Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 5G Review: Solid But Samey Budget Phone

One other yr, one other unwieldy roster of mid-range smartphones from Xiaomi’s price range Redmi model. The Word 14 5G is the awkward one of many bunch, because it hasn’t formally been launched within the UK or the US, though you may get maintain of 1 from Amazon.

Having examined the Redmi Word 13 5G at round this time final yr, nonetheless, I used to be curious to see how Xiaomi has taken issues ahead in 2025.

At first look, little or no has been added, however it is a confirmed method. Take a superb OLED show, add a strong (if unspectacular) design, throw in a reliable important digicam, and again all of it with the form of reminiscence choices that will make sure flagship strains blush.

Has Xiaomi even tried to advance mentioned method? Sure, however maybe to not the extent vital in an more and more aggressive price range telephone area.

Design & Construct

• Barely greater and heavier than earlier than
• Stable plastic construct
• Improved IP64 ranking

I reserved some faint reward for the Redmi Word 13 5G’s slimmer, lighter design, however the Redmi Word 14 5G has evidently piled on just a few kilos over the Christmas interval. At 162.4 x 75.7 x 8mm, it’s a fraction greater in each path.

In the meantime, a weight of 190g represents a not inconsiderable acquire of 15g. This latter determine, and that additional thickness, can maybe be justified by a bigger battery (which we’ll get to), however I’m unsure why the telephone’s footprint wanted to be any greater.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

This isn’t the identical completely flat design because the Redmi Word 13 5G both, with a barely rounded rear panel making it look rather less purposeful, but additionally bettering its hand really feel.

In any other case, it is a typical price range Xiaomi design. It’s predominantly manufactured from plastic, with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 to the entrance similar to the earlier mannequin. An IP64 ranking does symbolize an enchancment over the IP54-rated Word 13 5G, nonetheless, which means it’s just a little extra dust-proof.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

One other design enchancment is the inclusion of an in-display fingerprint sensor rather than the Word 13 5G’s side-mounted answer. It lends a extra premium air to the telephone, and works properly.

The three.5mm headphone jack makes a return to the highest fringe of the telephone, as does Xiaomi’s signature IR blaster. Utilizing the preinstalled Mi Distant app, you should utilize the Redmi Word 14 5G to manage your TV or Hello-Fi system – a characteristic that I’ve typically discovered to be surprisingly helpful.

Display & audio system

• Acquainted 6.67in Full HD+ OLED show
• 120Hz refresh charge
• Stereo audio system

Xiaomi sometimes gives first rate shows for the cash with its price range sub-brands. The Redmi Word 14 5G doesn’t let the aspect down, however it doesn’t provide a lot that’s new both.

It packs one other 6.67in AMOLED show, very similar to its predecessor, with the identical 1080 x 2400 (FHD+) decision and 120Hz refresh charge. That is no LTPO panel, so it’ll solely drop to 60Hz when the state of affairs requires it.

Xiaomi cites a most brightness of 1200 nits within the automated excessive brightness mode (HBM), when issues get significantly sunny, in addition to a peak HDR brightness of 2100 nits. Each are a lift over the Redmi Word 13 5G, and the latter specifically allows HDR10+ help this time round.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

With autobrightness turned off, I recorded a high brightness of 447 nits, which is a only a tad lower than the Redmi Word 13 5G. It’s in these excessive situations the place enhancements have been made.

This display doesn’t symbolize an enormous advance over the Redmi Word 13 5G, however for lower than £200/$300, you’re unlikely to search out higher.

One space during which Xiaomi has improved issues significantly is audio. You get a correct pair of audio system this time round, along with Dolby Atmos help.

Audio high quality isn’t significantly robust, with a sure tinniness and a pronounced lack of depth to the output. However the output is loud and clear, and also you do discover that there’s correct stereo separation this time round.

Specs & Efficiency

• Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Extremely
• Efficiency effective, however you may get sooner for the cash
• 256GB of expandable storage

Xiaomi has geared up the Redmi Word 13 5G with a Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Extremely processor, which doesn’t symbolize an enormous enchancment over the MediaTek Dimensity 6080 of the Redmi Word 13 5G.

In our traditional Geekbench 6 benchmark exams, the Word 14 5G scored just a little higher than its predecessor. A mean multi-core rating of 2267 represents a lower than 9% improve on the Word 13 5G.

Our GFXBench GPU benchmarks exams yielded a extra spectacular 16% improve on common.

