Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 review

Quad-camera setup

As most phones these days, the Redmi Note 10 boasts a quad-camera setup on its back, but as you've probably guessed by now by following previous releases, not all cameras are all that useful. We've got a 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro camera that probably only a few people would use.

The main and the ultrawide are pretty much the standard too - 48MP main unit with f/1.8 aperture. The sensor itself is 1/2.0" big and offers 0.8µm pixels and, of course, outputs 12MP images by combining four adjacent pixels into one. As for the ultrawide, it's the popular 8MP, 1/2.0", 1.12µm pixels sensor paired with f/2.2 aperture that everyone uses. This particular implementation promises a 118-degree field of view.

On the front we have a 13MP, f/2.5, 1/3.06, 1.12µm camera for selfies.

Now, compared to the predecessor, the Redmi Note 9, it's a small step backward. The macro camera loses the AF feature, which is crucial for successful close-up shots, and the selfie has a smaller aperture, thus allowing less light to get into the sensor. Those two missteps won't matter all that much in the end, but at least keeping the same setup would have been appreciated.

Camera menus

The camera app is business as usual with no big changes over the last MIUI generation. The various camera modes are arranged in the typical carousel placed right above the shutter key, while additional settings for each camera mode can be found above the viewfinder. Interestingly enough, the macro mode isn't standalone in the carousel, so you you have to open up the so-called hamburger menu first and then tap on Macro.

Additional settings like the picture and video resolution, shutter behavior, file types, camera modes re-arranging, etc., can be found in the general settings menu, also found in the hamburger menu. Oh, and we noticed that the camera app launches pretty slow, so consider this.

Daylight samples

Main camera

The first thing we've noticed about the 12MP daylight samples from the main camera is that they are unusually sharp and detailed given the price tag of the handset. The camera system can resolve fine detail on buildings, foliage and even in the shadows. The only downside is that there's noticeable grain inhomogeneous backgrounds, like the sky, for example. The noise becomes more prominent with indoor shots where the light was still sufficient. Expectedly, indoor images are noticeably less sharp.

12MP daylight samples

The dynamic range is pretty impressive. At no point did we see any clipped highlights while the detail wasn't absent in the shadows. Notice the last picture where the conditions were quite challenging. We noticed, however, that a good portion of the photos we took were a bit on the soft side or out of focus. That's why we suggest taking more than one or two photos of a said scenery just to make sure the phone got it right.

12MP daylight samples

When it comes to color reproduction, the phone keeps it true to life, so if you are fond of more lively colors, we suggest you try out the AI, which is usually turned off by default. The AI recognizes some subjects in the scenery, makes the colors pop, adds a little bit of sharpening, which results in more added noise too. We felt like the additional sharpening is unnecessary due to the halos it produces and the original photos are sharp enough to begin with. The AI won't always kick in, though, probably when it struggles to identify a certain scene.

AI daylight samples

As usual, the 48MP mode isn't recommended because it tends to be softer, noisier and the HDR is disabled. There's some general fogginess in all of the 48MP samples so sticking to the default 12MP mode is preferable.

48MP daylight samples

Even though the phone doesn't have а dedicated zoom camera, the software offers a quick 2x zoom toggle right above the standard 1x one. It's needless to say that the results aren't great as the images are soft, over-processed at times and considerably noisier than usual. Perhaps in some cases, for social media posting, the images can be good enough.

2x zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

We weren't expecting the ultrawide camera to be remotely close to the main camera's quality. The limiting 8MP resolution is one of the decisive factors, so you will be getting considerably softer-looking images. There's also a case to be made that the ultrawide shots have a narrower dynamic range too. But as you get closer to the subject, things start to clear up.

Ultrawide daylight samples

The close-up samples that we took look a lot sharper. We've noticed what a great job the lens correction algorithm does. Extreme edge softness isn't common either, so we can definitely say that the ultrawide camera can take some decent shots outside under the right conditions. And when compared to the competition, those samples are actually really good. Color reproduction seems to be the same as the main camera's.

Ultrawide daylight samples

The indoor shots are what gets the secondary camera, though. The lack of strong ambient light results in considerably softer and noisier images.

Low-light samples

Main camera

While taking the night shots with the standard Photo mode, the HDR icon was almost always active. It's clear that some sort of HDR is working well to bring out some detail from the shadows. When the HDR wasn't working, you can clearly see the clipped highlights and the "burned" light sources. You can just go ahead and turn HDR always on for your night shots. Contrast and colors are good for the most part and white balance seems to be on point too.

