At a glanceExpert’s Rating
ProsSharper, tighter design120Hz OLED show nonetheless wonderfulGenerous storageGood software program supportConsMiddling battery lifeObnoxious softwareHit and miss digital camera performanceOur VerdictWhile the worth has remained the identical, the Redmi Note 13 5G doesn’t really feel like fairly such a powerful funds proposition as a few of its predecessors. While the design is sharper than earlier than and the display stays spectacular, battery life has taken successful, the UI is much more irritating, and digital camera efficiency is hit or miss.
Price When ReviewedUnavailable within the US
No different model seems mid-priced smartphones at something like the identical charge as Xiaomi, and the most recent of these is the Redmi Note 13 5G.
The results of such an iterative strategy is that one Redmi cellphone can relatively bleed into the subsequent. So what does the Redmi Note 13 5G have to supply that we haven’t seen earlier than?
Precious little, to be completely frank. But once you’re spending lower than £300 on a cellphone, innovation and novelty matter a lot lower than steadiness and stable dependability. On these fronts, the Redmi Note 13 5G is hard to criticise – although there stay some acquainted points, in addition to one notable level of regression.
Design & Build
Flatter, slimmer, lighter design than earlier than
Very plasticky however stable sufficient
IP54 & Gorilla Glass 5
After the Redmi Note 12 5G‘s barely bland curved design, Xiaomi has joined the pattern for flatter edges with the Redmi Note 13 5G.
It’s nonetheless received a barely cheap-feeling plastic body, whereas the rear panel is its personal none-too-premium shiny type of plastic. Although it actually appears to be like extra putting than its predecessor.
My Arctic White check mannequin is the stand-out one of many three (Graphite Black and Ocean Teal being the others) resulting from a curious marble-like end that’s seen at an angle, and which regularly fades into view from prime to backside.
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
There’s a sq. digital camera module that stands out barely from the again of the cellphone, and which serves as a degree of differentiation from the non-5G Redmi Note 13.
Improvements are delicate, however they’re there. An IP54 ranking signifies that the Redmi Note 13 5G is barely extra splash-resistant than the Redmi Note 12 5G, which is at all times welcome nevertheless it’s nonetheless not totally waterproof.
The use of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the entrance of the cellphone brings about an improve to toughness, with final yr’s mannequin solely providing Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
At 174.5g, the Redmi Note 13 5G is about 15g lighter than its predecessor, whereas Xiaomi has additionally shaved the thickness down just a little to 7.6mm. A footprint of 161.11 x 74.95mm additionally undercuts the Note 12 5G, seemingly due to barely smaller bezels. There isn’t the identical annoyingly giant chin this time round.
Xiaomi has as soon as once more geared up its inexpensive cellphone with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, positioned inside the energy button. It unlocks the cellphone comparatively easily and reliably.
Also making a return is a top-mounted 3.5mm headphone jack, positioned alongside an IR blaster. The latter characteristic permits you to management your TV or stereo utilizing the preinstalled Mi Remote.
Screen & audio system
Familiar 6.67in Full HD+ OLED show
120Hz refresh charge
Downward-firing mono speaker
Xiaomi hasn’t actually upped its show sport in any respect with the Redmi Note 13 5G. But then, it was already superb for the cash so it’s comprehensible.
This is one other 6.67in Full HD+ (2400 x 1080) OLED show with vibrant colors and deep blacks. It hits a full 120Hz refresh charge, although can solely drop to 60Hz like many telephones at this value. This isn’t an uber-efficient LTPO panel.
Xiaomi cites a prime brightness of 500 nits, which tallies with my very own exams. I recorded a peak of round 480 nits with autobrightness turned off.
As which may recommend, the Redmi Note 13 5G isn’t the strongest with regards to HDR assist. You received’t be capable to capitalise on HDR10+ or Dolby Vision when streaming viable video content material.
the display is sweet and colour-accurate, with a 100% sRGB gamut protection
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
In reality, it isn’t an enormous loss for a cellphone promoting at this value. The necessary factor is that the display is sweet and colour-accurate, with a 100% sRGB gamut protection within the Standard color scheme, and a median Delta E of 0.96 (near 1 being the best).
Xiaomi as soon as once more provides 1920Hz PWM dimming, which guarantees to minimise flickering (and thus eye pressure) at low brightness.
While the shortage of show enhancements is completely defensible – this can be a superb display – the shortage of development within the audio division is way much less so. Once once more, you get a fairly puny mono speaker on the underside fringe of the cellphone. It’s far too straightforward to dam together with your holding finger.
The sound high quality itself is sweet and clear, if predictably missing in low-end punch.
