Redmi Note 8T Review - Introduction: How the NHS made me decide to get a Xiaomi
An introduction to what brought Majid to purchasing a Redmi Note 8T.
Xiaomi has really hit it out of the park over the last few years. Coming from relative obscurity in the West 5-6 years ago, to now being one of the biggest consumer electronics brands in the world. There have been major successes such as the Mi 9T, the Mi A Series, as well as sub-brands like Redmi and Pocophone. They have brought innovation, great features at amazing prices to audiences worldwide.
I have owned a number of Xiaomi devices in the past, from the original Redmi Note to the Mi 9T (Redmi K20). Every time I have been wowed by the design, the features and the value for money.
But… (there is always a but)
MIUI, Xiaomi’s version of Android, is not my favourite android skin (sorry Matteo, I mean distribution). I am not a “Stock” Android purist, I have had many different devices over the years, and things like One UI (from Smasung), LG UX (from, you guessed it, LG), EMUI (from Huawei), and others, each bring their own value and features to each device. I even wrote an ode to Samsung’s old TouchWiz once! (https://www.coolsmartphone.com/2016/08/24/an-ode-to-touchwiz-surprisingly/) and really liked One UI on my (stolen) Galaxy Note 9.
Just for clarification, I say “Stock” in quotes as there is really no such thing: there is the Android Open-source Project (AOSP) on which OEMs build their own experiences, Google included. My personal favourite is Oxygen OS from OnePlus which is fast, configurable and updated regularly.
MIUI is a bit too much for me. It looks and behaves too much like iOS (Apple’s mobile operating system). I think MIUI feels heavy, bloated, and full of unnecessary apps. I couldn’t disable or hide, let alone uninstall, the apps or services I didn’t want in most cases. MIUI 10 on the Xiaomi 9T (Redmi K20) has improved a lot in this space, but basically after using the OnePlus 7 Pro, I just couldn’t deal with MIUI, and so like many of my previous devices it got sold or passed on to someone who would benefit more from it.
I’m not a professional reviewer or influencer at Tech Travel Geeks yet, so companies haven’t sent me stuff to review recently. I have use my hard-earned cash when choosing and purchasing devices. So having made that clear, why did I end up purchasing a Redmi Note 8T?
The reason is my employer, the national institution which is the National Health Service also known as the NHS.
Now before you ask “what in the world of all that is holy in the Linux kernel”, I need to provide you with some context.
The NHS is a cash-strapped organisation, this isn’t big news to nobody. IT support and software vary widely round the country due to the nature of the regional organisation of the NHS and procurement being different and varying between Trusts and Hospitals. This is in part due to limited oversight from the Department of Health when it comes to the day-to-day running of the NHS. In this environment, its not surprising that IT has its challenges. Most machines with desktop operating systems are only just getting updated to Windows 10. Much software in use feels like it could have been written by an 8 yr old with Amiga BASIC, and there are also considerations around legal requirements of Information Governance and patient confidentiality in the mix.
There have been some successes withing the English NHS as well: I would like to give a shout out to Dr Li (https://twitter.com/ywl197) for his work in integrating patient records. There have also been successes in electronic patient observations and even tele-medicine. But these differ from hospital to hospital and do so wildly sometimes.
As a junior doctor, IT support wasn’t really front and centre for me. I was rotating around hospitals frequently, doing night-shifts, all while sitting professional Royal College exams. As long as I could do what i needed to do at work, then that was enough for me. That’s the sort of background to how I got my Lenovo Miix 510 (https://www.techtravelgeeks.com/blog/2018/10/10/the-perfect-travel-laptop-which-doesnt-break-your-wallet) which fulfilled my needs, and I had a desktop computer at home for when i needed to make presentations/write papers and needed a full desktop experience.
Now that I have been a consultant for almost 5 years and am a permanent employee of the NHS, my outlooks on matter have changed. When I look at my friends working in (non-healthcare) companies, i see they get company laptops, company phones, company cars and anything else they need to do their job.
Me? I just have my trusted Lenovo Miix and use whatever phone I own at that point. I could try and get a Trust-certified device, but I’m not sufficiently up the management food-chain for that yet.
I have at many times decided to use multiple devices at once, hence the hashtag #Dr2Phones, but I’m nowhere near our Chief Mobile Opinionist’s levels. This is probably because I’m a tech enthusiast (and seem to have no interest in paying enormous mortgage according to my wife). I like to try out different things and see what form factors and software experiences work for me. Having said that I have never reached the stage where i needed 6 phones (looking at you Matteo).
This all leads me to the situation where my personal phone and SIM card is what I use at work. I’ve always had some reservations about this, but as a Doctor it is what I have been doing for the 17 years. I just get it done. Most of my colleagues are in the same situation, and don’t seem to be having issues around this.
Recently this was now starting to have an impact on my personal life. I found myself replying to work emails when out on a Saturday night with friends or answering clinical queries via a WhatsApp from junior colleagues in the evening.
This situation has ramifications: I find difficulty switching off and detoxing from tech. I also found this was causing disruptions to my family-life and blurring of professional boundaries. Generally, this could have caused trouble.
