Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S - All The Tech Travel Geeks Content
This is where you will find all the Tech Travel Geeks content we have created about the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S is available to purchase on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3bFaHB3
The gallery above is of the device and will be used in All About Android. Subscribe at TWiT.tv/aaa
As time goes by and we release more content, we will add it here.
Feel free to leave a comment if you have any feedback or questions.
Redmi Note 8T Review - The Actual Review
Majid actually gets round to reviewing the Redmi Note 8T after his long introduction.
Ok, with all that preamble and context out of the way, why did I choose the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T? At TechTravelGeeks.com we are no stranger to Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone and consumer electronics brand. You can check out our videos of the Xiaomi Mi 9T on the Tech Travel Geeks YouTube Channel.
Frankly, the decision all came down to the price and the device’s value proposition. As stated in the my introduction, I needed something inexpensive, but also with reasonable grunt and a promise of some updates. Put these 3 ingredients together into your mixing bowl and Xiaomi is one of the first brands that comes to mind (Honourable mentions to Huawei/Honor & Moto G in this segment).
So, having been burnt recently by eBay (did I mention something about a stolen Note 9…) and because I have the benefits of Amazon Prime, i headed to Amazon.
What I saw on Jeff’s site was astonishing: a phone with a quad camera, waterdrop FHD+ display, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage (plus Microsd expansion), dual SIM, Snapdragon 665 (which is roughly on par with the 835 or the 710) for close to £150 ($200). Dubious? Check it out on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/38b9LTR
Subsequent research found that this was the T model with the extra RAM and base storage. A standard Note 8 with 3GB/32GB is available for about £140, and a Pro version with a 64MP Camera and 6GB RAM 128/256gb of storage can be had at just around £200 (depending on storage).
I am sorry but this to me is just silly. This amount of computing power at this price? I did a little bit of digging around in the reviews and apparently the 3GB version is a bit under-powered. But that didn’t change anything. I ended up clicking the “Buy Now” button.
But we all know that specs don’t tell the full story. Samsung have for many years had top-of-the-line specs but stuttery performance. LG sometimes bring great innovation, but are largely ignored. Even the Google Pixels have a tendency to slow down over time. iPhones have tended to offer better experiences than their specs may suggest. I’m not even going to go into synthetic benchmarks, they may have a role in comparisons of chipsets (like when I was trying to figure out what kind of performance to expect from the 665) . But in the end real-life performance is what counts.
HARDWARE
The Note 8T is a veritable sight to behold. Yes its the usual glass sandwich, but it feels really well built, lovely to hold. In the white finish that i have, frankly it felt like an iPhone 11 (which is £600 more expensive). It just oozes quality. I’ve asked unsuspecting friends and family how much they think it costs and most reply between £400 and £500.
There is a 6.3 inch FHD IPS LCD display. Its a pretty good display, good viewing angles and colour reproduction. Sometime you get a bit of LCD back-light glare and it wont beat the AMOLED screens out there, but it’s still really good for content consumption via YouTube or Netflix. I’ve been using a curved screen (my OnePlus 7 Pro) and I actually found it refreshing to go back to a flat screen. I think curved screens may start going out of fashion as they can cause distortion at certain viewing angles though no doubt they are more immersive.
The back has one of my favourite features, a rear mounted fingerprint scanner. I love the ergonomics of these and whilst the in-display tech may be cool, it’s just functionally not as good
The bottom has 3.5mm jack, or as Matteo would call it a Courage Port, and a USB-C charging port. There is a down facing speaker which is a bit tinny and lacks base, but is perfectly fine for my uses.
On the side is the dual SIM tray, which can house 2 nano-sims + Micro SD card. This makes it extremely versatile. NFC is also on-board for all your contactless needs.