Specs & Performance
MediaTek (*13*) 6080 and 8GB RAM
Adequate efficiency
256GB of expandable storage
After Xiaomi went with a modest Qualcomm chip in 2023, we’re again in MediaTek territory in 2024’s Redmi Note 13 5G.
The MediaTek (*13*) 6080 offers a modest increase to efficiency over the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, particularly mixed with double the RAM at 8GB.
I used to be unable to make a direct benchmark comparability with final yr’s mannequin (only a few exams ran on the Redmi Note 12 5G on the time), however can examine the outcomes to a number of the Note 13 5G’s contemporaries.
In our suite of exams, the Redmi broadly matched the Samsung Galaxy A25 5G and the Moto G84 5G within the CPU-focused Geekbench 6 check, however fell in need of its rivals within the GPU-focused GFX Bench graphics exams. That’s not ideally suited when you think about that each of these options are £30 cheaper.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 5G benchmarks
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Generally talking, utilizing the Redmi Note 13 5G feels completely superb. It unlocks rapidly sufficient utilizing the fingerprint sensor, and navigating via its menus makes enough use of that slick 120Hz refresh charge. Jumping between open apps doesn’t trigger fairly the identical efficiency points because it did with the Note 12 5G, doubtless due to that additional reminiscence.
Where you discover the efficiency shortfall is within the barely protracted app begin up occasions, or the delay when leaping into the Camera app. Needless to say, high-end gaming isn’t the Note 13 5G’s forte both. 3D console racer Wreckfest no less than runs, nevertheless it solely turns into playable with the graphical settings cranked proper down.
As properly as 5G, the cellphone additionally has Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.3, so it’s properly arrange on the connectivity entrance.
Cameras
108Mp fundamental sensor
Reasonable ends in good lighting, horrible evening pictures
Decent selfie digital camera
Xiaomi has levelled the Redmi Note 13 5G’s digital camera system up within the type of a 108Mp 1/1.67″ fundamental sensor. This would seem like the Samsung Isocell HM6 – an older part, positive, however one which has made its approach into pricier telephones just like the Xiaomi 12T prior to now.
I’d like to say that this has resulted in a markedly stronger photographic bundle throughout the board, nevertheless it hasn’t. Shots taken in good lighting with that fundamental sensor are superb, although like final yr the colors can appear just a little punched up on sunnier days. They’re fairly properly uncovered, although, with respectable element.
However, Night mode pictures are horrible, packed stuffed with noise and blur. You can in all probability blame the shortage of OIS (optical picture stabilisation) right here, and fairly presumably some picture processing limitations associated to that MediaTek chip.
Selfie pictures utilizing the 16Mp entrance digital camera are fairly darned good for a cellphone of this value
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
There’s no devoted telephoto digital camera right here, however you may nonetheless take 2x and 3x pictures inside the primary UI via cropping strategies. If you contact and drag, you may go as much as 10x, however I wouldn’t advocate it. The outcomes are extraordinarily noisy in direction of the highest finish.
Weirdly, nonetheless, the 3x pictures that I took with the Note 13 5G got here out sharper than the 2x pictures. I can solely assume (and certainly hope) that it’s a bug within the digital camera app, and one which’ll be sorted within the close to future.
Elsewhere, the 8Mp ultra-wide sees an enormous drop off intimately, whereas the 2Mp macro sensor is a predictably superfluous part because it nearly at all times is. It merely doesn’t pack in sufficient pixels, and might’t pull in sufficient gentle to correctly spotlight these close-up particulars.
Selfie pictures utilizing the 16Mp entrance digital camera are fairly darned good for a cellphone of this value, nonetheless, capturing respectable topic element and background separation, in addition to comparatively pure pores and skin tones. It didn’t undergo too badly with blowing out vibrant background parts both.
Video stays restricted to 1080p at 30fps, which is a minor disappointment, although that is the default setting for a lot of pricier telephones regardless of with the ability to movie in 4K and even greater. Again, it’s the shortage OIS that’s the most important obstacle to acquiring clean footage right here.
Battery Life & Charging
5000mAh battery
Stamina doesn’t appear pretty much as good as earlier than
Solid 33W charging
The Redmi Note 13 5G’s battery and charging specs are very acquainted. That begins with the standard 5000mAh cell, which is as soon as once more ample to energy it alongside for a full day of utilization.
However, it feels just like the cellphone’s stamina is worse than the Redmi Note 12 5G’s earlier than it. Using the standard PC Mark Work 3.0 battery check, the Note 13 5G lasts 9 hours 50 minutes – that’s 35 minutes in need of its predecessor.
More usually, I discovered the Note 13 5G’s battery efficiency to be considerably erratic. I by no means ran out earlier than bedtime, however for each full 15-hour day that left me with greater than 50% left within the tank, I might get one which left me across the 35% mark. On one intensive day of blended community utilization and a good quantity of media streaming, I discovered myself with simply 14% left.
