In 2019, Xiaomi released yet another mid-range phone, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro. They, of course, released it with other models, the low-range and their flagship, but with budget in mind, I had to kick out the flagship models from the equation.
At that time, I was on a budget, and yet, I was searching for something that would be worth my money with the specifications I was aiming for.
You see, with tech and gadgets, I go all in for performance. I am a freak for performance. Before I consider price, I always consider my usage and needs. So when I do come up with that, I then begin to look at what my budget is, and often times, I am on a tight budget. Money don't grow on trees, y'all.
In this case, I needed a new phone, as my Honor 8 at that time just wasn't cutting it anymore. I needed a new phone that would serve me well in terms of power, speed, display, memory, camera, sound, and the like. And my budget at that time was about $100 (₦75k).
I found the Redmi Note 8 Pro after a friend suggested it to me. I checked it out and realized that it was just right for what I needed. The only thing was that it was $120 (₦90k). 20 extra dollars for something that was perfect for my needs didn't seem like a bad deal, so I went ahead and bought the phone.
It's been three years since then, and this phone has stuck closer than a brother. We have been through thick and thin. It is now time to let it go because it no longer meets my needs (which have grown enormously) and it no longer meets my basic necessities.
The phone has a whopping weight of 200 g. That's a little heavy. And it's most noticeable when compared to a phone that weighs 50 g less.
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It felt heavy in my hands at first, but I got used to it and could only tell (or remember) when I recently held much lighter phones. And with three years under my belt, it had become part of me.
The Redmi Note 8 Pro has a 4500 mAh battery. That is a lot of power for a midrange phone. At the time, such a large battery was mostly found on flagship models from larger competitors like Samsung. And this was really good as it gave me more juice for my daily activities.
This was particularly useful during the pandemic, when I had a lot of time on my hands and was into mobile gaming a lot. Games like Call of Duty Mobile are power-intensive applications, and this phone did so well at giving me enough juice to play for a very long time. Even after three years, it still provides enough juice to fire.
The phone was designed for 18W fast charging. With my experience, it took about 2 hours to go from 0% to 100%, and somehow, it maintained that charging rate for 3 years.
This phone has 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of ROM, as well as a MediaTek Helio G90T (12 nm) processor. And this was a lot of computing capacity for a mid-range phone at that time. It was simply fantastic for gaming. It meant faster processing speed and great power usage optimization.
With 6GB of RAM, I was able to do a lot simultaneously without worrying much about lags and slowdowns. There was never a time when I felt the phone was not working properly. It always managed to power through.
In terms of processing speed and strength, the Mediatek Helio G90T (12nm) processor performed admirably. But this particular chipset had something I never liked about it: overheating.
Overheating was a big problem with this phone. During intensive power usage as well as prolonged use of specific features such as video shooting, it frequently became extremely hot. And this is especially true in mobile gaming with games like CODM (Call of Duty Mobile). I found this really infuriating most times, as I'd need to wait for it to cool down before continuing.
This particular aspect of this phone was not much out of the ordinary. It has a great speaker that has really clear audio and some considerable punch with bass and beats.
It only has one loudspeaker for its main audio, so stereo sound out of it.
The most interesting thing, however, would be its microphone. I would say, as I am, that it has such an amazing mic. It does really well to capture the sound around it. With great reception for the necessary frequency range, I could make sound recordings (and videos) and get really clear audio. And somehow, it has stereo recording.
The Redmi Note 8 Pro uses an IPS LCD screen. Over the years, it has been the most commonly used display screen used in Android phones. Now, there are much better displays like AMOLED, Super AMOLED, and Dynamic AMOLED and the list goes on and on...
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This screen may look ordinary (compared with AMOLED), but one thing I love about it is the protection it has. The phone has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
Corning has been known to make really strong glasses for mobile phones over the years and has been ever-improving. I've heard a lot about the Gorilla Glass 5 and how durable it makes the phone.
The phone was advertised as being really strong and capable of withstanding impacts should it fall, or be hit. I can attest to this as I spent 21/2 years without needing to replace the phone at any point in between. All the phone sustained were some cracks, but the touch screen and display worked just fine.
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It was only six months ago, in July, that something entirely new developed on the screen. Half of the screen just went black, making it extremely difficult to see all of the information the phone tries to display. And this will be the only reason I'll need to replace the screen.
This is the main attraction of this phone.It's the special sauce in this phone that has made my mobile gadget experience over the last three years very productive.
In most cases, Android phones that are not flagship models tend not to have the best cameras. They are frequently outfitted with subpar cameras. But with the Redmi Note 8 Pro, we have something beyond the average for a budget phone. With its camera, I was able to advance (to some extent) in my photography.
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It has a 64-megapixel camera (that's a lot of megapixels) and some other jargon that does really well to deliver photographs with great detailing and color capture. It also has great portrait mode, which I never really used much but still appreciate.
It has a gyro-EIS (electronic image stabilization gyroscope) that greatly helps with image stabilization. This is particularly useful when I am making videos and my hands are not, you know, stable enough and could cause undesired motion in the video frame. Many of my videos made with my phone handheld come out really stable. It's also great for taking photos, as they'll be less blurry than if your hands aren't stable.
 Here's one of my mother and my cousin |
The phone is also equipped with a macro camera. Although it is only 2 MP, it comes in handy when I feel the urge to experiment with macro photography. It has a really small resolution, so I never used it often, but it's great to have it there.
It's unfortunate that, for some reason that I still do not know, the cameras seem to have gone on an indefinite vacation; that just happened recently.
 ...a macro shot. |
This is another cool feature I love about this phone—and probably one thing I love about Xiaomi. IR (infrared) blasters make it possible to use the phone like a remote controller for many appliances.
I used it often to turn on and off air conditioning systems and TVs. There are numerous options and appliances to select from. And it's really cool to have that power in the palm of one's hands. It, however, does not have a long range but serves really well at a good distance.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro is a phone that was worth every penny I spent on it, and maybe even more. It is one of Xiaomi's proudest models, and one that I feel privileged to have used.
I could have gone longer with it, as it still managed to deliver well, but now that many of its functions are out of service, like its camera and screen, I'd have to move on to another device. Three years is quite a number.
There are many more mid-range phones that perform far better than the Redmi Note 8 Pro, but it's amazing that so much can be crammed into a phone that is affordable. It is without a doubt something for power users.
I have now gone for something new and different, as my needs required. I am still observing it's performance. Again, I went for what exactly I wanted (and needed). But that'll be a story for another day.
ℍ𝕖𝕪, 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕖𝕟𝕛𝕠𝕪𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕥, 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕝𝕪 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕒 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥, 𝕣𝕖𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕘, 𝕠𝕣 𝕦𝕡𝕧𝕠𝕥𝕖. 𝕀𝕥'𝕝𝕝 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕖 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕.