Redmi Note 14 Pro 5G Review

Xiaomi’s very popular Redmi Note series is once again up for its annual global launch and we have one of the Redmi Note 14 Pro 5G prepared for a full review.

Is it any better compared to the previous generation? What key features were improved? Check out our full review below.

Design and Construction

This year’s Note 14 Pro 5G looks more premium than last year’s model with its solid metal frame construction, protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 at the front and polished polycarbonate material at the back that we initially mistook as frosted glass.

Our review unit is in this Coral Green, which has a muted color that’s not too greenish and comes with a polished finish with some subtle two-pattern tone.

As you can see, it’s a huge departure from last year’s model in terms of design and construction so props to Redmi for that one.

Also, unlike the previous Note 13 Pro, which has a rather flat design and squarish body, we liked the curved edges of the Note 14 Pro along with the curved glass panel up at the front.

It’s a matter of personal taste, we know, but the fact that it adds to the ergonomics is something we can’t ignore.

The power button and volume rocker are both placed on the right side with nothing else on the left. At the bottom, there’s a USB Type-C port, primary mic, main speaker grill and a SIM card slot.

Up top, there’s the secondary mic, secondary speaker and an IR blaster for use with the remote control app. Speaking of speakers, you also get stereo sound here that is clean and loud that’s great for listening to music or watching movies.

Display, Biometrics and Multimedia

In the display department, the Note 14 Pro did not disappoint. It comes with a 1.5K CrystalRes AMOLED display with up to 120Hz refresh rate with up to 3,000 nits peak brightness.

Yup, you get a 6.67-inch curved display with a resolution of 2712 x 1220 pixels so you get clear and crisp images, with deep blacks and rich vibrant colors.

For some, a curved screen might be a bother but we think it works best for this phone since it adds to the thin profile, making it easier to grip with one hand.

We’re also happy to report that the Note 14 Pro has an IP68 rating so it’s complete resistance from dust ingress and water resistance for up to 30 minutes in 1.5 meters deep water. Just avoid bringing it to the sea or the swimming pool because there’s no protection from salt water or chlorinated water on this one.

Camera

This year’s Redmi Note 14 Pro follows the same camera configuration as the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ from last year – 200, 8, 2. That’s a 200-megapixel AI main camera with optical image stabilization, an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The 4th camera housing you see at the back here is actually for the dual-tone dual LED flash.

Check out some of the camera samples below:

There’s an option to shoot stills at 200MP resolution at around 25MB file sizes. The macro camera takes decent shots at very close proximity but there’s a lot of obvious post-processing done with the output.

As for video recording, the camera can go up to 4K @ 30fps or if you want smoother shots at 60fps, you can record it at 1080p.

The front camera has a 0.8x to 1x field of view so it’s a bit tight and video recording only goes up to 1080p @ 60fps.

While the main camera takes great photos and video, we can’t say the same with the ultrawide and macro cameras. The selfie cameras is also good though we would have wanted 60fps at 4k resolution for the videos. We know this is a chipset limitation though.

Performance and Benchmarks

Powering the Redmi Note 14 Pro 5G is a very capable Mediatek Dimensity 7300-Ultra.

* It has an octa-core CPU with four Cortex-A78 cores at 2.5 GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores at 2 GHz

* It features MediaTek HyperEngine optimizations and the latest Arm Mali-G615 GPU

This chipset is used for a balance between performance and efficiency so expect this phone to do well on gaming yet be able to deliver good battery life as well.

Our review unit comes with 8GB of RAM with an additional 4GB RAM Extension and an internal storage of 256GB.

Synthetic benchmarks showed decent scores, getting over 670,000 points in Antutu benchmarks. GPU benchmark scores looked better though, when tested on Geekbench 6 (OpenCL: 2512, Vulkan: 2,514).

In terms of gaming, the Note 14 Pro showed good promise on more popular games like Mobile Legends but still able to crank out decent frames with the likes of Genshin Impact that is still playable at the Mid to High graphics levels near the 30fps range. Over-all, it can be a reliable gaming device in our opinion.

OS, UI and Apps

The Note 14 Pro runs on Xiaomi HyperOS 1.0.2 which is the company’s more trimmed-down global ROM. HyperOS sits on top of Android 14 with its own custom skin, and features native to Xiaomi devices.

New AI features include Circle to Search, AI Beautify, AI Erase Pro, AI IMage Expansion and Google Gemini.

Xiaomi promises up to 3 years of OS updates and 4 years of security updates for this model which is already acceptable.

Connectivity and Battery Life

In terms of connectivity, you’ve got the full suite – 5G with eSIM support. That means you can either use 2 nano SIM or one nano SIM and one eSIM. You also have WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC and, as mentioned earlier, and a built-in infra-red blaster for pairing with your home appliances.

Battery life is a hit or miss for the most part. The Note 14 Pro packs a 5,110mAh Li-Ion battery with a 45W Turbo charging capability.

With gaming, we were able to get as much as 7 hours and 25 minutes running Mobile Legends at 50% brightness, 50% volume on WiFi and all game settings on the highest level.

In our PCMark Battery test, the device scored an average 13 hours and 14 minutes at 50% brightness, zero volume and in airplane mode.

Using our video loop test, the phone lasted a bit longer but fell short of our expectations at 14 hours and 39 minutes, running under the same conditions.

Charging time is on the average side – about 60% in under 30 minutes and fully charged in under an hour using hte 45W Turbo charging brick that came in the box.

Conclusion

To recap, here are the things we liked about this iteration of the Redmi Note series:

* 200MP pro-grade AI camera system
* IP68 rating for dust and water resistance
* Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 that protects the 1.5K AMOLED display
* Mediatek Dimensity 7300-Ultra for a balanced performance and efficiency

In terms of shortcomings, perhaps we can only point to the RAM technology (LPDDR4X instead of the faster LPDDR5, as well as the UFS 2.2 instead of the UFS 3.1 that the chipset can support). Those two dragged down the Antutu scores of this device from where we expected them to be.

That does not mean the Redmi Note 14 Pro isn’t a great device. It actually offers more than what we’d hope for in its category. The Redmi Note 14 Pro is a solid device – well-rounded, balanced yet packs a lot of topnotch features.

In the grand scheme of things, we think the Redmi Note 14 is a significant upgrade in this series and worth considering.

Redmi Note 14 Pro 5G specs:
6.67-inch CrystalRes 1.5K AMOLED display @ 2712 x 1220 pixels
120Hz refresh rate, 3000 nits peak brightness
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Mediatek DImensity 7300-Ultra
Arm Mali-G615 MC2 GPU
8GB, 12GB LPDDR4X RAM (+4GB RAM Extension)
256GB, 512GB UFS 2.2 internal storage
200MP f/1.65 main camera, OIS
8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera
2MP f/2.4 macro camera
20MP f/2.2 front camera
Dual 5G with eSIM support
WiFi 6E
Bluetooth 5.4
NFC
GPS: BeiDou, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC
In-screen Fingerprint sensor
Dual speakers with Dolby Atmos
IP68 dust and water resistance
5,110mAh Li-Ion battery, 45W Turbo charging
HyperOS 1.0.2 (based on Android 14)
190 grams (weight)
162.33mm x 74.42mm x 8.4mm (Midnight Black, Coral Green)
162.33mm x 74.42mm x 8.55mm (Lavender Purple)
Midnight Black, Coral Green, Lavender Purple (colors)