Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ Review: So Near, Yet so Far

Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand is thought for its reasonably priced but highly effective handsets, and that’s no completely different with the Redmi Word 13 collection.  

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

Based mostly on specs alone, it appears like unimaginable worth for cash, however does that make it a terrific cellphone for day-to-day utilization? I spent every week utilizing the Word 13 Professional+ as my essential system to seek out out.   

Design & Construct

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

The Word 13 Professional+’s design is one in every of my favorite issues about it. The cellphone feels very premium, and no corners have been lower by way of construct high quality. 

Regardless of additionally being current on the cheaper Word 13 Professional, a glass again feels luxurious. It offers the cellphone 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 grime. It’s the right hybrid. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

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

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

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

Sturdiness is clearly a prime precedence, although. The display screen is supplied with Corning’s powerful 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 effectively protected towards the weather.  

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

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

The excellent vibration motor is certainly price 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 & Audio system

• Glorious 6.67-inch AMOLED
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Respectable stereo audio system

Xiaomi is aware of how one can make a terrific cellphone show, and that’s no completely different on the Word 13 Professional+. It’s outfitted with a beautiful 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 remains to be glorious. Alongside vibrant, punchy colors and deep blacks, the Word 13 Professional+ has an excellent display screen for content material consumption and gaming. 

The 120Hz refresh price 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 might’t dynamically modify right down to 1Hz to save lots of battery life.  

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

As a substitute, the default mode routinely switches between 60- and 120Hz, or you may manually set both. This is similar because the Redmi Word 13 Professional. 

Xiaomi advertises 1800 nits of peak brightness, although the 531 nits I recorded is spectacular. Alongside a devoted ‘Daylight mode’ (accessible when you flip off auto brightness), outside visibility is superb. Even on a brilliant 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 digicam and razor-thin bezels means the entrance of the cellphone is mainly all display screen. 

Inside it’s an optical fingerprint sensor, versus the side-mounted bodily model on a number of the cheaper Redmi Word 13 telephones. It was frustratingly temperamental initially, however improved loads after I arrange the identical finger twice. I’d advocate you do that too, because the face unlock is way 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 Word 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 based mostly on my testing, it’s lots succesful sufficient for most individuals. Xiaomi {couples} it with a beneficiant 12GB of RAM on the one model accessible in Europe, efficiency is robust, and higher than I used to be anticipating. 

The Word 13 Professional+ powered by means of all my common duties, equivalent to internet shopping (with dozens of tabs open), messaging (with a number of energetic conversations) and taking a lot of images. Even after I needed to shortly change between them, there was no signal of any hesitation or slowdown. 

It at all times appeared as if the cellphone had loads of energy in reserve, and it bought a chance to make use of a few of that whereas gaming. Whereas taking part in 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 cellphone.

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

Xiaomi Redmi Word 13 Professional+ benchmarks

Within the UK, the cellphone is just accessible with one storage capability, and with no Micro-SD slot there’s no assist for expandable storage. However with 512GB on board, even energy customers ought to have loads of house 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’ve a router that helps Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7, that is completely fantastic. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Cameras

• Respectable 200Mp essential sensor
• Underwhelming 8Mp ultrawide, no telephoto
• Strong 16Mp selfie lens

The Word 13 Professional+ has a complete of 4 digicam lenses, however their high quality varies considerably. 

Its 200Mp essential sensor is essentially the most spectacular. Regardless of a course of often called pixel binning combining 16 pixels into one for a 12.5Mp picture by default, you may nonetheless take 200Mp images. Nevertheless, they take up a lot of further house for under a barely higher picture. 

Offered the lighting is sweet, you may get some glorious images within the default factors and shoot mode. Element and dynamic vary are each robust, and it handles the publicity of some advanced skies very effectively. In consequence, I used to be constantly getting flagship-quality photographs of the seaside utilizing this cellphone. 

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

A software-based night time mode brightens low-light images, however typically introduces noise or makes images look synthetic. I most well-liked to depart it off and experiment with modifying later. 

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In fact, 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. 

Obtained a transparent topic you wish to take a photograph of? Be ready to be affected person. Portrait-style images are frustratingly hit-and-miss, with the cellphone typically 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 transferring 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 digicam of any description. It means all of the zoom accessible within the digicam app (as much as 10x) is digital, with an enormous decline in high quality when you go previous 4x. Cropping in on a 200Mp photograph could be the principle purpose to make use of the complete decision. 

With an underwhelming ultrawide and no telephoto, the Word 13 Professional+ works greatest while you wish to take a photograph of what’s immediately in entrance of the cellphone or your self. 

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

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

Battery Life & Charging

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

Xiaomi has outfitted the Word 13 Professional+ with a 5000mAh battery. That’s really barely smaller than the 5100mAh cell on the Word 13 Professional, however the PCMark battery check suggests battery life is nearly equivalent.  

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, a lot of cellular information utilization and GPS. With lighter utilization and reliance on Wi-Fi, I used to be going greater than two full days between costs. The one state of affairs the place it might die on you by nighttime is if you happen to plan on gaming for a number of hours. In any other case, you’re in secure fingers. 

And while you do run out of battery, the 120W quick charging provides nice peace of thoughts, particularly with the mandatory 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 point of the Word 13 Professional+. 

The primary disappointment is that’s it’s nonetheless operating the MIUI 14 pores and skin at launch, which relies on Android 13 slightly than the newest Android 14. And there’s no phrase on when the cellphone will likely be up to date to Xiaomi’s new Android 14-based HyperOS – the brand new identify for MIUI 15. 

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

The largest frustration is the sheer quantity of bloatware, with dozens of annoying further apps pre-installed on the cellphone. These embrace informal video games, procuring 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 way more effort and time than is important. 

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 unhealthy information. I like the sting of the show lighting up while you get a notification (slightly than the entire display screen turning on) and floating home windows are genuinely helpful for multitasking. 

And as that is Android, you may simply swap out MIUI for an additional launcher. In contrast to some Android cellphone makers, Xiaomi doesn’t cease you from doing this.  

However what you may’t management is the size of software program assist. Three years of OS updates will solely take the cellphone 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 Word 13 Professional+ prices £449/€499. The one configuration accessible within the UK will get you 12GB of RAM and 256GB of inner storage. 

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

As with all Xiaomi telephones, it’s not being bought within the US, although you might be able to import one. 

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

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

Must you purchase the Xiaomi Redmi Word 13 Professional+?

The Redmi Word 13 Professional+ is among the greatest telephones that most individuals shouldn’t purchase. 

It has a number of the greatest {hardware} we’ve ever seen on a mid-range cellphone, from excellent efficiency and a beautiful 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 towards 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 commonly unintuitive and a transparent step down by way of updates vs many rivals. 

Sadly, these two facets are essential to the best way most individuals use their cellphone. Contemplating the power of the competitors, the Word 13 Professional+ is just price shopping for if you happen to prioritise panorama pictures and like Xiaomi’s MIUI pores and skin. 

Specs

• Android 13 w/ MIUI 14    
• 6.67-inch AMOLED 120Hz curved show  
• Below-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 essential digicam with OIS    
• 8Mp, f/2.2 120˚  ultrawide digicam    
• 2Mp, f/2.4 macro digicam   
• 16Mp, f/2.4 front-facing digicam    
• 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