What Is
The Name Of This Smartphone?
The Xiaomi
Mi 9T Pro Smartphone was released on august 2019. It an ever-so-slightly
different edition with light cosmetic changes and ONE different carrier band
and a different name: Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro. Something about brand names and
different Smartphone markets around the world makes it make some sort of sense
to switch between “Mi” and “Redmi” for different regions.
My Verdict
About Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro
When you
combining flagship experiences with a mid-range price, the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro has
fast become one of the most favorable and desirable phones money can buy. In a
time of uncertainty – with questions surrounding Huawei phones and whether it's
worth getting a 5G phone just yet – the Mi 9T Pro is the perfect stopgap device
that feels and performs like a top-tier flagship, without a sky-high price.
The Pros
Of The Phone Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro
1. Excellent design
2. Great camera
3. Snappy performance
4. Full front side display
5. Headphone jack and NFC
6. Low cost for high value
The Cons
Of The Phone Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro
1. The interface has some quirks
2. No waterproofing
3.
No
wireless charging
Xiaomi has
come again with its new Mi 9T pro; it comes with the combining flagship specs
and slick design with a mid-range price. Unlike the competition, the Mi 9T Pro
has a headphone jack – not to mention an all-screen display, meaning there are
no notches or hole punches in sight.
Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro Design
– Shiny, solid and sensational for the price
If you don’t
mind not having the skinniest phone on the scene, you will be hard-pressed to
complain about anything to do with the Mi 9T Pro’s design.
The phone’s
curved glass back flows into its aluminum frame like water, is weighted
fantastically from top to toe and combines its reflective back with patterning
and colour pops.
The Xiaomi
Mi 9T Pro’s glass back flows nicely into it is aluminum frame, with a subtle
patterned design and touches of colour
Available in three colours – black, red and blue
– with the UK only getting the black and blue options, the camera surround and
power buttons feature colour highlights, while the back panel sports a striated
patterning, reminiscent of Kevlar but on a much more miniature scale
At the
bottom of the phone is a USB-C port and SIM tray, which takes two SIM cards,
but no SD card. The entire phone’s buttons are on the right – a power button
and volume rocker, while at the top is the headphone jack and the pop-up
camera.
Every time
the camera is activated, it rises with a jingle, and a red LED light strip
either side, which looks really very cool.
As with most
glass phones, the Mi 9T Pro loves clinging onto fingerprints, and there is no
pre-fitted screen protector. On the plus side, it gets significantly less
grubby than the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus and S10 range and the
phone ships with a hard plastic case in the box for added protection and
fingerprint avoidance.
Speaking of
fingerprints – there’s an under-display fingerprint scanner onboard the Mi 9T
Pro – a feature seldom seen on mid-rangers. While it doesn’t deliver the speed
of pricier devices like the OnePlus 7, it does a decent job of getting you into
your phone without too much waiting, and it’s preferable to a rear-mounted
scanner.
Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro screen
– Putting clunky notches and punch-holes to shame
With its
Super AMOLED Full HD+ full-screen display, the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro looks
exceptional and significantly better than any other $399 device packing
flagship specs.
With over
400 pixels-per-inch (PPI), while the Mi 9T Pro is not as sharp as QHD+ phones
like the OnePlus 7 Pro, it is precisely where it needs to be for the
price, going toe-to-toe with the Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro, and beating
out the much more expensive iPhone XR, which clocks in at 326ppi.
Viewing
angles are very good, as is max-brightness, and with HDR support, the Mi 9T Pro
plays back optimised content well. Gaming on the all-screen display is as
immersive as it gets, and while the phone doesn’t feature the 90Hz refresh
rates found on the likes of the Red Magic 3, it delivers much better
colour accuracy.
Within the
settings, there are also options to customise the colour balance, boost the
contrast or keep things looking natural.
Xiaomi Mi 9T
Pro Performance– Delivering flagship performance across-the-board
Thanks to a
Snapdragon 855 processor coupled with 6GB RAM, the phone powers through
benchmarks and games alike. While it won’t quite stack-up to dedicated 2019
gaming phones from a numbers point of view, it is not far behind, and compared
to the best of 2018.
Only
the 128GB model will be widely available in Europe, delivering enough storage
for all but the most demanding file, app and game hoarders. That said, there is
not microSD card expansion support, so if it sounds like too little storage,
the Mi 9T pro probably will not be or you.
Xiaomi Mi
9T Pro Battery life – Around the clock power
The Xiaomi
Mi 9T packs a 4000mAh battery – a massive bump up when compared to the original
Mi 9, which had a significantly smaller 3300mAh cell. Unsurprisingly, it makes
it through a full day from 6am to 11pm with about 20% left in the tank with
moderate use.
The
screen-on time is excellent, dropping by about 7-8% after an hour of streaming
at full brightness, and even with gaming, hot spotting and a fair bit of photo
taking, we did not manage to drain it dry.
