Redmi Note 6 Pro Review: All Hail Quadcamera!
by mitch002
Xiaomi has been releasing phone after phone this year and there is no stoping them even as we hit the last quarter of 2018. To my surprise, I was able to get a pre released Redmi Note 6 Pro. Now, everyone is speculating the processor specs and here I am ready to reveal it to all those who have patiently waited for it. Now, Redmi Note 5 Pro as we all know was released during MWC 2018 and it pretty much walked away as the winner of the AHH Best of MWC 2018 award for releasing the first SD 636 powered phone. Then followed by the Redmi Note 5 AI in China after we all thought that Xiaomi has dropped the Note series in Redmi when it debuted the Redmi 5 Plus. Now here we are again, the Redmi Note 6 Pro released in Global version similar to its predecessor, and probably it would be followed by another version thats just for Chinese consumers.
Redmi Note 6 Pro Specs Sheet
Design:
The Redmi Note 6 Pro is a little similar to the Redmi Note 5 Pro at first glance, but it definitely has its own distinct determining design, like the screen is bigger from 5.99 to 6.21, then the cutting corners of the back case is also different, you can see in Note 5 that its straight cut, this time they added some definition to it as well. Then of course there is the quad camera in this unit as well is another big determining factor. Of course lets not forget the notch as well as this is the first note series to sport that notch. The screen display ratio was also changed from 18:9 to 19:9 this time around to meet the new demands of movies that you are playing on your phone.
Whats in the Box:
Same red box from Note 5
Global Version, yes I heard you
Where is the processor specs written? I can find it!
Neither is the SoC written here!
Note 6 Pro, Micro USB Charger, QC 2 Charger, English Manual, Jelly Case
The front resembles the Note 5, except for the notch
The back is similar with the Note 5 but with a smooth finish
3.5mm audio jack, noise cancellation mic, and IR on top
Dual Camera at the back and the Finger Print Scanner
Micro USB Port, Louspeaker, and mic in
Dual Hybrid Sim Slot
Volume Rocker and the SIM Tray
There is the game changer between this one and note 5
Poster worthy shot
That Notch and dual camera.
Unboxing Video:
Snapdragon 636
The successor to the first to deploy the SD 636 is still a SD 636, I was able to fully test the power of the Redmi Note 6 Pro to the extent, running games and multitask, in my opinion this unit did a very good job in multitasking, as well as playing some decent games, we even did play PUBG on medium settings and NBA2k18 and the graphics rendered was quite good on an almost all screen display phone. We slowly tunned up the graphics from medium to high and you can feel the slight changes in the fluidity of the game, but hey it was pretty good and I was able to enjoy the game.
Surfing, Chatting, Calls and Navigating were all done at the same time and it was quite stable not seeing the unit lag down due to too many task being done at the same time. The Snapdragon 636 did lived up to its hype and for sure I was able to feel the improvement from the overly deployed SD 625. I hope the 636 will not follow the same route as the 625 being the overly used Redmi SoC.
Antutu gave it a 112,762 points. almost similar to the score I got from Redmi Note 5.
You can hide the notch if you dont like it.
Connectivity
The Redmi Note 6 Pro supports (Waiting for Official Statement from Xiaomi) different LTE bands, it's easy to switch to LTE network inside the settings and whats good on this unit now is that you can also set 2nd Sim on LTE as well since it now deploys the Dual 4G technology on this unit but it should consume battery faster. We have experienced no problem surfing using LTE or 3G in our home country in the Philippines as well as dual standby mode is working seamlessly. Wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac is also smooth and it also supports Wi-Fi Direct. Wireless screen mirroring is also available via the Miracast protocol as we were able to cast it to the Mi TV 4C, tethering data is also working perfectly. Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, and GLONASS are all present and working pretty good. We also have a smooth navigation using Google Maps while cruisin in the city using the Redmi Note 6.
Detailed Network Band Supported on Redmi Note 6 Pro:
Waiting for official announcement
Audio and Video
MP4 M4V MKV XVID WAV AAC MP3 AMR FLAC
Supports H.265/HEVC (Main profile), H.264 (Baseline/Main/High profile), MPEG4 (Simple profile/ASP), VC-1 (Simple/Main/Advanced profile)
Video formats such as PCM, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, MP3, AMR-NB and WB, FLAC, WAV, etc.
Camera
Everytime we get our hands on a new phone, its always boils down to the camera. This probably is the most important part of the phone, how good it will capture the memories for you? The camera on the Redmi Note 6 Pro took the shots quite well as it should succeed the great camera on the Redmi Note 5 Pro.
The camera takes pretty good photos in daylight and in low light areas it is quite at par with the Redmi Note 5 Pro in terms of performance. The manual mode from the camera has quite improved over from the Redmi Note 5 Pro as it already have control over Shutter Speed and ISO. You cant use the Zoom and Wide Angle lens manually. Thats the limitation I saw in this phone. Watermarks is also present on this camera. Video can only up until FHD 1080, UHD is not present on this midranger.
Actual Camera
Selfie
Look at the watermarks for the front cam, the first in any Xiaomi Phones
Video Sample
Battery Performance
We were able to achieve a good battery rating for this unit since its a Snapdragon (Qualcomm is known for their battery efficiency), we lasted a day on normal usage without hitting the charging port or power bank. PC Mark Battery Stress Test rated it at 14 hours 37 minute SOT, which is almost similar to the consumption on the Redmi Note 5 AI. Now we have tested the charging time, we were able to charge from 20% to 100% within 1 hour and 45 minutes as we monitored it closely while charging. The maximum ampere that we have achieved is 1950mAh on the supplied QC 2.0 charger.
Other Benchmarks
Conclusion
After playing this unit for a few days, I was really quite satisfied with this unit. The camera, the processor was really impressive, as well as the performance of the dual selfie camera, wherein the secondary camera is there for wide angle as well as portrait mode. Overall I can really say that Xiaomi has done a pretty good job in improving (I cant really say its an upgrade) the Redmi Note Series. If you are a owner of the Redmi Note 5 Pro/AI, I will tell you to hold out on this since its quite the same as its predecessor and it has improved a bit only. But if you dont own the Redmi Note series, then you can put this on your bucket list as its one of the better midrange phones in the market now.
Improvements over Redmi Note 5
Everything else remains the same from Redmi Note 5 AI.
by mitch002
Xiaomi has been releasing phone after phone this year and there is no stoping them even as we hit the last quarter of 2018. To my surprise, I was able to get a pre released Redmi Note 6 Pro. Now, everyone is speculating the processor specs and here I am ready to reveal it to all those who have patiently waited for it. Now, Redmi Note 5 Pro as we all know was released during MWC 2018 and it pretty much walked away as the winner of the AHH Best of MWC 2018 award for releasing the first SD 636 powered phone. Then followed by the Redmi Note 5 AI in China after we all thought that Xiaomi has dropped the Note series in Redmi when it debuted the Redmi 5 Plus. Now here we are again, the Redmi Note 6 Pro released in Global version similar to its predecessor, and probably it would be followed by another version thats just for Chinese consumers.
Redmi Note 6 Pro Specs Sheet
- 6.26-inch IPS LCD display @ 2280 x 1080 pixels, 403ppi, 81.1% Screen to Body Ratio, 19:9 Ratio
- 1.8GHz Snapdragon 636 Octa-core CPU Qualcomm SDM636 Kryo 260
- Adreno 509 GPU
- 3GB / 4GB / 6GB RAM
- 32GB / 64GB Internal storage
- Expandable via microSD, up to 128GB (uses SIM 2 slot)
- 12MP 1.4μm Rear Camera, f/1.9 Aperture, dual pixel PDAF, face recognition, HDR, AI Portrait Mode, Samsung Sensor
- 5MP secondary lens, 1.12μm, f/2.0 Aperture, Samsung Sensor
- 20MP front-facing camera, 0.9μm, AI Smart Beauty, 1080p, AI Portrait Mode, Face Unlocking, Samsung Sensor, 2MP Secondary Front Camera OV Sensor
- Hybrid Dual-SIM (Nano + Nano/Micro SD)
- 4G LTE, 4G+
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4G 5G Wifi
- Bluetooth 5.0
- GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou Positioning, Galileo
- Fingerprint scanner
- Micro USB Port
- 4000 mAh battery
- Android 8.1 on MIUI 9.6
- 157.9mm x 76.4mm x 8.2mm
- 180grams
- Available in Black, Blue, Rose Gold, Red
Design:
The Redmi Note 6 Pro is a little similar to the Redmi Note 5 Pro at first glance, but it definitely has its own distinct determining design, like the screen is bigger from 5.99 to 6.21, then the cutting corners of the back case is also different, you can see in Note 5 that its straight cut, this time they added some definition to it as well. Then of course there is the quad camera in this unit as well is another big determining factor. Of course lets not forget the notch as well as this is the first note series to sport that notch. The screen display ratio was also changed from 18:9 to 19:9 this time around to meet the new demands of movies that you are playing on your phone.
Whats in the Box:
Same red box from Note 5
Global Version, yes I heard you
Where is the processor specs written? I can find it!
Neither is the SoC written here!
Note 6 Pro, Micro USB Charger, QC 2 Charger, English Manual, Jelly Case
The front resembles the Note 5, except for the notch
The back is similar with the Note 5 but with a smooth finish
3.5mm audio jack, noise cancellation mic, and IR on top
Dual Camera at the back and the Finger Print Scanner
Micro USB Port, Louspeaker, and mic in
Dual Hybrid Sim Slot
Volume Rocker and the SIM Tray
There is the game changer between this one and note 5
Poster worthy shot
That Notch and dual camera.
Unboxing Video:
Snapdragon 636
The successor to the first to deploy the SD 636 is still a SD 636, I was able to fully test the power of the Redmi Note 6 Pro to the extent, running games and multitask, in my opinion this unit did a very good job in multitasking, as well as playing some decent games, we even did play PUBG on medium settings and NBA2k18 and the graphics rendered was quite good on an almost all screen display phone. We slowly tunned up the graphics from medium to high and you can feel the slight changes in the fluidity of the game, but hey it was pretty good and I was able to enjoy the game.
Surfing, Chatting, Calls and Navigating were all done at the same time and it was quite stable not seeing the unit lag down due to too many task being done at the same time. The Snapdragon 636 did lived up to its hype and for sure I was able to feel the improvement from the overly deployed SD 625. I hope the 636 will not follow the same route as the 625 being the overly used Redmi SoC.
Antutu gave it a 112,762 points. almost similar to the score I got from Redmi Note 5.
You can hide the notch if you dont like it.
Connectivity
The Redmi Note 6 Pro supports (Waiting for Official Statement from Xiaomi) different LTE bands, it's easy to switch to LTE network inside the settings and whats good on this unit now is that you can also set 2nd Sim on LTE as well since it now deploys the Dual 4G technology on this unit but it should consume battery faster. We have experienced no problem surfing using LTE or 3G in our home country in the Philippines as well as dual standby mode is working seamlessly. Wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac is also smooth and it also supports Wi-Fi Direct. Wireless screen mirroring is also available via the Miracast protocol as we were able to cast it to the Mi TV 4C, tethering data is also working perfectly. Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, and GLONASS are all present and working pretty good. We also have a smooth navigation using Google Maps while cruisin in the city using the Redmi Note 6.
Detailed Network Band Supported on Redmi Note 6 Pro:
Waiting for official announcement
Audio and Video
MP4 M4V MKV XVID WAV AAC MP3 AMR FLAC
Supports H.265/HEVC (Main profile), H.264 (Baseline/Main/High profile), MPEG4 (Simple profile/ASP), VC-1 (Simple/Main/Advanced profile)
Video formats such as PCM, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, MP3, AMR-NB and WB, FLAC, WAV, etc.
Camera
Everytime we get our hands on a new phone, its always boils down to the camera. This probably is the most important part of the phone, how good it will capture the memories for you? The camera on the Redmi Note 6 Pro took the shots quite well as it should succeed the great camera on the Redmi Note 5 Pro.
The camera takes pretty good photos in daylight and in low light areas it is quite at par with the Redmi Note 5 Pro in terms of performance. The manual mode from the camera has quite improved over from the Redmi Note 5 Pro as it already have control over Shutter Speed and ISO. You cant use the Zoom and Wide Angle lens manually. Thats the limitation I saw in this phone. Watermarks is also present on this camera. Video can only up until FHD 1080, UHD is not present on this midranger.
Actual Camera
Selfie
Look at the watermarks for the front cam, the first in any Xiaomi Phones
Video Sample
Battery Performance
We were able to achieve a good battery rating for this unit since its a Snapdragon (Qualcomm is known for their battery efficiency), we lasted a day on normal usage without hitting the charging port or power bank. PC Mark Battery Stress Test rated it at 14 hours 37 minute SOT, which is almost similar to the consumption on the Redmi Note 5 AI. Now we have tested the charging time, we were able to charge from 20% to 100% within 1 hour and 45 minutes as we monitored it closely while charging. The maximum ampere that we have achieved is 1950mAh on the supplied QC 2.0 charger.
Other Benchmarks
Conclusion
After playing this unit for a few days, I was really quite satisfied with this unit. The camera, the processor was really impressive, as well as the performance of the dual selfie camera, wherein the secondary camera is there for wide angle as well as portrait mode. Overall I can really say that Xiaomi has done a pretty good job in improving (I cant really say its an upgrade) the Redmi Note Series. If you are a owner of the Redmi Note 5 Pro/AI, I will tell you to hold out on this since its quite the same as its predecessor and it has improved a bit only. But if you dont own the Redmi Note series, then you can put this on your bucket list as its one of the better midrange phones in the market now.
Improvements over Redmi Note 5
- Watermark on Front Camera (the first in any Xiaomi Phones)
- Dual Front Camera
- Notch
- 6.21 Inch Screen vs 5.99 Inch on Redmi Note 5 AI
- Beter looking back cover
Everything else remains the same from Redmi Note 5 AI.
