Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 has finally launched in Kenya with an initial retail price of Ksh. 19,499 for the 4 + 64 GB and Ksh. 21,499 for the 4 + 128 GB variant.
The Redmi Note 10 was first released March 16 as the successor of the Redmi Note 9 and is the first of the Redmi Note 10 series with the other being the Redmi Note 10 Pro and the Redmi Note 10 Pro max. Only the Redmi Note 10 and Note 10 Pro were launched today in Kenya, and we must give it to Xiaomi for giving Kenyans a chance to own the phone under one month since it’s release.
The phone features a 6.43 inch Super AMOLED display with a Full HD resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and a good pixel density of 409 ppi with an aspect ratio of 20:9. There’s no doubt the display is one of this phone's strengths, considering that many phones at this price still have an IPS LCD screen with 720p resolutions.
This was the second phone to feature the Snapdragon 678 processor after the Moto G Stylus 2021. It is a mid-range chipset that is well known for it’s high clock-speeds of 2.2Ghz which is higher than the 2.05 GHz of the Mediated Helio G90T which is considered on e of it's strong rivals.
Backed by 4 GB RAM, the Redmi Note 10 is a beast that can handle multitasking and heavy Gaming without breaking a sweat, and is a phone you’ll always be proud of.
In the camera department the phone comes with a quad rear camera setup made of a primary 48 MP lens, an 8MP ultrawide lens, a 2MP macro lens and a 2MP depth Sensor. Apart from impressive photo shooting you can also record upto 4K videos. This was one of the first phones to support 4K video shooting including the likes of Nokia 7.2, which still costs almost 28,000.
In front is a 13MP selfie camera that produces excellent results, the Vivo V20 being the only phone that can strongly rival it’s performance. The front camera can also record 1080p videos.
The phone comes with a 4,500 mAh non removable battery, and the 18W fast charge support is not really not something to talk much about, but I guess it’s better than the 10W in some phones or no fast charge at all. The good thing here is the US. Type-C connector that is a great plus over the old Micro-USB port.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Price in Kenya.
The Redmi Note 8 had a retail price of Ksh. 19,499 for the 4 + 64 GB and Ksh. 21,499 for the 4 + 128 GB variant. Pre-orders are open from today Sunday 11th. All pre-orders come with a free Mi Band 5.
While there are a number of phones that have almost the same specs as the Redmi Note 10 or slightly better, none comes close to this phone when it comes to pricing. Surprisingly enough, the only close rivals of this phone are it’s own siblings the Redmi Note 8 going for Ksh. 17, 500 and the Redmi Note 9 retailing at Ksh. 20,499. While the three phones have almost the same specs, the Note 8 has a slightly smaller screen of 6.3 inch.
The Infinix Zero 8, Tecno Camon 16 Premier and realme 6 have almost the same specs as this phone but all are much more expensive, priced at around Ksh. 28,999. Despite their prices, they still don’t have the Gorilla Glass luxury like this phone and the 90 Hz refresh rate is not a justification for the price difference.
Others could include the Xiaomi Redmi 9, Redmi 9S and the Nokia 5.4 but despite their price of around Ksh. 24,999 they still don’t come very close to this phone, the Nokia 5.4 having a low res HD display instead of the Full HD resolution in the Redmi Note 10.
Why Buy the Redmi Note 10?
As stated above, and explained below, there are a number of reasons why the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 is a good phone to go for, and some of it’s greatest strengths include:
- A Full HD+ display with a 1080 x 2340 pixel resolution. Many phones at this price range have HD or 720p displays, like the Vivo V20, Infinix Note 8, Infinix Note 7, Xiaomi Redmi 9c to name just but a few. All have 720p displays and none comes close to the display quality of the Redmi Note 8 or the Note 8 Pro.
- The phone is made of Gorilla Glass 3 front for extra protection.
- The Redmi Note 10 features a quad-rear camera setup with a primary 48MP.
