Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Smartphone

More precisely called the this phone came late last year from Banggood – and Maureen still absolutely loves it.

Wonderful – because though lovely and reliable, her little, inexpensive Cubot X19 was not in the same league as the (budget) Note 8, which has (for starters) a 48Mpx camera, all-in 4 lenses, fingerprint recognition, face recognition, compass, Intrared remote control (unless you have our 4K TV, the Aldi special who’s brand name is not recognised by Xiaomi – yet) and a list of acceptable features including 4GB Ram and 64GB storage, I’m not going to go through the lot here as you can get them from the link above. I will mention that the Note 8 release date was September 2019 and that the phone currently has Android 9 and MUIU 11 – pretty much the same software used in my Pocophone F1 (all that is about to change). This update is a “spare moment” job as right now I’m on holiday.

The 6.3″ display on the Note 8 is 2340*1080 Corning Gorilla Glass 5, it has dual SIMs and (I said I was not going through all the specs so I’ll stop in a tick). Nearly all of the top surface is screen but for a tiny central camera cut-out for selfies – but (as Maureen will tell you) the MOST important feature is – it is LOVELY – a shimmering purple/blue in our Note 8… see my photos in here.

As soon as the weather picks up – I’ll go take some pictures (48Mpx as well as night shots, HDR and panoramas) – and maybe some 4K UHD video. Oh and if the storage isn’t enough you can have 2 SIMs or 1 SIM and up to a 256B microSD. This could well give my Pocophone F1 some competition.

The obvious next thing to do here is show example photos and video from the NOTE 8 – the only issue there is the weather we’ve been having this winter, not exactly ideal for Kodak moments. Photos will have to wait until things pick up. I’ve also just noticed our mistake – the idea was to have the Note 8 PRO – who’s cameras are even better – that is on the way. On the other hand, the Google Pixel camera app that I fitted to the Note 8 when I started this entry was (late 2019) apparently NOT available for the Pro.

I mention the Pro merely as I have THAT on the way BECAUSE my Pocophone battery won’t last forever and I like to be prepared for change. Look out for an entry in February 2019 on the Note 8 Pro.

Initial outdoor shot on the Note 8 – a photo which at 48Mpx ends up as a 10MB JPG image – you’re looking at a shrunken version of that… anyway, here it is..

And night shots – completely unprocessed and in rubbish weather

Of course, you can’t really tell here but take my word for it that the originals were massive. I DO think that Xiaomi could have included a screen protector – we bought one from Ebay and the people who make these things need to gain some skills – too big for a curved-edge screen like the Note 8. Already asked Banggood to help out here. I would expect the Google Pixel 4 camera app (v7) that I’ve added to the Pocophone AND the Note 8, to benefit the latter, not that there is anything wrong with the native app but, well, you just must have astrophotography mode to feel complete.

The PLAN was to go out and test the phone camera to death but I’m afraid it is just too cold and miserable outside so I’m staying indoors working on my Nod-Red Dashboard instead.

I’ve scoured the web and hopefully we can expect Android 10 on the Pocophone F1 in February, the Redmi Note 8 Pro anytime now though I still have no dates for the Note 8 upgrade. Will the updates be a big deal? Probably not but then I do like to have the latest updates just in case I’m missing something – and now we are into a new decade, before long who will want to admit they “only” have Android 9 PIE:-) – The Pro also gets new spiffy orange colour option soon.