/1.89 1/20 5.43 mm 1634 ISO

What are the differences?
In normal mode the picture is darker, you can see the digital noise quite clearly and the halos around the spotlights are completely burned. Despite these few defects, the picture is quite correct, the main sensor does very well at night. If you look at the photo in night mode, you will probably notice that the photo is generally better lit, there is still some noise but the software's processing has applied a smoothing (quite visible on the sky), the halos around the lights are much clearer. So the picture is generally better, I just find it a little too bad that the coloring is a little too hot.

And with the ultra wide angle sensor?

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EXIF: ƒ/2.2 1/20 1.66 mm 1658 ISO
The result is clearly worse here than with the 5.43mm sensor, the picture is darker overall, it is loudly noisy and there is a real loss of color information.

I will probably add pictures to this series later on but what I can say at this point is that the Redmi Note 8 Pro delivers a good night shot performance for static scenes. With a 1/20 shutter in automatic mode, you can't expect to capture motion without getting a blurred area, but that's perfectly normal for this type of camera. It should not be forgotten that the Redmi Note 8 Pro was marketed between 200 and 250€, it looks inferior to a Samsung Galaxy S10+ which costs three times this price but it is not three times less good.

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Video quality

Stabilisation
As for each of my tests, I start with a video made under the same conditions to be able to compare the quality and stabilization with the other devices.
In the price range of the Redmi Note 8 pro, video stabilization is generally not very good but I was positively surprised by this smartphone. Where the Redmi Note 7 offered a slight stabilization, the Redmi Note 8 Pro offers a much more assumed stabilization. We no longer even feel the vibrations of walking even if I have a heavy step and the ground was not always flat.

Video normale conditions
The Redmi Note 8 Pro allows you to produce videos in 4k but for these videos to be fluid, the phone must be powerful enough. I made the following video on a cloudy day where there are big differences in brightness, this allows to see if the phone adapts quickly.

The sharpness of the 4k video is really good despite the poor light conditions, there is no digital noise and the sensor adapts fairly quickly to changes in brightness. It is very clear that the phone constantly calculates the distribution between light and dark areas, the changes in the aperture are visible. Overall, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is doing very well.

Slow motion 960fps
The Redmi Note 8 Pro has a 960 fps slow motion video mode, which means that every second it captures 960 frames where a normal video captures 25 fps. What's the point? By capturing so many frames in one second, you can capture even the slightest movement such as the flapping of an insect's wing. This slow-motion video mode should therefore in theory open the door to many possibilities. As suggested by one of my visitors, I filmed a stopwatch in slow motion mode to see if the phone was really capable of recording 960 frames per second. Unfortunately this is not the case because if the phone was able to capture that many images, you could see every hundredth of a second on the stopwatch.
In addition to not capturing all 960 images per second, it is not possible to film more than a few seconds in total, so you have very little time to film what you want to film. It's a shame because having a real 960 fps mode would have been very interesting.

Video low light

After the stabilization test and the daylight video test, I was curious to see what the Redmi Note 8 Pro could offer in terms of night video. I didn't choose the easiness for this test because I filmed a car ride at night where there is a huge difference in light between the darkness of the night and the car headlights. Since the video was taken inside, I also add the difficulty of focusing in relation to the windshield.

I think the result is really good because even if the digital noise is visible, the phone adapts perfectly to the differences in light and it does so quickly. The sharpness of the video is perfectly acceptable for this kind of condition.

Screen quality

To test the screen, I use a colorimetric probe that measures the color accuracy of a screen, as well as other parameters to see if a screen is able to correctly reproduce an image. I also test the brightness level to determine if the screen will be able to display an image in full sunlight.
[specs product="xiaomi-redmi-note-8-pro" category="screen"]
Colorimetry

The screen of the Redmi Note 8 Pro made a good impression at the first start and this good impression is confirmed with the probe. I get a dE of 3.7, it's a little less good than the Redmi Note 7 with which I got a 3.1 but the eye doesn't perceive small differences like this. The Redmi Note 8 Pro gets a better score for white and that's probably why it gives the impression of being better than the Redmi Note 7. It is on the green that the screen deviates the most from its trajectory but in use you will not perceive anything without passing through a probe.

Brightness
I measured a brightness of 570 cd/m² while the phone was announced with 500 cd/m², so it's a nice surprise. With such brightness, you can use the phone in the sun.

Contrast
The Redmi Note 8 Pro offers a contrast of 1500:1, which is a normal value for this type of display. Black is not absolutely black, only Amoled displays are able to offer a much higher contrast.