- A big 5,000 mAh with 33W fast charge that can achieve a 50% charge in just 25 minutes and full charge in 75 minutes.
What is in the Box.
Once you get your Redmi Note 10 you will find a number of items in it’s box including the phone itself, a 33W adapter, a USB-C cable and the Sim card ejection toolkit as well as a clear silicone protective case. Unlike in many Smartphone packaging, this phone doesn’t come with the earphones and you will have to look for one separately.
- Price: Ksh. 19,499.
- Released March 2021.
- Has Dual SIM Support.
- Measures 160.5 x 74.5 x 8.3 mm.
- Made of Glass front (Gorilla Glass 3), Plastic back and aluminum frame.
- Weight of 178.8 g
- 6.43 inch Super AMOLED Capacitive touchscreen with 16 million Colors and 450 nits brightness.
- Full HD resolution of 1080 x 1440 pixels, 409 ppi and 20:9 aspect ratio.
- Android 11; MIUI 12.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 678 (17nm) Chipset with Octa-core-core (2 x 2.2 GHz Kryo 460 Gold & 6 x 1.7 GHz Kryo 460 Silver)
- 4GB RAM.
- 64/128 GB internal Storage.
- SD card support.
- Quad 48MP + 8MP (Ultrawide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth sensor)
- Features include LED flash, Panorama, HDR, Autofocus, Digital Zoom, Face recognition, Beauty filters, Bokeh, Geo-tagging.
- Video recording of upto 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps
- Single 13MP(wide) Selfie Camera with HDR support and Video resolution of 1080p@30fps.
- Non removable Li-po 5,000 mAh battery with 33W fast charge support, 50% in 25 minutes, 100% in 75 minutes.
- WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, Dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Hotspot.
- Bluetooth:. 5.0 A2DP, LE.
- USB Type-C 2.0
- Fingerprint: Side Mounted.
- Proximity
- Accelerometer,
- Compass
- Gyro.
- Shadow Black, Frost White, Aqua Green.
Design.
Xiaomi have been well known for their beautifully looking smartphones like the Mi Note 10 which according to me is the most beautiful phone till date.
Just like in the other Notes, Xiaomi did a good job in the design and overall finish of this phone, making it look and feel way more expensive than it actually is. Just like Nokia phones, the Redmi Note phones have an international appeal thanks to their premium finish.
The Redmi Note 10 measures 160.5 x 74.5 x 8.3 mm, making it slightly taller and slimmer than the Note 8 which measures 158.3 x 75.3 x 8.4 mm. At 8.3 mm it is still slightly slimmer than many phones including the Redmi Note 9 and almost all Redmi Note 10 and Mi note 10 phones, with the Mi note 10 having a thickness of 9.7mm something that is largely attributed to it’s dual telephoto cameras.
The front is largely made of the 6.43 inch IPS LCD screen Wich is 1.0 inch smaller than the 6.53 inch of the Redmi Note 8 Pro. At the top centre is a punch hole that houses the 13MP selfie camera. The bezels round the phone are also very slim both at the sides and the top with a noticeable chin at the bottom.
Directly above the punch hole is the earpiece, and the Sim tray is placed at the Left side just like in many phones. The volume rockers and the power button are placed at the right hand side, while at the bottom are the 3.5 mm jack port, the USB-C port and the bottom firing speaker. At the top is a top firing speaker, the 3.5 mm jack port and the IR blaster. The IT blaster is the one that allows the phone to be used as a universal remote control that is Compatible with many home electronics including tvs , DVDS, Home theaters etc.
The power button has an embedded fingerprint sensor which according to many reviewers is quite fast.
The back of the phone is made out of plastic but Xiaomi did a good job in polishing it so that it looks like Glass, though it attracts alot of fingerprint smudges.
The overall design of this phone is quite appealing, and the oddly designed camera module surprisingly adds to the beauty of the phone.
