Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 5G review

One other 12 months, one other unwieldy roster of mid-range smartphones from Xiaomi’s price range Redmi model. The Be aware 14 5G is the awkward one of many bunch, because it hasn’t formally been launched within the UK or the US, though you will get maintain of 1 from Amazon.

Having examined the Redmi Be aware 13 5G at round this time final 12 months, nevertheless, I used to be curious to see how Xiaomi has taken issues ahead in 2025.

At first look, little or no has been added, however it is a confirmed system. Take an excellent OLED show, add a stable (if unspectacular) design, throw in a reliable fundamental digicam, and again all of it with the type of reminiscence choices that may make sure flagship strains blush.

Has Xiaomi even tried to advance mentioned system? Sure, however maybe to not the extent vital in an more and more aggressive price range cellphone discipline.

Design & Construct

• Barely greater and heavier than earlier than
• Stable plastic construct
• Improved IP64 ranking

I reserved some faint reward for the Redmi Be aware 13 5G’s slimmer, lighter design, however the Redmi Be aware 14 5G has evidently piled on a number of kilos over the Christmas interval. At 162.4 x 75.7 x 8mm, it’s a fraction greater in each route.

In the meantime, a weight of 190g represents a not inconsiderable achieve of 15g. This latter determine, and that further thickness, can maybe be justified by a bigger battery (which we’ll get to), however I’m unsure why the cellphone’s footprint wanted to be any greater.

This isn’t the identical completely flat design because the Redmi Be aware 13 5G both, with a barely rounded rear panel making it look rather less purposeful, but in addition enhancing its hand really feel.

In any other case, it is a typical price range Xiaomi design. It’s predominantly manufactured from plastic, with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 to the entrance similar to the earlier mannequin. An IP64 ranking does signify an enchancment over the IP54-rated Be aware 13 5G, nevertheless, which means it’s just a little extra dust-proof.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

One other design enchancment is the inclusion of an in-display fingerprint sensor rather than the Be aware 13 5G’s side-mounted answer. It lends a extra premium air to the cellphone, and works properly.

The three.5mm headphone jack makes a return to the highest fringe of the cellphone, as does Xiaomi’s signature IR blaster. Utilizing the preinstalled Mi Distant app, you should use the Redmi Be aware 14 5G to regulate your TV or Hello-Fi system – a characteristic that I’ve typically discovered to be surprisingly helpful.

Display screen & audio system

• Acquainted 6.67in Full HD+ OLED show
• 120Hz refresh fee
• Stereo audio system

Xiaomi sometimes offers respectable shows for the cash with its price range sub-brands. The Redmi Be aware 14 5G doesn’t let the aspect down, but it surely doesn’t provide a lot that’s new both.

It packs one other 6.67in AMOLED show, very similar to its predecessor, with the identical 1080 x 2400 (FHD+) decision and 120Hz refresh fee. That is no LTPO panel, so it’ll solely drop to 60Hz when the state of affairs requires it.

Xiaomi cites a most brightness of 1200 nits within the automated excessive brightness mode (HBM), when issues get significantly sunny, in addition to a peak HDR brightness of 2100 nits. Each are a lift over the Redmi Be aware 13 5G, and the latter specifically permits HDR10+ help this time round.

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With autobrightness turned off, I recorded a prime brightness of 447 nits, which is a only a tad lower than the Redmi Be aware 13 5G. It’s in these excessive situations the place enhancements have been made.

This display screen doesn’t signify an enormous advance over the Redmi Be aware 13 5G, however for lower than £200/$300, you’re unlikely to seek out higher.

One space through which Xiaomi has improved issues significantly is audio. You get a correct pair of audio system this time round, along with Dolby Atmos help.

Audio high quality isn’t significantly robust, with a sure tinniness and a pronounced lack of depth to the output. However the output is loud and clear, and also you do discover that there’s correct stereo separation this time round.

Specs & Efficiency

• Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Extremely
• Efficiency effective, however you will get quicker for the cash
• 256GB of expandable storage

Xiaomi has outfitted the Redmi Be aware 13 5G with a Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Extremely processor, which doesn’t signify a large enchancment over the MediaTek Dimensity 6080 of the Redmi Be aware 13 5G.

In our regular Geekbench 6 benchmark checks, the Be aware 14 5G scored just a little higher than its predecessor. A mean multi-core rating of 2267 represents a lower than 9% enhance on the Be aware 13 5G.

Our GFXBench GPU benchmarks checks yielded a extra spectacular 16% enhance on common.

