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Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 review: one of the best budget phones money can buy

The design of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 is fine, as designs go. It feels a little bit chunky and heavy in the hand, and the bottom bezel is slightly thicker than you might prefer, but it's by no means an ugly phone – there are display curves in all the right places and the teardrop notch isn't too intrusive.

Remember this is a phone you can pick up from as little as £179 – the starting price of the iPhone XS Max is more than six times higher. Does the iPhone offer a more premium finish and feel? Yes. Is it six times as better-looking as the Redmi Note 7? Absolutely not.

The 6.3-inch screen gives you plenty of room to work with and is bright and sharp enough to a more than satisfactory degree. Like a lot of budget phones, the resolution is pegged at 1080 pixels across, but we found the screen fine in day-to-day use – you're not really going to notice this too much.

From pretty much every angle, the Redmi Note 7 looks stylish. Black and blue are your colour options (at least in the UK they are), but the blue actually offers a subtle blue-purple gradient that looks really nice – if you want to turn a few heads when you're pulling the phone out of your pocket, that's the shade to go for.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 review

The dual-lens rear camera bulges out a little bit, but not so much that it's annoying, and the back of the phone features a classy and minimal design broken up only by a fingerprint sensor and a small Redmi logo besides the camera.

A 3.5mm headphone jack is included up at the top, so you can carry on using your existing wired headphones, and down at the bottom of the phone you've got the USB-C port and two speaker grilles (but actually just one speaker). Volume and power buttons are at the side – they feel a little budget and basic, but still fine.

We do like the tiny LED notification light on the chin at the bottom of the phone, though it seems a bit odd to have it off to the side like it is – it helps you see at a glance whether you've got any notifications to check up on, and it's something we wish that more phones would offer.

Overall, while the Redmi Note 7 isn't going to win any design awards anytime soon, it's still a fine-looking handset, especially for the price. As with many budget and mid-range phones nowadays, it looks more expensive than it actually is, so it has to be a thumbs up for the look and feel of the Redmi Note 7.

These are our favourite small phones on the market XIAOMI REDMI NOTE 7: SPECS AND POWER Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 review

Under the hood the Snapdragon 660 processor is a perfectly respectable choice at this price point – in fact, it's more than respectable, and should give you more than enough power for all but the most demanding tasks on mobile. We certainly didn't notice any lag or slowdown in our time with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7.

Our review unit came with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and this is the sweet spot as far as configuration goes – 3GB / 32GB is cutting it a bit fine in terms of system resources, and while 128GB of storage is great, it costs quite a lot more too. Considering the phone has a memory card slot, 4GB and 64GB should be fine.

Plenty of Chinese brands are using the Snapdragon 660 in their budget and mid-range phones at the moment, but outside of China the 660-toting handset you're probably most familiar with is the Nokia 7 Plus. That's where we're talking in terms of power.

It's at least on a par with other phones at this very low price range, and may well outperform a lot of them. In terms of Geekbench 4 scores at least (see the separate box out), the Redmi 7 Note does better than a phone like the Moto G7 Plus.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 review

We tried to put the phone through its paces as extensively as possible, but whether it was scrolling around in Google Maps or racing around a beautifully rendered track in the latest Asphalt game, the Redmi Note 7 was up to the task.

Occasionally there's a millisecond or two of a pause where you might expect a smoother experience if you've downgraded from a flagship phone, but it really isn't anything to panic about. As with every other aspect of the Redmi Note 7, you have to balance performance with price – and considering how much (or how little) you're paying, the Snapdragon 660, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage combination is very decent indeed. It's only slightly below the Pixel 3a, which costs twice as much.

Of course we can only talk about the first few weeks of using the phone: buying a more expensive handset usually means it's going to stay faster for longer, though phone makers and software developers seem to be getting better at stopping this from happening.

Based on our time with the Redmi Note 7 and the benchmarking scores it was able to hit, you should have no problems at all with it in the performance department. You won't hit the frame rates or the loading times of something like the Samsung Galaxy S10, but you will find it perfectly responsive and up to all the tasks you give it.

GEEKBENCH 4 BENCHMARKS – XIAOMI REDMI NOTE 7

[CPU test]

Single-core: 1,635

Multi-core: 5,918

[Compute test]

RenderSript Score: 5,681

[Battery test]

Battery Score Estimate: 5,517

The very best phones that Samsung sells right now XIAOMI REDMI NOTE 7: CAMERA Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 review

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 comes packing a dual-lens rear camera, and one of those camera lenses offers up a whopping 48MP of resolution – a very high watermark for a phone at this price. It's accompanied by a 5MP snapper, so on paper the phone should be capable of getting some very decent shots.

