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Extended Evaluation of Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G: A decent mobile that could have had a more reasonable price tag
While there's no significant issue with this mobile, there are superior options at the same price level, many of which are from the same parent corporation.
Advantages: The construction and finishing are of high quality. It has an IP54 rating for dust and splash protection. The AMOLED screen is bright and clear, with Dolby Vision. The processing hardware is satisfactory. The primary camera is capable. The battery lasts a good while, and it features 67
Downsides: MIUI is nearly impossible to use. The macro camera is subpar, with focus problems when used up close. The pricing could be more affordable to compete better in
Score: 3.5 out of 5 Cost: Between Rs 25,999 and Rs 29,999
Xiaomi has been in India for ten years, and their Note series phones continue to be some of the most sought-after smartphones in the region. Initially, they were known for their affordable, high-performance phones that provided excellent value. However, in recent years, they've transitioned to a more upscale category by introducing more advanced features. Their newest Redmi Note 13 series is likely the most expensive to date.
Currently, the series includes three phone models – the Note 13, Note 13 Pro, and Note 13 Pro+. These phones vary in terms of processing power, features, and cost. Today, we are focusing on the Note 13 Pro, which is positioned as a middle option between the other two. The smartphone market in India, particularly in the 25K to 30K range, is intensely competitive and offers many great choices. Will the Redmi Note 13 Pro be able to stand out in this crowd? Let's uncover the answer.
The aesthetic of the Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G is not particularly unique, but it is pleasing to the eye. We were given the Aurora Purple version to examine, which has a gentle and soothing color scheme. Despite its plastic framework, the construction and finishing touches are commendable, particularly the frosted glass back. Although there's no explicit mention of scratch resistance, our unit has remained scratch-free for about a month now, thanks to our careful handling.
The rear of the phone doesn't show fingerprints or smears, and the same goes for the frame. The phone doesn't have any coarse sides and feels comfortable to hold due to its well-balanced weight. Weighing around 187 grams, the phone is relatively thin with a thickness of 8 mm. The screen borders are impressively narrow, a feature appreciated in mid-budget phones. The right side of the phone houses the volume and power buttons, whereas the left side is entirely empty.
The base edge features a SIM tray, a speaker, and a USB-C port for charging. The corresponding speaker can be found on the top edge, accompanied by a 3.5 mm jack for headphones and an IR blaster. The phone also offers an in-display fingerprint scanner that functions properly, although its position could be slightly higher on the screen for easier access. The volume control and power button are conveniently placed.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G's display is one of its standout features. The phone comes equipped with a 6.67-inch AMOLED display that surpasses Full HD with a resolution of 2712 x 1220 pixels. It features a variable refresh rate of 120 Hz, which fluctuates between 30 Hz and 120 Hz based on the content being shown, and a maximum brightness of 1800 nits. What sets it apart from most phones is its 12-bit display that supports nearly 68 billion colour shades. While this is an impressive feature, there's currently limited content that can fully utilize it.
The display of the Note 13 Pro is compatible with Dolby Vision, enhancing the look of videos in that HDR format with improved brightness and contrast. The screen is shielded from potential damage such as scratches and cracks by a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus layer. The screen's clarity and color fidelity are outstanding in Standard mode, and the Vivid mode is quite impressive too. Additionally, there's a Saturated mode that makes colors more vibrant, though it's not precisely accurate. There are also options for manual screen calibration, which allow for adjustments in color temperature, hue, saturation, contrast, and gamma.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G: Device Specifications and Performance (3.5/5) – Xiaomi could have certainly improved in this aspect, however, let's have a look at the features it provides. The Redmi Note 13 Pro operates on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor, supported by an 8GB or 12GB LPDDR4X RAM. Storage options include 128GB or 256GB UFS 2.2. Unfortunately, there's no slot for a memory card to increase storage. Although it's unlikely to expect UFS 4.0 storage in this price range, the company could have chosen to use the quicker UFS 3.1 storage as opposed to 2.2.
