All of this brings us to the question – are the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max’s specifications worth the price, or would you be better off choosing the Redmi Note 9 Pro instead? We’re reviewing the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max to find out.
Redmi Note 9 Pro Max design
Xiaomi The Redmi series devices are now getting bigger in size, the biggest and latest example of this Redmi Note 9 Pro Max Its thickness is 8.8 millimeters and its weight is 209 grams, which does not give a good experience in one-handed use. It has a large display of 6.67 inches, which comes with a 20: 9 aspect ratio. The display comes with the protection of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. There is a thin earpiece just above the display which also has a white notification light.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner in the power button on the right side of the phone. We were not very happy with the placement of this button, as it is set a bit high. If you are left-handed, you can set your left index finger on it. It does not take much time to unlock the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max.
Another issue we faced was the placement of the volume buttons. They are above the side-mounted fingerprint scanner and are not convenient to reach. Xiaomi has a tradition of offering IR Blaster on its smartphones and the company has continued with the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. There is also a headphone jack at the bottom along with a USB Type-C port.
There is a quad-camera setup on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. These sensors are set in a square-shaped module. This module is so prominent that it is visible when the phone is placed on a table. The rear of the phone has a glossy finish and Xiaomi has offered the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max in three colour options, including Interstellar Black, Aurora Blue and Glacier White. For this review, we had the Interstellar Black variant which looked blue in bright light. Xiaomi also provides a case in the box of this phone, which can help in giving some grip to its slippery body. Talking about the stuff in the box, you also get the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max and a 33W charger along with the case.
Redmi Note 9 Pro Max specifications
Xiaomi is popular for its excellent price-performance ratio in its smartphones and the company has maintained the same with the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. Here the company has given Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset in the phone. Redmi Note 9 Pro and Redmi Note 9 Pro Max come with the same processor, which makes it difficult to differentiate the performance between these two.
However, you will find more RAM and storage on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. Its variants and their prices are as follows: 6GB RAM / 64GB storage priced at Rs 16,499, 6GB RAM / 128GB storage priced at Rs 17,999 and 8GB RAM / 128GB storage priced at Rs 19,999. We had the 6GB / 128GB variant for review. Its price Redmi Note 9 Pro This coincides with the price of Rs. , which could confuse many buyers.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max has a big display, which is not an AMOLED panel and neither does it come with a high refresh rate. Xiaomi might have skipped this hardware to keep the phone’s price low, but some competitors at this price point offer these features. However, it is not a bad panel. It has good viewing angles and is quite bright even in outdoor light. It has a camera hole at the top center, which might distract some people. We got used to it while using the device and later we did not face any issues while watching content or doing other tasks on it.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max has a 5020mAh battery. The Note 9 Pro Max is a dual SIM smartphone that includes dual 4G VoLTE and VoWiFi as well as Bluetooth 5 support. The smartphone is equipped with dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac and has GPS as well as NavIC support.
The smartphone runs MIUI 11 based on Android 10 and our unit was running on the April 2020 security patch. The UI has a lot of customisation options and if you have used a Xiaomi device before, you won’t find it any different. Sadly, it comes with a lot of unwanted apps preinstalled, some of which flooded the notification panel on our review unit.
Redmi Note 9 Pro Max performance
The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max can handle day-to-day tasks with ease and it loads apps quickly too. We had no issues scrolling through menus or multitasking. Poco X2 And Realme 6 Pro It doesn’t have a high screen refresh rate like the , so it doesn’t feel as smooth as these two devices, but it can’t be called bad either.
The phone handles gaming well. While running PUBG Mobile, it runs on high settings by default. We were able to play the game comfortably without any lag, but the phone did get a little warm to the touch after 20 minutes. While its large display is not easy to use with one hand, it is good enough for gaming and watching videos.
We spent a lot of time watching videos on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max and the battery performed well. With our usage, the smartphone easily lasted a day and a half on a single charge. In our HD video loop test, it lasted 17 hours and 10 minutes, which is a good score, but the Realme 6 Pro managed to achieve 21 hours in this test, making it much faster than the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max.