We're happy to report that's the case – most of the time at least. On the whole, pictures came out sharp and vibrant, though in one or two shots we did find there was a lack of clarity and sharpness in the details. That was only really visible when zooming in though, so something you'd never notice on a social media feed.

Unless you override it in the settings, the Redmi Note 7 actually takes photos at a 12MP resolution, using the extra pixels from the 48MP sensor to do some clever image processing. Considering 12MP photos are as big as you're every likely to need, we're happy with that.

We did find there was a slight, almost imperceptible lag in the shutter speed on the Redmi Note 7. It's not going to get in the way of you taking the snaps you need, but it's something we noticed compared to the very top flagships on the market (which, sorry to labour the point, cost a whole lot more money).

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera impresses, on the whole.

In good light most pictures are sharp and feature a nice balance of colour.

It's not the most advanced camera in the world, but it won't disappoint.

Close ups usually include lots of detail and sharp focus.

For the majority of the time, you can just point and shoot to get great results.

The portrait mode on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 seems responsive and effective.

With a bit of light, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera can get decent results at night.

As with most phone cameras, as the light goes down, the noise goes up. Next At night the Redmi Note 7 coped pretty well with the shooting tasks we gave it, as long as there was some form of illumination coming from somewhere. It's in the darkest scenes where noise starts to creep in and the phone's rear camera doesn't hold up to the Pixels of this world. The dedicated night mode does help a little, but we found it a bit hit and miss in terms of balancing noise and illumination.

As in most other areas though, the Redmi Note 7 camera goes above and beyond what you would expect from a budget phone down at the bottom end of the market. There's no optical image stabilisation (so keep your hands as still as you can) and no laser autofocus, so it might take a little longer to lock onto subjects.

You won't find much in the way of shooting modes or enhancements here – bar a rather gimmicky "beautify" mode – but there is a portrait function for blurring the backgrounds behind subjects. It's basic in its implementation, especially compared with the flagship phones of the moment, but in our tests it does a very respectable job.

On the front there's a 13MP single-lens camera which we found to be very much up to the job of taking decent-quality selfies when needed. A second lens for a wider angle would be welcome, but we wouldn't expect one at this price point.

Get yourself a phone for less: the best cheap phones XIAOMI REDMI NOTE 7: SOFTWARE AND FEATURES Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 review

If there is an area where Xiaomi phones fall down, it's in the software it slaps on top of Android, and the Redmi Note 7 is no different in this respect. Xiaomi's MIUI isn't hideous, it's just a bit more bloated and a bit more busy than we would really like.

You get a ton of Xiaomi Mi apps that you can't uninstall, plenty of prompts to set up a Mi account that you don't really need, and no app drawer (something we like to have on Android, but your mileage may vary).

Every app Xiaomi adds on is like a cheap imitation of what Google does – like the "App Vault" that appears when you swipe right from the home screen. Of course you can use the Google apps instead and ignore the Xiaomi ones, and even revamp the entire interface with a third-party launcher, but in our eyes MIUI is still the weakest part of the overall Redmi Note 7 package.

You do at least get the latest Android 9 Pie running under MIUI, but whether you'll get Android Q anytime soon remains to be seen. Like most phone makers, Xiaomi tends to take months to get all its handsets updated, whether you're running one of its budget models or something at the high-end.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 review

Aside from the software, the phone doesn't offer any sort of waterproofing, which is pretty much par for the course at this price level. Ditto wireless charging, which isn't available, though 18W fast charging is. You do also get dual-SIM capabilities, if you need to juggle work and personal numbers.

One of the advantages of lower-powered components and a lower-resolution screen is better battery life, and the Redmi Note 7 scores well in this department too. We often found ourselves with a third of the battery still left at the end of the day, and sometimes more, with light-to-medium usage.

If you really push the battery hard with games, GPS and video you're going to need a recharge by the end of the day, but on most days you're not going to have to worry about making it to bedtime. At the same time the phone isn't going to revolutionise your life with two days between charges either.

In the regular battery test we run, the Redmi Note 7 went down from 100 percent to 87 percent after an hour of Netflix at maximum brightness and medium volume, a fairly average result That works out at 7-8 or so hours of video watching between charges – a result that's about average for a phone in 2019.

