Xiaomi Redmi Note 10S hands-on review

Display

The Redmi Note 10S has the same display as the Redmi Note 10. It's a 6.43-inch AMOLED panel with 2400x1800 resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, and 8-bit color. Xiaomi claims the display is capable of DCI-P3 coverage, has 1100 nits peak brightness and 700 nits typical brightness.

During our testing of the Redmi Note 10, we found the display to perform very well in terms of color accuracy when the phone was set to the Standard color scheme within Display settings. We also managed to get close to the 700 nits claimed typical figure but couldn't quite reach the 1100 nits peak brightness. We don't expect these results to match the Redmi Note 10S exactly due to panel variance but they should be very similar. Regardless, the display on the Redmi Note 10S performs quite well, especially for the price.

As mentioned before, the Redmi Note 10S has a 60Hz display. For those not used to a higher refresh rate display, which would be most people shopping in this price segment, this shouldn't be a deal-breaker. However, we still would have liked to see at least 90Hz refresh rate as 60Hz just doesn't pass muster these days and the extra 30Hz can make a world of difference.

Xiaomi does not advertise the Redmi Note 10S as having an HDR display. However, it has left the HDR tag in the software unchecked, which causes apps like YouTube to assume that the phone has an HDR display and present the HDR version of the video, if available. This doesn't end up looking particularly great and it would probably be better if the device didn't announce itself as being HDR capable.

Since we are on the topic of video, perhaps the worst crime that this phone commits is to automatically over-sharpen and contrast-boost ALL videos that you play on the phone. As soon as the phone detects you're playing a video, whether it's locally on the phone or through a streaming app, it will instantly over-sharpen it and slap it with a heavy dose of contrast. The resultant image is nearly unwatchable and looks like a cheap LCD TV that has been over tuned to make it more appealing on the shop floor. And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it because it's permanently forced enabled across all apps.

Here's hoping they add a toggle for that in an upcoming update. In the comparison images above, the difference may not seem that big but it's quite noticeable when watching on the phone itself. Also, regardless of how subtle or severe it is, the phone shouldn't be altering video content anyway, or at least shouldn't be doing it in a way that cannot be disabled.

Speakers

The Redmi Note 10S has a pair of stereo speakers. As mentioned in the design section, the bottom speaker fires straight down while the earpiece speaker fires through the earpiece grille as well as a separate grille on the top of the phone.

The speakers on the Redmi Note 10S are of mediocre quality. They sound a bit hollow and nasal and don't have the low-end energy or mid-bass to flesh out the tonality fully. They also don't get particularly loud and most of the time, the bottom-firing speaker tends to sound a bit louder than the earpiece speaker.

For the price, none of these things is a deal-breaker. It's just worth mentioning that not all stereo speakers are created equal but the ones on the Redmi Note 10S sound reasonably good for the price.

As an aside, the phone does have a 3.5mm headphone jack and also features an internal HiRes Direct driver. This means apps like USB Audio Player will switch to using this driver over the default Android audio driver, which can potentially provide better audio quality when used with the right source material.