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Long-term Assessment of Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G: A decent phone that could have had a more competitive price
While there's no major issue with this phone, there are superior options at the same cost, many of which are from the same parent corporation.
Advantages: Solid construction and excellent finish. Rated IP54 for dust and splash protection. Bright and clear AMOLED screen with Dolby Vision. Adequate processing capabilities. Reliable primary camera. Strong battery life with 67W fast charging feature.
Drawbacks: MIUI is nearly impossible to use. The macro camera is substandard, with focusing problems when used up close. The pricing could be more attractive.
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 well-liked mobile devices in the nation. Initially, they were regarded as high-quality budget phones providing excellent value for the cost. However, in recent years, they have progressed towards a more luxury bracket by introducing some advanced features. The most recent Redmi Note 13 series is potentially the most expensive so far.
Currently, the series includes three models – the Note 13, Note 13 Pro, and Note 13 Pro+. They ascend in terms of processing capabilities, features, and cost. Today, we're examining the Note 13 Pro, which aims to strike a balance between its two counterparts. The Indian smartphone market in the price range of 25K to 30K is incredibly competitive, offering a plethora of great choices. Will the Redmi Note 13 Pro be able to establish its own unique spot in this market? Let's delve in and see.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G doesn't have an exceptional design, but it's still visually appealing. We reviewed the Aurora Purple model, which is pleasing to look at due to its soft color tones. Even though the frame is made of plastic, the construction and detailing are quite impressive, particularly the frosted glass back. There's no information regarding scratch resistance, but we have not observed any scratches on it over the past few weeks. However, we take great care in handling our devices.
The rear of the phone doesn't pick up fingerprints or smudges, and this is also true for the frame. The phone is smooth with no jagged edges and feels comfortable to hold due to its evenly distributed weight. Weighing approximately 187 grams, the phone is reasonably thin with an 8 mm thickness. It's impressive to see the extremely narrow screen bezels on a mid-tier phone. The volume controls and the power button are situated on the phone's right edge, whereas the left edge is entirely unoccupied.
The lower end contains a SIM card slot, a speaker, and a USB-C port for charging. The top end houses the other speaker, a 3.5 mm jack for headphones, and an IR blaster. There's a fingerprint scanner embedded in the display that functions well, but it would be more accessible if it were positioned an inch higher on the screen. The positioning of the volume control and power button is satisfactory.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G's display is one of its standout features. The phone comes equipped with a 6.67-inch AMOLED screen that offers a resolution surpassing Full HD, measuring at 2712 x 1220 pixels. The display also features a variable refresh rate of 120 Hz, which adjusts between 30 Hz to 120 Hz depending on what is being shown on the screen. It can reach a maximum brightness of 1800 nits. Unlike many other phones, the Note 13 Pro features a 12-bit display, supporting nearly 68 billion different color shades. However, there isn't much content currently available that can fully utilize this feature.
The screen of the Note 13 Pro is compatible with Dolby Vision, allowing videos in that HDR format to appear more lively with superior contrast. The display is safeguarded from possible scratches and cracks by a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus layer. The precision and color quality are top-notch in Standard mode, and the Vivid mode is also quite impressive. It also features a Saturated mode that enhances colors, although it's not entirely precise. Additionally, there are settings for manual screen calibration which include options for adjusting color temperature, hue, saturation, contrast, and gamma.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G's hardware and performance scored a 3.5/5. While Xiaomi could have made some improvements in this category, let's take a look at what it offers. The device is driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip, with a choice of either 8GB or 12GB LPDDR4X RAM. It also has two storage options – 128GB or 256GB UFS 2.2. Unfortunately, there isn't a slot for an additional memory card. Although it would be unrealistic to expect UFS 4.0 storage at this price range, Xiaomi could have chosen to use the slightly faster UFS 3.1 storage instead of the UFS 2.2.
