Redmi phones usually have what it takes to be a value champ, offering a fairly balanced set of features for their price. But they can’t all be hits. Every now and then, a Xiaomi phone comes along that breaks this flow and fails to live up to expectations. The new Redmi 10 Prime is one of these. It’s able to pinpoint certain aspects better than any other phone in its class but fails most others – its price doesn’t make it any better.
Redmi 10 Prime
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The Redmi 10 Prime is a battery champion – nothing more, nothing less. This might be the right phone if you’re a heavy user, but everyone should stay away from it.
- Brand: Redmi
- SOC: MediaTek Helio G88
- an offer: 6.5-inch LCD screen, 2400 x 1080 (20:9), 90Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- ram: 4/6 GB
- storage: 64/128 GB, expandable
- battery: 6000 mAh, 18W fast charging
- Ports: USB Type C, 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Operating system: MIUI 12.5 interface based on Android 11 operating system
- Front camera: 8 megapixel, f/2.0 lens aperture
- Rear camera: 50 MP, f.1.8, HDR (main); 8 MP, f/2.2, 120° field of view (ultra wide); 2 MP (macro); 2 MP (depth)
- Contact: 4G LTE (Dual SIM), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1
- Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, stereo speakers, splash resistance, IR blaster
- Dimensions: 162 x 75.6 x 9.6 mm, 192 g
- colors: Black, blue and white
- price: INR 12,499 (~US$170)/INR 14,499 (~US$200)
- The battery doesn’t die. It’s a solid phone for two days.
- The building materials seem good for the price.
- It has a powerful 90Hz LCD display with adaptive refresh rate.
- Having stereo speakers on such a cheap phone is something to be appreciated in itself, and they sound good too.
- The Helio G88 does a good job of keeping up with the things you throw at it.
- The MIUI version on this phone has a lot of rough edges that mar the entire experience.
- RAM management is terrible.
- You can’t rely on its camera to take consistent-looking photos.
- The fingerprint scanner is very finicky and leaves a lot of room for improvement.
- You can easily find a much better option in the same price bracket.
Design, hardware and what’s in the box
The Redmi 10 Prime borrows a lot of its design elements from its siblings, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It has a nice heft to it that gives it a sturdy feel even though its back and frame are made of plastic. However, there is an insulating plastic layer between the frame and the top glass, which helps protect the screen better during drops but it doesn’t look as elegant as 2.5D glass melting into the frame. I also found that the frame had noticeable seams in all four corners. It may not be a big deal, especially when you have a cover, but it makes the Redmi 10 Prime look like what it is: a cheap phone.
Although it may be cheap, Xiaomi got the display right, especially for the price. You get a 90Hz LCD screen with adaptive refresh rate, which basically means it can dial in up to 45Hz when you’re looking at static content. For an LCD screen, it has some decent colors and brightness. When it comes to outdoor use, the screen may look a bit dim, although it remains usable. What bothered me was the erratic auto brightness, which often causes the screen to dim when the light source is directly behind the phone.
Since I absolutely loved the side-mounted fingerprint reader on the Redmi Note 10, I was hoping the 10 Prime was in the same league. Unfortunately, the fingerprint app turned out to be one of my biggest disappointments. The scanner failed to recognize my fingers about a third of the time, and I had to frustratingly resort to pressing the PIN every time this happened.
Xiaomi is bundling the Redmi 10 Prime with a 22.5W USB-C charger, a clear basic case, and some paperwork to get you started with your new phone.
Software, performance and battery
Redmi has opted for the MediaTek Helio G88 processor, which was launched in July specifically for budget phones like the 10 Prime. The phone performed well running all sorts of normal apps in my day-to-day use, and I even got high-quality graphics settings in several of the games I tried. The gaming experience certainly wasn’t flawless, but it was still fun. And while some of the older MediaTek chipsets in this range were prone to heating issues, I’m happy to report that’s not the case here, and the Redmi 10 Prime handles the pressure without noticeable throttling.
Although the processor did its job well, I still faced a myriad of performance issues, which were blamed on a poorly optimized MIUI version. For example, switching between apps is not easy, even by the standards of cheap phones. There is a bug where app icons do not appear the first time when searching the list. And it doesn’t get any better when it comes to RAM management. The phone couldn’t even hold three basic apps like Google Keep and TickTick in memory, even though more than half of its 6GB capacity was unused. We can only guess how bad it is for the lower-tier 4GB RAM model. Speaking of software bugs, the phone’s screen-on timer often wouldn’t budge after a point, forcing me to manually record the screen-on time for this review.
This was all so frustrating that I wanted to switch to another phone as soon as possible. This is probably the kind of haste that also pushed out the incomplete MIUI 12.5 update for the Redmi 10 Prime. It could have been an enjoyable experience if Xiaomi had spent more time smoothing out the rough edges – and it’s not too late to do so. One of the software features you get here is that you can now uninstall or disable most of the software that comes pre-loaded with MIUI. I think this is the only positive aspect of MIUI 12.5 on this Redmi phone.
Although the software didn’t live up to my expectations, the phone’s long battery life left me quite impressed. This phone will be hard to put down in a day, thanks to its massive 6,000 mAh battery that can also double as a power bank. My regular usage is fairly light, without any kind of gaming, and I easily got between 8 to 9 hours of screen time – over Two daysHe is a wonderful character. Heavy users can expect at least 40% juice left at the end of the day. Although the battery life is incredible, fast charging is still limited to 18W. This means that the phone takes approximately 2.5 hours to fully charge, so it is best to charge it at night.
Cameras
As is typical for budget phones, the Redmi 10 Prime features a quad-camera setup, but there are only two cameras you can use at all. The 50-megapixel main sensor is not up to par, despite the high megapixel count. Photos taken from it usually have a slightly muted tone, and fail to capture finer details even in daylight. When it comes to dynamic range, the primary camera is so unreliable that the 8MP ultra-wide sensor sometimes takes better-lit photos, as in one of the samples below.
The camera system is even more disappointing under low-light conditions. I wasn’t expecting miracles at this range, but I was still amazed at how smooth and grainy the night images were. The built-in Night mode does a good job of brightening up a dark scene, but it still doesn’t help with soft, barely usable photos. You shouldn’t get the 10 Prime for its cameras, no matter what Xiaomi says about them.
Should you buy it?
Maybe not. Had Xiaomi gone with a slightly lower price, the Redmi 10 Prime could have gotten a slight recommendation, but that’s unfortunately not the case. The outstanding battery performance works in its favor, but that’s one of the few good things about it.
The 10 Prime isn’t necessarily a bad phone per se, but its pricing and other better options in the segment make it difficult to suggest. Redmi’s Note 10 and Note 10S not only offer a more polished software experience, but also win the value game with their superior overall package. And if you want something not as cluttered as MIUI, the Realme Narzo 30 is a decent option at around the same price as the Redmi 10 Prime.
You also have to keep in mind that post-launch price hikes have become a trend with Xiaomi phones, especially at the lower end. We can’t rule out that the 10 Prime, which is already a bad value, could get worse. We saw that happen to the Redmi Note 10, which started at the same price as the 10 Prime, but now you’ll have to pay a few thousand more for it. But the reality is that you’d be better off with the much more capable Note 10, even with its revised pricing, than buying the Note 10 Prime.
Buy it if…
- Excellent battery life is all that matters.
Don’t buy it if…
- You wouldn’t mind spending more for a better phone overall.
- You plan on taking no pictures, ever.
