Yes! I purposively titled this “A better choice” as a throwback to Emman’s review of the slightly inferior, yet capable, Redmi Note 9. This isn’t a comparison though, but a drilldown of how this midrange device still remains to be a competitive device 2 months after it’s official release.
Redmi Note 9S Specifications
| Display | 6.67″ FHD+, Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Processor | Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 128GB |
| Rear Cameras | 48MP Main |
| 8MP Ultra-Wide | |
| 5MP Macro | |
| 2MP Depth | |
| Front Camera | 16MP |
| OS | Android 10 + MIUI 11.0.10 |
| Battery | 5,020mAh, 18W fast-charging |
| Colors | Aurora Blue |
| Glacier White | |
| Interstellar Gray | |
| SRP | PhP11,990 |
Design and Build Quality
One of the reasons why consumers will easily get drawn to the Redmi Note 9s is its overall design. What I got is the Aurora Blue variant at it looks stunning from every angle. There aren’t any fancy color changes when light shines upon its back panel yet it maintains to be one of its attractive features.
I particularly love the fact that Xiaomi place all the buttons on the right side, including the sleep and wake button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor. I still find the in-display fingerprint sensor quite finicky, and I prefer side-mounted sensors more.
The Gorilla Glass 5 protected panel is slippery and not as smudge magnet as other smartphones with almost the same material. Yes, I said that it’s my only grip in my first impressions but having used other smartphones with almost the same build, I can say that the case is negligible on Redmi Note 9s. Also Camera bump is 2.5mm, which is among the thickest in the lot.
It has 6.67″ FHD+ IPS display, which shows acceptable color accuracy and sharpness. At default, the display is compatible with HDR10. I managed to watch HDR contents on YouTube with this smartphone but the quality is not at par with the quality I get with another smartphone with the same display specs. HDR on Redmi Note 9S is a little dull and shows weird artifacting.
It uses USB Type C, and works with USB OTG features like reading/writing to USB drives and using peripherals.
