At its price, you’re kidding yourself if you’re expecting the Redmi Note 10 Pro to be a fancy glass and metal mix. Instead, it’s one of the best plastic phones we’ve tested.

Just like the aforementioned Oppo A54 5G and Realme 8 5G, the Redmi Note 10 5G goes with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor rather than the more fashionable in-display method. We really don’t mind such an approach at this end of the market, where in-display methods are generally slow and unreliable. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G features a 5,000mAh battery. That’s a large cell by modern smartphone standards, but it’s also the exact same size as the batteries found in the Oppo A54 5G and the Realme 8 5G.The 5G-prompted compromises continue with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G’s mediocre camera setup. It’s a fairly bare-bones effort made up of a 48MP main camera, a 2MP macro sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor. While it’s not what you’d call a mainstream component, the Dimensity 700 is perfectly capable of running day-to-day applications reasonably well. It’s quite capable in CPU-heavy tasks, as a Geekbench 5 multicore score of 1,677 goes to illustrate - though that falls a little short of the Realme 8 5G’s 1,765. More unique is the provision of an IR blaster on the top edge of the phone, which enables you to use it as a remote control. This isn’t unusual for anyone familiar with Xiaomi’s previous work, but it does set the phone apart from the Realme 8 5G and the Oppo A54 5G. Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G: display That means no dedicated telephoto and no ultra-wide. The former is no great surprise in a phone of this price, but the latter is slightly more noteworthy. True, we often decry budget ultra-wides as being scarcely worth the space they occupy. But if you offered us one in return for that dodgy macro sensor and depth sensor, we’d probably take it. The best camera in the world can’t detract from the Redmi Note 10 Pro’s adverts. Yep. Ads for third-party apps pop up when you install a new app. They’re pretty gross, but you can turn them off. Nevertheless, to get away with such an eye-sore, the Note 10 Pro would have to be the best phone money can buy at its price, which, as you’ve probably gathered by now, it is. So, should I buy it?

It’s not a particularly speedy processor by any means, and it’s not helped here by a relatively meagre 4GB of RAM. The aforementioned Realme 8 5G pairs the same chip with a choice of either 6GB or 8GB, which leaves more headroom for app switching and the like. Redmi is a sub-brand of smartphone monolith Xiaomi, and as such, its phones utilize MIUI - specifically, MIUI 12, on top of Android 11. This means that it offers the same basic experience as the one you’ll receive with the super-high-end Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra and the giant-slaying Poco F3.With such a standout screen and stereo speakers, The Redmi Note 10 Pro is a streamer’s dream. Its 20:9 aspect ratio makes it a perfect fit for new cinematic widescreen movies and shows like Mandalorian, and the quality is beyond reproach for the price.

We can’t think of a more compromise-free budget phone than the Note 10 Pro, it really is that simple. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G runs on a MediaTek MT6833 Dimensity 700 5G, which is the exact same 7nm chip used by one of its closest rivals, the Realme 8 5G.Typically with such cheap phones, the best you can hope for is either a 120Hz refresh rate (like the Poco X3 NFC) or a vibrant OLED panel (like the Realme 8). The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G has neither. In addition to its 108MP main camera, the Redmi Note 10 Pro features an 8MP ultra-wide lens for action-cam-a-like shots, and a 5MP macro camera, which, thanks to autofocus, isn’t a massive waste of space. There’s also a depth sensor for good measure. When it comes to storage, a choice of either 64GB or 128GB is pretty much par for the course with such affordable phones these days. There’s also a microSD card slot, so you can expand that provision.

We’ll say one thing for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G: it doesn’t look like a slightly compromised budget phone. We’ve been using it alongside the similarly pitched Realme 8 5G and the Oppo A54 5G, and it’s considerably nicer to hold and behold than either. The 2MP macro sensor is truly terrible, to the point where a whole series of what we thought would be usable examples of flower close-ups turned out to be nothing of the sort. The camera completely failed to pin their subjects, yielding a blurry, noisy smudge of colors. The fingerprint scanner, for example, is curved to match the rounded frame, and it feels considered; the stepped camera bump is also a clear sibling of that of the flagship Xiaomi Mi 11; the frame’s dual-texture has a buffed flat top, and high-gloss sides. Anyone who needs an Android phone to tide them over between pricey flagships, the Redmi Note 10 Pro is also perfect for you. DesignThe provision of an 18W charger here isn’t the most generous around. The Poco X3 NFC gives you a 33W charger in the box. It’s equal to the Realme 8 5G’s provision, however, and is better than the 10W Oppo A54 5G charger. The phone is available in the US, but retailers are harder to find than in the UK. We can't see the 64GB variant on sale in the US at the time of writing, so it seems you can only buy the 128GB. By far the standout feature of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G is its stamina. With a 5,000mAh battery on board, alongside those otherwise modest specifications, it has the potential to last a full two days on a single charge. In general shooting, the Redmi Note 10 5G is a reasonably competent performer, running as it does off the same Sony IMX 582 sensor you’ll find in the Poco F3 and Poco X3 Pro. Neither of those phones took spectacular pictures, even at their respective price points, but they were (and are) solid. You won’t go far wrong if you choose the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G as your next budget phone. It's arguably one of the best cheap phones and one of the best Xiaomi phones, just know that you can get a more rounded alternative if you’re happy to forgo 5G data speeds for another smartphone cycle. Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G: price and availability