Xiaomi Redmi 9T review

MIUI 12 based on Android 10

Even though the phone doesn't run Android 11 out of the box, the custom MIUI 12 layer on top gives quite a bit of features and customizations. More importantly, Xiaomi has a good track record of updating its devices across the whole portfolio, and even though core Android support ends at some point, the OEM continues to deliver MIUI versions, often containing the latest Android features with some extra on the side.

This is the case with the Redmi 9T. We can't say for sure that it will get Android 11, but it most likely will. The latest MIUI 12 looks sleek, and it's highly-customizable as always. Evolved and mature as well.

The first thing to notice is the lightning-fast and accurate fingerprint reader on the side. We had zero issues with it and the additional setting to allow the phone to unlock only after pressing the button is an excellent addition. It eliminates the accidental misreadings you can have when just handling the phone.

Home screen, notification shade, Control center, general settings menu

One of the new major features is the new Control Center. Instead of having the quick toggles and notification cards all in one place, they are now found in two different shades - just as on the iPhone. Swiping down on the left side of the status bar (or from the middle of the display when on the Home screen) will show you only the notifications, and swiping from the right corner brings down the quick toggles. Some of them are customizable, but others are fixed in place like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mobile data and flashlight. Tapping on the lower-right corner on the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi will bring up a small pop-up window for quick settings. You can always opt for the standard notification shade, but we recommend that you give the new Control Center a shot.

App drawer and app drawer settings

Another big shift is the way MIUI 12 handles app icons by default. Now instead of placing everything on the Home screen, the OS comes with an app drawer by default. The app drawer itself is also customizable and offers categories for faster searching. Speaking of which, the search bar has been placed down at the bottom of the screen for easier reach when using just one hand.

Notes, Themes, Mi Remote

Various MIUI system apps got a fresh new design while themes have been further expanded and are still a big part of the whole MIUI experience. One of the most useful system apps on the phone is the Mi Remote. It makes use of the IR blaster, which is a very rare sighting in modern smartphones, so it's a really nice bonus on such a budget device. You can set up the remote to work with most of your appliances that work with standard IR remote controls such as your TV, stereo, AC, etc.

Floating window feature

The floating window functionality is rather new and allows you to shrink one of your apps into a small, interactable floating window. The usual split screen is also available, and you can find quick shortcuts to those features in the recent apps menu. Keep in mind that not all apps support floating windows, not even all of the system apps.

For the short time we've been using the phone, we didn't find any troubling issues, hangs or bugs. The system did run a bit slower than we would like it to, but given the price bracket in which the Redmi 9T falls, it's probably acceptable.

What we found a bit more annoying is the ads that can be found in some of the system apps. Xiaomi is using apps to subsidize the price of its phones, so this is maybe a small price to pay for the ultimately cheaper device. Of course, it's quite moderate in our review unit, and other regions may have it worse.

Performance

The device employs a 2020 entry-level Snapdragon 662 chipset based on the 11nm manufacturing technology. The SoC uses an octa-core CPU divided into two clusters of cores - 4x 2.0GHz Kryo 260 Gold cores for the more demanding tasks and 4x 1.8GHz Kryo 260 Silver cores for less demanding applications and energy efficiency. The GPU on board is Adreno 610.

The handset itself comes in various memory variants. The base one holds 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable internal storage - this is also the review unit we got.

The other two available configurations are with either 4 or 6GB of RAM, but you get 128GB of storage in both cases.

It's important to note that the 64GB model has a UFS 2.1 memory chip while the 128GB models have UFS 2.2. The latter means faster read and write speeds, which may be reflected in the app startup times.

Here is the usual set of benchmarks to see how the phone stacks against the competition. It's mostly on par with the devices in this price range when it comes to multi-core performance but lacks single-core power.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 7
  1681
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  1400
• Poco M3
  1398
• Realme 7i
  1318
• Redmi Note 9
  1292
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  1100
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  1034
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  495

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 7
  536
• Redmi Note 9
  361
• Realme 7i
  312
• Poco M3
  308
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  307
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  184
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  169
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  131

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Realme 7
  292828
• Redmi Note 9
  200414
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  177917
• Poco M3
  177904
• Realme 7i
  172933
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  107189
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  107157
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  90811

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme 7
  54
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  19
• Poco M3
  19
• Realme 7i
  19
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  16
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  12
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  9.3

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 7
  42
• Realme 7i
  32
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  28
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  17
• Poco M3
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  16

And since the entry-level chipset is paired with a relatively high 1080p+ resolution for this class, gaming performance suffers. It's debatable, however, how many of the phone's buyers will play demanding games, so opting for the 1080p+ screen, which might be better for web browsing than a 720p device.