Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ review

Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand is thought for its inexpensive but highly effective handsets, and that’s no completely different with the Redmi Observe 13 sequence.  

5 telephones launched within the UK and Europe in January 2024 – the Redmi Observe 13 4G, Observe 13, Observe 13 Professional 4G, Observe 13 Professional and Observe 13 Professional+. 

It’s the top-of-the-line Professional+ that’s our focus right here, which, regardless of sounding like a rival to the iPhone 15 Professional Max, prices simply £450/€499 at launch. 

Primarily based on specs alone, it seems to be like unimaginable worth for cash, however does that make it a terrific telephone for day-to-day utilization? I spent every week utilizing the Observe 13 Professional+ as my fundamental gadget to seek out out.   

Design & Construct

• Enticing two-tone design
• Premium construct high quality
• IP68 score

The Observe 13 Professional+’s design is certainly one of my favorite issues about it. The telephone feels very premium, and no corners have been lower when it comes to construct high quality. 

Regardless of additionally being current on the cheaper Observe 13 Professional, a glass again feels luxurious. It provides the telephone a satisfying weight within the hand, however at 204.5g, it’s nonetheless snug to carry for lengthy intervals of time. 

One other factor I actually like is the two-tone design on the again. A shiny coating across the cameras and flash means it shimmers because it catches the sunshine, whereas a matt end elsewhere limits the build-up of fingerprint smudges and different filth. It’s the proper hybrid. 

This distinction is especially eye-catching on the Moonlight White mannequin I examined, although it seems to be to be related on Midnight Black and Aurora Purple, your different color choices. 

The telephone is grippy sufficient to make use of case-free, and it seems like a disgrace to cowl up the design. However the rubber one included within the field is a lot better than I used to be anticipating, combining a minimalist aesthetic with strong safety.  

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It utterly covers the aluminium body, however leaves the curved edges of the show uncovered. The 13 Professional+ is the one Redmi Observe 13 telephone to not have a flat display screen. 

Sturdiness is clearly a prime precedence, although. The display screen is provided with Corning’s robust Gorilla Glass Victus, making it scratch resistant and capable of survive drops of as much as 2m. Alongside an IP68 score for water and dirt resistance, it’s nicely protected in opposition to the weather.  

As ordinary, there’s a USB-C port for charging, however the 3.5mm headphone jack from all of the cheaper Observe 13 handsets is lacking right here. That is one thing you see on virtually all flagships, however I don’t perceive why Xiaomi didn’t simply go away it in. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

The superb vibration motor is unquestionably value mentioning, although. Its refined haptics ship a pleasant hit of suggestions whereas typing, navigating between apps and gaming. It’s a step down from the Galaxy S24 Extremely on this regard, however nonetheless spectacular. 

Display screen & Audio system

• Wonderful 6.67-inch AMOLED
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• First rate stereo audio system

Xiaomi is aware of make a terrific telephone show, and that’s no completely different on the Observe 13 Professional+. It’s outfitted with a stunning 6.67-inch AMOLED panel that appears and performs similar to a flagship.  

A 2712×1220 decision isn’t fairly the 1440p you’ll see on some telephones, however readability and element continues to be wonderful. Alongside vibrant, punchy colors and deep blacks, the Observe 13 Professional+ has an excellent display screen for content material consumption and gaming. 

The 120Hz refresh charge is one other contact of sophistication, making scrolling and transitions silky and responsive. It’s only a disgrace there’s no LTPO tech right here, so it may well’t dynamically regulate right down to 1Hz to save lots of battery life.  

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

As a substitute, the default mode robotically switches between 60- and 120Hz, or you’ll be able to manually set both. This is identical because the Redmi Observe 13 Professional. 

Xiaomi advertises 1800 nits of peak brightness, although the 531 nits I recorded is spectacular. Alongside a devoted ‘Daylight mode’ (obtainable when you flip off auto brightness), outside visibility is great. Even on a shiny sunny day, you’ll haven’t any downside making out what’s on display screen. 

The curved show doesn’t intervene with the viewing expertise in any respect, whereas a small hole-punch selfie digital camera and razor-thin bezels means the entrance of the telephone is principally all display screen. 

Inside it’s an optical fingerprint sensor, versus the side-mounted bodily model on among the cheaper Redmi Observe 13 telephones. It was frustratingly temperamental initially, however improved so much once I arrange the identical finger twice. I’d advocate you do that too, because the face unlock is far much less safe. 

With above-average audio, the expertise of watching motion pictures or gaming is superb. A downward-firing grille combines with the earpiece for a stereo setup, delivering punchy sound with a pleasant quantity of depth. Bass is comparatively restricted, however that’s not an enormous shock. 

Specs & Efficiency

• MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Extremely and 12GB RAM
• Spectacular on a regular basis efficiency
• Appropriate for demanding gaming

The Observe 13 Professional+ is powered by the Dimensity 7200 Extremely, an higher mid-range chipset launched in September 2023.  