Returning to the SoC, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 manages everyday tasks adequately, but lacks the power of the similarly titled Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chip, as we will further discuss later in this section. Its performance is satisfactory for routine tasks such as utilizing social media apps, taking photos, surfing the web, watching videos, or toggling between several apps. It's also capable of running most of the latest games, but to attain a suitable frame rate, the graphic settings must be scaled down substantially.
The phone maintains a stable temperature even with sustained usage and doesn't display significant decrease in performance when heavily used, which is impressive. The only downside is the limited processing strength of this Qualcomm chipset, which does not seem to match up to the latest Snapdragon 7 grade processors. To get a better understanding, let's compare some widely used benchmark scores with those of the Poco F5, which uses a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 processor.
In the Geekbench 6 evaluation, the Note 13 Pro achieved scores of 1027 for single-core tests and 2945 for multi-core tests. When compared, the Poco F5 secured 1133 and 4346 in the same tests. In the PCMark Work 3.0 benchmark, the Note 13 Pro scored 11,633, whereas the Poco F5 scored 13,419. The most noticeable performance disparity was in the gaming benchmarks, with the F5's scores nearly 2.5 times higher than the Redmi's. In the 3D Mark Wild Life benchmark, the two phones scored 7396 and 3024 with an average fps of 44.3 and 18.1 respectively.
The Poco F5's 3D Mark scores are nearly on the same level as the OnePlus Nord 3, which uses a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chip, another well-liked and stronger phone that costs less than 30K. Although the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 is decent for a phone priced under 25K, it appears slightly less robust for a device costing less than 30K. Apart from that, there's hardly any issues and little to no cause for dissatisfaction.
The speakers deliver a robust, clear sound with good stereo distinction. Both call quality and reception tested well on this 5G-compatible device. It offers wireless connection features such as Bluetooth 5.2 and dual-band WiFi that is compatible with a/b/g/n/ac formats. However, for wired data transfers, the device only supports USB 2.0 through its USB-C outlet.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G operates on Android 13 and MIUI 14. As someone who has previously used a phone with MIUI, I was prepared for the experience. The user interface isn't overly complex, even for those transitioning from a non-Xiaomi Android phone. However, the overall usage can feel overloaded due to excessive preinstalled applications. Furthermore, the frequent irrelevant notifications add to the disruption and hinder productivity.
It's acknowledged that this is a method to control the cost, but it's high time for Xiaomi to either halt this or at least control it. Currently, once the mobile is operational, the flood of alerts and notifications can be intense, leading to a very poor user experience. I tend to refer to these user interfaces as clutter-ware. We must also remember, it adversely affects battery life.
Indeed, it is possible to uninstall many, but not all, of the pre-installed apps and disable numerous notifications if you put in the effort. However, this could be a task that a typical user may not wish to or may not be aware they can perform. It's anticipated that HyperOS will rectify this issue; we can always remain optimistic. The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G is predicted to receive an Android 14 update that includes HyperOS shortly.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G has three rear cameras, including a 200MP main camera with optical image stabilization, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP macro lens. The manufacturer hasn't provided any details about the sensors used in these cameras. However, it is noticeable that the primary camera does the majority of the work, whereas the other two mostly contribute to the overall count, with the macro lens being particularly notable in this regard.
The 8MP ultra-wide camera, with its 118-degree field of view, performs quite well under favorable lighting conditions. The images it captures possess a satisfactory level of detail, especially if you're not scrutinizing them too closely and mainly plan to post them on social media. Interestingly, there were instances when the dynamic range even outperformed the primary camera when the lighting was good, as demonstrated by the waterfront pictures taken. A link to the original, unaltered photos can be found at the end of this segment.
Stay away from utilizing the ultra-wide camera in dim lighting conditions and instead, use the primary camera. As for the main camera, it is a 200MP unit that operates with 16:1 pixel binning, producing 12.5MP pictures. The output quality is generally impressive, with accurate color representation, dynamic range, and detail under adequate lighting most of the time. There's also the added feature of being able to capture 200MP photos if you plan to trim a section of them afterwards.