Regarding the SoC, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 demonstrates acceptable performance in daily operations, but it's notably inferior to the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chip, a point which will be further illustrated later in this section. Its performance suffices for regular tasks like using social media, taking photos, browsing the internet, streaming videos, or multitasking. It can also run most recent games, although it requires reducing the graphics settings significantly to achieve a satisfactory frame rate.
The phone maintains a steady temperature, even with continuous usage, and its performance remains relatively stable under stress, which is commendable. However, the Qualcomm chip used in this phone lacks substantial processing power and doesn't seem to live up to the standards of the latest Snapdragon 7 series processors. For a clearer understanding, let's compare some common benchmark scores with those of the Poco F5, which uses a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 processor.
In the Geekbench 6 tests, the Note 13 Pro achieved scores of 1027 and 2945 in single and multi-core tests, respectively. In contrast, the Poco F5 scored 1133 and 4346 in the same tests. In the PCMark Work 3.0 benchmark, the Note 13 Pro posted a score of 11,633, while the Poco F5 scored 13,419. The most significant gap in performance was observed in gaming benchmarks, where the F5 scores were almost 2.5 times higher than the Redmi. In the 3D Mark Wild Life benchmark, the two phones scored 7396 and 3024 with average frames per second of 44.3 and 18.1, respectively.
Interestingly, the Poco F5's 3D Mark scores are nearly comparable to those of the OnePlus Nord 3, which uses a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chip, a highly sought-after and stronger phone priced under 30K. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 isn't a bad choice for a phone priced under 25K, but it seems a bit lacking in power for a device in the sub-30K range. Aside from that, there are typically no significant issues or complaints.
The speakers deliver robust and resonant audio with satisfactory stereo distinction. The call reception and quality proved satisfactory when tested on this 5G-compatible device. The phone provides wireless connection options such as Bluetooth 5.2 and dual-band WiFi that supports a/b/g/n/ac standards. However, for wired data transfer, the phone only supports USB 2.0 via the USB-C port.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G operates on Android 13 and uses the MIUI 14 interface. From previous experience with MIUI, I had an idea of what to anticipate. The interface isn't overly complex to understand, even for those transitioning from a different Android device. However, the overall user experience feels congested due to the excessive pre-installed bloatware. To make matters worse, the device constantly bombards the user with irrelevant notifications, which can be distracting and hinder productivity.
We comprehend that this is a method for maintaining a stable price, but it's high time Xiaomi either halted or at least controlled this. Currently, after setting up the phone, the onslaught of notifications and alerts can be quite daunting, leading to a very poor user experience. I like to refer to such user interfaces as clutter-ware. Additionally, it's important to remember that this also detrimentally affects the battery life.
Indeed, a number of these pre-installed apps can be removed (though not all), and various alerts can be turned off if you're willing to go through the process. However, this could be a chore that a typical user might not be keen on or might not even realize is possible. Hopefully, this is something HyperOS will tackle; we can certainly keep our fingers crossed. The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G is predicted to receive an Android 14 upgrade featuring HyperOS in the near future.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G's camera quality is rated at 3.5 out of 5. This phone is equipped with a triple camera setup on the rear, consisting of a 200MP main camera with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS), an 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. The company hasn't provided details about the types of sensors employed in these cameras. However, it's apparent that the primary camera is responsible for the majority of the photography work, with the other two cameras acting as supplementary, particularly the macro camera.
The 8MP ultra-wide lens, which offers a 118-degree field of view, performs quite well under good lighting conditions. The images it produces are reasonably detailed, making them ideal for sharing on social media platforms, as long as you don't scrutinize them too closely. Surprisingly, the dynamic range of this camera sometimes outperforms the primary camera when there is ample light, as evident from the waterfront images taken. You can find the original, unedited photos at the end of this section.
Stay clear of utilizing the ultra-wide camera when light is minimal and instead, rely on the primary camera under such circumstances. Discussing the primary camera, it's a 200MP unit that does 16:1 pixel binning and takes 12.5MP photos. The outcomes are generally satisfactory all-round with high-quality color fidelity, dynamic range, and detail predominantly in appropriate lighting. There's also the possibility of taking 200MP photos if you plan on cropping a portion of them afterward.