SOFTWARE
Out of the Box the device runs MIUI 10 on top of Android 9 Pie. However on first boot, the device updates to MIUI 11. MIUI has a reputation for being an iOS clone, and I can see why, no app drawer and similar shortcuts folders, even the colour palette in the settings. But I must say this iteration has definitely got a look and feel of its own and doesnt feel like some rip-off.
I thought this iOS-ness would annoy me. Which it often does. The lack of an app drawer, as found on other Android devices is annoying. Yes, i know I can get a third party launcher. But I’m actually going to stick with it for as long as I can. It works well, incorporates a lot of the gesture navigation from Android 10, Split-Screen is better than “stock” and it is heavily customisable with a dedicated theme store. I am annoyed that there are a lot of pre-installed apps which I can’t hide or disable. Bear in mind my use case though.
This is a device I am using specifically for work. I am not going to have the 300+ apps on it as I do on my OnePlus 7 Pro. Its gonna have some Office, Email, Messaging and specific medical apps. This means even with a bit of folder chicanery, i can have a single homescreen. Lets see how long this lasts. There is a degree of duplication of apps (Mi Browser + Chrome, Mi Cloud + Google Drive) but that’s not unexpected. Whilst i dont expect to be able to uninstall the Mi apps, the fact that the Google services were system apps was surprising as I thought European rules had stopped them doing so.
There’s a stack of data management and battery management tools to keep your device running smoothly and as it was “out of the box”. It’s a very granular system and means that you can fully control what each app is doing or can do with your battery and precious data. Stop background data, stop cellular data and more – it’s all there and it’s very easy to understand. You can even decide how the notch looks/behaves!
There is the odd bit of “weirdness”, bluetooth not connecting properly or the Wifi Hotspot being a bit hit-and-miss. Nothing too serious, and it is somethhing that i’ve noticed with XIaomi and MIUI devices before. I’m assuming its software related. Not a deal-breaker though.
PERFORMANCE
I was very happy with the performance. The Snapdragon 665 is verry similar to the 835 of a few years ago. I had no slowdowns, at times there were minute stutters, but I have a feeling this is more to do with miui then anything. The RAM management is aggressive, but since I’m running a relatively small number of apps it wasnt an issue for me. Video playback and Sound quality were good. I think proper AAA gaming might be a bit of a push, but it wouldnt have any problem with most titles.
BATTERY
The Note 8T come with 4000mA battery, and with an 18W Fast-charger. There are reviews out there talking of 2 day battery-life. MIUI does have a raft of power-management tools and I actually think this is achievable. Now, I have to qualify this by saying that this is a second device therefore doesn’t get as much use as my primary device. But the fact remains that 24+ hrs after I took it off the charger it still has 55% battery-life left means this is a bloody champ. Very Impressed. It finally died over two days later
CAMERA
The device has an AI enhanced quad camera system, with a 48MP main lens, with an 8MP wide-angle lens, and a 2MP Macro lens, AND another 2MP depth sensor. All of this means its actually a damn good camera. HDR is switched off by default (for some reason) but all the photos come out very reasonable indeed. There is some degradation of quality in low-light situations, and the Night Mode doesnt do much to enhance night shots. But still good nonetheless. The 13MP front sensor is reasonable at selfies too, with a dedicated portrait mode
Anyway, here are some samples
The Video is slightly more nuanced. There is Full HD upto 60fps, whilst eh front facing 13MP sensor maxes out at 1080p@30fps. It seems 4K isnt stabilised, and can be quite choppy. This is also slightly noticeable 1080@60fps, but it wasnt as significant or obvious as the 4k footage. I had a bit of difficulty uploading these, so unfortunately you’ll just have to take my word for it! Maybe we’ll be able to host them on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/techtravelgeeks
CONCLUSION
You know that thing of “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”? Well, this device might prove me wrong. It really has made me think of some preconceptions I had about mobile devices. We have such amazing computer power in our phones, that an unashamedly budget device could legitimately giving an experience up there with the top-end (maybe even flagship) devices. Frankly it could be the daily driver for many people and nobody would even realise the low price.