The top phones out of the MWC 2019 event this year XIAOMI REDMI NOTE 7: VERDICT Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 review

We're sure you're bored of us saying it now, but: the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 can be yours for as little as £179 (or £199, for the version we tested). Everything else about the phone has to be viewed in that light, and from the camera to the design to the performance, the Redmi Note 7 manages to exceed expectations by some distance.

The few reservations we had about the phone, including a lack of waterproofing and the rather overbearing MIUI software, aren't enough to dissuade us from what is a very good deal right now. The quality, finish and power of Xiaomi phones have been steadily improving over the years, and it's trickled down to the budget Redmi line too.

The Redmi Note 7 isn't going to take photos as well as a Google Pixel can, or look as stylish as an iPhone, or race through tasks as quickly as a Samsung Galaxy – but in terms of the bang you get for your buck, we'd say it beats pretty much everything out there at the moment.

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Redmi Note 7 Review

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 full review Following a Chinese launch in January the Redmi Note 7 officially went on sale in the UK on 7 May, charging straight into the top spot in both our UK and Chinese budget phone charts, knocking the Mi A2 Lite off its perch. It's the first phone from newly spun-off Xiaomi sub-brand Redmi, and as such it marks a huge departure from Redmi as you know it.

Headlining is a 48Mp dual-lens camera, and Redmi Note 7 was actually the first Xiaomi phone to pack such a high megapixel count - though Mi 9 then came along and did it better. There are some similarities between this budget phone and Xiaomi's flagship, but Redmi Note 7 is much more closely aligned in specs and performance with the Oppo F11 Pro, another Chinese phone that has not yet gone on sale in the UK (and may not ever do so).

It's also got a large 6.3in Full-HD+ screen and promises all day runtime from a 4000mAh battery with Quick Charge 4 support. Plus some users will be very happy to see the inclusion of a traditional 3.5mm headphone jack.

Xiaomi has kept down costs by specifying a mid-range Snapdragon 660 chip and 3- or 4GB of RAM, allowing this budget Android to be available from as little as £179. That's for the 3GB RAM, 32GB storage model, while the 6GB RAM, 64GB storage model we review here costs £199. There's also a 128GB storage version at £249. You can choose from Space Black or Neptune Blue colour options.

Right now GearBest is offering an incredible deal on the entry-level 3GB/32GB option, where it costs just £113.54.

You can also buy Redmi Note 7 direct from Xiaomi, or from retailers such as Amazon. It will also be available on a contract basis from Vodafone.

The Redmi Note 7 is available in Europe from 179€, but if you're looking to buy in the US you'll need to import it from a site such as GearBest or Geekbuying. The latter is currently stocking the global version of the top-end Redmi Note 7 at the discounted price of £170.01/$209.99/185.57€. Do remember to take into account potential import duty fees, which is calculated at 20 percent of the value on the shipping paperwork.

Redmi Note 7 review (Also see: Best Xiaomi Deals)

Redmi Note 7 Design & Build Redmi Note 7 is not all that dissimilar in design to the flagship Mi 9, which packs a fractionally larger (6.39in) screen into an ever so slightly smaller chassis. Both have tall 19.5:9 panels and slim bezels - naturally slimmer on the Mi 9, but the only place this is really obvious to the untrained eye is on its smaller chin.

Each also feature a Dot Drop (waterdrop-style) notch to maximise the available screen space and house the selfie camera, which is more obvious on Mi 9 with its larger 20Mp sensor (Redmi Note 7 has a 13Mp front camera). There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it slit at the extreme edge between the screen and frame for the earpiece.

Around the back you'll find some more obvious differences, however, with a dual- rather than triple lens camera on the Redmi Note 7, the Redmi rather than Mi logo, and a physical fingerprint sensor. All members of the flagship Mi 9 family now use an in-display fingerprint sensor.

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Arguably physical fingerprint sensors typically work better than these early in-display versions, and though it might be a fancy new feature to have the omission is not a game-changer.

Redmi Note 7 review

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Redmi Note 7 review

Redmi Note 7 Cameras & Photography For a budget phone the Redmi Note 7's cameras are pretty good, though not quite as good as the marketing might have you believe.

There's also an option to shoot in 48Mp, though all this is going to really do for you is gobble through your storage, since the results are not any better for the extra pixels.

The Redmi Note 7 supports 1080p video capture at 30- or 60fps with image stabilisation, but 4K and slow-mo video is off limits.

Around the front is a 13Mp AI camera for selfies, and in this mode the app offers quick access to various beauty settings.

