The Redmi Note 10S launched in the Philippines last June. The handset features a 6.5-inch display, a Helio G95 chipset, and a 64MP main camera, all for just Php 11,990.
On paper, the phone looks great for the price. But how does it perform in real life? That’s what we’re here to find out. Let’s dive in.
Design and Display
The Redmi Note 10S is an aesthetically pleasing phone with a clean design and a polished and refined look. The handset has a sleek and slim body with tapered edges and a curved back. Because of this, it feels good in the hand and is easy to hold.
The highlight of the design is its rear cameras. The camera island does a good job of highlighting the main 64MP sensor. It’s raised with a prominent bump. The island’s edges, however, are slightly sharp. Not that it matters, because details like these are acceptable given the price tag.
On the right side, you have the tactile volume rocker and the power button with a responsive in-built fingerprint scanner. On the left is the SIM tray with a triple slot for two nano SIMs and a microSD card.
The headphone jack, the mic, USB-C port, and one of the loudspeakers are at the bottom. While at the top, you have the other loudspeaker, an IR blaster, and a secondary mic.
At the front, the Note 10S sports a spacious 6.43-inch FHD+ DotDisplay, topped with a Gorilla Glass 3. It has a 2400 x 1080 resolution, DCI-P3 wide color gamut, up to 1100 nits of brightness, and a 4,500,000:1 contrast ratio.
The display is bright with good details, punchy colors, deep blacks, and good viewing angles. The refresh rate is a standard 60Hz. The color scheme is set on Vivid by default. There are two other options to choose from — Saturated and Standard.
While watching videos, I did notice the display tends to go darker, even at full brightness. But you’ll likely only notice it when comparing it with other (more expensive) devices. Surprisingly, I didn’t find the punch hole to be much of a distraction.
The stereo speakers are average. They can get loud and generally sounds good but predictably suffers from a lack of bass.
Performance and Battery
The Note 10S is powered by a MediaTek Helio G95, a popular gaming-focused chipset for mid-range phones. It has 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128GB UFS 2.1 storage, and runs on MIUI 12, based on Android 11.
In daily operation, the handset was fairly smooth and responsive. It can handle multitasking quite well and switching from app to app was a breeze.
As for the benchmark scores, here are the results. Take note that I was not able to run the 3D Mark test with the error “unable to connect to UL servers”. It says that the phone might be blocking the app from running.
- Geekbench – 505 (Single-core), 1430 (Multi-core)
- AnTuTu – 328,301 (87893 CPU; 97874 GPU; 55594 MEM; 86941 UX)
- 3D Mark – Unable to connect to UL servers
Casual games are not a problem. Heavy games, on the other hand, run well but some have to be on modest graphics modest settings for best results.
The handset comes with a 5000mAh battery and 33W fast charging via USB-C. A 30-minute charge will give you about 40 minutes. It takes an hour and a half to fully charge the phone. Battery life is even better, able to last around a day and a half with moderate usage.
Cameras
The Redmi Note 10S is equipped with four rear cameras — a 64MP main, an 8MP ultra-wide, a 2MP macro, and a 2MP depth. For selfies, it has a 13MP front shooter tucked in a small punch hole.
In good light, the main camera is decent, producing images with good detail and punchy colors. Ultra-wide shots, on the other hand, are not as good, but still usable. Image quality drops to average as photos suffer a loss of detail. It’s not a big deal unless you print your photos (which we all know is highly unlikely). The output is good enough for social media.
The Note 10S struggles in low light. Images are grainy, and you lose some color, contrast, and detail. Even when using night mode, the images get more light but suffer the same fate.
Selfies are decent with good skin tones. Sharpness is a tad soft but otherwise great for the occasional Instagram shot. Edge separation on portrait mode was impressive.
The rear camera can shoot up to 4K videos at 30 frames per second. It’s useful, but you will need a tripod because it’s not stabilized. Stabilization is available on 1080p and below videos.
Verdict
For Php 11,990, the Redmi Note 10S is a competent budget phone, offering good performance and great battery life. It has fairly decent cameras that are more than enough for the usual social media post. And in the looks department, it’s better than most.
One thing that stands in the way of a full recommendation, ironically, is its bigger sibling, the Redmi 10 Pro. It looks like the better choice given the specs. For a bit more (Php 12,590 for the 6GB + 128GB and Php 13,590 for the 8GB + 128GB), you’re getting a Qualcomm Snapdragon 732 chip and the massive 108MP main camera.
But if budget is really tight and you don’t want to spend more than than 12K, then you won’t go wrong with the Redmi Note 10S.
Price and Availability
Redmi Note 10S 8GB + 128GB: Php 11,990
The Redmi Note 10S 8GB + 128GB is priced at Php 11,990. It is now available on Lazada, Shopee, and Authorized Mi Stores and retailers.
Redmi Note 10S specs
| Display | 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED DotDisplay, 2400 x 1080, Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Processor | MediaTek Helio G95 |
| RAM | 8GB LPDDR4X RAM |
| Storage | 128GB UFS 2.2 Storage, Expandable MicroSD Slot up to 512GB |
| Rear Cameras | 64MP Main 8MP Ultra-wide 2MP Macro 2MP Depth |
| Front Camera | 13MP Selfie Camera |
| Network | 4G LTE, Dual SIM |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi AC Dual Band, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS |
| Others | USB-C, Side-mounted Fingerprint Scanner, Face Unlock, 3.5mm Headphone Jack, Hi-Res Audio, Dual Speakers, IP53 Certification |
| OS | MIUI 12, Android 11 |
| Battery | 5,000mAh Battery, 33W Fast Charging |