So in conclusion, I can recommend the device wholeheartedly. Majid says….YES
You can purchase the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T here: https://amzn.to/38b9LTR
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!
Xiaomi Mi 9T (Redmi K20) - All the Tech Travel Geeks videos
All the Xiaomi Mi 9T (Redmi K20) videos by the Tech Travel Geeks in one place: the review, the unboxing, the sample video and the case Matteo is using.
In July I ended up buying a Xiaomi Mi 9T from eGlobal Central and have been loving it since it was delivered.
Lukasz, our Chief Aperture Officer, and I have made a few videos for the Tech Travel Geeks YouTube Channel about the Xiaomi Mi 9T. It is now time to share them with you here on the website too.
We really enjoyed making these videos, and overall it is a device which has earned the honour of housing one of my main SIM cards.
Would you like to know more? Is there anything we haven’t covered and you have questions about? Reach out to us on Twitter, leave a comment on this post or on any of our YouTube videos. We are happy to geek out about this excellent device.
This Week in Mobile - This Fortnight in Mobile
Matteo sums up the last couple of weeks and rants about Ryanair.
Welcome to This Week in Mobile (TWiM), Tech Travel Geeks' weekly column covering what has happened in the world of mobile. If we haven't covered it on Tech Travel Geeks we'll link to the best content on the web.
Spring in Edinburgh, shot on the Meizu 15. #Meizu15
We skipped a week of TWiM as we have been busy. Lukasz is bouncing around the Pacific doing sightseeing and extreme sports, while I’ve been busy in Edinburgh.
Today I started early and flew down to London on Ryanair, and I’m now judging myself harshly for saving a few pounds and having a horrid travel experience: flight was late in taking off and landing and when we finally did get to St Ansted (that’s Stansted if you didn’t know) we had to wait over half an hour for the doors to the aircraft to be opened. I didn't know it was possible, but on Ryanair you can have a window seat without a window. Next time I will spend a few extra pounds to fly to London City and have a better overall experience as well as actually arriving in London. Luckily I'm feeling fresh, with the confidence a roll in my hand luggage brings...
Honor 10
The Honor 10 as seen in China. Will there be any surprises at the global launch in London?
So, mini-rant over, today I’m in London for the Honor 10 launch event. The Honor 10 shouldn’t be too much of a surprise because it was announced and released in China a while back: based on the Huawei P20 (not the P20 Pro) the device looks as shiny as its predecessors (the Honor 8 and Honor 9) with some awesome gradient paint jobs. Keep an eye out for the full coverage of the Honor 10 global launch and device first impressions here on Tech Travel Geeks.
LG G7 ThinQ
"Notch notch!" "Who's there?" "Who do you ThinQ?" "Why the LG G7 ThinQ of course!"
LG launched the LG G7 ThinQ recently. There has been a lot of criticism of the product in the tech press, despite the device being a good all-round release on paper. I haven’t had the pleasure of playing around with one yet, but Myriam and Nirave have and discussed it in depth on the Mobile Tech Podcast. I really enjoyed listening to the episode and ironically did so on my LG G6 (still one of my daily use phones).
Xiaomi Expanding in Europe
Big news from Xiaomi: the Chinese smartphone company has partnered with Hutchison, the parent company of Superdrug in the UK and the Thrtee networks in Europe and will be selling their products here soon. I’m looking forward to seeing how this works out. The whole Xiaomi range is affordable and excellent value for money, and if they can deliver on support and after sales service we may see very rapid growth of their product in European markets.
Speaking of Europe, it is GDPR Day next week. I have popcorn, beer and a bit of schadenfreude while I watch all the update emails from companies come in. The brands that bring value to me will be the ones I continue to engage with, all the rest will be a good riddance.
We are going to start posting more (and better)content in the next couple of weeks because our setup process is in a good place. Remember to check back here on Tech Travel Geeks and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
This Week in Mobile - Xiaomi and Huawei Mix it up!