Therefore at the beginning of this year (and decade), i resolved that it was time to compartmentalise fully. It was time to make a clear separation between my work and personal life. This meant that my personal phone number would be separate from my work number. I tried this on a dual SIM device, but again that was a non-starter as I just kept on getting “dragged back in” as Al Pacino said in The Godfather 3 because notifications still popped up.
I decided it was time for a new smartphone. Unfortunately, my stolen Samsung Galaxy Note 9 had left me severely out of pocket. I could have gone for a carrier provided device and SIM, but I couldn’t seem to find the right fit (is it me or has carrier choice/value in the UK decreased significantly?). Plus I already had another SIM and you always tend to save money buying outright over a couple of years.
As an NHS England Consultant Anesthesiologist what do I need from a work phone? Well, the same things you want from a good travel phone (see what I did there?).
The list is like this:
Good battery life
Descent performance
A reasonable camera (for scanning documents)
A nice screen to facilitate editing files
That’s basically about it. I also want a work device to be inexpensive. I am very conscious that I am lugging around almost £1000 worth of equipment in my bag at work, and security is a problem in some hospitals. I also work in operating theatres where there are communal areas outside the theatres themselves lockers are limited. The whole point of this exercise is to enable me to be contactable, especially in an emergency. There is no point in making the upgrade if your phone is sitting in your tiny locker and not getting used for what it’s for.
I thought of just getting something like the Nokia 1 or current equivalent budget smartphone. Frankly I needed and wanted a bit more horsepower, and whatever I thought of MIUI (Xiaomi’s Android distribution) I knew that Xiaomi was a brand I could trust with quality and security/OS updates rather than other branded devices. Yes I could have gone the whole hog and spent more and got something with enterprise-grade security (e.g. Samsung with Knox, Pixel with the Titan M chip or the recently departed Blackberry KeyNumber device) but the price factor always came back into play. Remmber, this was my own money I was spending.
I shopped around, and came across the Redmi Note 8T. It looked good on paper, the symmetry of having had the first Redmi Note in 2015 and now have the 8th one appealed to my sentimental side… And what I got for £150 astonished me.
This has been a bit of a long intro, thanks for reading all the way here if you made it. I hope the scroll indicator on Tech Travel Geeks caught your eye while you read.
And on that (Redmi) Note (8T), I’ll leave you dangling: Part 2, where I actually review the device, is coming soon to Tech Travel Geeks!
Huawei P30 Pro - All the Tech Travel Geeks Content
All the Tech Travel Geeks content about the Huawei P30 Pro. So shiny! Such good camera! Very power efficient! WOW!
The Tech Travel Geeks Chief Mobile Opinionist was a guest of Huawei’s at the launch of the Huawei P30 Series in Paris, France. The Tech Travel Geeks Chief Aperture Officer liked the Huawei P30 Pro so much, he decided to get one himself (in another colour).
Here you will find all the videos we will create for the Tech Travel Geeks YouTube Channel.
Huawei P30 Pro Breathing Crystal Unboxing - Paris
Unboxed on the day of the announcement. So fresh!
Huawei P30 Pro First Impressions - Shiny Powerhouse
A masterfully edited and filmed video. Well done to Lukasz.
Huawei P30 Pro Smart View Flip Cover Unpackaging & First Impressions
Unpackaging the case to keep the device shiny.
Huawei Mate 20 Lite Review - Great Value 6.3" Tease
Matteo, our Chief Mobile Opinionist, reviews the Huawei Mate 20 Lite. Is it just a 6.3” tease of what Huawei is going to announce or is it a more than capable product in its own right?
We are in the middle of a frenzy of smartphone launches just before the holiday season. Huawei teased us at IFA 2018 in Berlin with the announcement of the Kirin 980 chipset we are likely to see powering the Mate 20 Pro. At IFA they also announced the Huawei Mate 20 Lite, which is a 6.3” tease of what we may see announced on October 16th in London.
This is the Tech Travel Geeks review of the Huawei Mate 20 Lite, which I am writing after more than two weeks of use, while at home in Edinburgh and travelling on a road trip on the West Coast of the United States of America. During that time the review unit of the Huawei Mate 20 Lite has been using a 3 UK SIM card with Feel At Home Roaming in the USA. The review device was provided by Huawei and will be returned.
Huawei’s Mate range is its second half of the year flagship portfolio, essentially their toc to their tic-toc annual device release. In recent years both the Huawei P Series (the tic) and the Mate Series (the toc) have had “Lite” variants, which share many of the design language and some of the software of the Pro versions. To keep the price in check and justify the “Lite” moniker there are some necessary trade-offs in terms of specifications or materials, but overall you get a premium mid-range experience as well as some premium image and branding.