Redmi Note 7 Auto

Redmi Note 7 HDR

Redmi Note 7 Low-Light

Redmi Note 7 Night

Redmi Note 7 review

On paper the capacious 4,000mAh battery looks amazing; in reality you should get a full day's use from it.

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Redmi Note 7 review: Price win means software sin

Redmi is the more affordable arm of Xiaomi. Yes, we know that Xiaomi is pretty cheap compared to the likes of Samsung and Google, but Redmi is even cheaper.

With Xiaomi being fairly new to the UK, Redmi devices slot in beneath in terms of specs, which explains the more affordable pricing. Having split itself off into a separate brand, you can expect to hear more from the company as it fights for mid-range market space.

Somewhat confusingly, the Redmi Note 7 that we have in the UK is the same spec as the Redmi Note 7S in India - so there's some variance in naming on these devices.

A quality design and finish Gorilla Glass 5 Rear fingerprint scanner 159.2 x 75.2 x 8.1mm; 186g The Redmi Note 7 looks like a lot of recent Xiaomi designs. Edge-to-edge glass on the front and back sits in a central waistband, using Gorilla Glass 5 to try and keep scratches to a minimum. In the weeks we've been using the phone, it's escaped any damage.

At 8.1mm it's slim, too, and the size is pretty well proportioned, squeezing in a display without excessive bezel and using a dewdrop notch for the front camera. The bezel is a little thicker at the bottom of the display, so it's not quite symmetrical, but there's little to complain about.

redmi note 7 The ear speaker sits along the top of the display, and a pair of grilles on the bottom house the mono loudspeaker and flank the USB Type-C connector. The single speaker is easy to cover with a hand if you're a game, so it doesn't really contribute much to proceedings - you're better using headphones, and there's a 3.5mm jack included - but the Xiaomi Mi 9 is basically in the same position of being a bit weedy with speaker performance.

On the rear is a fingerprint sensor, conventionally placed with Redmi retaining this older style rather than a fancier in-display scanner, presumably to keep the price down.

But most of the attention will be taken by colouration. The Remdi Note 7 joins the ranks of those devices offering a dual-tone finish (well, if you opt for the blue model - other markets get red (i.e. the Note 7S in India) which doesn't seem to be an option in the UK). If you want something a little more conservative your choice is black.

redmi note 7 There's little to complain about from a design point of view. There are plenty of devices more costly than this that don't look any better, so from that perspective buying this cheaper phone doesn't get you a cheaper finish.

Display and dimming woes 6.3-inch LCD display, 19.5:9 aspect ratio 2340 x 1080 pixels (409ppi) As we said, there's minimal notch thanks to a central dewdrop - which really takes up very little space on the display. The screen's resolution is great, with the 409ppi density telling us that it's pretty sharp - and in use that's true, so you won't feel like you're missing out on detail. Sure, flagships offer Quad HD+ resolution, but the slightly lower offering from this Redmi works just fine.

The colouration of the display is pretty good, too. It's vibrant enough to not raise too many concerns, but it looks a little lacklustre alongside the gloriously-saturated OLED panels found in higher-spec devices. Things might look a little less punchy, but it's not a huge problem, and given the price you can't complain too much.

redmi note 7 But the auto-brightness is irritating. Frequently when looking at the phone it will dim to obscurity so you can barely see anything. You might be in the middle of a game and the screen dims. Fortunately there's a shortcut to turn off auto-brightness - most of the time it's better to control it manually.

The Redmi Note 7 also exhibits one of the traits of cheaper display panels: a linear polarising layer. That means that if you have polarising sunglasses, the display will black out completely when in landscape orientation - so when you're using the camera it's irritating - but only a problem for those wearing polarising lenses. Aside from such quirks, however, this Redmi actually offers a fairly good display for the price point.

Core hardware and battery life Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 platform 3/4GB + 32/64GB RAM + microSD 4000mAh battery capacity The Redmi Note 7 sits on one of Qualcomm's mid-range platforms. Things are a little confusing in these regards, so let's explain: while the 800 series used in flagship phones has one distinct hot favourite - the Snapdragon 855 - further down the range there are a lot of different component sets in the 600 and 700 series, used across a range of different devices.

redmi note 7 The good news is that, really, there's not a huge marked difference in day-to-day performance of many of these different platforms. Yes, the 660 doesn't have the snap and satisfaction of the leading hardware that you'll get in something like the Xiaomi Mi 9, but it's more than powerful enough to handle most tasks.