It’s not fairly MediaTek’s strongest, however primarily based on my testing, it’s a lot succesful sufficient for most individuals. Xiaomi {couples} it with a beneficiant 12GB of RAM on the one model obtainable in Europe, efficiency is robust, and higher than I used to be anticipating. 

The Observe 13 Professional+ powered via all my common duties, corresponding to net searching (with dozens of tabs open), messaging (with a number of lively conversations) and taking plenty of images. Even once I needed to rapidly swap between them, there was no signal of any hesitation or slowdown. 

It all the time appeared as if the telephone had loads of energy in reserve, and it bought a possibility to make use of a few of that whereas gaming. Whereas enjoying Name of Obligation: Cell, PUBG Cell, Asphalt 9: Legends and EA Sports activities FC Cell, it felt like I used to be utilizing a high-end telephone.

The one indication that it was working arduous was the again of the telephone getting barely heat to the contact, however this by no means grew to become uncomfortable. 

Xiaomi Redmi Observe 13 Professional+ benchmarks

Within the UK, the telephone is simply obtainable with one storage capability, and with no Micro-SD slot there’s no help for expandable storage. However with 512GB on board, even energy customers ought to have loads of area to play with. 

The Dimensity 9200 Extremely helps 5G, and it’s joined within the connectivity division by Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 and NFC for cellular funds. Until you have got a router that helps Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7, that is completely tremendous. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Cameras

• First rate 200Mp fundamental sensor
• Underwhelming 8Mp ultrawide, no telephoto
• Strong 16Mp selfie lens

The Observe 13 Professional+ has a complete of 4 digital camera lenses, however their high quality varies considerably. 

Its 200Mp fundamental sensor is essentially the most spectacular. Regardless of a course of often known as pixel binning combining 16 pixels into one for a 12.5Mp picture by default, you’ll be able to nonetheless take 200Mp images. Nevertheless, they take up plenty of additional area for less than a barely higher picture. 

Supplied the lighting is nice, you may get some wonderful images within the default factors and shoot mode. Element and dynamic vary are each robust, and it handles the publicity of some complicated skies very nicely. Consequently, I used to be persistently getting flagship-quality photographs of the seashore utilizing this telephone. 

Like most Xiaomi telephones, colors aren’t fairly true to life. There’s some fairly aggressive color saturation boosting occurring in some environments, although I discovered this matched how most individuals would often edit their images. 

A software-based evening mode brightens low-light images, however usually introduces noise or makes images look synthetic. I most well-liked to go away it off and experiment with enhancing later. 

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After all, in some environments the 8Mp ultrawide makes extra sense. It will increase the sector of view to 120˚ , however there’s a noticeable drop-off in picture high quality. The place potential, I most well-liked to face additional again than depend on it. 

Acquired a transparent topic you need to take a photograph of? Be ready to be affected person. Portrait-style images are frustratingly hit-and-miss, with the telephone usually struggling to find out the place a canine’s fur ends and the background begins.  

Solely round half of the images I took delivered a convincing background blur. If the topic is shifting round, it turns into much more difficult. 

The third rear lens, a 2Mp macro, is just about ineffective. All of the close-up photographs I took had been completely out of focus, so I like to recommend you don’t hassle with it. 

Nevertheless, there’s no telephoto digital camera of any description. It means all of the zoom obtainable within the digital camera app (as much as 10x) is digital, with an enormous decline in high quality when you go previous 4x. Cropping in on a 200Mp picture can be the principle purpose to make use of the total decision. 

With an underwhelming ultrawide and no telephoto, the Observe 13 Professional+ works greatest if you need to take a photograph of what’s instantly in entrance of the telephone or your self. 

Selfies from the 16Mp front-facing lens are strong, combining respectable element with a well-exposed background. The portrait-style background blur arguably works higher right here, although it’s nonetheless not excellent. 

The telephone can seize video in as much as 4K at 30fps, although the default 1080p at 30fps is okay for informal dwelling movies or social media. However regardless of OIS (optical picture stabilization) on the principle lens, footage will get very wobbly with any important motion. 

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh
• Spectacular all-day battery life
• 120W quick charging

Xiaomi has outfitted the Observe 13 Professional+ with a 5000mAh battery. That’s truly barely smaller than the 5100mAh cell on the Observe 13 Professional, however the PCMark battery take a look at suggests battery life is nearly similar.  

A rating of 11 hours and 55 minutes is simply a few minutes lower than its cheaper sibling. Each are above common, and just about assure all-day battery life.  

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

That features on lengthy days with excessive brightness, plenty of cellular knowledge utilization and GPS. With lighter utilization and reliance on Wi-Fi, I used to be going greater than two full days between fees. The one situation the place it might die on you by nighttime is in the event you plan on gaming for a number of hours. In any other case, you’re in protected palms. 

