Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 review: In shiny armor

A 13MP snapper with a dual-LED flash

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 features a 13MP camera, equipped with a new dual-tone dual-LED flash. The snapper also features a hybrid autofocus system utilizing phase-detection for faster and more accurate focus.

The camera interface is fairly simple and features toggles for the HDR mode, the flash and the video camera.

It has three panes - the default one shows the viewfinder with a virtual shutter, flash trigger and front camera key. A pull down from the top of the screen gets you a choice of 12 filters with live previews. A slide from the bottom displays the advanced modes such as Panorama, Beautify, Timer, Scenes, and Manual as well as the camera settings.

Camera UI

The Manual Mode offers you manual settings for white balance and ISO. The Face Detection switch is within the additional settings.

We found the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 to perform equally well as its predecessor in terms of image quality. It resolves average amount of detail, and there is some corner softness, but the noise levels are kept reasonably low. The white balance is accurate and we like the lively color rendition. The foliage is better than expected from an average performer, while the dynamic range is slightly above average.

While the photos look excellent on the 5.5" display and downscaled on a monitor, the full 13MP images are nothing but average. The good news is most of you will probably use downscaled images anyway, so there is nothing to complain of, really - the Redmi Note 3 ticks the right boxes in such scenario - the colors and contrast are good, the dynamic range is good for the class as well.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 camera samples

The HDR mode is conservative enough and rescues both the highlights and shadows without making a flat contrastless mess out of the image. Those aren't the best HDR photos we've seen, but are definitely among the better ones.

HDR off • HDR on • HDR off • HDR on

Panorama shots are available too. You can capture both landscape and portrait panoramic photos with a 180 degree field of view. Shooting is easy but the stitching takes a while to complete. The end result is rather disappointing though - the resolution is about 2000x760px and the image quality is quite poor.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 panorama sample

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 features a 5MP front-facing camera for high-res selfies. The images come out soft with average detail, but will do for Facebook or similar social networks.

5MP camera samples taken with the front camera

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is more than capable of pulling its own weight in our Photo Comparison tool. You can see how it stacks against other 13MP snappers we've tested.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 in our photo quality comparison tool

1080p video recording

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 camcorder has the same UI as the still camera. It supports slow-mo (the result is a 720p@16fps video) and time-lapse videos with customizable snapping interval.

Camcorder UI

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is capable or recording up to 1080p@30fps. The bitrate of the video recordings is uninspiring at about 15 Mbps, while audio is captured at 128 Kbps with 2 channels (stereo).

The resolved detail in the videos is modest, just like the still images. The colors and contrast are good and the framerate is smooth and consistent at 30fps. The dynamic range is above average.

And here is a 1080p video we've uploaded on YouTube.

You can also download the 1080p video sample (9s, 16.6MB) taken straight off the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3. And here is another sample (11s, 21MB) taken in a sunny, but windy day.

Here the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 enters our video comparison tool. There are plenty of 1080p camcorders you can compare it against. It resolves an average level of detail, but contrast and colors are good.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 in our Video quality comparison