Low-light samples

Some additional sharpening can be seen in some areas of the buildings giving the pictures a clearer look. Unfortunately, the noise-suppression algorithm is working overtime, washing out some fine detail, which works great for the night sky, not so much for the objects in the shadows. We noticed that some images turned out blurry, so we once again suggest that you take more than just one photo for optimal results.

The difference between the Night mode and the standard Photo mode is night and day (no pun intended). The Night mode introduces much more detail into the scene, balances out shadows and highlights even further. The fine detail that the noise-suppression algorithm usually brushes out is restored and gives the images a clearer appearance. Take a closer look at the stairwell on the first photo as well as the bricks in the third photo.

Night mode samples

Still, we can't get away from the notion of a bit over-processed image when shooting with the dedicated Night mode. The bricks and ornaments on the buildings make the shots look like a digitally rendered picture. The good news is that the Night mode doesn't take long to complete and stack all the needed frames. In fact, it's just as fast as the main photo mode. Having said that, we strongly recommend going for the Night mode in all poorly-lit conditions, as long as you don't mind the over-processed look at times. Oh, and the rather warmer white balance too.

Ultrawide camera

It's hard to expect good results from the ultrawide camera after dusk. We found that in some cases where there's enough light in the scenery and you are shooting close enough to the subject (take the last two photos as an example), you can get half-decent results. Nevertheless, the samples look soft, noisy and lack highlight-shadow balance.

Low-light ultrawide samples

Once you are done with the pixel-peeping, get ready for some more in our photo compare tool. It helps you see how the Redmi Note 10 stacks against the competition.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 vs Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC and the Motorola Moto G 5G in our Photo compare tool

Macro samples

We miss the autofocus feature from the previous generation as it provided more stability, especially when taking photos of moving subjects. Also, guessing the exact focusing distance wasn't an issue. Now, we are stuck with a 2MP camera that has a fixed focus, and you have to take several shots at different distances to achieve a clear image. And as for the performance itself, the close-up images look okay with optimal lighting conditions, but the 2MP resolution is a limiting factor when it comes to resolving fine detail. Colors do look lively, though.

Macro samples

Portraits

The Redmi Note 10 Pro seems surprisingly proficient when it comes to portrait photography. Edge detection is really good and had us convinced with the faux bokeh effect. It struggles to keep the subject's hair separated, especially with complex background, but which phone doesn't? In all the samples with various lighting conditions, the level of detail is excellent, the skin tone is natural-looking and colors pop.

Portrait samples

Selfies

The selfies look good too as no matter the condition, the subject's face is always well-exposed and fine detail is preserved. Skin tone is on point, although, it can sometimes look a bit pale. The portrait mode isn't as convincing as on the main camera on the back, but it gets the job done. We didn't see any big difference between standard and portrait selfies - the rendition is pretty much the same.

Selfies: Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait

Video recording

The phone is capable of recording 4K videos at 30 frames per second while EIS is available only for 1080p videos shot at 30fps. Full HD videos in 60fps are a no-go for the EIS.

As far as video quality is concerned, we can say that there's a big difference in how the software processes videos and stills. The former's color reproduction is a bit on the bland side, while dynamic range is rather narrow. The shadow under the thees is especially thick, while the white building in the distance looks clipped. And so are some of the bright yellow taxis passing down the street. Contrast and noise management, on the other hand, are good. Sharpness isn't amazing but fine detail can be found across the whole frame. We'd take this 2160p video over every other 1080p video in this price bracket.

Naturally, the ultrawide camera's video recording capabilities cap at 1080p. To our surprise, colors look more lively, but that's all that's going for it. There's some fine noise across uniform areas, the dynamic range still seems a bit lacking, and the overall look of the video is downright soft.

There's also a dedicated 2x zoom toggle, which we decided to try out and aside from the fact that there's no way to shoot a stable 2x zoom video without EIS, which the phone doesn't have in 2160p, we were pleasantly surprised by the result on our tripod. You really have to look close enough to notice the loss of detail, otherwise the video sample looks decently sharp, all things considering. If you find yourself a tripod, you can definitely shoot some nice-looking, zoomed, 4K videos.

And here's our handy video compare tool to see how the phone rivals its competitors in a more controlled environment.

2160p: Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 vs Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC and the Motorola Moto G 5G in our Video compare tool