And if you do run out of battery, the 120W quick charging provides nice peace of thoughts, particularly with the required charger included within the field. In testing, it went from 0-73% in simply quarter-hour, with a full cost in beneath half an hour. 

There’s no wi-fi charging, however the mixture of nice battery life and quick wired speeds greater than makes up for it. 

Software program & Apps

• MIUI 14 over Android 13
• No phrase on Android 14 replace
• Three years OS updates, 4 years safety

Sadly, software program stays the principle weak spot of the Observe 13 Professional+. 

The primary disappointment is that’s it’s nonetheless working the MIUI 14 pores and skin at launch, which relies on Android 13 relatively than the most recent Android 14. And there’s no phrase on when the telephone might be up to date to Xiaomi’s new Android 14-based HyperOS – the brand new title for MIUI 15. 

However even when it does, there gained’t be any enormous adjustments to the core consumer expertise. And as succesful as it’s, Xiaomi’s Android pores and skin nonetheless leaves me chilly. 

The most important frustration is the sheer quantity of bloatware, with dozens of annoying additional apps pre-installed on the telephone. These embody informal video games, purchasing apps, music streaming companies and social media, plus Xiaomi’s personal variations of many inventory Google apps. 

Most of those could be uninstalled, however your greatest various for some others is to disable or cover them. Ultimately, I bought the house display screen trying the best way I prefer it, however it took much more effort and time than is critical. 

Elsewhere, the Settings could be complicated to navigate, whereas the iOS-style break up between fast settings and notifications gained’t be to everybody’s tastes. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Nevertheless, it’s not all dangerous information. I like the sting of the show lighting up if you get a notification (relatively than the entire display screen turning on) and floating home windows are genuinely helpful for multitasking. 

And as that is Android, you’ll be able to simply swap out MIUI for one more launcher. Not like some Android telephone makers, Xiaomi doesn’t cease you from doing this.  

However what you’ll be able to’t management is the size of software program help. Three years of OS updates will solely take the telephone as much as Android 16, with safety patches persevering with till 2027 (4 years from the unique launch in China). 

It’s a transparent step down from many rivals, and an space by which Xiaomi might nonetheless enhance. 

Worth & Availability

The Redmi Observe 13 Professional+ prices £449/€499. The one configuration obtainable within the UK will get you 12GB of RAM and 256GB of inner storage. 

It’s obtainable direct from Xiaomi, but additionally through Amazon, Currys and Very. No retailers or carriers are promoting the telephone on contact, so your greatest wager is to pair it with a SIM-only deal. 

As with all Xiaomi telephones, it’s not being bought within the US, although you could possibly import one. 

Sadly, that outright UK value is similar to the Google Pixel 7a, the most effective mid-range telephone you should buy. It and the £499 OnePlus Nord 3 are higher all-rounders for most individuals at this value.  

And if you wish to avoid wasting cash, it’s additionally value contemplating the Redmi Observe 13 Professional, which prices simply £339 however has so much in frequent. 

Must you purchase the Xiaomi Redmi Observe 13 Professional+?

The Redmi Observe 13 Professional+ is without doubt one of the greatest telephones that most individuals shouldn’t purchase. 

It has among the greatest {hardware} we’ve ever seen on a mid-range telephone, from very good efficiency and a stunning show to nice battery life and ultra-fast charging. Even the premium design and audio are spectacular. 

Nevertheless, there are two large issues that depend in opposition to it. The primary are the cameras, that are able to nice photographs however frustratingly unreliable and never essentially the most versatile. The second is the software program, which is usually unintuitive and a transparent step down when it comes to updates vs many rivals. 

Sadly, these two features are essential to the best way most individuals use their telephone. Contemplating the power of the competitors, the Observe 13 Professional+ is simply value shopping for in the event you prioritise panorama images and like Xiaomi’s MIUI pores and skin. 

Specs

• Android 13 w/ MIUI 14    
• 6.67-inch AMOLED 120Hz curved show  
• Beneath-screen fingerprint sensor   
• Gorilla Glass Victus entrance, glass again 
• MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Extremely 
• 12GB LPDDR5 RAM   
• 512GB UFS 3.1 non-expandable storage   
• 200Mp, f/1.65 fundamental digital camera with OIS    
• 8Mp, f/2.2 120˚  ultrawide digital camera    
• 2Mp, f/2.4 macro digital camera   
• 16Mp, f/2.4 front-facing digital camera    
• Twin stereo audio system   
• Twin-SIM    
• 5G    
• Wi-Fi 6   
• Bluetooth 5.2   
• IP68 
• USB-C 
• IR blaster 
• 5000mAh battery    
• 120W wired charging    
• 161 x 74 x 7.98mm    
• 204.5g 
• Midnight Black, Aurora Purple, Moonlight White