As efficiency enhancements go, we’re speaking extra of a bump than a leap. It’s additionally not a massively spectacular performer in comparison with its contemporaries.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

For instance, it’s nowhere close to as spectacular because the Moto G75 with its Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip, nor certainly the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G with its Exynos 1380. Even the Redmi Word 14 5G’s cousin, the Poco X7, performs just a little higher.

My take a look at mannequin got here with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of inner storage, which continues a pattern of Xiaomi supplying its cheaper fashions with a beneficiant quantity of reminiscence and storage. That is flanked by 6GB/128GB and 12GB/512GB choices – a uncommon case of the RAM allotment various as a lot because the storage.

Whichever mannequin you go for, there’s a microSDXC slot for growth functions.

Digicam

• Acquainted 108Mp important sensor
• Low gentle efficiency improved by OIS
• Upgraded 20MP selfie digicam

The theme of this assessment to this point has been ‘small however welcome enhancements’, and that continues to use when you think about the Redmi Word 14 5G’s digicam set-up.

For starters, whereas the pixel-dense 108Mp 1/1.67″ important sensor stays unchanged from the Redmi Word 13 5G, it’s now backed by OIS.

In a single fell swoop this addresses arguably my largest criticism of the Word 13 5G digicam – its woeful night time mode efficiency. It’s not that night time time photographs at the moment are sensible – there are nonetheless seen artefacts in these inky skies and a sure softness general – however they’re not a complete write-off.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

In relation to first rate daylight situations – or at the very least what passes for them throughout this gray UK late-winter – I discovered the efficiency to be broadly much like final yr’s mannequin.

The photographs I captured regarded first rate, if not wonderful. Publicity was acceptable in additional muted situations, with clear indicators of overexposure creeping in when capturing on a sunnier day. Colors are rendered in a comparatively pure vogue.

There’s no devoted telephoto digicam right here, however 3x photographs look acceptable, utilizing these additional pixels from the primary sensor to good impact to crop in with out a large drop intimately. It in all probability would have been a greater concept to go together with 2x because the default zoom management, as these photographs look fairly a bit crisper, however it’s accessible with a press and maintain of one of many zoom buttons

Utilizing this methodology it’s additionally attainable to extend the zoom to 10x, however the limits of the cropping method are uncovered fairly shortly past 3x.

As you’d anticipate, the devoted 8Mp ultra-wide represents a serious drop off in high quality in comparison with that important sensor. Particulars turn out to be fuzzier, particularly in the direction of the perimeters, whereas publicity and dynamic vary aren’t even in the identical ballpark.

There’s a 2Mp macro digicam right here as properly, however it’s finest forgotten, as all such ‘bonus’ sensors are. It will have been higher if Xiaomi had simply gone with a streamlined twin digicam set-up.

Other than that OIS addition, the most important {hardware} enchancment right here is the brand new 20Mp entrance digicam. It doesn’t result in revelatory selfies, to be frank, and the topic isn’t rendered pin-sharp. Pores and skin tones and colors are moderately correct, however it struggles in these HDR situations. Portrait selfies look very synthetic, and it fails to make the topic pop.

Video seize stays at a fairly lowly 1080p/30fps, although it’s bolstered by that inclusion of OIS.

Battery Life & Charging

• Bigger 5110mAh battery
• A lot improved stamina
• Quicker 45W wired charging

Xiaomi has upped its battery life and charging sport throughout the board for the Redmi Word 14 5G, which is nice to see after the Redmi Word 13 5G’s slight regression.

The producers has packed in a barely bigger 5110mAh battery (in comparison with 5000mAh earlier than), which can see you thru a full day of utilization.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

On a day with 4 hours of screen-on time, together with hours of net searching and an hour of YouTube video watching, I used to be left with about 35% within the tank. That’s not excellent, however it’s completely acceptable.

Utilizing extra scientific strategies, the Redmi Word 14 5G lasted 13 hours 9 minutes within the PC Mark Work 3.0 battery take a look at. That’s an enormous 3 hours and 20 minutes longer than the Redmi Word 13 5G.

The enhancements proceed with the supply of a speedy 45W charger within the field, which is up from 33W within the Word 13 5G. It was adequate to get the telephone from empty to 62% in half-hour in my testing, whereas a full cost took just below an hour.

Software program

• HyperOS 1.0 over Android 14 – once more
• Identical extreme bloatware
• 2 main Android updates, 4 years of safety updates

If I have been to have been provided the selection of 1 space to enhance with the Redmi Word 13 5G, it could have been its software program. Sadly, that’s the one space the place there’s been little discernible motion.

