Xiaomi what you're working with: Chinese mobe-flinger proffers two Redmi Note phablets for UK market
- Reference: 1588345269
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/01/xiaomi_redmi_note_9/
- Source link:
Of the two, only the standard Redmi Note 9 is a new product, with the Pro version previously released in India, albeit with the hilariously convoluted name "Redmi 9 Note Pro Max". It's almost like they took a page out of Apple's book for that one. Which admittedly wouldn't be a first for Xiaomi, but we digress.
Xiaomi your data The releases come against the backdrop of claims from a researcher who spoke to [1]Forbes last night, and said that Xiaomi's Redmi handsets record "private" web and phone use, with both device data and behaviour data tracked and sent to servers in Singapore and Russia that are registered to web domains in China. Xiaomi said any data collected was both anonymised and encrypted, however, the researcher claimed it was simply encoded to Base64 and could be easily decrypted. The researcher additionally claimed that user identities could be pieced back together. The Chinese firm retorted that: "The research claims are untrue," and said that it "strictly follows and is fully compliant with local laws and regulations on user data privacy."
The vanilla Note 9 measures 6.53 inches, and uses a fairly standard 60Hz FHD+ LCD panel. The maximum RAM configuration is 4GB, while for storage, it's 128GB. If you opt for the base model, you'll get just 3GB of RAM to play with, plus 64GB of storage.
Again, it uses the Helio G85, a brand-new chip. As is fairly standard with Mediatek, the chip's aimed squarely at the mid-tier of the market, and uses a 12nm process with eight cores (two A75 clocked at up to 2GHz, with six Cortex-A55 cores). There's also a Mali-G52 MC2 GPU clocked at up to 1,000Mhz.
On the optics front, you get a quad-camera setup, with a 48MP primary shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 2MP macro sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor. There's also a 13MP selfie camera, which is concealed within the top-left corner of the display in a small hole-punch.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro variant is a little better, with the base RAM upped to 6GB – although users are only given storage options of 64GB and 128GB. If you hoard apps and Netflix films, you'll swiftly fill this up. Thankfully, both models come with a microSD slot.
[2]
Redmi Note 9 Pro
The display is slightly bigger, at 6.67 inches. On this model, the selfie camera is located within a hole-punch in the top-centre of the screen. This has been upgraded to 16MP, with a slightly bigger pixel size, so it should (in theory) perform better in low-light conditions.
The primary rear-facing camera is improved over its cheaper brethren, too. The main shooter is a 64MP affair, which is partnered with an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 5MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor.
Both devices have their fair share of commonalities. To the delight of our readers, they both pack IR blasters and headphone jacks – each increasingly rare in the smartphone world. Both have the same 5,020mAh battery, although the Pro variant supports 30W fast charging, while the entry-level Redmi Note 9 can only do 18W.
UK pricing and availability are yet to be confirmed – although we'd be very surprised if either device costs more than £350. ®
Sponsored: [3]How to Build Your Digital Experience Portfolio
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/04/30/exclusive-warning-over-chinese-mobile-giant-xiaomi-recording-millions-of-peoples-private-web-and-phone-use/#53ed8cdc1b2a
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/05/01/note9pro.jpg
[3] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8578/how-to-build-your-digital-experience-portfolio?td=wptl1936
IR Remote
One of the things that keeps me with Xiaomi is the IR remote. (Other Chinese brand do offer these too.)
An ever useful feature. Especially in hotels where they've replaced the standard TV remote with one that doesn't let you play around with inputs and settings.
But the standard phones have gotten too big. And these Notes are waaaaay too big to be practical. (So have had to source a cut-price, last-in-stock Mi 9SE and sacrifice the 3.5mm jack for my Latest Xiaomi adventure.)
Play Store?
I can't believe the article misses this.. but with Huawei phones now being shunted from the Google Play store, how does that leave Xiaomi? Presumably in the same boat, meaning this will be a complete and utter flop over here for most people that aren't slightly techy?!
Re: Play Store?
Xiaomi is not affected by the US embargo on Huawei. Plays Store is still very much available on the latest non-chinese-ROM Xiaomi phones.
Apparently Google have insisted Xiaomi add "with easy access to the Google apps you use most" branding on their boxes.
Re: Play Store?
Got a Redmi Note 9S international version 6GB/128GB, 720G platform 6.67" screen & 5050mAH battery for partner £ 187 and change, delivered yesterday. Unfortunately it has the play store and all the rest preinstalled on Android 10. Partner thinks it's great, esp the shiny blue colour.
Re: Play Store?
Has your partner dicovered the spyware yet?
Better call the PRC Government to check that your device is properly phoning home...
I'm sure that as 'The Donald' is stepping up his war against the Chinese... Xaomi will be next in the firing line.
Re: Play Store?
The entity list which blocks manufacturers from American products only has Huawei on it. Other Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Realme can buy anything they want from the U.S., and they do. If you want Google Play Services, any of these will be fine. If you don't want them, Xiaomi's devices are most likely (though not guaranteed) to be supported by AOSP-based variants like Lineage OS.
This is more than a little disturbing...
I've been a Xiaomi user for some time - though something of a luddite as I use it as little more than a phone; I never browse from it and have only a couple of apps that I use. However, that amount of tracking is something worthy of more investigation... the Forbes piece suggested that it was just the use of the browser - is that the case?
Re: This is more than a little disturbing...
Yup hand it back and start using Windows 10 and Google as your search engine.
Re: This is more than a little disturbing...
Xiaomi has some positives and some negatives. Among their negatives are that their variant often comes with a lot of bloatware and has advertising throughout most of the included apps. This tracking would be another one to add to that list, and it wouldn't surprise me all that much that one of the bloatware apps they installed is doing it. I usually consider Xiaomi because I'm planning to put Lineage OS on it, rather than for the included software.
Great battery, big screen that'll still fit in my pocket, IR blaster and headphone jack, micro-sd card slot.... and ready-hacked so governments need not bother emailng me dodgy attachments.