The Mi 9T
Pro doesn’t pack wireless charging, though fast charges at up to 27W. In the
box, however, the phone ships with an 18W charger, which impressively gets it
from 0-100% in just over an hour. In turn, it’s plenty fast for us and
competitive with other fast charging phones.
In the
settings, the Mi 9T Pro also features battery saving modes that help you halt
rogue applications from firing up, and limit background processes. There’s also
a dark mode that can improve battery life, thanks to the phone’s Super AMOLED
display saving battery when it showcases true blacks.
Xiaomi Mi 9T
Pro Software – The worst thing about the phone, but still perfectly usable
Just like
the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE, the Mi 9T Pro runs Android 9.0 with MIUI 10, over the
top. Running Android Pie, things start off well, with the latest widely
available version of Google’s OS here; both future-proofing the phone and
ensuring app support is looking great.
The interface doesn’t include an apps drawer.
Instead, it opts for an iOS-esque setup. Shortcuts and widgets can be organized
across your home screens, and to the left of these, is a utility display for
quick access to features that Xiaomi believes users need to hand. These include
tools like a QR code reader and note-taker. There’s also a pull-down
notifications tray/quick toggle menu at the top of the screen.
Either gestures or buttons can control
navigation, and the whole UI is highly customisable, from the home screen
grid-size through to transition effects and more. There are some annoying
quirks, too, though. For example, every time you install an app, it gets
scanned for viruses. While this sounds great, it doesn’t merely scan in the
background; it takes you to a different screen.
You can remove this feature, and also
reinstate an applications tray with a custom launcher, two things we did –
after which the experience went from a 60% to a 90%, but if you’re not prepared
to tweak the UI to suit you, some elements might get a bit frustrating.
Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro Camera
– A versatile stills camera with 4K video at up to 60fps
The Xiaomi
Mi 9T Pro’s triple camera has a similar setup to that found on the original Mi
9, a 48MP (f/1.75) primary camera, an 8MP (f/2.4) telephoto camera and a 13MP
(f/2.4) ultra wide angle camera.
The primary
sensor may be 48MP, but the pictures it snaps are 12MP by default unless you
hit the override switch and fire up 48MP mode. This lower-resolution default
size benefits from auto-HDR, scene detection and pixel binning, a technique
that combines information from multiple pixels to create a better, albeit
lower-res image. In good light, detail
captured by the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is superb, though is high when it comes to
contrast and saturation on occasions if you have AI scene detection
activated.
Pinch
into shots you’ve taken, and things hold up well. This is especially true in
the 48MP mode which we’d recommend firing up when lighting conditions aren’t
too challenging, and you know you want to grab as much detail as possible.
There are
also plenty of shooting options. These include Night, Panorama, AI, Portrait
and Pro modes.
In low
light, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE does an excellent job for the price. In night mode,
it captures atmospheric night shots with slightly bumped up brightness,
activating a long exposure like the Huawei P30 and Pixel 3 series.
Even in an automatic mode, the low light performance is respectable from the
primary camera.
The
telephoto and wide camera both do a decent job in good light, also taking
advantage of the auto HDR feature. That said, when the lights drop, we’d
suggest avoiding both altogether.
As for the
pop-up 20MP (f/2.0) selfie camera, it also features auto HDR, so handles
backlit scenes better than most mid-rangers. The Beauty mode isn’t overbearing
by default, flattering rather than just flattening subjects. It can also be
dialled up and down, which is welcome.
Selfies are
sharp and clear, with the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro’s Beauty mode flattering, and not
flattening, shots
The detail
in selfies is great in good light, but in low light, as noise creeps in clarity
naturally drops. On the plus, the screen can double up as a flashlight, which
helps things along nicely.
The Mi 9T
Pro captures video at up to 4K resolution, and this grabs a superb level of
detail for the price, especially in good lighting. Unlike the lower-end Mi 9
SE, and many 4K phones, it shoots up to 60fps, though does so with no stabilization,
so keep your hand steady when maxing out the quality. Drop the frame rate to
30fps, and across 4K and Full HD resolution, stabilization is excellent,
despite the lack of OIS.
Should I
buy the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro?
If you need
a new phone that will not break the bank, it is a no-brainer. The Xiaomi Mi 9T
is one of the easiest phones out now to recommend, combining exceptional value
for money with a premium, accessible design, powerful internals and a very good
stills and video camera. The phone’s all-screen display and under-display fingerprint
scanner are also highlights for the price and the fact it has a headphone jack
makes it something of a unicorn amongst flagship spaced devices in 2019.
My Verdict
By combining flagship experiences with a midrange
price, the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro has fast become one of the most desirable phones
money can buy. In a time of uncertainty – will Huawei phones be worth buying in
the coming year with no Play Store access, and is it worth getting a 5G phone
just yet? The Mi 9T Pro is the perfect stopgap device that feels and performs
like a top-tier flagship, without a sky-high price.
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