The Redmi Note 8 Pro will turn 3 years old in August of this year, yet people still use this device. Older devices are good if you are on a budget, like if you found an awesome deal on a great phone for half the price, or you’re looking at the second hand market, or you just don’t want to spend money unnecessarily. But, is the Redmi Note 8 Pro still up to the task of being your daily driver?
The Redmi Note 8 Pro in 2022
Hardware
The Redmi Note 8 Pro uses the Helio G90T processor and 6 or 8 gigabytes of RAM. These specs are good, but they’re not top of the line. The G90T was released as a gaming-focused SoC with 8 cores and decently high clock speeds. It runs games decently and has good performance, but for a midrange Mediatek chip its very good. The battery gets around 7 hours of screen on time, and is 4500mAH. For a midrange phone that you can get for around 200 dollars in the second hand market, there are better options, since you can get the Redmi Note 10S for 20 dollars more in most markets, though the price fluctuates. This CPU is a long-lasting CPU that can be used for at least 2 more years since today.
Performance
If you’re looking for a gaming beast, the Redmi Note 8 Pro isn’t the best bet for you. The G90T, despite being a gaming focused SoC, isn’t great at gaming nowadays. You can play PUBG Mobile or Genshin Impact on the lowest settings for a smooth 60FPS experience, and Call of Duty already runs at 60FPS by default, though you can tweak PUBG’s settings using the Gfxtool. Compared to SoC’s like the Snapdragon 720G or similar processors, the G90T gets the job done and is fine for a budget phone.
Camera
The Redmi Note 8 Pro uses a Samsung S5KGW1 sensor, with an F1.9 aperture, an ultra wide sensor, and dual sensors for macro and depth. The variety of sensors rival devices like the newly released Redmi Note 11 series, but the quality isn’t quite on par. The camera, also isn’t amazing, but you can install one of the many Google Camera (GCam) ports on the device for better photos. You can get GCamLoader from here. The camera can use software to upscale photos to a higher resolution, and it makes a significant difference, thought this feature isn’t available on most of the GCam ports.
Here are a few samples.
Software
The Redmi Note 8 Pro has reached the end of its life, so it will not be receiving any more platform updates or MIUI updates (except possibly MIUI 13), so if you’re looking for a device to use Android 15 on, it isn’t for you. The stock MIUI experience is good, lacking any major lag or stutter, but being on Android 11 isn’t the most fun experience. However, this device has a very active development community which builds custom ROMs and kernels for the device.
Now, let’s get to the custom ROMs.
The Redmi Note 8 Pro, referred to as “begonia” internally by Xiaomi, and by developers, is amazing when it comes to software. There are many custom ROMs that you can install, ranging from regular ROMs such as LineageOS, ArrowOS or Pixel Experience, to CAF ROMs (which are usually specific to Snapdragon devices) like Paranoid Android. This devices availability for its price to performance ratio, has made it a favourite among developers. You can check the development for this device in the Redmi Note 8 Pro Updates Telegram channel, linked here.
Conclusion
The Redmi Note 8 Pro, for a 200$ device, is pretty good when it comes to a price to performance situation. The camera, despite being lackluster, is good for the price and takes decent photos in bright environments (even though we couldn’t show it), can upscale to 64MP, and can do 4K video recordings, but isn’t great in low light. The hardware is fine for the price, and the software, depending on if you’re not scared to flash a custom ROM on your device, is amazing. So, if you’re not scared of flashing custom ROMs, and want to experience the newest Android versions for a decent price/performance ratio, and are on a budget, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is a great option. If you just want a good experience out of the box though, get a different device. If you’re into gaming, you can use our article on the best Xiaomi phones below 300$ for gaming as a reference.
You can share your Redmi Note 8 Pro experience from here!
Image credits: Lolger Design