Audio quality

To test the quality of the phone's audio output, I connect the device's audio output to a measuring tool, then play sounds on all frequencies and measure the differences between the original sound and the sound produced by the phone. In this way I measure the phone's ability to correctly reproduce all sounds.
[specs product="%product_life%" category="sound"]
When I first tested the sound of the Redmi Note 8 pro for the first time, it made a very good impression on me. However, when I turned up the volume to push it all the way, I clearly heard the sound degrade. This observation was confirmed with the technical test below because when the volume is pushed to the maximum, the sound presents a significant distortion. To enjoy better sound quality, it will therefore be necessary to reduce the volume by 2 or 3 notches below the maximum. Under these conditions the Redmi Note 8 pro offers a good performance, it offers a better sound than its predecessor the Redmi Note 7.

Frequency Response
This test is intended to test the device's ability to correctly reproduce all frequencies. The white line in the middle of the graph is the ideal situation and the other colors come from tests on different phones. A deviation from the reference line indicates a deviation from the ideal situation. To see good sound at all frequencies, it is therefore necessary to get as close as possible to the reference line

The Redmi Note 8 Pro seems a little more unstable in the reproduction of all frequencies, its curve is much less smoothed than that of the Redmi Note 7. I didn't find any problems when listening, but the technical test shows that the phone deviates from the reference in high frequencies.

Dynamic Range
This test is designed to test a phone's ability to play sounds at different volume levels. Here too, the phones must be as close as possible to the reference

This test shows that the Redmi Note 8 Pro offers a much better performance than the Redmi Note 7, once the volume is adjusted correctly, the sound is better than on the previous model.

Noise Level
This test aims to identify if the device under test is able to reproduce sounds without too much noise. A high score indicates a low parasite rate, a lower score indicates a higher presence of parasites.

The Redmi Note 8 manages to produce a sound of a higher quality than the Redmi Note 7, it even comes very close to the reference over a whole frequency range

Biometry

The Redmi Note 8 Pro can be unlocked by a fingerprint sensor located on the back of the phone or facial detection. The fingerprint sensor is smaller than usual and its position below the photo sensors gives the impression that the phone has an additional photo sensor.

Overall, both unlocking methods work correctly. However, I had a problem with the fingerprint sensor that was triggered when the phone was in my pocket. The phone then starts to vibrate slightly to signal a failed identification and then after several attempts the phone has to be unlocked with the code.

Operating system

Home screen

On the home screen you will find the same as on most phones running Android 9, MIUI 10 does not make any changes here. The gesture-based navigation allows easy access to the various screens. It is in the "parameters" menu that I found the most changes compared to the previous model. In particular, there is the "night" mode which makes it possible to switch screens from a white background to a black background, I find it much more pleasant to use. Some options have also been added in the settings such as the use of an equilizer for sound. MIUI offer many possibilities in terms of parameters but it is not easy to find your way around, fortunately there is a search engine to help you.

Up
On the top screen, you can find notifications and shortcuts to the most frequently used applications.

Down
There is no screen down under MIUI 10 if you enable navigation by gesture, by dragging the screen upwards you get the list of open applications.

Right
On the right you will find all your applications and those installed by default by Xiaomi. You can see them on the video.

On the left you have a customization screen that allows you to access certain features and applications more quickly.

Encoutered bugs

As with the other Xiaomis under MIUI I didn't encounter any bugs, I just encountered a small annoying problem with the Xiaomi browser. When I start a session with Chrome, some links call the Xiaomi browser, I had the problem to access my Amazon account. I haven't found a way to get around the problem.

Accessories Redmi Note 8 Pro

[accessoires type="smartphone" product="xiaomi-redmi-note-8-pro" lg="en"]

Compare Redmi Note 8 Pro with the others

[ranks type="smartphone" device="Redmi Note 8 Pro"]

Test / Review conclusion

The Redmi Note 8 Pro is a phone that takes a different technical direction. It is equipped with a CPU/GPU combination unique in the Redmi range and comes on the market with another type of sensor. One could almost wonder if it is a Redmi because it is so different from the Redmi Note 8. This difference has a price, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is sold almost 100€ more than the normal version. Is the price difference justified? It depends on your expectations. The difference between a Redmi Note 7 and a Redmi Note 8 is not very significant, the difference between a Redmi Note 8 and a Redmi Note 8 Pro is more important.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro is more powerful and you can feel it when you use it. The screens scroll faster, the phone reacts faster overall. It is capable of taking 64 million pixel photos and applying sharp processing without slowing down. The screen is larger, the battery life is better. Redmi Note 8 Pro therefore outperforms Redmi Note 8 in several areas but this does not mean that Redmi Note 8 is not good, on the contrary but if you are more demanding, the Pro version is for you.

The Redmi range had not yet attacked this price range but the bet is quite successful. Yes, the phone is the most expensive Redmi but it is also the best.

Strengths
[+] Overall performance
[+] Performance download wifi
[+] Battery life
[+] Sharpness of photos in good light

Weaknesses
[-] MIUI parameters become too complicated
[-] Need to increase exposure to get all the details of a photo when the light is not good
[-] Forced use of Xiaomi's browser in some cases