As efficiency enhancements go, we’re speaking extra of a bump than a leap. It’s additionally not a massively spectacular performer in comparison with its contemporaries.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

For instance, it’s nowhere close to as spectacular because the Moto G75 with its Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip, nor certainly the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G with its Exynos 1380. Even the Redmi Be aware 14 5G’s cousin, the Poco X7, performs just a little higher.

My check mannequin got here with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of inner storage, which continues a development of Xiaomi supplying its cheaper fashions with a beneficiant quantity of reminiscence and storage. That is flanked by 6GB/128GB and 12GB/512GB choices – a uncommon case of the RAM allotment various as a lot because the storage.

Whichever mannequin you go for, there’s a microSDXC slot for growth functions.

Digicam

• Acquainted 108Mp fundamental sensor
• Low gentle efficiency improved by OIS
• Upgraded 20MP selfie digicam

The theme of this assessment thus far has been ‘small however welcome enhancements’, and that continues to use when you think about the Redmi Be aware 14 5G’s digicam set-up.

For starters, whereas the pixel-dense 108Mp 1/1.67″ fundamental sensor stays unchanged from the Redmi Be aware 13 5G, it’s now backed by OIS.

In a single fell swoop this addresses arguably my greatest criticism of the Be aware 13 5G digicam – its woeful night time mode efficiency. It’s not that night time time pictures are actually good – there are nonetheless seen artefacts in these inky skies and a sure softness general – however they’re not a complete write-off.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

In the case of respectable daylight circumstances – or no less than what passes for them throughout this gray UK late-winter – I discovered the efficiency to be broadly just like final 12 months’s mannequin.

The pictures I captured seemed respectable, if not superb. Publicity was acceptable in additional muted circumstances, with clear indicators of overexposure creeping in when taking pictures on a sunnier day. Colors are rendered in a comparatively pure trend.

There’s no devoted telephoto digicam right here, however 3x pictures look acceptable, utilizing these further pixels from the principle sensor to good impact to crop in with out a large drop intimately. It in all probability would have been a greater thought to go along with 2x because the default zoom management, as these pictures look fairly a bit crisper, but it surely’s accessible with a press and maintain of one of many zoom buttons

Utilizing this methodology it’s additionally attainable to extend the zoom to 10x, however the limits of the cropping method are uncovered fairly rapidly past 3x.

As you’d anticipate, the devoted 8Mp ultra-wide represents a serious drop off in high quality in comparison with that fundamental sensor. Particulars turn out to be fuzzier, particularly in direction of the sides, whereas publicity and dynamic vary aren’t even in the identical ballpark.

There’s a 2Mp macro digicam right here as properly, but it surely’s finest forgotten, as all such ‘bonus’ sensors are. It will have been higher if Xiaomi had simply gone with a streamlined twin digicam set-up.

Except for that OIS addition, the most important {hardware} enchancment right here is the brand new 20Mp entrance digicam. It doesn’t result in revelatory selfies, to be frank, and the topic is rarely rendered pin-sharp. Pores and skin tones and hues are fairly correct, but it surely struggles in these HDR situations. Portrait selfies look very synthetic, and it fails to make the topic pop.

Video seize stays at a reasonably lowly 1080p/30fps, although it’s bolstered by that inclusion of OIS.

Battery Life & Charging

• Bigger 5110mAh battery
• A lot improved stamina
• Sooner 45W wired charging

Xiaomi has upped its battery life and charging sport throughout the board for the Redmi Be aware 14 5G, which is sweet to see after the Redmi Be aware 13 5G’s slight regression.

The producers has packed in a barely bigger 5110mAh battery (in comparison with 5000mAh earlier than), which can see you thru a full day of utilization.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

On a day with 4 hours of screen-on time, together with hours of net looking and an hour of YouTube video watching, I used to be left with about 35% within the tank. That’s not excellent, but it surely’s completely acceptable.

Utilizing extra scientific strategies, the Redmi Be aware 14 5G lasted 13 hours 9 minutes within the PC Mark Work 3.0 battery check. That’s a large 3 hours and 20 minutes longer than the Redmi Be aware 13 5G.

The enhancements proceed with the availability of a speedy 45W charger within the field, which is up from 33W within the Be aware 13 5G. It was ample to get the cellphone from empty to 62% in half-hour in my testing, whereas a full cost took just below an hour.

Software program

• HyperOS 1.0 over Android 14 – once more
• Similar extreme bloatware
• 2 main Android updates, 4 years of safety updates

If I have been to have been supplied the selection of 1 space to enhance with the Redmi Be aware 13 5G, it will have been its software program. Sadly, that’s the one space the place there’s been little discernible motion.

