Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro review

Android Oreo and MIUI 9

Xiaomi's Android skin has seen a lot of popularity over the years, particularly in European and Chinese markets. MIUI is one of the more heavily modified OEM skins, and that's why it's enjoying more polarized opinions.

The Note 6 Pro features a fingerprint scanner on the back - it's always-on, very fast and accurate. You can also set up face unlock in addition to it - it's equally fast as the Note 6 wakes up the moment you pick it up. Note that the face unlock option isn't available in all regions. But then again, so it the phone.

There is no app drawer in MIUI, and there's never really been one except for a few custom themes that offer the shortcut. Of course, you can always install a third-party launcher if you really miss the app drawer.

Here are the default home screens on the Redmi Note 6 Pro. There's a weather widget in the upper right corner across from a large clock widget. There is a Quick Card pane, the leftmost one. It's quite similar to Today's page in iOS. It contains different cards with relevant information - recent apps, step counter, notes, calendar events, the weather, and favorites, among others. You can configure what shows up here, or you can disable this altogether.

Lockscreen • Home • notification • toggles • quick card

MIUI relies on virtual keys, but you can opt for gesture-based navigation instead. When enabled the bottom bar disappears completely. Swiping up from the bottom one acts like a home button but if you stop the gestures mid-way - you'll summon the task switcher (like on the iPhones). Swiping from the left or right sides of the screen acts as Back. Oh, and you can opt out of the notch, if you want.

The app switcher feels like it came out of iOS - apps are represented by appropriate thumbnails in the same manner, but there is an additional key for the Split Screen mode. MIUI 9 has native support for multi-tasking via the new Split Screen feature. It allows you to launch two apps side-by-side. All native apps support it and, luckily, all third-party apps with support for any kind of split screen mode work flawlessly on MIUI 9 side-by-side view.

App switch • multi-window • multi-window

Themes are supported on the Note 6, but just like with the face unlock, the app appears only when the phone is set to a supported region, say India.

Themes

MIUI also offers a Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps and allows you to define the battery behavior of selected apps and applies restrictions only to the apps you choose.

Security app • Cleaner • Battery management • Managing a single app • Battery Saver

MIUI also offers proprietary Gallery, Music, and Video player. FM radio app is available as well. Mi Remote is onboard to turn your Redmi Note 6 into a universal remote, too.

Multimedia

Performance and benchmarks

The Redmi Note 6 Pro, just like the Redmi Note 5 Pro and Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera, employs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset coupled with 3GB, 4GB, or 6GB of RAM. Our review unit has 4 gigs of RAM and 64GB storage.

The processor in charge of the Snapdragon 636 is an octa-core Kryo 260 CPU clocked at 1.8GHz, while there is an Adreno 509 to handle graphics.

Starting with some pure CPU tests (GeekBench), we see the Snapdragon 636 show plenty of raw power, as expected. It can pretty-much chew through any every-day task you throw at it. Still, the Helio P60 (Realme 1) is still in a league of its own, in this price range.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 1
  5741
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  5574
• Realme 2 Pro
  5531
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  4933
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  4918
• Xiaomi Mi Max 3
  4907
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  4625
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
  4388
• Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
  4313
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  4292
• Realme 2
  3881
• Huawei P20 Lite
  3756

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi A2
  1617
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  1595
• Realme 1
  1511
• Realme 2 Pro
  1462
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  1342
• Xiaomi Mi Max 3
  1331
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  1329
• Huawei P20 Lite
  938
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
  881
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  877
• Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
  848
• Realme 2
  790

Graphics on the Snapdragon 636 and consequently, the Redmi Note 6 Pro, are handled by an Adreno 509 GPU. It is designed to fluently manage FullHD+ resolutions, meaning it should feel right at home driving the 1080 x 2280 px panel.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi A2
  15
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  14
• Realme 2 Pro
  14
• Realme 1
  12
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  10
• Xiaomi Mi Max 3
  10
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  10
• Nokia 5.1 Plus
  9.6
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
  6.5
• Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
  6.4
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  6.4
• Realme 2
  6.1
• Huawei P20 Lite
  5.1

Of course, phones with 720p screens or similar have an advantage when it comes to real-life performance. Still, the Adreno 509 inside the Redmi Note 6 Pro is powerful enough to drive most popular Android games, without hiccups, anyway.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Nokia 5.1 Plus
  20
• Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
  14
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  14
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  13
• Realme 2
  12
• Realme 1
  12
• Realme 2 Pro
  12
• Xiaomi Mi Max 3
  9.8
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  9.7
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  9.7
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  6.3
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
  6.1
• Huawei P20 Lite
  4.9

Moving on to more compound loads and AnTuTu - it's a story with a happy end. We just love it when a chip performs as it is intended by market segmentation and delivers a great score on benchmarks.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Realme 1
  138524
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  136583
• Realme 2 Pro
  132958
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  130927
• Nokia 5.1 Plus
  119428
• Xiaomi Mi Max 3
  119229
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  115605
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
  115195
• Huawei P20 Lite
  87431
• Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (Redmi 6 Pro)
  77964
• Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
  77488
• Realme 2
  75434

The Snapdragon 636 performs admirably in the budget class. Its processor has more than enough oomph, while the balanced Adreno 509 does fine under 1080p screens. Other benefits are the 14nm manufacturing process, which makes the silicon quite power-efficient and it keeps it cool under peak load.

So, as far as the Redmi Note 6 performance is concerned - it's just brilliant. It packs enough punch to be competitive.