Redmi K20 Pro review
What is it?
Xiaomi’s flagship killer of 2019. It’s also the most premium phone under the rather budget-oriented Redmi sub-brand.
Design & Construction
- The K20 Pro feels really premium in hand, and even though it’s technically a flagship killer, its build quality is on par with proper flagships.
- The glass sandwich design looks really pleasant. The Flame Red and Glacier Blue colour options have a pretty strong gradient effect which is unlike anything on the market right now. However, there’s also a more subtle Carbon Black colour on offer.
- It also has a notification LED embedded inside its elevating selfie camera. It’s an awkward position indeed, but at least it’s there!
Display
- The 6.4-inch AMOLED display here is of FHD+ resolution and has no notch or hole punch. It has got a standard 60 Hz refresh rate.
- The panel in itself is quite vivid with good sunlight legibility and decent viewing angles. For those who like super punchy colours, the ‘high contrast’ setting of the display amps up its saturation quite a bit.
User Interface & Performance
- The Redmi K20 Pro is the cheapest phone on sale in India with a Snapdragon 855 chip, and despite its affordable price tag, there is absolutely no compromise on performance. This phone is a perfect buy for heavy PUBG/ Fortnite players on a budget!
- The phone K20 Pro runs on Xiaomi’s MIUI 10 that’s built on top of Android 9, and even though MIUI is a heavy Android skin, it’s very well optimised in terms of speed and RAM management.
- It’s worth noting that there are no infamous MIUI display ads on this phone either. You only get annoying promotional notifications from apps, but these can be turned off in settings. So, the K20 Pro’s UI remains ad-free.
Cameras
- The K20 Pro’s camera experience is a pleasant surprise! It has three rear shooters – a 48MP f/1.75 Sony IMX586 primary sensor, a 13 MP f/2.4 ultra-wide angle sensor, and an 8MP f/2.4 telephoto sensor.
- The photos taken by this phone’s 48MP main camera may be a bit oversaturated, but they are full of detail nonetheless. I was extremely impressed by the night mode here which did a fantastic job in most scenarios, in fact, it’s vastly superior to the OnePlus 7 Pro’s Nightscape mode.
- The videos taken by the main camera came out quite detailed too. There is no OIS however, and while there is EIS on board, it works the best at 1080p @ 30 fps. The phone can record at up to 4K @ 60 fps.
- Given enough light, the ultra-wide-angle and telephoto cameras can take some pretty nice photos as well. The former has autofocus, and you can record videos with both these cameras too.
- The 20MP pop-up selfie camera, which comes with a cool LED light, outputs decent selfies. However, if you want the best selfie experience at this price, you should look at the Vivo V15 Pro instead.
Camera samples from the K20 Pro can be seen below:
Battery Life
- MIUI is quite battery efficient, and it shows on the Redmi K20 Pro as well. The phone’s 4,000mAh battery, combined with MIUI’s efficiency, means that you can easily get over 7 hours of screen on time with moderate usage.
- The device comes bundled with an 18W fast charger. For Netflix binge-watchers and heavy PUBG players, investing an additional Rs 999 on the optional 27W fast charger (that does 0-100 per cent in 73 minutes) will be totally worth it.
What else?
- Disappointingly, the Chinese variant of the K20 Pro comes with NFC, but the Indian variant does not.
- There’s no water resistance or wireless charging either, however, considering this phone’s low starting price, it can be overlooked.
- The single bottom-firing speaker is very loud and has a crisp audio output. The 3.5 mm headphone jack is present as well!
- The optical in-display fingerprint scanner on here does a decent job. However, I found the fingerprint scanner on the OnePlus 7 Pro to be faster and much more accurate.
Verdict
- While so many people are mad about the fact that the Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro is priced on the higher side in India when compared to its Chinese price tag, the truth is, that as per the Indian market, it still makes for a brilliant buy.
- The K20 Pro brings flagship-grade build, camera experience, and performance at a starting price of Rs 28,000, which makes it quite a sweet deal actually.
- Those who believe that spending extra money on the OnePlus 7 is better, be aware that the only area where the latter beats the former is in software experience. In all other aspects, especially in terms of cameras, the K20 Pro is any day a superior phone.
Check out our K20 Pro video review below:
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro
Rs 27,999-30,999
8.8
Pros
- Unmatched value for money
- Rear cameras are very good
- Flagship-grade power
Cons
- No NFC (Chinese variant gets it)
- No water/dust resistance
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