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Varying community environments and inconsistent third-party app behaviour imply that we should always at all times sound a be aware of warning when citing such anecdotal experiences. But when this patchy efficiency is backed up by a disappointing benchmark end result, I really feel snug in concluding that the Note 13 5G’s stamina isn’t fairly the place it needs to be.
You get the identical 33W wired charger within the field, which is completely ample, if not excellent. It permits you to get from empty to 55% in half-hour, whereas a full cost will take round an hour and 10 minutes, like earlier than.
There’s no wi-fi charging, however you wouldn’t anticipate it at this value.
Software & Apps
HyperOS 1.0 over Android 14
Excessive bloatware
Unintuitive and buggy notification menu
The Note 13 5G runs Xiaomi’s new HyperOS 1.0 on prime of Android 14. Don’t let the title change from or using Google’s newest OS idiot you although. This nonetheless feels very very similar to MIUI earlier than it.
Xiaomi’s heavy-handed strategy to UI customisation could be very a lot unchanged, with huge ugly icons, an annoyingly convoluted cut up notification pane, and stacks upon stacks of undesirable bloatware.
On the latter entrance, you continue to get a complete folder of ‘More apps’ preinstalled, in addition to one with a choice of questionable video games.
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
While all this might be acquainted to homeowners of earlier Xiaomi-branded telephones, I’ve a few all-new bugbears this time round.
For all of the area given over to the aforementioned notification and shortcut toggle menus, there’s now seemingly no area for a Settings menu shortcut. You must again out to the house display and hit the devoted app icon.
Then there’s the immensely annoying Music app widget that gave the impression to be completely rooted to my lock display and notification pane. The intrusive (and non-existent) monitor: SONG_EMPTY by Unknown Artist.
In phrases of software program updates, Xiaomi has seemingly promised three main Android updates and 4 years of safety patch updates, which is respectable for a less expensive smartphone.
Price & Availability
Xiaomi is providing a streamlined choice for the Redmi Note 13 5G right here within the UK and Europe. There’s only one mannequin on supply which comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of inside storage – a straight doubling up from the Note 12 5G.
This singular mannequin prices £279/€299 direct from Xiaomi. I haven’t noticed any UK operator providing the Redmi Note 13 5G on contract on the time of writing.
Once once more, this positions the cellphone within the considerably awkward place of being too costly to be categorised as an out-and-out funds cellphone, however so much cheaper than most mid-range telephones.
I’ve already talked about two different telephones that do one thing related within the Samsung Galaxy A25 5G and the Moto G84 5G. However, these telephones handle to hit that magic £249 mark, which skirts the highest finish of funds cellphone territory.
In the wrong way, Xiaomi itself affords the Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G for £339. This will get you a cellphone that’s broadly related at first look. However, with superior Qualcomm efficiency, a sharper show, sooner charging, an in-display fingerprint sensor, stereo audio system, and a greater 200Mp fundamental digital camera, it’s truly a big step up for simply £60.
Should you purchase the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 5G?
The Redmi Note 13 5G covers loads of bases for £279, and there have been a few delicate however welcome design enhancements over earlier fashions. I nonetheless charge its 120Hz OLED show fairly extremely, too.
On the opposite hand, its battery life seems to have taken a slight step again, whereas Xiaomi’s new HyperOS UI is hardly the MIUI improve we had been hoping for. The alternative of processor may characterize a modest improve, in the meantime, however you may get sooner efficiency for much less cash elsewhere.
Together with a weirdly inconsistent digital camera setup, the Redmi Note 13 5G doesn’t really feel prefer it’s on fairly so stable floor as a few of its predecessors. It’s a superb cellphone, however there’s higher worth to be discovered elsewhere with out wanting very far.
Spending just a little extra will get you the far more assured Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G, whereas spending rather less will get you the rock-solid Samsung Galaxy A25 5G or the wonderful Motorola Moto G84 5G.
Specs
HyperOS 1.0 over Android 14
6.67in, FHD+, AMOLED, 120Hz, flat show
Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
MediaTek (*13*) 6080
8GB LPDDR4X RAM
256GB storage
108Mp, f/1.7 fundamental digital camera
8Mp, f/2.2 ultra-wide digital camera
2Mp, f/2.4 macro digital camera
Up to 1080p @ 30fps rear video
16Mp front-facing digital camera
Mono speaker
Hybrid dual-SIM
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 5.3
5000mAh battery
33W charging
161.11 x 74.95 x 7.6 mm
174.5g
Launch colors: Graphite Black, Arctic White, Ocean Teal
https://www.techadvisor.com/article/2254194/xiaomi-redmi-note-13-5g-review.html
