So my must have features for my phone upgrade should have the following:
- USB type-C (bec this is the one I have plenty of now and I don’t want them to go to waste should I switch back to micro USB cables
- Dedicated micro SD slot
- Dual simcard capability (I know I wouldn’t use this anytime soon but there might come a time, you know? I want to be prepared at least)
- 3.5mm audio input (can’t always trust Bluetooth earphones, especially the battery power runs out quickly)
- Latest Android version only because I’ll be able to see the battery power left for my Bluetooth devices (my phone can only support til Android Oreo that doesn’t have this feature)
Spoiler: I’m writing this post four weeks after I have sold my Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro (wow, what a long name!). Before pressing the infamous checkout button from Shopee’s cart page, I did all the necessary information I have to know before I actually purchase the phone.
My initial brands of choice were OnePlus, Huawei, aka the premium brands. Next were the mid tier brands like Realme, Xiaomi, Asus, and my least favorite but might reconsider are Vivo, Oppo, Google. Getting an iPhone is definitely out of the question because it’s expensive. Though I have to admit the camera quality is hands down the best when it comes to night scenes and lowlight, according to my experience with the iPhone 5s.
Yes, there is no mention of the brand Samsung in my brands to consider because I am turned off by how badly (again, in my experience) it performs. Yes I have used an old model of a Samsung phone during that time. Here are the top things that I found to be annoying upon tinkering around and using the phone:
- No calculator app (seriously? Yeah I can download it but it’s a basic app, every phone should have this already)
- A bloat app for their browser that cannot be uninstalled in any way unless I jailbreak it I guess (can’t be bothered to do that, meh) or to change it to another browsing app
- Super slow specs – there’s like 2GB ram and 16gb space 🤨
- Can’t handle any games, not even the games that requires little amount of space and the non-graphic intensive games
- Basically just a call, text, messenger, Facebook and quick photo taking device
- Eats up battery power easily even with the brightness is set to low, screentime set to 1 minute, and/or mobile data and wifi turned off
So yeah, no thanks Samsung. NEXT!
Unfortunately most Google Pixel phone and OnePlus phones that got my attention lacks two or more of my requirements from my list, those are the card slot (My phone must have expandable memory) and USB type-C so the ones I have won’t go to waste. And as usual, expensive.
Huawei, same as the lack of my requirements.. it also lacks Google Play Store app where most of the apps I use are downloaded from. Possibly because of the issue between Google and Huawei last year?? 🤷♂️ I dunno but just read this article to get a gist of what happened. Too bad, it’s a nice phone but no Google Play Store. Well there is another side of putting apps into this phone but am too lazy to look it up online, manually download and transfer it to my phone.
I’m torn choosing between Oppo and Vivo but like, I don’t want to? Basta, di ko sila feel. 🙊 I am curious about the price range of their phones though..? Is the suggested retail price (SRP) appropriate for the specifications? What if the model is a 2020 model but the GPU and Chipset are last year’s “best”? Things like that. I just want to make the money I saved for worth it to buy a recent model that can last for years.
As for Asus, there’s only one model with the requirements I’m looking for except that camera that twists if you do a selfie (front camera) or a normal photo. Not comfortable with that and that camera could break at any moment – another factor if I want to make my money worth spending for a “heavy duty phone”.
In the end I am down with choosing between Xiaomi and Realme phones.
And so I’ve made my choice, to buy the Redmi Note 9 Pro
Well there are quite a number of models to choose from Xiaomi, and I got sucked in to the hype without knowing much about what’s really inside a Xiaomi phone that’s NOT mentioned in any reviews I’ve watched and read in reviews.
For one, the model I have had does not have a system-installed, part of the OS app for automatically recording in and outgoing calls “Auto Call Recording” app or something like that, unlike my current phone (Asus Zenfone 3). Some forums mentioned this happened because of the issue of Google with Huawei. I never knew I’d miss that feature until finding out it’s not a “default” system app. Never knew until I can’t find it anymore when I needed it to be there. To think this a recent phone model, I find that just bizarre.
ALSO, I WAS NOT AWARE THAT THIS IS NOT A USUAL APP FOUND IN ALL ANDROID PHONES. Back when I just bought it and going around the Zenfone 3 and found this feature, I was thrilled to try it out. Hahaha! Yeah, well fast forward now, looking for a new phone I assumed other phones have this feature. Sorry to break it to you, but not all phones have this feature installed in their phones. Note to self: Always check out these phones in malls first before buying online (where they are cheaper and legit if you can find a reputable seller).