This includes things like playing PUBG Mobile in balanced settings - the Redmi won't play so well when you crank up the settings, but we've got plenty of chicken dinners out of it. Generally, however, the performance is great and we've come a long way from mid-range devices feeling compromised as they did a few years ago. We said the same of the Moto One Vision, which uses Samsung's Exynos processor and is also impressively smooth.

Where you do see some reduced potency from the Redmi, however, is in the camera performance. When processing night photos, for example, this handset takes noticeably longer than more powerful devices.

redmi note 7 Perhaps the most exciting part of the spec sheet is the 4000mAh battery capacity. That's pretty generous for a phone of this physical size and market positioning. In our experience it will outlast many flagship phones, getting you through the day without too much of a problem. There's fast wired charging for getting back up to 100 per cent too. It won't challenge the Moto G7 Power when it comes to battery capacity, though, that being a phone which is a considerable rival to the Redmi.

Software woes MIUI over Android 9 Pie software Software is the weakest part of Xiaomi's handsets, thus the Redmi picks up this downside too. The entire device is skinned with MIUI - click that link for an explainer of what that's all about - which sits over Google's Android 9 Pie operating system.

redmi note 7 MIUI introduces a high degree of replacement and duplication of applications, which a fully-functioning Google account doesn't need. In China, of course, Redmi runs MIUI without all the Google functions that those of us in the UK (or the rest of the world) are used to using. That explains a lot of the duplication, so while it's irksome, it's acceptable given the affordable pricing - and you can probably do some fiddling to get the device back to a cleaner state.

The great thing about Android is that you can install or replace things - and pick the default apps you want - to spare yourself some of the messing around with alternatives that just aren't as good (or ask you to sign-up for a Mi account when you already have a Google account performing functions like backup and contacts management).

In the case of the Redmi Note 7, however, we've also found the software to be buggy, despite the company saying it's a stable build. We've found the reading mode coming on every evening when it's not scheduled to do so, for example. We've told it not to wake the display when notifications come in and it still does - often randomly. Sometimes the handset refuses to see a Bluetooth device and connect to it - other times it's seamless.

redmi note 7 That detracts from the experience. Which is a shame, as the experience can, at times, be perfectly fine. But it's not consistent. It's this which would make us lean towards other affordable rivals with a cleaner software experience, such as Motorola.

A reasonable camera 48MP main camera & 5MP secondary lens 13MP front camera The latest trend in smartphones is deploying a 48-megapixel sensor, with Sony's IMX and Samsung's alternative sensor options being snapped up by all manner of brands. That number might sound like a reintroduction of the megapixel race, but by default both of these sensors use four pixels to produce one, over-sampling for sharper results at 12-megapixels. You can engage the 48MP option manually in the menu if you want, but the headline figure isn't really a reflection of what you'll get from this phone camera

There are a range of shooting options on the Redmi Note 7, including a decent portrait mode and night shooting too. These modes are capable, but not class-leading, as you'd expect at the price point.

Amusingly, the Redmi is a dual camera system, but from what we can tell the second lens does nothing at all. You can't shoot through that lens as there's no wide-angle or zoom offering, while you can cover it up and still take a portrait mode photo, find depth and create that bokeh. Ok, it might be adding some data somewhere, but it seems largely irrelevant.

The camera really favours shooting in good lighting, which is standard for any camera. When the light drops a little, results get quite dull and can look a little flat. Equally, HDR (that's high dynamic range) scenes can look a little dull. This phone doesn't have the subtlety or balance that others offer in that regard.

Night mode isn't really in the same league as its rivals either - like the Huawei P30 Pro or the Google Pixel 3 - but then this Redmi phone is considerably cheaper. Still, low-light image noise is common and results just get mushy, not offering the same exposure lift and noise reduction as its more pro rivals.

The front camera - once you've turned off the mirror and beauty options so you actually look like yourself - tends to be a little washed out. It loses grip on colour and in every selfie we've taken, we've had to tweak the colour temperature to remove the deathly-looking caste (which is easy to do on the phone, so it's not a huge problem, not that it's something we want to be doing).

Verdict The Redmi Note 7 is a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, you get a perfectly usable phone and for the price it's compelling thanks to a great build, a camera that will take a decent photo, enough power to do most things, and a long-lasting battery.

But there's so much getting in the way of the experience. We accept software skins, but it's annoying when the phone is doing things you've toggled off and specifically told it not to do. Those things can be fixed through software updates, but they end up defining the experience. It's not the value for money that shines through - it's the unnecessary software tinkering that then doesn't really work properly.