Identical to its predecessor, the Redmi notice 14 5G runs on Xiaomi’s HyperOS 1.0 layered over Android 14.

Xiaomi is promising solely two main Android updates, and a type of might be to Android 15, which has been out there on some telephones since October. There’ll be 4 years of safety updates.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

All in all, the Redmi Word 14 5G’s future software program prospects aren’t wonderful. Particularly so when you think about what’s in entrance of you out of the field.

Xiaomi’s HyperOS has all the identical quirks and flaws that it (and MIUI earlier than it) has at all times had. It’s a messy, cluttered UI that operates completely fluidly, however with numerous small annoyances that add as much as one thing extra irritating.

The cut up notification menu is kind of generally adopted by many producers now (together with Samsung), however one thing concerning the implementation continues to fatigue me.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

The icons and wallpapers are broadly charmless, and being pressured into the model’s Themes retailer each time I wish to change the latter will get outdated quick – particularly as the road between free and monetised wallpapers appears to be non-existent.

Bloatware continues to plague the UI. You may perceive a producer wishing to produce its personal variations of core apps, however do we actually want a bespoke net browser when each Google Chrome and (inexplicably) Opera are additionally preinstalled?

Jon Mundy / Foundry

There’s additionally a folder with 9 extra third half apps, together with (in fact) Reserving.com, WPS Workplace, and LinkedIn. There’s a separate folder with six low-end video games.

Fortunately, Xiaomi has at the very least ironed out a number of the bugs that I skilled a yr in the past. However HyperOS continues to be one in all my least favorite Android skins to cope with.

Value & Availability

For all that you could be be weighing up whether or not to purchase the Redmi Word 14 5G proper now, you received’t be capable of get it formally. On the time of writing, there aren’t any plans to carry the Redmi Word 14 5G to the UK, and it undoubtedly received’t be making its solution to the US.

Nonetheless, you can purchase it from Amazon. Within the UK, it’ll value £190 and your order might be fulfilled by FairPhone. Head over to Amazon US, and you’ll decide it up for $276, bought by Aimportar USA. In each circumstances, it’s the identical 8GB/256GB mannequin that I’m reviewing right here.

Nonetheless, the Redmi Word 14 is formally out there by way of the Xiaomi web site, though you’ll should make peace with some downgrades from the mannequin reviewed right here. If neither choice looks like the proper match, you’ll be able to see our high suggestions in our round-up of one of the best price range telephones you should buy.

The Redmi Word 14 5G might be out there in “a number of European nations, together with Spain”, in response to the Redmi PR, with a worth of €299.99 for the 8GB/256GB mannequin. The Spanish Xiaomi web site lists 6GB/128GB and 12GB/512GB choices, however they weren’t in the stores. It’s the identical state of affairs (and worth) on the Xiaomi Germany web site.

All of which is reflective of a typical concern we’ve with Xiaomi’s price range sub-brands. There’s a sure lack of readability and consistency in relation to the matter of the place you’ll be able to really purchase these telephones.

Must you purchase the Redmi Word 14 5G?

The Redmi Word 14 5G stays a strong telephone with a reliable design, an honest OLED display, and good battery life. However I’d counsel that the sheer churn of low cost choices must cease, and the model ought to give attention to making one or two genuinely compelling low cost telephones.

It will likely assist the model to supply higher readability and consistency on which of its many fashions are being made out there during which territories, too.

Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand isn’t fairly the straightforward price range advice it as soon as was. With the Redmi Word 14 5G, the {hardware} enhancements are incremental, the software program expertise continues to frustrate, and the competitors is simply getting stronger.

Motorola is now providing genuinely fascinating differentiation and bonus options between its sub-£300/€300 smartphones, whereas the CMF Telephone 1 manages to supply appreciable pleasure and magnificence for lots much less cash.

Specs

• Android 14
• 6.67in, FHD+, OLED, 120Hz, flat show
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Extremely
• 6GB/8GB/12GB RAM
• 128GB/256GB/512GB storage
• 108Mp, f/1.8 important digicam
• 8Mp ultra-wide digicam
• 2Mp macro digicam
• As much as 1080p @ 30fps rear video
• 20Mp front-facing digicam
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Bluetooth 5.3
• 5110mAh battery
• 45W charging
• 162.4 x 75.7 x 8mm
• 190g
• Launch colors: Midnight Black, Lavender Purple, Coral Inexperienced