[Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Guides, News, & Discussion] jonidog:
First I wanna start by saying that I love what this phone represents. I actually love Xiaomi as a company for a while now... I love what they’re doing, I love their hardware, and I really love their innovations (in regards especially, to the Mi Mix series). I’m not bashing Xiaomi here, but just trying to share my experience and have an open discussion.

Gonna be upfront, I’m writing this post on the iPhone 8 Plus. Long story short, it’s a gift and I’ve actually had the iPhone X in the past (before I got the Redmi Note 5).

As a general package, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 is very impressive. It does everything fairly okay. And I think that’s my main problem with it. I’m the type of person that needs a phone to do only a few things, but do them VERY well. And this phone just doesn’t, unfortunately...

It has a big edge to edge screen, but it’s just not bright enough for using in the summer and its viewing angles are not good. I don’t know if the Canadian sun is acting up this year, but I can’t see much when the sun is out. It was so frustrating during my recent long road trips.

The battery is absolutely amazing. I’ve never used a phone with battery this good. If the only thing you need in a phone is battery life, please get this phone without even thinking twice. FYI, I’ve had the iPhone X, Galaxy Note 8, LG V20, Redmi Note 3, Galaxy Note 5, and many more...

The speaker is... okay. I don’t use the headphone jack or the IR blaster. The Bluetooth is not good. My headphones cut off all the time when I turn my head (Jaybird X3). This doesn’t happen with other phones. The camera is very decent.

My main issue with the phone, however, is that it lags. Stock Rom, custom rom, it just lags. All the reviews praised the Snapdragon 636, but I got what I paid for here. On top of that, if you try to use the phone when it’s charging you’re in for a frustrating experience. It REALLY lags. Now, this may be my unit, ok. But I have no way of knowing that. Coming from the iPhone X, I was excited to use MIUI overall and the navigation gestures specifically in MIUI 9.5 or 10 beta. They suck. You can’t use it. I mean, it lags beyond anything acceptable with the gestures. If they can’t make it work properly, why release it? I don’t get it... Is this the fault of android? Probably. But customers shouldn’t care. I don’t think it’s the processor or the RAM. Because from what I’ve seen, similar lag behaviour happens on the Mi 8. It also happens on their new tablet? Just to be clear, every android phone I’ve owned in the past had some lag issues, even the Galaxy Note 8. I’m starting to think that no matter how much you pay and what phone you get, android is just a lag factory after one week... I’m a bit confused as to why the reviews of this device don’t mention the problems I’ve raised.

Does the iPhone 8 Plus/X lags? Yes. But only like a few times a day, maybe. You forget about it. I wish iOS had Picture in Picture with YouTube and all the customizations of android, but at least it’s a joy to use overall. And YouTube Red plays in the background, even with the screen off, which definitely helps. But god damn it, why can I only have four apps in the dock?! That’s just plain dumb...

All I’m basically saying here is that after using a budget device, I was willing to pay more than twice the amount just in order to get a better experience on the phone itself. Was about to pull the trigger and get a OnePlus 6, but got the iPhone 8 Plus as a gift instead. I’m not saying the iPhone should be compared here, obviously. Was also contemplating on getting the Xiaomi Mi 8, but after my experience I was a bit scared that many issues I had are MIUI related... Like, you can’t even change the lock screen to be a live wallpaper. Even on iOS you can do that. Come on... The camera is actually cute. But the official MIUI ROM that came with the phone, it took about 5 seconds to open the camera app. Are they for real? This was official firmware, I don’t understand this.

If you survived this long post please tell me, (1) did you have the same experience as I did? Should I give this phone another chance? (2) What about the Mi 8? Care to share if you own one? (3) Should I have gone with the OnePlus 6 to have a corrective experience?