There are definitely things about the Redmi Note 7 that make it worthy of consideration, but with competition like the Moto G7 Power, we're drawn to Motorola's simpler option - especially with the added bonus that it will last a lot longer.

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Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Review

The Redmi Note 7 is an affordable mid-range handset that serves up some flagship features, despite costing only £189. Its large, 6.3-inch screen sports a Full HD+ resolution, and with its water-droplet notch, it delivers an immersive experience that’s light on bezels. Also worth noting is the fact that the display is both bigger and sharper than the far pricier iPhone XR.

The huge 4,000mAh battery under the hood is also encouraging, putting it on a par with last-gen flagships, such as the Huawei P20 Pro. Unlike triple-camera smartphones, however, the Redmi features just two rear snappers.

In the hand, the Redmi Note 7 feels much like the Honor 8X, the budget king from 2018. With double the base storage capacity, USB-C, more pixels and a higher-capacity battery, could the Redmi Note 7 dethrone it?

Redmi Note 7 – Design The Redmi Note 7 doesn’t look as sleek as some of the curvaceous competition – the Honor 10 Lite, for example. Instead, its flat front and back interplay with a glossy plastic frame to deliver a solid slice of smartphone. It’s pretty big, too, with its 6.3-inch screen, but provided you’re okay with the size, there’s plenty to love here.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 front angled handheld

With its 19.5:9 screen and water-droplet notch, the Redmi Note 7 looks very “2019” from the front. All of its buttons sit along the right edge of the device and on the left is a dual-SIM tray that takes a microSD card, too – if you’re prepared to sacrifice one of the two SIM slots.

The phone’s high-gloss frame may be plastic but it feels super-solid, plus it houses a couple of nice surprises on its top edge: a headphone jack and an IR blaster. Down at its base, there’s a USB-C port as well as the mono speaker, while around the back of the phone is the dual camera module and a fingerprint scanner.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 microUSB angled handheld

What’s impressive about the Redmi Note 7’s design is that both its front and rear use Gorilla Glass 5, which make it instantly more resistant to scratches than plastic-shelled devices, such as the Huawei P Smart 2019. More impressive still – you get a case in the box.

Unlike flagships such as the Samsung Galaxy S10, the Redmi Note 7 isn’t IP-rated for water or dust-resistance but with it costing under £190, this is hardly a surprise.

Redmi Note 7 – Screen The Redmi Note 7 features a 6.3-inch, 1080 x 2340 IPS display. With its 19.5:9 aspect ratio, this puts it on a par with the likes of the Huawei P30 Pro and the OnePlus 7 for resolution and size.

What it lacks, however, is AMOLED screen technology – which means the display here doesn’t quite have the punch or pop of the aforementioned handsets. It also isn’t as bright as the P30 Pro or Galaxy S10 Plus at maximum brightness. Nevertheless, it’s still perfectly viewable outdoors in all but direct sunlight.

The screen’s viewing angles are excellent, retaining both clarity and colour integrity off-angle, and while the Note 7’s display has a slightly cool hue to it, white balance is customisable in the settings, so you can make it look just right for your eyes.

Related: Best cheap phones Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 front UI closeup angled handheld

The device’s 19.5:9 aspect ratio is among the longest out there, only bettered by Sony’s Xperia 10 series, the Xperia 1 and the forthcoming Motorola One Vision, with its screen to bezel ratio coming in at over 80%, which is hugely competitive. These factors make it a great choice for immersive movie-watching and playing games.

My only complaint is that the bottom corners are rounded. In addition, when a game goes full-screen, the UI hides the notch and creates right-angles at the top corners, causing a visual imbalance.

All things considered, however, the Redmi Note 7 is a joy to look at, swipe through and use day-to-day, with my main gripe actually referring to software optimisation, rather than screen quality itself.

Redmi Note 7 – Software The Redmi Note 7 ditches a stock Android 9.0 UI in favour of MIUI 10, as found on the Xiaomi Mi 9.

Running on top of Android Pie, it’s great to see the latest, widely available version of Google’s OS here; future-proofing and app support are both looking good for this mid-range contender.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 straight front handheld

The interface doesn’t offer an apps drawer. Instead, it opts for an iOS-esque setup. Shortcuts and widgets can be organised across your home screens; to the left of these is a utility display for quick access to features that Xiaomi believes users need to hand, such as a QR code reader, and there’s a pull-down notifications tray/quick toggle menu at the top of the screen.

