Redmi Note 8 2021 review

 

Redmi Note 8 2021 full review

Hey what's up guys will be here for gsm

arena Xiaomi has re-released its popular

redmi note 8 and this one's called the

redmi note 8 2021 but can a phone that

packs two-year-old specs

compete in today's mid-range market

let's find out in our full review

as you might expect the redmi note 8

2021 is pretty much identical to the

original redmi note 8 that came outback

in 2019 the two were nearly impossible

to tell apart you get the same design

dimensions and even weight here the flat

the back panel is made from sturdy gorilla

glass 5 and its gradient finish catches

light in a neat pattern

the frame is plastic but it doesn't feel

cheap and overall the redmi note 8 2021

is nice to look at and to hold in the

hand

the previous model had a nano-coating on

the internals and could survive a splash

or two and according to Xiaomi 2021

version improves upon that there's still

no IP rating here though

the redmi note 8 2021 brings back one

the feature you don't see too often these

days a notification led

and the fingerprint scanner is rear

mounted which is rarer to see in

2021 than it was a couple of years ago

the redmi note 8 2021 screen is a 6.3

inch IPS LCD with a 1080p resolution

gorilla glass 5 protection and a

standard 60hz refresh rate

in this day and age most of the hot new

mid-rangers are packing a high refresh

rate to make for smoother swiping and

scrolling so 60hz feels like a step

backward and for some reason, there is a

bit of smearing when scrolling text on a

the white background which means the pixel

the response is even slower than on the

original model so it seems this is

a different panel altogether

there are also other differences we

found with this display which supports

this theory max brightness is actually

better this time around we measured

around 560 nits with a brightness slider

which boosts the 620 nits in auto mode

in bright conditions

but at the same time the color accuracy

isn't as good here as on the redmi note

8 even if you take the time to fiddle

with the colors and settings

while we're still on the topic of what's

different on 2021 I have to mention

the storage options here you've started

a higher 64 gigs and there's a 128 gig

option to all still expandable

the previous model has already been

updated to android 11 but with the newly

released one you'll get software support

that'll last a bit further down the line

still at its core the mini 12.5

the interface is pretty much the same as that

we've seen from Xiaomi for the past

while

the main difference between the redmi

note 8 2021 and the old model is the

the chipset the global chipset

shortages might be why Xiaomi decided to

make this phone in the first place on

the redmi note 8 2021 you get a MediaTek

helio g85 chipset built on a 12

nanometer process which we also saw in

last year's redmi note 9. is in

contrast to the Qualcomm snapdragon 665

in the original note 8.

neither chipset is a

performance champion but the MediaTek

one does have the edge when it comes to

graphics tests

Redmi Note 8 2021 full review

the real-world performance of the note8

2021 is pretty similar to what we saw

before though it's reliable for your day

to day needs but you may experience a

hiccup from time to time during heavier

tasks or gaming

while the cameras of the note 8 2021 are

the same as on the original one there

are some differences in processing

because of the different chipsets the

cameras include a 48-megapixel quad

Bayer main cam is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide

a 2-megapixel macro cam and a depth

sensor but one of the side effects of

the chipset change is that you don't get

4k video recording this time around

bummer 1080p videos from the main cam

are pretty solid you get low

noise and decent dynamic range and

colors look true to life

due to the lower resolution though you

get less detail than you could on the

first redmi note 8.

the ultra-wide cam also does a good job

with video producing clips with good

looking colors enough sharpness and

again decent dynamic range there is some

visible noise though

let's continue with the quality of still

photos shots from the main cam come out

in 12 megapixels and during the day

they're far from perfect resolved detail

is good and the colors look natural but the

the phone tends to overexpose his photos

thankfully much of the overexposure

seems to be due to the default ai

enhancement which you're able to toggle

off

still, this behavior is odd

the overexposure issue also extends to

the ultrawide camera and is worse

because this cam has a more narrow

dynamic range to begin with

toggling off the ai mode again helps the

situation but the photos are still on

the softer side

at least the color rendition matches

that at the main cam

close-ups from the 2-megapixel macro cam

are nothing to write home about but

they're ok for the price bracket

in low light the redmi note 8 2021 does

ok for a budget phone

shots from the main cam look decent with

good detail and well-balanced dynamic

the range you get controlled light sources

and some detail in the shadows there is

some general softness due to the noise

reduction though

if you turn on the night mode the

quality improves a lot these photos come

out brighter with boosted shadows and

light sources are better contained the

the overall level of detail seems better too

the ultrawide camera struggles in low

light but the quality isn't the worst

we've seen there's softness throughout

the frame but these photos are still

usable there isn't any night mode

support here though

and for selfies, there's a 13 megapixel

The front-facing cam does a great job

producing photos with plenty of detail

nice-looking colors and low noise

now I'll go ahead and talk about the

rest of what the redmi note 8 2021 has

to offer to start with the audio you get

a traditional headphone jack here and a

single bottom-firing speaker it's not

too loud scoring just average on our

loudness charts and the sound quality is

unimpressive

Redmi Note 8 2021 full review

the redmi note 8 2021 has a 4 000

milliamp-hour battery capacity just like

the original and battery life is similar

here the new model scored a respectable

endurance rating of 102 hours in our

battery life tests

and finally the redmi note 8 2021

supports up to 18-watt charging but

comes with a 22.5-watt charger in the

box with it we were able to charge from

zero to 34 percent in half an hour

so there you have it guys the redmi note

8 was a popular budget phone back in

2019 and you get the same features here

including the snazzy design the good

battery life and the decent cameras

the thing is this industry moves fast it

seems like every time you turn around

a new model is coming out so two

years is a long time and by now the

budget phones are packing things like

high refresh rate screens bigger

batteries faster charging and even

stereo speakers

if you don't mind this older design or

if you're even after that then the redmi

note 8 2021 could be worth looking into

but otherwise, you'll find more

up-to-date features elsewhere