The much-awaited Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro is now official in India, well ahead of its schedule we must say. Earlier, the Redmi Note 6 Pro was announced in a few other markets including Indonesia and Malaysia, and the one launched in India carries the same specs – which aren’t all that different compared to the Note 5 Pro.
The design has never been the forte of Xiaomi phones. The company continues to use a combination of metal and plastic for the back panel. Some cosmetics changes that have been made but the overall look and feel isn’t all that different from the Redmi Note 5 Pro. It’s still more of the same thing.
Camera
The Redmi Note 6 Pro lifts the camera hardware from the Chinese Redmi version of Redmi Note 5 Pro. The back panel houses a 12MP Samsung sensor coupled with 5MP Samsung depth sensor. These are aided by f/1.9 and f/2.2 aperture lenses, respectively and the primary sensor gets dual pixel PDAF. The company claims the back camera sensors pack 1.4µm and 1.12µm large pixels to ensure better low light performance.
Xiaomi has upgraded the selfie camera and now it has an extra basic depth sensor (20MP +2MP). This is the same setup that Xiaomi also offered in recently announced Mi Max 3. In our test, it actually performed slightly better than the Redmi Note 5 Pro.
There was no visible shutter lag and images turned out well. In daylight shot, we noticed good contrast and color reputation. There’s portrait mode available for both front and back cameras are just ok. In low light, the camera does try hard but fails to mitigate the noise.
Selfie camera performance is pretty decent. The added 2MP depth sensor is more of a marketing stunt, though.
The battery backup on Note 6 Pro continues to be what you’d expect of a Note. The phone packs a 4000mAh battery which performs excellently in day-to-day usage.
Should You Buy It?
The way it went with Notes was that the use of a blockbuster chipset made all other minor flaws seem forgivable and gave them a clear-cut advantage. The Redmi Note 6 Pro lacks that killer punch and doesn’t shine beyond Redmi Note 5 Pro’s shadow. And that even makes it a little uninspiring.
The Note 6 Pro is essentially a refined version of the Note 5 Pro like OnePlus 6T is of OnePlus 6, and the biggest difference is the Notch – and it’s frankly a little late in the game for that. The Redmi Note 5 Pro users don’t have much reason for an upgrade.
At the same time, once the dust settles, this might not matter as much.
The chipset is still good enough to serve most of our needs, the camera is better than what the competition offers, and the big battery convenience is still there. And that should be enough for most people. Or for the first time buyers.
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