Redmi Note 8T Review - The Actual Review
Ok, with all that preamble and context out of the way, why did I choose the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T? At TechTravelGeeks.com we are no stranger to Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone and consumer electronics brand. You can check out our videos of the Xiaomi Mi 9T on the Tech Travel Geeks YouTube Channel.
Frankly, the decision all came down to the price and the device’s value proposition. As stated in the my introduction, I needed something inexpensive, but also with reasonable grunt and a promise of some updates. Put these 3 ingredients together into your mixing bowl and Xiaomi is one of the first brands that comes to mind (Honourable mentions to Huawei/Honor & Moto G in this segment).
So, having been burnt recently by eBay (did I mention something about a stolen Note 9…) and because I have the benefits of Amazon Prime, i headed to Amazon.
What I saw on Jeff’s site was astonishing: a phone with a quad camera, waterdrop FHD+ display, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage (plus Microsd expansion), dual SIM, Snapdragon 665 (which is roughly on par with the 835 or the 710) for close to £150 ($200). Dubious? Check it out on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/38b9LTR
Subsequent research found that this was the T model with the extra RAM and base storage. A standard Note 8 with 3GB/32GB is available for about £140, and a Pro version with a 64MP Camera and 6GB RAM 128/256gb of storage can be had at just around £200 (depending on storage).
I am sorry but this to me is just silly. This amount of computing power at this price? I did a little bit of digging around in the reviews and apparently the 3GB version is a bit under-powered. But that didn’t change anything. I ended up clicking the “Buy Now” button.
But we all know that specs don’t tell the full story. Samsung have for many years had top-of-the-line specs but stuttery performance. LG sometimes bring great innovation, but are largely ignored. Even the Google Pixels have a tendency to slow down over time. iPhones have tended to offer better experiences than their specs may suggest. I’m not even going to go into synthetic benchmarks, they may have a role in comparisons of chipsets (like when I was trying to figure out what kind of performance to expect from the 665) . But in the end real-life performance is what counts.
HARDWARE
The Note 8T is a veritable sight to behold. Yes its the usual glass sandwich, but it feels really well built, lovely to hold. In the white finish that i have, frankly it felt like an iPhone 11 (which is £600 more expensive). It just oozes quality. I’ve asked unsuspecting friends and family how much they think it costs and most reply between £400 and £500.
There is a 6.3 inch FHD IPS LCD display. Its a pretty good display, good viewing angles and colour reproduction. Sometime you get a bit of LCD back-light glare and it wont beat the AMOLED screens out there, but it’s still really good for content consumption via YouTube or Netflix. I’ve been using a curved screen (my OnePlus 7 Pro) and I actually found it refreshing to go back to a flat screen. I think curved screens may start going out of fashion as they can cause distortion at certain viewing angles though no doubt they are more immersive.
The back has one of my favourite features, a rear mounted fingerprint scanner. I love the ergonomics of these and whilst the in-display tech may be cool, it’s just functionally not as good
The bottom has 3.5mm jack, or as Matteo would call it a Courage Port, and a USB-C charging port. There is a down facing speaker which is a bit tinny and lacks base, but is perfectly fine for my uses.
On the side is the dual SIM tray, which can house 2 nano-sims + Micro SD card. This makes it extremely versatile. NFC is also on-board for all your contactless needs.
SOFTWARE
Out of the Box the device runs MIUI 10 on top of Android 9 Pie. However on first boot, the device updates to MIUI 11. MIUI has a reputation for being an iOS clone, and I can see why, no app drawer and similar shortcuts folders, even the colour palette in the settings. But I must say this iteration has definitely got a look and feel of its own and doesnt feel like some rip-off.
I thought this iOS-ness would annoy me. Which it often does. The lack of an app drawer, as found on other Android devices is annoying. Yes, i know I can get a third party launcher. But I’m actually going to stick with it for as long as I can. It works well, incorporates a lot of the gesture navigation from Android 10, Split-Screen is better than “stock” and it is heavily customisable with a dedicated theme store. I am annoyed that there are a lot of pre-installed apps which I can’t hide or disable. Bear in mind my use case though.
This is a device I am using specifically for work. I am not going to have the 300+ apps on it as I do on my OnePlus 7 Pro. Its gonna have some Office, Email, Messaging and specific medical apps. This means even with a bit of folder chicanery, i can have a single homescreen. Lets see how long this lasts. There is a degree of duplication of apps (Mi Browser + Chrome, Mi Cloud + Google Drive) but that’s not unexpected. Whilst i dont expect to be able to uninstall the Mi apps, the fact that the Google services were system apps was surprising as I thought European rules had stopped them doing so.
There’s a stack of data management and battery management tools to keep your device running smoothly and as it was “out of the box”. It’s a very granular system and means that you can fully control what each app is doing or can do with your battery and precious data. Stop background data, stop cellular data and more – it’s all there and it’s very easy to understand. You can even decide how the notch looks/behaves!
There is the odd bit of “weirdness”, bluetooth not connecting properly or the Wifi Hotspot being a bit hit-and-miss. Nothing too serious, and it is somethhing that i’ve noticed with XIaomi and MIUI devices before. I’m assuming its software related. Not a deal-breaker though.
PERFORMANCE
I was very happy with the performance. The Snapdragon 665 is verry similar to the 835 of a few years ago. I had no slowdowns, at times there were minute stutters, but I have a feeling this is more to do with miui then anything. The RAM management is aggressive, but since I’m running a relatively small number of apps it wasnt an issue for me. Video playback and Sound quality were good. I think proper AAA gaming might be a bit of a push, but it wouldnt have any problem with most titles.
BATTERY
The Note 8T come with 4000mA battery, and with an 18W Fast-charger. There are reviews out there talking of 2 day battery-life. MIUI does have a raft of power-management tools and I actually think this is achievable. Now, I have to qualify this by saying that this is a second device therefore doesn’t get as much use as my primary device. But the fact remains that 24+ hrs after I took it off the charger it still has 55% battery-life left means this is a bloody champ. Very Impressed. It finally died over two days later
CAMERA
The device has an AI enhanced quad camera system, with a 48MP main lens, with an 8MP wide-angle lens, and a 2MP Macro lens, AND another 2MP depth sensor. All of this means its actually a damn good camera. HDR is switched off by default (for some reason) but all the photos come out very reasonable indeed. There is some degradation of quality in low-light situations, and the Night Mode doesnt do much to enhance night shots. But still good nonetheless. The 13MP front sensor is reasonable at selfies too, with a dedicated portrait mode
Anyway, here are some samples
The Video is slightly more nuanced. There is Full HD upto 60fps, whilst eh front facing 13MP sensor maxes out at 1080p@30fps. It seems 4K isnt stabilised, and can be quite choppy. This is also slightly noticeable 1080@60fps, but it wasnt as significant or obvious as the 4k footage. I had a bit of difficulty uploading these, so unfortunately you’ll just have to take my word for it! Maybe we’ll be able to host them on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/techtravelgeeks
CONCLUSION
You know that thing of “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”? Well, this device might prove me wrong. It really has made me think of some preconceptions I had about mobile devices. We have such amazing computer power in our phones, that an unashamedly budget device could legitimately giving an experience up there with the top-end (maybe even flagship) devices. Frankly it could be the daily driver for many people and nobody would even realise the low price.
So in conclusion, I can recommend the device wholeheartedly. Majid says….YES
You can purchase the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T here: https://amzn.to/38b9LTR
