Xiaomi Redmi Note 9

SCORE

PRICE £158 (£189 inc VAT) from amazon.co.uk

There’s no getting away from the fact that this isn’t an eyecatching phone: the greyish-blue colour of its plastic chassis is dull, and I’m not a fan of the way Xiaomi has placed the fingerprint reader and quad camera into one big rectangular box on the rear.

The camera module isn’t flush with the back either, so it doesn’t rest flush against a flat surface when placed face up. The body itself feels cheap to the touch, and it’s quick to collect greasy fingerprints. That’s less of an issue on the front, where the display is protected by a smooth layer of Gorilla Glass 5. Plus, the selfie camera is neatly embedded inside the upper left corner of the display.

That 6.53in screen contributes to the Redmi Note 9’s sizable 77 x 8.9 x 162mm dimensions, and a 1,080 x 2,340 resolution gives it a pixel density of 395ppi. While it isn’t the most colouraccurate of screens, switch to Auto mode and you should be pleased by its rich colours, 1,132:1 contrast ratio and 359cd/m2 peak brightness.

It’s powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio G85 CPU, backed by 4GB of RAM, which is on a par with the Snapdragon 665 (it scored 318 in Geekbench 5’s single-core test, 1,300 in multicore). It’s a capable gamer too: I played Call of Duty: Mobile with no notable frame drops, but it started to run hot after a long match of PUBG Mobile. This will inevitably hit battery life, with the Note lasting 15hrs 44mins in our less demanding videorundown test.

The main 48-megapixel, f/1.8 camera produces a remarkable level of detail, with vibrant yet realistic colours, but I was also taken by the quality of the 2-megapixel macro camera. Add a flattering 13-megapixel front camera and the ability to shoot video in 1080p at 30fps, with effective image stabilisation, and this is a well-rounded camera setup. For the price, this is simply an unbeatable phone.

Octa-core 2GHz/1.8GHz MediaTek Helio G85 4GB RAM 64GB storage 6.53in 1,080 x 2,340 IPS display 48/8/2/2-megapixel rear camera 802.11ac Bluetooth 5 5,020mAh battery 77 x 8.9 x 162mm (WDH) 199g