This phone doesn't have a telephoto camera, but it does feature 2X and 4X zoom options within its camera application. These zoom options cleverly utilize the phone's 200 megapixel capacity. The resulting images from the 2X and 4X zoom are quite impressive and contain a lot of detail. However, contrary to the manufacturer's claims, they are not lossless. Still, the images are perfectly fine to use up to 4X zoom in well-lit conditions and up to 2X zoom in dim lighting. Any zooming beyond these limits often results in fuzzy and grainy pictures.
The primary camera is extremely adept at taking photos in dim lighting conditions, especially when Night mode is activated. Intriguingly, the colors appear much more precise when Night mode is not in use, but there is a notable decline in detail. With Night mode on, the pictures taken are distinctly sharp, with hardly any noise and a decent level of detail. Some color hues may alter slightly, but not to an extent that they look vastly dissimilar. However, considering this is a phone priced under 30K, the performance is beyond satisfactory.
The images of people taken with the portrait mode are generally good, showing clear distinction, but the results can be inconsistent for other subjects. Minor focus problems can occur when taking photos from a distance of around 20 to 30 cm from an object, as evidenced in some sample photos. This isn't necessarily macro photography, for which there's a specific 2MP camera, however, this isn't much to be excited about, like most 2MP macro cameras. The photos taken usually appear quite lifeless.
The front-facing camera of the Redmi Note 13 Pro, with 16MP, takes satisfactory selfies, although it's not particularly outstanding. It's capable of recording videos at a 1080p resolution, with a choice of 30 or 60 frames per second. The phone's rear cameras can record videos at a maximum resolution of 4K at 30 frames per second, and at 1080p they can go up to 60 frames per second, with gyro EIS support. The device also allows the recording of slow-motion videos in Full HD at 120 frames per second, and in 720p resolution at a maximum of 240 frames per second. The 1080p and 4K videos captured appear clean and well-stabilised.
For uncompressed photos taken with the Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G, follow this link:
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G has a decent battery life (rated 4 out of 5), especially after removing some default apps and turning off unnecessary alerts. The phone is equipped with a 5100 mAh battery, which can roughly last a day and a half with medium usage. The manufacturer provides a 67W fast charger that is supposed to fully charge the phone in 44 minutes. However, in our tests, it took 52 minutes to reach full charge from zero using the provided charger. Although it's not the quickest on the market, it's still a satisfactory performance.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G is retailing for Rs 25,999 for the model with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage, Rs 27,999 for the version with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, and Rs 29,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage model. After evaluating its specifications and functioning, we believe Xiaomi could have been more aggressive with its pricing. After all, the Redmi Note is traditionally competitively priced. The phone is definitely not a poor choice, offering a range of features and satisfactory performance. However, it faces tough competition in its market segment.
Let's explore other alternatives within this budget range, beginning with Poco's internal competition. The Poco F5 5G's 256GB model, featuring a stronger SoC, can be acquired for less than 30K. Additionally, the Poco X6 Pro 5G, equipped with a superior Dimensity D8300 Ultra SoC, is available for well under 30K. Specifically, its 512GB model is priced at Rs 27,999. Also, the Poco X6 5G's 256GB version, powered by a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip, can be bought for as low as 21K. For those seeking alternatives outside of Xiaomi, particularly those desiring a more streamlined UI, the OnePlus Nord 3 5G is available for Rs 28,999.
Even though it comes with a substantially more robust MediaTek Dimensity 9000 processor, the available storage for this model within this price range is only 128GB. It's also important to mention that all the Poco models we discussed are equipped with a 64MP main camera with OIS, whereas the Nord 3 features a 50MP camera with OIS, and the Redmi Note 3 5G boasts a 200MP primary camera with OIS. Other than that, the features are fairly similar. If you don't mind sacrificing some megapixels, the Poco models could provide better value, unless you come across the Redmi Note 13 Pro with 256GB storage for less than 25K.
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