This phone lacks a telephoto camera, however, it provides 2X and 4X zoom options within the camera application. This is achieved through intelligent use of the available 200 megapixels. The images taken at 2X and 4X zoom are quite decent, displaying plenty of detail. However, they are not lossless as advertised by the company. Even so, they are sufficiently clear for use up to 4X in well-lit conditions and up to 2X in dim lighting. Any zoom beyond these limits tends to result in blurry and grainy pictures.
The primary camera performs exceptionally well in dim lighting conditions when Night mode is activated. Interestingly, the color accuracy seems to be better when Night mode is not in use, but the overall image details are considerably lower. When using Night mode, the images taken are clearly sharp with very little noise and a decent level of detail. Some color hues may be slightly altered, but not so much that the images look drastically altered. However, considering we're discussing a phone that costs less than 30,000, the performance is definitely satisfactory.
The portrait photos generally turn out fairly well when taking pictures of people, showing good distinction, but the results may vary with different subjects. The camera also presents minor problems with focus when taking photos from a distance of about 20 to 30 cm from an object; the results can be unpredictable, as demonstrated in the sample images. This is not quite macro photography, for which there is a specific 2MP camera, but the quality isn't impressive, just like other 2MP macro cameras. Most of the time, the images captured appear lackluster.
The front camera of 16MP on the Redmi Note 13 Pro takes satisfactory selfies, though not extraordinary. It has the capability to film videos in 1080p at either 30 or 60 frames per second. The phone's back cameras can film up to 4K resolution videos at 30 frames per second and 1080p videos at up to 60 frames per second, with gyro EIS support. The device also enables you to record slow-motion videos in Full HD at 120 frames per second and in 720p resolution at a maximum of 240 frames per second. Both the 1080p and 4K recorded videos appear clean with adequate stabilization.
Tap this link to view high-quality photo samples taken with the Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G:
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G boasts a commendable battery life (4/5). The longevity of the battery can be significantly improved by uninstalling some pre-existing apps and turning off unnecessary notifications. Powered by a 5100 mAh battery, the Note 13 Pro 5G can last for approximately a day and a half with moderate usage. The provided 67W rapid charger is advertised to fully charge the phone in 44 minutes. However, during our trial, it took around 52 minutes to charge from 0 to 100 percent with the included charger. While it might not be the fastest available, it's definitely satisfactory.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G is available at a cost of Rs 25,999 for the version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, Rs 27,999 for the model with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, and Rs 29,999 for the one with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. Reviewing its capabilities and functioning, we believe Xiaomi could have set a more competitive price, given that the Redmi Note series is known for its affordability. The phone is not bad by any means, providing a variety of features and respectable performance. However, it faces fierce competition in its category.
Let's explore the other choices within this price range, beginning with Poco's internal competition. The Poco F5 5G with a stronger SoC and 256GB storage can be bought for less than 30K. There's also the Poco X6 Pro 5G, equipped with a superior Dimensity D8300 Ultra SoC and priced well below 30K, particularly the 512GB model which is available at Rs 27,999. We should also consider the 256GB Poco X6 5G, powered by a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor, and priced as low as 21K. For those seeking options outside of Xiaomi, particularly those desiring a simpler user interface, the OnePlus Nord 3 5G is available for Rs 28,999.
Despite being equipped with the significantly stronger MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chip, this variant only offers 128GB of storage within this price range. It's important to point out that each of the Poco phones we discussed comes with a 64MP main camera with OIS, compared to the Nord 3's 50MP camera with OIS, and the Redmi Note 3 5G's 200MP main camera with OIS. The remainder of the features are largely similar. If you're willing to compromise on the additional megapixels, then the Poco phones may be a more cost-effective choice, unless you come across the 256GB version of the Redmi Note 13 Pro for less than 25K.
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