However, there are other models that have this call recording feature except it’s the one with no Google. China ROM or something. I know everything is tagged made in China but like, I just don’t feel comfortable handing over my personal data to them from using their phones using their ROM. Or another way would be to download a third party app (there’s one you can find at the G Play or somewhere online), install it, but they would have ads and it makes the whole app feel like a mess like it’s unsafe. I tried the last way but uncomfortable and the spam of ads was just irritating. Not worth it.
The screen has rounded corners and you can zoom in the video so it can fill up the entire screen. I tried it and watched a video but it also ruined the framing of the subject/s of the video. Thought it can zoom in the video but keep the position of the objects, people, etc in the video untouched. What exactly am I watching, their big bellies or the extremely zoomed in faces of the people?
Last, Xiaomi preinstalled apps have ads within the app. I think that was the breaking point from my point of view. 😂 It has been a week since I’ve used the phone and tried and tested what I can find there. Even the phone cleaning app is full of ads. Why though??
Cons of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro:
- No preinstalled auto call recording app into the system
- Full of ads in system apps
- Video zoom in ruins the framing of the videos (just me being fickle)
Positives of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro:
- Everything is in most videos of tech reviewers on YouTube 😂
No thanks to this dumbass shitty phone, I have accidentally deleted half of my old phone’s content because I had to transfer them from old phone (because the space is full to do anything) to computer and to this new one and it failed. Moving from one area to another, all 35gb, and I used a high speed USB-C cable. There goes my photos from 2017 and I’ve no idea which photos were deleted! I am so angry and frustrated whenever I remember that situation! What can I do about that at this point, or during the next hours that followed when I realized they’re far gone from my phone and the computer? NOTHING.
But guess what? I have sold the phone (in less than 72 hours after posting it on Facebook Marketplace, wow) and it is gone from my life! It doesn’t bother me that much that I’ve sold it a bit less than the price I bought it, because I want it out of my sight after the many mishaps that happened with this phone.
Like the last review I’ve posted with my mirrorless camera, the EOS M50, I should have kept my old one the M3. With this one, I should have listened to my own decision from the start and picked up the Realme XT instead of this Xiaomi phone. The XT’s price has gone down twice since November last year, and it’s cheaper than this Xiaomi model! Why did I have to look for another brand? Why did I have to let myself be swayed to a questionable brand? Hmph. Just like the Samsung, I am completely turned off by any Xiaomi phones now. I am not sure if all Global ROM Xiaomi phones have call recording or not, but still I’m staying away from it when it comes to phones. 😒
I just have to know if this Realme XT model has legit call recording mode preinstalled into the system. So I have to go to the mall and have it checked out personally. It has all the requirements I’m looking for actually. If it doesn’t have the autocall feature, well, I’d be using this Asus phone til it literally stops working.. but I’m sure it won’t be anytime soon. I take pride in keeping my tech gadgets last long in perfect condition. 😅 It has fallen many times but it’s only recently that the tempered glass cover got a scratch. Tough love.
I appreciate the autocall recording feature now because my dad usually calls me before when he was alive.. so sometimes I randomly go through these recorded calls and stumble by the short hello calls and “where are you”, short 3 minute calls.
Note to self for most of the phone reviews done by mostly local YouTube “content creators”: they should thoroughly test the phone inside and out and not just chatter about the GPU and Chipset the entire 15 minutes. Maybe they have a due date to post these reviews because it will be passed to the next vlogger to do their own review, but a week or like 3 days to test everything out don’t seem enough from my point of view. But maybe this is just me because I still use the call and texting function as the same percentage that I use the smartphone features like mobile and social media browsing too. I do casual gaming, but not Mobile Legends and whatever else graphic intense mobile gaming is out there.
What I do most of the time on my phone is FB (cackling at all the fake, made up, stupid news I stumble on my news feed from other people), keeping up with most millenial way of catching up with current events and toxicity at the same time on Twitter, and browsing IG for a short time (look at their perfect lives, double tap to like, now look at mine)..
and mobile window shopping of course, to pass by time during this epidemic. 😉
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