Identical to its predecessor, the Redmi be aware 14 5G runs on Xiaomi’s HyperOS 1.0 layered over Android 14.

Xiaomi is promising solely two main Android updates, and a type of might be to Android 15, which has been obtainable on some telephones since October. There’ll be 4 years of safety updates.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

All in all, the Redmi Be aware 14 5G’s future software program prospects aren’t superb. Particularly so when you think about what’s in entrance of you out of the field.

Xiaomi’s HyperOS has all the identical quirks and flaws that it (and MIUI earlier than it) has at all times had. It’s a messy, cluttered UI that operates completely fluidly, however with numerous small annoyances that add as much as one thing extra irritating.

The cut up notification menu is kind of generally adopted by many producers now (together with Samsung), however one thing concerning the implementation continues to fatigue me.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

The icons and wallpapers are broadly charmless, and being compelled into the model’s Themes retailer each time I need to change the latter will get outdated quick – particularly as the road between free and monetised wallpapers appears to be non-existent.

Bloatware continues to plague the UI. You’ll be able to perceive a producer wishing to produce its personal variations of core apps, however do we actually want a bespoke net browser when each Google Chrome and (inexplicably) Opera are additionally preinstalled?

Jon Mundy / Foundry

There’s additionally a folder with 9 extra third half apps, together with (in fact) Reserving.com, WPS Workplace, and LinkedIn. There’s a separate folder with six low-end video games.

Fortunately, Xiaomi has no less than ironed out a number of the bugs that I skilled a 12 months in the past. However HyperOS continues to be certainly one of my least favorite Android skins to take care of.

Value & Availability

For all that you could be be weighing up whether or not to purchase the Redmi Be aware 14 5G proper now, you gained’t be capable to get it formally. On the time of writing, there are not any plans to carry the Redmi Be aware 14 5G to the UK, and it undoubtedly gained’t be making its approach to the US.

Nonetheless, you can purchase it from Amazon. Within the UK, it’ll value £190 and your order might be fulfilled by FairPhone. Head over to Amazon US, and you’ll choose it up for $276, offered by Aimportar USA. In each instances, it’s the identical 8GB/256GB mannequin that I’m reviewing right here.

Nonetheless, the Redmi Be aware 14 is formally obtainable by way of the Xiaomi web site, though you’ll should make peace with some downgrades from the mannequin reviewed right here. If neither possibility looks as if the proper match, you possibly can see our prime suggestions in our round-up of the most effective price range telephones you should buy.

The Redmi Be aware 14 5G might be obtainable in “a number of European international locations, together with Spain”, in line with the Redmi PR, with a worth of €299.99 for the 8GB/256GB mannequin. The Spanish Xiaomi web site lists 6GB/128GB and 12GB/512GB choices, however they weren’t available for purchase. It’s the identical state of affairs (and worth) on the Xiaomi Germany web site.

All of which is reflective of a typical concern we’ve with Xiaomi’s price range sub-brands. There’s a sure lack of readability and consistency in the case of the matter of the place you possibly can really purchase these telephones.

Must you purchase the Redmi Be aware 14 5G?

The Redmi Be aware 14 5G stays a stable cellphone with a reliable design, a good OLED display screen, and good battery life. However I’d counsel that the sheer churn of low-cost choices must cease, and the model ought to deal with making one or two genuinely compelling low-cost telephones.

It will likely assist the model to offer higher readability and consistency on which of its many fashions are being made obtainable through which territories, too.

Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand isn’t fairly the simple price range advice it as soon as was. With the Redmi Be aware 14 5G, the {hardware} enhancements are incremental, the software program expertise continues to frustrate, and the competitors is simply getting stronger.

Motorola is now providing genuinely attention-grabbing differentiation and bonus options between its sub-£300/€300 smartphones, whereas the CMF Cellphone 1 manages to supply appreciable pleasure and magnificence for lots much less cash.

Specs

• Android 14
• 6.67in, FHD+, OLED, 120Hz, flat show
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Extremely
• 6GB/8GB/12GB RAM
• 128GB/256GB/512GB storage
• 108Mp, f/1.8 fundamental digicam
• 8Mp ultra-wide digicam
• 2Mp macro digicam
• As much as 1080p @ 30fps rear video
• 20Mp front-facing digicam
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Bluetooth 5.3
• 5110mAh battery
• 45W charging
• 162.4 x 75.7 x 8mm
• 190g
• Launch colors: Midnight Black, Lavender Purple, Coral Inexperienced