XiaoMi quickly established themselves as one of the top dogs in the smartphone business. The Chinese company has had very tough competition over the years but managed to stay true to itself and consumers. They did it by offering excellent devices at more than competitive prices. The new XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro was delivered at our office the other day. We have taken it for a spin and trough a series of severe tests. What does this device have better than other devices in this price range? How is camera performance? Will the battery last through a working day? Stay tuned if you want answers to these and many other crucial questions about the device in our XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro Review.
Before we go any further with our review, please take a moment to check out XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro specifications:
Specifications
| Brand | XiaoMi |
| Model | Redmi Note 3 Pro |
| Screen size | 5.5 Inches |
| Display resolution | 1920×1080 (HD 720) |
| OS | Android 5.1 Lollipop MIUI 7 on top |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 650 |
| CPU | 1.8GHZ, Hexa-Core |
| RAM | 3GB |
| GPU | Adreno 510 |
| ROM | 32GB (TF card up to 32GB) |
| Bluetooth | Yes V4.1 |
| Network type | FDD-LTE+WCDMA+GSM |
| Connectivity | 2G, 3G, 4G, GSM, WiFi, GPS, A-GPS, GLONAS, BeiDou |
| Battery | Lithium-ion Polymer Battery |
| Battery size | 4050mAh |
| Front camera | 5.0 MP |
| Back camera | 16.0 MP |
Packaging
The device comes in a little white box that houses charger, USB cable, user manual, and needle for removing the SIM. Everything is perfectly wrapped and folded inside the box and it of perfect quality.
The only thing missing in the box were headphones, but that is not too bad because nowadays headphones are usually coming with the flagship phones. You can use any pair of headphones with 3.5mm plug. It is a nice package overall and we liked it a lot.
If you enjoy listening to music click the button bellow to buy Hi-Fi headphones that will give you maximum listening experience with Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro.
The packaging contains:
| 1x XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro Smartphone and battery |
| 1x Charger |
| 1x USB Cable |
| 1x User Manual |
Design
From the design point of view, nothing changed from the regular Redmi Note 3. The key differences are in the hardware department. The device sports a 5.5-Inch screen and unusual set of Android navigation keys on the front. What makes them unique is the order because the back key is on the right side but you can get used to it easily. Above the screen is a front-facing camera with the resolution of 5-Megapixel, earpiece, proximity and light sensors.
The frame and the back of the phone are made from lightweight aluminum with perfect precision. There are several color options to choose from, silver, white, and gold. On the bottom of the back, there is a large speaker grill with the Mi logo engraved just above. Moving further up the back, there is a fingerprint scanner, dual tone LED flash and perfectly housed 16-Megapixel camera sensor.
Micro USB port and primary microphone are located on the bottom while 3.5mm headphone jack, an IR blaster, and another microphone are located on the top.
The right side of the device houses volume and power buttons which are made out of metal. They have great clickiness and tactile feedback to them and are very quality-made. The left side houses combined port for either dual SIM or an SIM and a micro SD card combo and it is removable by the needle.
The device is particularly good looking, and it can be seen that they invested a lot in its design. The XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro is made out of highest quality materials; it is very sturdy and feels great in the hand. It is a bit bigger phone, but it is pretty slim, curved and very light considering that it packs a large battery. All in all, it is a good looking device by any standards.
XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro Display
The device sports a 5.5-Inch IPS FULL HD screen. The display looks fantastic indoors, and it adapts to different scenarios and viewing angles are great. With Night display, you will feel more comfortable using the phone at night, or you can switch to a Reading Mode and feel less strain on the eyes while reading. Outdoor visibility is not that great, but you will be able to see what is going on on the screen. 
Colors look vividly and everything seems sharp at 403 PPI. Bezels on the side are small enough, and there are no on-screen buttons to “steal” the portion of the display. Unfortunately, no Gorilla Glass is protecting the screen so you will have to be extra careful not to scratch it and even apply some protective film over it.
Processor and RAM
XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro is equipped with 64-bit hexa-core Snapdragon 650 CPU clocked at 1.8GHz and Adreno 510 GPU in charge for heavy graphical tasks. The device sports 3GB of dual-channel LPDDR3 RAM so be rest assured that multitasking won’t be a problem here. Actually, there are no problems regarding this phone’s performance. Everything is super fast, smooth and the heat is reduced to a minimum.
You will be able to run every application effortlessly on this phone and gaming will be a breeze. On the extra heavy 3D games there may be a few dropped frames here and there but nothing drastic. Keep in mind that this is a mid-range device, but that CPU and GPU combo are on the top of its price range. There were no performance issues whatsoever while we used the phone as a daily driver.