Welcome to This Week in Mobile, Tech Travel Geeks' weekly column covering what has happened in the world of mobile. If we haven't covered it on Tech Travel Geeks we'll link to the best content on the web.
I'll just put this out there before I type any more: though this post is being published on April 1st 2018 there are no April fools in here. None. Don't bother looking for any. It is pointless to search for an Easter Sunday Aprils fools in here.
This week two of the biggest handset manufacturers in the world released their new flagships. Xiaomi announced the Mi Mix 2S and Huawei announced the P20 range (P20 Pro, P20 and P20 Lite). Both these manufacturers happen to be Chinese and both are expanding globally.
I'm particularly interested on what comes from China in the mobile space and always actively use at least one device from Xiaomi and one from Huawei. Currently I'm using a Xiaomi Mi 6 and a Huawei Honor View 10 (as well as a Huawei Honor 7X).
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S
The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S
Xiaomi started the bezelless craze a while back with the original Xiaomi Mi Mix. My friend Iain has one and he very kindly let me play around with it. It is a lovely premium device.
This week Xiaomi announced the Mi Mix 2S, which is the latest version of their bezelless line. Powered by the latest and most powerful chipset from Qualcomm, with a dual camera on the back, a 18:9 aspect ratio display and ceramic and metal build the device sits comfortably in the premium category of smartphones.
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S front and back
I expect this device to sell well in Asia and southern European markets where Xiaomi is already a popular brand. An important ingredient to the recipe of the future success of the device is pricing: the entry level model (with 6GB of RAM) starts at around $530 and the top end model (with 8GB RAM) will be around $650. Dan Seifert over from The Verge explains more in the video below.
Huawei P20 Range
Huawei's P series devices are their flagships, usually launched in the first half of the year. This week the Chinese manufacturer announced the P20 line.
Huawei P20 Series
At the top of the range the P20 Pro sits with a 6" AMOLED screen (with a notch), a large battery, AI capable chipset and software and a new triple camera on the back.
Huawei P20 Pro technical specifications at GSMArena.com.
The cameras, one 40MP, one 20MP and one 8MP, paired with Huawei's own chipset and software are the main highlight for me. This weekend I caught up with our friend Jonathan Morris from jmcomms.com and saw what the camera can do in person. I was really impressed by the results, and look forward to hopefully having a Huawei P20 Pro of my own next week.
Check out Jonathan's content on the Huawei P20 Pro over at jmcomms.com.
Alex Dobie over at Android Central did a great preview of the P20s and also released a great video about it. His description of the camera setup of the P20 Pro as "absolutely bonkers" is pretty much spot on.
The Huawei P20 and P20 Lite fill in the lower price categories all the way down to the mid-range while bringing the same design language and most of the same software features.
Huawei P20 technical specifications at GSMArena.com.
Huawei P20 Lite technical specifications at GSMArena.com.
The P20 Series from Huawei touches on the mid-range, with the P20 Lite, and all the way up to the high end with the P20 Pro. The P20 Pro puts itself in the same category as the Google Pixel 2 XL and Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus with price, but promises better cameras thanks to the partnership with Leica. I look forward to bringing you my impressions once I get my own P20 Pro.
Tesla Model 3
This weekend I found myself informed and amused by the Modern Dad (Phil Nickinson) and Mr Mobile (Michael Fisher) videos about the Tesla Model 3. Check them both out below.
Great videos which get me thinking: how quickly is the driving experience going to change in the next few years? Phil's perspective as a dad whose daughter is going to be learning to drive soon is interesting and his logic is sound.
I'm sure Lukasz has certain opinions and expectations of the Tesla Model 3, so I'll let him start thinking of writing a post about it soon...
Thanks for reading this far if you have. We will wrap up this week's edition of This Week in Mobile here. We'll be back next week, safe travels!