Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 is the latest addition to Xiaomi’s Redmi series of smartphones. It was launched along with Redmi Note 7 Pro. Redmi Note 7 is exciting because of its beautiful design and powerful specs at a very aggressive price. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 starts at Rs. 9999 and is now available in the country. I tested the phone to see if it is worth. Based on my experience, here is the review of Redmi Note 7.
Design
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 is beautiful that uses Xiaomi’s new Aura Design. The phone has Double-sided 2.5D glass body that feels really premium. Both front and back panels have Gorilla Glass 5 to ensure durability. It has dot notch above the display but with significant top bezel.
The right edge has volume rocker along with power button. That’s the most common placement and buttons are easy to reach. It has a Hybrid slot at the left side. The top side has IR blaster and headphone jack. The base side has speaker grille and USB Type-C. There is also a tiny notification LED at the bottom side.
At the back, it has a vertical dual camera setup located on the top left corner. The LED flash is just below the camera setup. It has a fingerprint sensor at the center side of the top portion. I personally prefer this location for the fingerprint sensor.
The phone also features a P2i coating that makes the phone splash-proof.
The build quality of the phone looks good. I accidentally dropped the phone from a height of around 3.5 feet and phone survived. It also looks really good doesn’t feel like a sub Rs. 10000 device. The glass body makes the phone slippery, so, you should use a good case for protecting the phone. Even if Xiaomi offers one case within the box, I recommend getting a better one. The one drawback of glass back is that it attracts fingerprints and mud, So you will have to clean it again and again if using it without a case.
Also see: Best Redmi note 7 cases and tempered glasses
Display
Redmi Note 7 comes with 6.3-inch IPS panel offering Full HD+ resolution. The display is bright and offers nice colors. The phone is easily readable under the sunlight if you put the display on max brightness. The display looks pleasing and comfortable but you also have the option to make it warmer or cooler if you wish.
There is also a reading mode that reduces Blue light emission. You can enable it manually or set it to automatically enable in the night and disable in the morning. The phone also supports for Widevine L1 DRM, so it should play HD content on Netflix.
Software
The phone runs on MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie. MIUI comes with several utility apps and features to give you a better experience. If you swipe up on the home screen, it opens the content feed of the Mi Browser. Swiping to the right opes the shortcuts page having quick access tools, recommendations, calendar events, and widgets. You can customize this page.
MIUI also comes with a theme store where you have thousands of themes for your phone. You can also tweak screen layout and transition effects. By default, it boots with on-screen navigation, but you can always switch to gesture navigation. I personally prefer on-screen navigation over gesture navigation.
MIUI also comes with so many bloatware including both Xiaomi’s apps and third-party apps. The good thing is that you can uninstall those third-party apps. Ads on MIUI is another irritating thing.
MIUI also has some good features like Dual Apps, App lock, and Second Space. TO sum it all, MIUI offers useful features, lets you customize the look the way you want but comes with bloatware and ads.
Performance
Redmi Note 7 packs 2.2GHz Octa-core Snapdragon 660 AIE Processor. Snapdragon 660 is a really good chipset for mid-range phones and it offers excellent performance and smooth gaming experience. I didn’t find any lag at any point in time during my usage. The phone comes in 3GB or 4GB RAM options. The phone has an Adreno 512 GPU that performs well. You will see good graphics while gaming. I played several games on the game to test it. PUBG ran on medium settings and experience was good. Other games like Asphalt 8 and NFS No Limit were fine on the device. The phone also doesn’t heat while gaming. So, Redmi Note 7 is also good for gaming.
On Geekbench, the phone got 1620+ score on a single core and 4280+ score on multi-core. It scores 142600+ on Antutu. If you compare it other ones with Snapdragon 660 we used in the past, this phone scores better. The reason is the use of underclocked 1.9GHz Snapdragon 660 processor on previous phones.
The phone comes with 32GB or 64GB of storage depending on the variant you buy. You can expand the storage up to 256 GB, but only if you are ready to use just one SIM in the phone.
The phone has a fingerprint sensor on the rear panel. It is really fast and accurate. The Face Unlock also feels faster than previous Xiaomi phones and it is also accurate. It also has IR blaster that lets you use the phone as a universal remote control for several home appliances.
Camera
The phone has a dual camera that includes 12 megapixels primary camera with f/2.2 aperture lens and 2 megapixels secondary depth camera.
Rear camera performance is impressive. It captures good shots in daylight with good colors and a nice level of details. Low-light photos are good and it also captures good photos in the night. Here are a few camera samples to give you an idea of camera performance.
Portrait shots are also good but edge detection needs work. Here are some portrait photo samples.
It has 13 megapixels front camera with an f/2.0 aperture lens. It also uses screen flash in low light. Photos captured using the front camera of the phone are good with nice sharpness and good color. The beautification filter is also there if you want that. Selfies captured in low-light are average due to the low level of details and washed colors. You can also capture portrait shots using the front camera.
The phone can record up to 1080p videos at 60 fps. The good thing is that it has EIS for relatively stabilized videos. Both rear and front camera record good videos and EIS does a good job.
Multimedia and connectivity
The phone has a bottom firing speaker that is satisfactory. Sound doesn’t distort at high volumes and it remains clear. Sound output over headphone jack is also fine. The phone also has Widevine L1 DRM support, so you can enjoy HD content on video streaming services.
It is a dual SIM phone and both SIM slots support 4G VoLTE. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, Bluetooth v5.00, and USB Type-C. I didn’t face any issue in any of these connectivity options.
Battery
The phone has a 4000 mAh battery that is backed by Snapdragon 660 and MIUI’s battery optimizations. It easily lasts for more than a day, but it purely depends on usage. The phone also doesn’t drain much power while gaming. It is really easy to get more than 6 hours of screen on time.
The phone supports Quick Charge 4.0 but you will have to buy a compatible charger separately. If you use the standard charger, the phone takes two hours and fifteen minutes in full charging from 0 – 100%.
Verdict
Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 7 has everything that you expect from a phone of this price segment. It doesn’t even miss the USB Type-C or fast charging. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 is an excellent phone. It has the best possible specs at this price and comes with an attractive design. The camera is also one of the best in this segment. The only issue I see is the ads on MIUI. Overall, Redmi Note 7 is an excellent phone and my recommendation if you have a budget of around Rs. 10000.
When Samsung came with its M series for budget phones, people saw it a threat to Xiaomi. But Xiaomi has again proved that it is the boss of this segment.
If you still have any specific thing to ask, you can leave it in the comment and I will reply it as soon as possible.