The phone is IP 53 rated giving it a higher degree of dust resistance and making it splash resistant, though not waterproof.
Display.
The Redmi Note 10 features a 6.43 inch IPS LCD screen slightly bigger than the 6.3 inch in the Redmi Note 8. The Full HD + resolution of this phone is a major plus at this price tag and the display has a good resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels results in a surprisingly good pixel Density of 409 ppi. This is slightly higher pixel density than in the Redmi Note 9.
The high pixel density results in a more pleasant viewing experience with crisp and detailed images, texts and icons making this phone an ideal device for watching movies and gaming as well as online streaming.
With a maximum brightness of 1100 nits, the phone’s display is bright enough to be used in all lighting conditions including in direct Sunlight.
Software Performance.
While the Redmi Note 8 was the first phone to feature the Mediatek Helio G90T processor, the Redmi Note 10 was the first phone to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 678 processor. It is an 11 nm fabricated chipset launched early this year as the predicessor to the Snapdragon 678. It is a 4G LTE processor with a top-clock speed of 2.2 GHz which is slightly higher than the 2.0 GHz of it's predicessor. Another phone that has launched with this Processor is the Motorola Moto G Stylus 2021.
Being a 2021 phone, the Redmi Note 10 comes with Android 11 atop the MIUI 12 skin.
Just like many OS skins, the MIUI user interface comes with a lot of bloatware in the name of preloaded apps most of which cannot be uninstalled, and the numerous pop up ads totally ruins the user experience. This is the same issue with Infinix and Tecno phones, and we wish Xiaomi would have been slightly different.
Unlike many Xiaomi phones that are available in a wide range of storage options, the Note 10 is only available in two variants of 4/64, 4/128 both having the same 4GB RAM and have an SD card support.
Cameras.
Cameras are still considered a key marketing feature in smartphones, and many phones now come with more than three cameras. Most camera arrangements are made of a primary camera that does most of the work, an ultra-wide lens for increased field of view, a telephoto lens for optical zoom, a depth sensor for increased details and a macro lens for close up photos.
Of all these, the telephoto lens is not usually found in many budget phones due to it’s technical aspects which raises pricing, and the depth sensor is usually interchanged with the macro lens in most cases.
Considering that many of the secondary lenses have very low resolutions (usually below 5Mp), their performances are not that quite noticeable and therefore I usually give much emphasis on the primary camera, and let others do what manufactures intent them to-marketing.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 has a total of 5 cameras, four at the back and one in front. The Quad-rear camera setup is made of a primary 48MP lens supported by an 8MP ultrawide lens, a 2MP macro lens and a 2MP depth sensor. The 48MP primary camera is a now becoming a typical standard for phones at this price range, and is good enough for your photo needs. The pictures are crisp, sharp and full of color and detail. quite . The 8MP ultrawide lens also surprisingly does a good job, and despite the increased field of view it still produces decent photos that can almost rival those of the primary lens. The cameras can also shoot videos of upto 4K resolution.
The selfie camera is a single 13MP wide angle lens and just like the rear camera it also does a good job though I feel Xiaomi should have made it at least 20MP.
Battery.
The phone comes with a non removable 5,000 mAh battery slightly bigger than the 4,000 mAh in the Note 8 and I love the 33W charger that can achieve a 59% charge in just 25 minutes. This is more powerful compared to the 18W we see in many phones at this price, and we also must give it to Xiaomi here for bringing such technologies to the budget Smartphone segment.
Conclusion.
Xiaomi have always been keen on delivering high quality smartphones at a much cheaper price as compared to other phone brands, and the Redmi series has been a game changer.
The Mi 10 continues this tradition and the punch hole display, Gorilla Glass 3 protection, Full HD display and the 33W fast charge are the greatest highlights of this phone. At a price of Ksh. 19,499, you will definitely get value for money and will love almost every aspect of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10.
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