You can charge its battery quickly using a 33W charger. It charges the phone from zero to 52 percent in 30 minutes. The device gets heated up when charging fast. Charging slows down after about 75 percent charge and reaches 90 percent from zero in an hour.
Redmi Note 9 Pro Max cameras
Talking about the camera, the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max has a 64-megapixel primary sensor with f/1.89 aperture. Other cameras include an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with 119-degree field-of-view, a 5-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The macro camera has a higher resolution than other phones in this price range.
The camera app is packed with features and there are plenty of shooting modes to choose from. The Photo mode captures 16-megapixel pixel-binned shots using the 64-megapixel sensor by default. You can also shoot at the full 64-megapixel resolution if you need to. There’s also a Pro Color mode, which enhances contrast in photos and gives us a better understanding of the color scheme. Oppo And Realme Reminiscent of the Dazzle Color and Chroma Boost filters included on smartphones respectively.
There is a short video feature, which creates clips of up to 15 seconds. This is mainly a helpful feature for users who upload videos on Instagram and TikTok. You can also record slow motion videos at 120fps, 240fps, and 960fps. The macro camera toggle is placed inside a sub-menu and some people may find it difficult to find it.
Daylight photos taken with the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max turned out well. We took photos with a bright sky as the background and the smartphone automatically turned on HDR. The images look like they have been oversharpened, which might not be to everyone’s liking. If you zoom in on a photo, you’ll notice that there’s no lack of detail, but there are visible grains in the shadows.
While taking close-ups, the AI ​​recognizes the subject and sets the camera according to the scene. The phone adds a soft blur to the background while shooting the subject, which makes the pictures look beautiful. We also used the Pro Color feature in Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, which slightly increases the contrast in the picture.
There is also a wide-angle camera on the device, which covers a fairly large area, but the details of the photos taken with it drop considerably. Xiaomi has implemented wide-angle correction, which prevents barrel distortion (curved edges) in the output and gives a neat touch.
We found the macro camera to be good for close-ups, as it easily focused on subjects as small as 2 cm away. It captures pretty good detail as long as there is enough light falling on the subject. It has a resolution of over 5-megapixels, which is something you don’t usually find in other smartphones.
Edge detection in portrait mode works pretty well, and the camera manages to separate the subject and background well. However, it fails to detect the small gap between a person’s hand and body, and fails to blur this area, which makes it difficult to give the full DSLR photo experience.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max can detect low light and improve photos using AI. The grain in the photos is also quite low, although there is a lack of detail. The phone combines multiple exposures together when Night mode is enabled.
We were curious to see if the 32-megapixel selfie shooter makes this device better than the Redmi Note 9 Pro. In daylight, selfies come out well, but there is a lot of softness visible in them. This is because of the beautification mode enabled by default. If you are not fond of it, you can turn this mode off. There is also a portrait mode for the selfie camera, which separates the subject and background and gives selfies a DSLR-like look. The camera performance dips in low light and grains are visible when you zoom in on the output.
Verdict
Redmi Note 9 Pro Max is an upgrade to the Redmi Note 8 Pro. After testing this device, we can say that it is better in many places. Redmi Note 8 Pro The new Redmi Note 9 Pro Max is more powerful, offers better battery life, comes with better cameras and runs on the latest version of Android. However, there are many areas where we cannot call it much better than the Redmi Note 9 Pro.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro is priced lower than the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max but has almost identical hardware inside. After the GST hike on smartphones in April, the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max now starts at Rs 16,499 while the Redmi Note 9 Pro starts at Rs 13,999. The difference between the two can certainly matter a lot for someone on a tight budget.
However, if you are willing to pay a higher price, the Redmi Note 9 Pro is a better pick. There is a difference of just Rs 1,000 between the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variants of the Redmi Note 9 Pro and the Max model, in return for which you get higher resolution cameras and faster charging, making it very easy to choose between the two. Realme 6 Pro And Poco X2 There are other commendable options at the same price.