The phone features plenty of customisation options throughout its interface. Navigation is controlled by gestures but you can reinstate the navigation bar, for example. In addition, a customisable power on/off schedule is available, as too is a password-protected virtual “Second Space” for sensitive information.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 OS screenshots

Related: Best Android phones It feels as if Xiaomi’s UI is where Huawei’s was about a year ago in terms of polish. It’s totally usable, stable, and some of the unique touches are handy. That said, on occasion, experiences can be a bit rough around the edges.

Redmi Note 7 – Performance With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor combined with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, the Redmi Note 7 sports mid-range power paired with flagship-comparable room for your apps and media.

In my time with the device, it never felt underpowered. Day to day interactions were a joy, whether swiping through Xiaomi’s skin or a custom launcher. Even tasks such as picture-in-picture video and split-screen multitasking didn’t grind the phone to a halt, making the sizeable display a delight.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 front UI closeup angled upright

In addition, jumping in and out of the camera doesn’t leave you hanging, and neither does taking a picture, despite the 48 megapixels of information processed each time you take a snap. This means that, for all basic tasks, the Redmi Note 7 has you covered from a performance point of view.

More surprisingly, gaming is also a treat. A key consideration for gamers is storage capacity and the phone’s 128GB of internal space is ample.

Power is also up to the task. While the Redmi Note 7 might not benchmark like a flagship, for well-optimised 3D titles such as Injustice 2 it’s as smooth as butter. What’s more, we were able to power through an hour of gaming without draining the battery dry – more on that later.

The onboard storage can also be bumped up by 256GB with a microSD card and the dual-SIM functionality will be perfect for any jet-setters.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 gaming

With a multi-core Geekbench score of 5510, it’s significantly less powerful than its flagship sibling, the Snapdragon 855-toting Mi 9, which scored 10,971. Having said that, it isn’t too far behind the Google Pixel 3, which for the price, isn’t bad going at all.

The phone also features biometric security in the form of a fingerprint scanner and RGB face unlock, with both working well in our experience.

Call quality didn’t leave us with any complaints, and as for the mono loudspeaker, it’s perfectly audible – but very easy to cover up. The lack of NFC, however, is an omission you really feel in today’s contactless world. Meanwhile, the rest of the connection set – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, 4G and the IR blaster – are stonking for the price.

Redmi Note 7 – Camera The Redmi Note 7’s dual rear snapper has a 48-megapixel (f/1.8) primary camera and a 5-megapixel (f/2.4) depth-sensor module. Matched with phase-detection autofocus, the only features it’s missing when compared to flagship dual cameras appears to be OIS (optical image stabilisation) and laser autofocus.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 back top half angled handheld

Despite this, the quality of pictures taken on the Redmi Note 7 is seriously impressive, making it easily one of the best sub-£200 options around.

The primary sensor may be 48 megapixels in resolution but pictures are rendered at 12 megapixels unless you hit the override switch in Pro mode. This lower-resolution image benefits from pixel binning, a technique that combines information from multiple pixels to create a better, albeit lower-res image.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera sample high contrast outdoorsXiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera sample white flowers outdoorsXiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera sample white flower indoorsXiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera sample macro indoors

In good light, detail captured by the Redmi Note 7 is superb. Even when you pinch into shots you’ve taken, things hold up well; contrast isn’t too heavy-handed, so you still get nuances breaking through in darkest and lightest areas.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera sample high contrast water outdoors

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera sample cat indoorsXiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera sample low light indoors

Colours are sometimes a touch overzealous, and dynamic range isn’t mind-blowing when HDR (high dynamic range) is turned off but you can fire up Auto HDR or just leave it on for markedly better results. Jump into the settings and you can also customise saturation and contrast levels, which is a nice touch.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera sample colourful flowers indoors

There are also a healthy number of shooting options – although, admittedly, there isn’t anything out of the ordinary. These include Night, Panorama, AI, Portrait and Pro mode. The Portrait mode doesn’t allow for refocusing after the shot is taken, as found on Huawei phones, and its bokeh effect is subtler, too; nevertheless, it creates a sharp, realistic-looking shot.

Related: Best camera phones Not surprisingly, middling to low-light environments are a big ask for the Redmi Note 7. It doesn’t perform badly per se, capturing atmospheric night shots, especially in the dedicated Night mode. However, it struggles in low light scenarios with bright spots. Here, you can really tell you’re not firing on flagship cylinders, with phones such as the Pixel 3 XL confidently stepping ahead.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 front camera closeup angled handheld

As for the 13-megapixel (f/2.2) selfie camera, daytime shots look good although dynamic range struggles with backlit scenes. The Beauty mode isn’t overbearing by default, flattering rather than just flattening subjects. It can also be dialled up and down, which is welcome.

