Redmi Note 9 Pro Max

Xiaomi has been known for making budget-friendly products with great value. Over the last five years, the Chinese manufacturer has shown that it is absolutely capable of dominating the smartphone market. Although we have seen other brands attempt to copy Xiaomi’s strategy, no company has been as successful.

The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max was launched on March 12, 2020. It looks virtually identical to the Redmi Note 9 Pro. While they also share a lot of hardware, the premium Max model comes with better cameras, more RAM as well as faster charging. Both the Redmi Note 9 Pro and Pro Max are the successors of the Redmi Note 8 and Note 8 Pro.

Display

Devices of the Redmi series have grown a lot in size. As a result, the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max is heavy and bulky. It weighs roughly 209g and is 8.8mm in thickness, making using the phone with one hand difficult. It is hard to teach the top of the 6.67-inch display without having to shuffle the phone in your hand. But the 20:9 aspect ratio is still manageable. The display is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 to withstand daily usage. A thin earpiece is placed right above the display. The phone’s fingerprint scanner is integrated into the power button that is one the right side of the phone.

While the size of the phone isn’t suitable for one-handed use, the viewing experience that it offers can make up for that. The large screen is helpful while streaming videos and gaming. This display is relatively punchy. And with a tiny hole punch, the phone can surely deliver an ideal streaming experience. You don’t find this feature on many smartphones of Xiaomi. And a lot of smartphone users will appreciate this. Xiaomi has managed to make the bezels thin. The text and icons are sharp. However, the brand could have made peak brightness slightly brighter. The display looks sharps. Colors are vibrant enough to make movie playback and gaming enjoyable.

The company claims that besides Corning Gorilla Glass 5, the display also has an anti-fingerprint and anti-oil coating, which will save you from having to clean the phone every time you touch it.

The device lacks two display features, a higher refresh rate, and a Super AMOLED panel. At the same price point, you have the Poco X2 with a 120Hz display or the Realme 6 Pro with a 90Hz display. But both of them use an IPS LCD screen.

Chip

Xiaomi equipped the Remi Note 9 Pro Max with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720 processor like the Note 9 Pro. The Realme 6 Pro also used this very same chipset. At this price point, it is surely one of the most effective processors. The chipsets deliver a satisfactory performance in terms of multi-tasking and basic gaming by offering higher clock speed.

With everyday work, there is nothing to complain about the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. It is fast and loads apps really quickly. During multitasking, no lagging is visible. The gaming performance of the smartphone is smooth. Users can play heavy games such as PUBG Mobile without any hiccups but at a somewhat reduced graphics settings.

RAM – Internal Storage

Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 9 Pro in three variants. One at Rs 16,499 with 6GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage. One at Rs 17,999 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage and one at Rs 19,999 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage.

The base and top-end models are distinguished significantly considering the prices. Ideally, the one with 6GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage is the best one since it has a balance between performance and cost.

While playing games, the graphics are running perfectly fine. The frame rate is near-perfect. There isn’t any heating issue.

Battery

One of the reasons why the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max is bulky is because of its monstrous 5020mAh battery. The smartphone can easily last more than a day and a half before you need to charge it. With the HD video loop test, the smartphone lasts 17 hours and 10 minutes, which is pretty impressive. However, the Realme 6 Pro can last even longer at 21 hours.

When the smartphone runs out of battery, you can use the 33W charger that comes in the box. It takes 30 minutes for the phone to go from 0 to 52%. But when charging rapidly, it does get hot. After the 75% mark, charging slows down. And the device will be charged up to 90% in an hour.

Camera

The cameras are what sets the Max model and the Pro model apart. The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max comes with a 64MP primary lens with an aperture of f/1.89, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens with a field of view of 119 degrees, a 5MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. Compared to other smartphones at the same price point, the macro camera has a boost regarding resolution.

The camera app has many features and shooting modes. By default, the 64MP sensor produces 16MP pixel-binned photos. If you want to, you can take photos at 64MP resolution. To bump up the contrast, you can choose the Pro Colour mode, which reminds us of the Chroma Boost and Dazzle Color filters on Realme and Oppo smartphones respectively.

In daylight, the smartphone delivers quite good photos. However, some people might not like the way the photos looking sharpened. If you zoom in, you will notice that although the details are good, there is still some grain in the shadows.

For close-ups, the phone’s AI can easily recognize the subject and adjust the camera accordingly. While shooting subjects, there is a soft bokeh effect to help the subjects stand out.

There’s a considerable drop in terms of details with the wide-angle camera. The macro camera captures good details if there is enough light. The 5MP resolution is higher than other smartphones.

With Portrait mode, the phone can distinguish between the background and the subject. However, it missed ou the gap between the arm and the body, not blurring the area.

The smartphone can detect low light and uses AI to make corrections. In the regular mode, the phone can control the noise level. Once you enable Night Mode, multiple exposures are combined, delivering a sharper output with much better details.