Camera
XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro has stepped up its game from a previous model of the device and now the camera sensor is 16-Megapixel one. It features wide aperture f/2.0, 5-element lens, and dual tone LED flash that can autodetect room color temperature and shot accordingly to it. There are several shooting modes like HDR, panorama, manual, scene mode and other.
The quality of photographs is not the best out there, but it’s not worse either. In good light pictures can be very good with minimal noise and great white balance but not so much details. Colors are great; contrast is splendid, but the dynamic range is not on par. The device features Phase Detection Autofocus and can focus and capture the image almost too quick. Images shot in low light are not amongst the best out there but can be ok with the use of the flash. The front camera has a sensor with 5-Megapixel resolution and f/2.0 aperture. It is not brilliant but can be good for selfies and video calls. It has 36 smart beauty profiles, and you can trigger it with the use of a fingerprint scanner.
Another notable feature of the back camera is that you can use it for selfies as well with the use of fingerprint scanner. In that case, the selfies turn out much better, and you can use smart beauty profiles as well. Although Snapdragon 650 supports 4K video recording, it is absent on the XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro. You can record videos in 1080p @ 30fps max, but the quality is not on par with other devices. Another interesting feature worth mentioning is slow-mo recording 720p @ 120fps. All in all, the camera has a great potential, but the quality is far from the best. All of that can be improved with the software update.
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Storage Capacity
XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro has 32GB of fast eMMC5.0 onboard storage (there is a 16GB version, and it sports 2GB of RAM). Biggest complaints about the Note 3 were that there is no storage expansion support. XiaoMi listened and offered storage expansion on the Note 3 Pro with up to 32GB via micro SD card. That amount of storage should be enough even for hardcore gamers and multimedia enthusiasts.
Operating System (OS)
XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop and MIUI 7 on top of that. Android 6 Marshmallow update should be right around the corner, but the company hasn’t given any official statements about that yet. MIUI 7 is slick and beautiful OS with fast animations and smooth transitions. It has a lot of advantages like battery saver modes, faster app opening, a variety of themes and other. You can install apps or games from the Google Play Store or any other app store of your choosing. In everyday tasks, XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro worked like a charm and us don’t have any complaints.
Connectivity
From the connectivity side, this device is a real behemoth. It offers dual SIM support with up to 4G LTE networks that work around the globe. Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac is onboard for surfing the web while at home or if you don’t have an unlimited data plan. Keep in mind that when using Wi-Fi for browsing and not Data connection battery will last much longer. XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro comes with the latest Bluetooth 4.1 onboard, and it offers much faster transfer rate, more stable connections, and less battery drainage. GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou positioning are supported by this phone so you will not have a problem to locate yourself in a matter of seconds wherever you are. You can use Google Maps or any other mapping system for that.
Network type: FDD-LTE+WCDMA+GSM
2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz CDMA 2000 BC0
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro Battery life
The device comes with a monstrous 4050mAh lithium-ion battery. Because of the colossal standby times on MIUI 7 and efficient CPU we had used this device for two days straight with no problem. Typical usage would be few calls, some music, watching YouTube a bit, some social networks, two mail accounts, and a little web browsing. Even the most extreme power users will have a problem to deplete the battery in a day. Overall, XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro has a fantastic battery life, and that is one of its main selling points.
Additional Features
XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro sport a plethora of other features. It has excellent codec supports out of the box and offers incredible Hi Fidelity sound over earphones. An abundance of sensors is onboard like a compass, light sensor, proximity sensor, gyroscope, gravity sensor, and hall sensor. There is even an IR blaster so you can use your phone as a remote controller for almost every device you have in the house. Another superb feature is a fingerprint scanner. This unique feature enhances the security of the smartphone and works remarkably well. It unlocks the phone so fast that you wouldn’t even notice that is was locked.
Pros and Cons
We all know that no device is perfect. Every phone has its positive and negative sides, and we did our best to list them all out for your viewing pleasure.
Pros
- Great battery life
- Fantastic build quality
- Good display
- Great chipset in this price range
- Fingerprint scanner
- LTE networks support
Cons
- Still on Android 5.1 Lollipop
- Mediocre camera
- No NFC support
Our opinion
XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro is a perfect example that smartphone makers are listening to their customers. It offers stellar performance, excellent battery life, and enhanced security for a good price. We enjoyed using it as a daily driver and would recommend it to anyone that needs a reliable gadget at affordable price.
If you think XiaoMi Redmi Note 3 Pro is a perfect device for you, purchase it while it’s on a limited sale by clicking on any of the buttons bellow.
Feel free to post your opinions about the device in the comment section bellow the article.