Detail in pictures is fair, although it dwindles in low light as noise creeps in. Luckily for selfie fans, the screen can double up as a flashlight, which helps resulting images.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 camera sample selfie

Video is recorded at up to Full HD resolution, and captures a superb level of detail, especially in good light. Stabilisation is also solid, despite the lack of OIS – although, naturally, with no zoom lens pinching into a subject results in image degradation.

Indoors, and in darker conditions, things start to crumble – which is exactly what we’d expect. Irrespective, the Redmi Note 7 still outperforms most smartphones in its price category from both a stills and video point of view.

Redmi Note 7 – Battery life The Redmi Note 7’s battery life impresses. At 4000mAh, it’s at the upper end of battery capacities in current smartphones, bettered only by a handful of handsets, including the Moto G7 Power.

The phone was easily able to make it through a full day of relatively intensive use and fared well in my rigorous tests. Over an hour of gaming, an hour of screen-off music playback and an hour of streaming video at 60 percent brightness saw the battery meter drop down to 60 percent.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 side angled handheld

There are power-saving tools to help it along, from Adaptive Battery, which limits battery usage for apps that aren’t frequently used, through to battery optimisation. This scans the Note 7 and identifies apps and services that are especially power hungry, then shuts them down.

There’s no wireless charging – nor would we expect there to be at the price. The lack of fast charger in the box is a bit more of a sticking point, however; from empty, the Redmi Note 7 takes just over 2 hours to fully charge with the supplied 10W power brick.

This is definitely something you’ll want to bear in mind. If you don’t want to get caught out, pick up an 18W charger if you don’t have one already.

Why buy the Redmi Note 7? The Redmi Note 7 is an excellent all-rounder. It offers superb value and is incredibly easy to recommend thanks to its solid build, great screen, smooth UI and impressive camera and battery life.

Alternatives include the Nokia 7.1, which costs around the same but delivers a slightly more expensive, compact in-hand feel. It also runs with stock Android but with just 32GB storage and an inferior camera, it won’t have the Note 7’s appeal for gamers or photographers.

Alternatively, the Honor 10 Lite costs a little less and has a more polished interface in the form of EMUI 9. The smaller, more ergonomic design might also appeal to many but with 64GB storage – half that of the Note 7 – and less power under the hood, gamers are again likely to prefer the Note 7.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 back bottom half angled handheld

Another alternative that packs incredibly good battery life thanks to a monstrous 5000mAh cell, coupled with faster charging, is the Moto G7 Power. It delivers a more stock version of Android 9, and so will appeal to purists. With all that power comes a fair bit of extra heft, though; plus the single camera doesn’t stack up to the Redmi Note 7’s dual snapper.

Finally, the Samsung Galaxy A7 is one of the only phones currently under £220 that features an AMOLED display and a triple camera. In turn, you get more punch from the screen and an optional wide-angle lens too. Where it falls behind the Note 7, is in terms of battery life, storage, power and performance from the primary camera.

All that accounted for, the Redmi Note 7 is one of the best devices available this side of £200. Provided you’re okay with Xiaomi’s UI and the lack of NFC, everything else about it is either good or great.

Verdict Impressive performance and battery life combined with a stellar camera for the price, ensuring that despite a couple of weak spots, the Redmi Note 7 is an excellent value smartphone.

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ourredminote7review-blog · 5 years

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Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 review

If 2018 was the year of the notch, 2019 is the year of the 48MP smartphone. From Honor to OnePlus - it seems that every manufacturer is seeking to cash in on the trend.

Xiaomi has certainly opted not to be left behind, releasing multiple different devices sporting an inflated megapixel count. Of these, the Redmi Note 7, its budget champion, is the cheapest.

But more than a camera, it also comes with an array of numbers and acronyms picked to win any specification war at the price point. That is to say, it arrives with a 4,000mAh battery, an octa-core Snapdragon 660 chipset, a glass rear, a bright 1080p screen with a stretched aspect ratio and a trendy teardrop notch.

For under £200 (roughly $260/AU$370), it certainly does seem to be a steal, but with a host of manufacturers competing in this hotly sought area, does the Redmi Note 7 do enough to cement its place at the top?