Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 4G review

Three cameras on the back, one usable

One could argue that the Redmi Note 14 4G gets a downgrade in the camera department compared to last year's Redmi Note 13 4G. The ultrawide camera is gone (not that it's a big loss) and is replaced with a useless depth sensor. The macro shooter with questionable utility sticks around, though. And at the end of the day, you get three units on the back, only one usable - the main 108MP sensor.

• Wide (main): 108MP ISOCELL (S5K)HM6, 1/1.67", 0.64µm, f/1.8, 24mm, PDAF; 1080p@30fps
• Macro: 2MP SmartSens sc202cs, 1/5.1", 1.75µm, f/2.4, fixed focus
• Front camera: 20MP OmniVision OV20B40, f/2.2, 21mm (wide); 1080p@30fps.

On the other hand, the selfie camera is now 20MP, up from 16MP last year.

Daylight photos

Main camera

The main camera takes pretty decent stills during the day with lively colors and a respectable amount of detail. Dynamic range is not particularly wide, but it's par for the course for this price segment.

Main camera samples

The full-resolution 108MP mode isn't too bad as it produces considerably more detailed photos, and closer subjects are sharper too. However, the dynamic range is even worse and there's plenty of noise in the shadows, so you should use that mode only in ideal lighting conditions.

108MP samples

And here are some people shots too.

Portraits: Normal • Portrait mode

2x and 3x crop zoom

The viewfinder offers two default toggles - 2x and 3x crop zooms. Both, however, are pushing it a bit too far. They offer the same rendition as the 1x mode but with considerably worse detail rendition and sharpness.

2x crop zoom samples

3x crop zoom samples

Selfies

The selfies are rather soft, noisy and lack fine detail. The camera setup also struggles to maintain a wide dynamic range, so you get either darker shadows or clipped highlights.

Selfies

Low-light photos

Main camera

The main camera produces surprisingly good stills at night. The Auto Night mode seems to kick in more often than not and delivers wide dynamic range, plenty of detail in the shadows and clears up almost all the noise. Stills are generally sharp and with accurate colors, but the color temperature is slightly off - it tends to be warmer than it should be.

Main camera samples

2x and 3x crop zoom

It's perhaps no surprise that the 2x and 3x zoom modes at night are hard to recommend. They have limited dynamic range and are considerably noisier and softer. Especially the 3x stills, which look pretty grainy.

2x crop zoom samples

3x crop zoom samples

Video recording

Due to the SoC's limitations, the Redmi Note 14 4G can only do 1080p videos using its main and selfie cameras, but the main can go up to 60fps. EIS is available, of course, but it's definitely not the best one we've seen.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

The Full HD daylight video taken with the main camera is just about what you'd expect from a phone in this price bracket. Dynamic range is okay and so are colors and contrast. It's hard to be critical about a phone's video recording capabilities when it costs around €200, after all.

Even the low-light footage isn't bad. There's some noise and it's not particularly sharp, but there's plenty of detail to go around and the dynamic range is wide enough.