Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 review

Introduction

The Redmi Note is a well-established series and each new phone follows the same book - a large screen, a snappy chipset, a good camera, and a 4,000 mAh battery. All these should be wrapped in a striking body, ran by the latest MIUI, and everything ends with an affordable price tag. Well, the Redmi Note 8 follows the recipe and has just the right ingredients so that makes it yet another excellent addition to the series.

Indeed, the Redmi Note 8 comes with a large 6.3" IPS LCD screen of 1080p resolution and waterdrop-shaped notch. We would forgive you if thought this is the same panels as on the Note 7. But the Note 8's screen supports HDR10, so something has definitely changed since the last year model.

The chipset got an upgrade, too. The Snapdragon 665 is now in charge, up from the Snapdragon 660 on the Note 8. We don't believe it will deliver a significant boost, or if any at all, but it's still a newer model, and a more power-efficient one at least.

The camera got a boost, though. Now the 48MP primary is joined by an 8MP ultrawide shooter, a 2MP macro snapper, and last is the 2MP depth sensor. Oh, and 4K video capturing is now an option!

Quite expectedly, the Note 8 boasts a 4,000 mAh battery, just like any other Note before it. And it's no surprise this Note boots MIUI 10, though MIUI 11 should be seeding any moment now.

Finally, all these goodies come wrapped within one very good-looking body made of Gorilla Glass 5 panels and you may want to enjoy the view before proceeding to the full specs sheet.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 specs

• Body: Gorilla Glass 5 front and back, plastic frame, splash-resistant nano-coating, 190g.
• Display: 6.3" IPS LCD, 1080 x 2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 409ppi.
• Rear camera: Primary: 48MP, f/1.8 aperture, 1/2.25" sensor size, 0.8µm pixel size, PDAF. Ultra wide: 8MP, f/2.2, 1/4", 1.12µm pixels. Macro camera: 2MP, f/2.4, 1/5", 1.75µm Depth sensor:2MP; 2160p@30fps, 1080p@120fps, 720p@960fps video recording.
• Front camera: 13MP, f/2.0 aperture, 1.12µm pixels. 1080p/30fps video recording.
• OS: Android 9 Pie; MIUI 10.
• Chipset: Snapdragon 665 (11nm): Octa-core (4x2.00 GHz Kryo 260 Gold & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver), Adreno 610 GPU.
• Memory: 3/4/6GB of RAM; 32/64/128GB storage; dedicated microSD slot.
• Battery: 4,000mAh; 18W fast charging.
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A, 4-Band carrier aggregation, LTE Cat-12/ Cat-13; USB-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 4.2; FM radio; NFC (8T model only);
• Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader; 3.5mm jack; single down-firing speaker.

It's not like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 is the perfect midranger, but it ticks so many boxes that it may as well be one of them. There is nothing missing on the Note 8, if we don't count proper ingress protection, but c'mon! So, we can't wait to put the Note 8 through our tests and see what happens. Here we go!

Unboxing the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8

The Redmi Note 8 is the typical Xiaomi you can get these days - the box contains a 10W charger, a USB-C cable, and a transparent silicone case.

Depending on your region, some Redmi Note 8 units will come with a factory-applied screen protector. And while it may not be the most premium piece of shielding, it's still very much appreciated.

Special thanks to GearBest for providing the review unit.