Huawei Mate 20 Lite Technical Specifications
Display: 6.3” 1080 x 2340 pixels IPS LCD, 19.5:9 ratio (~409 ppi density)
Chipset: Hisilicon Kirin 710, Octa-core (4x2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.7 GHz Cortex-A53), Mali-G51 MP4 GPU
Operating System: EMUI 8.2 (Android 8.1)
4GB RAM, 64GB Storage (expandable with up to an extra 256GB with MicroSD)
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth 4.2 LE
GPS, GLONASS, BDS
FM Radio
Rear camera: 20 MP, f/1.8, 27mm (wide), PDAF with 2 MP, depth sensor
Selfie camera: 24 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide) with 2 MP, depth sensor
3750 mAh battery
Design
The Huawei Mate 20 Lite feels like a true premium device, with a glass sandwich industrial design where the edges are rounded and the front and back glass are gently curved into the edges. The review device we were provided with is described as sapphire blue, and is much less punchy or shiny than what we saw in the phantom blue Honor 10, but tasteful and pleasantly reflective.
The right side of the device is where you will find the power button and volume rocker. There is nothing too exciting about the left side, apart from the hybrid dual SIM or SIM and MicroSD tray which sits flush with the rest of the edge.
There is little to report of the top edge of the device too: just a microphone hole.
The bottom edge of the Huawei Mate 20 Lite is where all the action happens: you’ll find a microphone hole, speaker grille, USB Type-C charging and data port, and a courage port (3.5mm audio jack port).
The front of the device is dominated by the 6.3” notched FHD+ (1080x2340) display and some very slim bezels. No fingerprint reader here (it’s on the back), and the notch has a speaker, sensors and a dual-selfie camera setup (24MP + 2MP).
The back of the Huawei Mate 20 Lite is where you will find the dual-camera setup (20MP + 2MP), single LED flash and fingerprint reader. The camera and fingerprint reader are in vertical configuration, where there is some subtle striping to highlight the area embedded in the surrounding glass.
Overall the Mate 20 Lite is pleasant to hold, has a reassuring heft to it and is well balanced.
Performance & Experience
The performance of the Huawei Mate 20 Lite was excellent: throughout the fortnight using the device I noticed no slowdowns in heavy everyday use and gaming (Goat Simulator). I even used it to play Pokemon Go occasionally and had no issues and experienced good battery life. Huawei have done a good job here: the 12 nm Kirin 710 chipset is powerful and efficient. Paired with 4GB of RAM and EMUI’s resource management most users won’t really have any issues or know that this is a “Lite” device.
EMUI is Huawei’s Android distribution on the Mate 20 Lite. In this case it is EMUI 8.2, based on Android Oreo 8.1. At time of writing the review device had the July 2018 security patch.
As with previous Huawei and Honor devices, the launcher has a certain fruitiness to it by default, but it is relatively simple to add a drawer if needed. I had no issues installing third party launchers, provided I remembered to change the default launcher to it in the settings.
EMUI contains a very long list of features and optimisations. To put it simply, it is one of the most complete if not overly fruity Android distributions out there. There is a lot to like, and in look and feel it differs from Google’s Android experience quite a lot.
Cameras
The 20MP and 2MP dual-camera setup on the back is impressive for this category of device. In good lighting conditions the pictures were clear and packed plenty of punch. In low light it performed well and with night mode on and small tripod delivers some amazing low light shots.
An AI toggle in the camera interface enables you to allow the Mate 20 Lite to optimise camera settings according to what Huawei’s AI recognises in scene. There are 22 different types of scene which can be detected, and overall I found this useful. Depending on camera mode (AI on or off) there can be some excessive smoothing, but overall most people will find the camera results impressive and ideal for use on social media.
The video recording maxes out at Full HD 1080p at 30fps. For most users this is more than enough and the results are pleasant and carry plenty of detail and have good colour reproduction.
The 24MP and 2MP dual-selfie camera setup is ideal for Snapchat or Instagram sotries and provides a slew of filters, overlays as well as 3D Qmojis which replicate your face and expressions in cartoonish characters. If you go for more traditional selfies, it is a good camera once you find your preferred beautification levels. Portrait mode is the best in this smartphone category.
EMUI features of the camera, such as AI and Qmoji are definitely a feature which adds value to this premium mid-range device.
If there were one change I could make to the device, it would affect two features: an increased battery, maybe an extra 500 mAh, which would also make it slightly thicker and do away with the protruding camera modules on the back. Apart from that it is my personal opinion that Huawei’s team have put together an excellent product which as part of the overall Mate 20 series push will perform very well in its market segment.
Overall the Huawei Mate 20 Lite is an excellent device for the premium mid-range segment it sits in: plenty of power, good battery life, capable cameras and an overall premium experience and ergonomics.
At time of writing, the Huawei Mate 20 Lite retails for £379 SIM free or on a pay as you go basis in the UK. This equates to approximately 400 Euro or 500 US Dollars. For that you not only get a good value smartphone, but the looks and brand power Huawei is starting to be well known and admired for.
As we opened this review, I shall close it: the Huawei Mate 20 Lite is 6.3” tease for what is to come. If you are not really too fussed about spending a large sum of money on the best devices on the market, but still want a good smartphone which will perform well and satisfy most user needs, the Huawei Mate 20 Lite is a good option to consider.
I also took the Huawei Mate 20 Lite onto All About Android on TWiT TV. Below you will find a video of my review while I was in the studio and one of our unboxing.